2018/10/03 · union agriculture minister radha mohan singh and oth-ers to discuss farmers’...

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Thousands of farmers foughta pitched battle with the

police on Delhi-Uttar Pradeshborder on Tuesday even as theModi Government’s efforts tobroker peace with them failed.

Union Minister of State forAgriculture Gajendra SinghShekhawat was rushed to meetthe protesting farmers. Whilesome farmer groups agreed toconsider the assurances givenby the Government, otherssaid they were not “satisfied”and decided to continue withtheir protest, call for which hasbeen given by Naresh Tikait-ledBharatiya Kisan Union (BKU)demanding loan waiver, high-er support price and steps tosafeguard farmers against ris-ing fuel prices, among others.

The Government said areview petition will be filedagainst the National GreenTribunal’s order to ban dieselvehicles that are over 10 yearsold and several other measureswill be taken to address farm-ers’ concerns.

The Centre also assuredfarmers that it would fix theminimum support prices(MSP) for rabi (winter-sown)crops like wheat at least 1.5times of the production cost. Itwould also try to restrictimports of agri items that areproduced abundant in thecountry.

Shekhawat said a commit-tee of Chief Ministers will alsolook into the farmers’ demands,as he sought to assure the pro-testers that the Governmentwill take forward their cause.

“Representatives of farmersalong with Ministers of UPGovernment Laxmi Narayanand Suresh Rana held discus-sion on a range of issues atRajnath Singh’s residence. Afterthat a consensus was reachedon some issues. The

Government has agreed tosome of your demands,”Shekhawat told the farmers.

The Minister said he hasbeen associated with farmers’issues and he could say with“certainty” on Lal BahadurShastri’s birth anniversary thatthere have been only a few suc-cessful agitations like this in thepast.

BKU chief Naresh Tikait,however, said the farmers are“not satisfied” with theGovernment’s assurance.

“This has not been a gooddecision. All importantdemands have not been accept-ed and we are not satisfied withthis assurance,” he said.

The farmer leader, whose

father Mahendra Singh Tikaithad led a massive farmers’rally in the national Capitalabout three decades ago, saidsufficient talks have not beenheld so far on key issues facedby farmers even as theGovernment has given assur-ances on some demands.

“But, our main demands ofelectricity, sugarcane recom-mendations of Swaminathanreport remain unfulfilled,”Tikait said.

On the next step, he said,“We are sitting here as of nowand this only is our next step.We will discuss this and thendecide on future course ofaction. I cannot decide any-thing alone, our committee

will take the decision.”Yudhvir Singh, Bharatiya

Kisan Union spokesperson,said, “We had a discussion on11 points. Government agreedon seven points but haven’tagreed on four points yet. Theysaid they will have to thinkabout those in next meetingafter which they will tell us asit is a financial matter.”

Tension gripped theNational Capital as thousandsof protesting farmers attempt-ed to forcefully enter the cityprompting the Delhi Police toresort to lathi charge, watercannons and tear gas shells inorder to prevent their advance.

With a spike in politicaltemperature following the use

of force by the police, UnionHome Minister Rajnath Singhheld discussion at length withUnion Agriculture MinisterRadha Mohan Singh and oth-ers to discuss farmers’ issues.

The rally began from TikaitGhat in Haridwar onSeptember 23. Farmers fromplaces as far as Gonda, Bastiand Gorakhpur and the sugar-cane belt of western UP joinedthe agitation. The week-longjourney was planned to end at“Kisan Ghat” in Delhi.

“Our demand is todemocratise the procurementsystem. We want theGovernment to give farmerproducer organisations(FPOs) chance to procure it

from market but got littlesupport what these white ele-phant (NAFED and FCI)receives,” said Binod Anand ofRashtriya KisanMahashangha.

Chaos prevailed on theDelhi-UP border as these pro-testers tried to make their wayinto Delhi by barging into thebarricades along with theirtractor trolleys.

Earlier, heavy police pres-ence on Delhi-UP border atGhazipur effectively diffused

and contained the advance-ment of thousands of farmersfrom Uttar Pradesh,Uttarakhand, HimachalPradesh, Haryana and Punjab.

Earlier, several protesters,including some elderly, sus-tained minor injuries and wererushed to hospital for first-aid.Seven policemen, including anAssistant Commissioner ofPolice, were injured in the melee.

Following no permissionfrom the authorities for theKisan March and in order to

maintain “law and order” morethan 3,000 police personnelwere deployed. Several reservedcompanies of Rapid ActionForce (RAF) were kept onstand-by and were deployed toman the situation.

Police barricades numberingin hundreds were used to blockthe entry point. According to theapex court directive, tractorsare not allowed to ply on theroads of the national Capitalexcept those for the farm pur-poses.

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Abig explosion left an eight-year-old child dead and at

least 10 others injured in acrowded area of Nagerabazar inSouth Dum Dum municipalarea in the northern suburbs ofKolkata on Tuesday.

The explosion took placebeside a fruit stall and a sweet-meat shop around 9.10 amkilling the child who had cometo fetch sweets from the shopwith her mother, who is cur-rently struggling for her life, aneyewitness said. All the 10people injured have sufferedsevere splinter and burninjuries.

The police are trying tofind out the source of theexplosive device but said itwas “anything but a handi-work of petty criminals whodo not use such heavy direc-tional bombs.

Ammonium nitrate wasstuffed inside a steel socket

about 8 inch in radius, CIDsources said, adding they didnot find any timer, wire orremote control device assum-

ing “pressure could be one ofthe reasons for the blast.”

A senior officer said, “Itwas possibly in transit and

was kept there in a gunny bag.Perhaps it went off accidental-ly following tremendous pressure.”

New Delhi: Brent crude pricesbreached $85 a barrel mark onTuesday, the highest sinceNovember 2014. Experts pre-dicted price would racetowards $100 a barrel soonerthan expected with around 1.5million barrels per day ofIranian oil expected to gooffline in view of the US sanc-tion against Iran.

The trade deal between theUS and Canada to save theNorth American Free TradeAgreement (NAFTA) has alsoput pressure on Brent prices inexpectation of push to growthand related rise in oil demand.

The twin factors have result-ed in another sharp increase inthe price of petrol and diesel inIndia. Petrol and diesel priceswent up by 17 paise across all

metro cities in India on Tuesday.In Delhi petrol stood at

�83.85 per litre, up 12 paise,and diesel touched �75.25 perlitre, up 16 paise.

In Mumbai, petrol wasprice at �91.20 per litre, up 12paise, and diesel �79.89 perlitre, up 17 paise. PNS

Detailed report on P10

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Congress president RahulGandhi on Tuesday said

that Mahatma Gandhi aimed tounite the country but PrimeMinister Narendra Modi isworking to divide it.

“Mahatma Gandhi talkedabout uniting India, Modiji isdividing India....(he) pitchedone community against anoth-er,” Rahul said addressing hispartymen at the CongressWorking Committee (CWC)meeting at Wardha that sawformer Prime MinisterManmohan Singh and UPAchairperson Sonia Gandhi inattendance.

The CWC resolved for a“second freedom struggle”against the Modi Government

to combat the ideology of“hate and violence”, saying thesame reason had led to theassassination of MahatmaGandhi.

“You tried Modi (gave hima chance)...He broke your trust.Now trust the Congress,Mahatma Gandhi’s ideologyto take India forward,” he toldthe gathering.

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Opposition parties onTuesday put the blame on

the Modi Government for whatthey described as “brutal policeaction” against thousands offarmers marching towards thenational Capital, with theCongress alleging that the“Badshah of Delhi Sultanatewas drunk with power”.

Reacting to the develop-ment, Congress presidentRahul Gandhi accused theBJP of “brutal beating up” offarmers on the Delhi border onthe International Day of Non-Violence and said that theycannot even air their griev-ances in the national capital.

Samajwadi Party presi-dent Akhilesh Yadav tooextended his party’s support tothe protesting farmers andalleged the farm communityhas been hit hard by the risingfuel prices, as well as due to thedecisions like the GST rollout

and demonetisation.The parties accused the

Central Government of being“anti-farmer”, even as theGovernment went into a hud-dle to mull over ways to con-vince the farmers to call offtheir protest.

The Congress WorkingCommittee, the highest deci-sion-making body of the partywhich held its meeting inMaharashtra, adopted a reso-lution strongly condemningthe police action against thefarmers. Condemning thepolice action, Congressspokesman Randeep SinghSurjewala said if the Centre

can write off huge debt of a fewindustrialists why it could notwaive the loans of farmers.

Hitting out at the policeaction against the farmers,Communist Party of India(Marxist) General SecretarySitaram Yechury said, “Westrongly condemn this actionand atrocities on farmers. Thisonce again demonstrates theanti-farmer attitude of theModi Government.

“The farmers have comeout in support of their vari-ous demands... If we look atthings, in the past over fouryears, almost 50,000 farmershave committed suicide,mostly in BJP-ruled States,including Uttar Pradesh,”Akhilesh said.

Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal said that pre-venting a protest march offarmers from entering thenational capital was “wrong”and pitched for allowing thementry into the city.

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Youth of today are future ofsociety and leaders of the

State. The zeal and enthusiasmof youth will play an importantrole in building newChhattisgarh, said ChiefMinister Raman Singh.

He was addressing the YouthParliament (Yuva Sansad) andTalent Felicitation Programmeheld at Atal Bihari VajpayeeAuditorium in Pt. JawaharlalNehru Memorial MedicalCollege here on Tuesday.

Addressing the gathering,Singh said, “During inceptionof Chhattisgarh, it was keptunder ‘BIMARU’ states. Thevision of former PrimeMinister late Atal BihariVajpayee led to formation ofChhattisgarh and the severalpeople welfare oriented effec-tive steps were taken in last 15years which has putChhattisgarh in journey of

development and one amongfastest developing state.

“The ‘Atal Manifesto’ envis-ages as how Chhattisgarh wouldbe when it will be celebrating its25th Foundation Day in year2025. In addition, to ensure par-ticipation of all the sections ofsociety in building ‘NavaChhattisgarh’, suggestions arebeing invited,” he said.TheChief Minister sought sugges-tions from youngsters on visionof ‘Nava Chhattisgarh 2025’.

Singh further said that under

SKY scheme, five lakh youth arebeing provided smartphone inthe State. “It is not limited forconservation but is supposed tobe used as a tool for change.Today, state has wide networkedroads, railway and communica-tion facilities”, he said.

The Chief Minister said thatthe State is the first to providelegal right to food and nutritionsecurity to poor families andright to skill development toyouth. Now, it has all premiumhigher education institutions

such as IIT, IIM, IIIT, NIT,AIIMS and HNLU.

The voter turnout hasincreased in tribal dominatedand Naxal affected areas, afterPrayas and other schools, freeeducation of girls upto gradu-ation among other initiativeswhich were taken, he said.

Youth from different partsof the state raised many queriesbefore the Chief Minister onstate government schemes, AtalManifesto, Nava Chhattisgarh,political life among others,which was duly answered.

The Chief Minister alsoreleased the video titled ''ShiningYouth- Light, Camera,Action…". Under the initiative,participants from 750 colleges ofthe state will make video on thebeneficiaries of state govern-ment schemes and upload it onthe competition website.Winners will be awarded. Singhalso awarded winners of ‘Youthfor Ekatmta’ Competition.

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Raipur: Chief Minister RamanSingh on Tuesday evening tocommemorate the birthanniversary of Father of NationMahatma Gandhi and formerPrime Minister Lal BahadurShastri, dedicated the DauKalyan Singh Super Specialityhospital to the people in Raipur.

Health and MedicalEducation Minister AjayChandrakar, AgricultureMinister Brijmohan Agrawal,PWD Minister Rajesh Munat,Raipur MP Ramesh Bais andother dignitaries were present onthe occasion.

During undivided MadhyaPradesh, the hospital buildingand land was donated by DauKalyan Singh and it was thenknown as DKS Hospital. Beingsituated in central part of capi-tal city, it was most convenient

hospital for the public. But inyear 2000 after inception ofChhattisgarh as State, it wasconverted into GovernmentSecretariat. In year 2012, theSecretariat was shifted toMahanadi Bhawan, Naya Raipur(Now Atal Nagar).

Chief Minister Raman

Singh on popular demand ofpeople to convert it back to hos-pital gave order to develop it asa Super Speciality Hospital. At acost of Rs 140 crore, now, thehospital has most ultra-modernmedical equipment and facilities.It has 125-bed critical care unit.

Continued on Page 4

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Tuesday said that

the four-year-old SwachchhBharat Mission(SBM) hasemerged as a vibrant massmovement with over 85 millionhouseholds now having accessto toilets for the first time in thecountry. This even as UnitedNations Chief Antonio Guterreslauded Prime Minister NarendraModi for his strong leadershipwith regard to sanitation.

Over the past four years, 130crore Indians have paid tributesto Mahatma Gandhi in the formof the Swachchh Bharat Mission.Completing four years today, ithas emerged as a vibrant massmovement with commendableoutcomes. Over 85 millionhouseholds now have access totoilets for the first time, Modisaid at an event here to mark149th birth anniversary ofMahatma Gandhi.

Launched on October 2,2014, the SBM aims to make allthe States in India open defeca-tion free by 2nd October nextyear.

Political leadership accom-panied by public funding, part-nership and people’s participa-

tion can help the world inachieving total sanitation, hesaid pointing out that India’sshare in the world’s populationthat practised open defecationwas 60 per cent, which has nowcome down to below 20 percent.

Addressing the concludingsession of the Mahatma GandhiInternational SanitationConvention here, he said 90 percent of the toilets constructedare being used even as theGovernment carries out con-stant follow ups to ensure thatcities declared open defecationfree “do not fall back on oldhabits”.

“It is the result of publicparticipation that rural sanita-tion has increased from 38 percent before 2014 to 94 per centnow,” the Prime Minister said.

While 25 States havedeclared themselves as opendefecation free, the number ofsuch villages has gone up to 5lakh, he said. The convention ispart of the Union Government’s‘Swachchhata hi Seva hai’ pro-gramme that kicked off onSeptember 15.

He lauded India’s roletowards sanitation in directionof achieving Sustainable

Development Goal set out to beachieved by 2030. Modi andGuterres signed the DelhiDeclaration which embodiespledge of world communitytowards sanitation.

The result of the survey onsanitation (2018) wasannounced at the convention.Haryana was awarded the firstprize as it emerged the overallfirst State.

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New Delhi: Mahatma Gandhi’sfavourite devotional song‘Vaishnava Jan To’ has gone glob-al with artists from over 124countries having contributedmusically in paying homage tohim through the ‘bhajan’.

On the 149th birth anniver-sary of Mahatma Gandhi, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi Tuesdaylaunched a medley version of thefamous ‘bhajan’ by artists fromover 40 countries, during theclosing ceremony of theMahatma Gandhi InternationalSanitation Conference, aMinistry of External Affairs(MEA) statement said.

UN Secretary GeneralAntonio Guterres, ExternalAffairs Minister Sushma Swaraj,Minister of Drinking Water andSanitation Uma Bharti and other

eminent personalities were pre-sent on the occasion.

As part of the 150th birthanniversary celebrations ofMahatma Gandhi, artists fromover 124 countries have con-tributed musically in payinghomage to Mahatma Gandhithrough his favourite bhajan‘Vaishnav Jan To Tene Kahiye’, theMEA said.

The famous Gujarati hymnwas penned by the 15th centurypoet Narsimha Mehta and wasone of the favourite ‘bhajans’ ofMahatma Gandhi who includedit into the roster of prayers rou-tinely sung before his meetings,it said.

All Indian missions abroadidentified local artists or a groupto record the ‘bhajan’ in the run-up to Gandhi Jayanti. PTI

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Farmers protests led by theBharatiya Kisan Union

(BKU) is the fourth one in thepast seven months despite hikein the minimum support priceof 23 kharif crops and subsidyin fertilisers. The protest byfarmers is not a good sign forthe Modi Government ahead ofthe Assembly polls in five States.

A few months back, veg-etable growers were out on thestreets protesting against lowprices in Maharashtra, MadhyaPradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab andHaryana. Then it was the turnof sugarcane farmers ofMaharashtra and Western UttarPradesh. And after that milkproducers dumped their milkon the streets to draw attentionto the glut that had broughtprices down. Ahead of the gen-eral elections of 2019, farmprotests and strikes have caughtthe attention of our political

class. According to National

Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)data, there is an almost eight-fold rise in ‘agrarian riots’between 2014 and 2016 whichinclude conflict over land andwater, resources that have comeunder stress from weather-related shocks and inadequatepolicy response.

“The plight of farmershardly changed despite severalmeasures taken by theGovernment including hike inthe MSP. The daily hike ofpetrol and diesel prices is a bigblow to the farmers duringkharif season,” said YudhvirSingh, spokesperson of BKU.

The BKU leader lamentedthat the Modi Government hasfailed to learn a lesson from theAssembly polls in Gujarat lastyear where rural Gujarat didnot vote to Modi Government.

Farmers who are protest-ing, demanding loan waivers,

clearance of pending sugar-cane payments and implemen-tation of the SwaminathanCommittee Report, free elec-tricity for running tubewellsand PMFBY should be madeapplicable to all crops and pre-mium must be paid by theGovernment, rehabilitation offamilies for farmers who hadcommitted suicide; the assur-ance of a minimum income forfarmers and a monthly pensionof �5,000 for small and mar-ginal farmers who completed60 years of age.

Parmanand Singh of Biharunit of BKU, said the protest isan indication that the currentpolicies of the Government arenot effective and pro farmers.The frequent hike in petrol anddiesel prices has severelyimpacted the plight of thefarmers during the kharif sea-son this year. “Majority of farm-ers have not been benefittedfrom the hike in the MSP in

Bihar due to lack of procure-ment mechanism,” he said.

Last year, the country wit-nessed a massive massive farm-ers’ protests across the country,starting with the MadhyaPradesh and Maharashtra agi-tations of last summer where sixfarmers were killed in police fir-ing and reaching a crescendowith the Kisan Long March thisyear where 35,000 farmersmarched from Nasik toMumbai.

According to RashtriyaKisan Mahasangha’s foundermember Benod Kumar Pandey,the trend is not a good sign tothe Government ahead of theassembly polls due this year infive states and general electionsnext year. “There are threemajor risks that the farmerfaces today, which arise fromthree different sources-prices,trade policies, and resourcestress. One of the major uncer-tainties facing the Indian farmer

is volatility in prices. This hasbeen particularly sharp in thecase of vegetables and pulsesover the past few years”.

“Excess production of veg-etables and pulses invariablylead to a crash in prices, whichoften trigger protests. TheGovernment’s procurementpolicy for cereals ensures thatprices of rice and wheat are lessvolatile than those of otherfood items. The absence of arobust insurance mechanismthat protects farmers from theserisks means that Indian farm-ers are being compelled tomake unhedged bets when theybegin sowing each season.

“With extreme weatherevents such as high tempera-tures and erratic rainfall likelyto become more frequentbecause of climate change, theresource stress facing farmerswill only increase,” Prof AjabSingh of Karnal AgricultureUniversity.

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With the beginning of rabicrop season from

October, the Narendra ModiGovernment plans to raise theminimum support prices ofwheat by �1,735 to �1,840 perquintal, an increase of 6 percent. Prices of Channa that isalso likely to be raised from�4,400 to �4,620 per quintal, anincrease of 5 per cent. A pro-posal to this effect is expectedto be brought before the nextCabinet meeting as the ElectionCommission may announcepoll schedules for Assemblypolls in five States this week.

Sources said that the UnionCabinet will consider the MSPof all five rabi crops and the rec-ommendation is to increasethem in the range of 2-21 percent from the last year’s mini-mum support prices (MSPs).The announcement of MSP ofrabi crops assume significancethis year as sowing begins fromOctober and the monsoon rain-

fall was 20 per cent deficient inSeptember bringing moisturelevel down. The deficiency ofsouthwest monsoon is over 9per cent this year which couldbe major worrisome of theModi Government.

According to the proposal,Masoor may see a hike from�4,250 to �4,475 a quintal. TheMSP of mustard, the key oilseedcrop of the winter season, is alsolikely to be increased from�4,000 to �4,200 per quintal.

In case of safflower, theMSP may be increased from�4,100 to �4,945 a quintal , anincrease of 20.61 per cent.

Barley MSP is likely to see2.13 per cent increases at �1,440per quintal. The Governmenthas already announced kharifcrops’ MSPs at 150 per cent overtheir cost. Despite patchy rain-fall in some parts, the AgricultureMinistry has set a foodgrain pro-duction target of 285.2 milliontonnes for 2018-19, a marginalincrease from the previous year’sharvest of 284.8 million tonnes.

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The 12th-centur y oldJanardhanagudi temple in

Kerala’s Wayanad which is in adilapidated state can now finallylook for a facelift with theGovernment recently declaring ita national monument.

An artist’s delight, the temple’shuge stone pillars have nearly 300intricate and elaborate carvings,sculpture of a fishing man, a prim-itive war scene featuring tuskers, astone edict in old Kannada script,figures of Jain deities and sculp-tures of the ‘Dashavathara’. Thetemple was supposed to get thenational tag after the nearbyVishnu temple (Vishnugudi), locat-ed just 700 meters away from it, gotthe same.

A senior official from theArcheological Survey of India(ASI) said that the ancientJanardhana and Vishnu temples atPunchavayal, near Panamaram, inWayanad remain neglected in spiteof an announcement by the then

Union Minister V NarayanasamyCentre in 2009 that the two Jaintemples would be declared nation-al monuments.

These temples have been builtaccording to the temple architec-ture of the Jain community, eachwith a ‘Garbhagudi’ (sanctum sanc-torum), a ‘Navarangam’ (a place forsub deities), a ‘Kalasa Mandapam’and a ‘Gopuram,’

However, while the ASIdeclared the Vishnugudi temple anational monument in September2015, the nearby temple(Vishnugudi) has now finally comeunder the ASI umbrella.

The style of the sculptures and

a stone edict on a wall of theJanardhana temple in old Kannadascript show these temples mayhave been built during the reign ofthe Hoysala or the Vijayanagaradynasties in the Deccan plateaufrom the 12th to the 14th centuries,as per reports.

The temple stands as an exam-ple of craftsmanship of the sculp-tors then and it also houses stoneedict with inscriptions in Tamilmaking mention of the donation ofland to the temple and conduct offestivals throughout the year.

A detailed study of the templecould throw more light on thesocio-economic and culturalaspects of the medieval Andhrabefore the Gajapatis of Odishashot into limelight, say the reports.

The huge stone pillars werebrought from Karnataka, said MRRaghava Varier, historian whostudied the sculptures. The‘Jaladhara’ inscriptions on a copperplate in a Jain temple at nearbyVaradoor confirm it, Dr Variersaid.

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On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti onTuesday, the Indian Railways

announced that the national transporterhas planted 13.26 lakh trees over 1,300 kmof its network from September 15 toOctober 2 this year. Railways Ministryobserved ‘Swachchhta Hi Sewa Pakhwada’across its network during the period andon Tuesday the organisation administeredSwachhta (cleanliness) pledge to its per-sonnel.

Two days each has been proposed tobe devoted to Swachchh Station, SwachchhTrain, Swachchh Neer, Swachchh Parisar,Swachchh Samwad, Swachchh Awarenessacross the entire network of IndianRailways, said a railway ministry statement.

The Ministry also organised aSatyanishtha programme which waslaunched as a Mission in July 2018 forIndian Railways officers and supervisors.On the occasion Chairman Railway BoardAshwani Lohani said that Satyanishtha is

not a vigilance programme but it isbeyond that. “It is positive attitude andright way to do the work. There are 100sof good practices happening every day inIndian Railway,” Lohani said adding thatthe nation is fortunate to have a PrimeMinister who has been talking aboutcleanliness.

The programme aims at sensitisingrailway officers and supervisors about theneed to adhere to ethics and maintain highstandards of probity in public life. So farfour lakhs employees have been trained at300 places about Satyanistha.

Former Cabinet Secretary PrabhatKumar and other board members werepresent whereas all the zonal GeneralManagers were live through video con-ferencing.

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New Delhi: The CBI has initiated a preliminaryenquiry into the alleged collusion of forest depart-ment officials in tiger deaths and poaching casesreported from protected areas of Uttarakhand dur-ing the past five years.

The agency has set up multiple teams of offi-cials from its Wildlife Wing to look into the deathsand possibly complete its probe within threemonths, the sources said.

During its probe the agency will cover deathsand killing of tigers and leopards reported from theprotected areas of Joshimath, Rajaji National Park,Corbett Tiger Reserve, Pithoragarh, Almora,Haldwani and Kumaon range among others.

The agency has started the inquiry againstunidentified officials of Uttarakhand forest depart-ment and others to look into their alleged “crim-inal misconduct, complicity, involvement, collu-sion” in the incidents of poaching and deaths of wildcats reported in the state. Some of the teams havealready reached at some of the crime scenes to begintheir investigation while some are likely to reachsoon, they said.

It was reported that in last two-and-a-half years,40 tigers and 272 leopards have died in the state.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)action has come on the orders of Uttarakhand HighCourt which had taken note of the deaths.

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The Navy and IAF onTuesday launched

Humanitarian Assistance andDisaster Relief(HADR)opera-tion in aid of earthquake hitpeople of Indonesia by ferryingmaterial including drinkingwater, milk, biscuits, medi-cines, tents and generatorsthrough transport planes andthree warships. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Mondayheld a telephonic conversa-tion with Indonesian PresidentJoko Widodo and offered allpossible assistance.

While the Navy diverted

three ships including INS Tir,INS Sujata and INS Shardulfrom Singapore to Palu inIndonesia, the IAF deployedone C-130J and one C-17transport aircraft to airlift med-ical teams and relief material.

Besides HADR bricks ormaterial normally carried byall ships, these ships also haveon board 30,000 litres of bot-tled drinking water, 1,500 litresof packaged juices, 500 litresmilk, 700 kg of biscuits and 20tents. The ships were dis-patched at first light onTuesday morning, Navy offi-cials said here.

A 7.5 magnitude earth-

quake struck the Indonesianprovince of Sulawesi on Fridaytriggering a Tsunami leavingmore than 1,300 dead andlakhs rendered homeless.

The IAF C-130J aircraft iscarrying a field hospital fromAgra while the C-17 aircraft iscarrying National DisasterManagement Authority(NDMA) load, mainly con-sisting tents, generators andmedicines. The C-130 carrying37 medical personnel has takenoff from Hindan for Chennai.From Chennai the aircraft willfly to Kualanamu internation-al airport and then move toPalu.

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New Delhi: India is targeting 40 per centof electricity generation from non-fossilfuel-based resources by 2030 as it looksto tap vast solar and wind potential toreplace reliance on polluting coal tomeet its energy needs, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi said on Tuesday.

Modi said he saw the 121-countryInternational Solar Alliance as the futureOPEC for meeting energy needs of theworld.

Oil cartel OPEC led by Saudi Arabiacurrently meets close to half of theworld’s oil needs.

Speaking at the first Assembly of theISA here, he said the solar power will playthe same role that oil wells have playedover the past few decades in meeting glob-al energy needs.

Humans have in the last 150-200years relied on resources trapped belowthe earth’s surface for meeting energyneeds. But for a secure future, resourcesavailable above the ground like solar andwind energy need to be harnessed, he said.

Stating that the focus must be onrenewable sources for meeting energyneeds, he said India wants to bring all UN

members on board of ISA.Modi said 50 GW of renewable ener-

gy will be soon added to existing capac-ity and non-hydro renewable will con-tribute 20 per cent of total energy.

“This is the right time to invest in solarmanufacturing,” he said adding he saw aninvestment potential of �70,000 crore to�80,000 crore in solar manufacturing.

The Prime Minister said 31 crore LEDbulbs save 40,000 million units of elec-tricity and �16,000 crore in a year.

He said 28 lakh solar pumps can save10 GW of electricity every year. PTI

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Chief Minister Raman Singhlaunched two-year-long

celebration to mark the 150thbirth anniversary of Father ofNation, Mahatma Gandhi inChhattisgarh on Tuesday.

The State Government hascoined the event as ‘Karyanjali’.

On the occasion of thebirth anniversary of Father ofNation, Singh launched theevent by releasing the‘Karyanjali’ booklet atKankalipara based historical‘Anand Samaj Library’ premis-es in Raipur.

He also dedicated the23,600 square feet KeyurBhushan premises and GandhiBhawan constructed at a cost ofRs 2.88 crore by Public WorksDepartment (PWD). Thepremises would be used forKhadi and village industries based activities. The Chief Minister during the programme also dedicated 16 ‘Bapu ki Kutia’ (Bapu’s

Cottage) constructed by RaipurMunicipal Corporation in cap-ital city at a cost of Rs 2.32 crore.

Each cottage is equippedwith television, carom, chessand other sports facilities forsenior citizens. The cottagewould be operated by civilsocieties.

He also dedicated ‘Neki toGaadi’ (Charity Vehicle) andalso launched the weekly‘Pustak Daan Mahotsav’

(Weekly Book DonationFestival) for libraries.

Singh announced financialassistance of Rs 5 lakh for the‘Anand Samaj Library’. Theimportance of Anand SamajLibrary is that in year 1920, inthe library premises, during thefreedom movement, Father ofNation, Mahatma Gandhi hadaddressed a large gathering.

The Chief Minister on theoccasion also gave away the first

National Award constituted byState Government, MahatmaGandhi Memorial NationalAward to Gandhian 90-year oldProf (Dr) Prabhudutt Kheda.

On the occasion, Singhalso felicitated best sanitarystaff under different zones ofRaipur Municipal Corporation.Freedom Fighter andPadmashree Mahadev PrasadPandey, ministers, officials andothers were present.

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Wife of Janata CongressChhattisgarh (Jogi) ,

JCC (J), chief Ajit Jogi andCongress legislator from KotaAssembly segment, Dr RenuJogi on Tuesday said that sheis not interested to contestupcoming Assembly polls ona JCC (J) ticket.

"If Congress party doesnot allot me poll ticket , I willnot contest the upcomingpolls", she said.

She was talking to mediapersons here at SagaunBungalow.

Talking to media persons,Renu Jogi said she hadapplied for Congress ticketfrom Kota Assembly con-stituency from where she is asitting MLA. “I am waiting forthe declaration of names ofcandidates for Congress polltickets and am keen to contestthe polls once again withCongress ticket only”, shesaid.

She said this after biogra-phy of her husband Ajit Jogi

written by her titled ‘AnkahiKahani’, was unveiled bysenior journalists in a simplefunction held at SagaunBungalow.

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NMDC Ltd organised the4th anniversary pro-

gramme of ‘Swachh BharatAbhiyaan’ at its headquarters inHyderabad on Tuesday.

The programme was alsoheld in all the company’s majorprojects across the countryspreading the message of'Cleaner India - Greener India'being the motto of SwachhBharat Abhiyaan, a companypress release informed hereon Tuesday.

N Baijendra Kumar, IAS,

CMD, NMDC, who was thechief guest inaugurated theprogramme at the company’sheadquarters in Hyderabadwhere Dr. Narendra K. Nanda,Director (Technical); Dr. T.R.K.Rao, Director (Commercial)and senior officials were pre-sent.

While addressing the gath-ering, Kumar emphasized onthe importance of cleanliness inour day to day life.

He said that one shouldimbibe Gandhiji’s ideology oncleanliness and contribute atleast two hours in a week and

100 hours in a year for clean-ing our surroundings and officepremises and start the cam-paign with oneself.

Kumar further added thatthis way we will have clean sur-roundings and safe environ-ment.

After garlanding and pay-ing floral tributes to MahatmaGandhi, a pledge was admin-istered by NMDC CMD and allthe employees also took thepledge and later cleaned thepremises of NMDC HeadOffice Building Khanij Bhawanat Masab Tank, Hyderabad.

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Chhattisgarh InfotechPromotion Society

(CHiPS) is looking for aMaster System Integrator totake over operations ofChhattisgarh State DataCentre (CGSDC) and also actas its technology partner in thetransformation journey ofCGSDC for the next five years,officials informed.

The State Data Centrescheme was planned to pro-vide centralized delivery ofservices to reach the people inthe urban and rural segments.

The Chhattisgarh StateData Centre provides theinfrastructure required forconsolidating the databasesfrom the blocks and also forproviding online services tocitizens at villages and urbanareas.

Chhattisgarh State DataCentre provides web servicesthrough which information isshared securely with other keyorganizations like financial insti-tutions, legal bodies etc.Chhattisgarh State Data Centreis located centrally and con-nected to the remote blockservers using the State Wide Area

Network (SWAN) of the State. CGSDC is the most impor-

tant element of the core infra-structure for Hosting and sup-porting e-Governance initia-tives of National e-GovernancePlan (NeGP). ChhattisgarhState Data Centre (CG-SDC)was set up with Technical andFinancial assistance providedby the Department ofInformation Technology (nowMeitY), Govt. of India. TheCGSDC was inaugurated onFebruary 28, 2013 and is oper-ational since then, officials

informed.M/s Sify Technologies

Limited is the current DataCentre operator, officialsinformed.

The vision of the project is– “To be the preferred optionfor all ICT application hostingneeds of Government andPublic sector Departments /organizations in Chhattisgarhby providing flexible, on-demand managed services andthus simplifying IT infrastruc-ture provisioning and opera-tional efficiencies of theGovernment”, officialsinformed.

CHiPS has envisioned atransformation of the currentCGSDC to a Hybrid CloudEnabled Data Centre whichwould offer services to theend customers / line depart-ments on Hosting, Co-locationand Cloud chargeback model.The motive behind the visionis leveraging the properties ofcloud operations that canproactively avoid performanceissues and gain deep insightsinto the health, risk and effi-ciency of physical, virtual andcloud infrastructure, as well asoperating systems and appli-cations.

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Ninety-year old GandhianProfessor (Dr)

Prabhudutt Kheda residingin the tr ibal belt ofAchanakmar in Bilaspur dis-trict was conferred with themaiden ‘Mahatma GandhiMemorial National Award’ ina function held at historicalAnand Samaj Library premis-es here on Tuesday.

The award carried Rs 5lakh in cash and a citation.

Chief Minister RamanSingh while applauding theefforts, hard work and dedi-cation of the veteranGandhian Prof Dr Kheda,announced that the State gov-ernment will take over themanagement of HigherSecondary School run by theveteran Gandhian .

He also immediately sanc-tioned Rs 20 lakh for construction of school building. Prof Dr Kheda was asked how he would utilised his Rs

5 lakh award, to which he saidthat the amount would bespent on salary of the teach-ers.

He thanked the ChiefMinister for announcing thatthe State government will takeover management of theschool and also sanction of Rs20 lakh for construction ofschool building.

Prof Dr Kheda is workingin Achanakmar area which istribal dominated in Bilaspurrevenue division. The areaalso falls under a Sanctuaryarea.

He is presently working invillage Lamhni-Chaprava(present Mungeli district) forlast three decades on educa-tion and health of tribal chil-dren.

Prof. Dr Kheda was bornin year 1928 at undividedIndia in Lahore. After parti-tion, his family in year 1947

came to Delhi as refugees. He obtained his higher

education and Ph.D afterwhich he joined Governmentof India in EducationDepartment and thenNational Council ofEducational Research andTraining.

Prof Dr Kheda was laterappointed Social StudiesProfessor in Delhi University.

He along with students ofDelhi University had arrivedat Achanakmar for study tour.During this period, he saw thepoverty among tribals andproblem of education of trib-al children. It was the turningpoint of his life. After that ,Prof Dr Kheda retired fromjob in 1993 and started to livein a small hut. His efforts grewto present higher secondaryschool in the area and havenow around 100 tribal chil-dren studying in the school.

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Following a sting operationon a senior Congress leader

by a national private newschannel, Chief Minister RamanSingh has expressed his unhap-piness over what he termed theprevailing 'murky politicalatmosphere' of the State hap-pening in the name of ‘CDs’.

“It is really a matter ofshame and it is beyond imag-ination who is hatching a con-spiracy for whom”, Singh said.

Expressing concern overprevailing political state ofaffairs in the State, the ChiefMinister further said: “ I amfilled with sorrow and pain thatpolitics of today has degraded.”

“When the people doingpolitics of idealism areindulging in such low gradepolitics, it is a loss for the pol-itics as well as for the country”,he said.

Notably, a sting operationwas on Monday night aired bya national private news chan-nel which had allegedly record-ed audio and video clips ofCongress leaders who wereallegedly doing a deal for polltickets for two assembly con-stituencies with one of thealleged leader asserting that hehad a CD of a senior Congressleader of Central leadership.

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The deadlock between twowarring factions of

Chhattisgarh Chambers ofCommerce and Industries(CCCI) over support to theBharat Bandh recently finallyended on Tuesday.

Senior office bearers oforganisation including the con-veners rejected the resigna-tion tendered by its ChairmanJitendra Barlota and urged himto continue in the post and takeback the resignation.

Barlota on their request

took back his resignation andhad decided to continue serv-ing to the post of CCCI chair-man.

Notably, Followed by thedecision of Chairman, JitendraBarlota, to support the Bandhcalled by Congress and otheropposition parties against price

hike and steep rise in price ofpetroleum products a weekago, a faction of CCCI sup-ported by BJP came forward tooppose the decision made andopenly criticized Barlota for nottaking them in confidence.

The opposition in theCCCI for the Chairman madehim work with difficulties andhe later decided to quit fromthe post.

Meanwhile, on Tuesdaysenior office bearers had ameeting in which confusionamong various members weresorted out. The meetings ofsenior office bearers, whichalso included state convenerspacified the matter and reject-ed the resignation tendered byBarlota.

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Janata Congress ChhattisgarhJCC (J) on the occasion of

Gandhi Jayanti on Tuesdayburnt ‘liquor’ to display party’sprotest against sale of liquor inthe state.

JCC (J) Supremo Ajit Jogion the occasion reiterated the

commitment of complete pro-hibition in the state if his partycomes to power. Hundreds ofJCC (J) activists gathered atSagaun Bungalow on Tuesdayafternoon and burnt liquorbottles to protest the sale ofliquor by state government.They also demanded enforce-ment of Prohibition.

The party made theannouncement that prohibitionwould be enforced in the statein the terrain area if they cometo power. The tribal areaswould be left at initial stage asit’s a part of their culture andsoon they too would be con-vinced to quit consumption ofliquor, Jogi said.

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Congress youth leader Asghar Ali sustainedcritical injuries as he was attacked by

unidentified miscreants here late on Mondaynight. Ali was first admitted to the DistrictHeadquarters Hospital (DHH) here but latershifted to the SCB Medical College Hospital as

his condition deteriorated.According to information, when Ali was

returning home at around 10 pm, two miscre-ants came on a bike, stabbed him with a sharpweapon and fled the spot. Though the exact rea-son behind the attack was yet to be ascertained,past enmity is suspected to have led to the inci-dent.

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Apreparatory meeting forthe upcoming Durga Puja

was held under chairmanshipof Sub-Collector DigantaRoutray here on Saturday.

Members of different pujacommittees of the city attend-ed the meeting and discussedabout conduct of puja in peace-ful manner. Stressing on secu-rity aspects, Routray said CloseCircuit Televisions (CCTVs)would be installed at all pujamandaps and nearby areas tokeep a tab on criminal activi-ties and crowd management.

Routray also urged thecommittees to complete theircultural programmes by 10pm and keep the surroundingclean and hygienic.

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After getting confirmed thatpoaching of wild animals is

a regular affair with live elec-tric wires spread to kill them,the Sundargarh forest officialsare now worried about thesafety of a black panther, a tigerand other wild animals , whosephotos were captured in acamera recently, in the Hemgiriforest range.

The Forest Departmenthas written to Wesco authori-ties in this regard and asked totake appropriate action.

Significantly, a local youthhad died in electrocution, aftercoming in contact with a livewire on a path in forest onWednesday evening. The policehave started a manhunt to nabthe culprits.

During investigation in thecase, the police came to knowthat the live wire, which wascharged from an 11KV line,was deliberately laid by nearbyvillagers to target some forestanimals. Significantly, thereare number of wild animalsroaming in the Hemgiri for-est range. A black panther was

first spotted in the forest rangeduring the month of May thisyear. Recently, a Royal BengalTiger was also spotted in theforest range. According tosources, there are two watchtowers and there are someclose circuit camera in the for-est under Hemgiri forest rangebut for safety purpose, thesesafety devices are inadequate.The locals are frequently try-ing to kill animals by vari-ous weird ways which is aworrying factor.

Sources said three personshave lost their lives in the for-est in last three years due toelectrocution.

“It is really worrying fac-tor for us that electric wires arebeing laid inside forest to trapanimals,” said Hemgiri RangerHabiram Choudhury, adding,“We have recently written tothe Executive Engineer, Wesco,Sundargarh to change theelectric wire with cable in for-est. If the cable will be replacedwith wire, people trying totrap wild animals, will not besuccessful .”

Meanwhile, a panther inHemgiri forest killed as manyas 11 goats of one KapilaKhilari, a resident ofRangiadipa near Hemgiri whilehe had gone to graze thegoats inside forest.

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Congress-led PunjabGovernment on Tuesday

lashed out at the BJP-ledCentral Government’s recentnotification regardingChandigarh UT cadre alloca-tion bringing various posts ofChandigarh Administrationunder the DANIPS (Delhi,Andaman and Nicobar IslandsPolice Service) cadre.

As the Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh is set to raisethe issue with the PrimeMinister on Thursday, hisCabinet Minister Navjot SinghSidhu has shot off a commu-niqué the Union HomeMinister while describing themove as “against the spirit ofthe Punjab Reorganization Act,1966”.

Capt Amarinder, on thesidelines of an event at Mohali,said that his Government wasnot in agreement with theUnion Government on thenotification regardingChandigarh UT cadre alloca-tion.

“I had already written tothe Prime Minister NarendraModi requesting him to recon-sider the notification. I wouldagain take up the issue with

him during our meeting inDelhi on Thursday,” he said.

Capt Amarinder said thatthe 60:40 ratio, as decidedupon in 1966 at the time ofdivision of Punjab andHaryana, must not be dis-turbed.

The Union Ministry ofHome Affairs, through a noti-fication issued on September25, has brought various postsof Chandigarh Administration,including the post of DeputySuperintendent of Police(DSP), within the ambit ofDANIPS cadre.

Opposing the move, Sidhuwrote in the letter, “I am con-veying to you my deep sense ofanguish...over some recentdevelopments, which affectthe state of Punjab deeply andtherefore, concerns me notonly as a Minister in theCabinet serving the state butalso as a Punjabi.”

“This would mean thatpolice officers working inChandigarh (under theChandigarh Police cadre) canbe transferred to Delhi andAndaman and NicobarIslands...This notificationshakes the very foundationand purpose of the PunjabReorganization Act and the

Rajiv-Longowal Accord,” Sidhusaid.

He pointed that by way ofPunjab Reorganization Act,1966, the erstwhile state ofPunjab was bifurcated by wayof formation of new state,namely Haryana, and also theUnion Territory to be knownas Union Territory ofChandigarh.

“The aforesaidReorganization Act also envis-aged that from the saidappointed date, which was tobe first day of November, 1966,all assets and liabilities were tobe bifurcated between Punjaband Haryana in the ratio of60:40,” pointed Sidhu.

He said that this ratio hasbeen consistently followed,even for the purpose of allo-cating officers for the UnionTerritory of Chandigarh fromthe states of Punjab andHaryana.

The 60:40 rule, in respectof various cadres of officersallocated to Union Territory ofChandigarh while enactingreorganization of these statesvis-à-vis the Union Territory,has become a binding con-vention and is being followedreligiously since then, Sidhusaid.

Urging the Home Ministerto reconsider the notification,Sidhu said that there was gen-uine apprehension amongPunjabis that by enacting morenotifications like this one, allthe cadres would be takenaway from the Punjabi officersand as such, their legitimateexpectations would be frus-trated. “By way of the saidnotification, the legitimate andexisting binding convention of60:40 has been unjustifiablytaken away from the people ofPunjab,” he added.

Sidhu also utilised theopportunity to raise the issueof Chandigarh being Punjab’scapital. “It was in principaldecided that the UnionTerritory of Chandigarh wouldform and be the capital of thestate of Punjab and it wasonly given the status of UnionTerritory till such time, thenewly constituted state ofHaryana forms its own capital.

This understandingattained the written mandateby way of Rajiv-LongowalAccord signed in 1985, accord-ing to which, the UnionTerritory of Chandigarh was tobe transferred to Punjab on26th day of January 1986,” hepointed.

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Haryana has bagged thenumber-one State award

for its outstanding achieve-ments in the field of sanitationand cleanliness under SwachhSurvekshan Grameen-2018.

The award was presentedby Prime Minister NarendraModi to Haryana ChiefMinister Manohar Lal, whoreceived it on behalf of thestate, under SwachhSurvekshan Grameen-2018 ata function organised by UnionMinistry of Drinking Waterand Sanitation at New Delhi onTuesday. Haryana Agricultureand Farmers’ Welfare Minister,OP Dhankar was also presenton this occasion.

The top six districts of thecountry under the SwachhSurvekshan Grameen-2018included three districts of

Haryana namely Gurugram,Karnal and Rewari. UnionMinister for Drinking Waterand Sanitation, Uma Bhartipresented these distr ictawards to three districts ofHaryana.

After receiving the award,the Chief MinisterManoharLal congratulated the people ofthe state and said the SwachhtaAbhiyan launched by the PrimeMinister was given the form ofa mass movement in Haryanafor which the state has got thisaward.

Under Swachh BharatMission, all rural areas ofHaryana were made open defe-cation free (ODF) by June2017. Similarly, all cities of thestate were made ODF byOctober 2017.

“In the field of sanitation,several schemes are beingimplemented for solid and liq-

uid waste management inurban and rural areas ofHaryana. A target has been setto establish solid and liquidwaste management units in allvillages of Haryana by 2019,”the Chief Minister said.

Out of the total solid andliquid waste management unitsapproved for 1,360 villages ofHaryana, 631 solid waste man-agement units and 414 liquidwaste management units havebeen completed, he said.

Under the urban solidwaste management scheme ofHaryana, all urban local bod-ies have been divided into 14clusters. In this direction, thework on Faridabad-Gurugramcluster and Sonipat-Panipatcluster has already begun.Special emphases are beinglaid on establishing Waste toEnergy Plant in Haryana, he said.

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From page 1The Hospital Building is

spread over 13.8 acres. It hasnow 80 doctors, 218 nursingstaff and 210 para-medical andother staff. Through outsourc-ing 280 housekeeping staff,180 security staff and 105 med-ical record and maintenancestaff are also deputed.

The hospital has also DauKalyan Singh Post GraduateInstitute and Research Centrewhere higher medical educa-tion facilities are being extend-ed. After it gets due recognitionas the Post Graduate Institute,the medical students andpatients will derive benefit.The patients would be giventreatment at cheaper rate.

Additional to it, it has mostultra-modern dialysis systemwhere Hepatitis-B, Hepatitis-Cand HIV positive patientswould have dialysis facilities.There is separate arrangementfor dialysis of children andsenior citizens. Apart from it,the facility of liver dialysis willalso start soon, which exists inNew Delhi only. The hospitalhas also 20-bed most modernburn unit along with CT-Scan.It is one of the first governmenthospitals which has bio-wastemanagement system.

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Aresolution has been movedin the House of

Representatives to honourMahatma Gandhi with theprestigious Congressional GoldMedal, the highest civilianaward bestowed by the USCongress, in recognition ofhis promotion of peace andnon-violence.

Co-sponsored by fourIndian-American lawmakers— Ami Bera, RajaKrishnamoorthi, Ro Khannaand Pramila Jayapal — theresolution was introduced byCongresswoman CarolynMaoney on September 23.

Tulsi Gabbard, who is thecurrent co-chair of the HouseCongressional Caucus on Indiaand Indian-Americans, is alsoone the co-sponsors of theresolution, which has beensent to the Committee onFinancial Services andCommittee on HouseAdministration for necessaryaction.

The Congressional GoldMedal is the highest civilianhonour given by the USCongress and very few for-eigners have been recipients ofthis award.

Prominent among those

include Mother Teresa (1997),Nelson Mandela (1998), PopeJohn Paul II (2000), the DalaiLama (2006), Aung San SuuKyi (2008), Muhammad Yunus(2010) and Shimon Peres(2014).

The announcement wasmade by Maloney during thepopular India Day Parade inNew York in August.

“Mahatma Gandhi’s his-toric Satyagraha movement ofnon-violent resistance inspireda nation and the world. Hisexample energises us to devoteourselves to the service of oth-ers,” she said.

“His legacy inspired civilrights movements around theglobe, from Martin LutherKing’s movement for racialequality to Nelson Mandela’s

fight against apartheid. As apublic servant, I am inspiredeveryday by his courage andexample. Let us all followGandhi’s directive to ‘be thechange you wish to see in theworld’,” Maloney said.

“As India and the worldcommemorate the 150th birthanniversary of MahatmaGandhi, we applaud and great-ly appreciate the initiative ofCongresswoman CarolynMaloney of New York forintroducing legislation in theUS Congress to honour thememory of the Mahatma, aperson who inspired countlessmillions all over the world totake the path of truth, peaceand non-violence,” saidSandeep Chakravorty, ConsulGeneral of India in New York.

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The US has accused aChinese naval ship of con-

ducting “unsafe and unprofes-sional” manoeuvres when oneof its warships entered thewaters of the disputed SouthChina Sea (SCS).

China on Tuesdayexpressed its strong dissatis-faction and firm Opposition tothe US warship sailing near theislands and reefs claimed by itin the South China Sea (SCS).

“On September 30, withoutpermission of the ChineseGovernment, the US destroy-er Decatur entered neighbour-ing waters of islands and reefsof China’s Nansha Islands,”Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesperson Hua Chunyingsaid in a statement on Tuesday.

The Chinese naval shipidentified the US vessel,warned and expelled it, Huasaid, stressing that China hasindisputable sovereignty of theNansha islands (Spratly Islands)and its adjacent waters.

An official US statementdescribed the move by theChinese destroyer as “unsafe”because it moved within 41metres of the US warship.

US Pacific Fleet deputyspokesman Nate Christensensaid the Chinese destroyer had“approached USS Decatur in anunsafe and unprofessional

manoeuvre in the vicinity ofGaven Reef in the South ChinaSea”.

“The PRC destroyer con-ducted a series of increasinglyaggressive anoeuvres accom-panied by warnings for Decaturto depart the area,” the HongKong-based South ChinaMorning Post quotedChristensen as saying.

After the Chinese shipcame within 45 yards (41metres) of Decatur’s bow itmoved to prevent a collision,the report said.

Apart from China,Vietnam also lay claim on theSpratly Islands.

China is engaged in hotlycontested territorial disputes inthe South China Sea. Vietnam,the Philippines, Malaysia,Brunei and Taiwan have

counter claims over the vitaltransit route for world trade.

The US has been sendingperiodic air and naval expedi-tions to assert its right of thefreedom of the navigation inthe SCS.

The movement of the USnaval ships and aircraft throughthe area has increased sincePresident Donald Trump tookthe office. China routinelyobjects the US presence toregister its claims.

Hua said that with jointefforts of China and the mem-bers of Association of SoutheastAsian Nations (ASEAN), thecurrent situation in the SCS hascontinued to stabilise and getbetter, while repeated provoca-tive US moves under the pre-text of the so-called “freedomof navigation operation” have

threatened the peace and sta-bility in the region.

She said that such USmoves are against the commonwill of countries in the regionand the basic internationalnorms, the state-run Xinhuanews agency reported onTuesday.

“The Chinese side strong-ly urges the US side to imme-diately correct its mistakes andstop such provocative opera-tions,” Hua said, adding thatChina would take all necessarymeasures to safeguard itsnational sovereignty and secu-rity.

The unsafe and aggressivemanoeuvres by the US andChinese ships took place amidthe trade war between theworld’s two largest economies.Both the countries have beenslapping tariffs on billions ofdollars’ worth of their exports.

The US also imposed sanc-tions on a Chinese military unitimporting Russian weapon sys-tems.

The Chinese military toovoiced its opposition to the USship sailing through the area.

A Chinese navy vessel car-ried out identification and ver-ification procedures of the USSDecatur in accordance with lawand warned it, Wu Qian,spokesperson with the Ministryof National Defence said in astatement.

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Three scientists on Tuesdaywon the Nobel Physics

Prize for inventing opticallasers that have paved the wayfor advanced precision instru-ments used in corrective eyesurgery and in industry, thejury said.

Arthur Ashkin of theUnited States won one half ofthe nine million Swedish kro-nor (about $1.01 million or870,000 euros) prize, whileGerard Mourou of France andDonna Strickland of Canadashared the other half.

Ashkin, 96, was honouredfor his invention of “opticaltweezers” that grab particles,atoms, viruses and other livingcells with their laser beam fin-gers.

With this he was able to usethe radiation pressure of lightto move physical objects, “anold dream of science fiction,”the Royal Swedish Academy ofSciences said.

A major breakthroughcame in 1987 when Ashkinused the tweezers to capture

living bacteria without harm-ing them, the Academy noted.

Ashkin, who made his dis-covery while working at AT&TBell Laboratories from 1952 to1991, is the oldest winner of aNobel prize, beating outAmerican Leonid Hurwiczwho was 90 when he won the2007 Economics Prize.

Meanwhile Mourou, 74,and Strickland -- only the thirdwoman to win the PhysicsPrize -- won for helping devel-op a method to generate ultra-short optical pulses, “the short-est and most intense laser puls-es ever created by mankind,”the jury said.

Their technique is nowused in corrective eye surgery.

Mourou was affiliated withthe Ecole Polytechnique ofFrance and the University ofMichigan in the US, whileStrickland, his student, is a pro-fessor at the University ofWaterloo in Canada.

Speaking by phone to theacademy, a moved Stricklandsaid she was thrilled to receivethe Nobel prize that has beenthe least accessible for women.

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ASaudi woman has lost ajudicial battle to marry

the man of her choice as a courtdeemed him “religiously” unfitbecause he plays a musicalinstrument, a Saudi newspaperreported on Tuesday.

The ultra-conservativekingdom requires women toseek permission from male“guardians” — their fathers,husbands or other male rela-tives — to travel, get marriedand other tasks.

In some parts of the king-dom, a man who plays a musi-cal instrument is considered ofinferior status and having a badreputation.

Two years ago the suitor, a

teacher, asked for the hand ofthe woman, a 38-year-old bankmanager from the ultra-con-servative region of Qassim,north of the capital Riyadh,Okaz newspaper said.

But her family objected,saying he was not “religiouslycompatible” with her becausehe played the oud, the orientallute which is popular across theArab world.

The woman, who was notnamed, took her case to thecourts. A lower court weighedin on the side of the family, say-ing the marriage could not gothrough.

“Because the suitor plays amusical instrument he isunsuitable for the woman froma religious point of view,” the

court said, according to Okaz.An appeals court ratified

the verdict, making it final, thenewspaper added. The womantold Okaz she will seek inter-vention from the country’s“highest authorities” — a ref-erence to the royal court.

The bank manager, whoholds a masters degree and isresponsible for more than 300employees, said she was deter-mined to marry her suitor,describing him as “very piousand with a good reputation”.

Saudi Arabia, a major USally, has introduced a string ofreforms over the past yearaimed at improving the king-dom’s image, including endinga longstanding ban on womendriving.

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France accused Iran’s intelli-gence Ministry on Tuesday

of being behind a foiled plot tobomb an exiled oppositiongroup near the French capitalin a move that risks strainingalready complicated tiesbetween Paris and Tehran.

The French governmentannounced it was freezingassets belonging to two sus-pected Iranian intelligenceoperatives, as well as othersbelonging to Iran’s ministry ofintelligence and security.

The decision to take retal-iatory measures and go publicwith the accusations was takenthree months after the allegedplot to bomb a meeting of thePeople’s Mujahedeen of Iran(MEK) in a suburb of Paris.

“This extremely seriousact envisaged on our territorycould not go without aresponse,” France’s interior,foreign and economy ministerssaid in a rare joint statement.

“In taking this decision,France underlines its determi-nation to fight against terror-ism in all its forms, particularly

on its own territory.” A French diplomatic

source told AFP that the secu-rity forces had concluded that“the head of operations at the(Iranian) intelligence ministryordered it”.

Iran immediately deniedany involvement, as it did inJuly when the MEK accused itof being responsible.

The alleged bomb plotcame to light two days afterthousands of Iranian opposi-tion supporters gathered atan exhibition centre outsideParis on June 30.

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(��0��#��7��8"��*::Palu: More than 1,200 peopleare now known to have died inthe quake-tsunami thatsmashed into Sulawesi,Indonesia said Tuesday, aspolice pledged to clamp downon looting by survivors takingadvantage of the chaos.

There were reports of offi-cers firing warning shots andtear gas to ward off people ran-sacking shops in Palu, a coastal

city ravaged by a 7.5-magnitudequake and the tsunami itspawned. Almost 2,00,000 peo-ple are in need of urgent help,the United Nations says, amongthem thousands of children.Survivors are battling thirstand hunger, with food andclean water in short supply, andlocal hospitals are overwhelmedby the number of injured.

Police said on Tuesday that

they had previously tolerateddesperate survivors taking foodand water from closed shops,but had now arrested 35 peo-ple for stealing computers andcash.

“On the first and secondday clearly no shops were open.People were hungry. Therewere people in dire need. That’snot a problem,” said Ari DonoSukmanto.

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Irked by former dictatorPervez Musharraf ’s failure to

come back to Pakistan and faceongoing cases against him,Chief Justice Saqib Nisar onTuesday warned that if the“courageous commando” doesnot appear soon, he may beforced to return in a disgrace-ful manner.

Chief Justice Nisar madethe remarks when Musharraf ’slawyer told the three-judgebench that his client “respectsthe court” but was unable toreturn due to his medical con-dition and reservations over theprovision of security.

Musharraf, 75, who hasbeen living in Dubai since2016, is facing the high-profiletreason case for suspending theConstitution in 2007. The for-mer military ruler left forDubai in March 2016 for med-ical treatment and has notreturned since citing securityand health reasons.

His lawyer Akhtar Shahtold the court that there wereno charges against the former

president in the Lal Masjidoperation case and demandedto know what the case againsthis client was. He may not faceany charges in the Lal Masjidcase, but he is facing a treasoncase for which he must appearin court, replied Chief JusticeNisar. If Musharraf returnsvoluntarily, he may be able todo so respectably otherwise hemay be compelled to returnunder circumstances whichare not “graceful”, the top judgewarned.

Chief Justice Nisar referredto Musharraf ’s background asan army commando to taunthim for showing cowardice.

“The commando who usedto describe himself as a ‘coura-geous commando’ should todaydisplay that courage,” he said.

“Why is the courageouscommando not returning?” heasked. The top judge told thelawyer that already the courthad promised foolproof secu-rity to Musharraf and also besttreatment in the country.

“I told you before that if hereturns, he will be providedsecurity,” he said.

“I am giving you this assur-ance. It is the assurance of thehighest court in the country,”Chief Justice Nisar said. “Aslong as (Musharraf) is alive, itis his duty to appear before thecourt,” he added.

He further said that it wasnot acceptable for a citizen toleave the country and notreturn while a case againstthem is underway in courts.

The chief justice alsopromised that the former mil-itary ruler would not be arrest-ed upon his return, and thatwhatever the outcome of thecases, it would be strictly in linewith the law. The court orderedMusharraf ’s lawyer to submithis medical report within aweek and adjourned the hear-ing until October 11.

Last week, MuhammadAmjad, a leader of the AllPakistan Muslim League(APML) — a political partyfloated by Musharraf in 2010 —had said that the former pres-ident was “growing weakerrapidly” due to an unspecifiedillness and, therefore, could notreturn to Pakistan.

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Asuicide attack on a politi-cal rally in eastern

Afghanistan killed at least 13people on Tuesday, officialssaid, as the country braces foran escalation in violence aheadof this month’s parliamentaryelection.

The attack is the first sui-cide assault since campaigningofficially began last Friday forthe long-delayed ballot, prepa-rations for which have alreadybeen marred by dozens ofbloody attacks.

More than 40 people werewounded, some of them criti-cally, when the militant blewhimself up among supportersof candidate Abdul NasirMohmmand in Nangarharprovince, provincial governorspokesman Ataullah Khogyanisaid. Mohmmand survived theattack, Khogyani confirmed,but he did not say if the can-didate had been hurt.

Provincial health directorNajibullah Kamawal put thedeath toll slightly higher at 14.

An AFP reporter sawnumerous ambulances deliv-ering bodies and woundedpeople to a hospital in theprovincial capital of Jalalabad.

Sayed Humayun, who hadbrought his injured cousin tothe medical facility, said scoresof people had been inside a halllistening to campaign speech-es when the bomber struck.

“I heard a big explosion,”Humayun told AFP.

“For a while I could notsee, I thought I was blinded, butlater I saw I was surrounded bybodies and people covered inblood.” The force of the blastcaused the ceiling to collapseon top of the gathering.

“There are still peopletrapped under the rubble,”Malik Zeerak, who was at therally, told AFP.

Siraj ur Rehman, whose legwas hurt in the blast, saidMohmmand had begunaddressing his supporters whenhe heard “a big bang from themiddle of the room”.

No group immediatelyclaimed the attack, but theIslamic State group has takenresponsibility for most of thesuicide bombings in recentmonths.

Violence has plagued therun-up to Afghanistan’s par-liamentary vote, which isscheduled for October 20 —more than three years after itwas supposed to be held.

Five candidates have beenmurdered in targeted killings,according to the IndependentElection Commission, andhundreds of civilians have beenkilled or wounded in poll-related violence.

The latest attack comesamid predictions for Afghanbattle deaths to top 20,000 thisyear — including civilians andcombatants.

E-TENDER NOTICE NO. 14 FOR-2018-2019Online Tenders (e-tender) in "B-2" form for 2 ( Two) works in which 2 (Two) Road

Renewal works are invited by the Executive Engineer, P.W. Division No.2, Jalgaon forand behalf of Government of Maharashtra, through the Electonic TenderManagement System, http://mahatenders.gov.in from the Reputed andExperienced Contractors / Firms who fullfill the term and condition of Tender. Therights are reserved to reject all or any tender by Superitending Engineer/ ExecutiveEngineer. Conditional tenders are not acceptable.

The details can be viewed and downloaded online from dated 03/10/2018 at 16.00Hrs. to dated 29/10/2018 at 18.45 Hrs. directly from the Government of Maharashtrae- tendering Protal http://mahatenders.gov.in This detailed tender notice is availableon portal http://mahatenders.gov.in and also on www.mahapwd.com and onNotice Board of the Office of Executive Engineer, Public Works Division No.2,Jalgaon.

Sd/-Executive Engineer

Public Works Division No. 2,DGIPR/2018/2019/3352 Jalgaon.

GOVERNMENT OF MAHARASHTRA.Public Works Department.

Executive Engineer, Publice Works Divison No.2, JalgaonE-mail: [email protected]

GOVERNMENT OF MAHARASHTRA WATER RESOURCES DEPARTMENT

EXECUTIVE ENGINEER, IRRIGATION PROJECT CONSTRUCTION DIVISION, RATNAGIRI

E-TENDER NOTICE NO. 05 FOR 2018-19Online E-Tender in B-l form for below mentioned work are invited by ExecutiveEngineer, Irrigation Project Construction Division, Ratnagiri Water ResourcesDepartment, Govt, of Maharashtra from eligible contractors of work. The tenderdocuments are available for online bid preparation & submission from websitemain Portal: http://mahatenders.gov.in . The right to accept or reject the abovesaid e-tender without assigning any reason rests with the competent authority.Conditional tender will not be accepted.Sr. Name of work Estimated cost put to No tender1. Construction of Pipe Distribution Network on Left 48,29,37,305/-

Bank Canal km 17 to 38 of Arjuna Medium Irrigation Project Tal.Rajapur, Dist. Ratnagiri.

2 Construction of Pipe Distribution Network on Right 67,55,14,113/-Bank Canal km 18 to 57.38 of Arjuna Medium Irrigation Project Tal.Rajapur, Dist Ratnagiri.

3 Construction of Pipe Distribution Network on 25,48,36,815/-Tamhane branch Canal of Arjuna Medium Irrigation Project, Tal.Rajapur, Dist.Ratnagiri.

Sale/Download of e-tender - 03/10/2018 to 27/10/2018 Date of opening of tender - 31/10/2018The detail information regarding E-Tender will be available on following website.1 http://maharashtra.gov.in2 http://mahatenders.gov.in

(If any change on tender notice will be made available on web site.)3 Also available on Notice Board of Executive Engineer, Irrigation Project

Construction Division, Ratnagiri.4 Post Qualification process is applicable for above tender.

Sd/-EXECUTIVE ENGINEER,

IRRIGATION PROJECT CONSTRUCTION DIVISION,DGIPR/2018/2019/3359 KUWARBAW RATNAGIRI

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A relook at future of industrialisationwww.dailypioneer.com

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There are any number of citizens who feel‘just as well that Air India has not beensold, it’s akin to selling the family jewels.’

To put the corporation on sale, wait for sever-al weeks and then fail to get even one offer, how-ever low, was a lesson for the Government tolearn. In fact, for a perceiving observer, theMaharajah story is a compendium of what notto do with a national asset. In principle, the ModiGovernment was right when it stated ‘jis deshki sarkar vyapari, wo desh bhikari’ (in a coun-try whose Government is a trader, that nationwill be a beggar).

The objective conditions in India are such asto require a relook at the Government’s policy ofprivatization as well as future industrialisation. Thefollowing is a bad example but nevertheless it isnot an uncommon one; ur else, the bank NPAswould not have been so enormous:

Quite some years ago, an acquaintance of thewriter wanted a project manager who would later

be suitable for taking over as chief executive. Thegentleman asked the writer to look out for any-one he knew who could fit the bill. To explain,he said what he was about. It was a mini steelplant; its project cost estimate was �20 crore. Themachinery, the costing of which he could takeliberty with, was worth about �10 crore and heproposed to jack that figure up to �15 crore.Financial institutions would lend at least two-thirds of the �15 crore which meant �10 crore.The capital was to be a total of �10 crore to bedivided into — half by promoters and half by so-called public subscription. The first half was tobe shared between the acquaintance and the Stategovernment, two and a half crore each since thesteel mill was a joint sector unit. If all went well,he would get five crore from the machinery sup-plier and invest only half of that in shares. Inshort, the project would for him make a profitof two-and-a-half crore rupees much before anysteel was produced! This is only an illustrationof how the worst entrepreneurs think. Thewriter’s reaction to the acquaintance was: Whystart siphoning before the project starts? Helaughed and said: “You are too innocent.”

There is a widespread impression that pri-vatization of industry will deliver the goodswhich the public sector has failed to do. We needto look at this belief afresh. Has the communi-ty of entrepreneurs delivered the goods in set-ting up industrial units of its own choice? Yesand no, it is a mixed picture. There are a fewoutstanding performances, some successful

enterprises but there are innumerable cases offailures and closures. Quite a few industrialestates for small and medium units look likeindustrial graveyards. The quality of managersis not greatly different between the private andpublic sectors though the opportunity to be acommitted professional who works hard at hisjob is greater in the private sector.

The prevalence of ill-conceived projectchoices has existed in both sectors. For instance,the Government has promoted some quiteweird schemes like a fruit export corporation ora photo film company. At the same time, someprivate promoters who were essentially tradersdid not graduate to an industrial culture andfailed. Corruption was and remains a commonfactor; the odd entrepreneur drew out cash assome corporations were favorite cash cows of theGovernment, like the State Trading Corporationin its heyday. In skills, ideas and integrity, over-all there has been no significant difference.Kingfisher Airlines and Air India are a useful illus-tration of the failure of integrity in the two respec-tive sectors; in the former case by a private play-er and in the latter by ministers and bureaucrats.To add to the public sector’s woes came the sickand closed units from private sector failures. TheTextile Corporation is one example.

Neither sector is likely to deliver India’snational goods as are necessary to take its indus-trial economy into the super league. Untilrecently, there was an imaginary hope that pri-vate entrepreneurs would help to take over some

PSUs and then proceed to set up large units. Noone, however, had the time to look at the prior-ities of private industrialists. They are either fullyinvested with no financial surpluses large enoughto takeover more industries or themselves sickand have huge NPAs and/or are trapped in insol-vency. Moreover, not many of even the viablebusiness houses have managed to inspire the faiththat can attract unlimited public investment. Thepeople at large have plenty of spare money toinvest; in fact, there is a shortage of investmentopportunities. Foreign industrial giants may notbe in a hurry to set up industrial units with onlytheir money plus the expectation of public sub-scriptions. The Central Government has to stepin and play a financial or investment role. If thatwere possible without scope of Government inter-ference, foreigners could be attracted.

The reason why many a PSU has failed andothers did not succeed was that we did not dis-tinguish between administration and manage-ment or between the importance of disciplinedprocedure and of generating profit. The IAS offi-cer knew the former and generally enforced iteffectively but profit-making was not part of theethos he grew up in. In fact, in Nehruvian India,profit was a dirty word. For many years JawaharlalNehru considered many a profiteer as deservingto being hanged on a lamp post. And often thenew IAS batch began its career with a speech byPrime Minister Nehru. Moreover, the joint sec-retary seldom learnt the tricks of keeping out thefingers of his pecky minister. And yet he acted

the role of a member of the owner family andtried to drive fear in the heart of the PSU unit’smanaging director. Adherence to procedure andaccurate accounting as well as discipline areimportant for all enterprises, whether public orprivate. But objective number one of any busi-ness has to be profit, no doubt keeping in mindfair and legal practice. When it comes to large-scale finance, a resort to the Government trea-sury is virtually indispensible. The question nowis how to reconcile depending on the State and,at the same time, ensuring its non-interference.

The answer would lie in a synthesis of man-agement excellence supported by State financewhile ensuring the protection of every stakehold-er. This is possible and it is best illustrated byquoting a live example and then describing a pro-posed model. Larsen & Toubro was for manyyears well managed by its two founder gentle-men and later their successors. Few commonobservers realized that 54 per cent of the com-pany’s shares were owned by Governmentfinancial institutions. The company was not con-sidered public sector because the President ofIndia i.e. the Government directly did have sharesin it. The Reliance Group later came into Larsen& Toubro and the share holding profile changed.Then they sold out; the company was demergedto split it into two, the profile changed further.

Now for a model for the future, theGovernment should confine its industrial invest-ment to lending money at a reasonable rate ofinterest to its financial institutions like LIC, GIC

and its subsidiaries as well as banks. Suppose aEuropean corporation of repute wants to cometo India in order to manufacture its line of prod-ucts. It needs the economy of scale in produc-tion; at the same time, it may be reluctant toinvest large enough sums to be able to controla majority share-holding. Hence one mustenable the European company to have only 26per cent holding and yet with a guarantee by atleast 25 per cent of institutional holders to votewith the company for a certain number of years.The rest of the shares can be offered to the pub-lic; if individuals do not subscribe to the full bal-ance 49 per cent, the institutions should be will-ing to step in. The European firm would bringwith it its style of management, its technology,its brand equity, all for 26 per cent holding. Itshould therefore be entitled to a royalty onturnover of product sale. Such a scheme shouldbe open to reputable Indian corporates too.

If this model were to succeed to attractindustrial growth, the present PSUs could alsobe dealt with on similar lines. Incidentally, pro-vided the management of greenfield companiesproves to be efficient and cuts down on their ges-tation time substantially, the State could be wellplaced to find funds on a large scale throughdeficit financing. Delays in the completion ofprojects are criminal; they cause inflation andperhaps render the product out-dated. This couldlead to the unit go sick before it takes off.

(The writer is a well-known columnist andan author)

�� Sir — Lok Sabha Speaker SumitraMahajan deserves acknowledgement forher bold comments against indefinitecontinuance of policy of ‘reservation’,which in fact is also against the basicprinciple of BR Ambedkar. The policyof reservation was incorporated in theConstitution for a limited period of just10 years for the creation of a homoge-neous casteless society.

Unfortunately, vote-bank politicshas made politicians cut across party-lines racing in advocacy for continuingreservation for an indefinite period.

Practically, the policy of reservation isresponsible for making people ofreserved categories separated from thoseof general unreserved category. A poli-cy which could not fulfill its basic pur-pose in stipulated 10-years period, is initself an established failed policy.Otherwise also, main beneficiaries of thepolicy are ultra-rich politicians who arenot excluded as creamy layer of thereserved categories.

Brahmin priests in temples are in factneedier for reservation when people insmall temples search for coins of small-est denomination to offer to the deitiesin temples. Caste-based reservation can

gradually be abolished by not allowingbenefits of reservation to persons andfamilies above some limit, and havingmore than two children in the family.

SC AgrawalDelhi

��Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Progressive law” (October 2). It isindeed a historic decision by theKarnataka Government to give legal pro-tection to good samaritans who rescuevictims on the road. I endorse the viewsof the editorial that it is the bystanderswho are critical entities in ensuring that

medical assistance is available to the vic-tims at the earliest. And we all know thatit can be a matter of life and death if time-ly help is not given to the victims of roadmishaps. Hopefully, now bystanderswill stop making videos and reach outto help the needy.

Bal Govind Noida

�� Sir — This refers to the article, “ForGandhi’s India” (September 30) byPramod Pathak. At a time when we aremaking big strides in the field of devel-opment internationally, news of little girls

dying of hunger, farmers taking theextreme step under the burden of debtsand mob lynching do fly in the face ofMahatma Gandhi’s vision of India.

There’s no dearth of wealth in Indiabut maldistribution is responsible forthe sorry state of affairs. Hence, the realtribute to Gandhiji will be an obser-vance of his philosophy about amelio-ration of the poor, the needy and thedestitute in society.

Azhar Ali KhanRampur

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The Government has formed a committee of sixChief Ministers to represent the farmers’

interests and address the issue of farm labour.—Union Minister

GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT

The farmers are not satisfied with the Government’sassurance. We will discuss it and then decide on

future course of action. I cannot decide that alone.—Bharatiya Kisan Union chief

NARESH TIKAIT

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It is a singular honour for me todeliver the 3rd Justice JS VermaMemorial Lecture on ‘Freedom& Responsibility of Media in theevolving media space’. I am,

therefore, thankful to the organisersfor having invited me to share myviews with all of you.

As all of you here are aware,Justice Verma was a highly respect-ed legal luminary, who had served asthe Chief Justice of India and theChairman of the National HumanRights Commission with utmost dis-tinction. He was a firm believer inprotecting fundamental rights, ensur-ing social justice and empowermentof women. Justice Verma was a manof great erudition and his knowledgeand wisdom were tempered with highethical and moral values. Above all,he was an outstanding humanistwho delivered several landmarkjudgements, including the celebratedVishaka case, which set the guidelinesto prevent harassment of women atwork places. He was the Chairman ofthe Justice Verma Committee, whichrecommended amendments to crim-inal law in the wake of the heinousNirbhaya incident in Delhi.

Sisters and brothers, we are liv-ing in eventful times, and will perhapseventually move to a more mel-lowed phase when it comes to cover-age and dissemination of news.Earlier, news was considered sacro-sanct. News was nothing but unadul-terated reportage of happenings — anunalloyed, distilled presentation offacts. That was the golden epoch ofIndian journalism which saw manya colossus, like Frank Moraes, DurgaDas, Khasa Subba Rau and MChalapathi Rau, besides ShriRamnath Goenka and CR Irani andothers, straddle the stage of news with-out fear or favour. Today, however, wehave news, breaking news and the so-called “fake news”, apart from the con-stant flow of information or disinfor-mation, ideas, updates, alerts andother content on the digital media.

Thanks to technological advancesand the information and communi-cation technology revolution, thechanging landscape of journalism hasgone through a momentous revolu-tion. Unprecedented changes in the

last few decades with ever-expandingnetworks of 24x7 television newschannels, Print and digital media havechanged the face of the media.

In fact, the digital media providesnews by the minute in a “fastest fin-ger first” mode, with alerts and flash-es on smartphones. In this milieu,with media houses scrambling to flashnews alerts to an ever-widening baseof users, freedom and responsibilityof the media acquire far greater sig-nificance than ever before. In the pre-sent digital era when millions areusing social media platforms, journal-ists will have to be extra careful inchecking the veracity of informationand guard against ‘fake news’ disin-formation and misinformation.Vested interests and mischievous ele-ments will always try to spread falsestories. In the recent past, we havebeen witness to the unfortunate inci-dents of lynchings due to false infor-mation on social media. Throughsocial media, fake news tends tomorph seamlessly into authenticnews and gets channelised throughrespectable media platforms. This isa dangerous trend and it is here wherethe media needs to tread cautiously.

In fact, the UNESCO has recent-ly published a handbook on‘Journalism, Fake News andDisinformation’ which I am sure willbe useful for journalists and journal-ism educators. In today’s times, thecardinal principles of journalism,such as truth, objectivity, accuracy,credibility, fairness, impartiality,humanity and accountability, seem tohave taken a back seat with news pur-veyors themselves assuming the roleof gate-keepers. Most news channelsare obsessed with lending primacy totheir points of view.

Some of our senior journalistshave become blatantly biased in theiropinions, as their Twitter timelinesreveal. This trend is best witnessedduring debates on television channelsand the manner in which certaindevelopments, events or even trivialincidents get disproportionatelyprominent coverage and get slantedin newspapers or online websites. Thedisturbing trend of mixing newswith views has become the new nor-mal. Thus, the viewer or reader, whohas been reduced to a passive recip-ient of one-sided information, willhave to read three or four newspapersor watch three or more televisionnews channels to get a fairly properperspective of an issue or a develop-ment. At other times, he/she is forcedto take sides based on the channelhe/she watches or the website he/she

relies upon for news. This is rather anunfortunate situation in which we findourselves today.

Some of you may not agree withmy views or may not find them palat-able. But truthful reportage hasbecome a casualty due to a cocktailof commercial interests, ideologicalleanings and insane scramble forbreaking stories. Of course, some sec-tions of the media have become pro-pagandists of a particular ideologyand reduced broadsheet journalismto pamphleteering. In such a scenario,freedom and responsibility cannot beconsidered inseparable. They are asinter-dependent on each other as atelevision channel is on an OB Van ora newspaper on newsprint.

Tolerance, acceptance and assim-ilation of diverse viewpoints have beenthe hallmark of Indian civilisation.This broader vision was reflected bythe founding fathers of the IndianConstitution when they drafted it. Themedia derives its right to free speechfrom the broader ambit of freedom ofexpression guaranteed under Article19(1) (a) of the Constitution. Barring,the infamous dark days of theEmergency period, the judiciary hasconsistently ensured that this freedomenjoyed by the media is not abridgedunder any circumstances.

The freedom of media is notabsolute and is circumscribed by cer-tain reasonable restrictions relating tosecurity of State, public order, decen-cy or morality, defamation and con-tempt of court and sovereignty and

integrity of India.I have always maintained that dis-

sent is always welcome but not dis-integration. Let me elaborate further.A democracy can thrive only whenall shades of opinion are allowed tobe expressed fully and freely. Anyattempt to stifle or shut out contrar-ian viewpoints is unhealthy for ademocracy and will stunt intellectu-al development. At the same time,anarchic forces cannot be allowed tocreate chaos, dissensions and under-mine the country’s unity and integri-ty in the garb of freedom. EveryIndian citizen has a responsibility inprotecting the sovereignty and integri-ty of the country.

The media, which always cham-pions the cause of the underdog andacts as a watchdog, has far greaterresponsibility because of its opinion-moulding influence on society as alsoon those in power. This responsibil-ity becomes all the more acute in adeveloping country like India wherethe perception of the masses is shapedby what they see and read. Not everyreader or viewer can discern the dif-ference between motivated reportageand an unbiased news story. Thisresponsibility is not only confined tonews coverage. The media, particu-larly the television medium, shouldnot promote programmes or serialswhich seek to justify superstitions orpromote irrational beliefs. I feel thatthere should also be some check onsponsored health programmes, whichmake exaggerated claims on benefits

of health products. The social responsibility on the

shoulders of the media is far greaterin a country like India where stillmore than 20 per cent of the pop-ulation is not literate and around thesame number is below the povertyline. Parliament has given the PrasarBharati, India’s public broadcaster,specific responsibilities whichinclude strengthening democracyand democratic values; respectingIndia’s diversity and providing spaceand encouragement to the country’sdiverse cultures; and caring for theunderprivileged.

The Prasar Bharati has beencarrying out these responsibilitieswith utmost diligence. But, I do feelthat in a country like ours where weare still grappling with inequalitywith huge number of people livingbelow the poverty line and not yetliterate, all media houses have thisresponsibility too. In India’s context,every media house must imbibe thequalities of public service broad-caster, to some extent at least.

As long as TRPs dictate the con-tent of the electronic media, thescope for trivialising and sensation-alising issues will only increase.Most of the time, prime time debatestend to focus on non-serious issues,which hardly serve to promote thegreater good of the society. And attimes, there is a danger of suchdebates creating an atmosphere ofill-will among groups rather thanforging harmonious relations.

The other issues that require acloser look vis-à-vis freedom andresponsibility include changing pat-terns of ownership or cross-owner-ship, the menace of paid news, mediaintrusion into individual’s privacy inthe name of sting operations and vir-tual media trials of sensational cases.In my opinion, self-regulation is thebest solution and I hope that mediaorganisations and associated bodieswill introspect on the issues flaggedby me. As you are aware, the Press hasbeen described as the Fourth Estatebecause of the game-changing role itplays in a democracy along withLegislature, Executive and Judiciary.From the days of pre-Independencewhen the Press gave a big impetus toIndia’s freedom struggle against Britishimperialism to the current digitally-driven era, the media hascome a long way.

The media should act as abridge between the Government andpeople. It ought to ensure that jus-tice is not denied to the people, par-ticularly the vulnerable and margin-alised sections of society. It shouldgive equal importance to all regionsof the country and all segments ofsociety. Often, we see excessivefocus on political developmentsand on events closer to the Capitaland major metropolitan cities. Thismust change. The media must focuson development and welfare.

At the risk of sounding didac-tic, let me add that the media mustenlighten people on their rights asonly an informed citizenry can pro-vide the best checks and balances ina democracy. The media should alsoact as an instrument of reformationin the transformation of India intoa leading economic power in thecoming decades. Finally, I would liketo reiterate that MEDIA shouldfunction as ‘Means of Empowermentfor Development through InformedActions’. Swachh Bharat, BetiBachao, Beti Padhao, Per drop percrop, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan andother such programmes should beencouraged and given prominence.Information with confirmation ismore than ammunition.Development should be news ratherthan destruction. Sensationalism issenseless. In Parliament, too, con-structive debate and not obstructionshould get prominence.

Jai Hind.(Text of the speech delivered by the

author, Vice President of India, at thethird Justice JS Verma MemorialLecture on ‘Freedom & Responsibilityof Media in the evolving media space’)

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The 133-year-old Congress during itsheydays would have shuddered tothink of a day when it would have

to resort to crowd-funding to augment itsfinances. The cash-rich party, which hadbeen in power for over 50 of the 70 yearssince Independence, is facing an unprece-dented fund crunch due to various rea-sons. It has reached the bottom now withthe party launching a 40-day booth com-mittee fund raising programme fromOctober 2. The Congress leadershipappealed for funds in a tweet, “TheCongress needs your support and help.Help us restore the democracy which Indiahas proudly embraced since 70 years bymaking a small contribution”. FormerUnion Minister Shashi Tharoor eventweeted that there should be no embarrass-ment in accepting the facts.

With elections due in three BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP)-ruled States —Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh — and 2019 Lok Sabhapoll, there is an urgent need for the partyto mobilise its resources. Facing a stringof defeats in State after State since 2014,the Congress coffers are almost empty.Corporate funding too have dried up per-haps because the Congress is not perceivedto be poised for a return. Gone are thestrong State leaders who would collectfunds in States.

The Congress has been tightening itsbelt for some time. According to the partyconstitution, the members are supposed todonate 10 per cent of their earnings andthe party has now asked them to step uptheir donations. The other easy route is tocut down expenses. With the party rulingbarely in four or five States, the Congresshas even stopped sending money to theState units for day-to-day expenses. Budgethas also been cut by almost half for meet-ings and also on celebrations.

In olden days, many political partiesused to collect smaller donations (chan-

da). Over the years, this system has dis-appeared with parties resorting to makemoney through deals if it is in power, orthrough corporate donations. They meetthe poll expenses from donations, partymembership fee and interest earned onfixed deposits, and other savings. However,with campaign expenses touching astro-nomical figures with huge election rallies,chartered flights, media advertisementsand other expenses, opposition partieshave been unable to meet the cost.

The following figures might give a clue.According to the Association forDemocratic reforms (ADR), during the2014 Lok Sabha election, national partiesspent �858.97 crore on publicity, �311.8crore on travels, �104.28 crore on otherexpenses and �311.47 crore on expendituretowards candidates. It was shocking thatalmost 69 per cent of the income for theseparties had come from unknown sources.

Related to that is inequalities in elec-tion expenditure. The ADR notes that thetotal funds collected by all national par-ties in 2014 Lok Sabha poll was �1,158crore, up from �854.89 in 2009 polls. The

BJP collected �5.88 billion while theCongress received �3.50 billion followedby the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)with �77.85 crore and Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) with �77.26 crore. The income of theBJP increased by 81.18 per cent to�1,034.27 crore while that of the Congressdecreased by 14 per cent to �225.36 crorebetween 2015-16 and 2016-17.

The Congress is still the second rich-est party but far behind the BJP. TheGovernment had announced an electoralbond scheme in 2017 but this was notenough and much more needs to be done.

The Election Commission has a longlist of suggestions, including decriminali-sation of politics, reforms of political par-ties, auditing of accounts of parties, check-ing black money in polls, making ‘paidnews’ an electoral offence, and punishmentfor false affidavit by candidates and cappingof anonymous donations to 20 per cent.

Several panels have recommendedpoll reforms, including GoswamiCommittee (1990), Vohra Committee(1993), Indrajit Gupta Committee onState Funding of Elections (1998), LawCommission Report on Reform of theElectoral Laws (1999), ElectionCommission’s Proposed Electoral Reforms(2004) and Second AdministrativeReforms Commission (2008). One sugges-tion was state funding but there was noconsensus on this.

It is time to push through these longpending big-bang electoral reforms tocleanse politics. Prime Minister NarendraModi has been talking of ‘one nation onepoll.’ This could be the beginning but otherissues like criminalisation of politics, useof money and muscle power, transparen-cy in election funding, auditing of accountsof political parties, and their regulationalso need to be tackled.

Even the Supreme Court in a recentjudgement has left it to Parliament tocheck criminalisation of politics. Lastyear, the Court had also ruled that seek-ing votes in the name of religion, race,caste community, or language of a candi-date would amount to corrupt practice. Nodoubt these cannot be done in a day butit has to start some time or the other, thesooner the better. What is needed more ispolitical will and consensus for reforms.

(The writer is a senior political commen-tator and syndicated columnist)

Ensuring electoral transparency

Press freedom and responsibilityDissent is always welcome but not advocacy of disintegration. A democracy can thrive only when all shades of opinion

are expressed freely. Any attempt to stifle or shut out contrarian viewpoints will stunt intellectual development

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It is encouraging that Indian Railway staffers will nowhave the power to handle unruly passengers on trains. Allofficials and not just Railway Protection Force officerswill have the power to de-board any passenger found dis-turbing others or vitiating the atmosphere, UttarakhandHigh Court has held, calling for the imposition of finesand even imprisonment for incorrigible passengers benton creating a nuisance. Of course, this must not be takenby railway staff to mean that they can throw people offthe train according to their whims and fancies!

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Anew Guinness Book ofWorld Record was created

on the occasion of the 150thbirthday of Father of the NationMohandas KaramchandGandhi when 5149 children inGandhiji’s attire gathered inNalgonda on Tuesday.

The children donning a

white loin cloth, head coveredin a white wig or cap, sportinga reading glass and carrying astick in hand gathered to paytheir respects to Gandhiji in anovel style. The programme tocreate the world record wasorganized by Gandhi GyanPratishthan and Global Familyorganisation. Earlier recordwas of Bengaluru where 4605children in “Gandhi style” hadgathered there.

Interestingly, the newGuinness record was created inthe same Nalgonda districtwhich has a temple dedicated toMahatma Gandhi.

The two-floor temple atPedda Kaparthy village alsoboasts of a library, which hasbooks on all religions in accor-dance with Gandhiji’s teachingsand philosophy of peaceful co-existence.

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The fight for the crucialMuslim votes in the forth-

coming Telangana Assemblyelections between the rulingTelangana Rashtra Samiti andthe Opposition Congress hasintensified. While the Congresshas alleged that the TRS is incahoots with the BJP andNarendra Modi, the TRS isbusy wooing the minority bymaking several new promisesin its manifesto.

Telangana State Congresspresident N Uttam KumarReddy has lashed out at the“secret nexus” between the rul-ing Telangana Rashtra Samitiand the BJP and cautioned thepeople that a vote for KCR(Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao) is a vote forthe BJP and Narendra Modi. Atthe same time he also attackedthe Muslim political party Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader-ship for its support to the KCRGovernment.

Addressing a press confer-ence in Hyderabad on Tuesday,Uttam Kumar Reddy said thatMIM’s support to the TRS wasincomprehensible as KCR dur-ing his four and a half year-longrule has not done anything forthe Muslim minority. “Why arethey supporting TRS when theTRS Government failed to ful-fil the promise of 12% reser-vation to the Muslims and

supported the BJP in the elec-tions of President and VicePresident”, he said, warningthat in the Lok Sabha electionsTRS will join hands with theBJP. “This is the reason KCRadvanced the Assembly polls”.

Uttam Kumar Reddyalleged that the Owaisi broth-ers were supporting the TRSfor their own selfish interestand misleading the Muslimcommunity.

Reddy also alleged that theTRS Government had failed inprotecting Waqf properties,90% minority colleges wereclosed because of the nonreimbursement of fee by theGovernment and not even 10%minority youth were sanc-tioned loans.

Recalling the “Alerencounter” in which fiveMuslim under trial prisonerswere killed by the police fouryears ago the Congress presi-dent said that so far not a sin-gle report was prepared an noaction was taken against thepolicemen involved. “KCR

promised to develop old cityinto Istanbul but nothing wasdone”, he added.

Uttam Kumar Reddy’s out-burst came after MIM presidentAsaduddin Owaisi in severalmedia interactions and otheroccasions declared his full sup-port to Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao and exud-ed confidence that the TRS willcome back to power for the sec-ond consecutive term.

AT the same time he alsorepeatedly targeted Congressparty and held it responsible forthe weakening of secularism inthe country. He was critical ofCongress president RahulGandhi for adopting softHindutva line to copy the BJP.

In a related development a

large delegation of Muslimintellectuals led by the stateJamat-e-Islami Hind presidentMoulana Hamid MohammedKhan called on the ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Raoin Hyderabad and lauded sev-eral unique initiatives of TRSGovernment for the welfareand uplift of Muslim commu-nity. They appreciated steps likeincreasing the minority welfarebudget to �2,000 crore (20 bil-lion), residential schools for theminority students and ShadiMubarak scheme for the mar-riage of poor girls.

At the meeting, also attend-ed by Deputy Chief MinisterMohammed Mahmood Ali,Hamid Mohammed Khancalled for bringing the minori-ty welfare budget under a subplan so that the unutilizedfunds don’t lapse, setting up res-idential junior and degree col-leges for minority students onthe lines of successful residen-tial schools. “TRS has done infour years what others could notdo in 65 years”, he said.

Chief Minister KCR, whohad invited the delegation athis official residence for dis-cussions ahead of preparinghis party’s election manifesto,had a detailed interaction. Hedenied the reports of possibleunderstanding between TRSand the BJP. He alleged thatthe Opposition Congress wasspreading rumors that theTRS was paving the way forPrime Minister Modi to con-test from Secunderabad. “Thisis an attempt to mislead thepeople”, he said.

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When the whole nationpaid tribute to Mahatma

Gandhi on the occasion ofGandhi Jayanti on Tuesday,Tripura Chief Minister BiplabKumar Deb drew a parallelbetween the Father of theNation with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and said thatModi also could move thepeople of India as Gandhiji did.

“When Mahatma Gandhiused to address the nation, all theIndians from village to towns aremoved. Now these days, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi is alsolike that. I will give just oneexample. When Prime MinisterNarendra Modi addressed thenation from Red Fort andappealed to those who hasmoney, who are self-sufficient togive away LPG subsidy, crores ofIndians who are self-sufficientresponded and gave away theLPG subsidy. He is the PrimeMinister. He could have made alaw. He could have asked thePetroleum Minister to make alaw for making income slab foravailing LPG subsidy scheme.But he did not do that, becausehe knows Mahatma Gandhi,”said Deb at a function, a videoof which went viral on Facebook.

“Why I am giving u thisexample… In this country,Mahatma Gandhi came fromthe land of Gujarat whose oneappeal used to move the peopleof India. Now Narendra BhaiModi also came from the land

of Gujarat and his appeal alsocould move the people equally.1.5 crore people of Indiaresponded to his appeal and gaveaway LPG subsidy,” said Deb.

Last week, the Tripura ChiefMinister landed himself in a con-troversy by saying that Primeminister, Narendra Modi has gota brother who runs auto rick-shaw and mother lives in 10X12house. “He (Prime MinsterModi) has got his mother, whois old but Prime minister doesnot keep her in the Prime min-ister’s official residence. She stilllives in a 10X12 house,” said Debwhile addressing a gathering atAgartala on Saturday.

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Gujarat Chief Minister VijayRupani attended the sarva

dharma prarthana sabha (all-religion prayer meeting) andpaid obeisance to Gandhiji onhis 150th birthday atPorbandar.

Accompanied by digni-taries, Rupani went round theroom at Kirti Mandir, theerstwhile house of theMahatma where the Father ofthe Nation was born.

After offering flowers at theportraits of Mahatma Gandhiand Kasturba Gandhi, Rupanisaid that Mahatma’s life was hismessage as his philosophy hassolution to all the problemseven now.

Living up to his experi-ments with truth, non-vio-lence and cleanliness could bethe best tribute to Gandhiji,said Rupani, adding that hisfight against untouchabilitycontinues.

Gujarat has a lwaysmarched ahead on the pathshown by the Mahatma,establishing his mission forSwaraj to Surajya, meaningSelf-Rule to Good

Governance, he added.CM Rupani asked all citi-

zens to rise up to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi slo-gan for Swachch BharatMission started on Gandhiji’sbirthday. He asked all to adoptGandhij’s principle of trustee-ship, serve the destitute andpreserve and practise thevirtues of life.

Later on the day Rupanilaid foundation stone for KhadiMuseum to be developed nearSabarmati Ashram inAhmedabad at an estimatedcost of �19 crore.

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Assam on Tuesday paid richtribute to the Father of the

Nation on the occasion ofGandhi Jayanti with AssamChief Minister SarbanandaSonowal dedicating to the peo-ple India’s tallest national flagat Gandhi Mandap inGuwahati.

The national flag on a319.5 feet pole is the highest inthe country with respect to theaverage elevation of the city.However, it is ranked thirdhighest in the country con-sidering only the height of theflag pole, after at Attari borderwhich is 360 feet and PimpriChinchwad Bhakti ShaktiChawk, Pune, which is 351feet.

Speaking on the occa-sion, Chief Minister Sonowalsaid that the Government ofAssam has resolved to con-tribute its might to the jour-ney of transformation of NewIndia of Mahatma Gandhi’sdream started and spear-headed by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

Sonowal said thatGandhiji’s philosophy on non-violence, swachhata, untouch-ability is still relevant not onlyin India but outside.

“Even the greats likeNelson Mandela, MartinLuther King followedGandhiji’s philosophy to servethe humanity,” he said addingthat installing the tallestNational Flag in the state wasmotivated by Gandhiji’s prin-ciple of nationalism.

Speaking on Gandhiji’s

importance on cleanliness,Sonowal while referring toPrime Minister NarendraModi who launched SwachhBharat Abhiyan on 2 October,2014 to pay tributes to thegreat leader and present hima Clean India on his 150thBirth Anniversary in 2019,said that Swachh BharatAbhiyan is no longerremained a Government pro-gramme, it has become a massmovement.

“The reflections of SwachhBharat Abhiyan can be seen inentire length and breadth of thecountry where people irre-spective of all class are volun-teering themselves to cleanli-ness movement,” he added.Stating Assam Government’scommitment to ‘swachhata’Sonowal said that hisGovernment has constructed26 lakh latrines in the state overpast two years in theGovernment’s bid to declare theState a open defecation free.

He sought cooperationfrom all sections of the peo-ple to make Assam clean andgreen. He also informed thatthe Government is contem-plating to construct ‘signaturestructure/postcard structure’in each hill of the city toenable the administration aswell as the city dwellers to pre-serve the sanctity of hill areasand discourage theirencroachment.

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NSCN (IM) general secre-tary and top Naga nation-

alist leader ThuingalengMuivah has been admitted toa private hospital in New Delhi.Sources in the NSCN (IM)confirmed this on Tuesdayand added that Muivah wasadmitted into the hospital onMonday after he complained of

uneasiness.“It is a routine check-up.

The doctors at the hospital,however, asked him to getadmitted. He is alright and isexpected to be released fromthe hospital in next couple ofdays,” said a senior NSCN(IM) leader from Dimapur.

Muviah has been staying inNew Delhi for some time now.The 84-year old Muivah signedthe ‘Framework Agreement’ withthe Government of India onAugust 3, 2015. TheGovernment of India has statedIndo Naga political dialoguehas entered conclusive phase.Muiva’s long time comrade, IsakChishi Swu, passed away in2016.

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A40-year-old CPI-M news-paper in Tripura, ‘Daily

Deshar Katha’, has beenordered closed by the Government on technicalgrounds, leading the Marxists to accuse the State'sBJP Government of commit-ting an "illegal" act.

The West Tripura DistrictMagistrate passed an orderclosing down the Bengalidaily, alleging discrepancies inthe changeover of the man-agement.

Communist Party ofIndia-Marxist (CPI-M) leaderand the newspaper's foundereditor Gautam Das onTuesday said the rulingBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)"pressurised the DistrictMagistrate to do the illegalwork as the newspaper wascrit ical of the StateGovernment's misgovernanceand ruling party's undemoc-ratic ways".

The BJP denied the alle-gations. The Distr ictMagistrate and Collector,Sandeep Mahatme, after con-ducting four hearingsbetween September 12 andOctober 1, passed the ordero nMonday night to suspendpublication of the newspaperwhich began publication in 1978.

Das said that since the

BJP-IPFT (IndigenousPeople's Front of Tripura)Government came to power in March, massive attacks had beenunleashed on Left leaders and cadres.

The circulation of "DailyDeshar Katha" fell to 45,000per day, leaving 1,000 vendorsand hawkers jobless.

"The BJP Governmenttr ied to stop issue ofGovernment advertisementsto the newspaper but theycould not do so due to anorder of the Gauhati HighCourt," Das said.

The newspaper was orig-inally owned by CPI-M.

In 2012, the ownershipwas handed over to a regis-tered society.

Last month it was transferred to a newly formed trust.

"All the procedures have

been done and everythingwas conveyed to the Registrarof Newspapers through theDistr ict Magistrate," he added.

Terming the Mondayaction as a "black day" for theIndian media, Das said thateven during the Emergency in1975-77 no newspaper wasforcibly closed down.

"At the behest of BJP, theDM has done the most unde-mocratic and illegal act. The DM even violated thejudicial procedure," the Leftleader said.

He said the managementof the newspaper would soonseek justice from the appro-priate forum.

He said over 200 journalists and non-journal-ists would now become jobless. BJP spokesmanMrinal Kanti Deb said the BJPhad no hand in the DistrictMagistrate's action. "The CPI-M had hidden facts about themanagement. They havecheated the people. The DMhas only curbed the illegalityof the management of the newspaper," Deb told the media.

In New Delhi, the CPI-Msaid: "This is a brazen attackon the freedom of the press.It is a sad day that (the daily) has stopped pub-l ication on October 2, Gandhi Jayanti."

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Supporters of various Hinduorganisations on Tuesday

took to the streets in variouscities of Kerala to protestagainst the September 28Supreme Court verdict thatthrew open the Sabarimalatemple to women of all ages.

The protest here was led byformer Travancore DevasomBoard (TDB) president andformer Congress legislatorPrayar Gopalakrishnan whosaid that he will oppose the ver-dict "come what may".

He, along with RahulEshwar, a member of theSabarimala temple 'tantric'family, and hundreds of pro-testers rallied in the city andheld up traffic for a while.

The TDB manages theSabarimala temple.

At Kochi, protesters had atiff with police when the latterobjected to hampering the flowof road traffic.

The largest protest was wit-nessed at Pandalam, wheremembers of the erstwhilePandalam royal family, alongwith a large number of men andwomen walked to the VeliyeKoyikal Temple at Pandalamwhile singing hymns.

The family plays an integralrole in the temple affairs and has

already expressed deep dissat-isfaction over the court verdict.

Protesters also rallied atPamba town, which is situatedon the foothills of theSabarimala temple.

"The court order is notacceptable as every religiousplace has its own traditionswhich cannot be overruled by

a court of law as it affects thesentiments of devotees," said aprotester.

Similar protests were alsowitnessed in Palakkad.

On September 28, theapex court had said that theban on women from enteringthe Lord Ayyappa temple vio-lated their fundamental rightsand constitutional guaranteeof equality.

Until now, girls below theage of 10 and women over 50were allowed to visit the hilltopshrine, located in the WesternGhats and about 130 km fromThiruvananthapuram.

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In the past two and a halfyears, 1.61 lakh people have

been arrested for violating theliquor ban imposed by theBihar Government but only141 have been sentenced sofar, an Excise and ProhibitionDepartment official said on Tuesday.

More than 1.33 lakh casesin connection with violationof the prohibition have beenrecorded since the ban was imposed in Bihar byNitish Kumar-led Janata Dal-United Government on April 5, 2016.

The police have conduct-ed raids on over 4 lakh loca-tions while the ExciseDepartment conducted raidson more than 2 lakh locationsand seized over 16 lakh litresof foreign-made liquor andnine lakh litres of country-

made liquor.Besides, police have seized

thousands of litres of spirit andhundreds of beer bottles dur-ing the raids.

"The law enforcementagencies have been directed toact tough against violators,"Kumar said.

In July 2017, BiharAssembly passed amendmentsto the prohibition law to curbits misuse.

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Thiruvananthapuram: Keralamusician and violinistBalabhaskar, who was seri-ously injured in a road acci-dent last week, died here earlyon Tuesday after suffering acardiac arrest, hospital author-ities said. He was 40.

The funeral will be heldhere on Wednesday.

Balabhaskar, who wasseriously injured along withhis wife in a road accident onSeptember 25 on the out-skirts ofThiruvananthapuram, died at12.55 a.m., the AnanthapuriHospital said.

The accident killed theirtwo-year-old daughter andalso injured their driver.

Following an autopsy, thebody was taken toBalabhaskar's alma mater,University CollegeTrivandrum where the vio-linist's tryst with his passionbegan.

Balabhaskar's wife and thedriver are still warded in thehospital.

Doctors said they didtheir best to save Balabhaskarbut he passed away. IANS

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Shillong: The Leader ofOpposition in the MeghalayaAssembly, Mukul Sangma, onTuesday voiced confidence thatthe Modi Government will beousted in the 2019 Lok Sabhapolls because of the "anti-peo-ple" agenda of the BJP and theNDA Government.

"People thought that theBJP was an alternative butnow they have realised andhave seen things that had hap-pened... Therefore, a non-BJPGovernment will be there in2019," the veteran Congressleader told journalists.

Stating that there was noalternative party to the Congressin India, Sangma, a member ofthe Congress' manifesto com-mittee, alleged that "other partiesare not serious in fighting againstthe BJP and they instead are busyin creating division among thepeople". Sangma said the ModiGovernment was "insensitive"to the needs of the people of thenortheastern region. IANS

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The candidates contestinglocal elections in Kashmir

valley have failed to enthuse themigrant Kashmiri pandits tojoin the electoral process intheir support.

It appears the contestingcandidates, from differentmunicipal wards in Kashmir,are not keen on seeking sup-port of these migrant voters tosail through amid a poll boy-cott call.

"Not a single contestingcandidate from municipalwards in Srinagar, wherepolling is scheduled to takeplace during phase 1 onOctober 8, has approached ushere in Jammu to vote forthem", a migrant Kashmirivoter living in Durga Nagararea of Jammu told The Pioneer.

Due to lack lustre responsefrom Kashmir a little over1700 Kashmiri migrants havedecided to participate in thesemunicipal polls.

According to off icialsources, "Out of these 245migrant postal ballots wereregistered for first phase, 975 for the second phase and467 for the third phase inKashmir valley".

Due to poll boycott callgiven by the two mainstreampolitical parties - NationalConference and PeoplesDemocratic Party - and the

prevailing security scenario inKashmir valley, elections arenot going to take place onmore than 60 per cent seats.Voting is expected to takeplace only in 232 wards in the valley.

According to off icialsources, "out of a total of 624Wards in Kashmir, 215 havebeen won by the candidatesuncontested,while 177 Wardswent uncontested, finding noteven a single candidate to contest.

In Jammu, this minusculenumber of Kashmiri migrantshave decided to exercise theirright to franchise by followinga long and tedious process ofusing a postal ballot.

Earlier, various migrantKashmiri Pandit organisationshad decided to boycott thesemunicipal/ Panchayat polls inprotest against the delisting oftheir names from the existing

electoral rolls of JammuMunicipal corporation.

Highly placed officialsources told The Pioneer, "outof 16 centres,including six tran-sit migrant camps in Kashmirvalley, where electoral rolls ofmunicipal wards of Kashmirdivision were made available bythe office of Chief electoral offi-cer, migrant voters haveapproached designated offi-cers only at five places while noone turned up across 11 othercentres in Jammu to completethe process of receivingMigrant postal ballot".

Official sources told ThePioneer, "476 migrant votersliving in Muthi migrant camphad enrolled themselves toexercise their franchise in themunicipal polls while 133enrolled from Jagti camp, 60from Nagrota, 305 fromShastri Nagar and 730 fromBakshi Nagar.

"Migrant Kashmiri pan-dits staying across six transitcamps in Sheikhpora,Mattan,Vessu,Natnusua,Veerw

an,Hawi have also failed tocome forward to participate inthe municipal polls",officialsources said.

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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) on Tuesday

conducted a raid at the resi-dence of a prominent busi-nessman in capital Srinagar inconnection with the investo-gations into cross-border fund-ing to separatist groups. TheNIA has held several separatistleaders and a prominent busi-nessman in a prolonged crack-down against terror funding.The arrested persons havebeen detained in New Delhi’sTihar jail.

Sources said that sleuths ofNIA assisted by J&K Policeconducted extensive searches atAjaz Ahmad Hakak’s residencein Khawaja Bazaar area in old Srinagar.

On July 24, 2017, the NIAarrested seven separatist lead-ers — Aftab Hilali Shah aliasShahid-ul-Islam, Ayaz AkbarKhandey, Farooq Ahmad Daralias Bitta Karate, NayeemKhan, Altaf Ahmad Shah, RajaMehrajuddin Kalwal andBashir Ahmad Bhat alias PeerSaifullah — on charges of crim-inal conspiracy and wagingwar against India.

Businessman ZahoorAhmad Shah Watali, accusedof acting as a conduit forchannelling funds for sepa-ratists, was arrested on August17 last year.

The NIA has filed a caseagainst the Hurriyat leaders onMay 30 following a sting oper-ation by a television channelafter Nayeem Khan allegedlyconfessed that Hurriyat leadershad been receiving funds fromPakistan for subversive activi-ties in the Kashmir Valley.

The Supreme Court onSeptember 14 stayed the DelhiHigh Court order granting bailto Kashmiri businessmanZahoor Watali, who was arrest-

ed by the National InvestigationAgency (NIA) for his allegedrole in a terrorist funding caseinvolving Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT) chief Hafiz MuhammadSaeed. Watali, Hafiz Saeed,Hizbul Mujahideen chief SyedSalahuddin and nine othershave been accused by the NIAof conspiring to wage waragainst the Government andfomenting trouble in Kashmir.In its charge sheet, the NIAalleged that Watali receivedmoney from ISI of Pakistan, thePakistan High Commissionand from a source in Dubai.

The NIA has also arrestedtwo sons of United JehadCouncil & Hizbul Mujahideenchief Syed Salahuddin. SyedShakeel, a senior laboratorytechnician in SK Institute ofMedical Sciences Srinagar wasarrested after raiding his resi-dence in Srinagar on August30. Last year NIA arrestedSalahuddin’s elder son SyedShahid in money launderingcase. He is lodged in Tihar jail

The NIA alao arrested aphotojournalist Kamran Yousufwho was later released afterfuror against the agency's arbi-trary arrests. the NIA's allwga-tions against the photojour-nalist did not withstand thecourt's scrutiny.

This year, NIA also arrest-ed prominent woman sepa-ratist leader Asiya Andrabiand her two associates NahidaNasreen and Sofi Fahmeeda, allassociated with Dukhtaran eMilat, an all-women organisa-tion from Srinagar Central Jailto Delhi on July 6. The Agency’sSpecial Court in Delhi grantedthe anti-terror probe agencycustody of Asiya Andrabi andher two associates, now lodgedin Tihar Jail.The woman sepa-ratist leader was arrested in anew case registered by NIA inApril this year for secessionist

activity and waging war againstIndia. Though she has beennamed in Kashmir terror fund-ing case, NIA for the first timegot authority to interrogateseparatist leader Asiya Andrabi.This was one of the first keyarrests by the anti-terror agencysince Governor's Rule wasimposed in Jammu andKashmir. Asiya and her aideswere in jail after their bail wasrejected in case related to insti-gation of mob leading to organ-ised stone-pelting in SouthKashmir's Anantnag district.All three have been chargedunder Indian Penal Code (IPC)Sections 120B, 121, 121A,124A, 153A, 153B and 505, andSections 18, 20, 38 and 39 of theUnlawful Activities(Prevention) Act, 1967.

Pertinently, two weeksback former Chief Ministerand PDP President, MehboobaMufti asked the NIA to bringall the facts pertaining to theirinvestigations in the State inpublic domain so that no mis-givings about the conduct ofthe said agency are createdamong the people. She had saidthat bringing facts about itsinvestigations in the State intopublic is all the more necessaryin view of the remarks made bya Division bench of DelhiHigh Court in its 40 pagejudgement while disposing offa case related to such investi-gations a week ago.

The PDP President saidduring the recent past manycomplaints have been putforth in the State that thoseaccused by the NIA, rangingfrom family members of someseparatist leaders, business-men and media owners haveremote connections with theaccusations levelled againstthem or are feeling harassedafter the raids by the Agencysleuths.

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Jammu & Kashmir LiberationFront (JKLF) chairman Yasin

Malik was detained in Srinagaron Tuesday to prevent an anti-poll campaign.

Police detained Malik athis party office in Abi Guzarlocality here before his sched-uled poll boycott campaign.

Separatists have called for

the boycott of local urbanbodies and panchayat polls in Kashmir.

Polling for the first phaseof the four-phased pollingexercise is scheduled onOctober 8.

The National Conferenceand the Peoples DemocraticParty have already announcedtheir non-participation inthese polls.

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Ahead of the crucial 2019Lok Sabha poll and in

view of the ongoing farmers’stir in west UP, the StateGovernment set an ambitioustarget of procuring 50 lakhtons of paddy from farmers.The move is likely to pump inas much as �8,500 crore intothe rural economy.

During the last season,state government agenciesprocured 43 lakh tone fromfarmers against a target of 50lakh tons.

On Monday, paddy pro-curement process kicked off inwest and some central dis-tricts and will continue tillJanuary-end. Procurement ineast UP and remaining centralUP districts will start fromNovember 1 and continue tillFebruary.

The UP Cabinet had ear-lier hiked the MinimumSupport Price (MSP) forpaddy from �180 to �200 per quintal.

The price was revisedfrom �1,550 to �1,750 perquintal for common varietyand �1,590 to �1,770 perquintal for Grade-A paddy.

Besides, the Governmentannounced a bonus paymentof �20 per quintal over theMSP, up from �15 per quin-tal given last year.

This way, farmers willpocket an extra �185 to �205per quintal as compared to

the previous year.If the Government is able

to meet the procurement targetof 50 lakh tons, the total pay-out to farmers is likely to bemore than �8,500 crore.

In the recent wheat pro-curement season, theGovernment had crossed itstarget of 50 lakh tons by procur-ing a total of 53 lakh tons.

Procurement agencies ofthe State Government andFood Corporation of India willset up around 3,000 procure-ment centres across UP duringthe five-month season(October-February).

Meanwhile, FoodCommissioner Alok Kumarsaid that the paddy procure-ment began in 31 districtsunder Meerut, Saharanpur,Bareilly, Agra, Aligarh, Jhansiand Lucknow divisions andwould last till January 31.

It has been made manda-tory for farmers to get them-selves registered on the por-tal of Food department forverification.

Alok Kumar added thatso far 1.81 lakh farmers hadalready registered on the offi-cial portal for selling theirproduce to procurement centres.

“The Revenue depart-ment will also verify farmers’claims with their land recordsto ensure that only genuinefarmers are onboard to ben-efit from the MSP system.”said the Food Commissioner.

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Expediting the probe intoApple executive Vivek

Tiwari murder, the SpecialInvestigation Team (SIT), ledby IG, Lucknow Range, SujitPandey, on Tuesday morningreconstructed the crime scenewith the help of sole eyewitnessand Tiwari’s former colleagueSana Khan.

Vivek was shot allegedly byconstables Prashant Chaudharyand Sandeep Kumar in GomtiNagar Extension while he wasgoing to drop Sana home inVinay Khand around 1:30 amon Saturday.

The probe team reachedthe crime scene to analyse thesequence of events leading tothe murder. Besides Sana, vic-tim’s wife Kalpana Tiwari alsoreached there. During thereconstruction of the crimescene, a vehicle similar to thatof Tiwari’s was used and twobike-borne constables wereasked to intercept it.

Later, one of them with apistol was asked to aim at thevehicle. A cop was asked to actas Prashant Chaudhary andwas given an empty gun toreact to a provocation with aman sitting inside MahindraXUV. The team also asked thedriver to back down the vehi-cle to avoid an altercation andtry to speed off.

“The aim was to reach alogical conclusion in the caseand to cross-check the findingsof the crime scene reconstruc-tion with the statement of vic-tim’s family and Sana,” Sujitsaid. The IG said that a team

of forensic scientists alsoobserved the reconstruction ofthe crime scene and noteddown their observations whichwould go a long way in con-cluding the probe.

“The SIT is probing thecase considering 72 differentpoints. Some of the pointsinclude whether the SUV wasstationary or moving, whichway did the accused shoot thevictim, how did the SUV suf-fer dents and how the cops’ bikewas damaged,” Pandey said.

Meanwhile, SIT sourcesdisclosed that the team askedSana to narrate the exact posi-tion of the SUV on the fatefulnight. “She was asked whichconstables approached themwhile they were sitting insidethe car. She was also asked whatexactly happened after the bul-let was fired at Vivek. She wasasked if she alighted from thevehicle after the tiff and how didthe airbags open,” they said.

The SIT members alsoexamined the road stretch nearAxis Bank on Maqdoompurpolice outpost road. An SITofficial said that Sana wasasked to pin-point the preciselocation of the murder sceneand narrate the sequence ofevents. After she deposed, theteam conducted a demo tocross-check her inputs.

The IG, Lucknow Range,said that autopsy reports andstatements of witness/complaintwould be examined. “The find-ings will then be used to cor-roborate the same in the court.It will also give clarity on theintention and motive involvedin the murder,” said Pandey.

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Stressing the importance ofMahatma Gandhi’s teach-

ings, Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said that cleanli-ness, swadeshi and self-reliance were the three basicmantras of Bapu which theBJP Government had adoptedin letter and spirit.

Addressing a series of func-tions organised on GandhiJayanti in Lucknow on Tuesday,Yogi said that cleanliness wasreflected the way Governmenthad taken up Swachhata cam-paign while One District OneProduct (ODOP) schemewould lead to self-reliance andwould promote swadeshi.

“When the BJP came topower, our sole motto was toempower the poor. We knewthis could be done onlythrough promoting local tradeand, therefore, the ODOPscheme was launched underwhich local artisans could getwork in their villages. This willnot only stop exodus to citiesbut also empower rural areas,”the Chief Minister said.

Besides, Yogi said that hisGovernment’s other emphasiswas Swachhata. “We shouldthank Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for launchingthe cleanliness drive. In 2014,the national average of ODFwas just 23 per cent which hasrocketed to 99 per cent infour-and-a-half years. In UP,till October 2, 34 districtsand over 85,000 revenue vil-lages were declared OpenDefection Free and by

November 30, the entire UPwill be declared ODF,” Yogisaid urging people to join thecampaign in a big way.

The CM said that ODF hadled to cleanliness which, inturn, had protected peoplefrom the menace of dreadeddiseases like encephalitis, diar-rhoea, AES and hepatitis.

At the function held atShilp Gram in Lucknow onTuesday, 75 rural individualsand 15 organisations wereawarded for their works inSwachhata Mission in UP.

Besides, sports personswere also felicitated for their achievement in interna-tional meets.

Yogi said that �6 crorecash reward was being givento sports persons from UP fortheir achievement for the firsttime. “Such Government ini-tiatives will promote sportsand athletes and more sportspersons will get this award,”he said.

Asian Games andCommonwealth Games goldmedalists were given �50 lakh,

silver medal winners �30 lakhand bronze medalists �15 lakh.Sports persons, who were felic-tated, included Soni Punia,Satish Kumar, Ravi Kumar,Saurabh, Sadul Rihan, SudhaSingh, Rakesh Kuma, Divya,Kalit Kumar, Santosh Kumar,Rahul Chaudhury, Jitu Rai,Poonam Yadav, Rajat Kumarand a few others. The CM alsogave away Gold Card to bene-ficiaries of Ayushman BharatScheme.

The function was alsoattended by Governor RamNaik. Both the Governor andthe CM also flagged off khadicampaign vehicles. TheGovernor also hailed the BJPGovernment in the State forworking as per MahatmaGandhi teachings.

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More than 150 tribals fromthe States affected by

Maoist insurgency on Tuesdaybegan a 'Shanti Padyatra' orpeace march from a village inAndhra Pradesh's EastGodavari district to appeal toall sides to give peace a chance.

Tribals and activists fromTelangana, Maharashtra,Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,Odisha and Jharkhand begantheir march from ShabriGandhi Ashram in Chatti vil-lage amid a boycott call byMaoists and will cover 186 kmto end it at Jagdalpur inChhattisgarh after 10 days.

The organisers said that aconclave 'Bastar Dialogue 1' willbe held in Jagdalpur on October12 and 13 at the end of the marchto discuss future strategies.

Symbolically, the marcherswill take the same path taken byMaoists 40 years back to enterBastar from Andhra Pradeshthrough Dandakaranya forest,said organiser ShubhranshuChoudhary.

The peaceniks will walkalong the National Highway-30, which connects Telanganato Chhattisgarh.

The organisers have termedthis as the first step towards whatthey call the new peace process.

According to them, theinsurgent movement since itsinception has become one of themajor threats to the democraticstructure of India. The violenceby Maoists and security forceshas claimed the lives of 12,000people in 20 years, including2,700 security personnel andmore than 9,300 tribals.

Pointing out that theAndhra Pradesh government'slast attempt to broker peacefailed in 2004 and the violencecontinued unabated, theorganisers feel that the peaceprocess should be given a sec-ond chance.

Many organisations, indi-viduals, community elders andleaders, scholars, academicians,human rights activists and pro-fessions decided to come togeth-er to discuss the prospects, pos-sibilities and alternative ways ofbuilding peace in central India,the organisers said.

The Communist Party ofIndia-Maoist called for boycottof the peace march. The out-lawed group urged tribals notto take part, saying it aims atstopping Bastar tribals fromfighting against corporatehouses and claiming theirwater, forests and land.

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Claiming that the NDAGovernment at the Centre

and the BJP Government inUttar Pradesh are working forthe welfare of farmers, ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanathblamed some political leadersfor instigating farmers for theirvested interest and creatingunruly scenes on the Delhi-UPborder.

“The welfare of farmers isour priority and we are doingthe needful to increase theirincome. But the way thingshappened during the farmers’march on UP-Delhi border isunfortunate. The whole stirsmacks of political designbecause the Centre has accept-ed almost all demands of farm-ers,” Yogi said.

Yogi’s reaction came aftermembers of Bharatiya KisanUnion (BKU) attempted toenter Delhi for their agitation,tried to plough through barri-

cades and clashed with thepolice on UP-Delhi border inGhaziabad on Tuesday.

Addressing media personsin Lucknow on Tuesday, theCM took a jibe at some lead-ers saying those who could notdistinguish between sugar-cane and wild grass and knewnothing about potato wereshedding crocodile tears onthe plight of farmers. “Theyinstigated these farmers togain political mileage out ofthe agitation,” he said.“Everyone has the right to goto Delhi but they should nothave taken law in their hands.When the Union governmenthas accepted almost al ldemands and the state gov-ernment is also sympathetictowards them, then why cre-ate such a ruckus?” Yogi asked.

To justify his point, Yogisaid that an NGT rulingdirected that 10-year-old trac-tors be barred from moving inNCR region, but the UP gov-

ernment assured farmers thatit would file a review and con-trol menace of stray animals.“Besides, the state govern-ment has given Rs 1.20 croreto each district to set up cowshelter,” he said.

About the BJP governmentin UP, the CM said that in ashort period, several welfaresteps had been initiated. “Wewaived loans of 86 lakh farm-ers at one go while recordpurchases were made of wheatand paddy by governmentagencies,” he said.

Speaking about the woes ofcane farmers, Yogi said that hisgovernment had cleared Rs26,000 crore of cane dues andthe rest of the arrears of Rs9000 crore would be paid byNovember 30 next. The CMsaid that the government hadalso provided good price forpotato and pulses while MandiParishad was trying to providea platform to farmers to mar-ket their produce.

?��"��#��@��Jaipur: Chief Minister

Vasundhara Raje on Tuesdayinaugurated the city's 'DravyavatiRiver Rejuvenation Project' exe-cuted by Tata Projects Ltd. spreadover 47.5 km rain-fed river-front. The area had degeneratedinto an untreated sewage nallah,but has now been restored as aperennial river, fed by treatedclean water. For now, the 13-kmstretch of Dravyavati riverfrontout of total area of 47.5km hasbeen opened for residents.

Raje said the dream visu-alized in the year 2014 to reju-venate the dry river has final-ly been realized. "The resi-dents can come and viewnature here," she said.

The project aims to reducepollution, treat 170 millionlitres of sewage a day, creategreen and social spaces, cycleand jogging tracks along itsbanks, reduce the threat offloods, create employment, andtransform Jaipur into a cleancity, the Chief Minister said.

Encroachments have beenremoved from the nallah which

has helped restore the river toits glory and vitality.

Vaibhav Galaria, JaipurDevelopment Commissioner,said: "This is one of the largestand most complex projectsundertaken by JaipurDevelopment Authority."

Vinayak Deshpande,Managing Director, TataProjects Limited, said: "We arehappy to be a part of thisvisionary project, which willbecome an example for riverrejuvenation in India. This pro-ject had many challenges for us."

Officials said over 17,000trees, shrubs, and ornamentalplants have been planted alongthe banks. A pathway and acycling track on both sides ofthe river has been provisioned.Planned landscapes have beendeveloped along the rivertotalling an impressive 5.0 lakhsquare meters. Five SewageTreatment Plants (STPs) havebeen installed along the courseof the river with a combinedcapacity of 170 MLD, officialsadded. IANS

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Oil prices built on gains onTuesday after another blis-

tering rally but most marketswere in retreat as tradersbrushed off a positive leadfrom Wall Street and the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal.

Crude has motored inrecent weeks on concerns aboutsupplies after sanctions areimposed on Iran next month,while OPEC’s decision not toramp up output, upheaval inVenezuela, a strong dollar anda drop in oil rigs have alsopushed prices higher.

“Right now, we’re just in abull market for oil because ofthe prospects of a very tightmarket later on in the year,”John Kilduff, founding partnerat New York-based hedge fundAgain Capital LLC, toldBloomberg News.

Both main contractsjumped almost three percentMonday and clocked up freshgains in Asia, with observersand key players in the sectornow eyeing USD 100 a barrel.

Kim Kwangrae, a com-modities analyst at SamsungFutures, added: “The market’svery keen to figure out the sizeof the impact from the Iraniansupply disruptions andwhether Saudi Arabia and

Russia are able to make up forthe losses.

“At the same time, the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement isalso improving the overall sen-timent on oil.” New Yorktraders sent the Dow and S&P500 higher after the UnitedS t a t e s - M e x i c o - C a n a d aAgreement (USMCA) wasannounced Sunday to replacethe North American Free TradeAgreement (NAFTA).

The deal drew an end tomonths of uncertainty afterDonald Trump had threatenedto tear up the decades-oldNAFTA.

However, Asia was unableto follow suit. Hong Kongreopened after a long weekendto fall 2.5 percent, with dataindicating a drop in Chinesemanufacturing activity dentingsentiment.

The “HSI is trading with anegative bias, playing catch upfrom yesterday’s holiday, inreaction to the weaker China(manufacturing) data”, saidStephen Innes, head of Asia-Pacific trade at OANDA.

“It’s more than apparentHong Kong investors are in nomood to join the revampedNAFTA festivities.” Sydneyshed 0.8 per cent, Singapore fell0.5 per cent and Seoul was off1.3 per cent.

Wellington, Taipei, Jakartaand Manila were also welldown.

But Tokyo edged up 0.1 percent after the Nikkei onMonday saw its highest close in27 years with the yen at itsweakest since November.

Markets in China wereclosed for a holiday.

London fell 0.5 per cent inthe first few minutes of trade,while Paris lost 0.7 per centand Frankfurt shed 0.8 percent.

In forex trade the eurofaced selling pressure on con-cerns about Italy’s financesafter its populist governmentagreed a massive spendingboost that blew out its budget,while eurozone finance minis-ters warned Rome to abide byfiscal rules.

High-yielding and emerg-ing market currencies weremostly down as dealers lookedfor safer bets. The dollar broke15,000 Indonesian rupiah forthe first time since 1998 duringthe Asian financial crisis, whileMexico’s peso and the SouthAfrican rand were more thanone percent off against thegreenback.

South Korea’s won, theAustralian dollar and theRussian ruble were also sharplylower.

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Indraprastha Gas, India’sbiggest city gas retailer, is

looking at setting up CNGdispensing stations within res-idential housing complexes toease queues at CNG pumps, itsManaging Director ESRanganathan said.

IGL also plans to foray intoe-vehicle charging segment bysetting up charging facility at itsCNG stations, he said.

The company, which retailsCNG to automobiles and pipedcooking gas to householdkitchens in the national capitaland its suburbs, is facing pres-sure to cut queues at CNG sta-tions that have led to trafficsnarls in many parts of the city.

It has already set up oneCNG dispensing pump at a res-idential housing complex inNoida on pilot basis, he said.

“All we need is a 10x10metre area - a space equivalentto one used for parking of fourcars. We will set up CNG sta-tion and man it as well.Residents of the housing com-plex will get priority filling,”he said adding the companywill be responsible for therunning and upkeep of thefacility.

Ranganathan said IGL isalso setting up e-vehicle charg-ing facility and has tied up witha Dutch company.

IGL, he said, plans to add

a record 60 CNG dispensingstations and give piped cook-ing gas connections to at least2 lakh households this fiscal.

The company has adopteda dealer-franchise model inthe push for rapidly expandingthe network.

The company, with 452CNG stations in Delhi, Noida,Greater Noida, Ghaziabad andRewari, has started giving thefranchise to dealers who ownlands. “We already have twoCNG dispensing stations oper-ating on dealer model andhave given letters of intent(LoIs) for another 21 whichwill be commissioned withinthe current financial year,” hesaid.

Ranganathan said the com-pany opened 30 CNG stationslast year and in 2018-19 it hasa target to open 50. “Thoughthe target is 50, we are confi-dent of putting up 60 stations,”he added.

The company, which hasover 9.6 lakh piped cooking gascustomers, has a target to add3 lakh this fiscal. “We gave 1.5lakh piped natural gas (PNG)connections in last financialyear and this year we are con-fident of crossing 2 lakh. Wecan achieve 3 lakh target asareas currently out of boundlike Cantonment areas areopened up for us to laypipelines and give connectionsin kitchens,” he said.

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Flipkart has significantlyexpanded its infrastructure

and delivery operations aheadof the festive sale, an invest-ment that the Walmart-backedcompany believes will helpfurther strengthen its capabil-ities in the long-term.

Flipkart, which will host itsBig Billion Days (BBD) salefrom October 10-14 this year,has doubled its warehousingcapacity and now has over 65fulfilment centres and morethan 60 ‘mother hubs’ that willcater to the expected spike indemand during the festive sale.

“BBD pushes us to innovatein every area, including supplyand logistics. It helps us buildcapabilities for long-term. EachBBD is bigger than the previousone and sets a new normal —for both business and innova-tion — for the future,” FlipkartSenior Vice President ofEngineering (Supply Chain)Krishna Raghavan said.

“We have been workingmultiple months in advance andhave doubled our storage capac-ity this year. This not only helpsin speedier delivery to customersbut also enables sellers to stockand better plan their inventory inadvance,” he said but declined tocomment on investment details.

Raghavan added that thecumulative capacity now standsat about 9.5 million sq ft.

The company has also

expanded its network of deliv-ery hubs from 600 to over 900this year to enable 1.8X deliverycapability per day compared toa normal day. Besides, about30,000 new delivery staff havebeen added over the past manyweeks, including freelance work-ers who are part timers. Thesepersonnel were inducted after aproper background screeningand given training for 1-4 weeks.

“While the hiring numberdoes see a ramp-up ahead ofBBD, it is also important to notethat we have been expanding‘Fquick’ or the freelance net-work, which now has affiliatesfrom 40 cities...This provides uscapacity flexibility at our lastmile delivery hubs, leading tospillage reduction and cost effi-ciency — not only during saleperiod but beyond that as well,”he said.

He also cited an example ofgeo-coding of addresses usingmachine learning, artificial intel-ligence and data science to ensurefaster and effective delivery evenin remote parts of the country.

Raghavan said the focus ofall these initiatives is to ensurefast and efficient delivery acrosscategories, be it large appliancesor grocery. The network has alsobeen strengthen to supportFlipkart’s product exchange pro-gramme that has been expand-ed aggressively, especially intier II cities and beyond.

About 20 million peopleare expected to shop on vari-

ous e-commerce platformsduring the festive sale nextmonth, translating into sales ofaround $3 billion for playerslike Amazon and Flipkart,according to a report byresearch firm RedSeer.Flipkart’s rival Amazon Indiawill kick off its festive sale fromOctober 10-15.

The RedSeer report statesthat the share of items likeelectronics and furniture duringthe sale could be higher this yeardue to various affordability ini-tiatives being undertaken by thee-commerce players. Mobilephones currently account for alion’s share of sales on the twoleading e-commerce platforms.

Like in offline retail, e-commerce companies see asignificant jump in sales dur-ing Dussehra and Diwali. TheSeptember-November periodtypically generates a majority ofthe annual sales of these com-panies, which prepare monthsin advance for the sale event.

The festive sale not onlybrings in discounts and deals forcustomers but is also an annualshowdown of sorts between thetwo largest players — Flipkartand Amazon India. The com-petition between Flipkart andUS-based Amazon this year isexpected to be even fiercer asboth companies have investedsignificantly through the year toramp up product offerings aswell as logistics infrastructure toensure speedier delivery.

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The Government plans toauction two limestone

blocks having reserves ofaround 600 million tonne(MT), in October.

Of the two blocks, one is inAndhra Pradesh and the otheris in Gujarat, according to anofficial document.

The Chintalayapalle-Abdullapuram-Korumanipalli(CAK) limestone block inAndhra Pradesh with reservesof 104.68 MT will be auc-tioned on October 12.

The Bhatvadiya block inGujarat with reserves of 477.2MT will go under the hammeron October 17, the document

said.Meanwhile, the auction of

two iron ore blocks in Odishahaving reserves of around 100MT has been deferred, it said.

The Centre had earlier saidit was considering granting allapprovals, including environ-mental clearance, to mineralblocks before putting them upfor sale, a move that may givea push to the auctions.

Government says Indiamay not make much progressin auctioning of mineral blocksin the future unless issues relat-ed to green clearances andland rights are addressedupfront.

It has given in-principleapproval to provide singleclearance for environment andforest to the new lease holdersof the 288 mining leases expir-ing in two years.

From the 50 mineral blocksauctioned so far, theGovernment will earn a rev-enue of �1.81 lakh crore overthe lease period.

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State-owned Oil andNatural Gas Corp

(ONGC) is not in ahurry to sell its stake inIndian Oil Corp andGAIL (India) and willwait for the right pricebefore offloading theshares, a senior compa-ny official said.

ONGC holds 13.77per cent stake in oilrefiner IOC and 4.86per cent in gas utilityGAIL India.

“It is true that we arenow a fully integratedcompany. We are India’slargest oil and gas producer andthe acquisition of (oil refiner)HPCL has extended our pres-ence in the downstream indus-tries.

“And so naturally, it nowdoes not make sense for ONGCto hold stake in Indian OilCorp (IOC). But, we will waitfor the right price,” said theofficial.

ONGC, he said, got over�3,000 crore in dividendincome from investments inIOC and GAIL in 2017-18financial year.”This is a decentreturn on capital and can helpme hold on to shares for long,”he said. “I am in no hurry tosell the stake. We will wait for

the right price.”ONGC’s 13.77 per cent

stake in IOC at Monday’s clos-ing price of �153.80 apiece onBSE is worth over �20,500crore. Its 4.86 per cent stake inGAIL is worth close to �4,200crore at Monday’s closing priceof �380.75.

“IOC shares were trading ataround �195 in January and arenow at �153-154. It doesn’tmake sense to sell the shares atsuch a big loss,” the official said.

ONGC, he said, is gener-ating enough surplus mainlybecause of international oilprices spiking to four-year highand the rupee plummeting toan all-time low.

It is using these to pay off�24,881 crore loan it had takento buy Hindustan PetroleumCorp Ltd (HPCL) for �36,915crore.

A third of the loan hasalready been pre-paid, he said.

ONGC had borrowed Rs24,881 crore on a short-termloan to fund buying of theGovernment’s 51.11 per centstake in HPCL. The remainingcame from its cash reserves.

The official said the pace ofrepayment may slow down inthe third and fourth quartersowing to outgo on taxes anddividend as also the fact thatcapital spending would peak bythen.

Initially, ONGC con-sidered selling its stake inIOC and GAIL to fundthe acquisition, but it hasnever found the rightprice to offload the shares,he said.

The short-term loanONGC availed had a pro-vision to prepay withoutany penalty.

ONGC had held talkswith Life InsuranceCorporation of India(LIC) for selling IOC andGAIL shares but the state-owned insurer insisted onbuying them at 10 percent discount to the pre-vailing price. ONGC thus

decided against the share sale.ONGC’s purchase of

HPCL created India’s first inte-grated oil company. This wasONGC’s biggest acquisitionand second buyout of 2017-18after its �7,738 crore acquisitionof 80 per cent stake in GujaratState Petroleum Corp’s KGbasin gas block.

HPCL added 23.8 milliontonne of annual oil refiningcapacity to ONGC’s portfolio,making it the third largestrefiner in the country after IOCand Reliance Industries.

ONGC already is majorityowner of Mangalore Refineryand Petrochemicals, which hasa 15-million tonne refinery.

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Th eGovernment

is mulling per-mitting 100 percent foreigndirect investment(FDI) in insur-ance broking togive a boost tothe sector, sources said.

The FDI policy, at present,allows 49 per cent foreigninvestment in the insurancesector that encompasses insur-ance broking, insurance com-panies, third party adminis-trators, surveyors and lossassessors as defined by theDepartment of IndustrialPolicy and Promotion (DIPP).

The DIPP is an arm of thecommerce and industry min-istry which deals with FDIrelated matters and promotingease of doing business in thecountry.

Representations have beenmade to the Government timeand again on the issue thatinsurance brokers should betreated at par with other finan-cial services intermediaries,where 100 per cent FDI is per-mitted.

“Insurance broking is likeany other financial or com-

modity broking services. Theissue was recently discussed ina high level inter-ministerialmeeting. The Government ispositively looking at the mat-ter,” sources said.

The official, however, clar-ified that the FDI cap for insur-ance companies would remainat 49 per cent.

The finance minister hasrecently held meeting on thesubject and the PrimeMinister’s Office too has soughtviews of the DIPP on the mat-ter.

Industry experts have stat-ed that the insurance sector isbeing impacted due to weakdistribution networks.

There is a need to strength-en the distribution network tosupport the sector as a whole.

Insurance penetration inthe country was 3.4 per cent in2015 against the world averageof 6.2 per cent.

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Oil major ONGC onTuesday said it is carrying

out a drinking water project inover 50 schools across Assamin this financial year, entailingan investment of �1.68 crore.

During 2017-18, ONGC’sSchool Drinking Water Projecthad benefitted more than10,000 children in 32 schoolsin Sivasagar and Charaideodistricts of Assam that entailedan investment of �1.07 crore,the PSU behemoth said in astatement.

“In financial year 2018-19,the project is being extended to52 schools, which would ben-efit more than 15,000 schoolchildren, at a project cost of�1.68 crore,” the statementsaid. “Providing clean and safedrinking water in schools inand around ONGC’s opera-tional area is a CSR initiativeby ONGC Assam Asset in

association with ONGC’s AllIndia OBC & MOBCEmployees WelfareAssociation,” the companysaid.

As part of this initiative,the project was inaugurated atRohdoi and Hahchara HighSchool in Sivasagar by ONGCExecutive Director (AssamAsset) S D Maske earlier thisweek.

On receiving the feedbackfrom the students, Maskeannounced financial supportof �25,000 for sports items andassured to extend financialsupport for construction ofgirls’ toilet at Rohdoi HighSchool under CSR initiative.

Similarly, he announcedfinancial support of �25,000 forsports items and Chemistrylaboratory equipment, whileassuring to extend financialsupport for various items forlibrary at Hahchara HighSchool.

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Realtors body NAREDCOon Tuesday said it has

signed agreement with theMinistry of Housing andUrban Affairs to provide skilltraining and jobs in the con-struction sector for 2.5 lakhpoor people.

“NAREDCO has enteredinto a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) withthe Ministry of Housing andUrban Affairs, Government ofIndia, to strengthen the skilltrainings and employmentopportunities in the construc-tion sector for the urban poorunder Deendayal AntyodayaYojana-National UrbanLivelihoods Mission,” the asso-ciation said in a statement.

On the partnership,National Real EstateDevelopment Council(NAREDCO) PresidentNiranjan Hiranandani said:“There are two objectives ofthis MOU, first is to provide

employment to urban poorwaiting to enter constructionsector and secondly up-skillthe semi-skilled constructionworkers working on construc-tion sites to a skilled category.”

NAREDCO would ensurethe implementation of thisinitiative through training . Amajority of the fresh andupskilling training programmewill be delivered at the con-

struction sites. The trainingcurriculum under this initia-tive will range from minimum80 hours (10 days) to a maxi-mum of 6 months.

“...Through this collabora-tion 2,50,000 urban poor willbe trained,” NAREDCO said.The association would beresponsible for the overallimplementation, achievementof the targets and outcomes.

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The Information andTechnology Ministry has

asked Facebook to provide an‘update’ on the impact onIndian users on account of therecent hacking incident whereabout 50 million accounts onthe social media portal wereaffected, sources said.

According to senior ITofficials, who did not wish tobe named, Facebook hasMonday been verbally askedto update the government onthe number of Indian usersimpacted by the recentattack.

They added thatFacebook officials have saidthey were analysing the issueand will revert in two days.When contacted, Facebookdeclined to comment on thequery.

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He could be in line for aTest debut against WestIndies but Prithvi Shaw

shouldn't curb his attacking styleof batsmanship provided he getsthe nod, feels India vice-captainAjinkya Rahane.

"I am happy for Shaw. I haveseen him since his young days,we used to practice together, heis an attacking opener and donewell for India A and got thereward," he said.

Rahane however didn't com-mit on who among Prithvi andMayank Agarwal will partner KLRahul in the opening Test inRajkot, starting October 4.

"Personally we don't knowthe combination what we aregoing to play. But there is nopressure, it is an opportunity forevery individual to express our-selves. I wish him good luck andI am sure he will do well. I justwant him to play as he has beendoing for Mumbai and India Aand I think he will be fine,"Rahane said.

"It is a good opportunityparticularly for youngsters likePrithivi, Mayank and Siraj as theyhave all done well in domesticcricket. So as a batsman they canscore runs, as a bowler they canpick wickets. It is all about goingout there and giving your bestwithout thinking much aboutfuture," he added.

After a disappointing outingin England, Rahane lead Mumbaito victories over Baroda,Karnataka and Railways in theVijay Hazare Trophy last monthand he said it provided himgood match practice ahead of theWest Indies series.

"After coming back fromEngland, I was just looking to dowell for Mumbai at that point oftime and get some match prac-

tice (although it was white ballcricket) ahead of the West Indiesseries. Vijay Hazare was a goodmatch practice for me," saidRahane.

"I always believe whether it isa domestic, international or prac-tice match, it brings a differentpressure and I think it helped meto prepare. I am really confident

and looking forward to do welland keep contributing towardsmy team."

India will need to quicklyadapt to the different yet famil-iar home conditions at home todominate the two-Test seriesagainst West Indies, feels theIndian vice-captain.

India had failed to bringtheir best in English conditions,losing the five-Test series 1-4 lastmonth.

"Here we have to see how thewicket behaves, it is hot here, sowe have to adapt to the condi-tions quickly during the practicesessions," Rahane said.

"We know the Indian condi-tions and we know how to goabout our job and what shots toplay here. England was different,so we will have to quickly men-tally switch.

"Each and every match isequally important and we are justlooking to play to our standards,rather than thinking about ouropponents. It is important tostart off well, we have two prac-tice sessions before the Testmatch starts," he added.

The 30-year-old Mumbaikarsaid the focus of the team is toimprove its own game withoutthinking about their opponents.

"It was a great achievement towin Asia Cup and players, whogot an opportunity there did well,but this is a new series and wecan't take them lightly. We haveto focus to improve our owngame," said Rahane.

"No matter whom we play,whether it is Australia, Englandor West Indies, it is important toimprove our own standard. Ourgoal will be to play some goodcricket, definitely to dominatefrom the f irst match andimprovement as a batsman, as abowler and as a team, that wouldbe the focus."

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Senior off-spinner HarbhajanSingh on Tuesday said that

he is finding it "difficult tounderstand" the parametersused by the MSK Prasad-ledselection committee for pickingthe national squad.

After spending time onthe bench for six consecutiveTest matches againstAfghanistan and England, theselectors dropped Karun Nairfor the West Indies Test series.

"This is a mystery thatneeds to be solved. How can aperson sitting on the bench forthree months become so badthat he is not good enough toremain in the squad,"Harbhajan questioned theselection committee's decisionduring an interaction.

"Trust me, I am at pains tounderstand the thinking ofthis selection committee andthe parameters that they areusing for selecting nationalsquads," said the man who

has over 700 internationalwickets across formats.

The 'Turbanator' cannotbut feel for the young Nair, whoremains the only Indian, apartfrom Virender Sehwag, to havea triple hundred in Test crick-et.

"I find different set of rulesfor different players. There aresome who are given a long ropeto succeed while for select oth-ers they don't even get one

chance to fail. That is not fair,"Harbhajan said.

Harbhajan then put forth a hypo-thetical question.

"What if Hanuma Vihari fails intwo Test matches against West Indies?Though I would never wish some-thing like that for any player. I wishhim (Vihari) all the very best.

"(In case Vihari is not able todeliver) so you will go back to Nairbut will he be battle ready with con-fidence for Australia tour? "

India's third highest wicket-takerthen asked a probing question as towhether the team management is onthe same page with the selectioncommittee.

"If team management did not

play Karun for five Tests, then itmeans that he couldn't inspire con-fidence in them.

"Well, my question is whether theselectors were able to convince thecaptain while naming Karun forEngland series? If not did they seri-ously consider the name that teammanagement had in mind," he ques-tioned.

For someone who played inter-national cricket for 18 years,Harbhajan knows very well howpoor selection policy can affect themorale and team performance.

"Hope all concerned with teamselection undergoes course correctionbefore they decide on the Australiatour," he signed off.

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West Indies coach Stuart Law is notreading much into India's recent

troubles in overseas Tests and says hisfast-improving team faces a huge chal-lenge against the world number one sidein the two-Test series starting here onThursday.

"We have spoken a lot (ahead of theseries). We played two good home seriesagainst Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. At thesame time, I don't read too much intoIndia's form in England. I was therewatching pretty closely. It was a lot clos-er than the 1-4 scoreline. England werejust able to win the crucial moments,"Law said on Tuesday.

"India are the number one side, weare further down the ladder (at 8). We areplaying in their own backyard, it is a hugetask. Not many teams have come hereand won. We understand that but on theflipside we are getting better and better,"said the Australian, who will joinMiddlesex after the tour of India andBangladesh.

The last time West Indies won a Testseries against India was at home in 2002.The team has lost six straight seriesagainst India since then.

Law, however, sounded confidentgoing into the series opener.

"We spent good eight days (in Dubai)before we came to India. It was 45 degreesduring the day in Dubai so heat herewon't be an issue. Then we had a goodcouple of days in Baroda (only tourwarm-up), the pitch was similar lookingto what I see here today. Preparation hasbeen good.

"We have talked a lot but it is timenow to stop talking. It is time the boysshow what they have got on the field.Touring India has always been tough forteams, we have to show the world that wecan play the game and grab hold of thoseopportunities," said the 49-year-oldcricketer-turned-coach.

Indian openers struggled againstthe moving ball in England. Askedabout the West Indies opening combi-nation of Kraigg Brathwaite and KieranPowell, Law said batting in the top-order

is only getting tougher."Look we are seeing a pattern arise

that batting at the top three and four hasbecome quite difficult. We are in a sim-ilar position. Kraigg and Kieran haveopened the batting plenty of timestogether and they have been good so farhere, they are in good head space.

"We have got our plans obviously andthe boys have to show it in front of fanat-ical crowds against the world number oneteam. Something we should enjoy andnot fear," he reiterated.

Pace has been West Indies' strengthbut Law is also relying on his spinnersto trouble the Indian batsmen, likeMoeen Ali did in England.

"Moeen Ali really took to India inEngland, bowling into footholes. We gotto use what is available. Roston Chase isa bit taller than Ali, bowls at similar pace.Devendra Bishoo and Jomel Warricanhave got some good control as well. Pacehas been our strong point but the spin-ners can also do the job."

Having said that, Law feels it will betough bowling to Virat Kohli and Co.

"He is great in other countries andnot just in India. Kohli is a great batsman.Like I said it is not bowling to the name,it is about bowling to the batsman, thenyour job becomes a bit easier. And he isnot the only one in the batting line up.You guys have got billions of people tochoose from and the batters who arecoming through are the best in theworld."

Law joined the West Indies inFebruary 2017. He got a tad emotionalwhile talking about his time with theCaribbean unit.

"It has been a fantastic two years.They are a great bunch of guys. I considerthem as my sons if you like. They try,don't shy away from hard work which wehad to instil in them and it is beginningto show in results. But we would haveliked far more positive results.

"The result that I am actually seeingnow is that we are preparing better andexecuting better. We have seen at U19level that there is a lot of talent. It justhas to be nurtured well back in theregion," he added.

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Young Himmat Singh smashed his maid-en List A ton as Delhi comfortably beat

Andhra by 73 runs in a group B encounterof the Vijay Hazare Trophy on Tuesday.

With this victory, Delhi took a big stridetowards quarter-final berth from the groupas they now lead the points table with 18from six games.

It was Himmat's unbeaten 75-ball-102,laced with nine fours and four sixes, thatmade the difference as Delhi scored 314 for5 after being put into bat. Unmukt Chand(62) and Nitish Rana (52) also helped them-selves to half centuries.

In reply, Andhra managed 241 all outin 49.5 overs with a collective effort from thebowlers.

Left-arm seamer Kulwant Khejroliya(2/29 in 6 overs), Pawan Negi (2/41 in 10overs) and Nitish Rana (2/9 in 2 overs) didbulk of the damage.

Earlier, Delhi started in a whirlwindfashion with Chand and Gambhir adding75 runs for the opening stand. After his bril-liant 151 against Kerala, skipper Gambhirscored 37 while Chand's 62 off 80 balls hadnine fours and a six.

However, left-handed Rana andHimmat added 97 runs in 14.4 overs. Rana'srun-a-ball 52 had two fours and three hugesixes.

Once Pranshu Vijayaran (8) was dis-missed, Himmat upped the ante in companyof Lalit Yadav (23 off 14 balls) as the duoadded 56 in 5.3 overs to take Delhi past 300-run mark.

India discard Karn Sharma was thebowler who suffered most in the hands ofRana-Himmat pair as he went for 94 runsin 10 wicket-less overs.

Andhra were never in the chase as

Gambhir used as many as eight bowlers.DB Prashanth (54 off 69 balls) was the

only significant scorer for Andhra. FormerIndia U-19 captain Ricky Bhui contributed48 while India prospect Kona Bharat (2) wastrapped leg-before by Khejroliya.

Elsewhere, Mumbai continued theirruthless showin the Vijay Hazare Trophy, asthey hammered Goa by seven wickets intheir Elite Group A clash here on Tuesday.

After bundling out Goa for a paltry 186,Mumbai chased the target losing onlythree wickets in the process and in 36 overswith opener Akhil Herwadkar (108 not out)starring in the team's dominant victory.

Mumbai have not lost any of thematches in the ongoing national One-Daytournament so far.

In another Elite Group A match,atneighbouring Alur, wicket-keeper-batsmanAkshay Wadkar scored an unbeaten 82 tohelp Vidarbha defeat Maharashtra by threewickets, with just four balls to spare.

And at the M Chinnaswamy Stadiumhere, Gurkeerat Manns hundred helpedPunjab defeat Railways by 58 runs via theVJD method.

Yuvraj Singh (96) also played his partto perfection to contribute to his teams win.

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Holding on to the number one position despite a 1-4 lossto England, India will look to maintain their status in the

ICC Test rankings when they host West Indies in a two-matchseries.

In the series that starts on Thursday, India will be look-ing to ensure they do not lose any points in a bid to maintaintheir top position.

India lead the table with 115 points but only stand to gainone point even with a 2-0 series win owing to the large dif-ference in rating points with the West Indies.

On the other hand, India can slip to 108 points with anunlikely 2-0 loss and Australia could overtake them if theydefeat Pakistan 2-0.

For the West Indies, even a 2-0 series win will at best helpthem bridge the gap with Pakistan and Sri Lanka but will notpull them up from their present eighth position.

Pakistan host Australia for a two-match series in the UnitedArab Emirates starting Sunday, with both sides having thechance to improve their positions in the Test team rankings.

The series gives Pakistan the opportunity to edge Sri Lankato sixth position if they are able to complete a 2-0 series winover the opposition, while a 1-0 series win will be enough forAustralia to overtake South Africa and claim second positionbehind India.

Pakistan will move to 97 points if they win both Tests andahead of Sri Lanka on decimal points while Australia, whoare presently on 106 points and behind South Africa only ondecimal points, will move ahead with a series win. They willadvance to 107 points with a 1-0 win and to 109 points if theyprevail 2-0.

India captain Virat Kohli would be aiming to consolidatehis position at the top of the table since he is ahead of bannedAustralian run-machine Steve Smith by only one point.

Cheteshwar Pujara (sixth) and Lokesh Rahul (19th) willbe other leading India batsmen in the series while the spinpair of Ravindra Jadeja (fourth) and Ravichandran Ashwin(eighth) would be looking to capitalize on home conditions.

The West Indies boast of Kraigg Brathwaite in 13th posi-tion while three of their fast bowlers are in the top 20 - ShannonGabriel (11th), Jason Holder (13th) and Kemar Roach (19th)— and would be hoping to get some help from the Indian wick-ets.

For Australia, Usman Khawaja is the leading batsman in20th position in the absence of Smith and David Warner, whileMitchell Starc (joint-14th) and Nathan Lyon (16th) are the lead-ing bowlers.

Pakistan opener Azhar Ali is in 15th position and 672points, just one behind South Africa's Hashim Amla, whileleg-spinner Yasir Shah, formerly a top-ranked bowler, wouldbe looking to find his way back from 18th position after miss-ing this year's tour of Ireland and England due to a groin injury.

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Lead West Indies pacer KemarRoach will miss the opening

Test against India as he has beenforced to fly back to Barbadosfollowing the death of his grand-mother.

He will rejoin the squadmidway through the first Testbeginning here on Thursday.

"Kemar is not back yet. Hehad a bereavement in the fam-

ily and will be joining the teammidway through the first Test,"West Indies coach Stuart Lawsaid on Tuesday.

"Kemar Roach is a veryexperienced fast bowler withgreat skill. He is one of our lead-ers. It is a big loss. Having saidthat, Shannon Gabriel has beenoutstanding in the last couple of

Tests, that too in similar condi-tions to India."

Roach has played 48 Tests,taking 163 wickets at 28.31.

The Australian cricketer-turned-coach howeverexpressed confidence in theabilities of the pace attack com-prising Gabriel (37 Tests), cap-tain Jason Holder (34), Keemo

Paul (1) and the uncappedSherman Lewis, who replacedthe injured Alzzarri Joseph.

"Missing Kemar is a big holebut we have got some bright tal-ents coming through in KeemoPaul and Lewis. Sometimes it isbetter going with the known tosurprise the opposition. Pace hasbeen our strength," added Law.

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The pressure is on FC Barcelona andcoach Ernesto Valverde when they play

Tottenham in the Champions League atWembley on Wednesday.

Although Wembley has a place inBarca's folklore after they claimed their firstEuropean Cup there in 1992 and defeat-ed Manchester United in the rebuilt sta-dium to win the 2011 final, the trip comesat a bad time with players out of form andValverde seriously questioned after a poorrun of performances and results.

Saturday's 1-1 draw at home toAthletic Club Bilbao was Barca's third con-secutive Liga Santander without a win andfollowed a defeat away to bottom of thetable Leganes and a 2-2 draw againstGirona in the Camp Nou.

Valverde rotated his squad in allthree of those games to deal with the busyfixture list with new signings and fringeplayers so far failing to convince, but it washis decision to leave Leo Messi and SergioBusquets on the bench at the start of thegame against Athletic which really angeredfans.

Anyone who saw Messi's perfor-mances in last summer's World Cupshould know that it is simply impossiblefor the Argentinean to play every game,but the fact is what he is so important toBarca's cause, leaving him out is a risk forthe coach and by doing so Valverde lefthimself open to criticism.

Messi will be back in the side inLondon as Barca look for a result whichwould give them six points from theiropening two group games.

Busquets will also start alongsideIvan Rakitic and Philippe Coutinho inmidfield, while Valverde may have todecide whether or not he continues withOusmane Dembele in attack or decides toplay and extra midfielder, such as ArturoVidal.

Samuel Umtiti and Sergi Roberto areboth out injured, so Clement Lenglet andNelson Semedo will partner Gerard Piqueand Jordi Alba in defence.

Tottenham cannot afford to lose afterconceding late goals away to Inter Milanin their first group game and will be with-out England midfielder Dele Ali.

However, Harry Kane looks to bereturning to top form and he and CristianErikson, often cited as a possible Barca tar-get, will be two of the players Barca needto beware of on what promised to be anepic night in a legendary stadium.

�� #��It was a sight that just a fewmonths ago would have beenunthinkable — Liverpool a goal down ina big game, and Mohamed Salah hauledoff by Jurgen Klopp.

Klopp got the goal he craved fora 1-1 draw at Chelsea on Saturday thatpreserved Liverpool's unbeatenPremier League start, not viaSalah's immediate replacementXherdan Shaqiri, but anotherlate substitute, Daniel Sturridge.

A reborn Sturridge is now Liverpool'sjoint top scorer so far this season with fourgoals despite remaining behind Salah,Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane inKlopp's pecking order.

That he has remained there to becounted on at all, though, is a huge boostto Klopp's quest to both go one step fur-ther in the Champions League this seasonand deliver a first-ever Premier Leaguetitle, 29 years after they last won the Englishtop flight.

Sturridge has endured an injury-rav-aged three years since Klopp took charge.

Farmed out to West Brom in Januaryin a bid to refind his form and fitness,Sturridge's hamstring went again in histhird game and he never scored for theBaggies as they were relegated.

"He was always a bit unlucky withinjuries and stuff like that. That's how itis, timing in life is pretty important," addedKlopp. "Now, the timing is perfect. Weneed him desperately and he is fit."

�� Four months have passed sinceCarlo Ancelotti arrived in Napoli afterMaurizio Sarri's departure for Chelseawith the promise of finding the missingpiece in the jigsaw to end the southernItalian side's near three-decade wait for the

Scudetto.The former AC Milan and

Chelsea coach's arrival was hailed byclub owner Aurelio DeLaurentiis as the start of a newera at San Paolo Stadium.

Under Sarri, Napoli cameso close to toppling Juventus last seasonwith a record 91 points.

Ancelotti -- with a cabinet full of tro-phies won in five top European leagues -- promised not "a revolution" but to addthe finishing touches to give the team thefinal push.

But seven games into the Serie A cam-paign, Ancelotti's side are already sixpoints behind Juventus who are lookingeven stronger then ever with CristianoRonaldo.

The Champions League -- whichAncelotti had promised would not playsecond fiddle to their Scudetto ambitionsas it had done under Sarri -- has also got-ten off to an uninspiring start with a goal-less draw at Red Star Belgrade.

Three-time Champions League win-ner Ancelotti's side host Jurgen Klopp'sLiverpool on Wednesday in the SanPaolo needing a win from a tough GroupC which also includes Paris Saint-Germain.

Last weekend's 3-1 defeat to Juventusin Turin saw Napoli's hopes of a third titleand first since Diego Maradona's daysback in 1990 take a knock.

"A defeat can happen, just as Juventuscan lose to Napoli, we have to keepimproving but I'm convinced we'll becompetitive right until the end," insisted

Ancelotti.Ancelotti — whose last league crown

was with Bayern Munich in 2017 —is con-vinced he will find the right formula todeliver the title to Napoli's long sufferingfans.

"The passion and the enthusiasm ofthis club and these fans make it all moreexciting," he said.

#�� Jadon Sancho hopes his rep-utation for being a "weapon" off the benchfor Borussia Dortmund will win theEngland Under-19 international a start-ing berth against Monaco in theChampions League on Wednesday.

The 18-year-old wants a place inLucien Favre's line-up after once moreproving his worth on Saturday, when hehelped seal a 4-2 comeback Bundesligawin at Bayer Leverkusen with two dev-astating assists.

He set up Marco Reus for the equalis-er at the BayArena a minute after com-ing on, and he then sent Paco Alcaceraway on a counter-attack for the secondof the Spaniard's two late goals asDortmund went top of the table.

He has appeared as a substitute ineach of Dortmund's six Bundesliga out-ings this season, but he did start in theiropening Champions League game, whenthey won 1-0 at Club Brugge to get off tothe perfect start in Group A.

Sancho now craves a regular startingberth after providing six assists as well asone goal in the Bundesliga, although headmits he is at his best running at tiringdefences as a substitute.

The English teenager's tally of sixBundesliga assists makes him the top goalprovider in all of Europe's top five leaguesso far this season.

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Delhi Dynamos will look to start their campaign on awinning note when they lock horns with FC Pune City

in their Indian Super League season opener here onWednesday.

The Dynamos would look to forget a disappointing lastseason, when they finished eighth. However, they also expe-rienced an incredible six-match unbeaten run, which includ-ed draws against three of the four semi-finalists as well asa 5-1 rout of Mumbai.

The hosts will try to notch up a win in front of theirhome supporters at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

Delhi Dynamosenjoy a good head-to-head record againstthe visitors -- FC PuneCity have managed to

defeat Delhi only once in their eight encounters and thehosts would want to keep the record intact.

New head coach Joshep Gambau will be relying on theirnew recruits in the midfield including Bikramjit Singh,Mihelic and Spaniards Marcos Tebar and Adria Carmonato secure them the three points.

FC Pune City, who finished fourth last season, will hopeto break their Delhi jinx.

After Ranko Popovic resigned, the Pune outfit appoint-ed Brazil U-17 and U-20 World Cup winning-coach MarcosPaqueta, but within a month the Brazilian too terminatedhis contract. The club quickly brought in Miguel AngelPortugal, who had left Delhi Dynamos at the end of lastseason.

The club had relied on captain Marcelinho and hisdeputy Alfaro to take the team forward last season, but Punehave addressed the over-reliance on their attacking pair bysigning Iain Hume, ISL's all-time top-scorer, as well as Indiainternational Robin Singh to take some of the pressure offthe duo.

Forward Ashique Kuruniyan, who impressed with astring of performances last season will also be keen to pickup from where he left.

Pune also have the experienced pair of Ashutosh Mehtaand Keenan Almeida to boost their defence.

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The world hasn't ended for us,"India's U-16 coach Bibiano

Fernandes said on Tuesday after histeam missed qualification to the FIFAU-17 World Cup by a whisker.

Needing a win to qualify for theage-group global showpiece, Indiacrashed out of the AFC U-16Championship following a narrow lossto title contenders South Korea onMonday night.

Bibiano said, despite the defeat, hisside "showed the world what India iscapable of."

"The world hasn't ended for us,"Bibiano said.

"We go back and begin again. TheU-16 Championship is over and it istime to look forward to the U-19Championships. This was an experience

and we go back enriched," he stated.The coach said he was extremely

proud of his side's performancethroughout the tournament.

"The boys gave their hundred per-cent in the match. Wehave showed the worldwhat India are capable of.We pipped Iran in ourgroup and finished aheadof them to qualify for thequarterfinals. The matchagainst Korea proved thatit wasn't a fluke," Bibianosaid.

The morning after, Bibiano's phonehas been flooded with messages, includ-ing one from national team captainSunil Chhetri.

"Yes, he messaged me last nightafter the match," the coach smiled.

"His support means a lot to us, spe-

cially the boys. They look up to himand when he has said that he is 'thebiggest fan,' it's their biggest inspiration.A big thank you to him from all of us,"Bibiano said.

The Indians conceded just one goalin four matches, after 336 minutes ofopen play.

"We know how strong KoreaRepublic were and we knew what theycan do to us. We played our high press-ing game with compact defending, butit was one moment where we fell com-placent and Korea scored," Bibianosaid.

"This team has the potential to goa long way and it is evident with theresults that the team has delivered. Itis never easy to play Korea Republic orIran, but this team showed that notonly we can give the likes a hard timebut aim for a win," he added.

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Top seed Marin Cilic crashed out of theJapan Open in a shock 3-6, 6-4, 7-6

(7/1) defeat to Germany's Jan-LennardStruff in the first round on Tuesday.

The former US Open champion lookedto be in complete control after pocketingthe first set with a brutal drive volley, butthings quickly unravelled for the Croatianwhen Struff suddenly caught fire.

After Struff, ranked a whopping 50places below Cilic at 56 in the world, hadlevelled the match, normal service appearedto have resumed in the deciding set.

Cilic, who reached the final of thisyear's Australian Open, broke for 3-2with a peach of a backhand that dippedviciously onto Struff 's toes, but the Germanstruck back — not once, but twice — toforce a tiebreak.

Struff smashed the breaker, snafflingit 7-1 with his ninth ace to complete theupset after two hours, 18 minutes.

He next plays Frenchman JeremyChardy, who edged a war of attrition withBosnian Damir Dzumhur 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Earlier, three-time Grand Slam winnerStan Wawrinka beat Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-4while eighth seed Richard Gasquet alsoadvanced, the Frenchman ousting anoth-er American, Denis Kudla, 7-6, 6-3.

Frances Tiafoe restored some pride forthe United States by beating Germany's

Maximilian Marterer 7-5, 6-4.Cilic's demise will boost Kei Nishikori's

hopes of winning a third Japan Open crownafter the local favourite won the tourna-ment in 2012 and 2014.

��7�� -"��8��Naomi Osaka is keen to move onfrom the "bittersweet" memories of lastmonth's US Open triumph and she did justthat with a ruthless display at the ChinaOpen on Tuesday.

The young Japanese star thrashedunseeded American Danielle Collins 6-1,6-0 in just 53 minutes on Beijing's outsidehard courts to saunter into round three.

The 20-year-old Osaka, whose maid-en Grand Slam was overshadowed bySerena Williams's row with the chairumpire in New York, faces 10th seed JuliaGoerges next in the Chinese capital.

Osaka's reputation is growing fast andorganisers on Tuesday said that she hasbooked her place in the season-endingWTA Finals Singapore for the first time.

But the world number six has appearedto struggle with the fall-out from the tem-pestuous final at the US Open, whereWilliams branded chair umpire CarlosRamos "a thief " and later accused him ofsexism. "For me, I don't know, I don't know,the memory of the US Open is a little bitbittersweet," Osaka said on Monday.

"Right after, the day after, I really did-n't want to think about it because it was-n't necessarily the happiest memory forme."

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Jamshedpur FC began theirIndian Super League campaign

on a winning note as they defeat-ed Mumbai City FC 2-0, courtesygoals by Spanish Mario Arques andPablo Morgado, here on Tuesday.

Arques (28th minute) andMorgado (90+5 minutes)scored for Jamshedpur asthey defeated the hosts inan enthralling contest.

Mumbai had theirshare of bad luck, whenthey twice put the ball intothe opposition net, but onboth the occasions, it was ruled off-side. The home side also missedseveral opportunities to get backinto the game.

Jamshedpur began on anattacking note, having a better ballpossession. The visitors had achance in the eighth minute toopen account, but Spanish MarioArques failed to connect a crossfrom Jerry Mawihmingthanga.

But the deadlock was brokenin the 28th minute when Arques'header went into the right-cornerof the goal to give Jamshedpur a 1-

0 lead.Mumbai created a few chances,

but were unable to get the equalis-er.

At the half-way mark,Jamshedpur were 1-0 ahead.

After the change of ends, thehosts had another great chance toequalise, but again faltered.

Chances came thick andfast for Mumbai, but theywere unable to converteven one.

In the 59th minute,Sougou's header was

thwarted away by Roy. In the77th minute, Pranjal Bhumij on

the left-wing cut it backwards toRaynier Fernandes who crossed intowards the far post. MohammedRafique ran and headed the ballinto the goal, but the referee ruledit as an off-side.

Mumbai scored again, thistime from a free kick, but the ref-eree ruled it as an off-side.

Jamshedpur then doubledtheir lead in the stoppage time. Ina brilliant counter-attack, SergioCidoncha played to Morgado, whoran in and slotted the ball into thefar corner of the goal.

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