ˆ+ˇ 0%1& 1˘$#$1# 5 012 34 6˘1% 37 ˚˜ + .=>˛ =!-62/ …...2019/10/18  · a kg, cluster...

16
T he Bombay High Court on Thursday provided a big relief to Adani group in a coal scam and also paved the way for many other corporate enti- ties to seek similar relief. The court ordered quashing of all letter rogatories (LRs) sent by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) to coun- tries, including Singapore, against three Adani group com- panies accused of overvaluing Indonesian coal imports between 2011 and 2015. A division bench of justices Ranjit More and Bharati H Dangre allowed the Adani Enterprises Ltd’s (AEL) writ petition which questioned the procedural legality involved in issuing the LRs. The petition- er pointed out that LRs were issued “without any notice and hearing the companies”. It also said that at that point of time the DRI had not taken any cognisance of offence under the Customs Act 1962 against the group firms. The court order virtually brings down the curtain on the ongoing probe against Adani group of companies and also comes handy for over three dozen other companies such as Essar group, JSW Energy and JSW Steel, Hyderabad — based NSL Group, India Cements, NTPC, MMTC, Tamil Nadu SEB and Karnataka Power Corporation. All of them are also facing DRI probe for alleged overvaluation of coal imports from Indonesia. The DRI had demanded around 29,000 crore from these companies for alleged overvaluation of coal imports. The Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal had already rejected this plea. In June this year, the DRI charged AEL of attempting to block its probe into the over- valuation charge. The DRI filed an affidavit in the Bombay High Court on June 13 questioning the logic behind the AEL decision to question the “well-settled pro- cedure of issuance of Letter Rogatory”. A letter rogatory is gener- ally dispatched to another country by the Central Government to seek the help of foreign judicial authorities in probing an offshore entity in connection with an ongoing domestic probe. The Thursday Bombay High Court order is big setback for the DRI and all those who had alleged that the Adani and several other companies made huge money by overpricing the Indonesian coal imports between 2011 and 2015. The other aspect of the coal scam probe related to allotment fraud had also generated a big controversy when the role of former CBI chief Ranjit Sinha had come under scanner for allegedly helping the accused companies. T he soaring vegetable prices are taking a toll on the common man as well as restau- rants, hotels and dhabas. The prices in the retail markets con- tinue to rule high in the range of 60-80/kg or higher across the country. Cauliflower is priced at 100-120 per kg while corian- der at 300 per kg. Onion is ruling at 60 per kg whereas tomato is available in the range of 60-80/kg. This despite the Government’s measures to boost onion and tomato puree supply via Mother Dairy’s Safal outlets. Similarly, the rates of cau- liflower, lemons, spinach, radish, bottle gourd, green mustard, and coriander leaves have continued to rise since August. Lemons are being sold at 120 per kg. The skyrocketing vegetable prices have hit hard all sections of the society. The price rise is seen as a result of demand sup- ply mismatch and traders and farmers say there will be no relief from soaring prices till November-end. Spinach (palak) is being sold at 70-80 per kg and the rate of wild spinach (bathua) is 70-80 per kg. The same was being sold at 40 a kg till last month. The rate of cauliflower is 90 per kg. Bitter gourd (karela) is being sold at 50 a kg while Bottle gourd (laukee) at 30 a kg. Capsicum (Shimla mirch) is being sold at 70-80 a kg, cluster beans (gwar fali) at 80 a kg, lady finger at 40 a kg and brinjal at 60 per kg. According to trade experts, mainly two factors created shortages and price rise. First, delayed arrival of monsoon and resultant delay in sowing of kharif crop, and second, sig- nificant rain at the time of harvest in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka in August/September. Traders and farmers claim the erratic monsoon and flood- ing in various parts of the country have impacted pan- India connectivity, resulting in an increase in transportation costs and disruption in supply. According to traders in Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC), the prices of vegetables in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Kerala, and Maharashtra, Odisha, Karnataka and the regions have shot up and there will be no relief to the people till arrival of the new crops from November onwards. Worried over skyrocketing onion prices, State-owned trad- ing company MMTC Ltd has issued a tender seeking bids to import 2,000 tonnes of onions by October-end with a price cap of $352 per tonne. Officials said that tomato producing States have been regularly advised to interact with agricultural produce mar- ket committees (APMCs), traders and transporters to ensure regular supply. The same is being reiterated to four major tomato producing States namely, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, to ensure prices normalise and supply is augmented immediately. Normally, tomato produc- tion is around 20 million tonnes a year. Thankfully, Tomato is a year-long crop and the country has enough supply to meet its requirement. D elhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that hiking parking fees during the implementation of the odd- even vehicle rationing scheme will be counterproductive. Kejriwal’s statement came after the Supreme Court-man- dated Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) chairman Bhure Lal had asked the Delhi Government last week to fix parking charges as per the new parking policy so that it could be hiked in view of growing air pollution. Addressing media persons, the Chief Minister said, “It will become very difficult for peo- ple to travel if the odd-even scheme is implemented and parking fees are also hiked.” “We are asking people to share their vehicles during odd-even days and if parking fees are increased, they will be deterred to take their vehicles out. There will be threat of chaos,” he said. Speaking on the issue, Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot refused that a report on parking fees was submitted to him. “I do not have informa- tion that any such report has been submitted. We will exam- ine it whenever the report is submitted,” he said. Meanwhile, officials of the Delhi Municipal Corporations said they are waiting for the final approval of the authorities on new parking norms, but they also assured that whatev- er be the new rules, no addi- tional burden would be put on people by the civic bodies. Chairman of the Standing Committee of the SDMC Bhupender Gupta said the Base Parking Fee (BPF) committee has recommended a hike in the fee by a “factor of 1-3” depend- ing on peak hours and crowd- ed areas such as markets. “Since, it is suggested to be increased by a factor of 1-3, we (SDMC) can increase it by a factor of one, so that it effec- tively the fee would remain the same. We do not want to put burden on the people unnec- essarily,” Gupta said. North Delhi Mayor Avtar Singh said the BPF committee has made recommendations to the apex monitoring com- mittee for its final approval. “We will take steps from our side, once the final picture emerges. Whatever happens, we will take steps accordingly in a way that there is balanced approach so that we neither put burden on the people nor incur loss to the corporation,” Singh said. T he UK and the European Union (EU) on Thursday declared that they have agreed a new Brexit deal for Britain’s withdrawal from the 28-mem- ber economic bloc within the October 31 deadline. While UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed the agreement as a “great new deal”, EU President Jean Claude-Juncker branded it a “fair and balanced agreement” as he recommended it for member-countries to be rati- fied at an EU summit under- way in Brussels this week. However, the new deal continues to hang in the bal- ance as it remains to be seen if Johnson would have the required numbers in Parliament to get it through. He is faced with an open revolt by the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which supports his Conservative Party Government in the Commons. “We’ve got a great new deal that takes back control,” Johnson tweeted, just before heading to Brussels to join other EU leaders for the crucial summit. Juncker took to Twitter to say, “Where there is a will, there is a #deal — we have one! It’s a fair and balanced agree- ment for the EU and the UK and it is testament to our com- mitment to find solutions.” K arnataka has been ranked as the most innovative State in the country while the top ten States are concentrated in southern and western India. These rankings were released by NITI Aayog on Thursday under the India Innovation Index 2019. Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Telangana, Haryana, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh form the remaining top ten major States respectively. The top ten major States are majorly concentrated in southern and western India. Sikkim and Delhi take the top spots among the north - eastern & hill States, and union territories. Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh are the most efficient States in translating inputs into output. Detailed report on P10 D elhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday announced rules for odd-even scheme that will be effective from November 4 to 15 to tack- le air pollution. The list of exempted peo- ple include President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Lok Sabha Speaker, Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Governors, Chief Justices of India and Judges of the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court. Emergency, enforcement, defence, paramilitary and embassy vehicles will also be exempted. Violations of the rule will be punished with a fine of 4,000 which was earlier 2,000. Two-wheelers will also be exempted under the scheme. Vehicles driven or carrying women and those carrying physically disabled persons will be exempted. But private CNG vehicles won’t be exempted. I n a shocking incident, the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) on Thursday killed a BSF Head Constable and injured another constable by firing at them from AK-47 assault rifles during a flag meeting on the international boundary in West Bengal. The meeting took place to discuss the arrest of an Indian fisher- man by the Bangladesh para- military force. Miffed over the incident, BSF chief Vivek Johri called up his BGB counterpart Major General Shafeenul, who assured him a thorough probe into the incident, officials said. Later the BSF tweeted, “DG & all ranks #BSF salute the supreme sacrifice of Head Constable Vijay Bhan Singh and offer condolences to the family members. On 17th October ‘19, HC Vijay Bhan Singh was martyred while on an operational duty (flag meet- ing with BGB) on Indo- Bangladesh Border.” “Today morning, three Indian fishermen went for fish- ing in River Padma in the bor- der area. Two fishermen returned and approached BSF post Kakmarichar ( Riverine border of River Padma which falls in the AOR (area of oper- ation) of this BOP (Border Out Post) to inform that Border Guards Bangladesh had appre- hended them and later released two of them to call BSF post Commander for flag meeting,” the BSF said in a statement. The BSF further stated, “Around 10.30 hours, Post Commander along with 5 troopers in the BSF boat, approached BGB patrol in the water channel of River Padma near Boundary Pillar 75/7-S. During flag meeting, BGB patrol did not release Indian fisherman and also tried to cor- don (gherao) BSF troops. Sensing the situation worsen- ing, BSF party immediately returned. “BGB troops opened fire on the returning BSF party. Head Constable Vijay Bhan Singh received bullet injuries on his head and succumbed and the constable/crew (boatman) received bullet injuries on his right hand. Both injured BSF personnel were evacuated to the nearest medical facility. Head Constable Vijay Bhan Singh was declared brought dead. Injured Constable has been taken to Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital.” BGB authorities have been contacted and senior officials are on the spot, it said. The attack on the BSF trooper is primarily an indica- tor of some local issues in Bangladesh aimed at address- ing the domestic audience through radical elements in the BGB ahead of the national elections. The incident does not reflect any design at the level of the Government there which has been friendly with India and cooperating on a number of issues including counter-ter- ror operations, sources said.

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Page 1: ˆ+ˇ 0%1& 1˘$#$1# 5 012 34 6˘1% 37 ˚˜ + .=>˛ =!-62/ …...2019/10/18  · a kg, cluster beans (gwar fali) at 80 a kg, lady finger at 40 a kg and brinjal at 60 per kg. According

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The Bombay High Court onThursday provided a big

relief to Adani group in a coalscam and also paved the wayfor many other corporate enti-ties to seek similar relief. Thecourt ordered quashing of allletter rogatories (LRs) sent byDirectorate of RevenueIntelligence (DRI) to coun-tries, including Singapore,against three Adani group com-panies accused of overvaluingIndonesian coal importsbetween 2011 and 2015.

A division bench of justicesRanjit More and Bharati HDangre allowed the AdaniEnterprises Ltd’s (AEL) writpetition which questioned theprocedural legality involved inissuing the LRs. The petition-er pointed out that LRs wereissued “without any notice andhearing the companies”. It alsosaid that at that point of time

the DRI had not taken anycognisance of offence under theCustoms Act 1962 against thegroup firms.

The court order virtuallybrings down the curtain on theongoing probe against Adanigroup of companies and alsocomes handy for over threedozen other companies such asEssar group, JSW Energy and

JSW Steel, Hyderabad — basedNSL Group, India Cements,NTPC, MMTC, Tamil NaduSEB and Karnataka PowerCorporation. All of them arealso facing DRI probe foralleged overvaluation of coalimports from Indonesia.

The DRI had demandedaround �29,000 crore fromthese companies for alleged

overvaluation of coal imports.The Customs, Excise & ServiceTax Appellate Tribunal hadalready rejected this plea.

In June this year, the DRIcharged AEL of attempting toblock its probe into the over-valuation charge.

The DRI filed an affidavitin the Bombay High Court onJune 13 questioning the logic

behind the AEL decision toquestion the “well-settled pro-cedure of issuance of LetterRogatory”.

A letter rogatory is gener-ally dispatched to anothercountry by the CentralGovernment to seek the help offoreign judicial authorities inprobing an offshore entity inconnection with an ongoingdomestic probe.

The Thursday BombayHigh Court order is big setbackfor the DRI and all those whohad alleged that the Adani andseveral other companies madehuge money by overpricingthe Indonesian coal importsbetween 2011 and 2015.

The other aspect of the coalscam probe related to allotmentfraud had also generated a bigcontroversy when the role offormer CBI chief Ranjit Sinhahad come under scanner forallegedly helping the accusedcompanies.

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The soaring vegetable pricesare taking a toll on the

common man as well as restau-rants, hotels and dhabas. Theprices in the retail markets con-tinue to rule high in the rangeof �60-80/kg or higher acrossthe country.

Cauliflower is priced at�100-120 per kg while corian-der at �300 per kg. Onion isruling at �60 per kg whereastomato is available in the rangeof �60-80/kg. This despite theGovernment’s measures toboost onion and tomato puree supply via MotherDairy’s Safal outlets.

Similarly, the rates of cau-liflower, lemons, spinach,radish, bottle gourd, greenmustard, and coriander leaveshave continued to rise sinceAugust. Lemons are being soldat �120 per kg.

The skyrocketing vegetable

prices have hit hard all sectionsof the society. The price rise isseen as a result of demand sup-ply mismatch and traders andfarmers say there will be norelief from soaring prices tillNovember-end.

Spinach (palak) is beingsold at �70-80 per kg and therate of wild spinach (bathua) is70-80 per kg. The same wasbeing sold at �40 a kg till lastmonth. The rate of caulifloweris �90 per kg. Bitter gourd(karela) is being sold at �50 akg while Bottle gourd (laukee)at �30 a kg. Capsicum (Shimlamirch) is being sold at �70-80a kg, cluster beans (gwar fali)at �80 a kg, lady finger at �40a kg and brinjal at �60 per kg.

According to trade experts,mainly two factors createdshortages and price rise. First,delayed arrival of monsoonand resultant delay in sowingof kharif crop, and second, sig-nificant rain at the time of

harvest in Andhra Pradeshand Karnataka inAugust/September.

Traders and farmers claimthe erratic monsoon and flood-ing in various parts of thecountry have impacted pan-

India connectivity, resultingin an increase in transportationcosts and disruption in supply.According to traders inAgriculture Produce MarketingCommittee (APMC), the pricesof vegetables in Bihar, Uttar

Pradesh, Rajasthan, Kerala,and Maharashtra, Odisha,Karnataka and the regions haveshot up and there will be norelief to the people till arrivalof the new crops fromNovember onwards.

Worried over skyrocketingonion prices, State-owned trad-ing company MMTC Ltd hasissued a tender seeking bids toimport 2,000 tonnes of onionsby October-end with a pricecap of $352 per tonne.

Officials said that tomatoproducing States have beenregularly advised to interactwith agricultural produce mar-ket committees (APMCs),traders and transporters toensure regular supply. Thesame is being reiterated tofour major tomato producingStates namely, Maharashtra,Karnataka, Himachal Pradeshand Andhra Pradesh, to ensureprices normalise and supply isaugmented immediately.

Normally, tomato produc-tion is around 20 milliontonnes a year. Thankfully,Tomato is a year-long crop and the country has enoughsupply to meet its requirement.

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Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Thursday said

that hiking parking fees duringthe implementation of the odd-even vehicle rationing schemewill be counterproductive.

Kejriwal’s statement cameafter the Supreme Court-man-dated Environment Pollution(Prevention and Control)Authority (EPCA) chairmanBhure Lal had asked the DelhiGovernment last week to fixparking charges as per thenew parking policy so that itcould be hiked in view ofgrowing air pollution.

Addressing media persons,the Chief Minister said, “It willbecome very difficult for peo-ple to travel if the odd-evenscheme is implemented andparking fees are also hiked.”

“We are asking people toshare their vehicles during

odd-even days and if parkingfees are increased, they will bedeterred to take their vehiclesout. There will be threat ofchaos,” he said.

Speaking on the issue,Transport Minister KailashGahlot refused that a report onparking fees was submitted tohim. “I do not have informa-tion that any such report hasbeen submitted. We will exam-ine it whenever the report is

submitted,” he said.Meanwhile, officials of the

Delhi Municipal Corporationssaid they are waiting for thefinal approval of the authoritieson new parking norms, butthey also assured that whatev-er be the new rules, no addi-tional burden would be put onpeople by the civic bodies.

Chairman of the StandingCommittee of the SDMCBhupender Gupta said the Base

Parking Fee (BPF) committeehas recommended a hike in thefee by a “factor of 1-3” depend-ing on peak hours and crowd-ed areas such as markets.“Since, it is suggested to beincreased by a factor of 1-3, we(SDMC) can increase it by afactor of one, so that it effec-tively the fee would remain thesame. We do not want to putburden on the people unnec-essarily,” Gupta said.

North Delhi Mayor AvtarSingh said the BPF committeehas made recommendationsto the apex monitoring com-mittee for its final approval.“We will take steps from ourside, once the final pictureemerges. Whatever happens,we will take steps accordinglyin a way that there is balancedapproach so that we neither putburden on the people norincur loss to the corporation,”Singh said.

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The UK and the EuropeanUnion (EU) on Thursday

declared that they have agreeda new Brexit deal for Britain’swithdrawal from the 28-mem-ber economic bloc within theOctober 31 deadline.

While UK Prime MinisterBoris Johnson hailed theagreement as a “great newdeal”, EU President JeanClaude-Juncker branded it a“fair and balanced agreement”as he recommended it formember-countries to be rati-

fied at an EU summit under-way in Brussels this week.

However, the new dealcontinues to hang in the bal-ance as it remains to be seen ifJohnson would have therequired numbers inParliament to get it through. Heis faced with an open revolt bythe Northern Irish DemocraticUnionist Party (DUP), whichsupports his Conservative PartyGovernment in the Commons.

“We’ve got a great new dealthat takes back control,”Johnson tweeted, just beforeheading to Brussels to joinother EU leaders for the crucialsummit. Juncker took to Twitterto say, “Where there is a will,there is a #deal — we have one!It’s a fair and balanced agree-ment for the EU and the UKand it is testament to our com-mitment to find solutions.”

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Karnataka has been rankedas the most innovative

State in the country while thetop ten States are concentratedin southern and western India.

These rankings werereleased by NITI Aayog onThursday under the IndiaInnovation Index 2019. TamilNadu, Maharashtra, Telangana,Haryana, Kerala, UttarPradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat,and Andhra Pradesh form the

remaining top ten major Statesrespectively.

The top ten major Statesare majorly concentrated insouthern and western India.

Sikkim and Delhi take thetop spots among the north -eastern & hill States, and unionterritories.

Delhi, Karnataka,Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu,Telangana, and Uttar Pradeshare the most efficient States intranslating inputs into output.

Detailed report on P10

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Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Thursday

announced rules for odd-evenscheme that will be effectivefrom November 4 to 15 to tack-le air pollution.

The list of exempted peo-ple include President, VicePresident, Prime Minister, LokSabha Speaker, DeputyChairman of the Rajya Sabha,Governors, Chief Justices ofIndia and Judges of theSupreme Court and the DelhiHigh Court.

Emergency, enforcement,defence, paramilitary andembassy vehicles will also beexempted.

Violations of the rule willbe punished with a fine of�4,000 which was earlier�2,000. Two-wheelers will alsobe exempted under the scheme.

Vehicles driven or carryingwomen and those carryingphysically disabled persons willbe exempted. But private CNGvehicles won’t be exempted.

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In a shocking incident, theBorder Guards Bangladesh

(BGB) on Thursday killed aBSF Head Constable andinjured another constable byfiring at them from AK-47assault rifles during a flagmeeting on the internationalboundary in West Bengal. Themeeting took place to discussthe arrest of an Indian fisher-man by the Bangladesh para-military force.

Miffed over the incident,BSF chief Vivek Johri called uphis BGB counterpart MajorGeneral Shafeenul, whoassured him a thorough probeinto the incident, officials said.

Later the BSF tweeted, “DG& all ranks #BSF salute thesupreme sacrifice of HeadConstable Vijay Bhan Singhand offer condolences to thefamily members. On 17thOctober ‘19, HC Vijay BhanSingh was martyred while onan operational duty (flag meet-ing with BGB) on Indo-Bangladesh Border.”

“Today morning, threeIndian fishermen went for fish-ing in River Padma in the bor-der area. Two fishermenreturned and approached BSFpost Kakmarichar ( Riverineborder of River Padma whichfalls in the AOR (area of oper-ation) of this BOP (Border OutPost) to inform that BorderGuards Bangladesh had appre-hended them and later releasedtwo of them to call BSF postCommander for flag meeting,”the BSF said in a statement.

The BSF further stated,“Around 10.30 hours, PostCommander along with 5

troopers in the BSF boat,approached BGB patrol in thewater channel of River Padmanear Boundary Pillar 75/7-S.During flag meeting, BGBpatrol did not release Indianfisherman and also tried to cor-don (gherao) BSF troops.Sensing the situation worsen-ing, BSF party immediatelyreturned.

“BGB troops opened fireon the returning BSF party.Head Constable Vijay BhanSingh received bullet injuries on

his head and succumbed andthe constable/crew (boatman)received bullet injuries on hisright hand. Both injured BSFpersonnel were evacuated to thenearest medical facility. HeadConstable Vijay Bhan Singhwas declared brought dead.Injured Constable has beentaken to Murshidabad MedicalCollege and Hospital.”

BGB authorities have beencontacted and senior officialsare on the spot, it said.

The attack on the BSFtrooper is primarily an indica-tor of some local issues inBangladesh aimed at address-ing the domestic audiencethrough radical elements in theBGB ahead of the nationalelections.

The incident does notreflect any design at the level ofthe Government there whichhas been friendly with Indiaand cooperating on a numberof issues including counter-ter-ror operations, sources said.

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To check stubble burningmore effectively, Punjab

Government on Thursdaydecided to depute nodal officersin nearly 8000 paddy growingvillages across the state identifiedby the Agriculture Departmentwhere paddy stubble is tradi-tionally being burnt.

Secretary Agriculture and

Farmers Welfare, Kahan SinghPannu said that all the DeputyCommissioners had alreadybeen asked to depute the officersin each of such villages to cre-ate awareness about the ill effectsof paddy stubble burning haz-ardous for human health andenvironment. These nodal offi-cers have been asked to keep aclose vigil over the post har-vesting operations.

He said the staff ofCooperation, Revenue, RuralDevelopment & Panchayats,Agriculture, Horticulture andSoil Conservation departmentsand Powercom would work intandem to check this menaceefficaciously.

The nodal officers will alsoundertake various activities,ranging from holding meetingswith the farmers, arranging

Crop Residue Management(CRM) machines, distribution ofpamphlets etc in villages, besidesmaking announcements inGurdwaras etc.

Pannu said these nodal offi-cers had also been directed tointeract with village schools fororganizing rallies and awarenesslectures to sensitize students sothat they could in turn prevailupon their parents to makethem aware about the harmfuleffects of stubble burning.

If any farmer burns theresidue in the open fields, thenodal officers will ensure redentry in the Revenue recordswith the help of the Patwari ofthe village concerned. Likewise,the nodal officers would alsoensure effective implementa-tion of Punjab Government'sinstructions in case of paddystraw burnt in land of employ-ees ofGovt./Board/Corporation/Coop. Societies and Panchayats land.

Pannu said that all the sec-retaries of 3485 CooperativeSocieties across the state wouldbe put on this job. Likewise, theservices of the 1850 PanchayatSecretaries of RuralDevelopment & Panchayats,2000 Junior Engineers, 6000linemen, 200 Sub DivisionOfficers of PSPCL, 1500 officersof the departments ofAgriculture, Horticulture andSoil Conservation would also beengaged for this purpose.

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Punjab BJP president ShwaitMalik on Thursday accused

Chief Minister CaptainAmarinder Singh of playingreligious and divisive cards tovitiate the atmosphere in thestate and divert people's atten-tion from burning issues.

The Congress governmentin the state has failed on everyfront and Singh has not fulfilledeven a single promise, Malikclaimed as he predicted a land-slide victory for the BJP-SADcombine in the bypolls to allthe four Assembly seats, thatwill "prove to be a Waterloo forAmarinder Singh".

The Rajya Sabha MP alsoalleged that Singh's "weak pol-icy" led to resurgence of mili-tancy in Punjab.

Addressing a press confer-ence here, Malik said, "The factis that militancy is growing inthe state. The chief ministerwants to create fear psychosisamong the people of the state

in order to grind his politicalaxe and derive politicalmileage."

Alleging that CaptAmarinder wants to disturb theHindu-Sikh unity, Malik said,

"The people of Punjab willnot allow Captain to succeed inhis evil designs."

Terming the Congress"vishwasghati (betrayer)", healleged the chief ministerreneged on his promise of wip-ing out drugs from state with-in four weeks after taking oathwith the holy Gutqa Sahib inhis hands.

Listing various achieve-ments of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in just 100 daysof his second term, Malikclaimed Amarinder Singh hasnothing to mention as hisachievement in "1000 days ofhis misrule".

Punjab's four Assemblyseats -- Phagwara, Dakha,Mukerian and Jalalabad -- aregoing for bypolls on October 21.

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In Har yana, the StateAssembly polls have wit-

nessed victories with votemargins as low as 0.008 per-cent and as high as 64.05 per-cent.

The small state ofHaryana, which goes toassembly polls on October 21,showcases an interestingtrend of electoral contestsgoing right down to the wireand also, witnessing widestvictory margins.

The classic case of ‘closestelection’ in Rai assembly con-stituency (Sonipat district)from where Congress MLAJai Tirath Dahiya had won byjust three votes against hisrival Inderjt Dahiya of IndianNational Lok Dal in 2014assembly polls, still remainsafresh in people’s mind.

Winning ‘by a whisker’, JaiTirath had entered the booksof records for lowest marginvictory but his election vic-tory became controversialonly recently with the Punjaband Haryana High Courtdeclaring his election as ‘void’.

Interestingly, the HC ver-dict came at the fag end of JaiTirath’s term in Septemberwhen the Elect ionCommission had already

declared the October 21Haryana Assembly polls. TheCourt had stated, “It has beenproved that nine void voteswere cast in favour of thereturned candidate ( JaiTirath) and two void voteswere cast in favour of the peti-tioner, Inderjit.

After the deduction ofthe void votes from theirtally, valid votes polled by thereturned candidate were36,694 and the votes polled bythe petitioner were 36,698.”

Another instance of low-est victory margin in Haryanawas witnessed in 1982 assem-bly polls when the BJP’s can-didate Bhagmal (20981 votes)had won by just 10 votesagainst his Congress rivalParbhu Ram (20971 votes)from Sadhaura (SC) assemblyseat.

Yet another interestingcase is of Bharatiya JanataParty candidate Ramesh, whohad defeated his ‘namesake’Ramesh Kumar Rana ofSamta Party by just 11 voteson Gharaunda assembly con-stituency in the 1996 assem-bly elections.

Gharaunda assembly seatin the state has an exceptionof witnessing three electionvictories with lowest mar-gins in various elections sofar.

INLD’s candidate RekhaRana had defeated indepen-dent Jai Pal Sharma by just 21votes from the constituency in

2005 assembly polls. Similarlyin 1968, Haryana’s Gharaundaassembly constituency hadseen closest contest, with theBharatiya Jan Sangh’s RandhirSingh snatching the seat fromSwatantra party’s Rulya Ramby just 12 votes.

Two assembly con-stituencies namely Narnaundand Rohat had recorded thelowest victory margin i.e 38votes each in 1991 assemblypolls. Congress’ Hukam Singhhad managed to taste the vic-tory against his rival JanataParty’s Mohinder Singh inRohat assembly constituencywhile JP’s Verender Singh

had defeated Congress’Jaswant Singh from Narnaundby 38 votes.

In 2009 elections, the low-est victor y margin wasrecorded in Dadri con-st ituency, f rom whereHaryana Janhit Congress’sSatpal had defeated his rivalRajdeep of INLD by 145votes.

While the lowest victorymargins clearly outline theimportance of every singlevote in the elections, the statehas also registered recordhighest victory margins.

BJP’s Umesh Aggarwal,who has been denied ticket tore-contest from Gurgaonassembly constituency hadrecorded highest ever win-ning margin of 84095 votes inHaryana assembly polls.

He was polled 106106votes against his INLD’s rivalGopi Chand Gahlot in 2014assembly elections.

Making his poll debutfrom Karnal assembly seat in2014, Manohar Lal Khattar,Chief Minister of Haryanahad registered victory in styleby recording second highestvictory margin of 63773 votesagainst an independent can-didate Jai Parkash Gupta.

The longest serving ChiefMinister of Haryana, BhajanLal has the distinction of

winning three elections withhighest margins fromAdampur assembly seat. In2005, Bhajan Lal (86963votes) won with a margin of71081 (63.70 percent) againstINLD’s Rajesh (15882 votes).In the previous 2000 elec-tions, he had recorded victo-ry with a margin of 46057from the same seat againstBJPs Ganesh Lal while in1991, Bhajan Lal had wonwith a margin of 31596against Janata Party’s HariSingh.

After a triangular contestbetween BJP, Congress andINLD in 2014 assembly polls,the state is witnessing a multi-cornered contest this timewith BJP, Congress, INLD,Jannayak Janta Party, AamAadmi Party, Bahujan SamajParty, Loktantra SurakshaParty and Swaraj India in thefray.

With several regional par-ties adding flavor to thepolling season this time, theresults on October 24 arelikely to throw some surpris-es in Haryana.

There are a total of 1.83crore (1,83,90,525) votersincluding 98.78 lakh males(98,78,042), 85.12 lakhfemales (85,12,231) and 252transgender voters in theState.

�����������������9":::� ���������� ��/�������������� ���������������'��������������������� �� ����������� ��������;�������<�(=�

��%������ � �./�����#����-�� �����������������Chandigarh: The JannayakJanta Party on Thursdayreleased its poll manifesto for

the October 21 HaryanaAssembly polls, promising toreserve 75 per cent of jobs for

the local youth. If voted topower, the JJP promised tobring "Right to Work Act",

under which jobs will be givenas per one's qualification.

"Seventy-five per cent jobs

will be reserved for the youthof Haryana," JJP leader K CBangar said while releasingthe election manifesto. Withpolitical opponents makingunemployment in Haryana amajor poll plank, the JJPpromised that a separateemployment ministry will beset up in the state and its maintask will be to provide jobs.

The party promised to givea monthly assistance of Rs11,000 per month to unem-ployed youth while studentfrom rural areas will be givenextra ten marks when theyappear in competitive exami-nations in the state.

For the farmers, a bonus of10 per cent or Rs 100 will begiven over MSp. The JJPpromised that liquor vendswithin village limits will beclosed. The party promised tobring changes in the MotorVehicle Act so to give relief topeople who are burdened with"paying hefty fines now".

Alleging that people out-side the state are occupyingplum positions in the M LKhattar regime, the JJPpromised that chairpersons ofvarious boards, corporations,OSDs, vice chancellors andregistrars of universities will beHaryana domiciled people.

The party promised freeeducation to girls till PhD level,fee of private schools will beregulated and 20 per cent seatswill be reserved for poor chil-dren in private schools. PNS

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They are the show stoppersfor their respective parties

BJP and Congress—ManoharLal Khattar and BhupinderSingh Hooda—in Haryana andthey are leaving nothing tochance as they intensify theircampaign ahead of the October21 elections.

Khattar on Thursdayaddressed as many as eightrallies starting from 10.20 am to9.30 pm from various parts ofthe State including Ateli,Loharu, Kiloi, Pundri, Siwan,Kaithal, Asandh and Karnal.

In his rallies, Chief MinisterKhattar is focussing on equaldevelopment of state withoutany regional discriminationclaiming that even oppositionleaders are astonished the waydevelopment in Haryana hastaken place in the last fiveyears.

On the other hand,Congress Legislative Partyleader and former chief minis-ter Bhupinder Singh Hoodaaddressed around half dozenrallies in the state emphasising

that Unemployment is thebiggest issue and has increased10 times to 28 per cent, high-est in the country. He says nonew industry is coming upand the government is busy inevent management.

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Chief Minister Khattar,speaking at a Vijay Sankalp

Rally in Mahendragarh to sup-port party candidate SitaramYadav said that on forming thegovernment in Haryana, allthe MLAs of 90 constituencieswere asked to make a list ofdevelopment projects they wishto execute in their areas with-in a range of Rs five crores.Since, the allocation was madewithout any discrimination, allthe opposition leaders weresurprised on the way of work-ing of this government. Eventhe supporters and volunteersof BJP were surprised becauseno one had earlier seen thismodel of development. He saidthat the policy of developmentwas equal for the people of BJP

as well as for the MLAs of otherparties.

Drawing the attention ofthe gathering towards the per-formance of his government,Khattar said that in the statethere have been governments ofmany parties including some ofthe alliance governments, but ifthe comparison is made in thedevelopment of the state thesefive years would certainly beleaving behind the performanceof the previous governments in48 years. He said that we havechanged the meaning of politicsaltogether. Corruption has beentotally removed from the stateand the poor man is living acomfortable life in the state.

He said that while the con-gress party kept shouting slo-gans of “Garibi Hatao” it actu-ally never worked in this direc-tion. In fact, they should havetaken steps to educate the poorso that they can try to exploreemployment opportunities. Hesaid the government has pro-vided LPG gas in 9 lakhs house-holds. He said that in spite ofcode of conduct being in forceat present, still anyone not hav-

ing LPG cylinder in the statecan apply and it is assured thatthe LPG would be provided tohim in a matter of 48 hours. Hefurther stepped forward andsaid that since it is the festivalof lights on 27th, if any appli-cation of LPG is not taken careof, he will take the official con-cerned to task on 28th itself.

CM said that there are 300end points of the water drainsthat carries the water to fields.Nothing happened in the last 48years. However, in the rule ofBJP the matter was taken onpriority and now all these threepoints are getting water.

He said that his govern-ment is committed to providewater and electricity to everyfield. Comparing the commit-ment towards social good,Khattar informed the gatheringthat while the BJP governmentin Haryana has announced7900 people centric schemes inits five year tenure, Congressmade only 6000 announce-ments that too inthe period of tenyears. Regardingactual implemen-tation 80 per centof all theannouncementsmade reachedactual implemen-tation and othersto be followedsoon.

Accusing the congressparty for shattering the educa-tion system in the state, CMsaid that one of the major rea-sons of the debacle of systemwas that the teachers were nothappy with the transfer policyof the congress government. Hesaid that in Congress regime,any teacher not casting vote toCongress was transferred tosome remote area. On the con-trary, the BJP government hasmade necessary changes to thetransfer and posting policy inwhich the basic principle is to

transfer the teachers to theplace of their choice. This willmake them happy and they willdevote much attention to theirwork, which, in-turn willstrengthen the education sys-tem.

CM Manoharlal said thatthe BJP government in state isworking in the direction toenhance the income of thefarmers to double. He said thatif the people of Haryana wantto witness the growth of thestate continuing in future also,they should vote to BJP only.

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Countering BJP''s national-ism pitch in the Haryana

Assembly polls, former chiefminister Hooda says theCongress is the party whichsecured Independence and itwas under its rule that Pakistansplit into two. Hooda said theOctober 21 assembly polls are

a direct fightbetween theCongress and theBJP in the Haryanapolls as both the JJPand the INLD havebecome "irrelevant".

H o o d a ' ' sremarks dismissingthe Jannayak JantaParty and the Indian

National Lok Dal as having "norole" post polls comes afterCongress' former Haryana unitpresident Ashok Tanwarannounced his support forDushyant Chautala-led JJP.

On BJP’s claims of getting75 plus seats in the 90-memberassembly, Hooda said, "Hawapalat chuki hai (the wind haschanged direction)." TheCongress'' election manage-ment committee chief alsoasserted that his party would getan "absolute majority" and formthe next government.

"There is a wave in favour

of the Congress. Based on thesupport the party is getting, Ibelieve a Congress governmentis going to be formed inHaryana," he said.

On BJP aggressively raisingthe abrogation of Article 370 inJammu and Kashmir in thestate polls, Hooda said, "As faras Article 370 is concerned, thewhole country knows about myviews. But it is not an electionissue as it has now become alaw." It is the law of the land andnobody is opposing it, the two-time chief minister said, addingthat there is only one issue nowand that is establishing peace inKashmir.

On the BJP making nation-alism and Article 370 its mainpoll plank, he said, "Congress kesamay mein toh Pakistan ke dotukde ho gaye the (Under theCongress rule, Pakistan splitinto two). This (Article 370) isnot an issue."

"The issues for electingMembers of Parliament weredifferent while the issues ofthese polls are different... localissues are important. The BJPgovernment had made 154

promises, but it has not evenfulfilled even one and becauseof this all sections be it farmers,traders, officials, labourers -- arenot happy," the senior Congressleader said.

"Everyone is a nationalist.Who is not a nationalist in thiscountry? My father was a nation-alist, my grandfather was a free-dom fighter. It was the Congressthat secured independence forthe country," he said.

When asked if he could bethe next chief minister of thestate, Hooda evaded a directanswer, saying the aim rightnow is to form a Congress gov-ernment.

"In national parties, thesitting chief minister is theface. And in the case of some-one who is not the sitting CM,the MLAs and the high com-mand decide. This is true forboth the Congress and theBJP," he asserted.

On people at rallies sayinghe is their CM choice, heremarked that it was "people''ssentiments".

Dismissing Tanwar''s back-ing to the JJP, he said a person

who has resigned from theparty can go anywhere he wantsand support anybody.

The veteran leader alsodismissed the "Modi factor" inpolls, saying people are talkingabout the failures of theHaryana government and theachievements of his govern-ment between 2005-14. "Peoplewill not get diverted, they areintelligent," he asserted.Highlighting the promisesmade by his party in its mani-festo, Hooda said loans of farm-ers will be waived. Hooda said,"Unemployment is the biggestissue. Unemployment rate thatwas at 2.8 per cent has increased10 times to 28 per cent, high-est in the country. No newindustry is coming up. The gov-ernment is busy in event man-agement." Hitting out atHaryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar for hisremarks against Sonia Gandhirecently, Hooda said a personsitting in a position of respon-sibility should make responsi-ble comments. Anyone makingirresponsible statements shouldbe condemned, he added.

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Slamming Congress leader RahulGandhi over the Rafale puja (wor-

ship) controversy, Defence MinisterRajnath Singh on Thursday askedwhat should he have written on thefighter jet if not "Om", a word withspiritual relevance.

"When I wrote Om on the Rafalejet, people said why did he write (theword). I would like to ask RahulGandhi if not 'Om', what should I havewritten on the aircraft," Singh said atan election rally here in Bhiwani dis-trict of Haryana that will go to the pollsfor 90 Assembly seats in a single phaseon October 21.

Rahul Gandhi has said that theDefence Minister had gone to Paris toreceive delivery of the first Rafale jetbecause there was "guilt" in the mindsof Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lead-ers over the Rs. 59,000 crore deal forthe purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets,manufactured by Dassault Aviation ofFrance.

At the election rally, Singh alsoaccused the Congress of internation-alising the Kashmir issue, saying "it isan internal matter".

"I want to ask Congress leaderswhere human rights violations are tak-ing place. Human rights violations

were taking place when terrorist activ-ities were occurring (in Kashmir). Whydid you not speak at that time?" thesenior BJP leader asked the Congress.

"I want a reply from the Congress.Kashmir is our internal matter. Willthere be a discussion on it in othercountries...Will you be discussingKashmir matter in other countries?" hesaid.

Many people have lost their livesin terrorist attacks in Jammu andKashmir.

"They (Congress leaders) havecreated a strange situation. What hashappened to them? It seems theyhave lost their minds," he added.

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ASSEMBLY

POLL

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Residents of Rupnagar onThursday witnessed

glimpse of Guru Nanak Dev ji’sgrandeur through floating lightand sound show organizedhere in river Satluj to com-memorate the 550th Parkash

Purab.Assembly Speaker K.P.

Singh Rana inaugurates theshow. Tourism and CulturalAffairs Minister, Charanjit

Singh Channi was also present. Rana said that the light and

sound show beautifully pro-jected Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji'sphilosophy in the form of hisuniversal message to our soci-ety. Through the show theethos of tolerance, peace, com-munal harmony, women

empowerment and protectionof natural resources werebrought alive.

Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji'sefforts to promote social equal-ity were also aptly showcased inright letter and spirit. Suchshows would be organized atvarious places in the state dur-

ing the coming four months.Vidhan Sabha Speaker furthersaid that Guru Sahib has shownthe path of social unity and heurged to the members of all thepolitical parties to commemo-rate the Parkash Purab withunity.

He said, 'it is the matter of

honor for us that we got thechance to celebrate the 550thParkash Purab of Guru NanakDev ji.' He said that CaptainAmarinder Singh, CM Punjab,is personally monitoring theevents being organized tocommemorate the ParkashPurab.

Flowing through 10 dis-tricts of the state whichincludes Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana,Jallandhar, Gurdaspur, Moga,Kapurthala, Sri Amritsar Sahib,Tarn Taran and Firozpur. Thisshow would also be organisedon October 18 at Rupnagar at07 pm and 08:15 pm.

Light and Sound showswould be organized continu-ously for 09 days at SultanpurLodhi from November 04 toNovember 12.

Floating shows would beorganised in river Beas at vil-lage Terkiana, DistrictHoshiarpur, in river Satluj atvillage Talwandi of district lud-hiana and in river beas atGandhuwal of districtHoshiarpur on October 23 and24. In river Satluj at villageDgara of district Jallandhar onOctober 30 and 31. In riverbeas at village kishanpura, dis-trict Gurdaspur on november

01 and 02 and in river satluj atvillage Chhak Bahmania dis-trict Moga on November 03and 04.

Similarly in River Beas atvillage Sri Hargobindpur ofdistrict Gurdaspur onNovember 05 and 06, in riverSatluj at Village IsmailpurDistrict Jalandhar on Nov.07and 08, in river Beas at villageMund kulla District Kapurthalaon Nov.10 and 11 and at villageBudha Theh of districtAmritsar on Nov. 14, 15 and 16.

This show would be alsoorganised in Sukhna Lake ofChandigarh on Nov. 18 and 19,in river Beas at VillageGagrrewal on Nov 22 and 23and Village Dhunda ofDistrict Tarn Tarn on Nov. 26and 27 and in Hushaniwalalake of river Satluj in districtFirozpur on Nov. 29 and 30.

Those present on the occa-sion included Amarjit SinghSandoa MLA, Gurkirat KirpalSingh, Special PrincipalSecretary to CM and Secretary,Department of Informationand Public Relations, SumeetKumar Jarangal, DeputyCommissioner, Rupnagar andSwapan Sharma, SSP Rupnagar.

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Chief Minister TrivendraSingh Rawat has expressed

satisfaction at Uttarakhandbeing placed at the top alongwith Himachal Pradesh andSikkim among north-easternand hill States in the India inno-vation index released by theNational Institution forTransforming India (NITI)Aayog. He said that this initia-tive of the NITI Aayog willmotivate the States to do betterwork in the sphere of innova-tions.

This development will alsoset a new pattern in the devel-opment of Uttarakhand. Rawatsaid that effective measureshave been taken during theterm of the current governmentto encourage investments in theState.

An investors summit washeld for the first time in thestate last year and proposalsreceived in this summit havebeen efficiently followed up.

The positive results of theseefforts have also started becom-ing visible.

Uttarakhand has capablehuman resource. The youth

are being encouraged for start-ups and the State Governmentis eager to boost innovations, hesaid.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that on Thursday, theNITI Aayog vice chairmanRajiv Kumar and chief execu-tive officer Amitabh Kantreleased an innovation index onthe lines of global innovationindex.

The index released by NITIAayog outlines the performanceof states in the area of innova-tion. In the north eastern andhill states category, Sikkim,Uttarakhand and HimachalPradesh have the top index.

The other states securingtop positions include TamilNadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra,Telangana and Haryana.

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Bringing honour to his almamater and to the State of

Jharkhand, former student ofDPS Bokaro (1993 batch)Neelkanth Mishra has beenappointed as the member (PartTime) in the EconomicAdvisory Council to the PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

The letter No.1/31/1/2017CAB, dated 16 thOctober sent by Director,Bhaskar Das Gupta fromCabinet Secretariat sent toCEO NITI Aayog, AmitabhKant states,

“In continuation of secre-tariat communication of evennumber dated 24th September2019 regarding reconstitution

of the Economic AdvisoryCouncil to the Prime Minister(EAC-PM), the PrimeMinister has approved theappointment of three econo-mists, Neelkanth Mishra,Nilesh Shah and V. AnanthNageswaran as part timemembers in the EAC-PM fora period of two years from thedate of the constitution of thepresent EAC-PM.”

Neelkanth Mishra whopassed out of the DPS Bokaroin 1993 came fourth in IITentrance test as well. Presentlyhe is the Managing Director,the India Strategist and Co-Head of Equity Strategy, AsiaPacific, for Credit Suisse.

He has been rated amongthe best analysts in India by

the Institutional Investor andAsia Money polls.

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In the wake of funds crunchhitting major road projects,

the Road Ministry has askedthe Central road makingagency NHAI (NationalHighways Authority of India)to explore reducing the roadinfrastructure constructioncosts through new technologyand innovative means in a bidto make projects financiallyviable.

The moves comes afterRoad Transport and HighwaysMinister Nitin Gadkari in areview meeting last week sug-gested the Ministry and NHAIofficials to ponder over theidea of rationalising the con-struction costs.

According to officialsources, in an effort to boostthe morale of officials involvedin highway constructions,Gadkari conveyed them tofocus on delivering projectsrather than getting stuck inprocedures.

In the current fiscal, NHAIhas set a target of constructing4,200 kms of roads and award-ing projects of cumulative6,000 kms. The Ministry hasprojected a revenue deficit ofover �37,000 crore to thefinance ministry.

According to the Ministry,per-kilometre cost of devel-oping a two-lane highway wasbetween �11- 12 crore, whilefour-lane highway was around�30 crore per km till threeyears ago and this costing hascumulatively gone up by 30percent.

"The Minister assured us(officers) there is no dearth offunds for projects, and evenlong-term financial institu-tions are willing to lend to theauthority and don't get de-motivated by baseless rumourswith no substance. He(Gadkari) shared that thatPMO is in full cooperation andthat they want delivery," saidthe official.

The PMO in August thisyear had questioned the

Gadkari led Ministry for forunplanned and excessiveexpansion of roads by declar-ing state highways as nationalhighways which ultimatelyimpacted the central exchequer.

Ministry sources saidNHAI has initiated discussionswith the Indian Institutes ofTechnology (IITs) for researchand development to bring downthe cost of road constructionwith improved quality.

IITs will do a comprehen-sive study on the alternativeenvironment friendly methodsfor road and highway con-structions and simultaneous-ly maintaining the quality. Inthe last couple of years con-struction cost has increased byalmost 30 percent by the givenmaterials, substances andmethods in practice now

To keep up with the paceof highway development of 40km a day the road Ministrysources said that projectsspread across 10 states willnow come up on the public-private partnership (PPP)

model on build-operate-trans-fer (toll) basis. The stretcheshave been selected after con-sultations with bidders inStates including Haryana,Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu,West Bengal, Chhattisgarh andMadhya Pradesh.

This exercise is NHAI'sattempt at reviving the BOTmodel of construction. UnderBOT, private players build,operate and maintain the roadfor a specified period of timebefore transferring the assetback to the Government. Inthe case of HAM, the centralGovernment bears 40 per centof the project cost and theremaining amount is arrangedby the developer.

The Centre has made fundallocation to NHAI for worksunder the Bharatmala Projectand the money will comefrom the Central RoadInfrastructure Fund (CRIF),Permanent Bridges Fee Fund(PBFF) and Monetisation ofNational Highways Fund(MNHF).

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Questions raised by some ofthe BJP leaders in Bihar

recently over the party nottaking leadership in the Stateand playing a second fiddle tothe JDU were unambiguouslyset aside by the BJP presidentAmit Shah, who, on Thursday,affirmed that the JDU-BJPalliance would contestAssembly polls together underthe leadership of incumbentChief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Shah asserted that theiralliance is "atal" (firm) and thatit will fight the Bihar Assemblyelections next year underKumar.

A section of BJP leadersfrom Bihar pitched for Kumarmaking way for a BJP leader atthe helm in the State. UnionMinister Giriraj Singh has been

repeatedly criticising the BiharGovernment for its "inept"handling of water-logging inseveral parts of Patna followingheavy rainfall to which he alsoreceived an acid retort from theJDU leaders who sought him tomind his own central Ministry.

"The JD(U)-BJP alliance is'atal'. Both parties will go to theelections together and we willfight under the leadership ofNitish Kumar. This is clear asfar as Bihar is concerned,"Shah told a news channel.

He was asked if the BJP isconsidering fighting the Stateelection, slated to be held by the

end of next year, on its own.Shah played down the

unease in the alliance, saying itis natural for some differencesto crop up at the local level andthat this is an indication of ahealthy alliance.

'Matbhed' (difference ofopinion) has not changed into'manbhed' (change of heart), hesaid.JDU has been on anuneasy term with the BJP afterit opted out from the ModiGovernment for it not includ-ing two of its leaders in theunion cabinet and makingspace for only one cabinetberth for its alliance partner.JDU has also not been backingtriple talaq bill and objected tothe criminalization clause in it.The discord between the twohad at one time set off specu-lations of Kumar again driftingto the opposition camp.

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The Devendra FadnavisGovernment in

Maharashtra has "fulfiled over96 per cent of the promises"made by the party in its 2014Assembly elections manifesto,the BJP claimed on Thursdayasserting that good Governancehas been the cornerstone of theruling dispensation.

Releasing a report by thePublic Policy Research Centre(PPRC), which analysed imple-mentation of the BJP's 2014assembly elections manifesto,days before the polling in thestate, BJP vice-president VinaySahasrabuddhe said the BJP-ledgovernment gave the State sta-bility which created an envi-ronment for unleashing theeconomic transformation.

New Delhi: A Hindu partyThursday sought action fromthe Bar Council against senioradvocate Rajeev Dhavan, rep-resenting Muslim litigants inthe Ayodhya case, for his "high-ly unethical act" of tearing thepictorial map purportedlyshowing the birthplace of LordRam during the SupremeCourt hearing on Wednesday.

One of the factions of theAll India Hindu Mahasabha(AIHM) wrote to the BarCouncil of India condemningDhavan's action on the con-cluding day of the 40-day hearing in the Ram-Janmbhoomi-Babri Masjid landdispute case before a 5-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice RanjanGogoi. PTI

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Union Home Minister AmitShah has directed the

Central paramilitary forcesincluding CRPF, BSF, ITBPand others to undertake amega manpower planning andensure that around 7 lakhjawans get to spend at least 100days with their families in ayear.

Shah was given a presen-tation last month about thefunctioning of the Forces in theMinistry, following which hedirected that the deploymentdetails of the troops of theseforces should be "digitised" sothat better manpower ratio-nalisation can be done, officialssaid.

The Union Home Ministryhas now asked all the DirectorsGeneral of the Forces to under-take the exercise and implementa regime where a jawan or a con-

stable gets to stay with his fam-ily for about 100 days, they said.

The directive, when imple-mented, will ensure that thejawans will be posted to theirnearest units and they cantravel and stay with their fam-ilies when there are no opera-tional exigencies, an officialsaid.

The forces' chiefs havebeen asked to assess and pre-pare reports of their addition-al manpower so that the over-all deployment of a paramili-tary unit is not affected. Unlikethe paper file format, digitizeddata will make force head-quarters' job easier to to rotate

and deploy their troops.The digital format will also

help in ensuring that a largegrievance of personnel regard-ing their transfer and postingto a place near to their parentsor family home will beaddressed up to a limit, he said.

The forces have been givena deadline of two months toimplement the direvtive.

According to reports, anaverage jawan spends 75 dayswith his family in the BSF.Similar situation prevails inother forces due to lack ofreserve component and con-tinuous deployment. Lack offamily connect has been attrib-uted to one of the many reasonsputting the jawans under stress.Stressed out jawans also. Attimes, tend to indulge in frat-ricidal incidents even leading tocasualties.

The move will give a sig-nificant relief to the jawans.

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Faced with an ambitious tar-get to end malaria by 2030,

the Union Health Ministry islooking towards researchers tohelp address gaps and challenges to tackle the vector-borne disease.

For instance, it has askedthe researchers to conductstudies on the changing behav-iour of mosquito vectors suchas feeding and resting behav-iour, to find out frequencyand level of vector resistance tothe insecticides that are in usefor malaria vector control inhigh risk and residual trans-mission areas.

According to theGovernment, a total of 842,095cases and 104 deaths werereported in 2017. However,the World Health Organization(WHO) in its 2017 GlobalReport has put the estimationat 13.1 million cases and 23,990malarial deaths in India for thesame year.

In fact, as per the WHO, in2017, five countries accountedfor nearly half of all malariacases worldwide: Nigeria (25per cent), the DemocraticRepublic of the Congo (11 percent), Mozambique (5 percent)and India and Uganada (4per cent each). India is high-

ly endemic to malaria andshoulders the burden of twomajor malaria parasites,Plasmodium falciparum and P.vivax.

A senior official from theIndian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) said that aprogramme has been launchedwith an aim to bring the vari-ous stakeholders on a singleplatform to identify and pri-oritise research work needed tomeet the target to eliminate thedisease by 2030.

Called Malaria EliminationResearch Alliance India(MERA India), the programmetook off on April 24 underwhich various innovative stud-

ies and tools are being soughtto take the vector headon.

As the emergence andspread of drug and insecticideresistance is undermining theefficacy of existing tools, theICMR is seeking new improvedtools and approaches for dis-ease surveillance, diagnosis,treatment and tackle the vector.Proposals have been sought toconduct studies to assess andquantify outdoor/residualtransmission by vectors thatfeed outdoors or biting early inthe evening or are resistant toinsecticides.

Also, the researchers havebeen asked to look into socio-cultural behavior of the human

population residing perma-nently or temporarily in forestecosystem in relation to malar-ia transmission and vector con-trol interventions.

Studies on communitybehavior, accessibility and uti-lization of current vector con-trol operations under thenational programme, includ-ing study of logistic supplychain.

The ICMR is also lookingtowards development and test-ing of new insecticides andformulations to increase effi-cacy of sprays/LLIN/larvicidingassessment of feasibility andcost effectiveness of new vec-tor control strategies/productsthat are at the developmentstage.

Also, field testing of noveltools such as toxic sugar-bait-ed traps, endectocides, andtargeted larviciding has beenproposed for interruptingresidual (outdoor) transmissionor reducing the receptivity.

According to the Ministry,nearly 70 per cent malariacases in India are contributedby five of 36 States and UnionTerritories. These includeOdisha (36 per cent),Chhattisgarh (12 per cent),Jharkhand (9 percent), MadhyaPradesh (9 per cent) andMaharashtra (5 per cent).

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The trial court on Thursdaysent former Finance Minister

P Chidambaram to seven days ofcustody of EnforcementDirectorate in the INX Mediabribery case. This visibly upsetChidambaram, who would haveto spend the time in the TughlakRoad police station lock-uproom during the ED's custody asthe agency has no custody roomfacilities. Chidambaram thussought air conditioning facilityand even requested that he besent to CBI's custody room.

The Special Court JudgeAjay Kumar Kuhar, however,rejected the demand andapproved other requests likeprovision of home-cooked food,western toilet and medicine etcto the former Finance Ministerwho has to be in the ED's cus-tody till October 24.

Arguing forChidambaram, noted lawyer

Kapil Sibal accused ED and theGovernment for cleverly tim-ing up the ED arrest to settlepolitical vendetta. He said thatED even told the court thatthey don't want to arrestChidambaram few weeks backwhen former Finance Ministerfiled a surrender application.

Solicitor General TusharMehta countered that theaccused person doesn't decidethe timings of the investigatingagencies. He said that ED's caseis different from CBI and theagency was preparing to getsome statements from crucialwitnesses to confrontChidambaram regarding themoney laundering.

Mehta objected toChidamabram's demand for airconditioning facility in ED cus-tody and said that they shouldprovide all security and has noobjection in allowing homecooked food and meeting offamily members.

New Delhi: All postgraduatemedical students will have toserve in district hospitals for atleast three months in order tobe eligible to appear in the finalexam, the Board of Governors(BoG), vested with the powersof the Medical Council of India(MCI), has proposed.

Currently, students pursu-ing undergraduate medicalcourses are attached to prima-ry health centres or urbanhealth centres for three monthsas part of a compulsory rotat-ing internship.

The BoG has written to theHealth Ministry to developguidelines for implementationof the proposal for postgradu-ate students in partnershipwith it and the state govern-ments. It has also sought thatthis provision comes into forcefrom the next academic ses-sion.

"The move is aimed at pro-viding practical experience tofuture specialists in real-life set-ting of the country's publichealth system. Also, this willhelp address shortage of spe-cialist doctors in district hos-pitals of rural and remote areas,and help strengthen services atsuch hospitals," a seniorGovernment official said.

The note sent to the UnionHealth Ministry said all post-graduate students shall under-take a rotation in designateddistrict hospitals/health sys-tem for a period of threemonths as a part of the coursecurriculum.

For postgraduate studentsof community medicine, therequirement can be posting atprimary health centres andfield experience in addition toactivities at the district hospi-tal.

"Satisfactory completion ofthis rotation shall be an essen-tial condition before the candi-date is allowed to appear in thefinal examination of the respec-tive postgraduate course. TheMinistry of Health is requestedto develop guidelines for thescheme in partnership with theState Government and BoG inthree months," it read.

For the purpose of theproposed programme, a districthospital will be defined broad-ly as a functional public sectoror publicly-funded hospital ofabout 200 beds or more, withfacilities for specified special-ities, designated by the Centreor State Governments.

Medical colleges, both gov-ernment as well as private, willplace their post-graduates at thedisposal of the government forrotation/posting for the dura-tion of the course. PTI

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt Collegium has recom-mended elevation of two highcourt judges — Justice RaviRanjan and Justice MohammadRafiq — as the chief justices of the Jharkhand andMeghalaya High Courtsrespectively.

While Justice Ranjan is asitting judge of thePunjab and HaryanaHigh Court, JusticeRafiq is posted at theRajasthan HighCourt.

The apex courtCollegium, headedby Chief Justice ofIndia Ranjan Gogoi,

decided this in its meetingheld on October 15, a state-ment uploaded on the topcourt website said.

The Collegium also rec-ommended transfer ofMeghalaya High Court ChiefJustice A K Mittal to theMadhya Pradesh High Court asits chief justice.

It had earlier recommend-ed that Justice Mittal be trans-ferred to the Madras HighCourt as chief justice.

His name was recom-mended to replace the thenChief Justice of Madras HighCourt V K Tahilramani, whowas transferred to theMeghalaya High Court.However, she refused to gothere and tendered her resignation which was accept-ed.

The Collegium has alsorecommended the transfer ofTripura High Court ChiefJustice Sanjay Karol to PatnaHigh Court as its chief justice.

The Collegium alsoapproved the proposal for ele-vation of advocates MokshaKazmi (Khajuria) and RajneshOswal as judges of the Jammu& Kashmir High Court.

It also approved the pro-posal for elevation of judicialofficers — Parthivjyoti Saikiaand S Hukato Swu — andadvocate Soumitra Saikia asjudges of the Gauhati HighCourt.

It approved the proposalfor elevation of judicial officerWanlura Diengdoh as a judge of the Meghalaya HighCourt. PTI

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt Collegium has recom-mended the transfer of PatnaHigh Court judge RakeshKumar, who had recentlycourted controversy followinghis stinging observations overalleged corruption in the judi-ciary, to the Andhra PradeshHigh Court.

The Collegium has alsorecommended transfer of PatnaHigh Court Chief Justice A PSahi to the Madras High Courtas its chief justice.

The apex court Collegium,headed by Chief Justice ofIndia Ranjan Gogoi, held ameeting this week and decid-ed to recommend the transferof chief justice Sahi and justiceKumar.

"The Supreme CourtCollegium in its meeting heldon October 15, 2019, has decid-ed to recommend transfer ofJustice Rakesh Kumar, Judge,Patna High Court to AndhraPradesh High Court," a state-ment uploaded on the apexcourt website said.

Justice Kumar had madestinging observation over thealleged corruption in judiciary

and had ordered a CBI probeand an inquiry by the Patnadistrict judge into how a formerIAS officer, whom he haddenied anticipatory bail in acorruption case last year, wasgranted regular bail by a trialcourt.

Justice Kumar had alsodirected that copies of hisAugust 28 orderbe sent to theChief Justice ofIndia, the apexcourt Collegiumand the PrimeMinister's Officebesides the UnionLaw Ministry.

Later, a fullbench of the Patna High Court,headed by Chief Justice A PSahi, had set aside JusticeKumar's order, terming it as aninstance of judicial and admin-istrative overreach and a com-plete nullity.

Justice Kumar was divest-ed of his judicial work by thehigh court administration onthe day he had passed theorder. However, a day later hisjudicial work was restored by aspecial 11-judge bench. PTI

New Delhi: India on Thursdayasked Pakistan not to insist onlevying a fee of USD 20 perIndian pilgrim and hoped thatan agreement to operationalisethe Kartarpur corridor will beinked soon between the twocountries.

External Affairs MinistrySpokesperson Raveesh Kumarsaid both India and Pakistanreached an agreement on thecorridor except on the matterof the service fee.

"After several rounds ofdiscussion with Pakistan, wehave reached an agreement onall other issues, except thematter of service fee. Pakistaninsists on levying a fee of USD20 (approx. �1420) on all pil-

grims," he said.Kumar said India has

urged Pakistan not to levy thefee in the interests of devotees,and also because the openingof the corridor is a people-to-people initiative.

"We hope that the agreement can be concludedand signed in time for the greatevent," said Kumar.

Pakistan has been insistingon levying the service fee ofUSD 20 per pilgrim to meet theoperational costs of the corri-dor linking the historicGurdwara Darbar Sahib inPakistan's Kartarpur with DeraBaba Nanak shrine inGurdaspur district in Punjab. PTI

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New Delhi: Pakistan lastmonth scrambled two F-16jets in its airspace to intercepta SpiceJet plane, assuming it tobe a military aircraft, which washeading to Kabul from Delhiwith around 120 passengers, asenior Government officialsaid.

The incident came in thebackdrop of tension betweenIndia and Pakistan that hadescalated after the IndianGovernment revoked Jammu &Kashmir's special status onAugust 5 and bifurcated it intounion territories.

"On the morning ofSeptember 23, the SpiceJetflight SG 21 left Delhi airportand was going throughPakistan's airspace to Kabul.Pakistan scrambled two F-16planes and intercepted theflight mid-air," said the official.

The SpiceJet pilot wasasked by F-16 pilots to lowerthe altitude and give flightdetails, the official added.

Another seniorGovernment official said,"OnSeptember 23, Pakistanassumed that the SpiceJet flight,which had around 120 passen-gers, is an Indian Air Forceplane. Once Pakistan realisedthat it is commercial flight, theF-16s escorted the SpiceJetplane till the Afghanistan air-space."

"There was some mix up atthe end of Pakistan's Air TrafficControl (ATC)," the secondofficial added. SpiceJet did notrespond to the query sent byPTI on this matter.

Pakistan had fully closed itsairspace on February 26 afterthe Indian Air Force (IAF)struck a Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM) terrorist training camp inBalakot in retaliation to thePulwama attack on February 14and fully opened it for all civil-ian traffic on July 16. PTI

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The Centre has accorded West BengalGovernor Jagdeep Dhankar ‘Z’ category VIP

security cover in the wake of “potential threats”to him.

Union Home Ministry has issued an orderand directed the Central Reserve Police Force(CRPF) to take charge of Dhankar’s security thatwill be valid in all parts of the country and notremained confined to his cover in West Bengal.

Under the ‘Z” category, the West BengalGovernor will have about 8-10 armed securitypersonnel with him when he travels apart froman escort car. The CRPF will take over the chargesoon, officials said.

CRPF cover came as a threat assessmentreport prepared by central security and intelli-gence agencies found that Dhankar needs to besecured by a professional team of personnelespecially in the wake of the recent incident atJadavpur University where Union MinisterBabul Supriyo was heckled and he had rushedto save him.

The CRPF guards a number of VIPs

including Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The Governor had on Tuesday said that he

was deeply hurt at the treatment allegedly metedout to him at the Durga Puja Carnival on RedRoad on October 11. Usually governors are givenstate police cover.

VIP security cover entails four categories:“Z-plus” (34 guards); “Z” (22 guards); “Y” (11guards) and “X” (2 guards).

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Aday after taking control of Naihatimunicipality, which it had earlier lost

to BJP, the ruling TMC on Thursdayclaimed it will soon take over Bhatparacivic body, the only one in the State whichis being ruled by the saffron party.

TMC will soon bring a no confidencemotion against the present board of theBhatpara municipality, party senior leaderJyoti Priya Mullick said.

Bhatpara municipality was the firstcivic body to be taken over by BJP in Juneafter a majority of its Trinamool Congresscoucillors switched over to the saffronparty days after the Lok Sabha pollsresults were announced.

BJP had then bagged 26 of the 34wards of the municipality in a trust voteafter 15 TMC councillors switched to itand Bhatpara became a trouble-torn areawitnessing frequent violence betweenthe two parties.

The tenure of the present civic bodyis till 2020, when it will go to the polls.

“We will soon bring a no confidencemotion against the present BJP board.Several of our councillors who hadswitched over to BJP are in touch withus and want to rejoin the party. They haddefected under threat and intimidationfrom BJP,” Mullick, the party’s North 24Parganas district president said.

Reacting to TMC’s claim, senior BJPleader Mukul Roy, who had played a keyrole in the defections, Thursday accusedMamata Banerjee’s party of using politi-cal and administrative powers to force thecouncillors to rejoin it.

“They (the councillors) had joinedBJP as they were fed up with TMC’s func-tioning. Since then they are being threat-ened by the police and goons. TMC isnow forcing them to rejoin it. The samehas been done in other municipal bod-ies too,” he added.

Located in the northern fringes ofKolkata, Bhatapara municipality fallsunder Barrackpore Lok Sabha con-stituency, which is now represented byArjun Singh of BJP.

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The ruling TrinamoolCongress on Thursday

mocked BJP president AmitShah for “day dreaming” aboutforming the next Governmentin Bengal with two-thirdsmajority and said he and hissaffron camp should insteadconcentrate on reviving theeconomy.

Shah, also Union HomeMinister, had told a news channel during the day thatBJP is going to form theGovernment in West Bengalwith two-thirds majority in the2021 Assembly polls.

Reacting to Shah’s claim,senior TMC leader SubrataMukherjee said Shah shouldstop “day dreaming” aboutforming the Government in thestate.

“Instead of day dreamingand making tall claims theBJP leader should first con-centrate on his own party and

good governance at the Centre. The country’s economy has

gone for a toss due to the faultyeconomic policies of the ModiGovernment and BJP shouldfirst look into reviving it,” hesaid.

TMC also hit out at the BJPgovernment at the Centre forallegedly trying to drive outBengalis from Assam in thename of implementation of theNational Register of Citizens.

The saffron party is plan-ning to replicate the NRC exer-cise in Bengal but as long asTMC is in power in the State itwill never allow such an “divi-sive exercise” to take place,TMC secretary general ParthaChatterjee said.

“The BJP is trying to cre-ate a panic in Bengal in thename of NRC. Eleven peoplehave already died in the statedue to NRC panic. The peopleof Bengal will give BJP a befit-ting reply in the next Assemblypolls in the State,” he said.

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CPI(M) general secretarySitaram Yechury on Thursday

accused BJP and the RSS of tryingto destroy the country’s secular fab-ric and letting loose a “reign of fearand distrust” across the country byimplementing the contentious NRCand CAB.

Yechury said BJP is trying topropagate its ideology of Hindunationalism by replacing the prin-ciples of Indian nationalism, whichhad its roots in the Independencemovement.

“The communal forces haveincreased their activities by leapsand bounds and they are trying toflare communal passions across thecountry. Now the BJP is takingabout NRC and CAB. It will nowdecide who are citizens and whoare not,” he said while addressing aprogramme to commemorate 100years of the Communist Party of

India (CPI).The CPI was formed on 17

October 1920 at Tashkent inUzbekistan, then part of USSR.

Yechury said the updation ofthe NRC in the rest of the countryafter Assam is against the interestsof the people as BJP intends to useit for its “divisive communal agen-da”.

“The BJP government is talkingabout extending the NRC processin the whole of India. This isuncalled for and it is being doneonly with the aim of targeting cer-tain sections of people and to cre-ate polarization,” he said.

He criticised the BJPGovernment at the Centre foromitting Muslims from the list ofreligious denominations eligiblefor getting citizenship in the pro-posed Citizenship (Amendment)Bill, 2019 and called it a “completeviolation” of the Constitution.

The Citizenship (Amendment)

Bill provides for accordingIndian citizenship to Hindus,

Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhistsand Parsis from Bangladesh,Pakistan and Afghanistan afterseven years of residence in Indiainstead of 12 years currently evenif they do not possess any docu-ment.

Expressing concern overalleged attempts by BJP and sever-al other Hindutva outfits to buildup communal frenzy over NRC andCAB, the former Rajya Sabha MPsaid the saffron partysees the sharpening of communal

polarization as the only way to con-solidate its Hindutva vote bank.

It has been acknowledged sinceIndependence that the unity ofIndia lies in its diversity.

The BJP-RSS cannot toleratethe diversity and federal principleand want to create a Hindu Rashtra,he alleged.

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West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on

Thursday said her governmentis committed to alleviatingpoverty and the theory byNobel laureate Abhijit VinayakBanerjee on it will go a longway in helping the poor.

Banerjee took to theTwitter to express her viewsand posted some photographsof her visit to the residence ofthe Nobel laureate’s motherNirmala Banerjee Wednesdayevening in the city.

“Yesterday, I spent timewith the family of our very ownNobel Prize winning econo-mist, Abhijit Banerjee. Hiscontribution to the experi-mental theory of poverty alle-viation will go a long way inhelping people #Bangla is veryproud of him!,” Banerjee tweet-

ed.On the occasion of the

International Day for theEradication of Poverty onThursday, Banerjee in a tweetearlier in the day said, “...OurGovt in #Bangla is committedto alleviating poverty, reducingunemployment, combatingilliteracy and upholding humanrights.”

The United NationsGeneral Assembly had in 1987designated October 17 as theInternational Day for theEradication of Poverty to pro-mote awareness about theneed to eradicate poverty anddestitution.

����� �*?*2*4�

The First War ofIndependence in 1857

would have been regarded as arevolt had it not been for VeerSavarkar, said Home MinisterAmit Shah here on Thursdayamid a row over the BJP sug-gesting that the Hindutva iconbe given the Bharat Ratna.

Stressing the need torewrite history from India’spoint of view, Shah creditedSavarkar for calling the 1857rebellion as India’s first inde-pendence struggle.

Shah said had it not beenfor him, the rebellion of 1857would have become historyand India would have seen itfrom the British point of view.

His remarks came twodays after the Maharashtra BJP

unit said in its election mani-festo that the party would askthe Centre to confer the BharatRatna, India’s highest civilianaward, on Vinayak DamodarSavarkar, popularly known asVeer Savarkar.

“Had it not been VeerSavarkar, the 1857 ‘kranti’(revolt) would not havebecome history and we wouldhave been seeing it from theBritish point of view,” the homeminister said.

“It was Savarkar who gavethe name First War ofIndependence to the 1857‘kranti’, otherwise, our childrenwould have known it as arevolt,” he said, inaugurating atwo-day international seminarhere on ‘Guptvanshak-Veer:Skandgupta Vikramaditya’ atBanaras Hindu University

(BHU).A large number of histori-

ans, scholars and politicalthinkers from India andabroad attended the seminar.

Referring to eminent his-torians in the audience and onthe dais, he said, “It is myrequest to all that there is aneed to rewrite the Indian his-

tory from India’s point of viewbut without blaming anyone.”

“It is our responsibility towrite our history. How long arewe going to blame the British?We don’t have to dispute any-one, only write what is truthand it will stand the test oftime,” the Union HomeMinister said.

The Gupta period is calledthe golden period of indian his-tory and Skandagupta is knownfor fighting against Hunas.

Shah also praised MadanMohan Malaviya for foundinga university where “Hindudharma and sanskriti” werepropagated even after so manyyears.

He said SkandaguptaVikramaditya needed to bebrought on top of our historyas he fought and won the warwhich even Rome lost againstthe alien enemy.

He re-formulated the rev-enue collection method,administration and munici-pality, Shah said, adding that itwas believed that the Guptaruler stayed at Ghazipur in thisPoorvanchal region andworked from here, he said.

����� �*?*2*4��L!�M

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath has asked the officials

concerned to initiate a campaign toensure that Prime Minister NarendraModi’s parliamentary constituencyVaranasi is the cleanest in the country.

Modi had won the seat in the LokSabha elections held earlier this year bya huge margin of 4.79 lakh votes. He hadnot only retained the seat, but also sawhis victory margin increase by nearly 1lakh votes as compared to the 2014 gen-eral elections.

The chief minister held a reviewmeeting of the development work andlaw and order situation in the state hereon Wednesday night and instructed theofficials to make “Kashi number 1 in thecountry” in terms of cleanliness.

According to an official spokesper-son, he also asked the officials to launchspecial cleanliness drives in villages aswell as urban areas before the festivalof Diwali.

Roads, parks and vacant plots ofland should be included in the cam-paign. In view of Chhath Puja, start aspecial campaign to clean the ghats ofthe Ganga, the chief minister said.

Do something special so that Kashi

remains illuminated from Diwali tillDev Diwali, Adityanath said as hedirected the PWD to make the roadsfree of potholes by October 30.

The government is committedtowards the makeover of Kashi. PrimeMinister Modi had laid the foundationstone of many projects in February 2019out which 13 have been completed andthe remaining 25 will be completed inthis financial year,he said.

The chief minister further said thatthe government schemes should not bemisused at all and only eligible candi-dates should be entitled for beneficia-ry schemes.

Stray cattle should not be seen onthe streets, he said.

He also asked the officials to to solvewater logging problems within threedays and organise health camps in theaffected areas.

���� ���������� 6/=6*(*

Any forced implementationof National Register for

Citizens in Bengal will helpMamata Banerjee in the ultimate run, the rulingTrinamool Congress feels.Senior Bengal Minister SubrotoMukherjee on Thursday saidthat it would be a political blun-der for the BJP-ruled Centre toimplement NRC in Bengal.

“If the BJP tries to forceNRC in Bengal it will a bigpolitical blunder committedby them,” Mukherjee one of thefounder members of the TMCsaid adding “the BJP will notonly lose the advantage itextracted in the Lok Sabhapolls but also it will be routedin the Assembly elections.”

The people irrespective ofcaste and religion had becomehighly skeptic of the NRC afterits “fraudulent implementa-tion” in Assam where the futureof more than 19 lakh people isin stake, he said.

“In Bengal if they try toimplement NRC then it will goin favour of the TrinamoolCongress. Its implementationwill turn out to be a hundredpercent gain for MamataBanerjee,” the septuagenarianMinister said.

The TMC’s views foundreflection in the Left Frontcamp too as State LeftLegislature party member andCPI(M) central committeemember Sujan Chakrabartysaid, “NRC will not be accept-ed by the people of Bengal.Whole State will oppose ittooth and nail.”

On the BJP leaders’ repeat-ed assertion in favour of NRCshould that party came topower in the State Chakrabarty

said, “it is the political build upagainst NRC that the Centrehas been forced to retrace itsstep saying they will considerintroducing it post 2024.

In fact the Left will resistNRC tooth and nail. We willprepare the entire population ofthe State against the enlargingblack shadow of NRC.”

On the Delhi’s move toconstruct detention centresthroughout the country,Chakrabarty said let them tryand build one in Bengal. I canassure you that the people ofthe State will smash all thoseillegal structures designed afterconcentration camp of Hitler.”

Reacting to the TMC andLeft leaders’ statement BJPleader Mukul Roy said thatthere was no escaping NRC inBengal. “Implementation ofNRC is a foregone conclusion.The people want NRC inBengal.” Any such move wouldtake place “in line with theUnited Nation’s regulations.”

����� �*��!?

Reiterating that democracy was indanger in the country under the

BJP rule, Rajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot on Thursday said peo-ple should understand this and ques-tion the Centre what it was doing forthem.

He also accused the BJP ofindulging in politics in the name ofnationalism and religion.

“The democracy today is underthreat. We have no enmity with theRSS or the BJP but we have a fight ofideology, policies and programmes.They should also do this. The public should pressure theGovernment and ask what it has donefor them,” he said.

Stressing that the fight should befor ideology, policies and programme,Gehlot told reporters after returningfrom Mumbai, “They have created anatmosphere in the name of nationalismand religion and doing politics forthat.”

On the BJP suggesting the BharatRatna for Veer Savarkar, the ChiefMinister said the party had a fascist ide-ology and did not consider what thepublic or other political parties think.

“In a democracy, sentiments of theopposition are considered but for

them, the Opposition holds no value,”he said.

He said that it was the BJP’s inten-tion to ensure a one-party rule in thecountry. Targeting Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for accusing theCongress of dynasty politics, the chiefminister said no one could stop any-one from joining politics in a democ-racy.

“This is a useless thing. It is not theera of kingdoms where the one bornto the queen will rule. It’s a democra-cy where people elect those whom theylike,” he said.

The Chief Minister exuded confi-dence that their party would win theOctober 21 bypolls in Mandawa(Jhunjhunu) and Khimsar (Nagaur) inthe state.

On the cabinet’s recent decision ofallowing non-councillors becomechiefs of urban local bodies in the state,Gehlot said that the decision was takenin view of the current scenario wherethe BJP was “doing politics” in thename of nationalism and was creating a divide in the name of reli-gion.

“We want that the gap in societydoes not widen in the name of religionand members of all political parties,castes and communities maintain dia-logue,” he said.

����� �,�>*=

Union Minister of State(Independent Charge) for

Tourism and Culture, PrahladSingh Patel, has said the wrongperception of the North-Eastneeds to be changed to attractmore tourists.

Inaugurating the thirdShirui Lily festival in Manipur’sUkhrul district, along withChief Minister N Biren Singh,Patel said despite being giftedwith scenic beauty and rich cul-tural heritage, due to somewrong perceptions, the regionis unable to attract tourists inlarge numbers.

“A collective effort is need-ed from all the stakeholders toexplore ways to attract moretourists to the state,” he said.

Patel said he has written tothe Union HRD Ministerwhether it would be possibleto make it compulsory for stu-dents of the central schools tovisit the northeast at least once.

“One who has witnessedthe region at a tender agewould never forget it through-out his/her life,” he said.

The four-day festival thatbegan on Wednesday, aims atspreading awareness aboutthe conservation of the endan-

gered Shirui Lily and to pro-mote Ukhrul as a tourist des-tination.

Speaking on the occasion,Biren Singh said the law andorder situation in the state hasimproved under the two-and-half years of BJP-led rule.

The Chief Minister saidmore such fests would beorganised as there is an envi-ronment of peace in theState.”Earlier, tourists used tofear to visit the hill areas of theState due to the poor law andorder. However, that haschanged,” he said.

Lauding the hospitality ofthe Tangkhul community,Singh said more than 2,000homestays have been bookedby tourists for the festival.

Noting that all disputescan be settled through dia-

logue, the Chief Minister saidManipur belongs to its peopleand asserted that the state gov-ernment would not allow any-thing that may hurt the inter-ests or sentiments of any com-munity living in the state.

The Chief Minister said theState Government is urging theCentre to bring about a “topo-graphical need-based budget”to ensure inclusive develop-ment of the state.

“The Centre has imple-mented the Hill AreasDevelopment Programme(HADP) for states with hillytopography like Manipur.Tamenglong district in thestate is among the 82 districtsacross the country where thescheme would be implement-ed in the first phase,” he said.

As part of it, Tamenglongwould get Rs 90 crore forimplementation of develop-mental projects, Singh said.

Mentioning that aroundRs 600 crore would be spent onimproving road connectivity inUkhrul district, the ChiefMinister said around �250crore has been sanctioned forconstruction of roads betweenKamjong and Tengnoupaldistricts.

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Averring that history wouldtake cognisance of state-

ments by all those whoridiculed the Government’sdecision to abrogate Article 370of Constitution, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Thursdaydemanded to know if the coun-try— after its much-discusseddecision —had been “ruined”or “has the country lost”Kashmir as predicted by a fewCongress leaders.

Addressing an electionrally at Parli in Beed district ofMarathwada region, Modioffered to “make arrange-ments” to all those who desiredto go Jammu & Kashmir.

Castigating the Congressand other Opposition leadersfor mocking the BJP-led NDAGovernment’s decision to annulArticle 370, Modi said:“Whenever debate takes placein future about the abrogationof Article 370, history will takecognisance of statements madeby the leaders ridiculing thedecision taken in the nationalinterest.”

Exhorting the people to“punish” all those mocking theGovernment’s decision onArticle 370, Modi said: “OneCongress leader said that theKashmir issue not the country’sinternal matter. Will agree withit? Can the leader saying suchthing be pardoned? Will younot punish those who saidsuch things in the election? ...One leader said it’s a black dayfor Indian politics. Anothersaid it’s against democracy,danger to national security...Asenior Congress leader saidthat after the abrogation of

Article 370, the country will beruined. It is going to be threemonths since we abrogatedArticle 370, has the countrybeen ruined?”

“Another Congress leadersaid that by annulling Article370, we have lost Kashmir. Iwould like to ask you: has thecountry lost Kashmir? If youwant to go Kashmir, tell me Iwill make arrangements... Doesit behove well of all those lead-ers who ruled for such a timeto make such statements? Ihave a long list of questionablestatements made by theCongress leaders in thisregard,” the Prime Ministersaid.

Modi, who was campaign-ing for campaigning for lateGopinath Munde’s Minister-daughter Pankaja Munde atParli, said that Parli gavefriends like Gopinath Mundeand Pramod Mahajan. “BothMunde and Mahajan are nolonger there. People from theyounger generation likeDevendra Fadnavis andPankaja Munde are trying tofulfil their dreams.

Modi said that theAssembly elections were a bat-tle between BJP’s “karyashak-ti” (power of development)and opposition’s “swarth shak-ti” (selfishness).”Lotus ( the BJP

symbol) has always bloomedin Beed. Pankaja will win theAssembly polls with a record

margin,” he said.Modi, who subsequently

addressed rallies in Satara andPune,urged the voters to pun-ish the Congress and its lead-ers for their involvement inscams and their questionableremarks. “All those who havelooted the country will not bespared. They will be put behindthe bars. I will not rest till allthe money looted from theState exchequer returns”.

“If the entire Maharashtrais behind the BJP-Shiv Senaalliance, it is because of thehard work put in by us duringthe last five years. See the con-trast: on one side, you can getto see the work ethics of the saf-fron alliance Government,while on the other, theOpposition Congress and NCPleaders are working for selfishmotives,” the Prime Ministersaid.

In Satara, Modi cam-paigned for sitting MP and13th descendent of ChhatrapatiShivaji Udayan Raje Bhosale,who recently quit the NCP andjoined the BJP, is contesting theLok Sabha by-polls from Satara.The by-poll has been necessi-tated by the resignation ofBhosale from Lok Sabha.

In Pune, the PrimeMinister campaigned amongother for BJP’s State PresidentChandrakant Patil, who is con-testing from the Brahmin dom-inated Kothurd constituency.

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Debunking Narendra Modi’smuch-advertised “double

engine” model of governancewhich “has utterly failed”, former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh on Thursdaycharged that the Governmentwas “obsessed” with trying tosomehow fix blame on itsopponents and in the process,it had failed to revive the econ-omy.

A day after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi went to townclaiming that the “double-engine” governance involvinghim and Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis was a“super-hit” during the last fiveyears and was giving a “eleven-fold” boost to the State’s development, Singh said: “Themuch advertised “doubleengine” model of governanceon which the BJP seeks voteshas utterly failed. Mumbai andMaharashtra have had to facesome of the worst effects of thegrave economic slowdown”.

Interacting with business-men, professionals and themedia at the Garware Club ofthe Wankhede Stadium here,Singh took a swipe at FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitaramanfor her comment that Indianpublic sector banks had the“worst phase” under the com-bination of him as the thenPrime Minister and RaghuramRajan as the RBI Governor.

“I have just seen the state-ment by Smt NirmalaSitharaman, I won’t like tocomment on that statement butI can merely point out thatbefore one can fix the econo-my one needs a correct diag-nosis of its ailments and theircauses,” Singh said.

“The Government isobsessed with trying to some-how fix blame on its oppo-

nents, in the process it is unableto find solution that will ensurerevival of the economy partic-ularly strengthening of ourbanking system,” the formerPrime Minister said.

Singh’s comment shouldbe seen in the context of theremarks made by Sitaramanduring a lecture ColumbiaUniversity’s School ofInternational and Public AffairsIn in New York on Tuesday. “Ihave no reason to doubt thatRajan feels for every word ofwhat he is saying. And I’m heretoday, giving him his duerespect, but also placing the factbefore you that Indian publicsector banks did not have aworst phase than when thecombination of Singh andRajan, as Prime Minister andthe Governor of Reserve Bank,had. At that time, none of usknew about it,” she said.

Maintaining that theGovernment’s “apathy andincapability” were affecting thefuture and aspirations of mil-lions of our people, Singh said:“Manufacturing growth rateof Maharashtra has beendeclining for four consecutiveyears. Maharashtra has wit-nessed one of the highest fac-tory shutdowns in the pastfive years”

“The industrial slowdownhas been met with risingimports from China. In the lastfive years, imports from Chinahave risen by more than Rs.1,22,000 crores. Chemicals,fertilisers, electronic goods,and automobiles, productsmanufactured in Maharashtra,have seen rising imports fromour neighbouring country,” hesaid.

Lamenting that the indus-trial slowdown was coming inIndia’s way to optimally utiliseits demographic dividend,Singh said: “Only in the recent

past, Maharashtra used toattract talent from around thecountry. Today there is a dearthof opportunities in this other-wise vibrant state.

“In urban areas, every thirdyoung person is jobless.Educated individuals have toface a higher rate of unem-ployment. It is thus no surprisethat many of our young menand women are taking up lowpaying jobs. Investors are shift-ing to other states. The distresspervading our rural areas willonly add to the unemploymentproblem as migration increas-es.”

The former Prime Ministersaid that Maharashtra, fromonce being the number one inattracting investments, “it istoday a leader in farmer sui-cide”.

“Despite the promises ofdoubling farm incomes, therural areas of Maharashtra arewitnessing nothing short of acrisis. Caught between lowincomes and high debt trap, thesuicide rate has doubled. Theobsession with low inflation isinflicting misery of our farm-ers. The Central Government’simport-export policies are alsohurting farmers,” he said.

Accusing the BJPGovernments, both at theCentre and at Maharashtra, of

not being willing to adopt peo-ple-oriented policies, Singhsaid: “As water shortages com-pound, the situation willbecome still worse if notaddressed soon. People fromMaharashtra are already grap-pling with low availability ofclean drinking water and areresorting to digging up driedriver beds. While we cannotcontrol the vagaries of nature,we can ensure the mitigation ofthe damage if we are econom-ically sound”.

“A lot of problems facingMaharashtra today are man-made and the solutions lie inpolicies which are inclusiveand welfare people-oriented.,he said.

“It is my sincere belief thatwe need to go back to thesetime-tested measures if are toensure gainful employment forour young people, men andwomen, farmer welfare, and abetter standard of living for allthe people of Maharashtra,” hesaid.

Calling for a change in theGovernment in the State, Singhsaid: “I can say without a doubtthat the State will progressmuch better under the leader-ship of Congress-NCP”

“During my time as thePrime Minister of India, I hadthe privilege to work with

many leaders fromMaharashtra. I found that theywere all committed to deliver-ing good governance to thepeople of Maharashtra. TheBandra-Worli sea link is oneexample of the many spectac-ular works Congress couldensure. At a time of agri-dis-tress, we delivered an effectiveloan waiver and ensured ruralgrowth,” he said.

Among other things, theformer Prime Minister saidthat while Maharashtra leviedthe highest VAT on petroleumproducts, “the high VAT cou-pled with Modi Government’sdecision to levy excessive exciseduties has punished the peopledespite low international crudeprices”.

Replying to a question onthe PMC Bank crisis, Singhappealed to Modi and chiefminister Devendra Fadnavis toresolve the issue at the earliest.He indicated that the Congresswould take up the PMC Bankissue in a big way in Parliamentduring the Winter Sessionbeginning in mid November.

“I appeal to the ChiefMinister and the PrimeMinister to resolve this matterat the earliest. The grievancesmust be solved,” he said.

Asked if he would inter-vene in the matter, Singh said:“The matter is coming up inthe Supreme Court, so it is sub-judice I don’t want to commentmuch (on the issue). I amappealing to the MaharashtraGovernment, the RBI and theCentre to put the pragmatic hatand solve this at the earliest”

“I have heard your feed-back. I assure you that whenthe Parliament convenes inmid-November, this issue(PMC bank and such cases)will figure very very promi-nently,” the former PrimeMinister told a questioner.

����� 4?�2*�*?

Shops opened for few hoursearly Thursday morning in

some areas here including inthe commercial hub of LalChowk but main markets andother business establishmentsremained shut, officials said.

Few vendors had set upstalls on the TRC Chowk-PoloView road, they said.

Private transport was ply-ing unhindered in the cityhere and elsewhere in Kashmir,the officials said, adding auto-rickshaws and few inter-district

cabs were also seen plying infew areas of the valley.

However, the other modesof public transport were off theroads.

Schools and colleges wereopen, but students stayed awayas parents continued to keeptheir wards at home due toapprehensions about their safe-ty, the officials said. Mobile ser-vices were restored in Kashmiron Monday, but the SMS facil-ity was snapped once againlater that night due to appre-hensions of the services beingmisused.

����� �*,,!

Former State president ofPDP’s Scheduled Caste wing

Vijay Anand on Thursdayjoined the BJP along with sixothers here, a party spokesper-son said.

Anand accompanied bySanjay Kumar, Himanshu, RaviKumar, Rakesh Kumar, AjayKumar and John Sotra joinedthe BJP’s Scheduled Castewing in presence of its statepresident Jagdish Bhagat andstate spokesperson Balbir RamRattan. Welcoming the newentrants into the party fold,Bhagat said the BJP has relieved‘Valmiki Samaj’ of the suffer-ings which they had to bearduring the last 70 years due toArticle 370.

“These people were nottreated as citizens of the stateand their educated childrencould not apply for the gov-ernment jobs or other benefits,”he said, adding the BJP abro-gated the provisions of Article370 to benefit the weaker sec-tions of the society.

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Truck drivers, camping inKashmir valley to ferry

apple boxes outside the State,are living in constant fear afterthe terrorists carried out sec-ond ‘surprise’ attack on twoapple traders hailing fromPunjab late Wednesday night inShopian district.

One of the apple traderidentified as Charanjeet Singhsuccumbed to his fatal injurieswhile another, identified asSanjay Churaya, is undergoingtreatment in Srinagar. Bothhailed from Fazilka in Punjab.

Before this, a truck driverfrom Rajasthan was also killedin cold blood by terrorists inShopian on Monday evening.Later, his truck was also set onfire to spread terror in the area.

After these attacks, freshwave of terror has gripped thearea. The main markets, whereapple growers were bringingtheir crop from differentorchards in the region, wore adeserted look on Thursday.

To instil confidence among

the truck drivers, stranded inthe vulnerable pockets, thelocal police authorities beefedup security deployment by wayof area domination. Posters ofterrorists, believed to be behindthe targeted killing of appletraders was also pasted at dif-ferent places so that they can betracked down and neutralised.

Meanwhile, interactingwith local media in Shopianseveral truck drivers raised theissue of their safety.

Without identifying them-selves in front of media, thetruck drivers said, “we are wor-ried for our own safety. “we arehere to ferry apple boxes and

earn our livelihood”. “We real-ly don’t know why are these ter-rorists targeting us. We are solebread earners of our familiesand they are dependent on us”,truck drivers told localreporters.

In the recent weeks, morethan 30,000 trucks have ferriedlarge quantities of apple cropoutside the state. Commentingon the targeting killing of appletraders and truck drivers,Governor Satya Pal MalikThursday said, terrorists aretargeting apple traders andtruck drivers to spread terror.He said, “we are after them andwe will finish them”.

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The State administration inJammu & Kashmir has set

in to motion the process ofbifurcating the State of Jammu& Kashmir in to two UnionTerritories. Late Wednesdayevening, the State administra-tion issued a formal order forabolition of Jammu andKashmir Legislative Council.

The 36-member LegislativeCouncil was established in1957 after an act was passed bythe Parliament.

The Council functionedas an upper house for the 87-member State Assembly.

According to the order,the 116-member staff of theCouncil has been asked toreport to the GeneralAdministration Department(GAD) by October 22.

Jammu & Kashmir will bea Union Territory with a StateAssembly.

The Centre had on August5 abrogated the provisions ofArticle 370 of the Constitutionwhich granted special status to

Jammu & Kashmir for resi-dency and Government jobs.

The order issued bySecretary to the StateGovernment, Farooq AhmadLone, also directed transfer ofall vehicles purchased fromtime to time to the Director ofState motor garages and hand-ing over of the building of theCouncil along with furnitureand electronic gadgets to theDirector of estates.

“Consequent to the aboli-tion of the Jammu & KashmirLegislative Council in terms ofSection 57 of Jammu &Kashmir Reorganization Act,2019, it is ordered that all thestaff of the State legislativecouncil shall report to theGAD by October 22,” the ordersaid. All records pertaining tothe Council Secretariat including related legislativebusiness shall be transferred tothe Department of Law, JusticeParliamentary Affairs by theSecretary, the order added.

JK administration ordersabolition of legislative council,asks its staff to report to GAD

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Jammu: The BJP’s Jammu &Kashmir unit on Thursdaydisqualified eight party leadersfor filing their nominations asIndependents against the official candidates for the BlockDevelopment Council (BDC)elections, scheduled to be heldon October 24, a partyspokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the StateBharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha(BJYM) also discharged its

senior leader Aqib Mir from hispresent party post of State sec-retary due to “breach of partydiscipline”, he said.

“Taking strong note of thefiling of nominations asIndependents by party leadersagainst the official candidatesof the BJP for the BDC elec-tions, the State BJP has dis-qualified them for indulging inanti-party activities,” thespokesperson said. PTI

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The Income TaxD e p a r t m e nt

officials have seized�15.5 crore ofunaccounted cashfrom various placesin Mumbai sincethe declaration ofModel Code ofConduct for theM a h a r a s h t r aAssembly polls bythe Election Commission ofIndia (ECI) on September 21.

“We have increased thestrength of the Quick ResponseTeams, formed for this period,with additional manpower soas to ensure elections free frominfluence of cash and/or valu-ables,” a senior IT departmentofficial said.

“We will give special atten-tion to the movement of unac-counted cash/valuables andalso prohibition of distributionof cash/ valuables meant forwooing the electorate, particu-larly during the period whenelection campaign ceases on19th October till the date ofpolling — October 21,” the offi-cial said.

According to the official,the IT department is respond-ing to every call and informa-tion from police/public/otheragencies and subject to the exis-tence of credible information,search/ survey actions are beingconducted almost on dailybasis.

Set up to curb the use ofblack money and cash induce-ment in the ongoing AssemblyElections in the State, theDirectorate General of IncomeTax (Investigation) has sinceSeptember 21 been working inclose coordination with sever-al law enforcement agenciesand other Government depart-ments, in order to contribute tothe conduct of free, fair andsmooth elections.

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Mumbai: Union MinisterPiyush Goyal on Thursdaysaid the ED launched a probeagainst NCP leader PrafulPatel after his signatures werefound on the documentswhich were also signed by thewife of gangster Iqbal Mirchi.

The EnforcementDirectorate has summonedPatel on October 18 in con-nection with a probe intoalleged illegal assets ofMirchi, who was an aide offugitive gangster DawoodIbrahim. PTI

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One of my favourite ways totravel around the country isto board a train.Unfortunately, due to press-ing engagements and the

urgency of modern life, I have not beenable to take as much advantage as I wouldwant of this uniquely Indian way of trav-elling. There’s something quintessential-ly Indian about taking the train, gettingto know the fellow passengers and chat-ting with them over a cup of tea as theyhead to their respective destinations.While writing these lines, there is a vividimage in my mind of one such journey Imade and I’m certain, a similar imagemust have appeared in the minds of thereaders, too.

An interesting aspect of train travelis the diversity on display during the jour-ney. One gets to hear of so many lan-guages, accents, smell a variety of foodand absorb different perspectives. Once,it got me thinking about what it meansto be an Indian.

Unlike other nations like Pakistan,India is not defined by a particular reli-gion. Some may argue that being a Hindu-majority country, an Indian’s identity is pri-marily driven by this majoritarian outlook.Such an argument does not hold groundbecause not only does India contain a mul-tiplicity of religions but significantly alsoa multiplicity of castes. Therefore, aBrahmin Hindu (approximately five percent of the Hindu community) can hard-ly claim to represent all Hindus. It’s thesame with languages as well.

The recent debate about Hindibecoming a “national” language does nothold water because of the variety of lan-guages spoken in our country. If you donot believe me, just ask a Maharashtrianor a Tamilian about how they feel about“Hindi” being a national language. Thetruth really is that “Indian identity isforged in diversity and everyone of us isa minority”, as Congress leader ShashiTharoor put it eloquently.

But this still doesn’t explain what itmeans to be an Indian. The story ofGhulam Dastagir, however, does. Dastagirwas the deputy station superintendent onduty at the Bhopal Railway station onDecember 2, 1984 — the day when theBhopal gas tragedy took place. By mid-night, the railway station, which wasextremely close to the Union Carbideplant, was filled with poisonous gases thatkilled everything in its path.

On that fateful night, the bravedeputy station master stepped on the plat-form with itchy feeling in the throat anda burning sensation in his eyes.Immediately, he knew something waswrong. Unaware that 23 of his colleagueshad already succumbed to the gas leak,he tried to get clarity on what was hap-pening and sought further instructions.

With none forthcoming,Dastagir took matters intohis own hands and informedhis superiors to suspend alltrains that were headed toBhopal. He then summonedhis staff. While he was barelyable to stand or breathe andagainst all protocol, he direct-ed his staff to clear theGorakhpur train for departureeven though 25 minutes wereleft for it to roll out. Heassured his staff that he wouldtake full responsibility for anyblowback that may follow.

In doing so, Dastagirsaved hundreds of lives. Hedid not, however, stop here. Asterror spread across Bhopal,large crowds of the affectedpopulation descended on tothe station in an attempt toescape the gas chamber.Dastagir went from platformto platform, attending to andconsoling victims and sent anSOS to all nearby railway sta-tions to send ambulances anddoctors.

He himself suffered terri-bly due to the gas leaks. Hedied in 2003 and a large partof his life was spent in the hos-pital due to exposure to toxicfumes. He also lost his son inthe tragedy. However, throughhis bravery and courage, he

ensured that hundreds offathers didn’t suffer the samefate as he did.

Dastagir was a trueIndian. In such moments, weforget about which religion aperson belongs to, which castehe was born into or which lan-guage he speaks. All that wecare about and all that weremember is the great sacrificeof an Indian brother. In real-ity, this is what it means to bean Indian. It means recognis-ing that at the time of inde-pendence, we promised our-selves and our future genera-tions that we would set asideall that divides, to forge a bet-ter India. The poignant storyof Dastagir reminds us of thiscore value.

Another value that formsthe core of being an Indian isthe respect and admiration forknowledge. This is evidentfrom the fact that whenever abook falls down to the ground,we almost unknowingly touchit to our forehead as a sign ofrespect. It is this core valuethat has enabled India to beblessed with brilliant minds.We have had leaders in thefield of mathematics, litera-ture, technology and philoso-phy among others and Ibelieve that one of the prima-

ry reasons for our intellectu-al prowess is the manner inwhich our culture respectsknowledge and the pursuit ofthe same.

The most recent exampleis that of Indian-origin econ-omist Abhijit Banerjee, one ofthe winners of the Noble Prizefor economics. His win addsto a very rich list of Indianluminaries.

Sadly, however, some ofour leaders attempt to replacethese values with those thatare antithetical to Indian corevalues. We are told now tofocus on our differences ratherthan strengths and our lead-ers repeatedly show disdainfor knowledge with an affin-ity for dogma. This is not theidea of India we cherish andit is not what it means to be anIndian.

I imagine most of us swellwith pride when we recountthe story of Dastagir or whenwe talk about the contributionsmade by Banerjee to the fieldof economics. We must ensurethat we retain our core valuesand try to inspire similar pridein others. After all, that’s whatit means to be an Indian.

(The writer is a former IPSofficer, an MP and currently amember of the AAP)

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Bangla pride” (October 15). TheNobel Prize for Economics award-ed to Indian-American AbhijitBanerjee, his French-Americanwife Esther Dufflo and MichaelKremer for “their experimentalapproach to alleviating globalpoverty” underlines the renewedconcern over global poverty andways to alleviate it. The husbandand wife have spent considerabletime studying various povertyalleviation programmes. Welcomeas much this is, we will perenni-ally regret the decision of the wisemen to deny a Nobel prize to theMahatma despite the fact that hewas nominated thrice.

We revel in the general feel-ing of happiness among Indiansthat one of them, albeit with anAmerican passport, is a Nobellaureate yet again. Indians arecompetent to excel in any field butfor that, a conducive environmentis required, which unfortunatelyis not available in our universities.It is a sad fact that needs seriousintrospection by our politicians,academicians and policy makers.

JS Acharya Hyderabad

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Sir — The great success ofIRCTC, where its shares doubledovernight, calls for the issuanceof long-term bonds by it to setup large-scale production unitsin every district of the country

for packaged water, confec-tionery items and other foodproducts to replace cooked mealin trains and schools, wherecomplaints of sub-standard foodin unhygienic conditions arequite common.

The setting up of such bigunits in large numbers by IRCTC

with the help of long-term bondswill provide huge employment inthe public sector, apart from giv-ing sizeable profits to the publicexchequer. Products can be soldin the open market so as toensure that private players bringdown their prices.

Employment in the public

sector can go up, too, by retriev-ing unaccounted money throughthe Voluntary DisclosureScheme, whereby those declaringmay be asked to invest 50 percent of the amount in other long-term infrastructural bonds withnominal interest to be issued bypublic sector undertakings likethe IRCTC.

Madhu AgrawalDelhi

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Sir — Prime Minister NarendraModi’s statement at an electionrally that India will not allow itswater to flow to Pakistan andinstead put it to use here is yetanother example of empty “pollpromise.” The Indus WaterTreaty signed between India andPakistan makes it clear that theformer is bound to release waterto the latter. It is strange that thePrime Minister raised an emotiveissue just for votes, to the extentof showing no respect to exist-ing bilateral agreements.

SwadhaVia email

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Colonial India’s Muslim leaders shivered atthe thought of being perpetually controlledby Hindus in a united India once the

British left the country, unless there were safe-guards enshrined in the Constitution. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi has proven them right.By pursuing a populist ultra-nationalist agenda,he has unwittingly validated the much-maligned“two-nation” theory that formed the rationalebehind dividing British India to create Pakistanas a Muslim homeland.

His policy pits Hindus against Muslims, anunfortunate schism that all of his predecessorsfought against. Seven decades after the blood-soaked Partition, hyper-nationalist Modi won alandslide re-election victory in May, donning thesaffron-coloured garb of Hindu gurus andallowing divisiveness based on Islamophobia.

His crown is made of two emotion-filledexplosive elements: Kashmir and migration, bothhaving a common thread of bias and suspicionagainst Muslims. They have roots in the centu-ry-old vision of Hindutva, or Hinduness, outlinedin the 1920s by VD Savarkar, a violent revolu-tionary-turned-ultra-nationalist. Savarkar, aBritish-trained lawyer and avowed atheist,espoused several ideas to deal with India’sminorities, mimicking Adolf Hitler’s racist solu-tion to Germany’s Jewish question.

Since his re-election, Modi’s administrationhas aggressively moved on both Kashmir and thealleged illegal migration from Bangladesh, whichis India’s most friendly neighbour. In earlyAugust, keeping local leaders in detention anddeploying nearly a million security personnel inKashmir, it abolished a decades-old law thatgranted Kashmiris special rights — their own flag,own laws and land rights. Meanwhile, India’sHome Minister Amit Shah, who heads Modi’snationalist BJP and is widely expected to succeedhim as Prime Minister, is pressing ahead with hisagenda to deport fictitious 40 million illegalBangladeshi migrants.

Clash over Muslim migrants: This idea hasprovoked a sharp backlash from Bangladesh.Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan has dis-missed the BJP’s assertion, noting thatBangladesh’s economy is at par with India’s, sono one from his country’s stays illegally in India.Still the matter turned acrimonious enough dur-ing Shah-Khan talks in Delhi in August to pre-vent them from issuing a customary joint state-ment.

India, nevertheless, seems determined topush ahead its agenda. It has started a campaignto round up Muslims unless they can prove theyhave lived in India way before 1971 whenBangladesh was created. They will be put in con-centration camps, which ironically the migrantsthemselves are building now.

Of India’s 1.3 billion people, 14 per cent areMuslim. Modi’s party does not target migrantBangladeshi Hindus, classifying them as refugeesand minorities from neighbouring countries. Butit seeks to deport Muslims. In fact, India hasalready deported Rohingya Muslim refugees toMyanmar and detained hundreds of them.Modi faced global criticism for the Godhra mas-sacre in 2002 in his home State of Gujarat. Heruled Gujarat for 13 years before becoming PrimeMinister in 2014.

What is most disturbing in this government’s

policy is its anti-minority agenda. It isthis very posture of the professedly sec-ular Indian National Congress partyand its paramount leaders — JawaharlalNehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel —that propelled British India’s Muslimsto demand a separate homeland as theyfeared that the Hindus would perpet-ually control the Muslims once theBritish left.

The Congress balked at grantingspecial rights and Britain createdPakistan in 1947. But problems surfacedsoon afterward with semi-autonomousprincely States, including Kashmir.The picturesque Himalayan regionencompasses roughly 135,000 squaremiles, almost Germany’s size, withabout 18 million people. India controls85,000 square miles, Pakistan 33,000and China 17,000. Both Pakistan and India claim the entire area as theirown.

In 1948, after a Indo-Pakistanfight, India raised Kashmir in theUnited Nations Security Council, whichcalled for a referendum on the territo-ry’s status. It asked Pakistan to withdrawtroops and India to cut military pres-ence to a minimum. A ceasefire cameinto force but Pakistan refused to pullout. Kashmir has remained partitionedever since.

Until Hindutva swept Modi topower, India assuaged minorities bypursuing a policy that emphasised onnational unity. In contrast, Modi beganhis tenure by killing a centuries-oldMuslim marriage law. Even theMughals and the British left Indian per-sonal law untouched. The governmentvoided the Muslim law but kept simi-

lar laws for other minorities intact.What’s behind Hindutva poli-

tics? To boost his re-election bid,Modi fired up his anti-Muslim rhetoricand took the crusade to India’s north-eastern State of Assam, plagued by ahalf-century-long hate-based politics.The politics that originated with ademand to drive out non-Assamesequickly turned into an anti-Bangladeshioutcry at the BJP’s instigation. Modi hasvowed to rid the State of all the allegedBangladeshi migrants.

Following his re-election, theNational Register of Citizens, whichverifies citizenship, after several flawedcounts, has classified nearly two millionlong-term residents as non-citizens orstateless. Most of them are at the bot-tom of the economic ladder. They willbe detained in camps with limitedrights, considering that the governmenthas promised not to send anybody backto Bangladesh, which fears a reverseinflux.

Unfortunately for the Hindutvabrigade, the citizenship count hasbecome a boomerang. Of the two mil-lion designated non-citizens, 1.2 mil-lion unexpectedly turned out to beHindu. Modi’s followers are now cry-ing foul, demanding a recount. The BJPhad expected to find four millionmigrants in Assam, most of themMuslim.

Assam’s neighbour West Bengal,which shares a common language anda rich culture with Bangladesh, is gear-ing up to play political hotball againstthe BJP. The hardliners want to repli-cate the citizenship drill in West Bengalbut Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s

party has vowed to fight it. State BJPchief Dilip Ghosh, who is seeking todeport the alleged migrants, remainsadamant because rhetoric is the magicwand for his party to win votes.

Muslims foresee the BJP’s game:Ironically, while Ghosh wishes to expelthem to an unnamed country — pre-sumably Bangladesh — Modi is urgingHindus to flock to Muslim-majorityKashmir, which barred non-Kashmirisfrom owning land until New Delhiscrapped its autonomy in August.

The BJP prescription to push moreHindus into Kashmir is intended tochange the demographic balance in therestive territory of 12 million people.Modi’s arbitrary action is the mother ofseveral repugnant ideas. This is exact-ly the kind of capriciousness on the partof the overwhelming Hindu majoritythat British India’s Muslim leadersfeared most.

One of those leaders, Liaquat AliKhan, the right-hand man of Pakistan’sfounder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, artic-ulated this concern while talking withGeorge Merrell, then America’s high-est-ranking diplomat in India, onDecember 27, 1946. Liaquat believedthat the Congress was “determined toseize power without regard for Muslimrights.” Now, 73 years later, Modi’sHindutva agenda, which calls for aMuslim-free India, has proven Liaquatright. By scrapping Kashmir’s status, thePrime Minister has taken a highly riskygamble in challenging the secularmatrix and embedding a majoritarianconsciousness.

(The writer is an established authoron Bangladesh-related issues.)

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The fast-approaching wintermonths have now become syn-onymous with a worsening

air quality in the Delhi-NationalCapital Region (NCR). The pollutionreaches unmanageable levels, large-ly due to the smoke emanating fromcrop residue burning in the neigh-bouring States of Punjab, Haryanaand Uttar Pradesh (UP), blowingover to Delhi-NCR.

Incidents of stubble burninghave already begun increasing inPunjab and Haryana and are likelyto peak in the next 10-12 days as theharvest season picks up in Sangrur,Patiala, Ludhiana and Fatehabaddistricts. Here, the tradition of openfield burning is rampant and contin-

ues unabated in spite of the activitybeing deemed illegal. According toa report by the Centre-run System ofAir Quality and Weather Forecastingand Research (SAFAR), this biomassburning is likely to add nine per centto Delhi’s PM 2.5 concentration.

In spite of all this, enforcementof the law pertaining to crop burn-ing in Punjab has been lax, to say theleast. This toxic mix of smoke andvehicular pollution has resulted inDelhi-NCR’s Air Quality Index(AQI) plummeting to alarming lev-els. However, all is not lost as a bevyof efforts undertaken by theGovernment and authorities con-cerned has had a positive impact onan otherwise grim scenario.

First, awareness regarding thequality of the air we breathe inthrough regular publicity of the AQIhas made people conscious. Second,the introduction of the much-clean-er BS-VI fuel ahead of schedule hasalso instilled confidence among thecitizens. Furthermore, the closure ofcoal-based power plants and fall in

the sales of diesel vehicles havehelped salvage the situation in Delhiand the situation now is much bet-ter than what it was five years ago.

But clearly much more needs tobe done. Probably, keeping this inmind, the Delhi Government hasintroduced the Graded ResponseAction Plan (GRAP) early this yearto handle pollution in an incremen-tal manner, depending on the levelof severity, especially in the winters.

GRAP came into force fromOctober 14 with the objective to curb

air pollution in Delhi-NCR, byproactively rolling out measures likediscouraging private vehicles on thecity’s roads, stopping trucks fromoutside, using diesel generators, clos-ing brick kilns and stone crushingunits. It seemed a timely step as onOctober 13, the AQI was “verypoor” with the level going beyond the300-mark. On October 14, the AQIimproved by around 50 points butthe situation has continued to oscil-late between “poor” and “very poor”over the last few days.

Even though experts have hailedGRAP for the gradual reduction inpollution levels over the years and forfixing accountability — as it clearlymarks the agency responsible foreach action to be taken — the effi-cacy of the plan is yet to be proven.

This is because many of the pol-lution-triggering factors are beyondthe purview of the Arvind Kejriwaladministration and the DelhiGovernment needs active coopera-tion and collaboration of the StateGovernments of UP, Haryana andPunjab. In the absence of a cohesivecollaboration strategy, the GRAPmight just end up being a knee-jerkreaction to the pollution onslaught.

The gaps in the fight against pol-lution are becoming visible with gen-erators being used in Gurugram withimpunity due to the exceptionalpower cuts the city faces. Similarly,many questions were raised on theGRAP’s efficacy in January 2019.

This is because toxic levels of airpollution monitored over Delhialmost every week, from November

1, 2018 to January 6 this year,showed that the Government’semergency plans to tackle the city’sannual crisis had failed, according toa report of the United Residents’ JointAction (URJA), a collective of thecity’s resident welfare associations.

The report summarised the find-ings of 45 Right to Information(RTI) applications filed at 14Government departments.Responses were sought from Central,State and municipal bodies to assessthe effectiveness of GRAP. Theanalysis of data collected by URJA for68 days showed that except for oneday in Central Delhi’s ITO, thenational Capital’s air quality was con-tinually above permissible limits.

The GRAP initiative for this yearcannot be allowed to be a rerun oflast year. The Government mustundertake necessary steps to over-come possibilities of failure andachieve the objective of curbingpollution levels effectively.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

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Extending its gains for thefifth consecutive session,

equity benchmark BSE Sensexrallied 453 points on Thursdayas global investors cheered aBrexit deal reached betweenBritain and the EU.

Domestic traders were alsoenthused after Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman hinted atmore stimulus measures as sheurged international investors topump funds into India.

After opening on a sub-dued note, the 30-share Sensexsurged in afternoon trade toclose at 39,052.06, up 453.07points, or 1.17 per cent.

The broader NSE Niftytoo spiked 122.35 points, or1.07 per cent, to settle at11,586.35. Yes Bank was thebiggest gainer in the Sensexpack, soaring 15.19 per cent,followed by Tata Motors,IndusInd Bank, SBI, Bajaj Auto,Asian Paints, Axis Bank, TataSteel and Maruti, rising up to9.82 per cent.

On the other hand, HCLTech, Vedanta, PowerGrid,Kotak Bank, Infosys, ONGC,Tech Mahindra, L&T andHDFC Bank fell up to 1.04 percent. According to traders,domestic market followedEuropean equities that ralliedafter Britain and the EuropeanUnion said they have struck anoutline Brexit deal after pro-longed negotiations.

The deal, however, muststill be formally approved bythe bloc and ratified by theEuropean and UK parliaments.

“Government’s intention toprovide further fiscal stimulusin the future as per the needs ofthe economy lifted the marketsentiment today. Easing tradetension and positive develop-ment on Brexit provided furtherboost to the market.

“Risk taking ability isimproving in the market withoptimism over recovery in theeconomy led by stimulus, fes-tive demand, good monsoonand lower interest rate,” saidVinod Nair, Head of Research,Geojit Financial Services.

Sectorally, BSE auto,bankex, finance, energy,FMCG, metal, healthcare andpower index rose up to 2.93 percent. Broader BSE midcap andsmallcap indices gained up to1.77 per cent.

Elsewhere in Asia, bours-es in Shanghai, Hong Kong,Seoul and Tokyo ended on amixed note. Further, theChinese Government’s appealto Washington to negotiate aquick end to their tariff waralso buoyed market sentiment.

Mumbai: The rupee darted up 27 paise to close at 71.16against the US dollar on Thursday, led by optimism overthe Brexit deal amid softening crude oil prices.

Persistent foreign fund inflows and robust buying indomestic equity markets added to the momentum, forextraders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupeeopened at 71.38 against the US dollar. During the day, thedomestic unit fluctuated between a high of 71.14 and alow of 71.47, before finally ending at 71.16, up 27 paiseover its previous close.

“Rupee has appreciated nearly 1 per cent in two days.The hopes of US-China closing the phase-one trade dealalong with the announcement Brexit deal, has kept allemerging market currencies including rupee, afloat,” said Rahul Gupta, Head of Currency, Emkay GlobalFinancial Services.

Global markets rallied after Britain and the EuropeanUnion said they have struck an outline Brexit deal afterprolonged negotiations. The deal, however, must still beformally approved by the bloc and ratified by theEuropean and UK parliaments.

Weak US economic data, fall in dollar index and spec-ulation over the third rate cut by US Fed added to thestrength in rupee, Gupta said. PTI

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With Microsoft postingstrong results, the com-

pany’s CEO Satya Nadella hasgot a 66 per cent raise in the2018-19 fiscal, taking his totalyearly earnings to a whopping$42.9 million, according tomedia reports on Thursday.

While Nadella, 52, has abase salary of a little over $2.3million, most of his pay camefrom stock awards, reported

CNN Business.He received $29.6 million in

stock award, $10,7 million innon-equity incentive plan compensation and around $1,11,000 in other com-pensation.

In a proxy statement,Microsoft’s independent direc-tors said, “The past fiscal yearoffered another record yearfor financial performance, andMicrosoft delivered strongresults for our shareholders,

including a return of $30.9 bil-lion in the form of share repur-chases and dividends.”

The directors creditedNadella for his “strategic lead-ership, including his efforts tostrengthen trust with cus-tomers, drive for a company-wide culture change, and suc-cessful entry and expansioninto new technologies andmarkets.”

In the 2017-18 fiscal, theHyderabad-born business exec-

utive had got a pay of $25.8 million.

Nadella became the CEOof Microsoft in 2014. Under hisleadership, the company hasbecome a major force in cloud computing.

In September, Microsofthit an all-time high after thecompany raised its dividendand authorised a plan to buyback as much as $40 billion ofits own stock, the CNN Businessreport said.

New Delhi: Telecom regulatorTrai will finalise, in next twoweeks, its views on call ringtime — a contentious issue onwhich old and new operatorshave locked horns.

On the controversial issueof Jio’s latest allegations thatrival telcos are fraudulentlymasking fixed-line as mobilecalls for undue enrichment andshould be slapped with penal-ty, a senior Telecom RegulatoryAuthority of India (Trai) officialsaid the matter will be exam-ined just as all complaints to theauthority are.

“Any complaint that gen-erally comes to us will beexamined... If there is any vio-lation, we will look into thematter...” the official said.

Reliance Jio has accused oldoperators including BhartiAirtel and Vodafone Idea of“illegally” masquerading wire-line numbers as mobile num-bers for “undue enrichment”and has exhorted Trai to slap

“severest penalty” on them forviolating regulations and licens-ing norms. After the fresh set ofallegations surfaced, BhartiAirtel immediately hit backsaying Jio was trying to mis-guide the regulator ahead of thecrucial consultation on call con-nect charges (also called IUC orinterconnect usage charges).

Meanwhile, at the openhouse discussions on the issueof call ring-time on Thursday,a senior Jio official urged thetelecom regulator to keep thematter under forbearance.

Jio has maintained that if atall Trai wants to take a view onthe issue, it should be in formof a reference guidelines andnot in form of a mandatedvalue. “In such a case, therange of 20 seconds to 25 sec-onds may be prescribed as ref-erence guideline,” Jio hasinformed Trai, which is in theprocess of finalising its viewson the issue through a consul-tation paper. PTI

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The consumption slump, amajor challenge afflicting

the economy, cannot be attrib-uted to the NBFC crisis as itpredates the first default byinfra lender IL&FS, says a bro-kerage, which has also slashedgrowth forecast to 6 percentwith a downward bias.

Many people attribute thedeepening slowdown in con-

sumption to the NBFC crisisthat began in September 2018when IL&FS went belly upfollowing which consumptionfinancing — a forte of shadowbanks, stopped with a chill indisbursements by these players.

According to Prachi Mishra,the chief economist at WallStreet brokerage Goldman Sachs,her analysis indicates that con-sumption has been falling sinceJanuary 2018, which is much

before the end August 2018default by IL&FS which triggeredthe liquidity crisis for NBFCs.

She said the fall in con-sumption is responsible for athird of the overall dip in over-all growth, with the global slow-down coupled with fundingconstraints. “There is a slow-down and the growth numbershave fallen by 2 percentagepoints,” Mishra said, speaking atan event by The Economist.

New Delhi: Auto industry bodySIAM on Thursday said thedraft guidelines on authorisedvehicle scrapping facility (AVSF)in India will help in setting upof such facilities in an organisedmanner, while reiterating thatthe sector is waiting for incen-tive-based Vehicle ScrappagePolicy from the Government.

Welcoming the draftguidelines released by the

Ministry of Road Transport &Highways for setting up ofAVSF, Society of IndianAutomobile Manufacturers(SIAM) President RajanWadhera said the automobileindustry wholeheartedly sup-ports the vehicle scrappageinitiative of Government.

“The draft guidelines willhelp in establishing organisedvehicle scrapping facilities in

the country and will lead toincrease in latent demand forend-of-life vehicles available forscrapping,” he said in a state-ment. As per the draft AVSFguidelines, individuals, firmssociety or trust will be allowedto set up scrappage facilitysubject to meeting eligibilitycriteria and receiving authorisation from licensingauthority. PTI

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Gold prices on Thursday declined�105 to �38,985 per 10 gram in

the national capital on a strongerrupee and weak global cues, accord-ing to HDFC Securities.

However, silver surged by �509 to�46,809 per kg here from its previousclose of �46,300 per kg.

On Wednesday, gold closed at�39,090 per 10 gram.

“International gold prices tradedweak on Brexit hopes and the US-China trade deal optimism,” HDFC Securities Senior Analyst — Commodities Tapan Patel said.

Gold was trading lower at USD1,488 an ounce in the internationalmarket, while silver quoted higher atUSD 17.45 per ounce.

The Indian rupee was trading 18paise stronger against dollar duringthe day and weighed on gold prices,he added.

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Karnataka has been rankedas the most innovative state

in the country while the top tenstates are concentrated mainlyin southern and western India.

These rankings werereleased by the NITI Aayog onThursday under the IndiaInnovation Index 2019. TamilNadu, Maharashtra, Telangana,Haryana, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh,West Bengal, Gujarat, andAndhra Pradesh form theremaining top ten major statesrespectively. The top ten majorstates are majorly concentratedin southern and western India.

Sikkim and Delhi take thetop spots among the north -eastern & hill states, and unionterritories. Delhi, Karnataka,Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu,Telangana, and Uttar Pradeshare the most efficient states intranslating inputs into output.

According to the NITIAayog, the study is an outcomeof extensive research and analy-sis, which looks holistically atthe innovation landscape ofIndia by examining the inno-vation capabilities and perfor-mance of Indian states andunion territories.

“The aim is to create aholistic tool which can be usedby policymakers across thecountry to identify the chal-lenges to be addressed andstrengths to build on whendesigning the economic growthpolicies for their regions”, it saidin a statement.

Karnataka is the leader inthe overall rankings in the cat-

egory of major states.Karnataka’s number one posi-tion in the overall ranking ispartly attributed to its top rankin the performance dimen-sion. It is also among the topperformers in infrastructure,knowledge workers, knowl-edge output and business envi-ronment.

According to the NITIAayog, the index shows that theinnovation ecosystem of thecountry is strong in south andwestern parts of India. In fact,three of the top five major statesare from southern India. Delhiand Haryana seem to be anexception to this rule and seemto be doing well on the Index.“Thus, there seems to be awest-south and north-eastdivide across the country”, theindex report said.

The index was released inthe presence of Rajiv Kumar,Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog,Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITIAayog, Ashutosh Sharma,Secretary, Department ofScience, Renu Swarup,Secretary, Department ofBiotechnology and VaidyaRajesh Kotecha, Secretary,AYUSH.

Rajiv Kumar expressedhope that the India InnovationIndex would create synergiesbetween different stakeholdersin the innovation ecosystemand India would shift to com-petitive good governance.

Amitabh Kant added thatIndia has a unique opportuni-ty among its myriad challengesto become the innovationleader in the world.

New Delhi: In a push to domes-tic drone manufacturing, India’scivil aviation regulator DGCAhas given nod the for companiesto manufacture UnmannedAircraft Systems (UAS).

In an interview to IANS,Directorate General of CivilAviation (DGCA) DirectorGeneral Arun Kumar said theregulator has given its approvalto 5 companies for drone man-ufacturing based on the pre-sentations made to it earlier.

Market watchers told IANSthat firms such as SkylarkDrones and ideaForge amongothers, have received the nod tostart manufacturing opera-tions. “Domestic drone manu-facturers have approached uswith their products. These aretested by our engineeringdepartment,” Kumar said.

“We are concerned withthe safety aspect of these prod-ucts.” According to Kumar, themove is expected to reduceimport dependence and give thenecessary push to the nascentdomestic industry. IANS

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Existence of BSNL is instrategic interest of the

nation and the government islooking to resolve issues plagu-ing it, Union Minister RaviShankar Prasad said onThursday.

The law and telecom min-ister acknowledged that thereare problems in the telecomsector, which are being lookedupon by the government.

“BSNL is in strategic inter-est of the nation. Wheneverthere is flood, cyclones, BSNLis the first one to offer servicesfor free. 75 per cent of their rev-

enues goes into salary ofemployees while others manageit in 5-10 per cent. There arelegacy issues which we arelooking in to,” Prasad said atIndia Economic Conclave.

The debt-ridden PSU hasnot been able to pay salaries ofemployees for September.

There have been reportsthat the Finance Ministry wantspublic sector telecom firmBSNL and MTNL to be shutdown.

A group of ministers head-ed by Home Minister AmitShah has approved a revivalplan proposed by the DoT.

The group of ministers

had earlier approved a revivalpackage for the loss-makingpublic sector telecom firms inmid-July. Finance ministerNirmala Sitharaman, telecomminister Ravi Shankar Prasadwere part of the GoM thatapproved the plan. However,finance ministry officials laterraised over 80 objections to theproposal prepared by the tele-com ministry.

Prasad said that the gov-ernment is also working toresolve problem in the telecomsector, but it also expects ser-vice provider to be responsibleby upgrading their networkand ensuring that customers

are satisfied with the services.The minister did not give

any timeline for the launch of5G services in India, while thegovernment has officially settarget to roll out the next gen-eration services by 2020.

Prasad, however, said hewould like India become ahub of 5G intellectual proper-ty rights and need to work care-fully keeping in mind thedevelopment of global ecosys-tem.

“We have given spectrumfor demonstration purposes. Iwould like India to becomegood hub of 5G IP but we haveto work carefully as to what

kind of ecosystem develops inthe world as far as 5G is con-cerned. Will it come in one yearor two year, it will create oppor-tunity, it will create problemalso,” he said.

He said that there are issuesaround 5G technology likewho will be responsible if a dri-verless cars causes an acci-dent.

“There are many issues of5G. Our Prime Minister isvery clear that both artificialintelligence and 5G must beused for healthcare, education,in agriculture and we are verykeenly pushing it,” Prasadsaid.

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Housing sales declined 25per cent in nine major

cities to 65,799 units duringJuly-September quarter, whilenew launches fell 45 per centas consumers sentiments anddemand remained subdued,according to property broker-age firm PropTiger.

Earlier this month,Anarock and JLL India alsoreported 18 per cent and oneper cent, respectively, declinein housing sales during July-September period across sevenmajor cities.

In its report ‘Real Insight’,News Corp-backed PropTiger

said that housing sales declinedto 65,799 units during July-September 2019 from 88,078units in the same period lastyear.

New launches fell to 33,883units from 61,679 units duringthe period under review.

These cities are — MumbaiMetropolitan Region (includ-ing Navi Mumbai & Thane),Pune, Noida (includingGreater Noida & YamunaExpressway), Gurugram(including Bhiwadi, Dharuhera& Sohna), Bengaluru, Chennai,Hyderabad, Kolkata andAhmedabad.

“New launches continuedto show a downward trend in

the September quarter even asthe government continues tomove towards a solution to theongoing NFBC issue, a prob-lem that has dried up a keysource of finance for real estatedevelopers in India. As buyerspostponed their purchase deci-sions to time it with the festiveseason, sales numbers also fellduring the quarter,” said DhruvAgarwala, Group CEO, ElaraTechnologies.

Singaopre-based Elara isfull stack real estate technolo-gy platform that ownsPropTiger.com, Housing.comand Makaan.com.

“While new launch num-bers might continue to fall in

the coming quarters due to theliquidity crunch, we expecthome sales numbers toimprove in the subsequentquarter, factoring in the high-er purchase activity that nor-mally takes place during thefestival season,” he added.

According to the data,housing sales in Mumbairegion fell to 21,985 units dur-ing July-September 2019 from28,563 units in the year-agoperiod. In Pune, sales fell to13,644 units from 16,946 units.

In Bengaluru, demanddeclined to 7,772 units from10,929 units. Housing sales inHyderabad went down to 6,141units from 6,783 units.

Housing sa les inAhmedabad fell to 3,951units from 5,413 units, whiledemand dipped in Chennaito 3,656 units from 4,898units. Kolkata saw sales of3,081 units as against 4,030units.

Gurugram witnessedsales of 2,742 units as against3,988 units, while Noida sawsales of 2,827 units com-pared to 6,528 units duringthe period under review.

PropTiger said thatunsold inventory declined 13per cent year-on-year, pri-marily because new launch-es fell at a faster clip thansales did. As of September,

builders in India’s nine topmarkets have an unsold stockconsisting of 7,78,627 units.Notably, more than half ofthis unsold inventory isaffordable stock.

Barring Hyderabad whereproperty prices have seen ajump of 15 per cent y-o-y,prices have undergone onlyslight changes in other mar-kets.

However, only two mar-kets markets have seen adownward movement in pric-ing in the past one year,Gurugram ( 4 per cent) andChennai ( 1 per cent). Othermarkets saw prices apprecia-tion by 2 to 4 per cent y-o-y.

Script Open High Low LTPYESBANK 41.90 48.20 40.65 47.40

IBULHSGFIN 169.80 204.00 165.95 197.15

RBLBANK 256.00 293.90 253.65 289.85

TATAMOTORS 126.95 143.80 125.15 138.15

HINDUNILVR 2068.00 2108.00 2061.85 2103.60

SBIN 256.00 266.10 255.85 265.45

MARUTI 6970.15 7157.00 6944.25 7123.10

RELIANCE 1378.00 1399.00 1372.15 1396.15

TATASTEEL 346.95 361.25 340.40 355.65

INDUSINDBK 1273.00 1344.60 1272.25 1339.80

BAJFINANCE 4029.80 4115.25 3997.20 4105.20

ZEEL 261.00 273.75 256.00 264.70

TCS 2015.00 2037.80 2001.00 2030.70

AXISBANK 691.50 712.40 691.00 710.55

BAJAJCON 251.50 270.90 250.80 261.90

EICHERMOT 19451.10 20780.40 19451.10 20518.00

PEL 1373.60 1475.00 1368.15 1467.95

TVSMOTOR 409.80 451.45 399.10 437.15

HDFC 2060.00 2094.95 2050.55 2088.20

ICICIBANK 435.30 443.25 433.75 440.55

EXIDEIND 183.50 183.50 170.70 177.70

BAJAJFINSV 8100.00 8361.90 8100.00 8295.65

APLAPOLLO 1422.85 1422.85 1386.00 1410.80

MOTHERSUMI 100.00 111.70 99.30 108.60

HDFCBANK 1224.00 1229.50 1213.05 1220.80

BANKBARODA 87.30 89.40 86.30 89.00

PNBHOUSING 389.00 423.60 371.90 410.65

JSWSTEEL 219.80 224.60 214.50 223.35

JINDALSTEL 101.80 105.95 99.70 104.55

UPL 588.75 593.60 580.25 592.40

BPCL 513.45 515.00 504.30 513.15

TORNTPOWER 282.10 286.90 277.10 285.50

SBILIFE 880.00 928.30 880.00 902.30

VEDL 148.80 149.60 144.85 148.15

BHEL 42.00 44.90 41.65 44.55

INFY 768.90 770.55 765.20 769.10

FEDERALBNK 81.90 84.80 81.70 84.40

DMART 1875.00 1931.45 1875.00 1927.80

ASHOKLEY 71.25 74.00 71.00 73.50

BAJAJ-AUTO 3015.00 3138.30 2995.05 3110.30

ITC 243.00 246.60 243.00 245.85

ADANIGREEN 80.60 92.85 80.35 88.70

IDEA 6.40 6.40 5.97 6.32

JCHAC 1925.00 1998.00 1925.00 1981.75

HDFCLIFE 611.10 621.90 610.10 614.85

LT 1426.00 1438.75 1420.50 1424.25

NESTLEIND 14415.00 14606.60 14160.80 14512.75

PVR 1836.00 1856.60 1807.00 1839.45

PNB 57.50 59.35 57.05 59.10

KOTAKBANK 1613.90 1613.90 1587.00 1603.95

ESCORTS 628.00 648.75 625.00 646.40

PFC 95.50 96.40 93.20 95.15

HEROMOTOCO 2600.00 2643.30 2583.00 2628.60

PIDILITIND 1365.00 1374.00 1353.35 1356.70

TATAELXSI 674.00 725.30 666.80 709.05

ICICIGI 1212.00 1248.90 1209.80 1244.20

HINDPETRO 315.00 315.45 306.90 313.90

BRITANNIA 3180.60 3265.00 3169.05 3245.20

GICRE 279.00 279.00 260.00 264.40

EQUITAS 100.95 104.95 100.55 104.50

INDIGO 1724.00 1741.15 1692.90 1736.00

GRAPHITE 273.00 291.80 268.25 282.90

L&TFH 83.85 85.90 80.75 85.55

MCX 1027.00 1036.70 998.50 1006.00

NMDC 101.80 103.20 100.40 102.20

NCC 48.80 51.25 48.15 50.70

DLF 156.25 164.60 156.25 163.70

ASIANPAINT 1768.30 1816.40 1755.65 1812.95

NIACL 122.00 136.50 115.85 136.50

HEG 888.00 956.95 884.45 938.00

TATAMTRDVR 56.85 64.20 55.70 61.95

ADANIENT 158.50 165.15 157.65 162.60

MINDTREE 748.50 748.50 720.00 729.35

LTTS 1551.00 1600.30 1551.00 1593.25

RAJESHEXPO 672.45 676.80 671.50 673.45

SAIL 32.75 33.75 32.00 33.55

AUROPHARMA 464.00 468.25 457.20 466.40

CIPLA 447.00 447.50 439.50 446.30

IBREALEST 41.20 44.40 40.20 44.30

M&M 583.80 596.20 578.75 593.15

SUNPHARMA 400.00 402.60 396.70 401.40

BATAINDIA 1700.00 1750.55 1689.60 1747.45

JUSTDIAL 585.00 609.50 584.95 606.35

NAUKRI 2289.70 2298.00 2258.00 2284.45

BHARTIARTL 384.90 387.10 379.30 385.75

JUBLFOOD 1323.95 1354.70 1305.05 1343.35

PFIZER 3200.00 3217.20 3184.15 3198.05

LICHSGFIN 374.25 382.70 370.00 381.55

FORCEMOT 1105.00 1174.00 1070.50 1084.15

TATAPOWER 58.20 60.15 57.60 59.80

IOC 145.60 146.80 143.80 146.45

NBCC 33.50 34.50 33.00 34.30

ONGC 142.00 142.00 139.10 141.35

HINDALCO 186.40 189.70 182.40 188.85

WIPRO 249.00 250.15 246.70 248.05

CANBK 180.00 187.10 179.00 186.50

UBL 1317.00 1326.00 1291.20 1318.65

COALINDIA 194.80 199.95 193.00 199.35

EMAMILTD 317.00 351.65 317.00 342.25

ITDC 338.75 362.25 328.05 351.70

SPICEJET 120.45 123.50 119.60 122.30

GODREJPROP 988.45 1015.00 982.05 989.90

BANKINDIA 60.95 64.10 60.55 63.65

PIIND 1317.75 1318.00 1301.50 1314.15

BERGEPAINT 479.00 490.65 471.10 486.40

GRASIM 730.50 730.50 711.90 724.75

CEATLTD 980.00 982.00 956.00 969.45

ULTRACEMCO 4286.00 4286.05 4221.00 4257.40

FRETAIL 383.40 387.00 381.00 382.65

ICICIPRULI 467.50 474.50 464.50 472.60

INFIBEAM 39.90 42.45 39.50 41.10

BOMDYEING 72.00 77.80 71.40 75.70

ACC 1525.00 1539.30 1508.40 1534.25

MANAPPURAM 135.50 144.65 133.80 144.05

ADANIGAS 147.05 153.50 146.00 148.85

BHARATFORG 440.40 464.95 432.90 457.30

HAVELLS 673.40 687.00 668.00 685.75

ADANIPOWER 61.10 62.60 60.70 62.25

LTI 1536.45 1540.90 1494.00 1498.90

PAGEIND 20937.50 21737.00 20858.55 21555.30

CONCOR 607.90 609.60 597.70 599.00

IDFCFIRSTB 39.45 40.10 38.65 39.95

EDELWEISS 83.90 87.50 83.00 86.40

TITAN 1284.00 1285.00 1272.00 1276.85

UJJIVAN 309.05 310.95 303.35 307.80

AMARAJABAT 665.00 673.50 639.05 670.55

BANDHANBNK 575.05 577.95 556.00 568.95

NATIONALUM 40.40 40.55 39.70 40.40

SIEMENS 1611.30 1632.00 1607.90 1622.45

BEL 112.90 113.50 111.70 113.15

SUNTV 486.20 504.10 482.60 502.55

M&MFIN 305.00 317.70 304.50 315.95

GAIL 127.30 129.05 125.90 128.70

MRF 62800.00 65676.95 62800.00 64856.30

RNAM 261.00 275.00 261.00 271.30

ADANIPORTS 408.85 411.20 404.80 408.95

STRTECH 137.75 143.65 137.25 141.20

BIOCON 257.50 258.80 255.00 258.15

UNIONBANK 50.80 52.40 49.85 52.10

SRTRANSFIN 1041.05 1074.80 1021.65 1070.50

3MINDIA 20700.00 23291.00 20700.00 22889.05

DISHTV 16.75 17.55 16.55 17.40

APOLLOHOSP 1485.10 1492.25 1471.00 1488.30

TECHM 727.00 730.80 715.90 726.25

GILLETTE 7400.00 8015.25 7296.50 7837.30

IEX 122.10 144.70 118.50 135.55

BEML 894.05 918.50 894.05 911.00

SPARC 130.40 133.40 128.10 130.75

NTPC 117.45 119.00 116.95 118.60

IBVENTURES 79.65 85.35 78.10 85.35

IPCALAB 893.00 917.45 893.00 912.80

AMBUJACEM 203.00 208.00 202.05 206.80

PETRONET 261.60 264.85 261.40 262.75

VENKYS 1698.95 1700.15 1651.00 1668.85

SRF 2624.75 2688.00 2620.00 2678.25

HDFCAMC 2727.00 2736.00 2711.30 2716.30

WABAG 176.00 195.00 167.35 189.75

DRREDDY 2700.80 2732.55 2700.10 2726.65

GODREJCP 715.00 717.15 703.90 714.70

COLPAL 1527.40 1535.00 1514.75 1529.85

CHOLAFIN 267.05 289.90 267.05 287.50

ITDCEM 35.30 38.40 35.00 36.60

BBTC 1180.05 1182.60 1146.15 1155.40

DABUR 454.95 463.50 454.25 462.20

BLISSGVS 113.30 119.00 110.20 118.15

ASHOKA 108.05 114.80 98.60 99.70

ATUL 3972.20 4219.95 3964.10 4203.05

RELCAPITAL 13.10 13.30 12.60 12.85

DELTACORP 179.90 183.40 177.20 178.65

RAIN 87.20 94.40 86.90 93.10

RVNL 24.00 24.10 23.00 23.45

NOCIL 104.35 111.40 101.85 109.85

RECLTD 125.30 125.80 122.40 124.45

LUPIN 732.00 732.00 719.35 726.40

MUTHOOTFIN 643.70 657.00 638.00 654.40

ABB 1520.00 1534.00 1507.90 1521.40

JAICORPLTD 79.00 83.35 77.90 81.50

DEEPAKNI 303.05 318.00 300.35 314.95

GODFRYPHLP 1034.00 1070.00 1017.55 1061.55

DHFL 19.75 20.90 19.20 20.45

SUNTECK 444.30 445.60 412.60 417.45

DIVISLAB 1721.00 1732.85 1706.00 1723.90

VIPIND 461.00 477.20 458.85 462.95

IBULISL 73.95 81.50 73.95 74.00

VOLTAS 671.70 678.25 670.40 676.10

HCLTECH 1101.00 1101.00 1084.55 1092.90

GLENMARK 287.90 289.95 283.00 288.60

TATAGLOBAL 276.80 280.00 271.90 279.30

AKZOINDIA 1956.15 2000.00 1936.20 1951.05

HEXAWARE 379.40 379.40 366.70 369.90

APOLLOTYRE 176.10 182.25 175.15 180.95

PCJEWELLER 32.00 32.60 31.80 32.30

JUBILANT 480.00 489.00 468.00 472.45

STAR 351.00 355.10 344.30 353.30

RPOWER 1.90 2.01 1.82 1.94

MGL 987.00 987.00 961.60 974.85

CUMMINSIND 577.10 580.30 560.50 569.80

GAYAPROJ 113.85 121.70 112.50 117.00

BOSCHLTD 14112.75 14350.00 13848.40 14011.75

INDIANB 109.00 119.35 108.50 117.55

PHILIPCARB 114.90 120.90 114.00 118.30

CASTROLIND 130.00 132.90 130.00 132.35

RITES 262.05 264.30 257.25 261.55

SHREECEM 18749.75 18749.75 17786.15 18191.90

POLYCAB 715.00 730.05 712.55 718.50

BAJAJHLDNG 3699.00 3745.00 3623.30 3694.10

ABCAPITAL 79.00 79.00 75.60 76.45

IRB 64.65 68.25 63.60 66.45

IGL 373.55 374.70 367.75 370.90

MARICO 381.60 389.85 378.85 387.30

TATACHEM 594.00 608.00 591.80 605.95

WHIRLPOOL 2135.00 2179.40 2119.90 2173.30

WOCKPHARMA 257.00 261.40 254.35 259.05

LAXMIMACH 3350.00 3669.95 3350.00 3630.25

NAVINFLUOR 722.35 753.00 722.35 749.45

TORNTPHARM 1635.60 1699.00 1631.80 1695.40

RAYMOND 571.00 575.00 565.05 571.25

GICHSGFIN 160.90 163.65 152.50 154.25

AVANTI 388.80 395.80 383.00 389.10

NHPC 23.45 23.65 23.05 23.35

ASTRAZEN 2200.00 2331.00 2200.00 2299.50

RELINFRA 18.60 20.15 18.00 19.90

BLUESTARCO 821.00 835.00 808.95 830.85

RCF 47.75 48.35 47.40 48.00

SWANENERGY 105.45 105.55 103.60 104.05

POWERGRID 199.90 199.90 196.55 197.70

SCI 43.20 43.70 42.60 42.95

ADANITRANS 235.00 241.00 231.15 233.15

HINDZINC 211.00 213.90 210.00 211.55

INOXLEISUR 335.00 346.30 332.30 339.65

FSL 45.55 49.45 45.55 48.50

CROMPTON 260.10 268.00 258.95 263.95

GUJGAS 175.00 180.50 175.00 176.60

GLAXO 1438.65 1447.00 1421.00 1437.45

GMRINFRA 17.35 17.65 17.20 17.55

GNFC 196.40 198.65 192.50 197.40

BALKRISIND 780.00 799.15 774.95 794.30

KEC 276.50 280.00 275.55 277.75

BALRAMCHIN 150.50 152.65 147.60 148.50

RAMCOCEM 729.00 748.75 727.30 743.30

CHENNPETRO 161.85 163.80 158.35 162.20

SOUTHBANK 10.00 10.04 9.91 9.95

IDBI 29.15 30.40 28.95 29.95

MFSL 411.00 411.00 403.35 405.65

DBL 368.00 379.40 366.15 372.20

JSWENERGY 64.45 66.50 63.35 66.30

KANSAINER 522.10 525.90 514.00 524.70

ABFRL 198.00 204.80 193.80 203.35

INDHOTEL 149.50 154.00 146.55 150.60

OMAXE 193.50 193.50 186.50 186.65

FORTIS 136.25 137.65 135.65 136.80

INFRATEL 255.50 257.75 253.75 257.20

OIL 161.40 163.85 158.60 163.55

GSKCONS 8820.00 8933.80 8785.60 8900.45

WABCOINDIA 6145.00 6154.00 6101.00 6141.30

DCBBANK 179.00 182.50 178.50 181.15

GSFC 75.45 76.50 74.65 76.25

ENGINERSIN 107.20 108.90 106.55 107.00

HEIDELBERG 183.05 188.00 180.70 186.05

COFFEEDAY 32.60 36.00 32.60 35.00

MAHSCOOTER 4550.00 4655.00 4549.10 4593.60

KTKBANK 68.75 69.40 68.00 68.70

J&KBANK 30.85 30.90 29.40 29.65

FCONSUMER 24.05 24.50 22.85 23.80

ITI 81.10 81.75 80.25 81.10

TV18BRDCST 21.50 21.60 19.95 20.45

INDIACEM 79.25 80.10 79.20 79.85

KAJARIACER 556.00 558.00 550.70 552.90

CYIENT 459.95 460.00 441.55 446.45

FINOLEXIND 609.90 615.00 590.00 593.95

MOTILALOFS 632.80 652.05 631.40 641.20

FINEORG 1898.90 1920.00 1849.50 1898.50

JISLJALEQS 12.45 12.75 11.55 11.70

WELCORP 131.95 133.75 130.40 130.65

NIITTECH 1400.00 1419.45 1396.80 1408.35

RALLIS 169.00 175.70 169.00 171.25

HATHWAY 23.65 23.70 22.60 23.15

CADILAHC 234.00 238.25 232.00 237.65

EVEREADY 34.50 38.00 34.40 37.90

CANFINHOME 387.70 388.50 384.30 385.10

FINCABLES 354.75 357.95 354.00 356.00

SUNDRMFAST 464.60 466.60 462.00 464.75

THOMASCOOK 129.50 133.80 125.25 127.30

VBL 635.35 636.85 620.30 626.45

HSCL 76.00 76.00 73.10 74.05

ABBOTINDIA 10910.00 10997.00 10900.00 10968.10

SUZLON 2.49 2.55 2.42 2.47

PERSISTENT 608.00 619.00 597.60 606.55

CUB 215.05 220.10 214.70 216.85

PTC 53.90 54.00 53.35 53.50

JAMNAAUTO 35.90 38.20 35.20 37.55

JKTYRE 67.30 68.00 65.25 67.00

SUVEN 264.50 267.25 263.05 265.45

TRENT 506.75 506.75 491.30 500.85

SHANKARA 290.00 292.95 286.20 287.35

BALMLAWRIE 172.00 173.85 170.10 171.40

OBEROIRLTY 514.00 517.00 506.00 514.85

VMART 1995.00 2117.55 1993.20 2032.20

VGUARD 230.85 234.50 229.65 233.30

AJANTPHARM 963.20 990.00 961.95 980.75

RADICO 300.00 304.95 297.80 304.25

THERMAX 1108.00 1120.05 1087.70 1107.20

JINDALSAW 82.30 85.30 81.75 84.90

GHCL 206.00 206.60 203.50 204.60

RCOM 0.73 0.75 0.72 0.74

DEEPAKFERT 93.00 94.00 91.75 92.00

ALBK 24.00 24.90 23.65 24.75

OFSS 3144.10 3160.00 3048.05 3092.45

IDFC 31.35 32.25 31.20 32.10

TIMETECHNO 56.00 57.05 55.75 56.05

CHAMBLFERT 151.80 155.25 151.50 154.45

ORIENTBANK 50.90 52.35 50.40 52.10

TATAINVEST 795.00 824.45 783.50 803.70

TIMKEN 792.50 805.00 791.75 794.80

DCMSHRIRAM 382.65 399.95 381.95 388.70

HINDCOPPER 33.00 33.00 31.75 32.30

ADVENZYMES 148.00 153.00 147.90 151.45

MMTC 15.75 16.20 15.35 15.55

BASF 961.05 961.05 929.75 944.30

HFCL 17.75 17.95 17.45 17.75

JYOTHYLAB 158.75 163.30 158.75 162.35

MEGH 51.40 52.00 50.30 51.50

JBCHEPHARM 360.00 363.50 348.90 354.20

CREDITACC 614.95 637.20 612.95 629.10

GODREJIND 385.20 393.80 383.80 390.75

DBCORP 156.45 159.00 155.10 156.50

SCHNEIDER 70.00 72.55 68.60 71.40

INOXWIND 37.90 38.80 35.40 36.05

SANOFI 6002.15 6075.00 5984.75 6055.30

NATCOPHARM 569.00 577.10 565.15 571.50

PRESTIGE 292.50 293.75 285.15 286.35

PGHH 11623.00 11894.20 11567.25 11666.00

HUDCO 33.00 33.60 32.75 33.20

IFCI 6.35 6.65 6.06 6.52

KEI 542.05 547.50 540.15 544.15

LALPATHLAB 1377.00 1390.00 1377.00 1386.50

INTELLECT 186.35 188.95 183.35 187.15

MAHINDCIE 147.80 147.80 139.00 142.45

GALAXYSURF 1462.00 1488.00 1440.00 1465.45

PARAGMILK 154.00 157.00 153.00 153.60

DALBHARAT 810.00 814.35 781.50 795.85

ISEC 278.70 288.00 275.00 282.55

GODREJAGRO 478.00 489.75 478.00 486.75

EIHOTEL 169.00 173.00 166.10 169.35

LUXIND 1133.30 1190.00 1133.30 1164.60

SHK 120.00 121.30 118.85 120.20

QUESS 469.35 469.35 458.85 462.25

VINATIORGA 2126.85 2126.85 2093.00 2105.55

AUBANK 650.00 656.10 644.95 648.95

JPASSOCIAT 2.02 2.10 1.96 2.04

SUPREMEIND 1219.05 1225.00 1206.00 1217.35

GRANULES 96.55 98.20 95.25 97.60

SKFINDIA 2124.00 2155.85 2098.70 2128.85

COROMANDEL 409.00 413.90 404.00 410.75

SYNDIBANK 24.05 24.45 23.55 24.35

MPHASIS 920.00 924.20 918.00 923.00

METROPOLIS 1272.50 1283.00 1263.95 1271.15

MAHSEAMLES 352.15 363.10 350.25 354.35

UFLEX 204.15 204.40 200.25 202.35

PGHL 4429.00 4460.55 4418.00 4445.05

AAVAS 1664.15 1697.00 1655.25 1690.70

PNCINFRA 169.50 174.00 168.00 172.65

BAJAJELEC 386.15 393.65 382.50 384.00

TRIDENT 56.00 57.15 55.60 56.85

PHOENIXLTD 697.50 703.80 690.00 700.20

MAHLOG 360.85 360.85 352.55 353.30

GESHIP* 286.00 289.35 278.00 279.70

BDL 280.00 283.90 278.00 281.05

GREAVESCOT 134.50 134.50 130.55 133.20

CENTRUM 25.15 25.85 23.05 23.65

AEGISLOG 165.10 168.00 163.00 164.05

COCHINSHIP 329.65 332.45 329.10 330.20

MOIL 133.35 134.00 130.95 133.35

KRBL 200.90 205.10 200.70 201.50

CENTURYPLY 154.65 157.90 154.35 156.40

HONAUT 28500.00 28715.70 28425.00 28561.25

TATAMETALI 569.50 581.60 562.00 565.80

SJVN 24.50 24.60 24.15 24.25

RELAXO 496.30 503.25 495.00 500.90

REPCOHOME 304.00 304.00 288.75 290.05

SREINFRA 7.30 8.10 7.30 7.85

CRISIL 1325.00 1330.95 1311.00 1324.75

SOBHA 454.60 458.00 446.00 455.80

TATACOFFEE 75.50 75.50 74.20 74.90

ALKEM 1910.85 1927.60 1890.00 1915.50

JKLAKSHMI 282.10 296.50 282.10 287.00

TTKPRESTIG 5906.60 5950.80 5859.50 5917.35

EIDPARRY 155.15 155.15 152.60 153.90

AIAENG 1689.95 1727.20 1688.00 1722.05

MINDAIND 353.15 360.40 352.55 356.45

BLUEDART 2230.00 2317.45 2223.00 2307.00

IRCON 367.55 369.60 366.00 367.60

NLCINDIA 52.65 53.30 52.65 53.10

ASTRAL 1169.00 1176.00 1165.30 1169.50

REDINGTON 108.50 108.70 107.25 108.20

CGPOWER 14.42 14.42 14.42 14.42

CARBORUNIV 290.10 304.50 290.00 299.75

WESTLIFE 318.25 329.20 316.00 324.30

GMDCLTD 57.90 58.50 57.45 58.20

SYNGENE 325.00 328.95 323.65 327.40

UCOBANK 11.62 11.85 11.51 11.79

TNPL 188.10 188.40 184.95 185.65

CAPPL 402.45 407.85 354.00 394.60

NETWORK18 19.50 19.75 19.25 19.60

THYROCARE 504.65 505.90 498.65 501.65

WELSPUNIND 49.55 50.30 49.55 49.95

MRPL 51.45 51.70 50.90 51.55

HAL 712.00 726.00 706.00 710.20

VARROC 447.75 480.35 442.40 470.20

SADBHAV 134.75 141.00 134.75 138.10

TAKE 106.70 107.75 105.30 107.15

JSL 33.40 34.20 33.40 33.95

ORIENTELEC 158.10 165.00 158.10 163.40

SONATSOFTW 298.20 299.70 293.35 295.90

BAYERCROP 3308.05 3315.00 3262.65 3287.50

SUDARSCHEM 378.00 378.15 374.55 375.55

INDOSTAR 183.00 189.85 181.10 184.20

IIFL 106.00 112.00 105.60 110.20

PRSMJOHNSN 75.05 77.45 75.05 76.70

SCHAEFFLER 4132.00 4133.00 4061.75 4118.65

NESCO 584.40 586.85 571.50 572.90

NILKAMAL 1196.00 1217.00 1190.55 1207.10

APLLTD 522.55 551.25 522.55 547.65

ASTERDM 118.10 118.90 115.75 116.90

VTL 903.00 930.00 903.00 913.60

CENTRALBK 17.10 17.10 16.75 16.95

SOMANYCERA 188.55 190.50 181.00 181.35

DCAL 158.00 158.00 154.35 155.85

ECLERX 391.00 424.20 390.10 413.05

GET&D 170.30 191.80 168.50 181.95

CHOLAHLDNG 465.00 466.00 456.50 458.85

TIINDIA 365.30 366.50 357.50 363.60

ZYDUSWELL 1647.75 1693.60 1647.75 1682.60

GSPL 212.00 214.90 210.00 211.70

ESSELPRO 113.50 115.50 113.00 114.95

MAHLIFE 440.40 442.70 426.25 432.65

LAURUSLABS 315.65 315.65 309.30 313.50

KNRCON 222.90 232.20 221.50 231.35

MHRIL 209.00 214.35 208.00 212.85

JSLHISAR 64.30 65.10 63.70 64.60

ENDURANCE 992.50 1005.00 989.00 998.50

HIMATSEIDE 140.40 142.40 137.80 139.15

SYMPHONY 1267.00 1267.00 1242.10 1245.75

JAGRAN 58.50 59.05 57.85 58.50

ALLCARGO 99.00 99.80 98.50 99.45

MAHABANK 9.75 9.75 9.49 9.60

GDL 92.95 94.20 92.15 93.45

LEMONTREE 56.25 56.40 56.05 56.15

TEAMLEASE 3101.20 3191.70 3101.20 3143.20

BIRLACORPN 535.60 547.10 535.45 543.60

KALPATPOWR 437.00 440.50 437.00 439.50

MAGMA 46.80 51.25 46.10 50.95

JMFINANCIL 72.30 72.90 71.50 72.40

LINDEINDIA 513.80 522.20 513.80 515.10

GPPL 80.10 80.55 79.00 80.20

JKCEMENT 1060.70 1073.00 1058.00 1066.80

UNITEDBNK 7.00 7.18 6.95 7.04

GUJALKALI 431.25 440.00 430.80 434.80

HERITGFOOD 327.50 327.50 322.65 324.65

DHANUKA 295.50 300.75 292.00 295.10

ANDHRABANK 15.95 16.10 15.70 16.05

APARINDS 515.25 517.00 510.00 516.70

VSTIND 3825.15 3860.00 3769.50 3786.15

SHOPERSTOP 398.35 407.70 390.40 394.70

TEJASNET 77.35 77.35 74.40 76.25

GEPIL 710.85 716.50 705.00 711.20

TVTODAY 298.10 309.90 298.10 303.15

RATNAMANI 913.05 921.55 913.05 921.45

NBVENTURES 73.70 74.20 73.35 73.95

IOB 9.50 9.54 9.36 9.39

ORIENTCEM 85.00 85.65 83.70 84.30

MASFIN 686.00 686.50 670.00 680.45

FDC 161.15 162.45 159.65 161.50

JSWHL 2750.00 2761.00 2750.00 2750.85

STARCEMENT 94.65 95.10 93.40 93.85

TVSSRICHAK 1820.70 1850.00 1790.65 1818.65

CCL 232.00 232.60 229.05 230.05

MINDACORP 81.95 82.20 80.85 82.05

TRITURBINE 98.60 100.40 97.00 97.40

LAKSHVILAS 19.95 19.95 19.95 19.95

FLFL 404.80 404.90 401.55 402.40

ZENSARTECH 209.10 212.00 208.50 210.75

CERA 2465.25 2467.00 2450.00 2460.70

NH 228.50 232.90 228.50 231.45

GRINDWELL 586.60 602.45 586.00 597.25

LAOPALA 170.25 176.70 164.25 174.90

SOLARINDS 1099.55 1103.00 1085.05 1089.10

ERIS 413.00 422.65 411.00 413.70

SUPRAJIT 180.45 182.70 179.50 181.20

CORPBANK 13.90 13.95 13.65 13.90

MAXINDIA 64.10 64.80 64.00 64.05

TCNSBRANDS 691.15 717.00 688.30 708.30

CARERATING 527.75 531.65 527.75 530.15

GULFOILLUB 852.00 854.00 847.00 851.00

IFBIND 665.00 670.90 657.45 662.40

SHILPAMED 256.40 263.75 256.40 261.90

SIS 890.95 900.60 887.85 888.45

KPRMILL 560.70 568.60 560.70 567.55

SHRIRAMCIT 1345.65 1347.35 1345.65 1347.35

�������

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11466.30 11599.10 11439.65 11586.35 122.35

YESBANK 41.90 48.20 40.70 47.40 6.35

TATAMOTORS 127.10 144.35 125.10 142.55 16.70

EICHERMOT 19500.00 20789.00 19455.00 20750.00 1529.40

INDUSINDBK 1276.00 1345.00 1270.00 1340.00 65.50

BAJAJ-AUTO 3009.00 3140.00 2995.00 3138.00 114.30

SBIN 256.40 266.00 255.60 265.30 9.25

TATASTEEL 346.00 361.35 340.35 359.90 12.50

ASIANPAINT 1772.00 1816.65 1756.00 1811.00 45.30

AXISBANK 690.50 712.40 690.50 710.35 16.95

BAJAJFINSV 8154.00 8357.40 8102.00 8316.65 182.35

COALINDIA 194.00 199.95 192.90 198.85 4.30

MARUTI 6977.00 7155.55 6940.00 7126.00 151.00

BAJFINANCE 4020.05 4117.20 4001.00 4096.00 79.60

BRITANNIA 3176.00 3266.35 3160.00 3235.00 58.25

HDFC 2056.95 2095.00 2050.10 2085.45 36.75

HINDUNILVR 2067.50 2108.00 2061.95 2106.50 35.50

RELIANCE 1375.00 1399.00 1372.00 1394.95 22.60

JSWSTEEL 218.30 224.70 214.35 223.75 3.45

TCS 2014.00 2038.00 1999.30 2029.00 27.60

GAIL 126.70 129.05 125.85 128.40 1.60

ICICIBANK 436.00 443.35 433.70 440.75 5.45

ZEEL 260.60 274.00 255.80 262.70 3.05

HEROMOTOCO2609.00 2644.00 2582.00 2631.00 28.65

NESTLEIND 14383.00 14630.35 14160.00 14505.00 153.50

ITC 244.00 246.70 243.85 245.95 2.30

DRREDDY 2711.00 2734.00 2699.00 2726.00 24.55

NTPC 117.70 119.20 116.95 118.40 1.00

M&M 581.10 596.35 578.75 589.00 4.75

IOC 145.90 147.00 143.75 146.40 0.85

HINDALCO 185.50 189.75 182.55 188.60 0.65

UPL 585.00 593.70 580.35 590.60 1.85

TITAN 1285.00 1285.55 1271.10 1276.00 1.45

SUNPHARMA 401.60 402.55 396.80 400.00 0.30

LT 1428.00 1438.60 1420.20 1425.00 0.80

HDFCBANK 1227.50 1229.85 1213.10 1221.50 0.40

BHARTIARTL 385.00 387.50 379.05 384.95 -0.30

BPCL 512.40 515.30 504.10 511.50 -0.90

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New Delhi: Capital marketsregulator Sebi has reconstitutedits Primary Market AdvisoryCommittee (PMAC) that advis-es it on policy framework, devel-opment of initial public offeringsand other such segments.

The panel, which is chairedby TV Mohandas Pai, chair-man of the Manipal GlobalEducation Services, has now 26members. Earlier, the panel has23 members, according to theSecurities and Exchange Boardof India (Sebi).

The other members of thepanel include BSE MD andCEO Ashish Chauhan, HDFCVice-Chairman and CEO KekiMistry, NSE MD and CEOVikram Limaye, DolphyDsouza Partner at E&Y, PrimeDatabase chief Prithvi Haldeaand Sunil Sanghai founder andCEO of Nova Dhruva Capital.

The panel also has repre-sentatives from Sebi, RBI, andfinance and corporate affairsministries. Sebi's Whole-TimeMember Ananta Barua, its

Executive Director AmarjeetSingh Chief General ManagerJeevan Sonparote and RBIChief General Manager SKKar are part of the panel. TheSebi’s PMAC is significant as itadvises the markets regulatoron policy framework related tothe primary markets, as well ason matters required to be takenup for changes in legal frame-work to introduce simplifica-tion and transparency in sys-tems and procedures in the pri-mary market. PTI

Mumbai: Promoters of realestate group HDIL, Rakeshand Sarang Wadhawan, whoare the prime accused in thePMC Bank scam, have request-ed the RBI and investigationagencies to sell off their assets,including a yacht, a Rolls Royceand an aircraft, to pay off thebank’s dues.

The Wadhawans, who wereremanded in judicial custodyby a court here on Wednesday,in a letter to the EnforcementDirectorate, the Union FinanceMinistry and the RBI, request-ed that they be allowed to sell

off 18 of their attached assets.The letter was released by

a spokesperson of theWadhawans. According to theMumbai Police’s EconomicOffences Wing, which firstarrested the Wadhawans, thescam at the Punjab &Maharashtra Cooperative Bankis worth �4,355 crore.

The assets listed in the let-ter include ultra-luxury carssuch as a Rolls Royce Phantom,Bentley Continental, a BMW730 LD, as well as a humbleAmbassador, owned by RakeshWadhawan. PTI

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US President Donald Trumphas dispatched his deputy

Mike Pence to Turkey todemand a ceasefire in Syria, asAnkara rebuffed internationalpressure to curb its deadlyoffensive against Kurdish forces.

President Recep TayyipErdogan vowed on Wednesdaythat Turkey's operation -- whichhas been facilitated by the with-drawal of US troops fromnorthern Syria -- would con-tinue.

That came as an extraordi-nary letter emerged in whichTrump warned Erdogan: "Don'tbe a fool".

Sent the day Turkeylaunched its incursion intonortheastern Syria, Trump saidhistory risked branding him a"devil".

On Wednesday, Kurdishforces struck a desperate deal

with Damascus and steppedaside to allow Syrian regime troops and alliedRussian soldiers enter the bor-der town of Kobane, accordingto the Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights.

Kobane is a highly sym-bolic town for Syria's Kurds,whose forces had in 2015 wrest-ed it from the Islamic State (IS)group in an epic battle backedby the US-led coalition.

Days after American troopsabruptly began withdrawing,clashes continued across theregion, with Kurdish fighters inthe border town of Ras al-Ainburning tyres in a bid to blindAnkara's warplanes and diggingin against a ground offensive byTurkish-backed Syrian rebels.

The Turkish operation,now in its second week, hastriggered a flurry of diplomacyamong major powers.

Trump sent Pence along

with his top diplomat MikePompeo to Turkey amid thegreatest crisis in relations fordecades between the NATOallies, with talks due in Ankaraearly Thursday.

Facing a barrage of criticism in Washington forabandoning the Kurds, Trump has imposed sanctionson three Turkish ministers andraised tariffs on its steel indus-try.

Pence's office said the USwould pursue "punishing eco-nomic sanctions" unless therewas "an immediate ceasefire".

In the missive to Erdogandated October 9 — whoseauthenticity was confirmed toAFP by the White House —Trump wrote: "You don't wantto be responsible for slaughter-ing thousands of people, and Idon't want to be responsible fordestroying the Turkish econo-my — and I will."

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The US President DonaldTrump did not oppose a

deal struck between the SyrianKurdish-led forces, Russia andthe Syrian government inDamascus to protect against aTurkish offensive in northeast-ern Syria, the commander ofthe force said as his fighters bat-tled a new push by Ankara-backed fighters to seize a strate-gic border town.

The commander of theKurdish-led forces, MazloumAbdi, said Trump essentiallygave the go-ahead for the dealin a phone call Monday.

The Kurds' deal,announced Sunday, came afterTrump ordered US troops tostep aside as Turkey launchedits attack last week.

Under the agreement,forces of Syrian President

Bashar Assad effectively replacethe US troops on the ground inthe border areas, with Moscowguaranteeing the deal.

"We told (Trump) that weare contacting the Syrianregime and the Russians inorder to protect our countryand land," Abdi, better knownby his nom de guerre MazloumKobani, told a local TV station,Ronahi TV.

"He said, 'We are notagainst that. We support that.'"

Vice President Mike Pence,heading a US delegation thatincludes Secretary of State MikePompeo, is set to arrive inTurkey Thursday afternoon,aiming to press Turkey to accepta cease-fire in its offensive.

Before their arrival, TurkishForeign Minister MevlutCavusoglu met with WhiteHouse national security advis-er Robert O'Brien.

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Humanitarian groups innortheastern Syria are

scrambling to provide aid tohundreds of thousands of peo-ple as rapidly shifting battlelines make it increasingly dif-ficult to reach them.

Nearly all foreign aid work-ers have been evacuatedbecause of security concerns,and there are fears that localstaff could face reprisals, eitherat the hands of Turkish-led

forces pushing in from thenorth or Syrian troops fanningout across territory held by theembattled Kurds.

The front lines are beingrapidly redrawn as more than160,000 people flee the fighting,including many who were dis-placed by earlier battles inSyria's eight-year civil war.

The offensive has created anew refugee crisis in a region where some 1.6 millionpeople already rely on human-itarian aid.

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American domestic politicshas experienced a new low

with President Donald Trumpand House Speaker Nancy Pelosiengaging in an unprecedentedwar of words on the issue of pullout of US forces from Syria, amove that paved the way forTurkey to launch cross-bordermilitary operations against US-ally Kurdish forces.

The war of words onWednesday between the twoleaders started after the WhiteHouse had invited the leadershipand top committee members ofboth Democrats andRepublicans, and the Congressto brief them about their policyon Syria.

Emerging out of a meetingat the White House, the twoleaders accused each other of aserious meltdown.

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President Donald Trump onWednesday defended his

decision to pull US troops outof Syria, calling it "strategical-ly brilliant," and denied givingTurkey a "green light" to launchoperations against Kurdish mil-itants.

"President (Recep Tayyip)Erdogan's decision didn't sur-prise me because he's wantedto do that for a long time,"Trump told reporters at theWhite House.

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Northern Ireland'sDemocratic Unionist Party

announced Thursday it cannotsupport Boris Johnson's currentBrexit plan, dealing a major blowto the British prime minister justhours before a crunch EU sum-mit.

"As things stand, we couldnot support what is being sug-gested on customs and consentissues, and there is a lack of clar-ity on VAT (value added tax),"the DUP, which backs Johnson'sGovernment, said in a briefstatement on Twitter.

"We will continue to workwith the government to try andget a sensible deal that works forNorthern Ireland and protectsthe economic and constitution-al integrity of the UnitedKingdom." The statement wasseen as a major setback forJohnson, who would most like-ly need the support of his DUPallies in parliament for any dealagreed in Brussels.

It came as British and EUnegotiators worked late into thenight in the hopes of presentinga last-minute Brexit deal to

leaders meeting for a Europeansummit.

Both sides said they wereclose to finding a basis for atreaty to ensure Britain heads for a managed withdrawal from the European bloc it has been part of for nearly halfa century.

But officials had to iron outdetails on how Northern Ireland,which is part of the UK, wouldremain under the Europeanscheme for sales tax.

The pound fell 0.5 per centagainst the dollar and the euro within minutes of theannouncement.

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European Commission chiefJean-Claude Juncker con-

gratulated Prime MinisterBoris Johnson on their Brexitwithdrawal deal Thursday andsaid it meant there should be"no further delay".

"We have a deal, and thisdeal means there is no need forany kind of prolongation,"Juncker told reporters as hewelcomed the British leader toEU headquarters ahead ofsummit talks. British MPs areexpected to vote on the deal onSaturday.

Pro-EU parliamentarianshope they can defeat it andBrexit can still be delayed toallow a general election or anew referendum on whether toleave the EU at all.

Arriving later at an EUsummit of leaders expected toendorse the new withdrawalplan, Juncker said he hopedBritish MPs would pass theplan as agreed so that Britaincan leave on October 31.

"There will be no prolongation. There is not an argument for further delay— it has to be done now," hesaid.

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Hong Kong leader CarrieLam was again forced

from the legislative chamberbecause of protests Thursdayby opposition members fol-lowing a bloody attack on aleader of the nearly 5-month-old protest movement.

Pro-democracy lawmak-ers shouted and waved placardsdepicting Lam with bloodiedhands, prompting theirremoval by guards and thesuspension of proceedings.

A day earlier, Lam wasforced to abandon an annualpolicy address in the chamber,later delivering it by television.

Disruption in the chamberand the attack Wednesdaynight on Jimmy Sham byassailants wielding hammersand knives marked the latestdramatic turn in the unrest thathas rocked the city since June.

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Hong Kong’s embattledleader took to

Facebook Live lateThursday in a bid to reachout to citizens after monthsof political unrest — andthe emoji count was farfrom kind.

Carrie Lam — thecity's unelected ChiefExecutive — currentlyboasts record low approvalratings as the financial hub convulses with more than four months ofhuge, increasingly violent pro-democracyprotests.

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The US ambassador to theEuropean Union is expect-

ed to tell House lawmakers con-ducting an impeachmentinquiry that he was merelyrepeating President DonaldTrump's reassurances when hetold another envoy that therewas no quid pro quo in theadministration's dealings withUkraine. Gordon Sondland,scheduled to appear Thursday,would be the latest in a series ofwitnesses to be interviewedbehind closed doors by Houselawmakers.

Trump blocked his appear-ance last week, but Democratspromptly subpoenaed Sondland.

His appearance is especial-ly anticipated since text messagesand other witness testimonyplace him at the center of a for-eign policy dialogue withUkraine that forms the basis ofthe impeachment inquiry andthat officials feared circum-vented normal channels.

Part of that effort involvedpushing the former Sovietrepublic to commit to political-ly charged investigations soughtby Trump, including into a gascompany connected to the sonof Democratic rival Joe Biden.

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Iran on Thursday said itwould further reduce its

commitments under the 2015nuclear deal, unless its inter-ests are secured by the signa-tories.

Iran is determined to takefurther steps to suspend itsnuclear commitments underthe pact, officially known asthe Joint Comprehensive Planof Action (JCPOA), and thepolicy "will remainunchanged until the desiredconditions are met and Iran'seconomic interests from theJCPOA are ensured," IranianDeputy Foreign MinisterAbbas Araqchi was quoted assaying by local media.

Araqchi made theremarks in a meeting onWednesday with his Swedishcounterpart Anika Soder inTehran, Xinhua reported.

He said despiteWashington's withdrawalfrom the JCPOA and reim-position of sanctions, "Irantried to keep the windows ofinteraction and diplomacyopen, while Europe has onlyrelied on political supportand refused to keep theaccord alive".

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When life throws lemons atyou, make lemonade,’ is a

philosophy that 21 year oldSaurav Parasrampuria (played byDarsheel Safary) follows, whoseonly dream is to go to theMassachusetts Institute ofTechnology (MIT). As he nearshis dream, he faces a crisis — hisbrother, 27-year-old KapilParasrampuria (played byAbhishek Pattnaik) develops aMultiple Personality Disorder.He chooses to stay. What followsis mayhem. Thus begins Saurav’sjourney to help his brother makethis disorder a boon for him.

After doing Can I Help You?and Two Adorable Losers ,Darsheel’s next play, KaiseKarenge? depicts a conflictbetween ambition and familyduty. Excerpts:

How did you land this role?I was watching TV at home

when Abhishek contacted meand wanted to meet me. ThoughI was feeling lazy but since theplace was nearby, I went. I hadno idea that I was going for ameeting that would be aboutworking in theatre. And thenwhen I met them, they narratedme the script. It sounded funny.But I thought that I should be apart of it because it will be a newexperience. I thought for a whileand agreed on the spot.

How has the experience of per-forming live for theatre been?

Honestly, it has been a tran-sitional experience, because it’sthe first time I was learningabout theatre and its technical-ities. I adapted to the situationsand and as soon as I got the hangof it, I started discovering itsmultiple facets. For instance, intheatre, when the audience is infront of you, their reactions arevisible. I enjoyed that feeling.Incidentally, we were doing com-edy, so watching people laugh,enjoy and connect with us felt sogood. My co-actor Abhishekkeeps describing this. He says,‘It’s like a high that you get whenyou perform for an audience andentertain them thoroughly.’ Ithink that’s one of the manylearnings I have had. It hasmade me a better actor, a moreconfident person and has showedme a very different way ofapproaching a role. People askme, ‘For how long will you dotheatre?, ‘When are you gettingback to films?’ Now, even if I getback to films or whatever I do inthe future, I will continue doingtheatre because it makes you aconsistent learner.

What was the research workinvolved to get into the skin ofyour character? How did youunderstand the problems and

nuances of a person with mul-tiple identity disorder?

I was told that in the play, Iwill be playing a role that I havenever played before, that is, therole of a genius. It was not easybecause I was struggling to addmy own flavour. But that’s howyou become more comfortablewith your character. Our direc-tor Suketu was very open to uschanging, improvising andadding our own flavour to roles.Even Abhishek was very sup-portive of this. So it’s like a mixand that way you get the best ofall the worlds. And probablythat’s how we locked up Saurav’scharacter.

Since you have been a part ofboth theatre and cinema, howdo you think that cinema is dif-ferent from theatre? What doyou find more challenging?

I think theatre is definitelymore challenging. You have toreally live the character andmake it believable. So if you arenot really crying on the stage,you are not feeling it. Even theaudience won’t feel it. Film meinkar sakte ho as there are all sortsof tricks and techniques there tomake it look natural or believ-able. You have a lot of supportwhen you are doing films. But intheatre, the support vanishes.That is why people say that the-

atre is the best art form. Notdenying the fact that films arechallenging too. But in a differ-ent way. So for me, here you haveto make things believable and ifyou get those aspects in films aswell, it automatically elevatesyour performance. It helps bothways.

How have you evolved since thetime of Taare Zameen Par tonow?

I started in 2006 when I fol-lowed everything I was told to do.Sometimes they would ask me toenjoy myself and they would askme what would you do in this sit-uation, and what would come outorganically was what I would do.Throughout the years, I workedwith different people and Igrasped as much as I could. Butthere were certain limitations,which got changed in every stepthat I took. For instance, when Idid TV for the first time (realityTV show Jhalak Dikhla Jaa) — Ilearnt something new and verydifferent. Post that, I joined the-atre, which changed my percep-tion towards acting even more. I

usually marked my performanceson a scale of up to 10 — 8/10,9/10, etc, — but theatre dissolvedthat scale for me. Now the scaledoesn’t exist because it’s like anever-ending ladder for me.That’s what the main concept oftheatre is — you learn everythingfrom every play that you do. Thatway when my thought processchanged. Also, I learnt the factthat every day is a learningopportunity. You cannot stoplearning, especially when doingtheatre. I never think of themedium or the fact that whetherI have to act in films or TV or dotheatre. I just keep the story as mypriority. Earlier, for me, anyonewould decide how big my char-acter is or how long the role is.Now, I just decide that the storyis good and I can be a part of it.And it automatically becomessomething nice. Now, I just wantto act more. One of my other per-ceptions that has changed is thatthe line between theatre, filmsand TV has just blurred for me.I only want to act and enjoymyself. It increases my love foracting as well.

Twelve years down and peoplestill remember you as ‘IshaanAwasthi.’ Do you think that therole had been the most iconicone in your acting career?

If people still remember meas Ishaan Awasthi, it just showsthe impact and the value of thatperformance. I am very thankful.It’s something that happens oncein a lifetime. I don’t really remem-ber real acting. It was, in a way,me only. I remember that therewas no stress or tension. I was justnine years old and busy enjoyingmyself. It’s a memorable one forsure. People can remember me asIshaan for as long as they can. Ilove it. It motivates me to do moreworks like Ishaan, performing inthat way and strive for better. Thisis what such roles motivate us todo.

There’s a huge similaritybetween your roles in TZP andKaise Karenge? In both, youdeal with a certain psychologi-cal disorder. What is your takeon mental health and the chang-ing scenario of people acceptingsuch people?

I personally feel that actingis also very psychological. Youare re-channelling your emo-tions and a certain thoughtprocess. In a way, actors have theedge over other people. Theyhave better control on theiremotions. And people doingmethod acting, they have theability to step into a differentcharacter altogether, although it’sby choice. I feel that because ofthis, I have learnt the fact thatcommunication is very impor-tant while facing any kind ofmental or psychological prob-lem. The more you communi-cate it out, the more it will help.

Two Adorable Losers is alsoabout communication. Akshay,the character that I play suffersfrom inferiority complex. Eventhe teacher, who teaches himsuffers from a certain type ofinferiority complex, and both ofthem communicate it to eachother in the most hilarious ofways and very genuinely too.And gradually, the audiencewatches them becoming moreconfident as they have under-stood how to react to society.

Same goes with KaiseKarenge? Once you are awareabout what’s happening, becauseyou can never know how peoplemay react, you should take themon the side and have a genuine,heartfelt conversation about theproblems they are suffering with.Sharing is key. If you have aproblem, you can always share itwith your best friend, parentsespecially, or with your sibling,because I don’t think there isanything better than a clearunderstanding. Once you havecommunicated the problem, thebest will come your way. Ibelieve in the oldest saying,‘God helps those, who helpthemselves.’ When you are fac-ing any issue, just believe in thissaying and get yourself out of it.No one but only you can getyourself out of this. Keepingyourself in a better mindset isalways important. These are thefew elements that I have under-stood because all of us gothrough a certain emotional orpsychological problem at somepoint in our lives.

People have seen very less of yourfilms post 2012, do you plan to domore films and roles in futureagain? Any other forthcomingprojects?

Of course, I am open to doingfilms as long as the story is great,there talks in the pipe line, so you’llbe seeing me soon. Also like I said,I’ll be doing films and theatre side-by-side. But nothing as of now.

(Out of the Box Production’seighth, the play will be staged onOctober 20 at 6.30 pm at KamaniAuditorium.)

Of late, how often have youseen people wearing masksin metros, local marketsand malls? Yes, the trend iscorroborated by recent sur-

veys which suggest that as awarenessabout air pollution is spiking, more peo-ple are queuing to buy protective gear.And considering that Diwali is roundthe corner along with the annual men-ace of stubble burning, is it even surpris-ing? For it’s that time of the year whenpeople retreat to their homes because ofthe smog that wraps the city like a blan-ket. Move over gold and electronics,anti-pollution products are emerging asthe latest trend in the Diwali must-haves. So private players have steppedin and have on offer equipment that canfight the poisonous air.

Delhi-based environmental activistand entrepreneur Jai Dhar Gupta runsNirvana Being, an anti-pollution toolscompany. It manufactures specialised airpollution masks and provides indoor airquality solutions too. Talking about‘Kalyug Ki Khidki’, a new concept beinglaunched this month, he says, “We stay

in our bedrooms for eight to 10 hourswith air conditioners on. This blocks thecirculation of fresh air. As the AC takesin the air from a room, cools it andreleases it back there is an excess of car-bon dioxide. If we inhale it for pro-longed periods, it is poisonous. Sowhat is the option that we are left with?This equipment provides a solution tothis problem by bringing in filtered out-door air into your room to maintain theoxygen level. It needs to be installed ona window or wall, which then constant-ly refreshes incoming air through ahepa-filter.”

Other private companies are com-ing up with innovative equipment.Rohit Bansal, founder of AQI India &Purelogic Labs India Private Limited,says that now more efforts are beingmade by citizens to set up air qualitymonitors. “So we have come up with aPrana air motion mask, which notonly protects a user from more than 99per cent of the pollutants but also mon-itors the air. With that, they will knowwhen to protect themselves. This yearwe have also launched a junior mask for

children and teenagers, speciallydesigned keeping their sensitivity inmind,” he adds.

As per the recent statistics, releasedon October 16, the Air Quality Index(AQI) has crossed 300. Vikas Bagaria,founder of Pee Safe, says, “Poor air qual-ity has been a consistent public healthconcern in Delhi for the past few years.To fight this issue, we have launchedmodern-style anti-pollution dust masks,which ensure that air pollution does notdisrupt people’s lifestyles. These arecapable of filtering out 95 per cent of thetoxins present in the air and have theperfect facial fit with earlobes andvalves that facilitate easy breathing,alongside reducing build-up of heat orhumidity. They filter out dust, microbes,and also help to combat serious respi-ratory problems like asthma.”

Amway has gone a step furtherthrough its recently-launched atmos-phere mini air purifier. Says CEOAnshu Budhraja, “Air Pollution is a seri-ous issue in India where majority ofpeople are breathing air which is 10times or more over the WHO-safelimit. Therefore, there is a growingneed for air purification solution tobreathe better and stay healthy. Oursis a next-generation air purifierequipped with better membranes thanthe HEPA grade filter that removes par-ticles as small as 0.0024 microns witha single pass efficiency of 99.99 per cent

and comes with allergy UK seal ofapproval.”

Among other things, organisationsare also making efforts to first researchand understand the problem at thegrassroot level. AirOk TechnologiesPrivate limited CEO Deekshith VaraPrasad says that they first analysed thedata before moving on with launchingthe equipment. She adds, “The dirty airwith particulate matter, which is pret-ty large, can be trapped with HEPA fil-ters. However, pollutants stick on theirsurface, creating a perfect environmentfor microbial growth to feed and mul-tiply. Studies show that in the indoorenvironment, HEPA filters can becomea breeding surface for pathogens, in aslittle as six days. So the air becomesunhealthy when it is contaminated withviruses and bacteria. To fight this, thereis the EGAPA (Effective GranularParticulate Arrester) solution that con-trols all these parameters along withPM 2.5 (particulate matter), which canbe integrated into any building to cre-ate a clean air zone throughout theyear.”

Though the equipment claim amarginal improvement in the air qual-ity, a lot of effort has to be put in tocombat pollution. Gupta says, “The realproblem lies at the roots. So we needto cut the pollution level at the source.There should also be a regulation onthe emissions from vehicles.”

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Tucked in one of themany busy and bustlingblocks of Connaught

Place, Wok in the Cloudsinstantly took me back to theKeanu Reeves-starrer, A Walkin the Clouds. I wonderedwhether it was one of thosehigh-concept bars based on ablockbuster. As I entered theplace, I realised that it wasinspired only by the film’sname. Its vibe was about chiccontemporaneity. The heart-shaped mirrors, graffiti andtrendy posters about drinkingand dining at the entrancewere a quirky way to welcomethe guests. As I sat on thehigh-pitched chaise-lounge atthe table adjacent to the bar, Iobserved artefacts and show-pieces which intrigued me.Why would a fine dine-inrestaurant-cum-bar have threetiny statues of soldiers holdinga rope in different positions —climbing up, crawling downand hanging? However, theyadded to the absorbing aura.To my left were posters of gui-tar, music signs, and somedoodles that said, ‘I LoveBinge Drinking.’ Well, thevibrant bar with a colourfulglassy slab, lit with yellowlights, and an array of wines,whiskies, spirits and beers,could certainly make that onecome true.

As impressed as I was byWITC’s aesthetics, I wonderedwhether what it served mewould match up to the ambi-ence. Scrolling through themenu, I first ordered the pureeof wild mushroom soup. Theporcini, shitake and buttonmushrooms-infused off-whitecreamy soup had a delicatetexture. I never had thoughtthat mushrooms could be sodistinctly flavourful. Talking ofspices, the soup tasted of blackpepper that blended perfectlywith a variety of bland butfresh mushrooms. The soupwas served with two cigarrolls and a chilli oregano dip,which complemented thesoup’s comforting taste.

It was time for theMinestrone. The broth filledwith finely-chopped bits oftomatoes and vegetables, kid-ney beans, dry spaghetti, ryebread and garlic butter had theright amount of tanginesswhich made the right impact.However, an excess of garlicmeant the soup couldn’t quitemake the cut.

Next up was the Aloochakna chaat. As eager as I wasfor this dish to arrive on mytable, my interest fell flat as Ibit into it. With wheat crisps(sev) and pomegranate sprin-kled on top, the chopped pota-toes dipped in sweety-spicytamarind sauce and tastedexactly the way it wasdescribed, nothing less ormore. I wished there was extrazing to the dish. After all, whywould I pay �225 for an Aloochaat that I could relish at just�40 at the street side? Also, thelatter would have been aptlyspicy.

The Rawa dal tikki fol-lowed. I chose to order thedish as the thought of a tikkibeing served with Matar kahummus, rather than the con-ventional mint chutney ormeethi saunth, instantly drewme towards it. Well, it didn’tdisappoint me. But the prob-lem lay at the heart as the tikki,due to its blandness and drytexture, failed to make aneverlasting impression.

Next in line were thecrunchy dahi sticks, or theDahi kebabs. The previoustwo dishes were responsiblefor a taste graph that was slid-ing down fast. However, it’srightly said, good things cometo you when you least expectthem. The kebabs, wrappedaround wooden ice creamsticks, were presented in fourvodka shot glasses. Its appear-ance had made a mark. Now

was the time for the moreimportant test — taste — andit passed with flying colours.It instantly melted in mymouth which was soon awashwith the creamiest filling.Served with a mint chutney,the kebabs were made with

lavash which is a soft, thinunleavened flatbread cookedin tandoor. Most food expertssay that giving a shape todahi kebabs is the toughestpart while preparing them.However, here, even the shapewas 10 on 10. Certainly, the

tastiest dish of the evening.To accompany the sweet

and salty dishes that I was hav-ing, I ordered the scentedblack currant sherbet whichhad kokum, black currant,cumin in sparkling water. Itwas the perfect refreshment. Isulked at the thought that Icould have ordered it earlier.Its juicy, spicy and tangy tex-ture made me forget all mywoes of tasting imperfect dish-es on an evening when Icraved for some lasting delica-cies.

Then came the spicy gold-en paneer fingers in two ways —peri peri and pesto. Now as weknow, the mere mention ofpaneer excites a vegetarian.However, to my surprise, thelong cottage cheese fingers did-n’t arrive in ‘two ways,’ rathercame with two flavoured dips —creamy green pesto and peri perisauce. Well, one bite into the dishand there occurred an epiphany— there’s nothing worse than sit-ting down at a cafe, ordering adish, pining for it and being mis-erably disappointed. The dishwas bland and even the dips did-n’t help.

As full as I was, I didn’t wantto miss the desserts. I orderedtwo out of the four in the menu— Apple pie and Sizzlingbrownie. While the latteramazed me with its remarkablepresentation and taste, the latterdid a great job at fulfilling mycravings. Just a few words forboth the desserts — taste it your-self and feel its extraordinariness.

Though the place had itsmisses, a certain joy remainspreserved there. It has a quiet,personal yet, at the same time,a strangely social vibe, makingit ideal to catch up with a friendafter years. Another thing thatcan be said in favour of the placewas the service which wasimpeccable.

It all started with a fictionalturkey burger.

Andrew Rea’s YouTubevideo series Binging with Babishwas born in 2016 when heattempted to recreate the “fussylittle burger” described in elab-orate detail by Rob Lowe’s char-acter Chris Traeger on a third-season episode of Parks andRecreation. Hungry viewers weresoon clamouring for morerecipes based on foods thatappear or get mentioned infilms or TV episodes, and Reahad a new career on his hands.

Now he has a new cook-book: Binging with Babish: 100Recipes Recreated from YourFavorite Movies and TV Shows(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).And while the premise mightsound more silly than serious,the book — like the video series— is actually full of real mealsand desserts that transcendtheir sometimes ridiculous fic-tional origins.

There are a few recipesyou’ll marvel at but probablynever want to make, like Buddythe Elf ’s candy-laden pasta dishfrom the movie Elf or Jake theDog’s bizarre “perfect sand-wich” from the cartoonAdventure Time,w h i c hincludesh u m a ntears as aningredient.But even withthese, Rea laysout the steps torecreate them inactual, edible form.

Most of thisbeautiful hardcoverbook, though, is filled withdishes you’d want to dig intoeven if they didn’t have a pop-culture connection.

Rea’s recipe for flavourful,yogurt-marinated Palestinianchicken really is as good as LarryDavid says it is during a seasoneight episode of Curb YourEnthusiasm. And Rea’s versionof the mushroom soup recipethat Elaine is determined to getfrom the Soup Nazi on Seinfeldreally is sublime, and not diffi-cult to replicate.

Though he points out in thebook’s surprisingly movingintroduction that he’s not aprofessional chef, Rea bringsa remarkable professional-ism to the authenticity ofhis recipes. His lusciousstrudel, inspired by thefilm Inglourious Basterds,includes dough painstak-ingly made from scratch.

Fans might be a bit dis-appointed, in fact, by the short-age of explanation about how

these recipes fit into the storiesthat inspired them. Beyond thename of the show or film, Reasays little or nothing about that.

The focus is on the food.And the more tangential arecipe’s connection to pop cul-ture — like the beef Wellingtononly casually mentioned in a flir-tatious riff delivered by JohnSlattery’s Roger Sterling on anearly episode of Mad Men — themore determined Rea seems tobe to offer the best and mostauthentic version possible.

The recipes are laid outwith detailed instructionsamid gorgeous photogra-phy, and Rea explains howhe chose the ingredientsand created the dishes.Each recipe includes hispersonal “verdict” onhow good it reallytastes.

Some dishes, itseems, are better left

on the screen, including LizLemon’s Cheesy Blasters (anartery-clogging mix of hot dogsstuffed with Monterey jackcheese, wrapped in a frozenpizza, from 30 Rock) andDothraki Blood Pie from Gameof Thrones, which has as its pri-mary ingredient a full pound ofpork fat, finely diced.

The verdict on that one,according to Rea: “DothrakiBlood Pie is pretty gross.”

But the “prison gravy” fromGoodfellas will elevate your nextspaghetti dinner. And Reaswears by his

recipe for confit byaldi (betterknown as ratatouille, and includ-ed here in honor of the animat-ed movie of the same name).

In this much longer fol-lowup to his 2017 cookbook EatWhat You Watch: A Cookbookfor Movie Lovers, Rea has includ-ed nods to just about every genreof film and TV. You’ll find LakeTrout and Pit Beef from TheWire, followed on the next pageby Principal Skinner’s favoritecoconut-based seafood stewfrom The Simpsons.

If you’ve ever wanted thesecret recipe for Krabby Pattiesor thought about assemblingyour own Friends-inspiredMoistmaker sandwich out ofThanksgiving leftovers, bothrecipes are here.

And Marvel fans, rememberthat sandwich Simmons loving-ly sent along with Fitz on his firstreal mission during season oneof Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.? It’shere, along with a recipe forchicken paprika just like the oneVision attempts to whip up forWanda Maximoff duringCaptain America: Civil War.Even the chicken shawarmathat the Avengers refueled onafter the exhausting Battle ofNew York is included.

Whatever your TV ormovie preferences may be, Rea’sappealing voice and creativerecipes might just inspire you tostart cooking.

In describing the joyfulreaction of Aziz Ansari’s char-acter, Dev, at having made real-ly good pasta from scratch dur-

ing an episode of Master ofNone, Rea offers this

e n c o u r a g e m e nt :“This sentiment ofexcited accom-plishment is anaccessible, tangi-ble sensation thatwe can manifestfrom our favorite

pieces of fiction.All you’ve got to do

is try.”F��

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Manchester United willprepare for Sunday’sPremier League clash

against leaders Liverpoolwithout the injured PaulPogba and David De Gea,manager Ole GunnarSolskjaer said on Wednesday.

Goalkeeper De Gea wasforced to leave the field dur-ing Spain’s Euro 2020 qualifi-er against Sweden on Tuesday.

“David needs a scan,”Solskjaer told Sky Sports. “Ithink he’ll be out. It certain-ly looked like it anyway judg-ing on last night so it’s just oneof those things.”

France midfielder Pogbahas missed five of United’s lastseven matches with an ankleinjury, and after spendingpart of the international breakrecuperating in Dubai,Solskjaer said the 26-year-old is still not ready for first-team action.

“Paul had an injury, hecame back, he worked reallyhard. He came back andplayed a couple of games,maybe played through thepain barrier,” Solskjaer added.

“He had a scan after theArsenal game and maybeneeded a few weeks’ rest in aboot so hopefully he won’t betoo long, but he won’t makethis game, no.”

United have recorded twowins in their opening eightleague matches this seasonand sit two points above therelegation zone in 12th place.

Anthony Martial, LukeShaw and Aaron Wan-Bissakaare likely to return from thetreatment room but Solskjaeris yet to make a decision on

their availability.“Hopefully, Aaron and

Anthony will last the trainingthis week and be available forselection,” the Norwegiancoach added.

“If it’s for half a game or30 minutes I don’t know butlet’s see where they’re at.”

Liverpool have made aperfect start to the seasonwith 24 points from eightmatches and will look to equalManchester City’s record of 18consecutive top-flight victo-ries when they visit OldTrafford.

REINFORCE SQUADManchester United will

try to sign one or two playersin the January transfer win-dow to improve their chancesof finishing in the top four butwill not spend big on transferfees and wages, manager OleGunnar Solskjaer has said.

United are 12th in thePremier League ahead ofSunday’s home game againstleague leaders Liverpool aftera poor start to the season thathas been further disrupted byinjuries to key players.

Solskjaer sanctioned thedepartures of for wardsRomelu Lukaku and AlexisSanchez in the close seasonwithout reinforcing United’sattack.

“We’re looking at one ortwo new signings. We’re oneor two players light,” Solskjaertold Sky Sports. “If the rightones are available in Januarythen we might do something.If not, these players will giveeverything (for a top fourfinish).

“I’m not going to go downthe route of bringing players

in on big contracts and bigfees if they’re not the rightones for the whole group andfor the future. The money isthere to strengthen in Januaryand in the summer.”

United started the seasonwith a 4-0 win over Chelseabut have scored five goals in

seven league matches sinceand Solskjaer said an injury toforward Anthony Martial, whohas not played since August,was a factor in their struggles.

“There’s many reasons,but one of them is injuries toAnthony,” the 46-year-old for-mer United player said.

“Creating chances has been achallenge for us with teamsdropping deep.

“But we’re practising pat-terns every single week. Whenwe get the players fit, I’mgoing to make Marcus andAnthony score those scruffygoals, as that’s what I did.”

����� 2.���.=>�

Former junior world cham-pion boxer Nikhat Zareen

has written to Sports MinisterKiren Rijiju, demanding atrial bout against the cele-brated M C Mary Kom beforeIndia’s squad for next year’sOlympic Qualifiers is decided.

Mary Kom (51kg) claimedher eighth world medal at therecently-concluded champi-onships in Russia. She wasselected for the event ahead ofZareen, who was refused atrial by the Boxing Federationof India (BFI), which decidedto go by Mary Kom’s consis-tent performances while mak-ing the choice.

The BFI now also plans tosend Mary Kom for theOlympic qualifiers on theback of her Bronze-winningshow at the world champi-onships, moving away fromthe previous decision to givedirect selection only to theGold and Silver winners.

The qualifiers will be heldin China in February nextyear.

“Sir, the very basis ofsport is fairplay and need tokeep proving oneself eachand every time. Even OlympicGold medallists have to fightagain to qualify to representthe country,” she wrote in theletter.

“I have been inspired byMary Kom since I was ateenager. The best way I cando justice to this inspirationwas to strive to be as great aboxer as her. And Mary Komis too big a legend in sport toneed to hide from competi-tion and not actually defendher Olympic qualification,”she said.

“After all, if 23-time Gold-medallist Michael Phelps has

to re-qualify every time for theOlympics, the rest of usshould do the same.”

Mary Kom has main-tained that she would followthe BFI guidelines on selec-tion trials and will compete ifasked by the federation.

The Sports Ministry isnot entitled to intervene inselection matters of anynational federation unlessrequested by the parent inter-national body as any such uni-lateral move is considered aviolation of the OlympicCharter.

Zareen said even if shewere to lose the trial bout,should she get one, she wouldfeel content about at leastgetting a chance.

“I look for no favours, justfairplay. And whether MaryKom or any other boxer qual-ifies after the trial, we can atleast sleep at night knowingthat every one of the candi-date for the best possibleopportunity to make Indiaproud at Olympics,” she said.

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West Indian batting great Brian Lara on Thursday praisedthe current Indian pace attack, which reminded him of

the deadly West Indian attacks of yore.The Indian pace trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and

Mohammed Shami, in 2018, picked the record 142 wicketsamong them in Test matches.

Asked what makes Indian team special, Lara said: “It’s theIndian pace attack. Unbelievable. I saw them in the West Indies.When you look at the quality —(Jasprit) Bumrah, (Mohammed)Shami, (Umesh) Yadav — all these guys, and the guys on thesidelines, like Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) are unbelievable.”

“It reminds me a little bit of the (pace bowling) strengththat the West Indies had in the 80s and 90s. The reserve strengthis very important in assessing a team’s ability. It means that yourattack has quality,” Lara added.

Lara, who had scored 11,953 Test runs, was also lavish inhis praise for Virat Kohli, whom he termed the ‘UltimateCaptain’.

“He’s (Kohli) the ultimate captain. In terms of his perfor-mances, he leads by example. And I mean that in all facets ofthe game, and off the field too. He is came off very well in thebackground of MS Dhoni, who laid the foundation, and didthings in a different way.

“So, I think Indian cricket, as we all know, is headed in theright direction. It’s influenced by some of the best people, andis reaping the benefits of it,” Lara told reporters here.

Lara also seemed happy that a player of Rohit Sharma’s cal-ibre is set to play regularly across formats.

“I think that Rohit is an awesome player in all formats ofthe game. Obviously, in the limited overs game, he’s been verysuccessful. I don’t see any reason why he should not be in Testcricket. It seems that he has the passion to play and wants toprove himself on that stage (Test cricket) as well.

“To exclude a player like that (from the Test team) will bevery difficult, with the talent that I see. So, hopefully, he willbe successful. He is a gifted batsman,” said Lara.

Lara, who holds the record for highest individual run scor-er in Tests, also welcomed the ICC move of Test Championship,saying it has provided contest to the game.

“I think (World Test Championship should have startedearlier). In terms of Test Championship, where there is an end,it culminates into a team becoming Championship, that is some-thing that should have happened a long time ago and happyto see it now. Even if you play against theminnows—Afghanistan, Bangladesh — it means something.

�#��� 4D�2.D�

All-rounder MitchellMarsh is set to miss

the opening Test againstPakistan after fracturinghis right hand punchinga wall, with Australiancoach Justin Langerbranding him “an idiot”.

The WesternAustralia captain took hisfrustrations out in thechanging rooms after hewas dismissed for 53 in aSheffield Shield matchagainst Tasmania onSunday.

Scans revealed a frac-ture, and an apologeticMarsh said he faced up tosix weeks on the sidelines.

That would almostcertainly rule him out ofthe opening Test againstPakistan in Brisbane start-ing on November 21.

“It’s my middle finger,just below the wrist — afracture straight through

the bone,” Marsh, whowas sporting a cast on hisarm, told reporters.

Marsh had only beenrecalled to the Test sidefor the final game of theAshes against Englandlast month after a longperiod out of favour andthere are no guarantees hewill win a spot back.

“It’s a good lesson for

me. Hopefully it’s a goodlesson for other people aswell,” added Marsh,whose blunder couldopen the door for MarcusStoinis in Brisbane.

“At the end of the day,it’s a game of cricket.Sometimes you get beat-en, sometimes you getout, and you can’t bepunching walls.”

����� /�.24.�

India’s campaign at the $ 775,000 Denmark Opencame to a disappointing end with the trioka of PV

Sindhu, B Sai Praneeth and Sameer Verma — all-exit-ing after suffering straight-game losses, here onThursday.

World Champion Sindhu, seeded fifth, yet againstruggled to buck the trend of recent early exits asshe was knocked out after she lost 14-21, 17-21 toKorea,s An Se Young in a 40-minute second-roundwomen,s singles clash at the BWF World Tour Super750 event.

It turned out to be a dismal day for Indian shut-tlers in general as B Sai Praneeth, Sameer Verma, andmen's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy andChirag Shetty also went down in straight games intheir second rounds.

While Praneeth was outclassed by two-timeWorld Champion Kento Momota of Japan 6-21, 14-21 in yet another dominating show, Sameer lost 12-21, 10-21 to Olympic champion Chen Long of China.

Thailand Open champions Satwik and Chiragalso suffered a 16-21 15-21 defeat against sixth seedChinese combination of Han Cheng Kai and ZhouHao Dong in men's doubles.

Later in the day, Pranaav Chopra and N SikkiReddy put up a gallant fight before going down 24-26 21-13 11-21 to fourth seeded Malaysian pair ofChan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying in the mixed dou-bles competition.

���������� *2(�.?�

Stan Wawrinka was made towork hard at the European

Open on Wednesday as theSwiss veteran outlastedFeliciano Lopez 6-7(4) 6-4 7-6(4) to reach the quarter-finalsin Antwerp.

The 34-year-oldWawrinka, seeking his firstATP trophy since he lifted thetitle in Geneva two years ago,served 17 aces — one lessthan Lopez — and convertedone out of four break-pointopportunities to edge the tightmatch.

Up next for the worldnumber 18 is unseeded GillesSimon, who powered past hisFrench compatriot Jo-WilfriedTsonga 6-4, 7-5.

Wawrinka has beatenSimon four times in sevenmeetings but the Frenchmanprevailed in straight sets thelast time they played eachother on the hardcourts ofShanghai in 2016.

Argentina,s Guido Pellajoined the duo in the last eightafter beating South Korea,sKwon Soon-woo 7-5, 7-5 to setup a clash with Ugo Humbertor second seed David Goffin.

In first-round action, PabloCuevas beat Hugo Dellien 6-4,6-3 and will take on BritonAndy Murray next. AmericanFrances Tiafoe overcameGermany's Yannick Maden 7-6(7), 6-3.

����� �>*6*�

Left-arm spinner ArafatSunny and pacer Al-

Amin Hossain were recalledas Bangladesh on Thursdayannounced a 15-membersquad for next month’sthree-game T20I seriesagainst India.

Opener Tamim Iqbalalso made a comeback aftera break during which hemissed the tri-series athome involving Afghanistanand Zimbabwe.

Both Sunny andHossain have been out ofcontention for a long timehaving played their last T20Iin 2016.

The 33-year-old Sunny,who has taken 12 wickets in10 T20Is, was suspendedduring the 2016 ICC WorldTwenty20 for an illegalbowling action. He had alsospent two months in jailafter being arrested in 2017for his involvement in afamily dispute.

The 29-year-oldHossain also last featured inthe 2016 ICC WorldTwenty20.

“We have recalledSunny because we needsomeone experienced forIndia, which is a toughcountry. Al-Amin comes

into the squad as some ofour other fast bowlers areinjured,” said chief selectorMinhajul Abedin.

The selectors alsodecided to drop SabbirRahman, Nazmul HossainShanto, Rubel Hossain andTaijul Islam from the teamof the last T20 Bangladeshplayed during the tri-nationseries at home.

The T20I series willbegin with the first matchon November 3 at ArunJaitely stadium in NewDelhi. The next two gamesare at Rajkot and Nagpur onNovember 7 and 10 respec-tively.

Squad: Shakib Al Hasan(C), Tamim Iqbal, LitonDas, Soumya Sarkar, NaimSheikh, Mushfiqur Rahhim,Mahmudullah Riyad, AfifHossain, MusaddekHossain, Aminul IslamBiplob, Arafat Sunny,Mohammad Saifuddin, Al-Amin Hossain, MustafizurRahman, Shafiul Islam.

����� 2.���.=>�

Three-time Olympic medallistCarmelita Jeter is impressed with

India’s Dutee Chand and said a reput-ed coach can guide the country’s talent-ed sprinters reach the highest level infuture.

“I have seen Dutee Chand competeat the Olympic Games. She has donesome remarkable things. I hope moreyoung ladies will step up and representthe country,” said Jeter, who is the inter-national event ambassador at the 15thedition of the Airtel Delhi HalfMarathon.

“I feel that all sprinters need goodcoaches. If a big name coaches Indianathletes, then you will certainly see a riseof Indian sprinters in the future,” saidJeter.

The fastest woman alive, Jeter isdelighted to see over 40,000 participantsready to give it their all at the HalfMarathon, which is an IAAF Gold LabelRoad Race, on Sunday.

A world record holder, Jeter hadfinished with a winning time of 10.64seconds at the Shanghai Golden GrandPrix in 2009, giving her a spot in his-tory as the second-fastest woman ever

in the 100 meters.Carmelita Jeter was a part of the his-

toric 4x100m USA team which set theworld record at the 2012 Olympics. TheAmerican said that sharing a medalwith three other women was even morespecial than an individual medal.

“It was a moment for the USAteam. It was a special team out there.People think that four of the fastest run-ners form a good 4x100m group, but no,a team has to have four people who trusteach other and have chemistry. It wasgreat to share a Gold medal with a team.Winning a medal with three otherwomen was even more special,” she said.

����� ?*2->��

South Africa opener Dean Elgarsays he got “stretched” as acricketer and learned a lot

more about himself during what hasbeen a humbling India tour, part ofwhich included visiting “smallerplaces and staying in hotels” not thatgood.

After managing a 1-1 draw inthe T20 series, South Africa sufferedbig defeats in the first Two Tests ofthe three-match rubber against adominant outfit led by Virat Kohli.

“It’s a challenging tour. You getstretched as a person, you getstretched as a cricketer, I think youget to know yourself quite a lot as aperson when you come to thesmaller places where the hotels aremaybe not as good, and you get chal-lenged on the field,” Elgar said.

“It’s always a good learningcurve coming to India.”

The introduction of the WorldTest Championship means SouthAfrica still have “quite a lot to playfor” in the third Test despite conced-ing the series, Elgar said.

“Back in the day it was alwaysa bit of a dead rubber game but nowwith the World Test Championshipsaround, we still have points to playfor,” Elgar said.

“We can still get 40 points by fol-

lowing our process against India inthe last Test. That’s something wecan’t neglect going into this game.There is still a lot to play for,” headded. Elgar, who became the firstSouth African batsman to score a

hundred in India after nine yearsduring the opening Test, said theProteas batsmen will have to go backto the basics to tackle the Indianbowlers in the final game.

“It’s no secret that it’s been a bit

of a challenge for all of us. We haven’tplayed our greatest cricket, consis-tent cricket. But we are trying to bepositive. The senior players are try-ing to keep the guys motivated. Weare still representing our country

which is an immensely proudmoment for every player.

“We still motivate everyonewithin our squad. It has been a chal-lenging few weeks but it’s still not toogloomy for us. We are upbeat, the

morale in the camp is still very good.“We still have one game and we

can actually change quite a lot. Weare still pretty hopeful and prettypositive going into the last Test,” heasserted.

���'��� Having already lost thethree-match series, South Africaskipper Faf du Plessis has called onhis players to come out with animproved performance, especiallywith the bat when they face India inthe final Test beginning Saturday inRanchi.

The Proteas have not been ableto make use of their first innings —barring the Vizag Test where theymanaged to score 431 in reply toIndia’s 502. India, on the other hand,have dominated by getting big runsin their first innings. In the first Test,

the hosts scored 502 runs while theyput on 601 runs in Pune.

And, du Plessis wants his batsmento learn from the Indian batters andmake most of their first innings in thefinal Test.

“We need to put big runs on theboard in the first innings,” said duPlessis while addressing a press confer-ence on Thursday.

“When you get runs in the firstinnings anything from there is possi-ble. For us first innings runs will be vitaland then anything could happen in thesecond innings,” he added. IANS

����� ?*2->�

Skipper Virat Kohli and opener RohitSharma skipped the optional practice

session but spinner Kuldeep Yadav lookedto hone his batting skills ahead of India’sthird and final Test against South Africahere on Thursday.

Kuldeep, who sat out of the first twoTests, made full use of the net session dis-playing some elegant cover drives in theirafternoon practice which was also attend-ed by Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara,Mayank Agarwal and Ishant Sharmaamong others.

Earlier chief coach Ravi Shastri andbowling coach Bharat Arun had a close lookat the pitch which wore a dry look, indi-cating that it would have something for thespinners.

Spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin andRavindra Jadeja have been the key bowlersfor India, bagging 14 and 10 wickets eachand Kuldeep’s inclusion will only be at thecost of a pacer.

The pacers too have made crucial con-tributions with Mohammed Shami claim-ing eight wickets at a strike rate of 41 andUmesh snapping six wickets at an even bet-ter strike rate of 21 and it remains to be seenif Kohli tinkers with his winning combina-tion.

The Proteas trained in the morning ses-sion with focus on their batsmen.

South Africa’s training was attended byskipper Du Plessis, Temba Bavuma,Theunis de Bruyn, Quniton de Kock,Senuran Muthuswamy as they faced the netbowlers.

Vernon Philander was seen among thebowlers but the new-ball bowler wasmostly seen honing his batting skills.

����� ?*2->��

A“frustrated” South Africanbatsman Aiden Markram

was on Thursday ruled out ofthe third and final Test againstIndia, having sustained a wristinjury after punching a solidobject.

As per Cricket SouthAfrica’s media release, “Theinjury took place following theopener’s dismissal in the secondinnings of the match. In amoment of frustration with hisown performance, he lashedout at a solid object, resulting in

his injury.”Markram has had a mixed

tour of India. While he scoredtwo hundreds in the practicegames, he couldn’t carry forwardhis form into the Test series.After scoring 5 and 39 in thefirst Test, he was dismissed fora pair in the second.

He left for South Africa on

Thursday morning. The teammanagement hasn’t called upany replacement.

A disappointed Markramadmitted he has let his teamdown and said, “It’s sad to begoing home on this note and Icompletely understand whatI’ve done wrong and take fullaccountability for it.”

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