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16
B ihar politics on Thursday “heated” up as former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha joined the State mahagathbhandhan and BJP chief Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley called on NDA partner and Cabinet Minister Ram Vilas Paswan after his son Chirag made “threatening” noises leading to speculation that Paswan may be planning to dump the NDA. After the Congress won the three Hindi heartland States of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has focused his attention on strengthening the Bihar maha- gatbandhan. Rahul was per- sonally involved in persuading Kuswaha to walk out of the NDA. On Thursday, Rahul met with RJD leader Tejashvi Yadav, Kuswaha and former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi. The announcement of Kushwaha joining the maha- gathbandhan of Opposition parties in Bihar came at a press conference at the party headquarters here in the pres- ence of senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, AICC Bihar incharge Shaktisinh Gohil, Tejashwi Yadav, Sharad Yadav, and Jitan Ram Manjhi, who heads the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular). Welcoming Kushwaha into the grand alliance, the leaders said they will “together throw the BJP out of power” and will work towards mitigating the plight of the people of Bihar and the country. Kushwaha said the main reason behind his quitting the NDA was the failure of the Modi Government to fulfil the promises made to the people of Bihar, besides the “insult” he suffered within the NDA. He said an “aakrosh march” will be taken out in Patna on February 2 in which various like-mind- ed parties would participate. Kushwaha lauded Rahul for coming to the aid of farmers and youths and said the Congress president does what he says. RJD leader Tejashwi said “this is a union of hearts and not of parties” and asserted that the weather in the country is changing. Even before the NDA could recover from the setback of losing Kuswaha, Paswan has added to its worry. His son has made a series of tweets cau- tioning the BJP of conse- quences if the issues with allies were not resolved soon. Chirag has also raised a question mark over the plight of farmers and issue of unemployment and also criticised the raking up of Ram temple issue. Incidentally, during the last 24 hours every time he was asked if the LJP can walk out of the NDA, Chirag didn’t dismiss the possibility and merely said, “It’s too early to reach any con- clusion.” Against this backdrop, the BJP leadership reached out to the sulking ally with Amit Shah and Jaitley holding talks with Paswan and Chirag in the presence of BJP Bihar Congress incharge Bhupendra Yadav. Sources said that BJP has offered six seats to Paswan, one less than the LJP contested in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. It’s obvious that with such an offer, Paswan could have been expected to dispel any doubt about his differences with the NDA. His silence after meeting Shah and Jaitley shows that he is keeping his options open. In an interview, Chirag indicated his complete dis- comfort with the BJP by stat- ing that seat sharing is not the issue but he is unhappy over factors like plight of farmers, unemployment, and price hike. Earlier, Chirag had written a letter to the Prime Minister and Jaitley, asking about the benefits of demonetisation. Recently, Ram Vilas Paswan said while the Congress raised issues of farmers and unem- ployment, we (NDA) stayed tangled in religion and temples. Sources said Nitish Kumar has backed Paswan and will be in Delhi to convey the BJP lead- ership to “honour the com- mitment to Ram Vilas Paswan” as losing him would effective- ly mean conceding Bihar to the Opposition coalition. “Joint efforts and collective strength of existing and poten- tial NDA allies is key to the suc- cess in upcoming 2019 elec- tions. All key constituents of the coalition must work towards this,” tweeted Prashant Kishor, the Bihar CM’s close aide and strategist about the Nitish Kumar Delhi mission. More than the number of seats, it is the question of “winnability” with the NDA that may be haunting Paswan. The upper castes are reported- ly unhappy with the Dalit leader for taking strident stand against diluting the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. In this scenario, Paswan will be more comfortable with the RJD if he wants to retain his strengthen of six MPs in the Lok Sabha. T he GST council meeting on December 22 is likely to reduce tax slabs for a host of items, including cement, tyres, air conditioners, construction and farm equipment, as well as certain electronics devices. These items are placed in 28 per cent tax segment. After revision, they would figure in 18 per cent bracket, sources said. Thirty-four goods are at present in the highest tax bracket of 28 per cent. Coming against the back- drop of the BJP’s loss in the three Hindi heartland States of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the move is seen as a part of the Government plan to incen- tivise consumption and increase demand in key sectors of economy ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said 99 per cent goods and ser- vices will be brought under 18 per cent or less GST slab and the highest tax slab will be restricted to a few select items, such as luxury and sin goods. “We are of the opinion of making GST as smooth as possible for the enterprises. In earlier days, the GST was framed according to the exist- ing VAT or excise tax structures exercised in those respective States. (With) the discussions held from time to time, the tax system is getting improved,” Modi said. Meanwhile, Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra questioned Modi’s unilateral reduction of GST sidestepping GST Council of State Finance Ministers. Congress president Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at Modi for finally realisng the need to rationalise the GST regime. “The Congress has finally jolt- ed Narendra Ji from his deep slumber on Gabbar Singh Tax. Though still drowsy, he now wants to implement what he had earlier called the Congress party’s, ‘Grand Stupid Thought’. Better late than never Narendra Ji!” a tweet from him read. Last year, during Gujarat election campaign, Modi had taken a pot-shot at Rahul, say- ing, “a recently emerged econ- omist” was propagating a “Grand Stupid Thought” by suggesting the GST rate should be capped at 18 per cent. T he BJP on Thursday claimed “moral victory” after the Calcutta High Court lifted Bengal Government’s ban on its rath yatras. The yatras will now take place in three legs on December 22, 24 and 26 with BJP president Amit Shah inau- gurating each of the three yatras from Coochbehar, Kakdwip and Birbhum. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address rallies in the midst of the yatras that would converge and cul- minate at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata. Though the court order tended to come as a shot in the arm of the saffron outfit, experts wonder why the State administration, regardless of its apprehensions of communal tension in the yatra trails, did not “even make an endeavour that the rally can be allowed by imposing reasonable restric- tions.” The court said, “When the yatras are not for any unlawful purpose, it cannot be com- pletely stopped unless there is any breach of law. The restric- tions should be just and rea- sonable.” When the State cited intel- ligence reports apprehending communal tension, the court said, “The threat to public peace and tranquility should be real instead of imaginary.” The judge also wondered as to why it took the Government two months to prepare intelligence reports — preferring all this while to look right through the letters being sent to it by the outfit seeking permission for the yatras — when the BJP had sent its first letter on October 6. The initial celebrations in the saffron quarters apart, the BJP leadership also had to come out vouching for a peaceful yatra as the court made it liable alongside the Government for any material loss. “We give a public under- taking that the yatras will be peaceful and there will be no disturbance and communal tension that the Government has repeatedly tried to impress upon the judiciary,” said Jayprakash Majumdar, a leader of the Bengal unit of the BJP. Earlier the State Government had, following a court ordered meeting with the BJP leaders on December 16, denied permission to the BJP rath yatras. However, the Mamata Banerjee Government had no objection to rallies by Shah and Modi. A day after a 35-year-old senior executive of global IT company Genpact commit- ted suicide at his Noida home following complaints of sexu- al harassment by two of his col- leagues, police on Thursday registered an FIR against com- pany’s management and two women employees for abet- ment to suicide. The victim, Swaroop Raj, was suspended by the compa- ny following complaints of sex- ual harassment at workplace by two women employees. According to a senior police official, Swaroop Raj, an assistant vice-president in Genpact, was found hanging from the ceiling fan by his wife at their home in Sector 137 in Noida on Wednesday. “Raj was barred by the company from taking any offi- cial work pending enquiry into the allegations made against him by two employees recent- ly,” the senior police official said, adding that Raj had joined Genpact in 2007 and was pro- moted to the senior post recently. Police reached the spot and sent his body for post- mortem after being informed about the incident, said Gautam Buddh Nagar Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ajay Pal Sharma. The SSP said a purported suicide note was found from the spot. Raj had addressed the suicide note to his wife. In the letter, Raj claimed that the allegations against him were “baseless” but people would “look at him with the same sus- picious eye even if he comes clean”. “I want to let you know how much I love you. Two of the employees have accused me of sexual harassment, but trust me I didn’t do anything. I know the world will not under- stand this, but you and our families should trust me. The allegations are baseless and the entire Genpact will soon know about it,” the letter read. “I don’t have the courage to face everyone. I want you to be strong and live your life with respect; your husband has not done anything. I am leaving as everyone will look at me with suspicion even if I come clean,” the note read. Confirming the temporary suspension, Genpact condoled the death but maintained that it would prefer to protect the privacy and not divulge the details of the sexual harassment complaint. “The complaint made seri- ous allegations of sexual harass- ment which are being duly investigated by the Internal Complaints committee. I ndira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in Delhi has fastened its belt so that air ser- vices are not hit by low visibil- ity caused by fog and mist. A dedicated team will work round the clock to provide all technical support to pilots and Air Traffic Control (ATC) unit, according to the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), which runs the IGIA. The DIAL said it is ready to beat low visibility by installing flight information display sys- tem and Master Antenna Television screens on all ter- minals (T1, T2, T3) on forma- tion desks; development of crash fire tender at critical position at the IGIA — the busiest airport in the country handling 1,300 flight move- ments. According to civil aviation experts, during foggy days, the airport capacity reduces by 40 per cent of the normal in terms of flight movement per hour. Dr Rajendra Kumar Jenamani, director incharge of IGIA Meteorological depart- ment, said, “Currently, there are around 74 flight movements every hour. Dense fog situation is expected in the last week of December and there are likely to be three to four spells of dense fog in the coming weeks.” DIAL Chief Executive Officer Videh Kumar Jaipuriar said the airport is better equipped compared to last year to deal with fog situation. In terms of dealing with sudden jump in passengers at the terminals, DIAL has plugged the gaps that were there last year, he added. The passenger facility response time would be upgraded, he said. The IGIA is well equipped to handle aircraft operations safely during poor visibility. For this, the low vis- ibility procedures for handling air traffic during fog have been promulgated for all air traffic controllers at IGIA, he said. There are 139 parking stands equipped with aero- nautical ground lighting (AGL) system which helps aircraft to operate in CAT IIIB conditions. In addition, there are 89 park- ing stands available under manual guidance. CAT IIIB refers to flight operations when the runway visibility range is 175 metres but not less than 50 metres. Operations are closed if the runway visibility ranges drops below 50 metres. “As pilot has limited view from the cockpit ‘Follow me’ service is provided to facilitate aircraft movement. Trained professionals are deputed for ‘follow me’ service. These vehi- cles are equipped with GPS based navigational system and taxiway guidance lights suit- able for low visibility opera- tion,” said the GMR official. R iding high on the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor issue, the BJP would kick-start its poll campaign from January 3 in Punjab with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing a party rally at Gurdaspur. The information was shared by Punjab BJP president Shwait Malik on Thursday when he made a visit of the proposed rally ground in Gurdaspur along with the for- mer party chief and former MLA Ashwani Sharma. Malik informed that Modi would sound the poll bugle in Punjab on January 3 next year during a rally, in which BJP’s ally in the State, SAD, would also participate. In the wake of the party’s declining graph and sinking popularity, the BJP is banking high on the recent development in the Kartarpur Corridor issue, and is all set to utilise it to lure the Sikh voters in Punjab. Continued on Page 4

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Bihar politics on Thursday“heated” up as former

Union Minister UpendraKushwaha joined the Statemahagathbhandhan and BJPchief Amit Shah and FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley called onNDA partner and CabinetMinister Ram Vilas Paswanafter his son Chirag made“threatening” noises leadingto speculation that Paswanmay be planning to dump theNDA.

After the Congress won thethree Hindi heartland States ofMadhya Pradesh, Rajasthanand Chhattisgarh, Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi hasfocused his attention onstrengthening the Bihar maha-gatbandhan. Rahul was per-sonally involved in persuadingKuswaha to walk out of theNDA. On Thursday, Rahulmet with RJD leader TejashviYadav, Kuswaha and formerBihar Chief Minister Jitan RamManjhi.

The announcement ofKushwaha joining the maha-gathbandhan of Oppositionparties in Bihar came at apress conference at the partyheadquarters here in the pres-ence of senior Congress leaderAhmed Patel, AICC Biharincharge Shaktisinh Gohil,Tejashwi Yadav, Sharad Yadav,and Jitan Ram Manjhi, whoheads the Hindustani AwamMorcha (Secular).

Welcoming Kushwaha intothe grand alliance, the leaderssaid they will “together throwthe BJP out of power” and willwork towards mitigating theplight of the people of Biharand the country.

Kushwaha said the mainreason behind his quitting theNDA was the failure of theModi Government to fulfil thepromises made to the people ofBihar, besides the “insult” hesuffered within the NDA. Hesaid an “aakrosh march” will betaken out in Patna on February2 in which various like-mind-ed parties would participate.Kushwaha lauded Rahul forcoming to the aid of farmersand youths and said theCongress president does whathe says.

RJD leader Tejashwi said“this is a union of hearts andnot of parties” and asserted thatthe weather in the country ischanging.

Even before the NDAcould recover from the setbackof losing Kuswaha, Paswan hasadded to its worry. His son hasmade a series of tweets cau-tioning the BJP of conse-quences if the issues with allieswere not resolved soon. Chiraghas also raised a question markover the plight of farmers andissue of unemployment andalso criticised the raking up ofRam temple issue.

Incidentally, during thelast 24 hours every time he wasasked if the LJP can walk out ofthe NDA, Chirag didn’t dismissthe possibility and merely said,“It’s too early to reach any con-clusion.”

Against this backdrop, theBJP leadership reached out tothe sulking ally with AmitShah and Jaitley holding talkswith Paswan and Chirag in thepresence of BJP Bihar Congressincharge Bhupendra Yadav.

Sources said that BJP hasoffered six seats to Paswan, oneless than the LJP contested in

the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. It’sobvious that with such an offer,Paswan could have beenexpected to dispel any doubtabout his differences with theNDA. His silence after meetingShah and Jaitley shows that heis keeping his options open.

In an interview, Chiragindicated his complete dis-comfort with the BJP by stat-ing that seat sharing is not theissue but he is unhappy overfactors like plight of farmers,

unemployment, and price hike.Earlier, Chirag had written

a letter to the Prime Ministerand Jaitley, asking about thebenefits of demonetisation.Recently, Ram Vilas Paswansaid while the Congress raisedissues of farmers and unem-ployment, we (NDA) stayedtangled in religion and temples.

Sources said Nitish Kumarhas backed Paswan and will bein Delhi to convey the BJP lead-ership to “honour the com-

mitment to Ram Vilas Paswan”as losing him would effective-ly mean conceding Bihar to theOpposition coalition.

“Joint efforts and collectivestrength of existing and poten-tial NDA allies is key to the suc-cess in upcoming 2019 elec-tions. All key constituents ofthe coalition must worktowards this,” tweeted PrashantKishor, the Bihar CM’s closeaide and strategist about theNitish Kumar Delhi mission.

More than the number ofseats, it is the question of“winnability” with the NDAthat may be haunting Paswan.The upper castes are reported-ly unhappy with the Dalitleader for taking strident standagainst diluting the SC/STPrevention of Atrocities Act. Inthis scenario, Paswan will bemore comfortable with theRJD if he wants to retain hisstrengthen of six MPs in theLok Sabha.

������/8� /1(2

The GST council meeting onDecember 22 is likely to

reduce tax slabs for a host ofitems, including cement, tyres,air conditioners, constructionand farm equipment, as well ascertain electronics devices.

These items are placed in28 per cent tax segment. Afterrevision, they would figure in18 per cent bracket, sourcessaid. Thirty-four goods are atpresent in the highest taxbracket of 28 per cent.

Coming against the back-drop of the BJP’s loss in thethree Hindi heartland States ofRajasthan, Madhya Pradeshand Chhattisgarh, the move isseen as a part of theGovernment plan to incen-tivise consumption andincrease demand in key sectorsof economy ahead of the LokSabha polls.

On Tuesday, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hadsaid 99 per cent goods and ser-vices will be brought under 18per cent or less GST slab andthe highest tax slab will berestricted to a few select items,such as luxury and sin goods.

“We are of the opinion ofmaking GST as smooth as

possible for the enterprises. Inearlier days, the GST wasframed according to the exist-ing VAT or excise tax structuresexercised in those respectiveStates. (With) the discussionsheld from time to time, the taxsystem is getting improved,”Modi said.

Meanwhile, BengalFinance Minister Amit Mitraquestioned Modi’s unilateralreduction of GST sidesteppingGST Council of State FinanceMinisters.

Congress president RahulGandhi took a swipe at Modifor finally realisng the need torationalise the GST regime.“The Congress has finally jolt-ed Narendra Ji from his deepslumber on Gabbar Singh Tax.Though still drowsy, he nowwants to implement what hehad earlier called the Congressparty’s, ‘Grand Stupid Thought’.Better late than never NarendraJi!” a tweet from him read.

Last year, during Gujaratelection campaign, Modi hadtaken a pot-shot at Rahul, say-ing, “a recently emerged econ-omist” was propagating a“Grand Stupid Thought” bysuggesting the GST rate shouldbe capped at 18 per cent.

���������������� 9:19$�$

The BJP on Thursdayclaimed “moral victory”

after the Calcutta High Courtlifted Bengal Government’s banon its rath yatras.

The yatras will now takeplace in three legs onDecember 22, 24 and 26 withBJP president Amit Shah inau-gurating each of the threeyatras from Coochbehar,Kakdwip and Birbhum.

Prime Minister NarendraModi is scheduled to addressrallies in the midst of the yatrasthat would converge and cul-minate at Brigade ParadeGround in Kolkata.

Though the court ordertended to come as a shot in thearm of the saffron outfit,experts wonder why the Stateadministration, regardless of itsapprehensions of communaltension in the yatra trails, didnot “even make an endeavourthat the rally can be allowed byimposing reasonable restric-tions.”

The court said, “When theyatras are not for any unlawfulpurpose, it cannot be com-

pletely stopped unless there isany breach of law. The restric-tions should be just and rea-sonable.”

When the State cited intel-ligence reports apprehendingcommunal tension, the courtsaid, “The threat to publicpeace and tranquility should bereal instead of imaginary.”

The judge also wondered

as to why it took theGovernment two months toprepare intelligence reports —preferring all this while to lookright through the letters beingsent to it by the outfit seekingpermission for the yatras —when the BJP had sent its firstletter on October 6.

The initial celebrations inthe saffron quarters apart, theBJP leadership also had to comeout vouching for a peacefulyatra as the court made it liablealongside the Government forany material loss.

“We give a public under-taking that the yatras will bepeaceful and there will be nodisturbance and communaltension that the Governmenthas repeatedly tried to impressupon the judiciary,” saidJayprakash Majumdar, a leaderof the Bengal unit of the BJP.

Earlier the StateGovernment had, following acourt ordered meeting with theBJP leaders on December 16,denied permission to the BJPrath yatras. However, theMamata Banerjee Governmenthad no objection to rallies byShah and Modi.

�����������������:2 $

Aday after a 35-year-oldsenior executive of global

IT company Genpact commit-ted suicide at his Noida homefollowing complaints of sexu-al harassment by two of his col-leagues, police on Thursdayregistered an FIR against com-pany’s management and twowomen employees for abet-ment to suicide.

The victim, Swaroop Raj,was suspended by the compa-ny following complaints of sex-ual harassment at workplace bytwo women employees.

According to a seniorpolice official, Swaroop Raj, anassistant vice-president inGenpact, was found hangingfrom the ceiling fan by his wifeat their home in Sector 137 inNoida on Wednesday.

“Raj was barred by thecompany from taking any offi-cial work pending enquiry intothe allegations made againsthim by two employees recent-ly,” the senior police officialsaid, adding that Raj had joinedGenpact in 2007 and was pro-moted to the senior postrecently.

Police reached the spotand sent his body for post-mortem after being informedabout the incident, saidGautam Buddh Nagar SeniorSuperintendent of Police (SSP)Ajay Pal Sharma.

The SSP said a purportedsuicide note was found fromthe spot. Raj had addressed thesuicide note to his wife. In theletter, Raj claimed that theallegations against him were

“baseless” but people would“look at him with the same sus-picious eye even if he comesclean”.

“I want to let you knowhow much I love you. Two ofthe employees have accused meof sexual harassment, but trustme I didn’t do anything. Iknow the world will not under-stand this, but you and ourfamilies should trust me. Theallegations are baseless andthe entire Genpact will soonknow about it,” the letter read.

“I don’t have the courage toface everyone. I want you to bestrong and live your life withrespect; your husband has notdone anything. I am leaving aseveryone will look at me withsuspicion even if I come clean,”the note read.

Confirming the temporarysuspension, Genpact condoledthe death but maintained thatit would prefer to protect theprivacy and not divulge thedetails of the sexual harassmentcomplaint.

“The complaint made seri-ous allegations of sexual harass-ment which are being dulyinvestigated by the InternalComplaints committee.

������������ �/8� /1(2

Indira Gandhi InternationalAirport (IGIA) in Delhi has

fastened its belt so that air ser-vices are not hit by low visibil-ity caused by fog and mist.

A dedicated team will workround the clock to provide alltechnical support to pilots andAir Traffic Control (ATC) unit,according to the DelhiInternational Airport Limited(DIAL), which runs the IGIA.

The DIAL said it is ready tobeat low visibility by installingflight information display sys-tem and Master AntennaTelevision screens on all ter-minals (T1, T2, T3) on forma-tion desks; development ofcrash fire tender at criticalposition at the IGIA — thebusiest airport in the countryhandling 1,300 flight move-

ments. According to civil aviation

experts, during foggy days, theairport capacity reduces by 40per cent of the normal in termsof flight movement per hour.

Dr Rajendra KumarJenamani, director incharge ofIGIA Meteorological depart-ment, said, “Currently, there arearound 74 flight movementsevery hour. Dense fog situationis expected in the last week ofDecember and there are likelyto be three to four spells ofdense fog in the coming weeks.”

DIAL Chief ExecutiveOfficer Videh Kumar Jaipuriarsaid the airport is betterequipped compared to last yearto deal with fog situation.

In terms of dealing withsudden jump in passengers atthe terminals, DIAL hasplugged the gaps that were

there last year, he added.The passenger facility

response time would beupgraded, he said. The IGIA iswell equipped to handle aircraftoperations safely during poorvisibility. For this, the low vis-ibility procedures for handlingair traffic during fog have beenpromulgated for all air trafficcontrollers at IGIA, he said.

There are 139 parkingstands equipped with aero-nautical ground lighting (AGL)system which helps aircraft tooperate in CAT IIIB conditions.In addition, there are 89 park-ing stands available undermanual guidance.

CAT IIIB refers to flightoperations when the runwayvisibility range is 175 metresbut not less than 50 metres.

Operations are closed if therunway visibility ranges drops

below 50 metres.“As pilot has limited view

from the cockpit ‘Follow me’service is provided to facilitate

aircraft movement. Trainedprofessionals are deputed for‘follow me’ service. These vehi-cles are equipped with GPS

based navigational system andtaxiway guidance lights suit-able for low visibility opera-tion,” said the GMR official.

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Riding high on the KartarpurSahib Corridor issue, the

BJP would kick-start its pollcampaign from January 3 inPunjab with the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi addressing aparty rally at Gurdaspur.

The information wasshared by Punjab BJP presidentShwait Malik on Thursdaywhen he made a visit of theproposed rally ground inGurdaspur along with the for-mer party chief and formerMLA Ashwani Sharma.

Malik informed that Modiwould sound the poll bugle inPunjab on January 3 next yearduring a rally, in which BJP’sally in the State, SAD, wouldalso participate.

In the wake of the party’sdeclining graph and sinkingpopularity, the BJP is bankinghigh on the recent developmentin the Kartarpur Corridor issue,and is all set to utilise it to lurethe Sikh voters in Punjab.

Continued on Page 4

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Punjab State PowerCorporat ion Limited

(PSPCL) is lighting otherstates of India too. For,Punjab’s power utility hassold power worth Rs 1,002crore to other states of thecountry in a single financialyear of 2018 — somethinghappening for the first time inrecent history.

Achieving a new mile-stone in power sector, PSPCLhas been ranked first at an allIndia level among all thepower utilities under digital

transaction segments. “It’s a moment of pride for

Punjab as seven towns of thestate are amongst the list oftop 20 towns of the nationunder digital category. Total1,405 towns, at all India level,were rated in this category,”said the state Power MinisterGurpreet Singh Kangar onThursday.

Kangar said that anotherjewel in PSPCL’s crown is therecognition of TechnicalTraining Institute as catego-ry–I training institute in thefield of thermal, hydro,transmission, distribution and

power management. “For September and

October this year, Punjab hadbecome No 1 at all Indialevel in selling power atIndian Energy Exchange(IEX). During September2018, 744 million units (MUs)worth Rs 426 Crore were soldat the rate of Rs 5.73 per unit,and during October 2018,652.6 MUs worth Rs 382crores at the rate of Rs 5.87were sold by Punjab at IEX,”he said.

Sharing details, Kangarsaid that on September 30, outof total traded volume of 271

MUs on IEX, PSPCL had sold104 MUs (4330 MW) power,highest so far during a singleday.

Total power traded onIEX during 2018 is 1849 MUsat an average round the clockrate of Rs 5.41 per unit, hesaid adding that this wouldtranslate into saving of Rs 400crores to PSPCL for 2018-19that would offset tariff fornext financial year by thesame amount.

Kangar said that Punjab

was able to get much higheraverage selling rate as it wasable to sell more power dur-ing peak hours that helpedfetch overall average rate.

“Energy demand patternof the Punjab is very peculiar,for eight months of non-paddy period it is highly sur-plus. During paddy season(from June to September),however, situation is alto-gether different, maximumutilization of own resourcesand long-term power tie-ups

also do not suf f ice thedemand, banking of powerhelps offset some scarcity andin previous years, short termpurchase of power had to beresorted to help sustain therequirement,” he said.

During the summer orpaddy season, maximumdemand shoots up to around12,600 megawatt, on the otherhand, during remaining eightmonths, maximum demanddrops to 5,000-6,000 MW,which further falls to around

3000-3500 MW in nighthours.

Kangar also appreciatedthe role of PSPCL manage-ment team headed by chair-man-cum-managing directorBaldev Singh Sran for opti-mum utilization of powerresources, thus achieving newheights in power sector whileserving the consumers in thestate.

Minister said that duringthis summer season, PSPCLsuccessfully catered to his-torical maximum demand of12,638 MW on July 10,against previous historical

maximum demand of 11,705MW met on July 11, 2017.

PSPCL also surpassed itsown record of highest everenergy supplied during a daywith supply of as high as2,749 LUs of energy withinstate on August 4, 2018.

He said that 2018 summerseason has been unique inoptimal ut i l ization ofresources such that no short-term power was purchasedduring paddy season, “ratherpower worth Rs 449 croreswas sold through powerexchange during June toSeptember”.

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Punjab Financial Corporation(PFC) on Thursday made it

clear that its one-time settlement(OTS) policy, as approved by thePunjab Government, will be thelast such option by theCorporation which shall be invogue till March 5, next year.

After the lapse of March 5time limit, no further OTS shallbe offered, the view was echoedby the Board of Directors duringa PFC meeting.

Exhorting the concernedparties to take full advantage ofthe scheme, the Board membersurged them to aggressively par-ticipate in the State Government’sefforts to rebuild and reenergizeindustrial units.

The current scheme envis-

ages all round possibilities forcomplete set of stakeholders andthe Board suggests that thisoffer should be the last one, theBoard of Directors resolved atthe end of the meeting.

Underlining the importanceof financial viability principle, theBoard also asserted that afterexpiry of this OTS time limit, theCorporation will strive to handover its assets comprising theproperties mortgaged to it, tosome Assets ReconstructionCompany (ARC) for furtherdealing with such assets.

Thereafter, relevant infor-mation pertaining to defaultingloan cases including the namesof the principal borrowers, whichstill remain unsettled shall beuploaded on the CIBIL portal,the Board resolution stated.

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The clean sweep by rulingBharatiya Janta Party (BJP)

in municipal polls in Haryanamay prompt the top partyleadership to advance theassembly polls by a few monthsand hold it with Lok Sabhaelection due to be held inApril-May 2019.

The assembly polls inHaryana are due to be held inOctober 2019.

The BJP has scored athumping victory by winningall five mayoral posts in localbody election, said to be asemi-final ahead of next year’spolls assembly.

Political observers feel thatbuoyed by party’s big victory incivic body polls in five cities ofHaryana, the BJP led byManohar Lal Khattar is nowlikely to push for simultaneouselections to Lok Sabha and state

assembly next year.After BJP’s victory, Chief

Minister Manohar Lal had onWednesday said that the partyis ready for simultaneous elec-tions though he expressed hisapprehensions on its possibil-ity.

Notably, in general elec-tions held in April-May 2014,the BJP had won seven out ofthe eight seats it contested.

The BJP, which was ridinghigh on the Narendra Modiwave in the 2014 Lok Sabhaelections had kept up itsmomentum in the assemblypolls later that year bagging 47seats out of 90. In its historicmaiden victory in Haryanaassembly polls in October 2014,the BJP had essentially rode onthe Modi momentum as well asanti-incumbency in the stateruled for ten-year by CongressGovernment.

The civic body election infive cities of Haryana was the

first big test for Chief MinisterManohar Lal’s governmentafter 2014. And, the saffronparty registered victory with ahuge margin for the seats ofmayor in municipal corpora-tions including Hisar, Rohtak,Yamunanagar, Panipat andKarnal, where direct electionswere held for the first time formayoral posts.

A Political analyst said,“After its victory, the ruling BJPis likely to push for holding LokSabha and assembly pollstogether in few states. Withthree BJP-ruled states —Maharashtra, Haryana andJharkhand — scheduled to goto polls after Lok Sabha elec-tions next year, there is a highpossibility that they will rec-ommend dissolving the stateassemblies earlier and holdingsimultaneous polls. The BJP atthe Centre has been toying withthe idea since long.”

“There is a general view

within the party that BJP’s winin municipal polls wouldextend its advantage headinginto the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.The simultaneous polls is seenas a political advantage to theBJP, as it would also undercutanti-incumbency factor,”according to the political ana-lysts.

“There is no empirical evi-dence that voters vote differ-ently for state elections andnational elections. But theresults of Lok Sabha wouldhave its bearing on the assem-bly polls scheduled later in2019. Any slide in the BJP’s for-tunes in general elections 2019might make it harder for theparty to return in Haryana laterthat year. So, an early assemblypolls would be BJP’s best bet inHaryana,” they added.

With barely a few monthsto go for 2019 Lok Sabha elec-tions, the BJP and the opposi-tion parties are in favour of an

early assembly polls.On possibility of simulta-

neous elections of Lok Sabhaand Vidhan Sabha next year,Chief Minister Manohar Lalhas said that the party is readyfor simultaneous elections.

Manohar Lal had termedthe municipal election victoryas a stamp of approval of peo-ple of the state on the welfarepolicies of the present StateGovernment.

He also said that the partyhoped that people of Haryanawould continue supporting it inthe similar fashion and ensureBJP’s victory in the forthcom-ing Jind by-election, Lok Sabhaand Vidhan Sabha electionsslated to be held in 2019.

In a direct election to fivemayoral posts, the main oppo-sition party INLD and itsalliance partner BSP, whichwere contesting on four seatshad faced a severe beating andwas even behind the indepen-

dents.However, Indian National

Lok Dal, Haryana chief AshokArora has also advocated forholding Lok Sabha and assem-bly polls together.

“The INLD-BSP alliance isready for early polls. Theassembly polls in Haryanashould be clubbed with gener-al elections 2019,” said Ashok

Arora while talking to ThePioneer.

Even the BJP wants to holdan early assembly polls. Thereis no wave this time and theruling BJP is fully aware of itsdeclining popularity, Arorasaid.

Haryana Congress chiefAshok Tanwar said, it seemsunlikely that both polls would

be held together but theCongress is in favour of hold-ing Lok Sabha and assemblypolls simultaneously inHaryana.

“We are ready for it. Butafter losing assembly electionsin five states recently, the BJPseems afraid of an early assem-bly polls, Tanwar added.

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Aday after BJP’s impressiveshow in municipal polls

in five cities, Haryana ChiefMinister Manohar Lal onThursday congratulated thenewly elected mayors andmunicipal councillors anddirected them to serve thepeople with the policy of'Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas' of thegovernment.

The Chief Minister wasinteracting with the newlyelected mayors and council-lors, here.

He said that the results ofthese MC Elections havemade it clear that people haveappreciated the working ofthe government, clear inten-tion and the ideology of pub-lic service. He said that for the

first time in Haryana, directelections were held to the postof Mayor in which the BJPcandidates have won withhuge margin.

Manohar Lal said thatduring elections, an attemptwas made to create an atmos-phere against the BJP.

“It was said that the affectof result of elections held inother states would be visiblein the MC elections. Themargin in vote percentage ofBJP and Congress inRajasthan was only 0.5 percent.

However, the vote per-centage of BJP was higher inMadhya Pradesh, yet such anatmosphere was created in thestate that these MC electionsare semi-final. But as a resultof the working of the BJP and

hardwork of the party work-ers, people had shown com-plete faith in BJP,” ManoharLal said.

The Chief Minister saidthat mayors and councillorsshould humbly accept thisvictory.

He said that in future by-elections will be held to JindVidhan Sabha besides LokSabha and Vidhan Sabha elec-tions. Therefore, the consis-tency of victory should bemaintained in these elections.For this, the developmentworks should be completed intime-bound manner withoutany discrimination, he added.

On the occasion, stateBJP president, Subhash Baralaalso congratulated the newlyelected mayors and council-lors.

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Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on

Thursday lashed out at SADpresident Sukhbir Badal for try-ing once again to drag the“innocent” Gandhi family into1984 riots case, in which onlya few individual Congress lead-ers were involved without anysupport, covert or overt, by theparty leadership.

Ridiculing SAD president’s“frustrated” attempts to under-mine Rahul Gandhi’s leader-ship, under which the Congresshas recently swept to victory inthe Assembly elections in threemajor states, Capt Amarindersaid that it was evident thatSukhbir was desperately tryingto grab at straws to fight backinto the electoral game aheadof the parliamentary polls.

Lambasting the Akalis forexploiting religious sensitivitiesto garner electoral support,Capt Amarinder asked Sukhbirto stop politicizing such a sen-sitive issue.

“Misusing religion forpolitical gains will not yield anydividends for SAD and wouldbackfire on the party in the LokSabha elections, as it had donein the 2017 Assembly polls,” hesaid.

The Chief Minister reiter-ated his stance that while indi-viduals, who had any role to

play in spreading mayhemagainst the Sikh community,deserved to be punished andshould pay for their crimes, “itis irrational to try and drag theCongress party as a whole, orthe Gandhis, into the case”.

“Rahul was a school-goingchild and Rajeev Gandhi wasaway in West Bengal at the timeof the violence,” CaptAmarinder pointed out, lam-basting Sukhbir for trying toexploit the religious sentimentsof the Sikhs for petty politicalgains.

Criminals have no reli-gion and are not affiliated toany political party, said CaptAmarinder, adding that allthose responsible for perpe-trating the violence in the wakeof the then Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi’s assassinationwill pay for their crimes. “Thecourts have already set a prece-dent in the case by sentencingSajjan Kumar to life term,”said the Chief Minister,expressing the confidence thatothers guilty of the heinouscrime will also pay in the samecoin.

“If Sukhbir is really con-cerned about punishing theguilty, why had he never raisedthe issue of the 22 RSS or BJPworkers named in the FIR reg-istered in the case at TughlaqRoad police station...The entirehullaballoo being raised by the

Akalis is nothing but political-ly motivated agenda to divertattention from their ownwrongdoings and misdeeds,” hesaid.

The Congress, includingRahul Gandhi, had never raisedthis issue as they believed thatcriminals had no political ide-ologies or affiliations, said theChief Minister.

The Chief Minister point-ed out that he had been con-sistently maintaining thatSajjan Kumar was named bythe victims whom he had vis-ited in the refugee camps fol-lowing the riots. The names ofother Congress leaders whomSukhbir was trying persistent-ly to drag into the case werenever mentioned, said CaptAmarinder.

“However, it is up to thejudiciary to nail and awardpunishment to the culprits,and neither Sukhbir nor anyother Akali or BJP leader hadany locus standii in the matter,”said the Chief Minister, askingthe SAD president to stop try-ing to take political mileage outof the issue ahead of theupcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Capt Amarinder said thatevery case against any individ-ual involved in the riotingwould be taken to its logicalconclusion by the courts, whichdid not need Sukhbir’s guid-ance in the matter.

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Over a fortnight after thePunjab Cabinet approved

the setting up of a New CivilInternational Air Terminal atIAF Station Halwara inLudhiana in its December 3meeting, the PunjabGovernment on Thursdaysigned a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) withthe Airports Authority of India(AAI) for the same.

The MoU was signed bythe state Civil Aviation secre-tary Tejveer Singh on behalf ofthe Punjab Government andAAI executive director GDGupta on behalf of the AirportAuthority in the presence ofPunjab Chief Secretary KaranAvtar Singh and AAI chairmanGuruprasad Mohapatra.

As per the MoU, the pro-ject would be implementedthrough a Joint VentureCompany (JVC) formed withthe majority stake of 51 percentof the Airports Authority of

India (AAI) and 49 percentstake of the State Governmentthorough the Greater LudhianaDevelopment Authority(GLADA).

Further, the AAI wouldbear all capital expenditure ofdevelopment of new airport,while the Punjab Governmentwould provide 135.54 acres ofland free of cost and free of allencumbrances for the projectwhile JVC would bear allexpenditure on operation,management and maintenanceincluding repairs.

It is expected that Phase Iof the project, that is the devel-opment of new internationalcivil enclave in 135.54 acres forfull-fledged operations up toCode-4C type of aircraft shallbe completed within threeyears.

The International Airportat Ludhiana would not only bea commercially viable projectand facilitate better air con-nectivity for passengers of theState but will have a spinoff

economic benefit for the indus-tries in the State, said theGovernment’s officialspokesperson.

Spokesperson said thatanother MoU was also signedbetween Punjab Governmentand AAI Cargo Logistics andAllied Services CompanyLimited (AAICLAS) — a whol-ly-owned subsidiary of AAI —for operation and maintenanceof the Cargo Terminal atAmritsar Airport.

As per the MoU, the AAIwill take over the Centre forPerishable Cargo (CPC) facilityat Amritsar Airport which hasbeen in-operational since 2013,and operate and manage it.

Spokesperson said that theMoU, exchanged by PunjabAgro managing director CSibin and AAI Cargo Logisticsand Allied Services CEO KekuBomi Gazder, will give a boostto agri-exports of Punjab andneighbouring states as cargoflights are expected to start inthe near future.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal has

announced to constituteHaryana Herbal Corporationto promote ayurveda andherbal medicines in the state.

The Chief Minister alsoannounced to make Morniarea an organic cluster and set-ting up a world class nurseryfor herbal plants in the area. Hewas speaking after inaugurat-ing World Herbal ForestProject at Morni hills in districtPanchkula on Thursday.

Yoga Guru SwamiRamdev, Acharya Balkrishnawere also present on the occa-sion.

Manohar Lal said that theHaryana Herbal Corporationwould look after maintenanceof herbal parks already estab-lished in the state.

On the pattern of statesuch as Sikkim, there are

numerous possibilities oforganic farming in Morniarea which would also caterto the need of people resid-ing in Chandigarh-Panchkula-Mohali of fruits,vegetables and other fooditems, he said.

Appreciating the officersand officials of the ForestsDepartment and scientists ofPatanjali Yogpeeth workingon this project for last threeyears, the Chief Minister saidthat his vision of establishingWorld Herbal Forest in Mornihills have been implemented atground level. People of thisarea would get employmentwith the diversification ofherbal plants in forests ofMorni area and it wouldincrease their income, he said.

Manohar Lal further saidthat in terms of per capitaincome, Haryana is ahead ofmany other states, but areassuch as Mewat and Morni are

still lagging behind.Now with this project,

Morni will get distinct identi-ty not only in the country butalso abroad, he added.

The Chief Minister alsosaid that Shivalik mountainrange is the pride of Haryanaand for development of thismountain range, departmentssuch as Forests, AYUSH,Tourism and Agriculture andFarmers’ Welfare would worktogether.

Listing out the steps takenso far by the State Governmentfor promoting ayurveda andyoga, Manohar Lal said that onthe pattern of AIIMS, a 300-bedded hospital is being estab-lished over 20 acres inPanchkula at a cost of about Rs500 crore alongwith NationalInstitute of Ayurveda and Yoga.

Apart from this, CentralCouncil is being constituted forCentral Research Institute ofYoga and Naturopathy at

Devarkhana in district Jhajjar.The Shri Krishna GovernmentAyurvedic College inKurukshetra has been upgrad-ed as AYUSH University whichis one of its kind universities inthe country, he said.

The Chief Minister saidthat vyayamshalas are beingopened in every village toconnect people with ourancient culture of yoga.

He also assured theresearchers of PatanjaliYogpeeth for providing themaccommodation at Morni.

He expressed happinesson the fact that researchershave discovered 53 new speciesof herbal plants in Morni area.So far, the total number ofspecies of herb plants regis-tered in the ForestsDepartment was 1062 whichhave now increased to 1115.

Earlier, the Chief Ministerinaugurated ‘Harad Vatika’.The Patanjali Yogpeeth has

set a target of establishingtotal 125 Vatikas in Morniarea of which 65 Vatikas haveso far been established.

The Chief Minister alsoreleased three books written byAcharya Balkrishna. Apartfrom this, the Chief Ministeralso released a book entitled‘Narendra Modi – ACharismatic VisionaryStatesman’ authored by AdhishAgarwal.

Speaking on the occasion,Forests Minister, Rao NarbirSingh said that Haryana isfortunate to have Aravalimountain range and Shivalikmountain range.

He said that herbal plantswould be planted on about1200 acres which would pro-vide employment to the localpeople.

On the occasion, the ChiefMinister honoured 20 scien-tists working on this projectwith citations.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal will launch

as many as 115 AntyodayaSaral Kendras (ASKs) of thestate, from Karnal, on the occa-sion of Good Governance Dayon December 25.

“Through the medium ofthese Kendras, the StateGovernment is providing over400 services of 38 departments,under one roof,” said an officialspokesman.

He said, “In these centres,people are being provided withthe benefit of governmentschemes and other services.The people need not go to anydepartment for the services,which are being provided atSaral Kendras.”

The Departmental officialshave also been directed to sendpeople at these centres for ser-vices, the spokesman said.

He said that a workshopwould be organized for all theoperators before the megalaunch of Antyodaya SaralKendras on December 25,where they would be informedabout the eligibility of benefi-ciaries to avail the benefit ofvarious schemes.

Any person can apply

online on Saral portal fromhome but need to visit onlyonce at the centre for verifica-tion. After applying online, theapplicant would keep gettingthe status of his application onhis mobile, he said.

Two new features havebeen added to the Saral portal,which included e-Ticketingsystem and KnowledgeManagement System, he added.

The spokesman furthersaid that through e-Ticketingsystem, any citizen could sub-mit his complaint on Saralportal regarding any serviceand the concerned departmentwould redress the complaintwithin 24 hours.

Similarly, through e-Ticketing system, the depart-mental officials would also beable to submit the problemsbeing faced by them. TheKnowledge Management sys-tem would provide informationto people about servicesthrough Saral portal, he added.

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For December 30 elections to13276 panchayats in Punjab,

a total of 48,111 nominationpapers have been filed for thepost of Sarpanches and 1,62,383for the post of panches.

In all 13,276 sarpanches and83,831 panches would be elect-ed for 13,276 panchayats.

“The date for withdrawal ofthe nominations would beDecember 21, Friday, whichwould also be the date for allot-ting the election symbols to thecandidates,” said the spokesper-son of the State ElectionCommissioner on Thursday.

Spokesperson said that thevoting would be held onDecember 30 from 8 am till 4 pmand counting of votes would beheld the same day after con-

cluding polling of votes.“There are total 1,27,87,395

registered voters in the state forpanchayat elections, out of which66,88,245 are male, 60,66,245female and 97 third gender vot-ers. State Election Commissionhas set up 17,268 polling boothsand 86,340 personnel will bedeputed on election duty,” hesaid.

Elaborating more, he saidthat the expenditure limit for acandidate contesting for the postof Sarpanch has been fixed at Rs30,000 whereas the limit forthose contesting for post ofPanch has been fixed at Rs20,000.

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SAD on Thursday wrote tothe State Election Commission

questioning its figures that only9,700 aspirants have filed nom-inations for the post of villagesarpanches for 13,726 such posts– one for each village.

The party urged the SEC toimmediately release the correctfigures to dispel all myths ema-nating from the scenario.

“If the initial figures releasedby the State ElectionCommission are any indication,the ongoing panchayat electionsare going to be a farce of its kindon the democratic process,” saidSAD senior vice president andformer minister Daljit SinghCheema.

Cheema said: “Evidently,for hundreds of village sarpanchposts, there are no takers...Thereis practically no competition forthe coveted post of village head-man in highly politicized state of

Punjab.”“The situation is far worse in

case of election of panches. Fornearly 85,000 odd posts, there areonly 27,000 aspirants in the fray.Obviously, for at least two-thirdposts, there are no takers,” hesaid.

Cheema averred that suchfigures cannot be taken on theface value “but everything is pos-sible in bizarre world of Punjabpolitics and polls being con-ducted by the SEC”.

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Aam Aadmi Party delega-tion, led by chief spokespersonand MLA Prof Baljinder Kaur,on Thursday called on Punjab’sState Election Commissioner toraise the issue of “wrongdoingsbeing committed by the

Congress leaders” in the processof Panchayat elections.

Prof Baljinder said that thegovernment officials are hand-in-glove with Congress leadersand rejecting the nominationpapers of candidates belongingto opposition parties.

She also alleged that thegovernment has even imple-mented a faulty reservation pol-icy to benefit the Congress can-didates.

The delegation demanded toextend the date of nominationfiling so that the candidatesbelonging to opposition parties,whose papers were rejected with-out any reason, can file it again.“It is the duty of election com-mission to reinstall the faith ofpeople in democracy, and thusit is needed to give all candidatesan equal playing field,” she said.

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Central Government had pro-vided much-needed aid to as

many 3,000 Indian workers,including 1,000 Punjabis, lan-guishing in Saudia Arabia with-out passports and visas by pro-viding them return tickets forIndia besides facilitating theirtransfer to other employers.

Disclosing this, the SADMP from Bathinda and theUnion Food ProcessingIndustries Minister HarsimratKaur Badal on Thursday said theinformation to this effect wasgiven by the Union ExternalAffairs Minister Sushma Swarajin a letter.

“Swaraj has also assuredthat the Indian Mission inRiyadh is visiting 13 constructioncamps in which the workers arestationed and would ensure theirwell being, particularly access tomedical attention, if needed,” saidHarsimrat.

Harsimrat had earlier takenup the issue with the ExternalAffairs Ministry bringing it to theMinister’s notice that around1000 Punjabis were stranded inSaudia Arabia after their employ-ers had stopped paying their

salaries, while their visas had alsoexpired along with their resi-dence permits.

“The External AffairsMinister had informed me thatthe workers had been hired byone of the biggest constructioncompanies in Saudia Arabiawhich had to close shop due tofinancial losses,” she said.

Harsimrat said that theMinister also informed her thatshe had spoken to all concernedSaudi authorities including theirForeign Minister and that theIndian Mission was in contactwith concerned company offi-cials with the objective to ensur-ing pending salaries were dis-bursed to workers.

“Indian authorities are alsomaking efforts to ensure that res-idential permits of all workers arerenewed so that they could con-tinue to work in Saudia Arabiaif they so wished,” she said.

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Former INLD MLA NishanSingh has been appointed

as president of Haryana unit of Jannayak Janta Party(JJP).

Ajay Chautala, a former

MP alongwith his sons HisarMP Dushyant Chautala andINSO national chief DigvijayChautala had recent ly

launched Jannayak Janta Party(JJP), which will contest bothLok Sabha and assembly pollsscheduled next year inHaryana.

Expelled INLD leaderAjay Chautala is elder son ofINLD chief OP Chautala.

“Former INLD MLAfrom Tohana, Nishan Singhhas been given responsibilityas state party president of JJP.Nishan Singh has a lsoremained head of Kisan cell inINLD,” said a partyspokesman.

He said that SheelaBhayan, former chairpersonof Haryana women commis-sion has been made head ofwomen wing of JJP whileRavinder Sanghwan has beenappointed as president ofyouth wing of JJP.

Indian National StudentsOrganisation will work asstudents’ wing of JJP andPradeep Deshwal has beenappointed as its Haryana pres-ident, the spokesman said.

Notably, Hisar MPDushyant Chautala had for-mally launched JJP onDecember 9.

The party will begin itsbooth level campaign in all16000 booths from December21 to reach out to the youthof Haryana.

The membership pro-gramme of JJP will also belaunched soon at booth levelin all 22 districts.

The JJP has also plannedto launch Jan-Jan Jhanda(flag) programme, whichwould begin in the first weekof January to reach out to thepeople in cities as well as vil-lages.

INLD chief OP Chautalahad expelled three familymembers from the party—first his grandsons Hisar MPDushyant and Digvijay, andthen elder son Ajay—foralleged “anti-party activities”.

Dushyant had won theHisar parliamentary seat onthe INLD symbol

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From page 1BJP is known to have

Hindu voter base in Punjab,with majority of Sikh popu-lation voting for the Akali Dalprominently in rural areasand Congress in the urbanareas. However, over the peri-od of time, the voters’ patternhas undergone a change, espe-cially with the emergence ofAam Aadmi Party in the statepolitics.

“The Prime Ministerwould highlight the worksdone by the BJP Governmentat the Centre, including open-ing of the Kartarpur corridor,waiving of GST on langaritems, conviction in 1984anti-Sikh riot cases, amongothers,” a senior BJP leadertold The Pioneer.

These are the issues thatare so much important for theSikh community, and the BJPgovernment’s decision wouldsurely won their votes in itsfavour.

It is expected that Modimay also visit Dera BabaNanak where the foundationstone for Kartarpur Sahibcorridor has been laid.

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With regional and interna-tional role of India and

China evolving, there areexpectations from the twocountries to lead Asia andusher in an Asian century,External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj said onThursday.

Sushma made the assertionin her message that was readout at the the inaugural sessionof the third India-China Think-Tanks Forum being hosted bythe Indian Council of WorldAffairs (ICWA) fromDecember 20-21 here.

Her remarks came ahead ofChinese Foreign MinisterChinese Foreign MinisterWang Yi’s visit to India toattend the first meeting of theHigh Level Mechanism onPeople-to-People Exchanges.

Talking about the visit at amedia briefing, Ministry ofExternal Affairs SpokespersonRaveesh Kumar said this wasthe first such meeting that willbe co-chaired by Swaraj andWang and the decision toestablish the forum was takenat the Wuhan summit betweenPrime Minister Modi andPresident Xi Jinping.

There will be a bilateralmeeting between the ExternalAffairs Minister and herChinese counterpart afterwhich they will deliver theirstatements. The openingremarks at the inaugural ses-sion of the India-China Think-Tanks Forum were delivered byAmbassador T.C.A. Raghavan,

DG, ICWA, and Gao Peiyong,Vice President, ChineseAcademy of Social Sciences.

Messages from the Indianand Chinese Foreign ministerswere also read out at the startof this year’s edition themed“Civilization Connect towardsan Asian Century”.

“Through quality deliber-ations in its last two editions,this forum has established itselfas a useful framework for reg-ular and continuous discus-sions between our academicsand scholars, and has enabledthem to provide structuredadvice and recommendationsto governments of both sides,”Swaraj said in her messageread out by Pranay Verma,Joint Secretary, MEA.

“As our relations our deep-ening and our regional andinternational role evolving,there are expectations fromour two countries to lead Asiaand usher in an Asian century,”the minister said.

Chinese Foreign MinisterWang, in his message read outby the Chinese AmbassadorLuo Zhaohui, said the thinktank forum has helped in deep-ening mutual understandingand enhancing mutual trustbetween the two countries.

Ambassador Luo said fol-lowing the Wuhan summit,relations were on the righttrack.

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On the lines of Union PublicService Commission’s

(UPSC) examination for IASand IPS, the Niti Aayog hascome up with an idea for a pan-India exam to select cadre forthe lower judiciary to attractyoung and bright law gradu-ates.

At present, various highcourts and state service com-missions hold exams to recruitjudicial officers. The Aayog alsocome up with an idea to reducethe upper age limit for entryinto the civil services from 30years to 27 for general catego-ry candidates in a phased man-ner.

The Government has in thepast proposed an all-India judi-cial service. But nine highcourts have opposed the pro-posal to have an all-India ser-vice for lower judiciary. Eightothers have sought changes inthe proposed framework andonly two have supported theidea.

In its report on Strategy forNew India @75 which definesobjectives for 2022-23, theAayog suggested that an all-India judicial services exami-nation on a ranking basis canbe considered to maintain highstandards in the judiciary. “Theselection process may beentrusted to the UPSC for acadre of lower judiciary judges,Indian Legal Service (bothcentre and states), prosecu-tors, legal advisors, and legaldraftsmen. This will attractyoung and bright law graduatesand help build a new cadre thatcan enhance accountability inthe governance system,” thereport claimed. The reportsuggested introduction of anadministrative cadre in thejudicial system to streamlineprocesses. There are 24 highcourts in the country.

A performance index forjudges should be consideredand a separate state-wise index

for “ease of getting justice”should be prepared. To main-tain judicial independence, thecadre should report to theChief Justice in each HighCourt.

The idea was first mootedin the 1960s. Seeking to over-come the divergence of views,the government had recentlysuggested to the SupremeCourt various options, includ-ing an NEET-like examina-tion to recruit judges to thelower judiciary.

National Eligibility cumEntrance Test (NEET) is con-ducted for admission to med-ical colleges. Joint EntranceExamination (JEE Main) isconducted for admission toengineering colleges.

There were vacancies of4,452 judges in subordinatecourts in the country as per thefigures released on December31, 2015. While the sanctionedstrength is 20,502, the actualnumber of judges and judicialofficers in subordinate courts is16,050.

The Aayog has also sug-gested that the upper age limitfor entry into the civil servicesbe brought down to 27 yearsfrom the present 30 years forgeneral category candidates.“The upper age limit for thecivil services should be broughtdown to 27 years for the gen-eral category in a phased man-ner by 2022-23,” it said.

It also said the existing 60-plus separate civil services atthe Central and State levelneed to be reduced throughrationalisation and harmoni-sation of services.

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Parliament was adjournedfor the day on Thursday

after the Lok Sabha somehowpassed two Bills. But RajyaSabha failed to transact anybusiness amid ruckus by theOpposition over various issues.

Both Houses have beenwitnessing pandemonium overthe Rafale fighter jet deal andCauvery river issue, amongother matters.

The two Bills passed byLok Sabha were the ConsumerProtection Bill, 2018 and theNational Trust for Welfare ofPersons with Autism, CerebralPalsy, Mental Retardation andMultiple Disabilities(Amendment) Bill, 2018.

In the Rajya Sabha, slogan-shouting members of Tamilparties — AIADMK andDMK— trooped into the wellof the House over the Cauveryissue as soon as the House metfor the day. Congress membersheld placards and shouted slo-gans demanded probe by theJoint Parliamentary Committee(JPC) into the purchase ofRafale jets from France.

The BJP members coun-tered Congress members withslogans demanding an apologyfrom Congress President RahulGandhi following the SupremeCourt clean chit to the Rafaledeal.

Rajya Sabha Chairman MVenkaiah Naidu said all issuescan be discussed and membersshould allow the House tofunction.

However, sensing themood he adjourned the Housefor the day minutes after itassembled.

In the Lok Sabha, the pro-

ceedings were adjourned in themorning amid sparringbetween members from TamilNadu and Karnataka over theissue of proposal to build a dam

on the Cauvery River.Congress demanded JPC

probe into the Rafale deal,Tamil Nadu and Karnatakaentered the well holding plac-

ards over the Cauvery issue.TDP MPs demanded spe-

cial category status for AndhraPradesh and setting up of asteel plant in the state.

The lower house managedto pass two bills and Congressagreed to discuss Triple talaqon December 27 . Soon afterSpeaker Sumitra MahajanSpeaker Sumitra Mahajanadjourned the House for theday.

Earlier in day , not happyover MPs holding placardsinside Lok Sabha and creatingruckus, Speaker told leaders ofall parties that the image of theHouse is taking a big hit andhas called a meeting of theRules Committee to look intothe matter, sources saidThursday.

The Lok Sabha proceed-

ings were disrupted for the sev-enth consecutive working dayon Thursday amid sparringbetween members of variousparties and a ruckus beingcreated by various leaders.

In a meeting with leadersof all parties, including theCongress leader in the HouseMallikarjun Kharge and UnionParliamentary Affairs MinisterNarendra Singh Tomar,Mahajan conveyed her dis-pleasure over continuous dis-ruptions in functioning of theLower House of Parliament,Lok Sabha sources said.

The Speaker told the lead-ers that the image of the houseis taking a hit and it is beingseen as a place where onlyruckus happens, where nothingcan be asked or listened, thesources said.

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The controversial triple talaqBill that was introduced

afresh in the Lok Sabha onMonday would be taken up fordiscussion on December 27 asCongress, which had earlier inthe Rajya Sabha opposed someof its “harsh” provisions , alsoagreed to participate in thedebate in the lower house.

In the new Bill, a magis-trate can grant bail after con-sulting the affected wife. Theoffense would still be non-bail-able and Muslim men accusedof triple talaq would not beable to get bail from the police.

As the Muslim Women(Protection of Rights onMarriage) Bill, 2018, was takenup for consideration, Leader ofthe Congress in the House,Mallikarjun Kharge, suggested

it be taken up for discussionnext week.

Parliamentary AffairsMinister Narendra SinghTomar sought an assurancefrom the Opposition that itwould allow discussion on thebill without disruption on thatday.

“I request you to take thebill on December 27. We are allgoing to participate. Our partyand other political parties areready to discuss (the Bill),”Kharge said.

To this, Law Minister ManiShankar Prasad said, “AsKhargeje ji has made an openpromise, we have no problemsin having a discussion onDecember 27. I urge that thisdebate be held in a sanguineand peaceful manner.”

The fresh Bill to make thepractice of triple talaq among

Muslims a penal offence wasintroduced in the Lok Sabha onMonday to replace an ordi-nance issued in September.

Under the proposed law,giving instant triple talaq willbe illegal and void and willattract a jail term of threeyears for the husband.

The fresh Bill willsupercede an earlier Bill passedin the Lok Sabha and pendingin the Rajya Sabha as theCongress and opposition par-ties are opposed to its ‘harsh’provisions. The earlier Bill wasapproved by the lower housewhere BJP has the majority.

Amidst opposition by theCongress in the upper house,the Government had clearedsome amendments, includingintroduction of a provision ofbail, to make it more accept-able.

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With traditional farmingturning to be non-remu-

nerative due to monkey, wildanimal and stray cattle menaceas well as uncertain weatherconditions, farmers of HillStates like Himachal Pradesh,Uttarakhand and Jammu &Kashmir are drawing towardsthe fragrance of bright wildmarigold flowers like neverbefore. This, with the help ofscientists from the CSIR-Institute of HimalayanBioresource Technology(IHBT), Palampur, who havedeveloped ‘Him Gold’, a high-quality new variety of the wildmarigold flower, Taget Minuta.

For, the marigold cropoffers a suitable substitute as itremains unaffected by thesesbiotic and abiotic factors. The

farmers from the region havealready produced 3.5 tonnes ofessential oils, a natural oilextracted from the flower injust two years since the devel-opment of the ‘Him Gold’.

In India, a total 4 tonnes ofessential oils is produced to caterthe demand of high growth per-fumery, pharmaceutical, foodflavouring and agricultureindustries among a few others.

Dr Sanjay Kumar, DirectorCSIR-IHBT, Palampur said thatagro and process technologypackage of the crop has alsobeen developed and transferredto the farmers to help themextract maximum from theproduction. The farmers canmeet the growing demand as atpresent requirement of wildmarigold oil in India is met withimports from France, Brazil,Kenya and Australia. It has

high demand, guaranteed buy-ers and lucrative prices, he said.

The price of Tagetes oilvaries from �7,000 to�10,000/kg. Farmers can obtainnet returns of 1.2 to 1.5 lakhsper hectare by growing thiscrop and producing essential oilwith in a period of 5-6 months

Dr Rakesh Kumar,Principal Scientist associatedwith the project added that thefarmers, rural women andunemployed youth were impart-ed awareness cum training pro-grammes on cultivation andprocessing of the essential oil.

“A good number of farm-ers have already taken up thecultivation and more are show-ing interest,” said Dr RakeshKumar. So far, an area of about214 hectares has been boughtunder wild marigold cultiva-tion by more than 600 farmers

in the hilly region. The crop issuitable for cultivation in theplains as well as on the hills asa mono-crop or inter-crop inorchards/forest/medicinal/aromatic plants, he added.

The efforts are already get-ting recognition. Vineet Sood,an entrepreneur and farmerfrom Kullu district of HimachalPradesh who has adopted thefarming of this crop under theguidance of the CSIR-IHBTclinched Ultra InternationalICONIC Farmer Award forimpactful contribution madetowards cultivation and popu-larization of Tagetes minutacrop in the district atInternational Congress ofEssential Oil held in Bengaluruin August 2018.

This is just the beginning.The market is huge consider-ing that this essential oil has

extensive range of uses such asanti-inflammatory, antifungaland antibacterial, owing towhich it is useful for curingwounds, eczema, diaper rash,skin treatment, the treatment ofpsoriasis, as well as for betterskin. Also, it has almost noside-effects as compared tomost of the conventional drugsand medicines, said the experts.Increase in the demand for nat-ural personal care productsand pleasing aromatic cleaningagents is another driver of themarigold essential oil market.

According to reports,worldwide, production of theessential oil of T Minuta isaround 20-22 tonnes perannum with South Africa lead-ing the race by producingabout 6.5 tonnes of essentialoil/year followed by India (4t/ha) and Zimbabwe (2 t/ha).

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The ED has filed achargesheet against five top

Maoist leaders of Bihar forlaundering extortion moneyto the tune of over �3.5 crore.The chargehseeted Maoistsinclude Pradumn Sharma (in-charge of Magadh Zone ofCPI Maoists), Sandeep Yadav(leader of CPI Maoists), BinayYadav (top commander andactive member of BiharRegional Committee of CPIMaoist), Musafir Sahni andAnil Ram (both top maoistleaders of north Bihar) underPMLA Act.

The ED has chargesheetedPradumn Sharma and othersand attached immovable prop-erties with registered value of�2.85 crore including JCB,SUVs and buses. The presentmarket value of these immov-able properties is of severalcrore rupees, the ED said.

The agency has attachedproperties worth �68 lakh ofSharma, assets worth �86 lakhof Sandeep Yadav, �54.14 lakhof Musafir Sahni and assets of

�77 lakh of Anil Ram andBinay Yadav.

The ED probe has furtherrevealed that Sharma had laun-dered extortion money of �2crore layered through severalbank accounts which was ulti-mately invested in immovableproperties in the name of hisfamily members. A part ofextortion money was used foradmission of Sharma’s niece ina prominent medical collegewhere the annual fees was tothe tune of �24 lakh.

Binay Yadav has also been

found laundering extortionmoney to the tune of �1.5crore using several bankaccounts and the launderedmoney was ultimately used foracquiring movable and immov-able properties, the agencysaid.

Musafir Sahni has alsolaundered extortion moneyand the same was invested in 11plots of land in Vaishali in thename of his family members.Anil Ram had used extortionmoney in the acquisition of siximmovable properties andtruck in benami names.

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The National Trust forWelfare of Persons with

Autism, Cerebral Palsy, MentalRetardation and MultipleDisabilities (Amendment) Bill,2018 was passed by the LokSabha on Thursday. The Billhas been already passed by theRajya Sabha. Now it will go forPresident’s approval.

Under the Act, theChairperson and members ofthe Board of the NationalTrust can hold office for a termof three years from the date oftheir appointment or untiltheir successors are appointed,whichever is longer.

The Bill amends this pro-vision to fix the tenure of the

Chairperson and members ofthe Board to three years.Further, the Bill states that thecentral government will initi-ate the process for appoint-ment of the Chairperson orany member of the Board, atleast six months prior to theexpiry of his tenure.

The Act states that if theChairperson or members ofthe Board resign, they will con-tinue in office until theappointment of their successoris made by the central gov-ernment.

The Bill amends this toallow the Chairperson ormembers of the Board to holdoffice till their resignation isaccepted by the CentralGovernment.

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The Consumer ProtectionBill 2018, which will

replace the ConsumerProtection Act, 1986, aims atstrengthening the rights ofconsumers and providing amechanism for redressal oftheir complaints regardingdefects in goods and defi-ciency in services was passedby the Lok Sabha on Thursday.

Consumer AffairsMinister Ram Vilas Paswansaid the legislation had notbeen amended since last threedecades and needed changesfor strengthening the rights of

the consumers.The Bill, among other

things, proposes setting up ofthe Consumer DisputesRedressal Commission andforums at the District, Stateand National levels for adju-dicating consumer complaints.It will have the power to set upa Central ConsumerProtection Authority to pro-mote, protect and enforce con-sumer rights as a class.Tathagata Satpathy (BJD) saidthe Bill gives excess power tothe bureaucracy and shouldhave sunset provisions underwhich the Bill can come toParliament for amendments.

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Russian President VladimirPutin’s special envoy Zamir

Kabulov on Thursday heldtalks with Foreign SecretaryVijay Gokhale and other offi-cials of the External AffairsMinistry on ways to bringpeace and stability in war-rav-aged Afghanistan.

External Affairs MinistrySpokesperson Raveesh Kumarsaid both sides reiterated theirsupport for an Afghan-led andAfghan-owned inclusive peaceand reconciliation process.

In the meetings, the

Russian side briefed on theirefforts to support Afghan peaceprocess through Moscow for-mat of talks.

Kumar said it was agreed tomaintain regular bilateral con-sultations and coordinationincluding in the context ofinternational fora with theshared objective to promotepeace, security, stability, unityand prosperity in Afghanistan.

“It was agreed to hold thenext round of consultations inMoscow in 2019,” he said.

Kabulov held delegation-level talks with Joint Secretary(Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran

division) Deepak Mittal. Helater met Gokhale. India hasbeen actively involved in recon-struction activities inAfghanistan. Last month, Indiaattended in a “non-official”capacity a conference underMoscow format of talks whichwas hosted by Russia and par-ticipated by the Taliban as wellas representatives from sever-al countries including Pakistan,China and Iran.

India made it clear that itsparticipation was in sync withits Afghan policy and assertedthat attending the meeting wasnot talking to the Taliban at all.

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The probe into the missingtemple idols in Tamil Nadu

(numbering more than 5,000idols) took a new turn over thelast two days as a team of policeofficials gave a complaint toState Police chief TK Rajendranagainst AG Ponn Manickavel,special officer heading thewing, alleging harassment bythe latter.

A team of 12 idol wingofficials called on the SPC andsubmitted the petition againstPonn Manickavel. Later theyspoke to the media, a hithertounheard practice in TamilNadu Police. Manickavelremained incommunicado.

The petitioners said thatthe Special Officer was forcingthem to book cases and inves-tigate them without necessaryevidence. “Officers who donot follow his instructions arebeing scolded and intimidatedby the special officer,” said oneof the officials.

But devotees are of theview that this petition has beensubmitted with the intention tosabotage the probe into the

stolen idols.“Somebody in the

Government does not like theprobe to reach the logical con-clusion and the booking of cul-prits. No police officer woulddare to submit a petitionagainst his superior withoutsupport for the departmentofficials as well as politicians,”said Jebamani Mohanraj, a for-mer CBI official who hadprobed the Rajiv Gandhi assas-sination case.

He pointed out that PonnManickavel was appointed asofficer on special duty by theMadras High Court on the dayof his superannuation fromservice. “The court had full

trust in Manickavel and thatwas why he was given exten-sion of service. There were nocomplaints against Manickavel

for the 35 years he served thepolice department. Perhaps theauthorities and those who wereagainst him might have felt thatonce he retires from service, theprobe into the missing idols toowould come to an end,” saidMohanraj.

The missing temple idolsare worth thousands of croresand many officials of the HinduReligious & CharitableDepartment were under thescanner of the Idol Wing. Allmajor political parties in theState had staged protestdemonstration against PonnManickavel for arresting ofHR&CE officials.

“More than 7,000 antique

and ancient idols have beenmissing from the temples andthe HRCE officials are silentabout the same,” said Rama

Gopalan, leader, Hindu Front,an umbrella organisations ofvarious Hindutwa outfits inTamil Nadu.

Manickavel had retrievedthe ancient bronze idols ofRaja Raja Chola I and his royalconsort Lokama Devi whichwent missing from ThanjavurBig Temple more than 50 yearsago. These idols are valuedmore than �150 crore in inter-national market.

A former police chief saidthat the move againstManickavel smacked of a kindof cover up. “We have to findout the reason behind the dis-appearance of these templeidols. There is every chance of

a major conspiracy behind thetheft of these idols. The motivecould be to shut down the tem-ples. Once the idols go missing,the temples too get shut down,”he said.

Mohanraj said the phonecalls made and received by theofficers should be probed. “It isinteresting to note that com-plaints against Manickavelwere made after it was knownthat the Madras High Courthad quashed the governmentorder transferring the idol theftcase to the CBI and Manickavelwas given an extension,” hesaid.

Rangarajan Narasimhan, avedic scholar based in Tiruchy,said that Manickavel was run-ning a race with one of his legstied. “He is not getting any helpfrom he government r the gov-ernment lawyer while arrestingthe suspects. The idl missingcases has both the DMK andthe AIADMK leaders asaccused,” said Narasimhan.

The mystery behind themissing idols and the vanishingtemple lands (50,000 acres havedisappeared) are becoming curi-ous by the days and has snow-balled into a major scam.

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In an apparent effort to keepthe beleaguered farmers in

good humour in the run-up tothe 2019 Lok Sabha polls, theBJP-led saffron allianceGovernment on Thursdayannounced an ex-gratia pay-ment of �200 per quintal to allthose onion growers who wereforced to dispose of their pro-duce in a distress sale duringthe last one and a half months.

At the weekly State Cabinetmeeting chaired by ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavis,the Maharashtra Governmentdecided to make an ex gratiapayment to onion who wereforced their produce at “verylow prices”, at the rate of �200per quintal with upper limit of200 quintals per onion farmerfor all the onion purchased bythe State Agricultural MarketingCommittee from November 1

2018 to December 15, 2018.“At its Cabinet meeting

held earlier in the day, the StateCabinet approved �150 crore asa relief to the onion growerswho were forced to sell theirproduce to the state and districtAgriculture MarkingCommittees at very low prices.

An ex gratia payment will bemade to the beneficiary farm-ers will at the rate of �200 perquintal with upper limit of200 quintals per onion farmerfor all the onion sold fromNovember 1 2018 to December15, 2018,” Maharashtra’sPrincipal Secretary

(Agricultural Marketing)Anoop Kumar said.

Onion is a cash crop inMaharashtra, where crop isharvested during Kharif, lateKharif and Rabi seasons. Giventhe bountiful crop this year,there was a glut of stocks ofonion at arriving at the variousdistrict and State agriculturalmarketing committee officesduring the month ofNovember. The stocks thatarrived at the various market-ing committees accounted forthe 41.23 lakh quintals.

“The State Governmentwill make an ex-gratia paymentto 75 Lakh quintals (41.23lakh quintals produced tillNovember 18 and 33.73 Lakhquintals produced tillDecember 15. The ex-gratiapayments will be crediteddirectly to the bank accounts ofthe beneficiary farmers,”Kumar said.

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Union Minister NitinGadkari on Thursday

inaugurated and laid founda-tion stones for national high-ways projects worth �9,533crore in Arunachal Pradesh.These infrastructure projectswill transform the picture ofStates in the North-easternregion of the country by way ofdevelopment, job creation,tourism and employment forthe youth, the Road Transportand Highways Minister said.

“Gadkari inaugurated/laythe foundation for nationalhighways projects worth �9,533crore at separate events inRoing and Ziro in ArunachalPradesh on Thursday,” theMinistry of Road Transportand Highways said in a state-ment.

The Minister was accom-panied by the State ChiefMinister Pema Khandu andUnion Minister of State for

Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju. Complementing the agen-

cies involved for timely com-pletion of the projects despiteobstacles like land acquisitionand forest and environmentclearances, Gadkari said theseprojects will ensure 24X7 con-nectivity between places and

save travel time between Assamand Arunachal Pradesh.

The Minister stated thatroad network in ArunachalPradesh has increased from1,804 km to 2,885 km in thelast four years since 2014, anda sum of �28,000 crore is beingspent on construction of high-ways in the state.

In Roing, Gadkari inaugu-rated bridges across Dibangand Lohit River System, includ-ing approach road betweenChowkham-Digaru.

“The total length of thisproject is 30.95 km and cost�1,508.30 crore. The Ministeralso inaugurated the recentlytwo-laned, 25.14 kmMahadevpur to Buri Dihingsection of NH-52 B, con-structed at a cost of �136.60crore and 22.23 km Bordumsa-Namchik section of NH-52 Bconstructed at a cost of �189.91crore,” the statement said.

The Minister laid the foun-dation for about 96.47 km of

national highways projectscosting �2,114.82 crore inRoing.

These include two-laningof the 74.86 km Roing-HunliSection of Hunli-Anini Road(NH-313) at a cost of �1,718.59crore; two-laning of the11.31km Hayuliang-HawaiRoad section of NH-113 at�256.66 crore and the 10.3 kmHunli-Anini section of NH-313at a cost of �139.37 crore.

In Ziro, Gadkari laid thefoundation for 472 km ofnational highways costing�5,583.92 crore.

These include the 26.12Km Akajan-Likabali-Bameroad at �374.73 crore, and sixpackages on Joram-KolorlangRoad on NH 713 for a totallength of 94.39 km and cost�1,253.19 crore, and re-launched a project for two-lan-ing of 351.38 km of Potin toPangin section of NH-229 at acost of �3,956 crore, the state-ment said.

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Back home after six years ina Pakistani jail, software

engineer Hamid Nihal Ansarion Thursday said he wants tomove on, instead of ‘reopeningold wounds’ about the pain heendured during this period.

Ansari, 33, who reachedMumbai to a cheering welcomeby friends and relatives, said hewants to get a job and then finda suitable match for himself(pehle naukri phir chhokri).

“I don’t want to recall whathappened with me (while inPakistan). I want to look at thefuture,” he said.

Ansari was arrested inPakistan in 2012 for allegedlyentering that country fromAfghanistan reportedly to meeta woman he had befriendedonline. Pakistan slapped espi-onage charges against him. Hewas repatriated on Tuesdayand handed over to India at theWagah-Attari border.

Ansari and his parentslanded here Thursday morningfrom Delhi by an Air Indiaflight. Relatives, friends andwell-wishers greeted andcheered for him as he came outof the airport.

The family then left for theirresidence in suburban Versova.

When they reached home, theywere greeted by a large numberof neighbours who were waitingto catch his glimpse.

Speaking to media per-sons at the airport, Ansarisaid, “I made some mistakesbut now I want to look aheadto the future.”

“I can’t describe my feelingsof the moment I crossed theborder and touched the Indiansoil and caught a glimpse of myparents, who were waiting onthe Indian side,” he said.

“I then realised how muchthey must have suffered for me.I wanted to meet them imme-diately, but could not as I wason the Pakistani side for sometime,” Ansari said.

Asked about an eye injury

he apparently suffered duringinterrogation at the Pakistaniprison, Ansari said the inter-rogation process cannot beavoided.

“During the interrogation,the retina of my eye got rup-tured. But, they admitted me toa government hospital and itwas treated...they compensat-ed for it (treatment),” he said.

Ansari attributed analleged attack on him inPeshawar prison to a “misun-derstanding” which escalated.

On his plans, the softwareengineer said first there will bea celebration with the family. “Ihave to find a job and after thatI also have to find a woman toget married,” he said.

Ansari was imprisoned in

the Peshawar jail after beingsentenced by a military courton December 15, 2015.

According to officialsources, India issued 96 notesverbales to Pakistan seekingconsular access to Ansari. Thedecision to release him wastaken due to relentless pressurefrom New Delhi, they said.

Shortly before he reachedIndia, his mother Fauzia hadtold reporters that the prayersof the family and of all thosewho wished for his safe returnwere answered. His fatherNihal had said it was a newdawn for them.

Ansari and his family havethanked External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj andher ministry for persisting withthe case and taking it up withIslamabad.

His jail term ended onDecember 15 but he was notable to leave for India as hislegal documents were notready. On Thursday, thePeshawar High Court gavePakistan government a month’stime to complete his repatria-tion process.

Ansari had an emotionalinteraction with Swaraj onWednesday as he narrated thedifficult phase he had to endurethrough in Pakistan.

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In a major blow to protectionof Western Ghats, Karnataka

Government has rejected therecommendations of KKasturirangan Committeereport.

This is the second time theState Government has rejectedthe report based on recom-mendations made by a sub-committee. Informing this inthe ongoing Winter Session ofthe Karnataka Council atBelagavi, State’s Forest MinisterR Shankar has said that hewould request the State Cabinetto reject the report as it ham-pered the livelihoods of thou-sands of people living in theWestern Ghats region inKarnataka. He also said ifimplemented it will hinderdevelopment.

Forest Minister Shankarsaid, “The sub-committee head-ed by me has decided to rejectthe recommendations of thereport. The report will be placedbefore the Cabinet soon. We willurge the Government to conveyto the Centre that the State does

not want to implement thereport. Though Karnataka hasrejected the report earlier, theCentre has not accepted thesame. It has sent us a fourthnotification.” He was replying toa question by the CongressMLC Ivan D’souza who haddemanded that the Governmentmake its stand clear on this issue.

The KasturiranganCommittee has recommendedthat 20,668 sq km spread across11 districts in the WesternGhats cradling 1,592 villages bedeclared as Ecological SensitiveAreas (ESA). When the Centresought Karnataka to demarcate

the ESA through its first twonotifications, the state govern-ment had requested theMinistry of Environment andForests (MoEF) to excludepopulated areas, farmlands andplantations from being declaredas ESAs.

The previousSiddaramaiah-led CongressGovernment had also rejectedthe same in 2017.

The lawmakers from thisregion have been opposing theimplementation of theKasturirangan Report and thestate government has acceptedtheir demand.

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Harping on the slogan of‘Regional Autonomy’,

National Conference presidentand sitting member ofParliament from Srinagar,Farooq Abdullah on Thursdayannounced if voted to power aresolution seeking ‘Regional

Autonomy’ for all three regionsof the State will be passed in theAssembly.

“If voted to power in theState Assembly our party willpass a resolution seeking‘Regional Autonomy’ for allthree regions of the State with-in 30 days of the Governmentformation,” announcedAbdullah soon after welcomingformer BJP MLA GaganBhagat in the party here at theSher-e-Kashmir Bhawan.

Bhagat was recently expelledby the BJP for indulging in anti-party activities in the State. Herepresented RS Pura Assemblyseat in the State Assembly.

Earlier, on June 26, 2000 theJammu & Kashmir LegislativeAssembly had adopted by voicevote a resolution accepting thereport of the State AutonomyCommittee (SAC), recom-mending greater autonomy tothe State.

Ten days later on July 5,2000 the Union Governmentheaded by Atal BihariVajpayee had rejected the

June 26 resolution saying itwas unacceptable becauseessentially it was “a plea forrestoration of the pre- 1953”status to the State.

The top brass of theNational Conference has beenmaking it a poll issue ahead ofevery election season in theState but till date they havefailed to realise their dream ofgranting ‘autonomy’ to theState.

Political observers feelcommon man is not seeking‘Autonomy’. “By and large peo-ple demand corruption freeand transparent governance inthe State. By raking up the issueof Regional Autonomy,National Conference is onceagain misleading the people ofthe State and trying to fill thegap left behind by the failure ofthe BJP-PDP Government inthe State.

A political observed toldThe Pioneer, “The State auton-omy got eroded when leadersof Kashmir based political par-ties were ruling the State.”

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Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee too has

chosen not to speak beforehandon the issue of DMK leader MKStalin’s projecting Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi as theprime ministerial candidate ofthe projected grand alliance ofthe anti-BJP parties.

Suggesting that the timewas not ripe to make a choiceor entertain such discussions,the Chief Minister said, “I amnot alone. We are all workingtogether. So whatever all thepolitical parties who have cometogether decide we will acceptthat. Now is not the right time.Let us hope for the day whenthere will be a good change.”

She was responding onThursday to a question onwhether she too felt like Stalinthat Gandhi was the rightchoice for the top job.

Incidentally the TrinamoolCongress leaders have oftenprojected Mamata herself as aprime ministerial candidateconsidering his track record asan administrator and a mes-senger of development.

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More than 12 years after the“fake” encounters of noto-

rious criminals SohrabuddinShaikh and Tusliram Prajapatiand the rape-murder of KausarBi, a special CBI court willdeliver its verdict in the com-bined politically significantcase on Friday.

At the hearing held onDecember 7, AdditionalSessions Judge SJ Sharma, whopresides over a special CBIcourt, had fixed 21 Decemberas the date of judgement.

Two days ahead of the cru-cial verdict, Azam Khan — a keywitness and associate ofSohrabuddin and Tulsiram —had filed a plea before the spe-cial CBI court saying that his tes-timony was “incomplete” andsought to be re-examined on theground that he faced “unrelent-ing torture” for 20 days and was,hence, scared to name IPS offi-cers and politicians during hisdeposition before the specialCBI court last month.

During his depositionbefore the special CBI court,

Khan had on November 3 thatSohrabuddin had told him thatformer Gujarat IPS officer D GVanzara had given a contract tokill Haren Pandya, senior BJPleader and former GujaratHome Minister in 2003.

Pandya, it may be recalled,was shot dead in Ahmedabadon March 26, 2003. While thetrial court had held 12 accusedguilty, the Gujarat High Courthad acquitted all in 2011. Theappeal filed against the acquit-tal by the Gujarat governmentand CBI is pending before theSupreme Court.

Special Judge Sharma isexpected to hear Azam Khan’splea on Friday morning beforedelivering the verdict in theSohrabuddin Shaikh andTusliram Prajapati “fake”encounter case.

Sohrabuddin was alleged-ly killed in a fake encounter on26 November, 2005, whileTulsiram too was eliminated insimilar fashion on 28December, 2006. And sinceKausar Bi was witness to theabduction of Sohrabuddin andpossibly Tulsiram, she was

allegedly raped and murdered. Both encounters of

Sohrabuddin and Tulsiramwere carried out by the ATS ofthe Gujarat police.

The alleged fake encoun-ters of notorious gangstersSohrabuddin and Tulsiram anddisappearance of the former'swife Kausar Bi during 2005-06had resulted in a major politi-cal fallout involving the BJP-ruled Gujarat.

The Prosecution’s case wasthat Sohrabuddin had connec-tions with Lashkar-e-Tayyebaand was conspiring to assassi-nate an “important politicalleader”, presumably then chiefminister and current PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

Initially, there were in all 38accused in the case. Of them,16 has been discharged — 15by the special CBI court andone by the Bombay HighCourt.

The accused discharged inthe case include BJP’s currentnational President and thenGujarat Minister of State forHome Amit Shah, RajasthanHome Minister Gulab Chandra

Kataria and high-profileDeputy Inspector General DGVanzara, who headed the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) andknown for several encounters,Superintendent of PoliceDinesh MN andSuperintendent of PoliceRajkumar Pandian.

All the IPS officers, arrest-ed for the twin encounters,have been discharged.

In all, 22 accused weretried during the trial. Theyincluded two DeputySuperintendents of Police,Senior Inspectors, Inspector,Sub-Inspectors, Assistant Sub-Inspectors, Head Constablesand Constables of Gujarat andRajasthan.

During the course of thetrial, 210 witnesses were exam-ined, of which 92 turned hostile.

When the court recordedtheir statement under Section313 of the Code of CriminalProcedure, all the accused hadclaimed innocence and saidthey were arrested because ofthe rivalry among top policeofficials and other factors stem-ming then prevailing political

situation in Gujarat. On the last day of final

arguments in the case, CBIcounsel B P Raju admittedthat there had been "lacunae"in the central agency's investi-gation as they took over thecase five years after the allegedincidents.

"The Sohrabuddinencounter took place in 2005,while the Tulsiram encounterhappened in 2006. We came inpicture in 2010," Raju told thecourt.

So much so that some keywitnesses turned hostile duringthe trial, weakening the CBI'scase.

On his part, the Judgeobserved: "I don't blame CID.I don't blame CBI. There arestatements and witnesses. Ifthey come here and say some-thing else, it's not your fault.You did your job.....both sidesdid their job well....your workis over, my work starts now."

The CBI, however, main-tained that they have enoughmaterial to prove that both theencounters were genuine.However, the defence counsels

in the case stated that theProsecution had failed to provethe case beyond reasonabledoubt.

During the last phase of thetrial, a prosecution witnessAzam Khan, who too is acriminal under custody, toldthe court that Sohrabuddinmight have had a role in themurder of the then Minister ofState for Home Haren Pandya,who he claimed had been killedon March 26, 2003, at theinstance of Vanzara.

It may be recalled thatSohrabuddin, a “dreaded crim-inal”, and his wife Kausar Biwere killed in an alleged fakeencounter in November 2004by the Gujarat Police nearGandhinagar in Gujarat. Thecase assumed considerablepublic importance owing to thealleged involvement of some ofthe high-profile politicians andIPS officers in it.

An aide Tulsiram Prajapati,who was the prime witness tothe killings, was arrested by thepolice but was later killed in anencounter in December 2006after the law-enforcers claimed

he tried to escape from custody.Later, the police had

named 33 persons as accusedin the case. Shah, who wasGujarat home minister at therelevant time in 2005, the thenhome minister of Rajasthanand several Gujarat IPS officers,lower police officials from bothstates besides Andhra Pradesh,were among the accused.

Several police officers fromGujarat were among the 33accused in the "fake" encoun-ters of Sohrabuddin Shaikh,Kausar Bi in November 2005and Prajapati in December2006.

The alleged Sohrabuddinfake encounter case was trans-ferred to Mumbai in September2012 at CBI's request for fairtrial. In 2013, the SupremeCourt had clubbed TulsiramPrajapati's encounter killingcase with that of Sohrabuddin.

In December, 2014, SpecialCBI Judge MB Gosavi inMumbai discharged Shah and16 other co-accused, citingeither lack of sanction for pros-ecution or insufficient evi-dence against them.

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Uttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath said that

the efficient implementationof the Central Government-sponsored schemes likeSwachchh Bharat, PrimeMinister’s Housing Scheme andSaubhagya Scheme for provid-ing free electricity connectionto the poor and AyushmanBharat health scheme had givena clear image makeover to theonce laggard State which hasemerged as favoured destina-tion for the investors.

The CM said theGovernment is looking forwardto present the next Budget of2019-10 in February next yearso that UP could take yetanother leap on the path ofdevelopment.

“Ensuring that the benefitsof welfare scheme reach thebeneficiaries without any dis-crimination is the prerequisitefor changing the perceptionabout Uttar Pradesh and mak-ing it the preferred destinationfor investors,” Yogi said in theUP Assembly on Thursday inhis address ahead of the pas-sage of the second supplemen-tary grants amounting to�8,054 crore.

Yogi reiterated his resolvethat his Government hasensured that the benefit of allthe Government schemes reach

all sections of society withoutdiscrimination on the basis ofcaste and religion as was thepractice during the previousSamajwadi Party regime.

The CM said with the pas-sage of the second supplemen-tary grants, UP had become thenumber one state of India interms of the size of the Budget,which is now �4.70 lakh crore.

“It was often said in nation-al seminar circuit and amongthe experts of developmentthat India will surge ahead ifthe centrally-sponsoredschemes for the poor are suc-cessfully implemented acrossthe states. I can say with pridethat with the support of allstakeholders, UP has per-formed well and achieved thetargets, which has brought pos-itive change in the lives of theteeming millions of poor peo-ple of the state,” Yogi said.

“UP has made a big leap inthe implementation of the san-

itation programme. Againstthe earlier 44 per cent coveragein the state and national aver-age of 96 per cent, UttarPradesh has achieved 100 percent sanitation coverage whereas many as 2.49 crore familieshave been provided toilets asper the baseline survey. Around44 lakh families not covered inthe baseline survey will also becovered by the sanitation pro-gramme,” the CM said.

“Excellent team work hasensured the success of the PrimeMinister’s Housing Scheme bothin rural and urban areas. Thedeserving poor families fromthe Dalit and deprived sectionsof society have so far been pro-vided 8.81 lakh housing unitsand one lakh more will be pro-vided houses by the end of thecurrent 2018-19 fiscal. For theurban areas, 7.25 lakh housingunits have been sanctioned andone lakh families have been pro-vided the houses,” the ChiefMinister said.

On the availability of powerand investment friendly atmos-phere, the CM said, “We haveensured power supply to allparts without discrimination.Be it Etawah or Lucknow, all aregetting round-the-clock powersupply and the availability ofpower has also added to the agri-culture productivity as farmersare using cheap power for agri-cultural operations.”

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The Bombay High Court onThursday confirmed the

death penalty awarded by a spe-cial women’s court in October2015 to convict ChandrabhanSudam Sanap alias Chaukya(29) for raping, killing anddumping a severely burnt anddecomposed body of 23-year-old software engineer EstherAnuhya from Andhra Pradesh,in January 2014.

Upholding the verdict givenby a special women’s court inMumbai three years ago, a HCBench comprising Justice RanjitMore and Justice Bharati Dangreobserved that the case fell in the“rarest of rare” category and thecrime had “shocked the con-science of society.”

The HC Bench noted thatnow 32-year-old convict hadnot seen any “remorse” for hisghastly act and said that it didnot see possibility of the convictreforming, and “such a personremains a menace to society.”

It may be recalled that onOctober 30, 2015, a specialwomen’s court in Mumbai hadhanded out death sentence tothen 29-year-old vagabond andhistory-sheeter from Nashikconvicted ChandrabhanSudam, a vagabond fromNashik, for raping, killing anddumping a severely burnt anddecomposed body of 23-year-old software engineer EstherAnuhya from Andhra Pradesh,in January 2014

Pronouncing sentence onSanap, Additional SessionsJudge Vrushali Joshi had said:

"The case falls under thecategory of the rarest of rare,hence the accused is awardeddeath sentence..For the chargeof murder, the convict shall behanged by his neck till he isdead"

The Judge had sentencedSanap to life imprisonmentunder charges of rape underthe IPC section 376 A (com-mitting rape and inflictinginjury causing death). Shehanded out ten years impris-onment under 376 (2) (m)(commission of persistent sex-ual assault).

Additional Sessions JudgeVrushali Joshi, who presidesover a special women's court,had earlier convicted Sanapunder sections 302 (murder),376 (rape) and 201 (causingdisappearance of evidence ofoffence) of the Indian PenalCode (IPC).

On May 27, 2014, theMumbai crime branch policehad filed a 542-page charge-sheet before the specialwomen’s court. The charge-sheet comprised statements of76 witnesses.

On its part, theProsecution had built a watertight case against the accused.He had been charged on eightcounts including murder, rapeand destruction of evidence.

Employed with TataConsultancy Services (TCS),Anuhya – a native ofMachilipattnam in AndhraPradesh had disappeared fromLTT shortly after arriving at theterminus by theVishakhapattnam-LTT Expressfrom Vijayawada on January 5,

2014. Anuhya had thenreturned to Mumbai from hernative town after celebratingChristmas with her familymembers. However, she neverreached the YWCA hostel atAndheri in north-westMumbai.

Anuhya’s severely burntand decomposed body wasrecovered 11 days later onJanuary 16 from a marshy landat Bhandup adjoining theEastern Express Highway innorth-east Mumbai.

The investigations by thecrime branch sleuths of theMumbai police revealed thatSanap – pretending to be a taxidriver – approached Anuhyawhen she landed in LTT from

Vijayawada on January 5.Sanap reportedly offered toagreed to drop the victim girlat her Andheri hostel for Rs300.

However, when she cameout of the platform, she wastold that he had a motorbike(owned actually by his friendNandkishore Sahu) and hewould drop her at her hostel.

However, later he took herfrom the Eastern ExpressHighway to the service roadand then the bushes inBhandup, where he allegedly“forced upon her”. When thevictim girl resisted heavily, hebanged her head on the groundtwo to three times and thenstrangulated her. He took hertrolley and haversack away,but forgot to take the cellphone.

Later, he narrated the inci-dent to Sahu, who is his closefriend and took his bike againto the spot to look for the cell-phone. However, he could notget it and attempted to burn thecorpse. After this, be fled toNashik.

Sanap was arrested after hisdescription matched with aman seen walking along withthe victim woman captured onthe CCTV footage at the LTTin Mumbai on January 5, 2014.

An alcoholic and a wom-aniser, Sanap –who is marriedthrice — was seen wearing thesame clothes — white T-shirtand blue jeans he was last seenin the CCTV footage at theLokmanya Tilak Terminus(LTT) in Mumbai while exit-ing with Anuhya on January 5,2014, when the investigatorsaccosted him.

Given to easy life, Sanapwas leading the life of avagabond in Mumbai.Operating from the Railwaystations in Mumbai, Sanapwould cheat gullible peoplearriving in the city. He was alsoreportedly into lifting mobileand bags, particularly fromthe railway premises. He waswanted for offences in Itarsi,Nashik Road and Manmad innorth Maharashtra. He wasalso notified as a proclaimedoffender in a case by Gamdevipolice station in Mumbai.

During the interrogation,Sanap confessed to the crime.

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Congress members in theUttar Pradesh Assembly

staged a noisy walkout over“demolition” of temples andbuildings for the KashiVishwanath corridor inVaranasi and recovery of hun-dreds of Shivalings from thedebris.

The Congress membersled by their leader AjayKumar Lalu trouped into theWell of the House when itassembled on Thursday,demanding resignation ofYogi Adityanath Governmentfor “playing with the senti-ments of 125 crore ‘SanatanDharma’ followers”.

“ This Governmentswears by the name of bhag-wan (god) and in Shiv kinagri the government isdemolishing temples andthrowing away Shivalings.What kind of devotion isthis,” Lalu asked as SpeakerHridaya Narayan Dikshitasked him to go to his seat.

The Congress LegislatureParty leader said that theauthorities in Varanasi werethrowing away the Shivalingsand other idols in the name ofmaking Kashi Vishwanath cor-ridor. He said the Congresswould not tolerate this.

The Speaker tried to paci-fy the Congress members butthey did not budge.

Later, when theGovernment refused to sayanything, the Congress mem-bers staged a noisy walkout.

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Bharatiya Janata Party’smember in Legislative

Council, Bukkal Nawab, onThursday sparked a new con-troversy by calling LordHanuman a Muslim.

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath had in a recentelection rally described LordHanuman as a forest dwellerand a Dalit.

“Lord Hanuman belongs toall, and as far as I think,Hanumanji was actually aMuslim,” Bukkal Nawab, whohad left the Samajwadi Party tojoin the BJP after the YogiAdityanath Government cameto power, told a select group ofmediapersons.

He argued that the deity’sname was very similar to thenames among Muslims andmany of them were namedafter him.

“Hamara manana haiHanuman ji Musalman the.Isliye Musalmanon ke andar jonaam rakha jata hai... Rehman,Ramzan, Farman, Zishan,Qurban... jitne bhi naam rakheyjaate hain, woh karib karib unhipar rakhe jaate hain,” he said.

Nawab, 64, who publiclyoffered prayers at a Hanumantemple last year, is the latestpolitical figure to have spokenon Lord Hanuman’s identity.

While campaigning duringthe recent Assembly election,

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathhad reportedly said, “Hanumanwas a forest dweller, deprivedand a Dalit. Bajrang Baliworked to connect all Indiancommunities together, fromnorth to south and east to west.”

On December 4, formerBJP MP Savitribai Phule hadtaken exception to the mannerin which the deity was depicted.

“Lord Hanuman was aDalit and a slave of manuwadis.He was a Dalit and a human. Hedid everything for Lord Ram,then why was he given a tail anda blackened face?” she asked.

A Jain priest in Bhopal hasclaimed Lord Hanuman wasneither a Dalit nor a tribal, buta Jain.

Bukkal Nawab had given uphis Legislative Council seat topave the way for a BJP Ministerto become a legislator within thestipulated six-month period andcontinue in the Government.After openly supporting theconstruction of a Ram temple atthe disputed site in Ayodhya, theprominent Shia politician last

year donated a 30-kg brass bellat a famous Hanuman temple.He offered prayers there,prompting the Samajwadi Partyto comment: “It is nothing buta publicity stunt. He is hoppingfrom one temple to another tohog media limelight.”

When the BJP returned thefavour and gave him ticket inLegislative Council biennial elec-tions, he said, “My wish has beenfulfilled by Lord Hanuman.”

During the 2017 UPAssembly poll campaign,Bukkal Nawab had caused a stirby saying he would be happy tosee a Ram temple come up atthe disputed site in Ayodhyaand he would help in the causeby carrying the first brick forthe temple at Ayodhya. Healso promised to contribute �15crore towards the temple’s con-struction and a ‘mukut’(crown) for Lord Ram.

Reacting to Nawab’s state-ment, Sharad Sharma of VHPsaid that the MLC’s claim ondeity pointed that the Muslimswere forced to adopt the religionand they should now return totheir original religion.

He said that probablyBukkal Nawab wanted to senda message among members ofhis community that theirancestors were followers ofLord Hanuman so after com-ing under the deity’s umbrella,they could achieve happinessand success.

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When LK Advani picked upand ran with the RamTemple movement as apolitical project to head-line the Indic impulse

that had been airbrushed from post-colo-nial historiography, it was a major ideo-logical intervention in national discoursealbeit one that could have done withoutthe unacceptable lumpen violence whichaccompanied it. Of course, there is nodenying that it helped the party hehelmed at the time, the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP), electorally; whether more ascause or effect is a debate for elsewhere.

What the BJP’s current leadershipneeds to understand, however, is thatwithout context we do not exist. So, to tryand re-heat what it apparently thinks isthe key trigger issue for the party’s coreconstituency — a Ram temple at Ayodhya(and for many also at disputed sites inMathura and Kashi) — and serve it up intime for the 2019 general election is like-ly to end as a damp squib. Because in themain, as this article will argue, the BJP isno longer seen even by its so-called coresupport base as the primary vehiclewhich will bring these demands tofruition. That does not mean these issuesare not important for millions of Indiansbut simply that the RSS and its affiliates,which have been agitating for and provid-ing the theoretical framework withinwhich these demands gained currencyover the decades, today have the organ-isational heft, intellectual tools and agit-prop ability to press their case indepen-dent of the BJP and with whicheveradministration that governs India.

It was Advani’s advent on the scenewhich, many conveniently forget, took theagitation for a Ram temple at Ayodhyaand through it the project to promote acivic nationalism contextualised in anIndic civilisational tradition out of itscrude, exclusivist provenance and madeIndia pause and think about our nation-state’s trajectory post-1947. From RajivGandhi to AB Vajpayee and MurliManohar Joshi, Narasimha Rao to GeorgeFernandes, the leading political figures oftheir times, not to mention the intelli-gentsia, all grappled with this political-theoretical riposte to an emerging andvery worrying — at least to most inde-pendent-minded, responsible citizenswho did not subscribe to a doctrinaireMarxist, neo-Islamist or effete-liberalworldview — differential citizenshipmodel premised on a negation of thenotion of an Indian exceptionalism sig-nalled by the overturning of the ShahBano judgment and made their peacewith it in different ways.

The impact of this engagement can beseen in contemporary India — from thetemple-hopping spree of Congress pres-

ident Rahul Gandhi during therecent Assembly polls cam-paign to the interventions bysecular intellectuals on thezeitgeist of the Hindu/Indictradition and the acceptanceby sober thinkers of the CentreRight that lumpen violenceneeded to be quelled far morerigorously than it eventuallywas. But today the boot is onthe other foot. Some of thesuccessors of Vajpayee, Advaniand Joshi in the BJP are unfor-tunately the rabble-rousersthemselves while the SanghParivar has started throwingup many more thinkers ofsome ability, confidence andsophistication than it did inthe past while its affiliateshave acquired the organisa-tional strength to demon-strate, agitate and protest tobuild pressure on issues closeto their heart on all politicalparties (sans those which seekto de-legitimise it ideological-ly like the Communist parties).

Against the backdrop ofsuch a landscape, the BJP, as apolitical party which was votedinto power with a brute major-ity in 2014 under the leader-ship of Narendra Modi, ishighly susceptible to thecharge that it wants to rake upthe emotive Ram temple issuefor electoral gain just beforethe Lok Sabha poll. The feed-back from the ground is if thatis indeed what is tried, thecharge will stick; if not whol-ly then at least very substan-

tially. This is, naturally, not tosuggest that as a political partythe BJP does not have the rightto lend its support to theagenda of its choice just as, say,the CPI-M has an unalienableright to demand the redistri-bution of wealth. All politicalparties also have to functionwithin the parameters of theConstitution. It follows, there-fore, that the BJP should havebeen working from the day itcame to power four-and-a-halfyears to pass relevant legisla-tion, including via joint sit-tings of Parliament if requiredgiven its lack of numbers inthe Rajya Sabha, on this trac-tion-generating issue for theparty faithful.

But it chose, in its wisdom,to go for the low-hanging fruitsuch as supporting anti-cowslaughter agitations whichsoon descended to randomvigilantism and led to agrotesque, violent and entire-ly unacceptable killing ofhuman beings whom mobs setupon because they were sus-pected of being involved incow smuggling/slaughter.Crucially, this issue was notsomething that needed to beput on the statute book as mostStates of the Union already hadpretty stringent laws to dealwith illegal cow/progenyslaughter. If the argument wasthat these laws were not beingimplemented rigorously, andthere is some truth to that,then (recognised) socio-cultur-

al organisations working in thefield needed to petition respec-tive State Governments withtheir concerns and build pub-lic pressure for stringent appli-cation of the law.

Why a ruling politicalparty elected to administer thecountry effectively thought itappropriate to wade into thisissue, especially when its cre-dentials as an upholder ofpolicies for cow protection asprescribed in the Constitutionwere not in doubt, remainsinexplicable.

Now, with the electionsclose, any attempt by the partyleadership to try and play onthe issues it could have but didnot take up will be subject tothe law of diminishingreturns. The BJP ought toresolve it will make the correc-tions required in its policyimplementation architectureand go to the people askingfor a renewed mandate on itsperformance, hoping for thebest. The electorate, while itmay overwhelmingly supportthe Ram temple as a matter offaith, is showing welcomesigns from a governance-accountability perspective ofvoting on development. If theRam temple and develop-ment-governance are positedas binaries, the BJP’s so-calledcore issue is likely to gettrumped even among thenon-card holding simpatico.

In any case, the Ram tem-ple is far too important and

sensitive an issue for political-electoral theatre. There needs,ideally, to be omnibus legisla-tion for temples at Ayodhya,Mathura and Kashi as part ofan inclusive, non-denomina-tional national project on thelines of the reconstruction ofSomnath with the participationof as many Indians as possibleregardless of ethnicity, jaatiand mode of worship. That isunlikely though not impossi-ble in the few months leftbefore the General Election. Tobe blunt, however, a Vajpayeemay have managed it but thecurrent dispensation does nothave a leader of that calibre.But then a Vajpayee also could-n’t get a decisive mandate likeModi did, so the ironies of his-tory continue apace.

In the interim, socio-cul-tural organisations, faith-based outfits and advocacygroups working on the groundand through the legal systemon the Ayodhya issue are bestplaced to take ownership of itand work on having a clearroadmap on dealing withwhichever party comes topower at Centre to ensure itsimplementation. If it’s the BJP,it should be asked to learnfrom its mistakes; if it’s theOpposition, it should be askednot to repeat them. Is theCongress listening?

(The writer is a seniorjournalist, a media consultantand commentator on contem-porary affairs.)

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Kamal Nath’s faux pas”(December 20). It is not for thefirst time that a politician hasexpressed his displeasure towardsmigrants from Uttar Pradesh andBihar. People from both theseStates have been targeted in thepast, too. It was only a few monthsback we saw the exodus of thou-sands of workers from Gujaratafter a worker was accused of rap-ing a minor girl there.

Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Kamal Nath, who him-self has been born and brought upin Uttar Pradesh, should nothave made such controversialremarks. It’s an open secret nowthat workers from these twoStates contribute significantly tomany of State economies likeDelhi, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat,Maharashtra, Madhya Pradeshand even some southern States.

Though Congress chief RahulGandhi has distanced himselffrom Nath’s controversial state-ment, both Gandhi and Nathshould apologise to the people ofUttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Bal Govind Noida

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Sir — As per reports, the BJP iswanting to give ticket to actorMadhuri Dixit for the 2019 elec-tion; though the party hasdenied it. We all know thatfilms and politics are very differ-ent areas. They are poles apart.

However, in recent times, itis seen that artists are joining

politics, though that does notessentially mean that an actor isa politician unless the person hasa political career or links, direct-ly or indirectly, to promote him-self or herself.

Few film stars are somewhatsuccessful in politics, but theirnumbers are exceptionally low.The phenomenon of artists-turned-politicians in south India

is not new. One example is thatof Tamil superstar Rajinikanth. He has the advan-tage of a huge fan following andthey love and worship him likea god. His entry will be benefi-cial to any political party. Can Ms Dixit have the sameeffect?

Mahesh KapasiVia email

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Sir — It was pleasing to learn thatIndia is going to give an amountof $1.4 billion as financial assis-tance to Maldives. It is highlyappreciated step taken by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi for aneighbouring country. Such heart-touching moves show India’s gen-erosity and humanity.

MFU TandviNew Delhi

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Sir — Sajjan Kumar’s convictionmust have brought relief notonly to the families of the victimsbut also to every member of theSikh community. No amount ofpraise would be sufficient forJagdish Kaur, who fought arelentless and brave battle for jus-tice. Looking ahead, there is aneed to set up special fast-trackcourts to deal with such horren-dous cases of mass murders,lynchings and mob violence.

A MohanChennai

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This year saw all major stakeholders inAfghanistan making tremendousefforts to bring peace to the war-rav-aged country, albeit for diverse reasons.The next presidential election is sched-

uled for April 2019 and President Ashraf Ghanihas already announced that he will seek re-elec-tion. While he may have taken some tough deci-sions that may have earned him respect amongthe political circles, there have been letdowns, too,both on political and security fronts. This is thereason why he has been more determined to bringpeace to Afghanistan. And if he succeeds, it willbe a major achievement for him and his countryas well. In February, Ghani offered the Talibanunconditional peace talks. The Taliban, too, hon-oured the same and for three days, there was peaceduring Eid, after 17 years of incessant fighting.

The US, which is fighting its longest war inAfghanistan, appointed Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzadas the Special Representative for AfghanistanReconciliation in the US Department of State, to bro-ker peace between the Government and the Taliban.In November, a two-day conference was held inGeneva to discuss developments in Afghanistan.Russia, which was forcibly evicted from Afghanistanabout 30 years ago and wanted to show its influencein the region, organised a meeting in Moscow onNovember 9, in which representatives from 12 coun-tries discussed the Afghan peace process. Althoughno tangible decision was taken, the participation bythe Taliban, representatives of the AfghanGovernment, China, Iran, Pakistan and India wasa great achievement.

Iran, China and Russia, too, want peace inAfghanistan as the Islamic State’s (IS) influence is onthe rise. Iran is worried because the IS is a Sunni Salafiterrorist organisation that does not consider ShiaMuslims as true believers. It believes the terror organ-isation will make all efforts to trouble the Shia regimeover there. China, on the other hand, is already fac-ing an uprising by Uyghur Muslims in the XinjiangUyghur Autonomous Region and does not want IScontrol in Afghanistan as it will render wholeheart-ed assistance to Uyghur terrorist outfits.

The IS is becoming strong in northernAfghanistan, which is near to Uzbekistan, Tajikistanand Turkmenistan. These countries share a closerelationship with Russia. Second, Russia also hasa sizeable Muslim population and, hence, escalat-ing IS influence in Afghanistan would be detrimen-tal for Russia.

As regards Pakistan, which always claims thatIndia has no role to play in Afghanistan, and has alsoalleged that we have been using Afghanistan as a baseto instigate terrorist activities in the restive provinceof Balochistan, it has already acknowledged that Indiahas stakes in Afghanistan and its cooperation is nec-essary for the peace process in the war-torn coun-try. Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the Foreign Ministerof Pakistan, speaking in the National Assembly onDecember 10, said, “India also has stakes inAfghanistan and its cooperation will be needed.” Healso accepted the fact that Pakistan alone cannot bringpeace in Afghanistan.

It is a well-known fact that Pakistan has been fac-ing isolation, globally and is also passing through aneconomic crisis. Its all-weather friend China hasrefused to extend financial assistance and theInternational Monetary Fund has put stringent con-

ditions to bail out Islamabad from the eco-nomic catastrophe. The US, which has inthe past bailed out Pakistan from econom-ic calamity, has also suspended all finan-cial assistance to Islamabad.

The above mentioned factors are aproof why Pakistan wants to show to theworld that it wants peace with India and,therefore, it has offered India to startpeaceful negotiations and has also accept-ed our role in Afghanistan.

Islamabad is also happy to receive aletter from US President Donald Trumpto assist the peace process in Afghanistan.Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khanalso met Khalilzad on December 5 inIslamabad. In the meeting, Khalilzadrequested Khan to make good use of hisoffice so that the Taliban can construc-tively participate in the peace negotia-tions. Khan promised to help and accept-ed that reconciliation is the only way out.Pakistan Army chief General QamarJaved Bajwa, too, wants to have cordialrelations with the US.

There are also reports that a four-member Taliban delegation from itspolitical office in Qatar also met Khalilzadand several Pakistani officials inIslamabad. The military-controlled InterServices Intelligence (ISI), which has aclose relationship with the top Talibanleadership, is also using its influence overthem to win confidence of the US officials.

Pakistan released Abdul GhaniBaradar, a senior Taliban leader, from theprison in order to support peace talks andbring an end to years of fighting. Khalilzadwill visit eight countries, which includesAfghanistan, Russia and the United ArabEmirates, to restore peace in the country.

Representatives of the Taliban reiter-ated their past stand that they do not con-

sider the present Afghan Government asa legitimate one and, hence, they want tonegotiate with the US. The Taliban, too,maintained that their fight will continueuntil all foreign troops and bases areremoved from Afghanistan. Taliban rep-resentatives accepted that their participa-tion in the conference helped reinforcetheir international position.

India, which follows the policy thatpeace talks must be led by the AfghanGovernment, also amended its strategy inview of the changes in regional and inter-national arena. Two non-official Indianrepresentatives attended the multi-nation-al conference in Moscow where they satwith representatives from the Taliban.

It is by now clear that all key playersclaim that they want to restore peace inAfghanistan but chances of peace areremote as interested parties are not work-ing cohesively. Their interests are polesapart and clash with each other on sev-eral occasions. Khalilzad met Taliban rep-resentatives in Qatar and discussed sev-eral important issues, including withdraw-al of US troops without representativesfrom the Afghan Government. The USwants peace in Afghanistan but does notwant to withdraw completely as in thatcase, Russia, China and Iran will enhancetheir domination in the country.

On similar lines, Russia wants toincrease its influence in Afghanistanafter 30 years of its unceremonious evic-tion. Moscow wants to contain the IS andalso hurt Washington as the latter did 30years ago. Saudi Arabia has been pump-ing money to needle Iran, while the lat-ter is busy strengthening Shia outfits.Besides, external forces, like the drug-mafia, also want insurgency to continueas security forces are more involved in

fighting the Taliban and the IS. By sidelining the Afghan

Government, the US and Russia havehighlighted the incapability and weaknessof Kabul. This has been damaging thepeace process in Afghanistan. Not onlydoes this marginalise a lawfully-electedGovernment but gives more legitimacy tothe Taliban. In fact, Afghanistan needs astrong Government that has the supportof all external powers. Only then can itcounter the Taliban and peace can berestored in the country.

On the other hand, the Taliban is notin a hurry to participate in the peaceprocess. US airstrikes are proving counter-productive and the Taliban is getting sym-pathy of the general public. Some, includ-ing Khalilzad, have suggested that thepresidential elections be postponed. Butthis is no solution to peace. Elections mustbe held and whosoever assumes powermust lead the negotiations and peaceshould be restored under his command.

On the one hand, the Talibanremains highly trained, armed andsheltered by Pakistan and sometimeseven by Russia. It can attack several loca-tions simultaneously. On the other, theAfghan Government is quite slow-moving in responding to the attacks bythe Taliban. This mitigates the credibil-ity of the Government. Friendly coun-tries must help strengthen the AfghanNational Defence and Security Forces(ANDSF) as the force remains ill-trained, ill-equipped, less motivatedand is also poorly-paid. High desertionrate in the ANDSF speaks volumes aboutthe weaknesses of the force.

(The writer is member of the UnitedServices Institute of India and the Institutefor Defence Studies and Analyses)

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Last month, something signifi-cant happened in small villagesin Hazaribagh district of

Jharkhand. Over 33 applicationsunder the Right To Information(RTI) Act were filed seeking infor-mation from panchayats and blockdevelopment offices. While the fil-ing of RTI applications may not seemextraordinary in itself, the fact thatthese were filed by the margin-alised, mostly uneducated, singlewomen living in remote villages,makes it remarkable.

They didn’t stop at just filing theRTI applications. The women fol-lowed up on their application withthe relevant authorities to ensurereplies were given. Armed with theofficial information gathered, they

took action against all those who haddenied them their right to food(under the Public DistributionScheme), land registration, electric-ity and pension under some pretextor the other. Such has been theirimpact that in one village, the PDSdealer informed the women firstwhen rations arrived at his shop sothat no one was left out.

This quiet revolution was possi-ble because of collectivisation of thewomen. Not just in Jharkhand, sin-gle women in many States are nolonger willing to accept injustice. Ina patriarchal society, where the iden-tity and value of a woman is deter-mined through her husband, womenthemselves are re-negotiating theirroles and becoming catalysts ofchange. They are not just being seenor heard but are also being recognisedas an independent, original voice.

This has largely been possibledue to platforms like the Ekal NariShakti Sangathan (ENSS) or theNational Forum for Single Women’sRights, which has empoweredoppressed women across the coun-

try to stand up for their rights.What began as a small groupformed in Rajasthan in 1999 byGinny Srivastava, the passionate 65-year-old co-founder of the Udaipur-based Astha Sansthan, a non-gov-ernmental organisation focussed onempowering the marginalised peo-ple, has now expanded to 11 Statesand has a membership of about 1.3lakh single women.

According to the 2011 Census,there were over five crore singlewomen in India. This means thataround 8.6 per cent of the totalfemale population of the countrycomprises widows, divorced, sepa-rated, unmarried older women,abandoned and deserted women. Inthe 2001 Census, this figure wasover three crore. There was a 29.6per cent increase in the populationof single women between 2001and 2011. This is much higher thanthe percentage growth of femalepopulation at 18.3 per cent.

In fact, single women outnum-ber the population of countries likeCanada, South Africa, Saudi Arabia

and even Australia. The 2011Census indicated that Maharashtrahas the highest number of singlewomen (54,21,416) followed byWest Bengal (45,43,978), MadhyaPradesh (24,75,189) and Gujarat(23,71,130).

Wherever single women havecome together, they have benefitted.In Jharkhand, the single women’sgroup trained by Jagori, the not forprofit advocating for gender equal-ity and justice, showed that giventhe information and training, theycan become agents of change.Recently, collectives of singlewomen in Gujarat ensured landrights for 127 landless individuals.In Rajasthan, the ENSS worked toensure safe drinking water and toi-lets in schools in remote locations.

While the ENSS managed toopen new doors for single women,Government policies have notalways been inclusive. Policies relat-ed to pension, for example, have notalways guaranteed delivery of thisimportant entitlement to everywidow. For instance, in India, if a

widow’s economic status changesand she moves above the povertyline, she is no longer eligible for thepension.

Also, under the Indira GandhiNational Widow Pension Scheme,only widows between 40-59 years,who live below the poverty line, areentitled to receive a paltry sum.After they attain the age of 60, theyqualify for pension under the IndiraGandhi National Old Age PensionScheme.

With 4.2 crore of the five croresingle women being widows, ENSSsought a monthly pension of at least�3,000 for all single women whoseincomes are below the taxationlimit and those who do not receivepension from any other source.They want this remuneration notjust for widows of all ages but alsofor unmarried, divorced, separatedand abandoned women, irrespec-tive of their age. Surely, thesedemands are not unreasonable.

The Government could alsoadapt some good practices from itsneighbours. In Nepal, for example,

not only is pension given to all wid-ows, irrespective of age, a SingleWomen Emergency Fund has beeninstituted. Further, as a 2014research study on the policies andprogrammes for widows/singlewomen in India, Nepal and SriLanka by UN Women found thatthe Nepal Government’s policy ofgiving land on lease to groups ofwidows/single women to buildshelter homes, that also provideslivelihood skills, has helped themre-integrate with their communi-ties. In Kathmandu, one such homehas a catering service whichemploys over 100 single women,who prepare packed meals onorders. If Nepal, which is ranked149 out of 189 countries in the lat-est human development ranking,can do it why can’t India, consid-ering it’s ranked far higher at 130?Our country must stand by its sin-gle women. All India needs is gen-der-sensitive planning and commit-ted implementation.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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Malnutrition is caused bydeficiancy of protein

available in dairy products. RSDixit, chairman, AnandaGroup, tells The Pioneer’s VikasKumar that affordable pro-tein-rich dairy products cer-tainly can save our childrenfrom malnutrition. Excerpts:

India is the world’s largestproducer of milk. However,the country still remainshome to the largest number ofmalnourished children. Whatways can the Indian dairyassociation contribute toreducing malnutrition?

Actually, as everybodyknows, in our country malnu-trition is the biggest challenge.So what we (Ananda) is plan-ning is to fortify the milk. Thesecond challenge is proteindeficiency. So we are planningto give best quality of productswhich are protein rich. We aregoing to launch range of pro-tein rich products — highprotein milk, high proteincurd, high protein flavouredmilk. So we have planned forthis.

Cows and buffaloesremain the primary milk pro-ducing cattle, how is Anandacontributing to the bestspecies of cows being rearedfurther contributing to supe-

rior quality of milk?There is a real problem is

with the yield of the cow. So weare innovating to increase theyield in cows. In the desi breedour main problem is low yieldof milk. It is our mission atAnanda to improve the yieldby increasing/improving thefeed and management. We arealso engaging in the process ofartificial insemination (withrespect to desi cows). We havea company owned call centre,with 22 vets and 200 par-avents who are engaging inartificial insemination at ablaze level.

Milk production in Indiaduring the period 1950-51 to2017-18, has increased from17 million tonnes to 176.4million tonnes as compared to165.4 million tonnes during2016-17 recording a growth of6.65 %. What about milkconsumption has it increasedin the same ratio as milk pro-duction?

As per my knowledge, youhave data of only milk pro-curement and milk production.In today’s scenario, the percapita consumption in metrocities has increased to 300 ml.In some of the areas of Haryanaand Punjab it is 800 ml. Indeveloped countries it is muchmore. In USA it 850 ml per day

and in New Zealand it is 900ml. At Ananda we are planningone strategy for breed, feed andmanagement of farmers. Ourobjective is to combat urbanfortification malnourishment,protein deficiency and preser-vative.

Which variety of milksees the maximum consump-tion? Which milk by-productis consumed in majority?

In Delhi and NCR it is fullcream. The reason for this isbecause every household boilsthe milk and puts the ‘malai’outside, then using it to makebutter and ghee for their house-hold. They want to purchaseonly one variety of milk as permy knowledge. The future isspecialised milk — one type of

milk for children, one for theelderly population. In devel-oped countries milk has alreadybeen created ‘specially’ for lac-tating mother and pregnantmothers.

National Action Plan -Dairy Development 2021 -2022 targets to double theincome of milk producersat farm level by 2021-22 byproviding the milk pro-ducers with greater accessto the organised milk pro-cess ing s e c tor. How isAnanda dairy contributingto this?

Actually the Governmenthas said they will double thefarmers income by 2020. AtAnanda we are trying to facil-itate the process. We are tryingto use our business segments toenable the farmer to double hisincome. We are improving thebreed, increasing the feed pat-tern and giving training to themanagement. Management ofthe farmers — helping farmersbecome better, training themon their ground, training themabout their job. Framers aretaught what they should give tothe cattle and what the out-comes will be accordingly. Wehave produced green fodder.We have taken the seeds fromAustralia and produced thesame.

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The Government onThursday said it will

enhance the capital infusion inpublic sector banks to �83,000crore, taking the total to �1.06lakh crore for the fiscal.

The capital will be pumpedin over the next few months,Finance Minister Arun Jaitleysaid, adding that the movewill increase the lending capac-ity of public sector banks(PSBs) as well as help some ofthem come out of RBI’s watch-list. The Government had ear-lier announced infusion of�65,000 crore in PSBs in 2018-19, of which �23,000 crore hasalready been disbursed, while�42,000 crore is remaining.

The GovernmentThursday sought Parliament’sapproval for infusion of anadditional �41,000 crore.

This amount, sought to beinfused in the banks throughissue of Government securi-ties (recapitalisation bonds),is over and above the �2.11lakh crore recapitalisationplan announced in October2017.

The recapitalisation, thefinance minister said, willenhance the lending capacity ofstate-owned banks and helpthem come out of RBI’s PromptCorrective Action (PCA)framework.

“Now this �1.06 lakh crorethis year and �83,000 crorewhich is remaining is going to

be utilised under four differentheads. The first of course is toensure that banks meet theirregulatory capital norms.

“The second will be thatthe better performing banksunder PCA are given capital toachieve a 9 per cent Capital toRisk Weighted Assets Ratio(CRAR) and required capitalconservation buffer and the 6per cent net NPA require-ments so that some of them areable to come out of the PCAitself,” he said.

The third category will bethe non-PCA banks which arevery close to the PCA red-linewill be provided capital so thatthey do not come under theframework, he said.

Some capital will also beprovided to banks which aregoing to be amalgamated tomeet regulatory norms andgrowth capital, Jaitley added.

Earlier this year, theGovernment had announcedmerger of Dena Bank andVijaya Bank with Bank ofBaroda.

Jaitley also said the non-performing assets (NPAs)recognition, started in 2015, isalmost complete, and theSeptember quarter has showndecline in bad loans.

Gross NPAs of PSBs start-ed declining after peaking inMarch 2018, registering areduction of �23,860 crore inthe first half of the fiscal.

Speaking to reporters,Financial Services Secretary

Rajiv Kumar said three bankswere on the verge of beingincluded in the PCA, but withthis infusion, they will be safe.

A total of 11 out of the 21PSBs are under RBI’s PCAframework, which imposeslending restrictions on weakbanks. “India’s PCA frame-work for weaker banks hasmore onerous thresholds, thatis higher capital thresholdsand a net NPA threshold thatfurther embeds capital require-ment on account of provision-ing of NPAs.

“Today’s proposal is anexpression of Government’scommitment that each PSB isan article of faith, and aims atsecuring compliance even forthe higher regulatory norms,”Kumar said.

Asked if the Nirav Modiscam-hit Punjab National Bank(PNB) will get capital support,he said it could be a candidatefor fund infusion. Kumar saidthat PSBs have recovered�60,726 crore of bad loans inthe first half of the current fis-cal year, which is more thandouble the amount recoveredin the corresponding periodlast year. In October 2017, theGovernment decided to infuseRs 2.11 lakh crore in PSBs overthe next two years — throughbudgetary provisions of Rs18,139 crore, recapitalisationbonds of Rs 1.35 lakh crore,and the balance through rais-ing of capital by banks from themarket.

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The Government onThursday sought approval

from Parliament for equityinfusion worth �2,345 croreinto struggling Air India andanother �1,300 crore for AirIndia Asset Holding.

As part of efforts to revivethe financial fortunes of thenational carrier, theGovernment has decided totransfer debt worth �29,000crore to Air India AssetHolding Company, a specialpurpose vehicle.

The airline has debt wortharound �55,000 crore.

In the second batch ofSupplementary Demands forGrants 2018-19 tabled byFinance Minister Arun Jaitleyin the Lok Sabha, approval hasbeen sought for �2,345 croreequity infusion into the airlineunder a turnaround plan.

Besides, Parliament’s nod

has been sought for providinggrants-in-aid of �1,300 crore toAir India Asset Holding.

Earlier this year, the gov-ernment’s strategic stake saleoffer for Air India failed toattract any bidders and sincethen, various other options arebeing explored to improve thefinancial position of the nation-al carrier.

Air India is staying afloaton a bailout package extendedby the previous UPA regime.

As part of the turnaroundplan, Air India is to receive upto �30,231 crore from the gov-ernment subject to meetingcertain performance thresh-olds.

The 10-year bailout pack-age began from 2012.

Meanwhile, theGovernment has soughtParliament’s approval for addi-tional gross expenditure of�85,948.86 crore for the currentfiscal ending March 2019.

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Carlos Ghosn could soon befreed on bail after a

Japanese court on Thursdaythrew out a bid by prosecutorsto extend his detention, in amove nearly as unexpected asthe auto tycoon’s sudden arrest.

The 64-year-old Franco-Brazilian-Lebanese executivehas languished in a Japanesedetention centre since his arreston November 19 for allegedfinancial misconduct sentshockwaves through the busi-ness world.

But in another stunningdevelopment, the TokyoDistrict Court said prosecutorshad filed a bid to extend hisdetention on December 20, butit was “rejected”.

In the Japanese system, itis extremely rare for the courtto grant bail to someone whodenies the allegations as Ghosndoes, and the decision tookobservers by surprise.

The move paved the wayfor a potential release as earlyas Friday, according to publicbroadcaster NHK.

Ghosn’s lawyers are expect-ed to request bail while prose-cutors will lodge an appealagainst the court decision,according to local news agencyJiji Press.

A spokesman for theTokyo district public prosecu-tors office told AFP the officewould “deal with it appropri-ately”.

Prosecutors had formallycharged him on December 10with financial misconduct for

allegedly under-declaring hisincome by some five billion yen($44 million) between 2010and 2015.

At the same time, they re-arrested him on suspicion ofalso under-reporting hisincome by a further four billionyen over the past three years.He has not formally beencharged over this allegation.

Ghosn’s detention threwthe spotlight on the Japaneselegal system where suspects canbe held for long periods.

He is being held in a one-man cell in northern Tokyomeasuring just three tatamimats — around five squaremetres (54 square feet) — a farcry from the lavish lifestyle thathad previously attracted criti-cism.

Ghosn has told embassyvisitors he is being well treat-ed but has complained of thewinter cold and the rice-basedfood.

Nevertheless, sources atFrench car giant Renault havedescribed his frame of mind as“combative” as he fights thecharges against him.

In addition to chargesagainst Ghosn and his right-hand man Greg Kelly, prose-cutors had also indicted Nissanitself, as the company submit-ted the official documents thatunder-reported the income.

Ghosn’s arrest onNovember 19 unleashed afirestorm through the three-way car alliance of Nissan,Renault and Mitsubishi Motors-- which together sold morevehicles than any other group

last year.Nissan and Mitsubishi

Motors promptly sacked thetycoon as chairman butRenault kept him on andappointed an interim boss as itwaited to assess the legal pro-cedures against him.

On Monday, Nissan failedto agree a replacement as chair-man amid growing tensionswith the French firm.

Renault owns 43 percent ofNissan but the Japanese firmnow makes more money, lead-ing to rifts within the tie-up thatGhosn forged and was credit-ed with holding together.

A newly formed commit-tee looking into governance atNissan is to report its findingsby March, but the decision ona new chairman could poten-tially stretch beyond that, saidcurrent CEO Hiroto Saikawa.

In addition to the formalcharge of financial miscon-duct, Ghosn has been accusedof a variety of other unprovenallegations, including

using Nissan funds to pur-chase a string of luxury homesaround the world.

One of these homes — aluxurious, 800-square-meter(8,600 square-foot) spread withocean views over Rio deJaneiro’s famous CopacabanaBeach — has become the sub-ject of a legal battle on the otherside of the world, where Ghosnnow resides.

Last week, Ghosn familymembers entered the flat,removed “personal effects” andopened the safes, according toNissan.

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In deference to the mandatefrom Ministry of Skill

Development &Entrepreneurship to assess &skill 10 lakh manpower in therubber sector, Rubber SkillDevelopment Council (RSDC),the sector skill council forRubber sector in the countryhas launched the project titledSaamrath — Empowering mil-lion lives in rubber, aimed atskilling, up-skilling and re-skilling.

Marking a formal launchof the Saamrath project, aMobile Tyre Service Skill Vanwas unveiled, which will moveacross different State high-ways, villages and towns, cre-ating awareness about skillrequirement for tyre serviceand maintenance and safety onroads.

In his communication atthe launch of Saamrath project,Sh Dharmendra Pradhan,Union Minister of SkillDevelopment &Entrepreneurship (MSDE) said,“Rubber sector generates largescale employment and is animportant contributor to India’sGDP. It goes to the credit of

RSDC that they have under-taken an in-depth study of thesector, conducted skill gapanalyses and have standardizedjob roles across manufacturing,rubber plantation and servicessegments”.

Mobile van, fitted withnecessary equipment andmanned by skilled personnel,will train tyre fitters, assessthem on skills acquired andalso certify them. The vanwas f lagged off by RCBhargava, Chairman, MarutiSuzuki Ltd. and RGopalakrishnan, Ex-ExecutiveDirector, TATA Sons Ltd in thepresence of key industry mem-bers, Training Partners,Assessment Agencies andother esteemed guests.

“Tyre fitters which dot thelength and breadth of Indianhighways play an importantrole in making road transportsafer and smoother. Fitting oftyres especially commercialtyres is a skilled job requiringformal training. Unfortunatelya large majority of tyre fittersare not formally trained so wechose to embark on theSaamrath project with skillingof tyre fitters’, said VinodSimon, Chairman RSDC.

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The Government onThursday introduced a bill

to amend the Companies Actto further improve the ease ofdoing business and ensure bet-ter compliance levels.

The bill would replace theCompanies (Amendment)Ordinance, 2018 that was pro-mulgated in November.

The amendments will helpreduce the burden on specialcourts and bring down applic-able penalties for small com-panies, among others.

The bill will amend 16sections of the Act “so as tomodify the punishment as pro-vided in the said sections fromfine to monetary penalties tolessen the burden upon theSpecial Courts,” CorporateAffairs Minister Arun Jaitleysaid in the Statement of Objectsand Reasons.

Apart from enhancing thejurisdiction of RegionalDirector for compoundingoffences, the bill would providefor empowering the centralGovernment to allow certaincompanies to have a different

financial year instead of beingdetermined by the NationalCompany Law Tribunal.

Last month, theGovernment said the ordi-nance amending theCompanies Act, 2013, was pro-mulgated with twin objectivesof “promotion of ease of doingbusiness along with better cor-porate compliance”.

The amendmentsthrough the ordinance wereeffected on the basis of rec-ommendations made by aGovernment-appointed panelthat reviewed the offencesunder the Act.

With the latest amend-ments, jurisdiction of 16 typesof corporate offences would beshifted from the special courtsto in-house adjudication.

This is “expected to reducethe case load of special courtsby over 60 per cent, therebyenabling them to concentrateon serious corporate offences.With this amendment, thescope of in-house adjudicationhas gone up from 18 sectionsat present to 34 Sections of theAct,” the Ministry said lastmonth.

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India’s second largest IT ser-vices firm Infosys on

Thursday named former BhartiAirtel executive Nilanjan Royas its chief financial officer.

In August, M D Ranganathhad resigned as the CFO fromthe company, a surprise movethat industry watchers saidraised questions about stabili-ty at the country’s secondlargest IT services firm.

The company, in a state-ment, said its board of directorshas appointed Nilanjan Roy asthe chief financial officer of thecompany, effective March 1,2019. Infosys, in November,said Jayesh Sanghrajka wouldserve as the interim chief finan-cial officer as the companyscouted for a replacement.

Sanghrajka will resume hisresponsibilities as deputy CFO,effective March 1, 2019.

Roy joins Infosys from BhartiAirtel, where he holds the posi-tion of global chief financial offi-cer. He spent 13 years with BhartiAirtel, prior to which he workedfor 15 years with Unilever acrosstheir global operations.

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National carrier Air Indiahas realised as much as

�724 crore through its assetsmonetisation programme aswell as from space rentals,Parliament was informedThursday.

Of this, an an amount of�410 crore has been moppedup till date through sale of itsnon-core assets in various citiesin India and abroad, Ministerof State for Civil Aviation JayantSinha said in a written reply tothe Lok Sabha.

“Till date, Air India hasrealized an amount of �410crore through sale of its non-core assets in various cities inIndia and abroad. AI has alsorealized a rental income of�314 crore approximate. Atotal of �724 crore has beenrealized by assets monetizationand space rentals,” Sinha said.

The Cabinet Committeeon Economic Affairs (CCEA)approved the FinancialRestructuring Plan (FRP) andTurn Around Plan (TAP) forAir India (AI) in the 2012.

It also approved monetiza-tion of real estate assets in AirIndia to the tune of �5,000crore over the next 10 years

period with the annual target of�500 crore from fiscal 2013onwards, he said.

Sinha said Air India hasinitiated e-auction throughMSTC for the sale of some ofits non-core assets comprisingof residential and commercialproperties spread across thecountry.

As many as 16 propertiesacross Amritsar, Agartala, Bhuj,Bengaluru, Chennai, NewDelhi, Gwalior, Hyderabad,Imphal, Kolkata, Lonavala(Maharashtra), MangaloreMumbai, Nasik,Tiruvanthapuram and Punehave been identified for auctionthrough MSTC, the ministersaid.

He also said that 14 AirIndia properties various citieshave been put on sale.

Replying to another mem-ber’s question the minister saidthat Air India expects to saveup to �8-10 crore per annumfrom its decision to stop serv-ing non-vegetarian food onboard its domestic flights.

Non-vegetarian meals havebeen discontinued in the econ-omy class of domestic Sectorflights from June 2017 to savecosts, reduce wastage, improveservice and also avoid anychances of mix up of meals,Sinha said in the reply.

The expected annual sav-ing is �8-10 crore per annum,he said.

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Ikea is planning to invest�5,000 crore in Uttar

Pradesh, where the Swedishhome furnishings major isplanning to set up large andsmall format stores.

The investment would cre-ate over 8,000 direct and indi-rect job opportunities in thestate, said Ikea in a statement.

Ikea, which is planning toset-up a large format store inNoida, has signed a memo-randum of understanding(MoU) with the Uttar PradeshGovernment for opening ofstores in the state.

“We plan to invest more than�5,000 crore in the State over thecoming years, which will createemployment for over 8,000 jobs.

“In line with our new retaildirection, we intend to set upa mix of large and smaller citycenter format stores compli-mented by e-commerce in thestate over time,” Ikea IndiaCEO Peter Betzel said.

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The Securities and ExchangeBoard of India on Thursday

said it was planning a sandboxpolicy to support technologydevelopments in financial mar-kets. The sandbox policy willallow companies to test productsin a closed environment, a par-ticular geography or among a setof users, before they are allowedroll out commercially meetingall regulations.

The capital market regula-tor was also examining whetherany change in law was requiredin terms of its dispensation, hesaid. “We will come out with a

policy on sandbox soon,” SEBIchairman Ajay Tyagi saidresponding to a question aboutthe regulator’s view on cryptoassets. Indian regulations donot accept cyrptocurrency as avalid currency. The regulator hasalso set up a committee to lookinto the concept of a regulatorysandbox in the country.

Tyagi said this would enablethe tech companies to work oninnovations without regulatorychanges. He said there had beenhuge technology interventionsin capital markets in the past andit would continue.

Tyagi also said SEBI wouldissue a directive soon on terms

and conditions for mutual fundsto separate their distressed debtassets, a process widely knownas ‘side pocketing’. The SEBI hasagreed in principle to the pro-posal put forward by the mutu-al funds industry, he added.

SEBI will ensure adequatesafeguards for investors andlook into it so that fund man-agers do not misuse it.

“We will come out with acircular that will put terms andconditions to safeguard theinvestors and not misused by theMFs,” Tyagi said on the sidelinesof a Indian Institute ofManagement-Calcutta (IIM-C)event here.

‘Side pocketing’ is a mech-anism to separate distressed,illiquid and hard-to-value assetsfrom other more liquid assets ina portfolio. It prevents the dis-tressed assets from damaging thereturns generated from moreliquid and better-performingassets. Currently, in the case ofcredit events, the existinginvestors potentially lose all thevalue. Any further recoveryaccrues to the investors in thescheme only at the time ofrecovery. With side pocketing,the investors who take the hitwhen the credit event happens,get the full upside of futurerecovery.

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Equity mutual fund schemesregistered a net inflow of

�8,414 crore in November,making it the lowest in threemonths, mainly due to avolatile market.

With this, the total inflowin equities has reached over�82,200 crore during the cur-rent financial year so far (April-November), according to datafrom the Association of MutualFunds in India (Amfi).

According to the data,equity and equity-linked savingschemes saw an inflow of

�8,414 crore in November,much lower than �12,622 croreregistered in the precedingmonth.

In September, suchschemes had witnessed aninflow of �11,172 crore and�8,375 crore in August.

“We appreciate the matu-rity shown by retail investors instaying invested in the markets,in spite of the volatility over thelast few months,” Amfi chiefexecutive NS Venkatesh said.

“As India becomes thefastest-growing economy andwith inflation rates slowingdown, equities are expected to

perform better in the nearfuture,” he added.

The Systematic InvestmentPlan (SIP) contribution con-tinues to be the same at �7,985crore in November as com-pared to last month.

Overall, the mutual fundindustry saw a net infusion of�1.4 lakh crore last month.

Liquid funds attracted�1.36 lakh crore, goldexchange-traded funds saw anet inflow of �10 crore afterwitnessing a pull-out in the pastseveral months. In contrast,income funds saw a withdraw-al of �6,518 crore.

New Delhi (PTI): HondaMotorcycle & Scooter India(HMSI) on Thursday said ithad crossed 40 million cumu-lative sales milestone acrossglobal markets in a span of 18years.

While the first 20 millioncustomers were added in 14years, the company added thelatest 20 million customers injust four years.

“Since the very start,Honda is led by a challengingspirit bringing joy to millionsof customers with high quali-ty innovative products,” HMSIpresident and CEO MinoruKato said in a statement.

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Amid concerns beingraised by budding entre-preneurs on angel tax, the

Commerce and IndustryMinistry said on Thursday thatstartups need to seek the exemp-tion from an inter-ministerialboard set up for the purpose.

Ramesh Abhishek,Secretary in the department ofindustrial policy and promo-tion (DIPP), said that the min-istry was already taking up thematter with the department ofrevenue.

Several startups have againraised concerns on taxation ofangel funds under Section 56 ofthe Income Tax Act, which pro-vides for taxation of fundsreceived by an entity.

He said that the purpose ofSection 56(2)(viib) of IncomeTax Act was to prevent moneylaundering, and investmentsmade by AIF (alternate invest-ment funds) were exemptedfrom this provision.

“For HNIs and other typeof individual investors, therewas no mechanism earlier. So,the DIPP and Income TaxDepartment put in place amechanism and set up an inter-ministerial board.

“People who would likeinvestments to be exemptedfrom this particular provision

under the law, have to apply,” hetold reporters here. The secre-tary said the department want-ed more and more startups toapply for tax exemption.

“If specific issues and prob-lems are pointed out to us bystartups, we will take that upwith the concerned depart-ment,” the secretary said.

The board, which was setup in 2016, has so far exempt-ed 94 startups from income tax.However, since revision ofinvestment norms in April thisyear, only two startups havehave got exemption.

“We have a mechanismfor exempting genuine invest-ments in startups. So, peopleshould use that mechanism.Everything is online, they

should take advantage,” he said.When asked about the tax

notices being served recently,the secretary said the depart-ment would like to see detailsof those notices.

Startups have to qualify oncertain parameters such as �25crore turnover to get exemptionfrom income tax.

“Registration with theDIPP is as per the eligibility cri-teria... but that does not qual-ify any startup to get anyexemption from any provi-sion. To get exemption, there isa separate mechanism,”Abhsihek said.

Over 14,000 startups haveregistered so far but all do notget exemption from income tax.

Earlier, when budding

entrepreneurs raised concernsover angel tax issues, in April,the government gave relief tostartups by allowing them toavail tax concession if totalinvestment, including fundingfrom angel investors, does notexceed �10 crore.

As per a notification, anangel investor picking up stakesin a startup should have aminimum net worth of �2crore or should have an aver-age returned income of over�25 lakh in the preceding threefinancial years.

Section 56 of the IncomeTax Act provides that where aclosely held company issues itsshares at a price more than itsfair market value, the amountreceived in excess of the fairmarket value will be charged totax the company as incomefrom other sources.

They also enjoy income taxbenefit for three out of sevenconsecutive assessment years.

An angel investor is theone who funds a startup whenit is taking baby steps to estab-lish itself in the competitivemarket. Normally, about 300-400 startups get angel funding inan year.

The government launchedthe Startup India initiative inJanuary 2016 to build a strongecosystem for nurturing inno-vation and entrepreneurship.

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,����:��������������������������New Delhi (PTI): The Commerce and Industry Ministry is

drafting a new e-commerce policy to boost the fast-growing onlineretail sector, a government official said on Thursday. “We are inthe process of drafting the new e-commerce policy,” Secretary inthe department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) RameshAbhishek told reporters here. The government has also set up agroup of secretaries to look into the issues of the sector. The exer-cise started after concerns were raised on some proposals of thedraft e-commerce policy, which was prepared by the departmentof commerce after consultations with several stakeholders, includ-ing industry chambers. That draft policy had suggested severalsteps to promote the growth of the sector. It had stated that onlineretail firms may have to store user data exclusively in India inview of security and privacy concerns.

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Script Open High Low LTPRCOM 14.25 14.68 14.06 14.41IBULHSGFIN 830.80 875.00 829.55 845.85YESBANK 179.00 187.55 178.00 186.65SUZLON 5.48 5.58 5.36 5.53DHFL 224.70 242.20 223.05 238.15BEML 848.15 920.65 842.05 913.90INFY 662.70 671.45 657.00 666.85UJJIVAN 253.00 280.15 251.55 277.00AXISBANK 638.00 646.45 629.40 633.00LT 1431.75 1450.80 1423.30 1449.20SBIN 299.40 301.50 293.00 293.85RELIANCE 1124.00 1131.95 1116.50 1127.25JETAIRWAYS 245.00 254.00 243.00 252.35TATAMOTORS 173.60 177.30 171.90 175.95NCC 90.40 90.95 88.00 89.15NATIONALUM 63.85 63.85 60.10 61.85SPICEJET 84.80 86.50 83.20 84.75BANKINDIA 97.35 100.20 95.70 97.50SUNPHARMA 423.00 431.15 422.00 429.25VEDL 205.00 205.10 201.50 202.65ICICIBANK 363.80 365.60 361.30 362.25PCJEWELLER 83.85 86.10 83.10 84.40IBREALEST 89.90 93.85 89.35 91.85MARUTI 7830.55 7917.75 7772.95 7808.95HINDPETRO 235.90 245.70 233.05 244.20RCF 62.75 68.25 62.70 67.00BEL 86.35 90.90 85.50 90.30RELCAPITAL 216.90 222.00 216.15 219.40IOC 145.90 148.20 144.85 147.80ONGC 148.25 150.80 147.50 148.65PNB 76.50 78.10 75.65 76.05ASIANPAINT 1392.00 1431.50 1389.80 1425.30JKTYRE 105.95 110.70 105.95 109.00L&TFH 154.95 158.00 153.80 157.15ICICIGI 882.80 882.80 836.50 866.00BALKRISIND 937.95 966.70 935.00 941.10CGPOWER 41.50 41.50 39.90 40.15JAICORPLTD 113.75 117.70 112.75 113.75M&M 781.50 797.50 778.70 795.35NAVKARCORP 51.15 59.00 49.75 58.25FEDERALBNK 94.50 96.30 93.60 95.45ASHOKLEY 107.50 108.85 105.80 106.50PFC 96.60 100.00 95.90 98.55ESCORTS 674.00 695.00 668.55 692.40BAJFINANCE 2570.00 2609.00 2535.00 2591.50M&MFIN 462.80 477.20 460.10 473.85CANBK 271.95 277.50 266.15 268.10RELINFRA 295.00 303.70 292.05 302.60INFIBEAM 48.00 49.65 47.30 48.35BANDHANBNK 557.00 557.00 532.35 537.70IDFCBANK 42.70 44.05 42.30 43.85BIOCON 635.00 649.75 634.20 637.65DLF 191.85 193.85 186.80 189.90TCS 1965.00 1975.45 1947.00 1956.35TATASTEEL 520.80 526.90 520.00 523.45BANKBARODA 115.40 116.90 113.85 114.85IFCI 14.55 15.25 14.30 14.55JISLJALEQS 66.40 69.70 66.05 68.80HINDUNILVR 1838.00 1854.30 1821.80 1835.60KOTAKBANK 1229.00 1239.50 1216.70 1236.00EQUITAS 118.60 126.00 118.55 124.80APOLLOTYRE 241.90 244.90 238.45 239.80HEG 3956.05 3989.75 3911.00 3921.55CONCOR 672.20 679.05 656.00 665.95HINDALCO 223.80 224.90 220.05 223.65INDIACEM 96.95 99.75 95.65 97.20CAPF 590.90 605.95 581.00 603.25RECLTD 107.50 110.75 106.35 109.20BOMDYEING 112.60 115.80 111.55 113.20DMART 1646.00 1655.00 1625.00 1642.80GRAPHITE 838.65 855.25 825.00 828.80CANFINHOME 285.00 293.30 283.45 288.75ZEEL 464.00 470.00 457.65 462.50HDIL 24.50 25.65 24.30 25.05JUBLFOOD 1338.70 1370.60 1290.00 1354.00DABUR 453.00 455.75 440.00 443.50REPCOHOME 367.25 394.00 366.00 384.00UNIONBANK 82.15 84.50 81.60 82.45LICHSGFIN 481.70 496.80 480.70 489.55ORIENTBANK 93.00 95.80 91.20 93.65JINDALSTEL 165.05 168.60 164.65 167.40HDFC 1977.00 1982.30 1944.40 1982.30JAMNAAUTO 62.60 68.00 62.00 66.35HDFCBANK 2118.00 2137.95 2102.75 2133.95BPCL 358.90 371.70 356.20 371.00FORCEMOT 1636.65 1678.80 1626.65 1639.90SUNTECK 360.50 361.95 350.00 356.95ITC 280.55 284.25 280.55 282.20BHEL 70.10 70.95 69.40 70.50COALINDIA 249.50 254.00 248.10 251.00BHARTIARTL 316.00 321.20 314.25 316.15CIPLA 524.05 526.35 516.30 519.85AUROPHARMA 731.45 736.00 722.25 726.30TATAPOWER 77.10 80.65 76.55 80.10CUB 182.75 187.25 182.10 184.55STRTECH 301.00 304.90 296.50 297.55JKIL 140.00 144.55 136.20 136.90JPASSOCIAT 7.24 7.60 7.15 7.43GRUH 298.50 318.95 298.50 317.15GSFC 111.60 114.55 110.50 112.45NBCC 57.95 59.05 57.40 58.20JSWSTEEL 309.00 310.55 306.55 309.00CEATLTD 1347.00 1373.00 1346.00 1351.00IDFC 42.50 44.90 41.40 44.25LTI 1681.00 1726.40 1681.00 1713.65FSL 50.05 50.80 49.45 49.75NATCOPHARM* 702.20 707.00 683.00 684.35

BHARATFORG 519.80 530.90 514.20 521.70ADANIPORTS 375.55 377.00 369.20 376.70SYNDIBANK 37.50 38.55 36.75 37.25GRASIM 850.00 856.00 828.55 830.90MARICO 397.00 397.00 379.35 382.00ALBK 49.25 49.80 45.55 46.45DELTACORP 254.85 256.70 252.00 255.05GNFC 352.55 369.00 349.00 363.45ENGINERSIN 122.45 125.55 121.80 124.45HCC 11.80 12.06 11.68 11.81INDUSINDBK 1609.00 1620.00 1593.80 1615.10BRITANNIA 3219.00 3235.00 3160.00 3170.05IDEA 37.50 38.45 37.35 38.15SREINFRA 36.05 37.60 35.25 36.30LUPIN 841.90 859.90 841.60 855.00SOUTHBANK 15.70 16.00 15.50 15.70MUTHOOTFIN 503.90 511.35 499.15 500.10GREAVESCOT 127.10 129.10 120.45 121.75IBVENTURES 401.15 410.00 397.50 398.75MANAPPURAM 92.00 93.35 90.15 91.65KPIT 228.80 232.85 225.45 228.00WOCKPHARMA 522.00 528.50 513.50 517.35PEL 2246.00 2312.20 2246.00 2290.20INDIGO 1152.00 1162.00 1141.50 1151.45SRTRANSFIN 1271.85 1290.75 1255.00 1266.70HEROMOTOCO 3295.45 3382.70 3270.15 3372.00ACC 1528.05 1562.00 1528.05 1535.95EXIDEIND 269.90 273.50 267.80 270.90EDELWEISS 200.00 202.90 196.20 200.05TECHM 708.95 716.90 703.00 706.00TATAMTRDVR 95.50 96.85 94.35 96.45MMTC 29.25 30.60 29.20 29.90UPL 755.00 773.45 746.75 769.85JMFINANCIL 92.50 94.35 91.65 92.90WIPRO 337.90 340.00 332.25 333.55RPOWER 28.30 28.30 27.55 28.10CARERATING 984.95 991.70 963.00 969.30ITI 94.90 95.80 93.50 94.20ICICIPRULI 316.00 325.20 315.25 323.80BAJAJ-AUTO 2861.95 2899.00 2831.40 2890.00CENTRALBK 33.10 35.80 32.80 34.35

ULTRACEMCO 4050.00 4130.25 4015.00 4047.30AVANTI 418.50 418.50 407.45 408.65UBL 1379.50 1386.50 1351.05 1368.90POWERGRID 197.90 199.00 195.00 198.15HCLTECH 954.80 965.50 947.00 963.00SIEMENS 1014.05 1027.05 991.65 997.10PNBHOUSING 975.00 994.80 933.00 970.50TORNTPOWER 267.00 270.55 263.50 264.35KAJARIACER 477.00 493.50 477.00 483.70AMBUJACEM 226.80 229.45 223.90 225.10NTPC 149.40 149.55 146.80 149.10DEEPAKNI 229.00 231.70 224.00 224.95IEX 166.00 170.95 164.10 167.05HFCL 21.85 22.40 21.45 21.55VIJAYABANK 48.40 49.00 47.50 48.55DEEPAKFERT 150.20 159.00 149.30 154.90MOTHERSUMI 171.50 173.80 168.90 170.35SAIL 54.45 54.65 53.20 53.35MRPL 74.45 78.50 74.10 77.75ADANIPOWER 52.70 52.70 51.60 51.95PETRONET 225.00 225.10 220.70 222.50JUSTDIAL 489.40 497.15 488.45 493.55KTKBANK 110.35 113.25 110.15 111.45NIITTECH 1124.75 1150.60 1120.20 1128.75SHANKARA 568.50 576.00 561.00 566.35NAVINFLUOR 738.00 759.50 728.15 746.60RBLBANK 577.25 586.75 577.25 579.00TEXRAIL 58.65 61.35 58.60 60.15TITAN 929.00 932.90 920.95 926.40BAJAJFINSV 6389.70 6440.40 6299.25 6428.70VOLTAS 570.00 581.00 565.00 577.00BATAINDIA 1112.90 1116.00 1102.15 1105.758KMILES 164.00 164.00 154.10 155.05DRREDDY 2614.95 2634.05 2593.30 2631.80ABB 1334.00 1342.80 1298.10 1311.05AJANTPHARM 1106.45 1159.00 1106.45 1154.65RAYMOND 846.30 870.80 846.30 858.45CADILAHC 342.85 346.00 342.00 344.75EICHERMOT 23838.00 24234.00 23719.40 24200.00TATACHEM 709.85 725.90 706.30 720.00MAHABANK 15.00 15.45 14.78 15.02HEXAWARE 328.00 331.70 320.50 322.40MINDTREE 870.00 874.00 839.95 852.25BALRAMCHIN 105.00 106.00 103.75 105.40INDIANB 248.05 253.70 245.15 246.70TAKE 138.10 148.70 138.10 148.20ABCAPITAL 99.30 100.60 99.25 99.60TVSMOTOR 582.00 584.70 569.40 578.35DIVISLAB 1499.00 1523.70 1499.00 1510.85PVR 1547.45 1591.15 1539.65 1572.95

HINDCOPPER 49.55 52.00 49.55 50.80KEC 312.00 312.05 305.00 305.05VENKYS 2470.00 2509.95 2439.55 2467.70BBTC 1349.00 1368.00 1335.10 1336.00KSCL 578.75 601.75 578.75 594.00IRB 162.00 166.10 160.95 164.50PHILIPCARB 207.65 208.50 205.50 206.00DCBBANK 164.00 169.00 161.35 167.65OIL 178.90 182.25 178.85 179.25LTTS 1610.05 1664.80 1610.05 1637.85PIDILITIND 1193.75 1201.90 1182.85 1186.35NOCIL 169.85 172.60 168.10 168.90ABFRL 202.75 205.25 200.00 202.95ISEC 266.80 273.90 265.40 271.55RAIN 137.55 144.00 137.55 139.00TATACOMM 543.95 557.20 541.85 549.15TV18BRDCST 37.45 38.15 36.15 36.65SUNTV 599.85 607.00 590.25 596.50GODFRYPHLP 900.55 927.90 891.20 897.95INDHOTEL 147.00 148.90 145.00 146.40SHARDACROP 328.00 333.00 307.20 316.35JUBILANT 710.00 723.25 709.65 711.65DBL 424.30 438.35 424.30 433.30OMAXE 215.00 215.50 214.30 215.00CUMMINSIND 816.80 832.00 814.00 829.50RALLIS 175.55 181.35 175.55 178.70JINDALSAW 85.45 87.25 85.30 86.00CHENNPETRO 281.70 290.15 276.60 288.35PARAGMILK 252.65 257.00 250.55 252.65PFIZER 2911.35 2958.00 2859.90 2872.55KEI 385.95 388.50 372.00 375.50TIMETECHNO 102.00 107.65 101.00 102.85NAUKRI 1572.55 1582.45 1547.00 1562.75CORPBANK 29.40 30.20 29.30 29.50BLISSGVS 146.75 152.00 145.30 147.95HDFCLIFE 386.10 390.75 384.25 386.60COLPAL 1330.00 1335.20 1324.75 1329.10CASTROLIND 155.00 156.45 152.50 155.15KWALITY 8.60 8.85 8.44 8.80BAJAJELEC 508.00 522.50 508.00 515.85JSL 32.70 33.45 32.70 33.00NMDC 96.95 98.10 95.65 97.40HUDCO 44.25 45.35 44.05 44.75GODREJCP 836.90 836.90 811.25 828.00BERGEPAINT 339.05 344.45 338.00 341.00CENTURYTEX 938.00 947.75 930.00 946.95HSCL 137.90 138.05 133.50 133.90MEGH 62.90 63.85 62.05 62.55ZENSARTECH 239.20 242.95 228.95 229.00QUESS 687.70 690.30 669.95 676.65GODREJPROP 680.40 701.00 677.00 688.60FRETAIL 540.15 548.80 530.00 546.10TATAELXSI 1006.00 1019.95 1003.05 1012.00GAIL 353.25 357.75 352.00 354.65RADICO 420.05 422.95 412.45 416.20HAVELLS 698.50 707.85 697.60 704.40HINDZINC 283.00 283.00 275.60 278.60GMRINFRA 16.35 16.50 16.20 16.35MANPASAND 85.25 87.15 85.00 85.45VIPIND 518.00 526.80 516.05 520.95PIIND 811.05 838.85 810.60 838.85CYIENT 628.65 638.55 613.35 621.65VGUARD 225.80 226.90 222.45 224.70RNAVAL 14.00 14.74 14.00 14.47ALLCARGO 108.45 115.00 107.95 113.75APOLLOHOSP 1222.00 1278.00 1222.00 1269.95PFS 18.00 18.05 17.00 17.20TATAMETALI 650.75 664.95 640.00 655.40PTC 87.00 89.65 87.00 88.95CHOLAFIN 1275.00 1294.60 1257.40 1264.20SPARC 208.85 211.00 208.10 208.10CHAMBLFERT 146.20 151.55 145.70 147.25PAGEIND 24981.00 25272.20 24616.25 24900.00NESTLEIND 11099.00 11408.80 11099.00 11206.60HSIL 219.00 233.85 219.00 233.75FORTIS 137.60 137.60 135.00 135.25TORNTPHARM 1778.90 1810.00 1761.60 1801.40NHPC 26.00 26.20 25.95 26.20SRF 2226.00 2275.00 2224.45 2267.00MCX 731.95 736.25 726.15 729.95GLENMARK 677.00 690.00 677.00 686.20IGL 265.00 265.10 261.70 263.80INTELLECT 240.00 243.45 238.10 240.75IDBI 62.00 62.10 61.20 61.65SBILIFE 582.00 595.00 577.00 593.15WELCORP 147.45 152.60 146.50 151.45TRENT 350.00 355.00 347.05 350.00DENABANK 17.20 17.25 16.75 16.90MAXINDIA 85.10 87.20 84.20 86.80LAXMIMACH* 5785.10 5825.00 5755.00 5776.75AMARAJABAT 754.90 755.00 740.65 743.00SCI 44.00 45.00 43.90 44.30BOSCHLTD 19485.00 19750.00 19210.00 19600.00APLLTD 606.65 621.35 592.85 597.70WHIRLPOOL 1396.05 1402.80 1380.00 1385.00TATAGLOBAL 210.05 213.30 209.00 210.15ASHOKA 133.15 134.20 130.05 130.80INOXWIND 77.80 80.00 76.45 76.85DISHTV 38.45 39.10 37.75 38.85GLAXO 1468.00 1485.00 1453.70 1460.00MFSL 438.30 447.00 436.40 441.25MRF 69199.00 69883.55 68728.50 69200.00SWANENERGY 100.85 102.25 100.20 101.00FINCABLES 460.00 463.25 450.00 454.90COROMANDEL 449.95 454.30 443.10 446.00OFSS 3651.20 3737.95 3627.80 3670.00IPCALAB 800.00 807.10 781.70 784.15UCOBANK 20.80 20.90 20.35 20.55

FCONSUMER 47.50 47.70 46.90 47.00JYOTHYLAB 199.00 201.50 196.80 200.95SHK 172.95 175.10 171.85 173.80THOMASCOOK 239.95 242.50 237.00 240.00SUVEN 227.05 231.70 227.05 228.95WELSPUNIND 61.70 62.45 59.90 60.50ITDCEM 115.50 118.10 114.45 115.40NLCINDIA 68.90 69.80 68.05 68.15AUBANK 638.50 641.00 632.20 634.50GUJFLUORO 907.95 913.00 898.10 901.70MINDACORP 138.90 145.85 138.90 140.10PRSMJOHNSN 91.90 93.90 90.00 91.30JSWENERGY 70.25 71.55 70.25 70.65TATAINVEST 882.90 888.55 878.05 883.75GRANULES 91.20 92.10 90.00 90.60J&KBANK 37.10 37.45 36.90 37.10TATACOFFEE 95.35 95.50 93.55 93.70BALMLAWRIE 200.80 206.05 200.80 203.50MGL 893.20 896.50 884.40 888.00INFRATEL 260.65 263.65 258.45 261.00WABAG 276.65 282.50 269.05 278.10KANSAINER 481.95 490.10 480.00 490.10RAMCOCEM 665.95 671.50 651.40 653.00AARTIIND 1443.25 1467.75 1441.00 1441.05UNICHEMLAB 191.05 191.80 188.90 190.30NILKAMAL 1553.95 1592.00 1552.45 1572.00ANDHRABANK 29.35 29.80 29.25 29.45GESHIP 347.90 348.85 338.60 340.90MOTILALOFS 638.80 647.50 633.00 642.45HEIDELBERG 157.75 160.45 157.70 159.20COCHINSHIP 389.25 393.80 386.75 390.00GICRE 275.75 278.20 272.75 276.00VINATIORGA 1667.95 1698.30 1651.20 1657.30OBEROIRLTY 485.00 485.00 475.00 475.65SYMPHONY 1235.00 1235.00 1192.80 1218.35TRIDENT 65.65 67.00 65.65 66.05MINDAIND 330.40 332.50 327.45 328.55MPHASIS 987.20 995.55 982.00 984.50SKFINDIA 1900.00 1914.35 1870.00 1906.20CROMPTON 227.45 229.30 222.20 225.80BIRLACORPN 620.55 636.35 620.00 627.90ALKEM 1863.00 1880.00 1844.00 1860.20ADANITRANS 219.00 225.00 215.60 216.30CENTRUM 38.95 39.60 38.80 39.00GICHSGFIN 253.85 261.00 253.85 258.70EIHOTEL 193.60 199.00 189.25 197.25KALPATPOWR 383.00 388.60 378.05 382.90EMAMILTD 431.00 431.80 422.50 425.00GREENPLY 136.00 140.45 136.00 138.40GODREJIND 537.55 543.00 536.75 539.15SYNGENE 569.00 574.10 563.35 568.60CENTURYPLY 182.75 186.05 181.65 183.60GODREJAGRO 507.05 520.00 507.00 511.90SONATSOFTW 307.50 312.65 305.00 305.00JSLHISAR 90.70 91.90 88.50 89.85GUJGAS 679.00 694.95 679.00 685.15MHRIL 199.00 202.30 198.20 199.10VBL 700.00 730.10 699.00 722.50JAGRAN 121.40 121.40 117.45 120.30MAGMA 114.25 114.60 109.60 111.05BHARATFIN 1014.10 1025.90 1013.80 1021.25NIACL 190.05 192.60 189.50 190.80SHOPERSTOP 496.90 510.00 495.95 507.30BAJAJCORP 365.25 379.00 362.65 375.80GULFOILLUB 795.80 834.90 794.00 814.00UFLEX 274.70 279.00 274.55 274.55GUJALKALI 546.00 552.00 546.00 547.25CRISIL 1633.75 1645.70 1590.00 1612.10GDL 137.20 137.50 135.10 135.10HIMATSEIDE 207.00 211.40 204.80 206.70KNRCON 197.25 201.25 197.25 199.60TEJASNET 220.25 222.05 212.40 215.85RNAM 168.00 168.95 163.95 165.50DBCORP 176.00 181.35 175.25 178.10MOIL 179.45 180.05 176.30 177.15BAJAJHLDNG 2943.95 2965.55 2934.10 2959.10SADBHAV 205.00 210.00 204.50 207.75GMDCLTD 89.25 92.40 89.25 90.10PRESTIGE 207.20 214.00 207.00 210.95IOB 15.00 15.25 14.90 15.00PERSISTENT 616.00 616.85 607.95 608.35NETWORK18 38.40 39.65 38.40 39.25RAJESHEXPO 570.00 572.70 568.00 571.30SANOFI 6260.00 6282.00 6100.00 6100.00INOXLEISUR 227.55 236.00 227.55 236.00JKLAKSHMI 285.10 289.10 280.00 287.20SUPREMEIND 1134.40 1141.95 1112.45 1115.00

DCMSHRIRAM 355.95 361.00 352.15 353.40GRINDWELL 556.90 560.00 546.50 550.15LALPATHLAB 955.00 959.75 940.00 944.85GSPL 176.30 180.00 176.30 177.35GPPL 103.00 104.60 102.00 102.65IL&FSTRANS 12.50 12.70 12.30 12.70ASTRAL 1070.95 1084.95 1066.10 1084.95GSKCONS 7874.45 7882.65 7762.65 7826.10HAL 780.15 796.10 780.10 786.00SOLARINDS 1001.05 1054.85 1001.05 1021.50ITDC 312.00 319.35 308.60 309.55TEAMLEASE 2871.00 2978.95 2829.45 2894.15GHCL 239.45 246.30 239.45 242.95THERMAX 1129.55 1141.70 1110.00 1110.15MAHINDCIE 248.90 249.95 248.00 248.00BAYERCROP 4264.65 4291.00 4162.60 4166.65SHILPAMED 388.00 399.30 385.50 388.65BLUESTARCO 652.00 652.00 639.30 640.05ICIL 57.60 57.70 57.10 57.45LAKSHVILAS 86.85 87.70 86.10 87.40SUDARSCHEM 348.70 353.00 346.00 351.00BLUEDART 3058.05 3185.00 2963.00 3152.40GET&D 261.25 265.20 259.85 262.80ELGIEQUIP 262.70 267.90 262.00 267.50SHREECEM 17297.30 17580.90 17297.30 17472.95EIDPARRY 209.00 211.10 207.00 207.95ZYDUSWELL 1407.15 1417.65 1389.55 1391.00SOBHA 484.05 485.00 474.40 476.50FORBESCO 2562.00 2600.00 2476.00 2496.05SJVN 25.20 25.45 25.10 25.40REDINGTON 86.60 88.50 86.00 87.15TVTODAY 370.50 376.90 366.60 370.00EVEREADY 189.70 190.60 189.00 189.00LINDEINDIA 676.15 679.10 670.70 672.90TVSSRICHAK 2605.95 2628.60 2580.00 2580.00SCHNEIDER 103.50 104.75 103.20 103.60ASTERDM 153.25 155.90 151.00 152.00TIMKEN 575.05 589.60 575.00 588.00ADVENZYMES 177.00 179.00 177.00 177.60ASAHIINDIA 260.40 261.80 255.65 258.05COFFEEDAY 270.15 281.80 266.60 275.60PGHH 9886.15 9975.00 9886.15 9963.10ABBOTINDIA 7474.00 7521.20 7444.00 7444.00FDC 181.50 182.00 177.10 179.05DHANUKA 449.15 456.00 446.00 448.20AEGISLOG 188.25 190.20 188.00 190.00ECLERX 1091.60 1120.90 1083.40 1105.75BASF 1593.45 1603.50 1577.50 1580.65STARCEMENT 106.90 107.75 103.00 104.70SUNDRMFAST 527.10 529.00 525.00 525.00THYROCARE 555.95 556.70 549.95 551.00TIFHL 518.40 522.90 497.00 504.70HERITGFOOD 525.90 527.35 520.00 526.95NAVNETEDUL 108.30 110.25 108.30 109.85JKCEMENT 752.00 758.85 737.50 753.00ATUL 3500.00 3500.00 3460.00 3470.00KRBL 288.75 292.50 288.75 289.00PNCINFRA 134.55 138.00 134.55 137.85CARBORUNIV 362.75 362.75 355.45 359.50FLFL 400.35 409.00 398.00 398.00VMART 2722.00 2758.45 2672.25 2685.40WABCOINDIA 6857.55 6970.40 6767.05 6850.00ESSELPRO 107.55 108.60 106.05 108.25NBVENTURES 120.00 121.00 119.45 119.85ORIENTCEM 85.00 87.15 83.55 84.95ENDURANCE 1175.55 1188.75 1161.00 1167.15CAPPL 386.25 393.40 383.00 385.00NH 202.00 204.85 201.00 203.65APLAPOLLO 1199.05 1206.90 1178.10 1180.00SOMANYCERA 320.00 332.65 320.00 326.853MINDIA 22918.00 22918.00 22534.15 22655.00PHOENIXLTD 600.00 600.40 594.45 596.00SCHAEFFLER 5453.90 5525.00 5453.90 5520.00ERIS 665.00 686.00 665.00 686.00TTKPRESTIG 7570.90 7578.25 7461.95 7480.05APARINDS 654.95 658.95 640.00 651.00MAHLIFE 391.00 396.00 391.00 392.95AKZOINDIA 1651.00 1651.00 1605.00 1620.00CERA 2400.00 2470.00 2380.85 2444.00LAURUSLABS 388.00 388.00 383.40 384.25JBCHEPHARM 301.70 304.00 298.95 302.05AIAENG 1627.45 1640.25 1622.50 1622.50RELAXO 738.90 740.00 729.00 729.00GEPIL 818.05 826.50 810.05 810.60FINOLEXIND 533.00 540.00 533.00 538.95SUPRAJIT 229.00 229.00 222.00 222.00VTL 1110.90 1110.90 1074.45 1075.00KPRMILL 576.50 577.95 572.05 575.00SIS 763.05 776.75 760.65 760.80TRITURBINE 121.15 122.65 121.05 121.50ENIL 603.00 620.85 592.05 615.00LAOPALA 219.50 222.30 216.45 221.15GILLETTE 6472.25 6506.10 6472.25 6490.00TNPL 257.60 260.95 255.65 255.75CCL 272.40 273.20 271.50 272.10MONSANTO 2681.45 2681.45 2613.00 2619.00LUXIND 1466.60 1475.40 1441.05 1455.00ISGEC 5196.30 5196.30 5112.00 5112.00SUPPETRO 212.05 214.60 210.00 213.40HONAUT 22999.95 22999.95 22746.25 22858.10JCHAC 1793.35 1830.00 1780.10 1780.10SFL 1490.00 1529.00 1446.00 1460.05SHRIRAMCIT 1585.00 1605.00 1573.95 1573.95KIOCL 155.35 155.40 152.00 152.00IFBIND 860.35 860.35 843.05 853.75RATNAMANI 914.00 920.00 914.00 915.00SUNCLAYLTD 3500.00 3518.05 3481.05 3481.05HATSUN 623.00 624.00 621.00 621.00

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 10885.20 10962.55 10880.05 10951.70 -15.60YESBANK 179.00 187.60 178.00 186.80 7.25HINDPETRO 234.30 246.00 233.00 244.30 8.15BPCL 357.00 371.90 356.10 370.50 8.75UPL 752.00 774.20 746.85 772.00 16.30HEROMOTOCO 3295.95 3380.00 3268.45 3372.30 67.10ASIANPAINT 1389.90 1431.55 1389.05 1428.50 28.25M&M 779.70 797.00 778.50 794.95 12.30IOC 145.55 148.25 144.90 148.00 2.05SUNPHARMA 422.00 431.00 421.60 429.50 5.70TATAMOTORS 173.00 177.30 171.75 176.15 2.25BAJAJ-AUTO 2855.00 2900.00 2832.00 2897.00 34.00LT 1430.60 1453.00 1423.25 1450.10 15.35IBULHSGFIN 830.00 875.00 828.50 848.15 8.50KOTAKBANK 1219.80 1239.40 1215.60 1237.00 11.35EICHERMOT 23800.00 24178.00 23700.10 24146.00 190.30HDFCBANK 2112.55 2140.45 2102.65 2138.00 14.55DRREDDY 2607.70 2633.95 2592.00 2625.95 12.20HCLTECH 948.30 964.70 948.00 961.50 4.35INDUSINDBK 1606.10 1621.75 1593.30 1617.80 5.15INFY 660.00 671.55 656.40 666.90 2.05ONGC 147.95 150.75 147.40 148.45 0.20BAJAJFINSV 6330.05 6421.00 6302.15 6410.00 4.55TECHM 702.00 717.00 702.00 709.80 0.35ADANIPORTS 374.20 376.85 369.00 376.00 0.15BAJFINANCE 2560.00 2609.90 2531.60 2594.00 -2.90ITC 281.00 284.40 281.00 283.10 -0.35COALINDIA 248.60 254.50 248.00 250.70 -0.30NTPC 148.60 149.95 146.65 149.50 -0.30HDFC 1970.00 1982.00 1943.05 1977.00 -4.70ULTRACEMCO 4075.00 4134.00 4003.30 4073.00 -11.55TITAN 928.00 933.00 922.20 925.00 -4.20POWERGRID 197.05 198.95 194.90 198.05 -0.95INFRATEL 262.00 263.95 257.95 262.00 -1.45RELIANCE 1121.00 1132.50 1116.15 1129.90 -6.90JSWSTEEL 309.00 310.80 306.20 309.00 -2.00HINDUNILVR 1839.00 1854.90 1821.00 1833.00 -11.80TCS 1953.80 1974.90 1946.00 1955.00 -13.45ZEEL 465.50 469.80 456.85 461.50 -3.65TATASTEEL 520.00 527.00 520.00 523.15 -4.25CIPLA 523.70 526.00 515.40 520.40 -4.35ICICIBANK 363.05 365.50 361.15 362.80 -3.70GAIL 354.30 358.00 351.60 354.05 -4.45HINDALCO 222.80 225.00 219.75 224.25 -2.90AXISBANK 636.95 646.90 629.00 633.30 -8.35MARUTI 7850.00 7919.00 7763.65 7812.30 -123.70VEDL 205.00 205.00 201.50 203.10 -3.75WIPRO 336.25 340.00 332.35 333.50 -7.20BHARTIARTL 317.00 321.55 314.00 315.85 -6.85SBIN 298.35 301.65 293.15 294.00 -6.70GRASIM 847.60 856.05 826.30 828.50 -26.40

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 28438.65 28639.30 28320.75 28405.50 -158.75BEL 85.85 90.95 85.40 90.45 3.80ICICIPRULI 314.50 325.35 314.45 323.00 7.50SBILIFE 580.60 596.00 575.65 593.00 9.95IDEA 37.35 38.45 37.25 38.30 0.55LUPIN 840.00 859.70 839.50 853.80 11.80L&TFH 154.25 158.15 153.60 157.45 1.85BHEL 69.80 71.00 69.25 70.70 0.60BIOCON 635.00 650.40 633.35 638.75 4.25PEL 2254.00 2313.00 2245.10 2292.25 14.30PGHH 9942.00 10000.00 9775.00 10000.00 57.00CADILAHC 342.50 345.80 342.00 345.00 1.95LICHSGFIN 483.25 496.90 480.30 487.95 2.30NMDC 96.50 98.20 95.60 97.70 0.45SUNTV 595.00 607.00 593.00 599.00 2.10NHPC 26.10 26.20 25.95 26.15 0.05OFSS 3645.05 3741.35 3623.25 3679.00 6.30INDIGO 1151.45 1162.00 1141.25 1153.25 1.80SHREECEM 17448.00 17549.95 17259.60 17521.50 25.65COLPAL 1329.55 1335.00 1322.70 1332.00 1.85GICRE 274.90 279.55 272.55 275.40 0.30OIL 178.90 182.35 178.25 178.90 0.15BOSCHLTD 19500.00 19762.00 19199.95 19631.00 7.00HAVELLS 698.00 708.00 696.10 705.00 -0.05ICICIGI 875.00 882.00 835.35 869.00 -1.00HDFCLIFE 386.80 390.55 385.70 386.90 -0.65MRF 68750.00 69900.00 68750.00 69050.00 -276.95ACC 1538.30 1562.00 1528.85 1536.75 -7.15ABCAPITAL 100.00 100.50 99.10 99.45 -0.50SRTRANSFIN 1265.00 1291.25 1252.30 1268.00 -7.05BANKBARODA 115.40 116.85 113.80 114.95 -0.65CONCOR 673.00 678.85 656.70 664.60 -3.90DMART 1646.00 1657.00 1625.05 1640.00 -10.60MOTHERSUMI 171.00 173.75 168.70 170.90 -1.15MCDOWELL-N 640.00 649.00 633.55 638.00 -4.40DLF 192.80 193.70 186.70 190.00 -1.50NIACL 192.00 193.35 189.05 190.50 -1.55AMBUJACEM 225.95 229.50 223.45 225.15 -2.10PIDILITIND 1195.00 1202.00 1181.80 1188.15 -12.85GODREJCP 830.00 836.00 810.45 828.10 -9.05ASHOKLEY 107.35 108.90 105.85 106.50 -1.20AUROPHARMA 727.00 736.00 721.10 726.00 -8.35HINDZINC 282.50 282.50 275.10 277.95 -4.35PETRONET 224.80 225.45 220.70 222.35 -3.55BRITANNIA 3207.70 3234.75 3160.15 3174.00 -54.85SAIL 54.15 54.65 53.25 53.55 -0.95ABB 1344.80 1345.45 1296.40 1310.60 -23.50SIEMENS 1014.70 1026.40 990.40 994.50 -24.70DABUR 452.75 454.00 440.10 444.90 -11.90MARICO 392.95 396.60 379.50 380.25 -13.95BANDHANBNK 553.90 553.90 532.00 536.00 -20.40

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The United States does notwant to be the “Policeman”

of the Middle East, US PresidentDonald Trump tweeted onThursday, as he defended hiscontroversial decision to pull USforces out of Syria.

“Does the USA want to bethe Policeman of the MiddleEast, getting NOTHING butspending precious lives and tril-lions of dollars protecting oth-ers who, in almost all cases, donot appreciate what we aredoing? Do we want to be thereforever? Time for others tofinally fight....,” he tweeted.

Trump added: “Russia, Iran,Syria & many others are nothappy about the US Leaving,despite what the Fake News says,because now they will have tofight ISIS and others, who theyhate, without us.

“I am building by far themost powerful military in theworld. ISIS hits us they aredoomed!” The US presidentfaced intense opposition to his

abrupt announcementWednesday that Islamic Statehad been defeated in the region,and that he was ordering the2,000 US troops in Syria to exitthe country.

Trump’s decision runscounter to long-established USpolicy for Syria and the region.It blindsided lawmakers, thePentagon and international alliesalike. “Getting out of Syria wasno surprise,” Trump wrote in anearlier tweet. “I’ve been cam-paigning on it for years, and six

months ago, when I very pub-licly wanted to do it, I agreed tostay longer.

“Russia, Iran, Syria & othersare the local enemy of ISIS. Wewere doing there work. Time tocome home & rebuild. #MAGA”The US withdrawal could havemajor geopolitical ramifications,and plunges into uncertainty thefate of US-backed Kurdish fight-ers who have been tacklingIslamic State jihadists, thou-sands of whom are thought toremain in Syria.

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France will maintain its par-ticipation in the coalition

fighting Islamic State forces inSyria, Government officialssaid on Thursday afterPresident Donald Trump sur-prised Washington’s allies byordering US troops home.

“For now of course weremain in Syria,” France’sEuropean Affairs MinisterNathalie Loiseau said onCNews television, adding “thefight against terrorism is notover.” “It’s true that the coalitionhas made significant progressin Syria, but this fight contin-ues, and we will continue it,”she said.

France has stationed fighter jets in Jordan andartillery along the Syrian bor-der in Iraq as part of the US-led coalition, as well as anundisclosed number of specialforces on the ground.

On Wednesday Trump saidin a Twitter video that “We’vewon against ISIS,” anotheracronym for the Islamic Stategroup, and that it was time tobring the roughly 2,000 US sol-diers fighting the jihadistshome.

It was a stunning reversal of a US policy whichhad vowed its support forKurdish allies who have beenkey fighters against IS forces inSyria.

Its allies have warned thatdespite losing most of the ter-ritory it once controlled duringthe bloody Syrian civil war, theIS threat has not been totallyeradicated.

French Defence MinisterFlorence Parly said on TwitterThursday that the group “hasnot been wiped of the map, norhave its roots.” “We must definitively defeat the last pock-ets of this terrorist organisa-tion,” she said.

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Britain has insisted “muchremains to be done” in

fighting the Islamic State groupin Syria, amid reports onThursday it was not givenprior warning of PresidentDonald Trump’s decision topull out US ground troops.

“The global coalitionagainst Daesh has made hugeprogress,” said a governmentstatement issued lateWednesday, referring to thejihadists.

“Since military operationsbegan, the coalition and itspartners in Syria and Iraq haverecaptured the vast majority ofDaesh territory and impor-tant advances have been madein recent days in the last areaof eastern Syria which Daeshhas occupied.

“But much remains to bedone and we must not losesight of the threat they pose.Even without territory, Daesh

will remain a threat.” Juniordefence minister TobiasEllwood was more blunt,retweeting a message fromTrump that the jihadists hadbeen defeated in Syria with thewords: “I strongly disagree.

“It has morphed into other forms of extremism and the threat is very muchalive.” Trump declared onWednesday that IS had been“beaten” in Syria andannounced the pullout ofAmerican ground forces fromthe war-ravaged nation.

Currently, about 2,000 USforces are in Syria, most ofthem on a train-and-advisemission to support local forcesfighting IS.

The Pentagon refused tosay what effect the troop with-drawal would have on air oper-ations in Syria that have beenongoing since late 2014.

Britain takes part in the airstrikes as part of an interna-tional coalition.

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Myanmar forces are con-ducting new rounds of

“clearance operations” in con-flict-hit Rakhine state afterfour local Buddhists wereattacked and two killed, thecommander-in-chief ’s officesaid Thursday, with one of theincidents blamed on RohingyaMuslims.

The violence occurredaround the evening ofDecember 17 along Pyu Macreek in northern Rakhinestate’s Maungdaw township,the same area where forceswaged a bloody crackdownagainst the Rohingya last year.

More than 720,000Rohingya fled to Bangladeshafter Myanmar launched clear-ance operations in August2017, and UN investigatorswant the country’s top brassprosecuted for genocide for

alleged abuses carried out dur-ing the expulsion. Myanmarsaid it was defending itselfagainst Rohingya militants whoattacked police posts and hasdenied almost all claims ofatrocities.

But the commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing’s officesaid in the statement posted tohis official website Thursdaythat security forces were activeagain and had been carryingout “area clearance operationsalong Pyu Ma Creek.”

The post said the activity was sparked after two ethnic Rakhine Buddhistmen did not return from fishing and were later found onthe creek bank with theirthroats slit.

On the same day twomembers of another ethnicBuddhist minority wereattacked while fishing along thecreek by six men “speaking

Bengali language,” but theyescaped and were treated at alocal hospital.

The post said authoritiesdid not know the identities ofthe attackers. Myanmar doesnot recognise the Rohingya asone of its national races andrefers to them as Bengali tofalsely imply they are newlyarrived immigrants fromBangladesh. Tensions are highin northern Rakhine as thegovernment seeks to kickstarta repatriation process butRohingya in Bangladesh haverefused to take part withoutbeing guaranteed rights, citi-zenship and safety.

The Rohingya still inRakhine are increasingly iso-lated, and several

boats full of men, womenand children trying to flee thestate have been stopped inrecent weeks and turnedaround.

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Washington: The US Senate hasapproved a legislation to tem-porarily fund the Governmentin an effort to avoid a partialshutdown just before Christmasafter President Donald Trumpbacked away from his demandfor money for a border wall withMexico.

Senators on Wednesdaypassed the measure, whichwould keep Government run-ning to 8 February. The Houseof Representatives needs to passsimilar bill to avoid a govern-ment shutdown this weekend.House, in which the Republicanscurrently has a majority, isexpected to pass the bill, butunlikely to include funding forthe border wall. Unless the issueis resolved, more than 800,000federal workers would face fur-loughs or be forced to workwithout pay, disrupting gov-ernment operations days beforeChristmas. PTI

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President Vladimir Putin onThursday said the West was

threatened by an increasinglypowerful Russia, as hepromised further economicgrowth during an end-of-yearpress conference.

The annual event comesafter months of increasing dis-content at home and tensionsabroad, from a stand-off withUkraine to deteriorating tieswith Washington.

Asked about Western sanc-tions against Russia, Putin saidthese were “connected withthe growth of Russia’s power.”“A powerful player appearswho needs to be reckonedwith. Until recently it wasthought there was no longersuch a country,” he said frombehind a large wooden desk toan audience of hundreds ofjournalists.

The president dismissedspy scandals — such as the poi-soning of former double agentSergei Skripal and his daugh-ter in England — as inventedto damage Russia’s standing.

“If there hadn’t been theSkripals, they would havethought up something else,” hesaid.

Domestic concerns alsoloomed large after the longtimeleader’s approval rating fell fol-lowing a deeply unpopularpension reform this year.

He began the press con-ference, as usual, by reeling offeconomic growth figures.

“The main thing is that we need to get into a new economic league. We couldvery well take the fifth place interms of size of economy. And I think we’ll do that,” hesaid.

Russia is currently ranked12th in the world pecking

order by the InternationalMonetary Fund, which lists theUnited States first, followed byChina, Japan, Germany andBritain.

Putin said the economygrew 1.7 per cent over the first10 months of the year, rough-ly in line with predictions,while unemployment wasdown. Full-year growth is esti-mated at 1.8 per cent.

“After a long break, a smallgrowth in real incomes hasnonetheless been recorded,”he added.

But he appeared to damnhis Prime Minister, formerpresident Dmitry Medvedev,with faint praise, saying that hewas “generally” happy with thework of his government. Putinwas re-elected to a fourth termin March with nearly 77 per-cent of the vote, but recent pollshave seen his support dropbelow 50 per cent.

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Twelve migrants have beenfound dead in a boat off

southern Spain while 12 othersare missing, the Spanish coast-guard and the Red Cross said onThursday.

About 30 others were foundalive from the boat which rescueservices had been searching forfor two days in the sea betweenSpain’s southern Andalusiaregion and northern Morocco,a coastguard spokeswoman said.

“Eleven people were founddead on board and 33 alive” —four women and 29 men, shetold AFP.

Rescuers took the migrants,who came from sub-SaharanAfrica, to the Spanish port ofAlmeria early Thursday.

The hospital in Almeriasaid one more died, bringing thetoll to to 12 — 10 men and twowomen, one of them pregnant.

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Athird Canadian detainedin China is being held for

working illegally in the country,the Foreign Ministry saidThursday, in a case whichappears unrelated to previousdetentions that have sparkeddiplomatic tensions.

The Canadian, a womannamed Sarah McIver, faces“administrative penalties”, saidChinese foreign ministryspokeswoman Hua Chunying ata press briefing in Beijing, with-out specifying what the penal-ties entail.

Canada’s National Postnewspaper identified McIveras a teacher from Alberta whohad been working at a school inChina. Citing an unidentifiedsource, it said she was expect-ed to be returned to her coun-try before the New Year.

It comes after formerCanadian diplomat MichaelKovrig and China-based busi-ness consultant Michael Spavorwere detained on national secu-rity grounds in suspected retal-iation over Canada’s arrest of atop Chinese telecom executive.

Hua said that McIver’s caseis different from the previoustwo detentions, which werecarried out by China’s statesecurity apparatus. McIver is

being held by a local publicsecurity bureau, she added.

Canadian Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau also suggestedon Wednesday that McIver’scase was separate, saying Ottawawas “looking into the details”but that it “doesn’t seem to fit thepattern set by the previous two.”Kovrig and Spavor were bothdetained on December 10 andaccused of engaging in activities“that endanger China’s nation-al security”.

McIver’s case comes againsta backdrop of escalating ten-sions between China andCanada, which arrested Huaweichief financial officer MengWangzhou on December 1.Ottawa has repeatedly saidMeng’s arrest was not politicalbut rather part of a judicialprocess in keeping with anextradition treaty withWashington.

Meng was released on baillast week in Vancouver pendingher US extradition hearing onfraud charges related to sanc-tions-breaking business dealingswith Iran. Canadian officialshave been granted consularaccess to both Kovrig andSpavor. Hua said Thursday thatCanada and China are main-taining “unimpeded consularcommunication” on McIver’scase.

McIver, described by thosewho know her as “bubbly” and“approachable”, was detainedby authorities due to visa com-plications, the National Postreported.

She had previously travelledabroad to teach in South Koreaand Malaysia, and arrange-ments are being made for her

return to Canada, said theCanadian newspaper. TheChinese foreign ministry said itcould not confirm whether ornot McIver was heading homesoon.

Trudeau is facing pressureat home to send a stronger mes-sage to Beijing in response to thespate of detentions in China.

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Four jailed Catalan leadershave ended a hunger strike

begun more than two weeksago, their spokesman saidThursday.

Jordi Sanchez, formerspokesman for the regionalCatalan Government of CarlesPuigdemont, and colleaguesJordi Turull, Josep Rull andJoaquim Forn began refusing

food at the start of Decemberat Lledoners prison north ofBarcelona.

They are being held onrebellion charges pending trialfor their role in last year’s ref-erendum which saw thewealthy northeastern regiontry to break away from Spain.

They embarked on the fast in protest at aConstitutional Court block oftheir attempted appeal against

provisional detention.The trial of the jailed sep-

aratists is expected to begin inSpain’s Supreme Court earlynext year.

“The decision to stop theirhunger strike was taken asthey consider their objectiveshave been obtained — that is(their situation) has been takeninto account and shaken theConstitutional Court intoresponding to their appeals,”

their spokesman said inBarcelona.

The Court has thrown out appeals against their detention and the suspensionof some of those jailed fromtheir posts as regional law-makers.

The quartet’s spokesmansaid following that rejection thefour will now take their case tothe European Court of HumanRights.

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Some years ago if someonehad suggested that a festi-val celebrating Urdu, a

language which most felt wasdead or dying, would havefootfalls that would rise 10times in four years, it wouldhave invited large guffaws. ButSanjiv Saraf, founder, Jashn-e-Rekhta, has accomplished justthat. From 18,000 people whoturned up at the IndiaInternational Centre in 2015,the numbers have swollen to1.7 lakh plus this year, necessi-tating a change of venue twicesince it started. From the IndiraGandhi National Centre forArts, it has now moved to theDhyanchand National Stadium.“By the looks of it, we wouldhave to shift again becausethis is not large enough to holdthe audience,” announced Sarafas the festival drew to a closewith a final performance of Sufinaghma by Nooran sisters whobelted out the popular numbersin the film, Highway.

And not surprisingly. Forthe past two-three years, asDecember approaches,Delhizens eagerly tick theircultural calendar for the newmust-visit. At the Jashn-e-Rekhta, a multi-faceted festivalthat celebrates Urdu, one had tojust walk across the four differ-ent venues to witness pro-grammes that spanned theentire spectrum of a discussionon Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s threeloves to a really modern take onghazals which were fused withHindi film music by ShrutiPathak or even a baitbaazicompetition which is akin to anantakshari except for the factthat the songs are replaced bycouplets of popular Urdupoets.

An IIT-Kharagpur alum-nus, Saraf set up Polyplex,a global business venturefrom scratch in the 80s.Today, it is the world’sfourth-largest producerof thin polyester film andhas manufacturing facil-ities in India, Thailandand Turkey. But morethan that, he is now posi-tioned and known for

being the patron of Urdu. Hesaid, “Who says the languageis dead? It lives in the heartsof crores of its lovers.”

Saraf was sitting inside anenclosure at the venue whilethe strains of Naghma-e-Khusro by Ustad IqbalAhmed wafted in, setting the

tone of the conversation. Yearafter year, the festival sees thebiggest of names lining up forits different events. When onewonders how such a bedazzlingconstellation of celebritiesmakes it way every year toJashn-e-Rekhta, Saraf said, “Itis their love for Urdu whichmakes them come for the fes-tival as they realise that some-one is serving the language withgreat intensity and selflessness.There is, of course, an emotion-al connect with the languagethat they have.”

However, it was not the fes-tival that Saraf initially startedout with, rather it was a web-site that aimed at helping thosewho wanted to learn Urdu, justlike he did. He recalled, “Myinterest in Urdu in the begin-ning was triggered by old Hindifilm songs which were in Urduand had lyrics that everyoneloved. I started from there.Then in college, when you fellin love and broke your heart,respite was to be found inUrdu poetry.” It helped that hisfather loved to listen to ghaz-als of Mehndi Hassan, GhulamAli, Iqbal Bano, Farida Khanamand more.

However, his life took theusual trajectory of college edu-cation and earning a livingwhere he went to Gwalior,Bengal and later Odisha as “itwas essential to tick all theboxes for the sake of society andfor my own self.” But the loveof the language was still sub-consciously alive in him. “Irealised that work can be a wayto earn money but there was aneed to nourish the soul aswell,” he said and decided tolearn to read and write Urdu atthe age of 53 with a properUstad who came to teach himat home. “I realised there aremany people who are not awareof the Urdu script and aredeprived of its beautiful wealthof tradition,” he said. Theresponse was tremendous andthe audience started multiply-ing manifold. “Initially therewere two people in the Rekhtawebsite team and now there are90, who are in the technical,

editorial as well as in otherdepartments,” he said. The pro-ject has expanded to includereaching out to schools, pre-serving old books and more.

And then he decided to dosomething more. “We thoughtthat a website is two-dimen-sional as one can just readUrdu. There is no other lan-guage in the world which lendsitself to so many different per-forming artforms such asdrama, ghazal sarayi, dastangoi,sufi singing, qawaali, baitbaazior marsiya.” This led to the birthof the festival.

When it was conceptu-alised, no clear format wasfixed for Jashn-e-Rekhta. “Wewere clear that we should pre-sent the different genres ofUrdu. We paid attention toinclude elements that wereboth popular as well as tradi-tional which would run paral-lel. It should not be just enter-tainment but include intellec-tual discussions as well,” he said.Now four events happen simul-taneously at the same venue.

“This year, youngsters

came in large numbers at theNaubahar mushaira. I wasamazed by the number ofyoung poets and their calibre.This has become a sort of tigerthat I am riding which I can’tget off aur baithe rehne me hibarkat hai (It is a blessing toremain astride the tiger),” saidSaraf who credited his team forits success.

He also attributes the suc-cess of the festival to the lan-guage which he believes is amagnet. “We have just dustedand exposed Urdu to people bybringing it to the centrestage.The youngsters have a veryshort attention span. If some-thing does not grip them in thefirst 15 seconds, then theyabandon it. We’ve engagedthem across social media onFacebook, Instagram, Pinterestto create a buzz and made Urdulook cool. The youth in turnshare the events on socialmedia which in turn multipliesthe reach,” he added.

The success of Jashn-e-Rekhta has clearly defied thosewho want to compartmen-

talise the language within thebox of religion. Saraf said,“Language has none. If theybelieve that, then there can beno bigger misunderstanding.But the unfortunate part is thatthe Britishers divided theHindustani language whichrepresented the composite cul-ture. The Persianised versionwas called Urdu and theSanskritised one was referred toas Hindi. Even now commonconversations are pepperedwith Urdu words. We say subhashaam not pratah kaal andsandhya kaal or for that matterhum kisi ka intezaar karten hainprateeksha nahin. There arethousands of words which weuse without even realising thatthey are from Urdu.”

He also goes on to pointthat the songs and dialogues inHindi films are all in Urdu.“One might say Hindi, but ifyou start to assess and countthem there are only some songswhich are actually in Hindi.There have been so many trans-lations of Gita, Ramayana,Mahabharata in Urdu, whichwere an attempt to showcasethe syncretic culture, writingsand books so that they reacheveryone and not be restrictedby religions,” he said.

Saraf, like most people,believes that a lot needs to bedone to further popularise thelanguage. “Though this is agovernment-related decisionand a political issue but mypersonal opinion is that if weare giving the option ofGerman or French, then weshould definitely have Urdu asan option too. The grammar isthe same as Hindi. InAmerican colleges the twolanguages are taught together,”he argued. Coming to thescript, for Saraf it is an emotivesubject. “First people shouldlearn to speak and understandand it is only later that ifsomeone wants to learn thescript, they can do that. No onetold me to learn it and I did nothave to appear for an exam nordid I have an atmosphere athome. But it was dil da mamla(a matter of the heart).”

Nissan finds itself in thenews for all the wrongreasons. It has been

alleged by the company thattheir erstwhile Chief Executiveand current Chairman CarlosGhosn under-declared hisincome when he headed thecompany and used companyfunds to lead a lavish lifestyle,acquiring prime propertiesacross the world on companydosh. The allegations are for theprosecutors to prove but this iscertainly a fall from grace for aman once considered a Japanesebusiness icon, possibly the only“gaijin” (foreigner/white man) tobe considered such. His rescueof Nissan, achieved with somevery tough decisions to shut fac-tories and lay off employees, islegendary. The decisions hetook were very difficult and “un-Japanese” but Nissan still sur-vives and in partnership withRenault and Mitsubishi a.k.a“The Alliance”, they remain aglobal leader in the automotivespace.

Now, it is far from appropri-ate to comment on what thefuture holds for Mr Ghosnother than a massively publi-cised legal case, which will def-initely be one of the top trialsever in the Japanese legal systemthat will be closely watched bymillions in Japan and across theworld, including all of us motorindustry observers and writers.However, the future for Nissanis a bit clearer across the worldwhere they have the rather suc-cessful “Leaf” small electric car,which is trying to prove that acost-effective small electric carcan be made. But making a fewgood cars across the world hasnot really helped them much inIndia. Nissan does not even sellthe current generation of theMicra in India anymore as it ismore than four-metres long,their extended-wheelbase Sunnysedan sank without a tracethanks to the sub-four metresedan market dominating andthe Terrano was a Duster tryingon some new make-up. There isthe GT-R, which is a phenom-enal car but there is no point inhaving a “halo” product inshowrooms if you do not havemuch to sell.

Now, however, there is theNissan Kicks. The Kicks is theNissan version of the RenaultCaptur, which shares the sameM0 platform with the newDuster but unlike say the oldDuster and Terrano, which wereidentical twins with differenthairstyles, the Captur and Kicksappear more like fraternal twins.And that is important simplybecause the Captur did notexactly set the sales chartsablaze. First things first, theKicks looks much sharper thanthe Renault, with better definedlines and more solid implemen-tation of the “floating roof” con-cept. It looks more SUV-ish andthat is important since it is goingup against the mighty HyundaiCreta which prints profits for theKorean carmaker.

The Creta is popularbecause people believe it pro-vides a great value-for-moneyproposition, good service thanksto Hyundai’s network and servesa purpose. Personally, I prefersedans more and the Verna is amuch better car to drive, but thatis another topic for another col-umn. I also believe that Hyundaiis well aware of the demand forthe Creta and the car hasbecome quite expensive towardsthe top of the range, the range-topping diesel costs close to 18lakhs ex-showroom.

So with a mountain toclimb against the Creta, howdoes the Kicks do? Well, itstarts off well. The tried-and-

tested K9K diesel engine with110PS of power has beenaround since the Duster firstlanded in India. Like the Captur,the engine in the Kicks is matedto a six-speed manual transmis-sion and the power delivery isvery smooth. While there is dis-cernible turbo-lag if you try andaccelerate from very low enginespeeds, the car’s pick-up on sixthgear between 50-80 is praise-worthy. We were testing theKicks on the relatively straightand flat roads between Bhuj andthe Rann of Kutch and really didnot get a chance to throw the cararound any corners becausethere were no sharp ones.However, the road was unevenin some stretches, so one mustadmit that the ride was excellent.

The interiors are equallynice, the eight-inch floatinginfotainment system very sim-ilar to those on some Audi’s andBMW’s was brilliant, the screenresolution, contrast and colourlevels were superb. This is nocheap LED screen that somemanufacturers fit on their cars,this is top-quality and unlike theGerman luxury cars this was atouchscreen. The dual-tone fin-ish on the interiors was nice anddid not feel forced in anyway,although the faux carbon-fibrefinish was a bit much in myopinion.

Now there were some neg-atives. Some are things you willlearn to live with if you buy thecar such as the fact that thephone and audio controls arebehind the steering wheel, andthe controls on the steeringwheel are just for the cruise con-trol and speed limiter. Also,there was an issue controllingApple Carplay from the(behind) steering controls andI had to revert to the touch-screen. But then there are thesmall issues that can be a bit irri-tating, rear legroom is not thatgreat if you are a large adult andcan be a problem on long-dis-tance drives. That said, theCreta has a similar problem.

The big issue for methough, and many of my motor-ing journalist peers also com-mented on, was the driver’sfootwell. The fact is that theKicks was likely designed for aleft-hand drive market and as aresult of that the tunnel of thecentral control unit seems slight-ly biased to the right. As a result,there is no space for a deadpedal on the car, which giventhat this is a manual, is partic-ularly irritating and you findyourself struggling to find some-where to rest your left foot. Theirony, which is why I made theleft-hand drive comment earli-er, is that the passenger-sidefootwell is extremely large, wellmaybe not spread-eagle largebut large.

On top of that, Nissan is notentering the market with anautomatic variant at launch,which is a clear negative in myopinion. The market in India,particularly the urban buyer, israpidly shifting to automatictransmission cars and the lackof one will be a problem forNissan, especially if they want togive the Creta, which has auto-matics available in both petroland diesel variants. An automat-ic will also mean a place to restyour left foot, which should bethe prime reason the carmakerbrings one along.

How will this car do? Willit finally establish Nissan as astrong presence in India? Thatremains to be seen, it will not betough to undercut the expensiveCreta but displacing it from theminds of buyers might take awhile, and a big service network.Nissan’s future in India, howev-er, rests on the Kicks.

What elements does yourperformance explore?What does The Bhagwad:Ganga Dhyayati signi-

fy?The central theme of The Bhagwad isabout the pessimistic thoughts of mindthat pollute the environment throughour actions. If mankind showed concernand sensitivity for fellow human beings,respect for life of all beings and was notconcerned about just the ‘self ’, or ‘me,’we would not see pollution of watersthrough garbage waste and industrialcontaminants. Thus, the acts revolvearound the theme of addressing theissues of unconcern and disrespect forfellow beings.

We have expressed this through themulling of Ma Ganga (mother ofBhishma Pitamah) over pollution of herpristine waters arising out of humanweaknesses constantly exhibited sincethe periods of the Ramayana and theMahabharata. The ballet was based onselect verses from the Bhagwad Gita andexpanded through episodes from theMahabharata. Set in five acts, wesought to explore the practice of virtuesof abstention from greed, non-egoism,

of eschewing pride, anger and desire forrevenge, for they spell disaster in thelong run as has been exhorted in theHoly Bhagwad Gita.

Who came up with the concept?The concept was first mooted by myNDC colleague Rear Admiral Dr SKulshreshtha (retd.) and it found res-onance within me. This began theprocess of germination and we foundthat the Bhagwad Gita has been exhort-ing us to become better human beingsby addressing the voices within us.Hence, it became an important peg inthe development of the idea. This ledus to the unexplored episodes of theMahabharata that reflected the importof the selected verses of the BhagwadGita.

How do you think your dance hasevolved since the time you started?Perhaps, it was the environment ofsocial concern and social sensitivity athome that I grew up in that has alwaysreflected in my works. My first everdance production on the issue of envi-ronment was Dishantar way back in1982-83. Many dance productions on

various other social issues such asfemale foeticide, incest, women andchild issues and social ills of variouskinds have been recurring themes in myproductions since then. Hence, TheBhagwad: Ma Ganga Dhyayati wasanother feature of expression of the con-tinuing thread of social concern.

I have always felt that dance is avery potent medium of communicationas it touches the heart instantly. We as

artistes are also accountable to societyas has been exhorted in the openingchapters of the Natyashastra. Verses 17and 18 of the Chapter one of theNatyashastra state that the fifth Veda,namely the science of classical perform-ing arts, was created by Brahma so thatthrough semi-historical tales or itihas,dance will help convey the ideas ofdharma.

How do you think an interest in clas-sical art forms and traditional dancescan be instilled in the current gener-ation?Let us not blame the young generationfor not taking interest in classical artsor in knowing our heritage. As parents,we should introspect as to whether wehave taken steps to inculcate withinthem an awareness and appreciation ofthese genres or have we left themexposed to the crass materialism of thecommercial culture present all over theglobe. In my experience, I have foundthat the young generation, whenexposed to classical performing arts,has responded to it whole-heartedlywith many among them becoming avidfollowers in the long run. Also manyof them have even left lucrative jobs topursue classical arts further whilemany others are multi-tasking with twoparallel professions. These instancesshow an interest and an inner hungerwithin many to learn something thathas depth and is lasting.

What does it take to show a storythrough a dance performance?Classical dance is always about tellinga story. The term Kathak itself meansa story-teller. Communication is a partof life, both verbally and non verbally,using gestures and emotions. Dance justhappens to be the right vehicle.

Cinema is another form of com-munication and stage arts yet anoth-er. Both are audio visual media butboth have their own space. The impactof a classical dance performance is per-sonal and instantaneous whose mem-ory and experience (‘rasa’) resonateswithin a person for all time to come.It can only be recalled in memory asthe fragrance is an everlasting one inthat person’s memory. This makes itvery precious and very personal.Cinema on the other hand can beviewed time and again to re-live theexperience. The two genres are verydifferent.

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2�����������,���=���A new survey has revealed

that six out of every 10 peo-ple preferred partying at

home or friend’s home duringNew Year’s Eve, with a significant-ly higher number of people plan-ning to travel within India and goon long drives during New Year’sEve. The study also showed that73 per cent prefer shopping andbooking online.

The national survey was con-ducted by Velocity MR among asample size of 2,010 respondentsand covered prominent Indiancities including Delhi, Kolkata,Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad,Hyderabad, and Chennai.

Altogether 61 per cent of therespondents plan to party at theirhomes or a friend’s home.Vacation within India and longdrives also seem to be most pre-ferred with 36 per cent of therespondents choosing it. Whileforeign trips and long drives arethe least favoured by the respon-dents less than 25 years of age, onan average people are ready tospend up to �40,000 on vacation.Respondents, who are planningfor a local trip or resort/homes-tay, are willing to choose either 4-star or 3-star hotels on their ownor going through online plat-forms. Online food delivery,restaurants and hotels have ahuge demand, as more than 55per cent of the respondents pre-fer ordering in on new year’s eve.When it comes to food, cakes,pastries, cookies, chocolates andmain course Indian meals are themost preferable.

Page 14: ˇˇ # ,-! ˘, . /0 ˘ˇˆ˙ ˇ˝˛˚˜ !ˆ #ˇ ˆ˝#˜˘$!#%%#˜˛ˆ˙ · 2019-03-04 · may be planning to dump the NDA. ... for finally realisng the need to ... strong and live

When a chefchristened thegodfather ofChinese cui-sine has curat-

ed the menu at a restaurant, onecan be assured of food that ishigh on flavours. Chef Jack AwYong, who has successfullyopened many distinguishedrestaurants across the world,has also put together the menuof The China Kitchen, where Idined recently. With the launchof this restaurant, chef Jack aimsto bring an authentic Chineseexperiences to its patrons.

After serving exceptionaland authentic food from Chinafor over a decade, TCK atHyatt Regency decided toamplify the premium diningexperience beyond the hotelpremises.

The Chinese culinary trailof TCK by China Kitchen isdelightfully eclectic and satisfy-ing with a spread that consistsof everything from delicatepumpkin dumpling to the boldflavours of Beijing roasted duck,from the rustic heartiness ofsalad with avocado, mushroomand cress to the sinful indul-gence of the Chinese harvest,Sichuan spicy string beans withtruffle oil wrap with crepes,bean paste and garlic chilli.

As we stepped inside, we

saw that the restaurant embod-ied the traditional elements ofa Chinese house with a verycontemporary and opulentdecor. It is shaped like a C withsections that were partitionedoff which were ideal for groups.Its design is based on the con-cept of ‘dining around thekitchen’ and this created a con-stant buzz around the cookingarea. While taking a shortround of the restaurant, I cameto know that the kitchen had aPeking duck oven, a dumplingand noodle station, a steameralong with three woks andoffered a wide selection of teasfrom China.

Situated on the groundfloor of DLF Cyberhub, therestaurant can easily host up to80 guests.

First on the menu wasTCK salad with avocado, mush-rooms and cress which didnot really set my senses alight.One can never go wrong withthe roasted Beijing duck, whichis one of their specialities.Shipped all the way from thecity from which it gets itsname, it made its way to thetable directly from the woodburning oven and was servedwith crepes, classic condimentsand sauces. It was sliced by thechef in front of us while mak-ing sure that each of the slices

had anequal amount

of skin and meat.The ducks, bred specially

for the dish, are slaughteredafter 65 days and seasonedbefore being roasted in a oven.

It offered a perfect balanceof flavours. From skin toinnards everything was skew-ered and grilled and doused indifferent sauces and accompa-niments. The skin was crispyand delectable, the meat softand tender — a combinationwhich melted in the mouth.

They even have a mockduck roll to give vegetarians ataste of what the real McCoytastes like. The roll was stuffedwith string beans, garlic and alittle bit of plum sauce.

As an accompaniment tothe dish, we were served witha mocktail that tasted likeflavoured soda with some redcurrants floating in it. Themocktails are a speciality.

All those who think thatthe Chinese cuisine is all aboutnoodles, manchurian, sauteedvegetables or pok choy, will getan insight into the diversity ofChinese food here. In fact, Irealised that to believe other-wise would do injustice to a cui-sine that is as incredibly varied

as it is delec-table.

T h eChef alsopointedout that

calling Chinesecuisine bland is a little

unfair as it offers an interest-ing combination of sauces andtraditional spices to add to theoverall taste and aroma. It alsohelps that Indians are well-trav-elled and have developed ataste for the authentic variety.

The team here consists ofthree expat chefs headed byChef Zhang Hong Sheng whopresented a stunning array ofa diverse spread of culinaryclassics such as Gongbaochicken, braised tofu andbroccoli, and spicy mapo tofuamongst others.

Additionally, there is aninteractive stage at TCK wherebartenders and chefs createmagical desserts and cocktails.All these elements make therestaurant a popular venue torelax and indulge in a trueChinese dining experiencethat is an amalgamation of avibrant ambience and cul-ture.

To bring the meal to anapt end, there was a selectionof specially curated desserts.You could indulge your sweettooth with a classic tiramisu,or a mango pudding in amini cup and a Chocolatecigar which was crispy outsideand creamy inside. After all nomeal is complete withoutsome soul sinful indulgences.

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It had been long since I went on a date nightwith someone I barely knew. This time Idecided to make it a dinner date since there

is nothing better than food to fuel conversations.If we go by what Paul Prudhomme had said —‘you don’t need a silver fork to eat good food’— this would definitely be justified.

As we made our way inside the CibamorBistro at H Block in Connaught Place, we werewelcomed by a huge glass wall that gave us aglimpse of the interiors. There was a goldenstaircase to our right starting from the mainarena. The chaise lounges and chairs let us sinkin comfortably whereas the wooden walls in offwhite defined the warmth and charming ambi-ence. There were yellow lamps on the ceilingshaped like a deciduous winter tree.

The server recommended that we beginwith Nacho Macho, which as is implicit in thename, is a dish of nachos with veggies like olives,tomatoes, refried beans, bell peppers toppedwith melted peri-peri cheese. As we bit into thecrunchy starter, served with the in-house salsadip, guacamole and sour cream, there was a blastof complex and diverse flavours in our mouths.I could vouch for it — nachos have never tast-ed better. This was certainly several steps up theusual ‘cheese baked nachos’.

Next up were the Rosemary TruffleParmesan Fries. Ever heard of potato wedgesfried in rosemary oil? Well, the needle-like rose-mary leaves, even though they are such a tinyelement, make up for a great lemon-pine-likeflavour. We applauded the chef, AbhishekKumar, for serving the fries that faultlessly bal-anced the Parmesan dust and rosemary oilflavours.

The next in line were the Habanero ChickenWings. Glazed in the hot chilli pepper, the chick-en wings were screaming a red alert on the spicequotient. However, to balance the heat, the dishwas served with house mint and goat cheese dipwhich had an unripened and moist texture likethat of ricotta cheese. Anyone who loves spicesshould definitely pile up their plate with this one.They’d forget KFC!

Moving on to the main course, we had thespeciality of the house called Mezze Cibamor.The dish comprised cracked white pita bread,sweet potato hummus and beetroot falafel andthe combination made it appear like Indian “cut-lets” and was served with fresh tabbouleh saladon the side. Even though I have never been fondof hummus, the dish hit the right chord with itspresentation and its flavourful appeal.

The food had stolen the show till this timeso we ventured into the drinks menu and decid-ed to sample some as well. We ordered the spe-cial beer cocktails from the ‘Beer Mixx’ section.There was Beer Punch replete with the citrusflavours of pineapple, orange, infused with spicesand bitter cream. The second was Tom Terrific,that had one of my favourite flavours of lemon-grass, smoked spicy tomato and lemon juice ina stout beer. I can say without any qualms, thatin this chic diner, these fruity concoctions werea proof that happiness can be served in a glass.

Next in line were Cibamor’s speciality andwhat I termed as P-cube, Penne Pollo Piccante.Piccante is a hot pepper sauce in Mexican cui-sine which brings together flavours of chillitomato, onion, cilantro, lime juice and garliccloves. At first glance it might appear like anArrabiata penne pasta, but it’s light orange colour

differentiates it from what could be called a con-ventional ‘red sauce pasta.’ The dish seemed likeperfection on my plate.

While I was still gorging on the delicacies,the chef presented three special dips that areexclusive to their menu. The first was theJalapeno dip with crushed mint and spices. Thesecond was the tomato salsa dip. The third, thatbecame our personal favourite, was the mangocrunch that was spicy with a tinge of mangoflavour. You won’t be going back to the home-ly mango or aam chutney after having this forit is indeed one-of-its-kind.

Most people believe that a meal is incom-plete without desserts. Even though we werestuffed, going by the meal, we were more thanwilling to stretch it a wee bit more.

And this too, didn’t disappoint. We orderedpancakes which the chef had customised to ourtaste. We had the Cinnamon Pancake thatbrought two highly varied syrups —caramel andjaggery — in one plate. While half of the pan-cake tasted of caramel, the other half satisfiedour tastebuds craving for jaggery.

The satiating meal where the chef hadstirred up a culinary storm made sure that Iwould go back to gorge on numerous delicacies.

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Gareth Bale hit an 11-minute hat-trick onWednesday as Real

Madrid strolled into the ClubWorld Cup final by beatingKashima Antlers 3-1 in AbuDhabi.

Bale scored in the 44th,53rd and 55th minutes at theZayed Sports City Stadium toput Madrid within touchingdistance of a record fourthsuccess in this competition,and their third triumph in arow.

Real are currently tiedwith their La Liga rivalsBarcelona, having each won itthree times before, but itwould be a major surprise ifthe European champions werenot hoisting the trophy againon Saturday, when they facehosts Al Ain in the final.

Bale had missed the 1-0victory over Rayo Vallecanolast weekend with an ankleproblem but he was in irre-sistible form, albeit againstlimited opposition.

The Welshman joinsLionel Messi and CristianoRonaldo as the only player toscore in three separate ClubWorld Cup tournaments whilehis treble, coming either sideof half-time, is the fastest inthe history of the competition.

"Bale ate everything today,the floodlights, the stands,the nets," coach SantiagoSolari said. "He has shownwhat a player he is and whathe can do. So let him rest andeat the nets again onSaturday."

Kashima Antlers, fromJapan's J1 League, qualifiedafter winning the AsianChampions League last monthbut, despite a lively start anda late consolation from ShomaDoi, they were clearly secondbest.

Bale now has 10 goals in21 games for Real Madrid thisseason while victory will alsocome as a relief to Solari.

Madrid's front two weretying Antlers in knots and twominutes before half-time, Balestruck. A neat one-two withMarcelo on the edge of thearea set him in behind andBale guided the bouncing ballinto the far corner.

Benzema had a shotcleared off the line at thestart of the second half butMadrid did not have long towait.

Bale scored twice in asmany minutes as first, he cap-italised on a poor backpassfrom Shuto Yamamoto andthen drove into the far cornerafter Marcelo had, again, teed

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him up.Three clear, Madrid were

home and dry, and Baledeparted on the hour,replaced by Marco Asensiowhile Casemiro, recoveredfrom an ankle injury, came onto make his first appearancesince November 12.

Antlers pulled one goalback with 13 minutes left asDoi drove in after YasushiEndo headed down. Initiallyruled offside, VAR showedEndo was level but a come-back never looked likely.

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Former opener W V Raman was onThursday preferred over celebratedSouth African Gary Kirsten for the post

of India's women's cricket coach despite dis-sension among the administrators over theselection process.

The 53-year-old Raman is currently a bat-ting consultant at the National CricketAcademy in Bengaluru. His first assignmentis the tour of New Zealand beginning nextmonth.

"Kirsten was the top choice for the BCCIad-hoc selection committee but Raman gotthe job as the South African was not keen ongiving up his plum job with IPL franchiseRoyal Challengers Bangalore. He could notbe convinced on choosing between IPL andnational team," a BCCI official said.

The selection committee comprised for-mer captain Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwadand Shantha Rangaswamy.

The panel recommended three names —Kirsten, Raman and Venkatesh Prasad (inorder of preference) — to the Board, a reli-able source said. Eventually, the BCCI pickedRaman for the job.

The appointment was made despite theCommittee of Administrators (COA) beingdivided on the issue with Diana Edulji ask-ing chairman Vinod Rai to put the selectionprocess on hold. BCCI treasurer AnirudhChaudhry too questioned the process beingfollowed as it had Rai's approval and notEdulji's.

Raman, who played 11 Tests and 27 ODIs,is now one of the most qualified coaches inthe country. He has coached big RanjiTrophy teams like Tamil Nadu and Bengal,and has also had a stint with the India U-19team.

From his playing days, Raman is bestremembered for being the first Indian to scorea century in South Africa during the 1992-93 tour.

Besides Kirsten, Raman and Prasad, theother shortlisted candidates out of the 28applicants who were interviewed wereManoj Prabhakar, Trent Johnston, DimitriMascarenhas, Brad Hogg and KalpanaVenkatachar.

Kirsten was interviewed via Skypewith four others while one interview wasconducted over the phone. Raman, ManojPrabhakar and incumbent Ramesh Powarappeared in person.

Kirsten, who had guided India's men'steam to the 2011 World Cup triumph, wasthe number one choice but needed to stepdown from his RCB role to avoid a poten-tial conflict of interest. BCCI CEO RahulJohri even spoke to Kirsten and RCB offi-cials but could not reach an agreement.

"Gary's contention was how can coach-ing a women's national team be a conflictof interest while being in charge of a men'sIPL team. He could not be convinced onthat. Having said that, Raman is a goodchoice as the team needs a batting coach atthe moment. Prasad was number three inthe pecking order," said the BCCI official.

The ad-hoc panel too made it clear toKirsten that he would have to part ways withRCB to take up the national team role.

"Practically, there is no conflict ofinterest but if you go by the book but itwould have opened pandora's box.

Tomorrow, Ravi Shastri (India men's coach)would demand that he be allowed to do IPLcommentary and Rahul Dravid (India Acoach) might request that he should beallowed to mentor an IPL franchise," theofficial added.

Kirsten had been head coach of theIndian team for three years from 2008 to2011. He then coached South Africa from2011 to 2013. He is currently the RCB headcoach in the Indian Premier League.

The BCCI invited fresh applications forthe job after Powar's brief stint as interimcoach ended last month, in rather contro-versial circumstances.

The Supreme Court-appointed COAhas been divided over the coach selectionprocess ever since fresh applications wereinvited.

While Edulji wanted Powar to contin-ue at least till the New Zealand tour start-ing next month, Rai instructed the BCCItop brass to invite fresh applications.

Powar's controversial interim tenureended on November 30 after a bitter fall-out with ODI captain and senior playerMithali Raj over selection issues during theWorld Cup.

Powar decided to re-apply after T20captain Harmanpreet Kaur and her deputySmriti Mandhana came out in strong sup-port of the former India spinner.

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Former Australia captainAllan Border defended

Virat Kohli's aggression, sayingcricket needs characters like theIndian skipper who exude pas-sion on the field.

"There's not many charac-ters in our game at themoment. The professional erahas sort of beaten that out to acertain degree," Border said onFox Cricket's podcast — TheFollow-on.

Kohli has received severecriticism from the likes ofMike Hussey, Mitchell Johnsonand Sanjay Manjrekar for hisaggressive celebrations in theongoing Test series in Australia.

The Indian skipper wasalso involved in a series of heat-ed exchanges with hisAustralian counterpart TimPaine, which prompted umpireChris Gafaney to interveneduring the second Test here.

"I haven't seen anyone sortof carry on so much as a cap-tain when his side takes awicket. It's really over the topbut it's good in a way. You cansee some passion about whathe's trying to do," Border said.

Border added that per-haps Kohli's aggression stemsfrom the desire to cement hislegacy with an away seriesvictory.

"He's so keen to win awayfrom home and really deservethat number one ranking …that's your KPIs (key perfor-mance indicators) as a captainI suppose," he said.

Under Kohli, India suf-fered two back-to-back awayseries defeats against SouthAfrica and England this year.

"To drive the team to benumber one, which he hasachieved, but to win awayfrom home is one of those

important things you notice asa captain."

Border also opined that asthe leader, Kohli feels the needto manifest the passion anddrive.

"I think he's feeling thatpinch. If you look at thisIndian side he's probably theonly one that has the charac-ter to get really animated," hesaid.

"The rest of the Indianboys are very good cricketersbut seem to me a quiet bunchand maybe Kohli feels as skip-per he needs to lead from thefront and really show somepassion and drive. I think it justcomes naturally to him," headded.

&�G����#�������������An "excitable character"

who wants to win at all times,that's how former Australiancoach Darren Lehmanndescribed Virat Kohli and saidthere was nothing wrong withthe Indian captain's on-fieldconduct.

Lehmann said Kohli isentertaining to watch.

"Virat Kohli is very pas-sionate. So that's what you getfrom him on the field andthat's what he will always giveyou. He is an excitable char-acter. He enjoys his chal-lengers, and he wants to win,"Lehmann said.

"Not only for himself, hewants his country to win. Itwas good to see out there andI thought it was good banter,"he said.

Lehmann made light ofKohli's confrontation withPaine.

"Neither Kohli nor TimPaine crossed the line. It wasgood banter, and it came acrossas a bit of fun on the stumpmics," he said.

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India skipper Virat Kohli main-tained his top spot, while young

wicketkeeper batsman RishabhPant and pacer Jasprit Bumrahattained their career-best posi-tions in the latest ICC Test rank-ings.

Kohli gained 14 points toreach 934 points after a valiantfirst-innings knock of 123 in thesecond Test at Perth whichAustralia won by 146 runs to levelthe four-match series.

The India captain has thusincreased his lead over NewZealand skipper Kane Williamsonfrom seven to 19 points.

Pant gained 11 places to securethe 48th spot while India vice-cap-tain Ajinkya Rahane moved up twoplaces to progress into the top-15.

In the bowlers list, Bumrahachieved a career-high ranking of28 while fellow teammateMohammad Shami moved twoplaces to 24th.

Second-ranked Williamsontoo has something to cheer aboutafter scoring 91 in the drawn first

of two Tests against Sri Lanka. Hehas reached a personal best of 915points, the joint-25th highest everand equal with ICC Hall of FamerGeorge Headley of the West Indies.

New Zealand opener TomLatham is another major gainerafter an outstanding Test perfor-mance of 264 not out that not only

won him the Man of the Matchaward but has also lifted him 15slots to a career-best 22nd position.

Fast bowler Tim Southee isanother one to gain from theteam. His eight wickets in thematch helped him to gain four slotsto reach 11th position.

There were more movements

owing to performances in Perthwith man of the match NathanLyon's eight wickets helped himgrab a career-best seventh place, aposition he had also previouslyattained in October last year.

Josh Hazlewood (up twoplaces to ninth) and Mitchell Starc(up one place to 15th) are theother Australia bowlers to moveup.

Among their batsmen, UsmanKhawaja (up one place to 12th),captain Tim Paine (up nine placesto 46th) and Travis Head (up 16places to 63rd) are the ones tomove up the ladder after usefulcontributions against the world'stop-ranked Test side.

For Sri Lanka, former captainAngelo Mathews (83 and 120 notout) and Kusal Mendis (141 notout) have been rewarded aftertheir match-saving efforts.

Mathews gained eight slots toreach 16th place while Mendis hasmoved up two slots to take 18thposition. Among their bowlers,Lahiru Kumara has gained fiveslots to reach 43rd place after fin-ishing with four wickets.

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Bangladesh's Cricket Boardsaid on Thursday it

has barred formerAustralian captain SteveSmith from the forthcomingBangladesh Premier LeagueTwenty20 tournament followingan objection raised by some fran-chises.

Smith, serving a one-yearban from international cricketand Australia's domestic SheffieldShield and Big Bash League, hadsigned for Comilla Victorians toplay in the next edition of the BPLstarting on January 5.

He was expected to join the

team in mid-January for the sec-ond phase of the BPL as a replace-ment for Pakistani cricketerShoaib Malik.

"The rule of the tournamentis that if a franchise takes areplacement, his name should bein the list of initial players' draft.But Smith's name was not there,"said Bangladesh Cricket Boardchief Nizamuddin Chowdhury.

"Some franchises raisedobjection about it. So we have tobar him from playing the BPL,"he said.

Australia's ex-vice captainDavid Warner will however playin the BPL — which concludes onFebruary 8, 2019 — havingsigned for the Sylhet Sixers as oneof their two pre-draft signings.

Smith and Warner werehanded a year-long internation-

al bans for their roles in a ball-tampering scandal that rockedAustralian cricket in March.

The BPL was expected to beSmith's third T20 league outing— after Canada's Global T20 andthe Caribbean Premier League —since the ban was imposed.

He also recently signed forthe Pakistan Super League, whichwill be played in February andMarch.

The BPL, which started in2011, was hit by allegations ofmatch-fixing in its early years.

After a suspension, the tour-nament resumed in 2015 and hassince been staged without seriouscontroversy.

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Captain Shakib Al Hasanproduced a career-best 5-

21 for Bangladesh to beat theWest Indies by 36 runs and leveltheir three-match Twenty20

series 1-1 on Thursday.Shakib also provided vital late

runs when Bangladesh batted first,his 26-ball 42 studded with fivefours and one six lifting them to amore-than-competitive 211-4 andtheir second highest T20 total in theday-night match.

West Indies was in the chase at98-3 in the 11th over until Shakibtook three wickets in eight deliver-ies with his left-arm spin. West

Indies was all out for 175 in 19.2overs.

"Always, it is special to con-tribute in the team's victory, whetherit is in batting or bowling," Shakibsaid. "Having said that, five wicketsdon't matter, what matters is that wewon an important game."

After losing the first T20 byeight wickets, Bangladesh kept aliveits ambition of winning all threeseries formats following its 2-0 winin the tests and 2-1 win in the one-day internationals.

The series-deciding third T20is on Saturday.

Opener Liton Das launchedBangladesh by smashing 60 off 34balls, his second half-century laced

with six fours and four sixes afterWest Indies captain CarlosBrathwaite opted to bowl first,keeping the dew factor in mind.

Das kept the scoreboard tickingover following the dismissal ofsenior opener Tamim Iqbal, whostruggled with his timing, for 15.

Bangladesh was set back whenWest Indies fast bowlers SheldonCottrell and Oshane Thomas var-ied their pace to claim three wick-ets for 10 runs, reducing Bangladeshto 120-4.

But Shakib and Mahmudullah,who was 43 not out, added an unde-feated 91 off 42 balls for the fifthwicket to ensure the rapid start pro-vided by Das wasn't wasted.

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Former India fast bowler Zaheer Khan andBollywood actor Suniel Shetty have joined hands

to launch Ferit Cricket Bash (FCB), the country's firstnationwide cricket league for amateur cricketers.

FCB will feature 16 teams representing variousregions of the country. Registration is open for play-ers who are 15+ years, and the best performers willbe selected, subject to an intensive 22-city talentsearch.

The league aims at discovering the most talent-ed and passionate amateur cricketers from across thecountry.

After two intense selection rounds involving sev-eral thousand aspiring cricketers across multiple citiesin India, the final 224 players will be divided into 16teams.

These teams, which will be mentored by inter-nationally renowned cricketers and leading coachesfrom across India, will then compete with each otherin an exciting 15-over a side format.

Each shortlisted player will receive a participa-tion fee of �1 lakh along with exciting cash rewardsfor the winning teams.

The top 14 performers of FCB will be given aonce-in-a-lifetime opportunity to represent the FCBAll Stars Team and participate in a local club leveltournament in Australia.

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