ˆ( !(()(˘’’*˘+&, %*ˆ%( · bollywood superstars akshay kumar and salman khan are among...

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B ollywood superstars Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan are among the top paid celebri- ties of India, Forbes India has announced. The magazine has pub- lished its list of Celebrity 100 for the year 2019 which has been topped by Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli with the earning of 252.72 crore. The rankings are based on estimates of earnings through professions and endorsements of celebrities and estimates of their fame for the October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019. Akshay is highest earning star from the country with 293.25 crore, registering a rise of 58.51 percent from the previous year, but is placed at the 2nd spot, followed by Salman with the earning of 229.25 crore. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan and Indian cricketer MS Dhoni are listed at 4th and 5th spots, with earnings of 239.25 crore and 135.93 crore, respectively. They are followed closely by Shah Rukh Khan, who makes a comeback to the list, and Ranveer Singh, with the respective hauls of 124.38 crores and 118.2 crores. Despite all the talk about pay parity and inclusivity, the top-10 list has only two female stars and their earnings signif- icantly lower than their male counterparts. Alia Bhatt features at 8th with 59.21 crore and Deepika Padukone at 10th with 48 crore. Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar is placed 9th on the list with earning of 76.96 crores. Forbes India noted that in the top 100 list, there was an improved representation from the South Indian film industry. “There are 13 celebrities from the South this year (down from 15 in 2018) but their con- tribution to the cumulative earnings of the top 100 has increased to 12.57 percent from 11.26 per cent in the previous year,” it said. “The inevitability of such lists being dominated by men, which itself tells a tale of the lack of pay parity across gen- ders in every local film industry and in every sport. “In cricket, a whopping 6.5 crore separates top men players from the women when it comes to the central contract. But when it comes to perfor- mance, there is no gap,” Brian Carvalho, Editor, Forbes India, in a statement. T housands of students, activists and others poured out into streets as the protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) erupt- ed across the country on Thursday. Two protestors n were killed in the police firing in Mangaluru in Karnataka and one succumbed to bullet injury. Uttar Pradesh saw wide- spread violence, arson, and incidents of clashes between police and protestors, but in other parts of the country the protests were largely peaceful. In Mangaluru, police clamped curfew until Friday night and aleged that the pro- testors attempted to lay siege to the Mangalore North police station and tried to attack police personnel, following which force was used to dis- perse them. Two persons received bul- let injuries in police firing and they later succumbed at a hos- pital, police confirmed. The deceased were identified as Jaleel Kudroli (49) and Nausheen (23). Prominent cit- izens hit the streets in Bengaluru and Chennai along- side students, activists and the general public to oppose the contentious law. One person was shot dead in Lucknow while two others were undergoing treatment in the trauma centre in the State Capital. It’s not yet clear from where the firing took place. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said his Government will “revenge” the destruction of public assets during the protests by seizing and auctioning off the proper- ty of those involved in the vio- lence. “There is no place for violence in a democracy. In the name of opposing the CAA, the Congress, SP and Left parties have pushed the entire country into fire,” he said. “There was violence in Lucknow and Sambhal and we will deal with it strictly. All property of those involved in damaging public assets will be seized and auctioned to com- pensate for the losses,” he said. He said those damaging property have been captured in video and CCTV footage. “We will take revenge from them by seizing their property,” he added. Yogi said prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC have been in force in the State since November 8 and no demonstration can take place without permission. Protests in West Bengal, Assam and Meghalaya, which were at the centre of the stir initially, were largely peaceful. Protests were also held in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh, Jammu, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, among other States. P rotests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) have escalated across the country. Thursday saw multiple protest rallies in the national Capital with senior Opposition leaders, a large number of students and activists organising two mega demonstrations. However, no reports of violence were reported in the national Capital on Thursday. On Thursday morning, hundreds of protesters from Jamia Millia Islamia, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Delhi University, who have been holding protests since Sunday, began their march against the new law in the Red Fort, defying CrPC Section 144 imposed there by the Delhi Police. Left parties also held a joint march at Mandi House in central Delhi in the noon. Police, however, had denied permission to all these groups even as they had applied for it. According to the police, the permission for the protest march was denied due to law and order, and traf- fic issues. Around 1,200 protesters including students, activists and Oppositions leaders were detained temporarily from Red Fort and Mandi House and they were kept at multiple locations including Bawana’s Rajiv Gandhi sports complex and Surajmal Stadium and they were released on Thursday evening. Police also gave refreshments to the detained protesters. Opposition leaders includ- ing D Raja, Sitaram Yechury, Nilotpal Basu, Brinda Karat, Ajay Maken, Sandeep Dikshit and activists Yogendra Yadav and Umar Khalid were among those detained near the Red Fort and Mandi House — the sites of the two demonstra- tions. Meanwhile, on Thursday afternoon, hundreds of flag- waving students and activists converged near the Jantar Mantar to voice their anger against the contentious law after police forcefully evicted protesters from areas around Red Fort and Mandi House. “Police had requested the protesters to apply for the des- ignated place for the protest. In the non-designated places, public face problems and many emergency services get affect- ed especially on Red Fort route,” said Mandeep Singh Randhawa, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) and Public Relations Officer (PRO), Delhi Police. As the city witnessed mas- sive protests over the Citizenship Law, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appealed to the Union Government not to imple- ment the new legislation. “I appeal to the Centre with fold- ed hands not to bring this leg- islation at this time. The need of the hour is to provide employment to the youth. We should all try to bring employ- ment opportunities for our children and this law is not needed,” he said on the side- lines of an event. F ollowing the protests over newly introduced Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the national Capital, 19 IndiGo flights were can- celled and 16 others were delayed as crew members were stuck in traffic jam on NH-8. According to officials, four airlines — Vistara, GoAir, Air India and IndiGo announced that their passen- gers, who are stuck in traffic due to anti-CAA protests in various parts of Delhi, will be adjusted in subsequent flights for no extra fees. “Till now, 16 flights have been delayed due to traffic jam at NH-8. M adhya Pradesh Assembly here on Thursday wit- nessed bedlam over payment of wheat bonus to farmers as the BJP MLAs accused that the Kamal Nath government was not willing to pay the bonus. Amid heated arguments, Chief Minister targeting oppo- sition lawmakers claimed that there is a difference between wagging your tongue and run- ning the government. This prompted more commotion in the House as Leader of Opposition Gopal Bhargav called this an assault on freedom of expression of the legislators. Later, in the House, Nath clarified that he did not target anyone personally. As heated exchanges took place between the opposition and Treasury benches, the BJP MLAs calling the Congress Government anti- farmer staged a walk out. Replying to a query from BJP MLA Devendra Verma, Revenue Minister Govind Singh Rajput had replied that the farm- ers were offered bonus under Kisan Samriddhi Yojana. The BJP Chief Whip Narottam Mishra however pointed out that the general budget and sup- plementary budget do not spec- ify anything about the said scheme. Leader of Opposition Gopal Bhargav and former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan too joined in asking whether the Congress government was plan- ning to pay Rs 160 per quintal on wheat to farmers or not. As the commotion did not subside, Chief Minister Kamal Nath intervened claiming he would offer a copy of the letter received from the Centre which stated that if the state govern- ment has paid wheat bonus or plans to pay it in future, the food- grain procurement from the state would be reduced by 7 lakh metric tonnes. “I had spoken to New Delhi and learnt that the deduction was caused by bonus offered by your (BJP) govern- ment and if we had mentioned about paying wheat bonus, they could have slashed procurement further.” Nath asked the BJP to take up this issue with the Centre and questioned how many BJP MPs raised the demand of 8,000 cr relief package with the central government. Meanwhile, Finance minis- ter Tarun Bhanot also announced that farmers would get what is promised to them by the Congress party but the argu- ments continued as the BJP MLAs continued to seek a reply from the state The House was adjourned for five minutes twice when the heated arguments were on. I n a major relief to thousands of guest teachers protesting here for around a week, Higher Education Minister Jitu Patwari here on Thursday declared that from now on, the guest faculties would be called ‘Vidwan’ and affirmed that not a single guest faculty would lose job in the State. He was talking to media persons in the State assembly premises on Thursday. Patwari also announced that these fac- ulties would be offered choice filling so that they could be accommodated in local college of their native towns if there are vacancies. Popularly known by its Hindi translation Atithi Vidwan, the guest faculties were up in arms against the Kamal Nath government in the last few weeks after the Public Service Commission handed appointment letters to some of the candidates for the post of Assistant Professors. Protesting the move and alleging non-creation of the fresh posts, the Guest Faculties’ Association had hit the state capital with a protest on Dec 10 and also continued at Shahjehani Park with the protest. “Shivraj government is responsible for the plight of thousands of guest faculties as nothing was done to regularise them in last 15 years,” Higher Education minister told. The previous government should have conducted PSC exams every year but it wasn’t the case and these faculties remained in the colleges with the ‘guest’ status, claimed the minister adding due to the apa- thy of the previous govern- ment, the members of the family were reduced to guests (Atithi). In accordance with the intent of the Chief Minister Kamal Nath, we have decided to delete the prefix ‘Atithi’ from the designation of these faculties, announced the min- ister. Equating the dismal show of Higher Education depart- ment in last 15 years in recruit- ing regular faculties to Vyapam scam like ignominy, Patwari claimed that this was the rea- son, MP now stands among last four states in terms of fac- ulty recruitment in the coun- try in higher education. The Minister said that his department had filled up some of the posts of faculties through PSC cleared candi- dates in accordance with the court directives. To ensure that guest fac- ulties don’t lose jobs due to appointment of full-time teachers, we have created 1359 fresh posts and we had 1,000 vacant posts, he said. The state government has also ensured that those candidates who have obtained higher degrees in last 15 years are offered suitable posts speedily in accordance with their academic record. After this process of fact finding is complete in next 15 days, the choice filling shall start from Jan 1, 2020 to ensure that guest faculties are offered posts in local colleges wherev- er the vacancies are available, announced the minister. The Minister also announced that the state gov- ernment is working on a pol- icy for regularisation of con- tractual employees including guest faculties and a commit- tee comprising senior offi- cials of the five departments has been formed under the chairmanship of Principal Secretary General Administration Department. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

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Page 1: ˆ( !(()(˘’’*˘+&, %*ˆ%( · Bollywood superstars Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan are among the top paid celebri-ties of India, Forbes India has ... would offer a copy of the letter

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Bollywood superstars AkshayKumar and Salman Khan

are among the top paid celebri-ties of India, Forbes India hasannounced.

The magazine has pub-lished its list of Celebrity 100for the year 2019 which hasbeen topped by Indian cricketcaptain Virat Kohli with theearning of �252.72 crore.

The rankings are based onestimates of earnings throughprofessions and endorsementsof celebrities and estimates oftheir fame for the October 1,2018 to September 30, 2019.

Akshay is highest earning

star from the country with�293.25 crore, registering arise of 58.51 percent from theprevious year, but is placed atthe 2nd spot, followed bySalman with the earning of�229.25 crore.

Megastar AmitabhBachchan and Indian cricketerMS Dhoni are listed at 4th and5th spots, with earnings of�239.25 crore and �135.93crore, respectively.

They are followed closelyby Shah Rukh Khan, whomakes a comeback to the list,and Ranveer Singh, with therespective hauls of �124.38crores and �118.2 crores.

Despite all the talk about

pay parity and inclusivity, thetop-10 list has only two femalestars and their earnings signif-icantly lower than their malecounterparts.

Alia Bhatt features at 8thwith �59.21 crore and DeepikaPadukone at 10th with �48crore.

Cricket legend SachinTendulkar is placed 9th on thelist with earning of �76.96crores.

Forbes India noted that inthe top 100 list, there was animproved representation fromthe South Indian film industry.

“There are 13 celebritiesfrom the South this year (downfrom 15 in 2018) but their con-

tribution to the cumulativeearnings of the top 100 hasincreased to 12.57 percent from11.26 per cent in the previousyear,” it said.

“The inevitability of suchlists being dominated by men,which itself tells a tale of thelack of pay parity across gen-ders in every local film industry and in everysport.

“In cricket, a whopping�6.5 crore separates top menplayers from the women whenit comes to the central contract.But when it comes to perfor-mance, there is no gap,” BrianCarvalho, Editor, Forbes India,in a statement.

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Thousands of students,activists and others poured

out into streets as the protestagainst the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA) erupt-ed across the country onThursday. Two protestors nwere killed in the police firingin Mangaluru in Karnataka andone succumbed to bullet injury.

Uttar Pradesh saw wide-spread violence, arson, andincidents of clashes betweenpolice and protestors, but inother parts of the country theprotests were largely peaceful.

In Mangaluru, policeclamped curfew until Fridaynight and aleged that the pro-testors attempted to lay siege tothe Mangalore North policestation and tried to attackpolice personnel, followingwhich force was used to dis-perse them.

Two persons received bul-let injuries in police firing andthey later succumbed at a hos-pital, police confirmed. Thedeceased were identified asJaleel Kudroli (49) andNausheen (23). Prominent cit-izens hit the streets inBengaluru and Chennai along-side students, activists and thegeneral public to oppose thecontentious law.

One person was shot deadin Lucknow while two otherswere undergoing treatment inthe trauma centre in the StateCapital. It’s not yet clear fromwhere the firing took place.

UP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said hisGovernment will “revenge” the

destruction of public assetsduring the protests by seizingand auctioning off the proper-ty of those involved in the vio-lence. “There is no place forviolence in a democracy. In thename of opposing the CAA, the

Congress, SP and Left partieshave pushed the entire countryinto fire,” he said.

“There was violence inLucknow and Sambhal and wewill deal with it strictly. Allproperty of those involved in

damaging public assets will beseized and auctioned to com-pensate for the losses,” he said.

He said those damagingproperty have been captured invideo and CCTV footage. “Wewill take revenge from them by

seizing their property,” headded.

Yogi said prohibitoryorders under section 144 of theCrPC have been in force in theState since November 8 and nodemonstration can take placewithout permission.

Protests in West Bengal,Assam and Meghalaya, whichwere at the centre of the stirinitially, were largely peaceful.Protests were also held inMaharashtra, Gujarat,Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu,Chandigarh, Jammu, Rajasthanand Madhya Pradesh, amongother States.

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Protests against theCitizenship Amendment

Act (CAA) have escalatedacross the country. Thursdaysaw multiple protest rallies inthe national Capital withsenior Opposition leaders, alarge number of students andactivists organising two megademonstrations.

However, no reports ofviolence were reported in thenational Capital on Thursday.

On Thursday morning,hundreds of protesters fromJamia Millia Islamia, JawaharlalNehru University (JNU) andDelhi University, who havebeen holding protests sinceSunday, began their marchagainst the new law in the RedFort, defying CrPC Section 144imposed there by the DelhiPolice. Left parties also held ajoint march at Mandi House incentral Delhi in the noon.Police, however, had deniedpermission to all these groupseven as they had applied for it.According to the police, thepermission for the protestmarch was denied due to law and order, and traf-fic issues.

Around 1,200 protestersincluding students, activistsand Oppositions leaders weredetained temporarily from RedFort and Mandi House andthey were kept at multiplelocations including Bawana’sRajiv Gandhi sports complexand Surajmal Stadium andthey were released onThursday evening. Police also

gave refreshments to thedetained protesters.

Opposition leaders includ-ing D Raja, Sitaram Yechury,Nilotpal Basu, Brinda Karat,Ajay Maken, Sandeep Dikshitand activists Yogendra Yadavand Umar Khalid were amongthose detained near the RedFort and Mandi House — thesites of the two demonstra-tions.

Meanwhile, on Thursdayafternoon, hundreds of flag-waving students and activists

converged near the JantarMantar to voice their angeragainst the contentious lawafter police forcefully evictedprotesters from areas aroundRed Fort and Mandi House.

“Police had requested theprotesters to apply for the des-ignated place for the protest. Inthe non-designated places,public face problems and manyemergency services get affect-ed especially on Red Fortroute,” said Mandeep SinghRandhawa, the DeputyCommissioner of Police (DCP)and Public Relations Officer(PRO), Delhi Police.

As the city witnessed mas-sive protests over theCitizenship Law, Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwalappealed to the UnionGovernment not to imple-ment the new legislation. “Iappeal to the Centre with fold-ed hands not to bring this leg-islation at this time. The needof the hour is to provideemployment to the youth. Weshould all try to bring employ-ment opportunities for ourchildren and this law is notneeded,” he said on the side-lines of an event.

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Following the protests overnewly introduced

Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA) in the national Capital,

19 IndiGo flights were can-celled and 16 others weredelayed as crew members were stuck in traffic jam on NH-8.

According to officials, four

airlines — Vistara, GoAir, AirIndia and IndiGo —announced that their passen-gers, who are stuck in trafficdue to anti-CAA protests invarious parts of Delhi, will be

adjusted in subsequent flightsfor no extra fees.

“Till now, 16 flights havebeen delayed due to traffic jamat NH-8.

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Madhya Pradesh Assemblyhere on Thursday wit-

nessed bedlam over payment ofwheat bonus to farmers as theBJP MLAs accused that theKamal Nath government wasnot willing to pay the bonus.

Amid heated arguments,Chief Minister targeting oppo-sition lawmakers claimed thatthere is a difference betweenwagging your tongue and run-ning the government. Thisprompted more commotion inthe House as Leader ofOpposition Gopal Bhargavcalled this an assault on freedomof expression of the legislators.

Later, in the House, Nathclarified that he did not targetanyone personally. As heatedexchanges took place betweenthe opposition and Treasurybenches, the BJP MLAs callingthe Congress Government anti-

farmer staged a walk out.Replying to a query from

BJP MLA Devendra Verma,Revenue Minister Govind SinghRajput had replied that the farm-ers were offered bonus underKisan Samriddhi Yojana. TheBJP Chief Whip NarottamMishra however pointed outthat the general budget and sup-plementary budget do not spec-ify anything about the saidscheme. Leader of OppositionGopal Bhargav and former ChiefMinister Shivraj Singh Chouhantoo joined in asking whether theCongress government was plan-ning to pay Rs 160 per quintal onwheat to farmers or not.

As the commotion did notsubside, Chief Minister KamalNath intervened claiming hewould offer a copy of the letterreceived from the Centre whichstated that if the state govern-ment has paid wheat bonus orplans to pay it in future, the food-

grain procurement from thestate would be reduced by 7 lakhmetric tonnes. “I had spoken toNew Delhi and learnt that thededuction was caused by bonusoffered by your (BJP) govern-ment and if we had mentionedabout paying wheat bonus, theycould have slashed procurementfurther.”

Nath asked the BJP to takeup this issue with the Centre andquestioned how many BJP MPsraised the demand of �8,000 crrelief package with the centralgovernment.

Meanwhile, Finance minis-ter Tarun Bhanot alsoannounced that farmers wouldget what is promised to them bythe Congress party but the argu-ments continued as the BJPMLAs continued to seek a replyfrom the state

The House was adjournedfor five minutes twice when theheated arguments were on.

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In a major relief to thousandsof guest teachers protesting

here for around a week, HigherEducation Minister Jitu Patwarihere on Thursday declaredthat from now on, the guestfaculties would be called‘Vidwan’ and affirmed that nota single guest faculty would losejob in the State.

He was talking to mediapersons in the State assemblypremises on Thursday. Patwarialso announced that these fac-ulties would be offered choicefilling so that they could beaccommodated in local collegeof their native towns if there arevacancies.

Popularly known by itsHindi translation AtithiVidwan, the guest facultieswere up in arms against theKamal Nath government inthe last few weeks after thePublic Service Commission

handed appointment letters tosome of the candidates for thepost of Assistant Professors.

Protesting the move andalleging non-creation of thefresh posts, the Guest Faculties’Association had hit the statecapital with a protest on Dec 10and also continued atShahjehani Park with theprotest.

“Shivraj government isresponsible for the plight ofthousands of guest faculties asnothing was done to regularisethem in last 15 years,” HigherEducation minister told.

The previous governmentshould have conducted PSCexams every year but it wasn’tthe case and these facultiesremained in the colleges withthe ‘guest’ status, claimed theminister adding due to the apa-thy of the previous govern-ment, the members of thefamily were reduced to guests(Atithi).

In accordance with theintent of the Chief MinisterKamal Nath, we have decidedto delete the prefix ‘Atithi’from the designation of thesefaculties, announced the min-ister.

Equating the dismal showof Higher Education depart-ment in last 15 years in recruit-ing regular faculties to Vyapamscam like ignominy, Patwariclaimed that this was the rea-son, MP now stands amonglast four states in terms of fac-ulty recruitment in the coun-try in higher education.

The Minister said that hisdepartment had filled up someof the posts of facultiesthrough PSC cleared candi-dates in accordance with thecourt directives.

To ensure that guest fac-ulties don’t lose jobs due toappointment of full-timeteachers, we have created 1359fresh posts and we had 1,000

vacant posts, he said. The stategovernment has also ensuredthat those candidates who haveobtained higher degrees inlast 15 years are offered suitableposts speedily in accordancewith their academic record.

After this process of factfinding is complete in next 15days, the choice filling shallstart from Jan 1, 2020 to ensurethat guest faculties are offeredposts in local colleges wherev-er the vacancies are available,announced the minister.

The Minister alsoannounced that the state gov-ernment is working on a pol-icy for regularisation of con-tractual employees includingguest faculties and a commit-tee comprising senior offi-cials of the five departmentshas been formed under thechairmanship of PrincipalSecretary GeneralA d m i n i s t r a t i o n Department.

*���������%������� ��������������"������� ��������"�����+�����"������������ ���������,-�����.

���������� ��� ������������������� ���,����-�����. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

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Page 2: ˆ( !(()(˘’’*˘+&, %*ˆ%( · Bollywood superstars Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan are among the top paid celebri-ties of India, Forbes India has ... would offer a copy of the letter

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Acareer counseling pro-gramme was organised at

Madhyanchal ProfessionalUniversity here on Thursday.

During thr seminar, the stu-dents were told that after impor-tant milestones in education,each of us should face this ques-tion after class 10th, class 12thand after graduation. What dowe have to do? For this purpose,in order to give the right guid-ance to the children, many ques-tions related to the careers of thechildren in the mid-day profes-sional university were answeredby the principals of differentdepartments.

Addressing the students, thespeaker said that Patel Group ofInstitutions have always beenlooking forward to providingguidance to the students andtheir successful future. For thispurpose, the group organisedcareer counseling seminars forthe students. More than 1,000students participated in the sem-inar.

To make the seminar aninteractive one, Joshi first askedthe students about their careerpreferences. Joshi wanted toknow about the career-relatedscenario from the students. Afterlistening to the students' views,

he gave important informationrelated to personality develop-ment and personal interview.

The purpose of this pro-gramme is to help studentschoose areas that suit their skillsand job expectations. When stu-dents choose the right career,only then they perform bestwhich ultimately helps them tosucceed.

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INIFD Fashion & InteriorDesign students participated

in the regional selection toshowcase at the upcomingLakme Fashion Week —India’spremier fashion and lifestyleevent. Celebrating Fashion andInterior Design on one uniqueplatform, it is being hosted atHotel Sayaji by INIFD. It is thelargest global network of designinstitutes and IMG Reliance.

This unique DesignFestival had showcased anespecially curated ‘KnowledgeSeries’ with a talk show fol-lowed by Design presentationby budding INIFD FashionDesigners and InteriorDesigners for the selection fordirect entry to Lakme FashionWeek. The selected FashionDesign students will get anexclusive opportunity to show-case at Main Show Area atINIFD Launchpad duringLakme Fashion Week and theselected Interior Design stu-dents get a chance to DesignSets of select Designer Showsat Main Show Area of LakmeFashion Week.

This regional selectionevent Season 3 is bigger andbetter as along with the grand

opportunity, the DesignWinners are rewarded withcash Prize from IMG Reliance& mentorship under theDesign experts.

The celebrity Jury at thedesign presentation BollywoodActress Rhea Chakrobarty wasextremely impressed by thecreativity of the INIFD stu-dents. She was overwhelmedwith the energy and enthusi-asm with which the students

came forward and showcasedtheir creativity.

Top panelists for the curat-ed talk show to share their valu-able experience and knowledgecomprises of Rakesh Thakore- Veteran Fashion Designer,Akshat Bhatt - PrincipalArchitect, ArchitectureDiscipline,Neeraj Gaba -TV &OTT Personalityand ShefaleeVasudev - Editor of ‘The Voiceof Fashion’ by IMG Reliance.

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The experience sharing eventwas organised by Sky

Social, supported by UNICEFon Wednesday to appreciate theyouth4children volunteers fortheir work towards child rights.The youth volunteers sharedtheir experiences, ideas andaction plans as to what theyouth can do further for therights of children.

Changeloomer Neha Yadavand Akansh from Khandwawere special guests at the event.They shared their story withthe youth which was veryinspiring and motivating. NehaYadav has been training chil-dren, girls and women for selfdefense and Karate since last 9years free of cost in urban andrural areas.

She shared her journeyand challenges she had to faceto follow her dreams. Shefocused on one importantthing that is “self-defense” andhow sports make girls andchildren strong mentally andphysically to stand up for them-selves whenever required.

Not just that she has beenempowering children andyoung girls on gender equal-ity, good touch and bad touch,

employment, discrimination,women empowerment andsocial inclusion.

Akansh motivated youthto take actions for child rightsand gender equality.

Anil Gulati,Communication SpecialistUNICEF MP, congratulated

the youth group for their con-tribution and also empha-sized on the fact that there isstill more to do for childrights. He also urged theyouth group to come up withunique out of the box ideaswith concrete results, wherethey can directly or indirect-

ly help children for fulfillingtheir rights.

Srishti Pragat, Founder ofSky Social also thanked all theparticipants, talked about gen-der equality and importanceof working together andengaging more youth for ful-filling rights of children.

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Minister for CooperativeGovind Singh said that

‘Agrivyapar’ App has been pre-pared to facilitate farmers ingetting higher prices for theirproduces. The Farmers will beable to sell their agricultureproduces directly onlinethrough this app. He furtherinformed that 15 thousand 27farmers, 221 marketing soci-eties, 4 commodity exchangesand 40 direct buyers havealready been registered on the‘Agrivyapar’ App.

Minister Singh said thatalong with high quality seedsand fertlisers to the farmers atcheaper rates, the Cooperativedepartment is committed tohelp the farmers in gettinghigher prices for their pro-duces. In this regard, a DigitalPlatform has been made avail-able through ‘Agrivyapar’ App.

He further mentioned thatalong with the farmers, tradersand consumers of the country

and abroad are also linkingthemselves with this digitalplatform. In addition to widedisplay of farmers’ produces, anarrangement for customers’choice and feedback has alsobeen ensured on this app.

This app can easily bedownloaded on mobile fromthe Google Play Store.Registration is required afterthe download. After the regis-tration, farmers are required tomention the quantity anddescription of their produces.Similarly, traders/buyers arerequired to register theirrequirement on this app. Afterthis, farmers can negotiateprices for their produces direct-ly with buyers. Farmers couldalso sell their agriculture pro-duces through auction. Thereis no place for middlemen inthis system.

Farmers will deal directlywith buyers and they will behelped in this work by thecooperative marketing soci-eties.

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Regional Museum of NaturalHistory, Bhopal, organised

Best out of Waste Competitioncum Exhibition for the studentsof class 6 to 8 on Thursday. 31students from various schoolsof Bhopal displayed their mod-els made by Utilisation of Non-biodegradable Waste.

Participants used the Non-biodegradable waste materialslikes; plastic bottles, CDs, ther-mocol used in packing of items,newspapers, pipe, pen, spoons,plastic jar, cement etc to makevarious models likes; Peacock,Drip irrigation, Slippers madeby polythene, Bullet proof jack-et, abstract sculpture, Magazineholder, flower pot, pen stand,waterfall, birds nest, bio gasplant, Air Cooler.

Master Mukesh Singh fromModel Higher SecondarySchool, TT Nagar, Bhopal wonthe first prize. Parv Singh fromThe Iconic School, Bhopal wonthe second prize. AnmolMishra & Animesh Kumarfrom Bal Bharti Public School,Nishatpura, Bhopal andMayank Singh from ModelHigher Secondary School, TTNagar, Bhopal won third prizejointly.

Bhavya Gupta from StXavier’s Senior SecondarySchool, BHEL, Bhopal; ManjiriKhedkar from Sardar PatelPublic School, Misroad,Bhopal; Kavya Kaushal fromIES Public School, Bhopal andAtithi

Katiyar from Sardar Patel

Public School, Misroad, Bhopalbagged the encouragementprize.

Vipin Vyas, AssociateProfessor from BarkatullahUniversity, Bhopal; CS Dubey,Former Deputy Conservator ofForest, Govt of MadhyaPradesh, Bhopal and Beenish

Rafat, Scientist-C of the muse-um were the Jury Members ofthe competition. During theprogramme, In-charge of themuseum Manoj KumarSharma and coordinator of theprogramme & Scientist-BManik Lal Gupta were present.

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The grand children festival“Balrang Mahotsava 2019”

began at Indira GandhiRashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya(IGRMS) on Wednesday withstupendous performancesexhibited by the students from09 division of MP. The pro-gramme was jointly inaugurat-ed by Directorate of PublicInstructions (DPI)Commissioner, Smt. JaishriKiyawat, Shri D. S. Rao (Headof the Office, IGRMS) and ShriRajeev Singh Tomar (JointDirector, Bhopal Division, DPI).

On this occasion, Mr.Rakesh Bhatt, ProgramCoordinator, IGRMS and thejudges of state level competition,

participants and principals fromvarious schools of MadhyaPradesh gave their special pres-ence in the event.

The Joint Director, BhopalDivision, DPI, Shri Rajeev SinghTomar Said that In this pro-gramme, they organized variousstate level competitions includ-ing cultural, literary, Sanskrit,Yoga, Madarsa, Divyangjan, etc.In the “Laghu Bharat”Exhibition, various divisionsexhibited cultural and historicheritage of M.P. The participantsexhibited beautiful picture ofcarious schemes and activitiesunder “Samarth Bharat” exhi-bition. Besides, the school stu-dents also set in stalls of varioustickling tasty famous dishes ofMadhya Pradesh. Scout Camp

exhibits Jungle Camp, RiverCrossing, Monkey Bridge,Commando Bridge, etc alsoorganized in the programme.

In her address, DPICommissioner Smt. JaishriKiyawat orated that RashtriyaBalrang is a platform whichshowcases cultural diversity ofthe country and its develop-ment. Balrang has made itsnational identity with its creativeand unique way.

It is a grand festival oflearning and talent whichexhibits cultural heritage, folkdances, songs, arts, etc. The stu-dents are exhibiting their talentin the culture heritage.

The Rashtriya BalrangMahotsava’s national level pro-gram will be held on 20thDecember, 2019. The Governorof Madhya Pradesh, will inau-gurate Rashtriya Bal RangSamaroh at ManavSangrahalaya at 11 am onFriday.

The participant form 13sate are participating in this pro-gramme and presentations offolk dances of various states willbe showcased during theRashtriya Bal Rang Samaroh.Today, Indore division got firstplace in the presentation ofvarious divisions in the statelevel cultural competition andtomorrow it will represent theMadhya Pradesh in the nation-al folk dance competition.

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With the increase in tem-peratures on Thursday

,little relief was provided fromintense cold conditions whichprevailed in the State for thepast 3-4 days.

The lowest night tempera-ture recorded 1 degree Celsiushigher and was recorded at 5degree Celsius which wasrecorded in Datia and Gwalior.

Severe cold conditionswere witnessed in Rewa,Shahdol, Jabalpur, Sagar andGwalior divisions which wit-nessed foggy conditions.

Rewa, Satna, Narsinghpur,Chattarpur, Tikamgarh,Damoh, Rajgarh, Datia,Gwalior, Sheopur Kalan wit-nessed intense cold day condi-tions while Sidhi, Balaghat,Sagar, Ratlam districts wit-nessed cold day conditions.

The State Capital whichrecorded night temperature at8.2 degree Celsius on Tuesdaywhich increased by 1 degreeCelsius and recorded at 9.6degree Celsius on Wednesday.

The State is witnessingsevere cold weather conditionswhich gripped the State afterheavy spell of rainfall, thundery

activities and hailstorm werewitnessed.

The Met department hasissued warning of intense coldday conditions and cold dayconditions would be witnessedin Gwalior, Chambal, Sagar,Rewa and Jabalpur divisions inthe next 24 hours.

Warning of shallow to densefog has been issued for Gwalior,Chambal, Bhopal, Sagar, Rewaand Shahdol divisions whichwould witnessed foggy condi-tions in the next 24 hours. Thenight temperatures have beendipped significantly in the past24 hours in Sagar.

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Page 3: ˆ( !(()(˘’’*˘+&, %*ˆ%( · Bollywood superstars Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan are among the top paid celebri-ties of India, Forbes India has ... would offer a copy of the letter

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Ratibad police has nabbedone of the two miscreants

involved in fleeing with a vehi-cle laden with medicines. Thevehicle was scheduled to reachNeelbad. Police have recoveredone country made pistol andfive cartridges and search forthe absconding accused hasbeen intensified.

The nabbed miscreant wasidentified as Sunil Sahu whilethe other miscreant KewalSahu remained absconding.The two were booked byRatibad police for escapingwith vehicle loaded with med-icines which was on scheduledto deliver at Neelbad.

A complaint was lodged bythe victim Balakishan Prajapatiruns Divansh Traders whobought 424 boxes of medicinefrom Himachal Pradesh whichwas boxes and collected atKokta Transport Nagar andlater the accused Sunil Sahuand Kewal Sahu were assignedto deliver it to Ratibad but thevictim escaped with the goodsnear Bhadhada area when he

stopped to buy goods at SurajNagar.

The victim came with vehi-cle of Balaji Loading Servicebearing registration numberMP04GB3408. The transportservice provider was quizzed inthe later investigation.

In his complaint victimstated that his 424 medicineboxes were brought fromHimachal Pradesh to KoktaTransport Nagar. The medicinefrom Kokta Transport Nagar

were scheduled to deliver inHarinagar and as he wasacquainted with the two heprovided the transportationwork to them.

Based on the complaintafter the preliminary investi-gation the police have regis-tered a case under section 406and 420 of the IPC and start-ed search for the accused.

The vehicle and medicinesare yet to be recovered, saidpolice.

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To rediscover the quaint fortcity of Mandu, Madhya

Pradesh Tourism Board withgreat elan and pride launchedfirst edition of its marqueeproperty — Mandu Festival2019, to be held fromDecember 28, 2019 to January01, 2020.

Curated and managed byE-Factor Entertainment (P)Ltd., this five-day mega festivalwill witness a celebration of thehistoric heritage blended withthe modern vibrancy of the cityculture.

Attributing to the idea ofKhojne Me Kho Jao, the civiccultural immersion will be aneclectic mix of performingarts, workshops, art installa-tions, nature trails &amp;walks, poetry reading, food,architecture, music and muchmore. Offering something foreveryone, the Mandu Festival2019 will reverberate with anexuberant mix of activitiesweaving together traditionalnorms and the old-worldcharm.

A haven for photographers,the festival will delve into his-tory, heritage, culinary experi-ence and romance throughInstagrammable locations thatwill give content creators a life-

time of memories.Making sure the day starts

on a calm and spiritual note,the Caravan Sarai will hostyoga sessions along with morn-ing ragas.

Visitors can explore thetrail on cycling tours, walkingtours or jump onto the Hop-In-

Hop-Out buses to dive deepinto the rich history of the city.

Divided into three trails,thoughtfully curated story-telling sessions by experiencedstory tellers will showcase thecompelling history and theintricate offerings the city hasto offer.

Unveiling the logo andposter of the Mandu Festival2019, Tourism MinisterSurendra Singh Baghel toldmedia persons, “The Mandufestival will redefine the essenceof our city & bring about thejoy of establishing a newtourism hub in the state.

Adorned with rich culturalheritage, the festival will bringalive conscious tourism com-bined with love for the rich tra-ditions and legacy that makesMandu beautiful and anunmissable location for all.Through the thoughtfullycurated festival, we hope toplace Mandu at the heart ofIndia’s tourism and on theinternational map.”

The festival promises torewind the beautiful love storythat unfurled between BazBahadur and Rani Roopmatithrough storytelling sessionsunder the magnificentBaobabs tress. Each activitywill engage and invite activeparticipation combing fun &excitement alongside learn-ing about the history of thecity.

Adding a dash of adrena-line rush, visitors can have abird’s eye view of this magicalcity by floating in the air withhot air balloons that will flyevery morning over the beau-tiful and un-chartered terrainof Mandu, while filling theskyline with bursts of colourand joy.

The gala festival will wit-ness the first ever Night partyin Mandu – a light festival pay-ing tribute to the city and itslegacy.

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The International Van Melabegun at Lal Parade

Ground of Bhopal onWednesday. The Minister forCooperative Govind Singh wasthe Chief Guest on the occa-sion. The Minister forMinorities Welfare, ArifAqueel, presided over the pro-gramme.

The Minister for PublicRelations PC Sharma andChairman State Minor ForestProduce Federation VirendraSingh Goswami were the spe-cial guests on the occasion.Representatives from across

the country and state, Bhutanas well as Nepal are taking partin the Van Mela being orga-nized under the joint aegis ofForest Department and MinorForest Produces Federation.Free medical consultancy campwill be held in the 5-Day VanMela from December 19 to 22.Besides, workshop onDecember 20-21 and buyer-seller convention will be heldon December 22.

Minister for CooperativeGovind Singh said that ourcountry has long tradition oftreatment by herbs. The evergrowing popularity of Ayurvedin country and abroad strength-

ens its trustworthiness. Praisingthe efforts being made for pub-lic awareness through HerbalMela, he said that a fund shouldbe created by the Minor ForestProduces Federation forresearch on herbs.

He said that thousandsyears ago, the medical treat-ment method of Dhanvantariand plastic surgery of Sushrutwere prevalent in our countrySingh further mentioned thatthe Former Chief Minister LateArjun Singh has performed anoble deed by establishing theFederation and enabled theforest produces collectors ingetting rid of middlemen. Singh

while describing the innocenceof tribals said that tribal used togive 2-3 kg of chironji in placeof just half kg grain before theestablishment of the Federation.

The Minister for GasTragedy, Relief andRehabilitation Arif Aqueel saidthat the Bhopalites are awaitingthe herbal fair for a year.

He urged variousAyurvedic companies andVaidhs, participating in theMela to focus on the treatmentof kidney, heart, etc of gas vic-tims.

The Minister for PublicRelations PC Sharma said thatbesides farming, forest pro-

duces is an additional source ofincome for the farmers.

The increase in income ofthe tribal will strengthen theeconomic condition of the State.

The Additional ChiefSecretary AP Shrivastava,Principal Chief Conservator ofForests U Prakasham,Managing Director StateMinor Forest ProducesFederation SK Mandal, MLASurendra Singh Shera,Members of Board of Directorsof the Federation and a largenumber of officers and staff,members of forest societies andcitizens were present on theoccasion.

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City boy Vinayak Guptawill be seen in a web

seris by ALT Balaji 'Class of2020'. The shoot of Class of2020 has begun in Mumbai.

The web series is beingproduced under the banner ofLost Boy Production, willfeature well-known artistsincluding Big BossParticipant, Rohan Mehra andIsha Chawla in the Class of2020, Vinayak Gupta fromBhopal.

Earl ier, in Mumbai,Vinayak did Tanushree Dutt'sProject Inspiration. He was anAssociate Director in the film.The Democracy Short Film isa political satire.

This is a film that peoplewill be able to easily connectwith themselves, family, dailylife. If people know the cur-rent status of Indian politicsthen people will be able toconnect with the film, saidVinayak.

The Webseries is beingdirected by Mohan Singh.Vinayak said that acting isnot so difficult if you under-stand the script and be sup-porting actors director work-ing with you. Actor RohanMehra working in class of2020 or full cast and crewsupporting is caring. Thefirst experience is tremen-dous.

Notably, this series isSeason 2 of Class if 2017.ALTBalaji’s web series Classof 2017 was a youth-basedshow, showcasing the lives ofteenagers who get inter-twined with drugs, sex, peerpressure and anxiety.

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It is essential to ensure that thefarmer is tension-free, has

permanent source of incomeand also gets the necessaryfinancial support on time inorder to strengthen the agri-culture-oriented economy ofthe state. The StateGovernment in MadhyaPradesh has not only acceptedthis eternal truth but has takenrevolutionary decisions in thisdirection in its initial short timeand has also implementedthem at the ground level.

The Government in itsmanifesto has given top prior-ity to the issues of farmer wel-fare and agricultural develop-ment. Soon after assumingpower, the Government hasfreed the farmers from thedebts of generations. At thesame time, the Governmenthas also resolved to continuethis till each eligible farmerbecomes debt-free.

The State Government ishelping the farmers in theirwork from sowing to selling thecrop. Electricity, water etc. arealso being provided to thefarmers at concessional rates.

A campaign to free thefarmers from debt has beenlaunched by implementing the‘Jai Kisan Crop Loan WaiverScheme’ in the state. In the firstphase, loans of worth �7,154.36 crore have beenwaived of 20 lakh 22 thousand731 eligible farmers. In the sec-ond phase, the process of waiv-ing loans of more than 12 lakhaccount holder eligible farmershas been started.

‘Jai Kisan SamriddhiYojana’ has been implementedin the state on March 5, 2019.In this scheme, incentiveamount of �160 per quintal isbeing given on wheat sold bythe farmer through the KrishiUpaj Mandi and e-procure-ment center for the Rabi season2019-20.

The State Government hasmade foolproof arrangement todistribute a total of �1,463.42crore incentive amount to atotal of 11.79 lakh farmersselling total 92.67 lakh metrictonnes of wheat.

The State Government hasdecided to turn theunfavourable situation, it hadinherited in the field of agri-culture, to prosperity. Every

kind of help is being providedto the farmers at every step.

To ensure availability ofquality manure, seeds and pes-ticides, a ‘Shuddh ke liyeYuddh’ campaign is being runin the state. In this campaign,not only is the standard level ofseeds, fertilizers and pesticidesare being tested, but action isalso being taken on sale ofsmall quantities of material,unauthorized sale, black mar-keting, sale at a high price, etc.

Arrangement has beenmade in the Krishi UpajMandis for payment of cash upto Rs two lakh to the farmerson selling their produce.

When the Income Tax pro-visions of TDS on cash with-

drawal of more than �1crorefrom banks made cash pay-ments difficult in the mandis,immediately the attention ofthe Government of India wasdrawn.

In this way, the initiativewas taken to free mandi tradersfrom this provision.

In the second phase ofRashtriya Krishi Bazaar Yojana,25 Krishi Upaj Mandis havebeen linked with the e-NAMscheme by the state govern-ment.

From August 16, 2019,more than 4 lakh e-permitshave been issued by the MandiBoard by implementing e-license system in all the man-dis of the State.

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The students of MadhyaPradesh School of Drama

(MPSD) are all set to woo thetheatre lovers of the city. Thestudents are rehearsing for thenew play 'Khadiya Ka Ghera'.The play will performed onSaturday and Sunday by thebatch of 2019-20.

The play is bieng preparedunder the guidance of AlokChhatterjee.

Khadiya ka Ghera is Hinditranslation of The CaucasianChalk Circle. It is a play by theGerman modernist playwrightBertolt Brecht. An example ofBrecht's epic theatre, the play isa parable about a peasant girlwho rescues a baby andbecomes a better mother thanits wealthy natural parents.

The story of the Caucasianchalk circle is set in the SovietState of Georgia. GeorgiAbashwili, the Governor, iskilled by his brother the FatPrince, in a coup. Everyone,including the Governor's wife,

Natella, flees the city. Grusha,who is the Governor's maid,saves the Governors son,Michael, after his motherleaves him behind. Grushaencounters many obstaclesalong the way from the FatPrince's soldiers who want tokill him. When Grusha reach-es her brothers house, he per-suades her into a marriage witha dying man.

Soon he learnt that the waris over, he gets up and Grushais stuck with him. Grusha's reallove, Simon, returns and findsGrusha already married.

Soon after the soldierstake Michael away from her,Grusha, follows Michael tothe city The dispute over whoshould get Micheal - Grusha orNatella goes before the cityjudge, Azdak a witty judge,who decides the mother in aunique way by drawing a chalkcircle. Let us now find out howAzdak justifies the case, towhom the child belongs andwho is the real mother of thechild?

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The opportunity in the formof seminar should be used

meticulously and share sugges-tions which could help in mak-ing the difficult challenges atwork faced by women deployedwith prisons easier said UnionMinister of State for HomeAffairs Government IndiaNitaynand Rai at the inaugura-tion of a two-day NationalConference on ‘UniformedWomen in PrisonsAdministration’ from December19-20, 2019 at Central Academyfor Police Training organized byMadhya Pradesh JailDepartment and Bureau ofPolice Research andDevelopment in the state capitalon Thursday.

The conference is organisedfor the first time outside Delhiwhich was first organized in theyear 2017.

In Madhya Pradesh womenare provided 33 percent reser-vation in government jobs. Atpresent, there are more than 900uniformed women governmentservants working in the state jail

department.In this Conference, uni-

formed women officers and staffof all the states from Jail Wardensup to Director Inspector Generallevel, members of non-govern-mental organizations, represen-tatives of academic institutionsand officers of other governmentdepartments participated.

During the second NationalConference participants from 21states would discuss on genderdiscrimination free work placefor uniformed women officersand employees working in thejail department, challenges atwork place of uniformedwomen, balance between workand family life of uniformedwomen officers, connecting uni-formed women jail officers withthe main activities and respon-sibilities of jail, work place relat-ed problems and to strengthenthem mentally.

A participant from Biharshared that women posted withjail department are providedwith two day special leave everymonth and later in the discussionBPRD proposed to provide suchkind of leaves in all states.

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In the 63rd National ShootingChampionship Competition

being played at MadhyaPradesh State ShootingAcademy, the final matches ofthe 10 metre rifle women's cat-egory were played on Thursday.

Gina Khitta of HimachalPradesh won the gold medal inthe senior competition of 10mair rifle played on Thursday. Heearned the medal, beating WestBengal star player MehuliGhosh and ONGC OlympianApoorvi Chandela. The playersof Madhya Pradesh won the sil-ver in the 10 meter rifle youthteam event and bronze in thejunior team event.

ADG Vijay Yadav reachedthe Madhya Pradesh StateShooting Academy campus toobserve the 50 meter range, 25meter running exercises and 10meter shooting range.

He appreciated the facilitiesof shooting sports provided bythe Sports Department fromMuktakanth. He described thefacilities being provided ashigh level.

Secretary of Indian RifleAssociation Rajiv Bhatia andtournament director PawanSingh gave detailed informa-tion about the competition toYadav. ADGVijay Yadavrewarded the winning playerswith medals.

In 10m Women'sIndividual Competition JeenaKhitta, Himachal Pradesh wonGold medal, Mehuli Ghosh,West Bengal won Silver medaland Apoorvi Chandela wonBronze medal.

In 10m Junior Women'sIndividual Competition MehuliGhosh, West Bengal, won Goldmedal, Akriti Dahiya, Haryanawon Silver Medal, AtmikaGupta, Rajasthan won Bronzemedal.

In 10m Rifle YouthWomen's IndividualCompetition Jhanvi JeetendraKhanvilkar, Maharashtra wonGold medal, Atmika Gupta,Rajasthan won Silvermedal,Jeena Khitta, HimachalPradesh won Bronze medal.

In 10 meter rifle juniorwomen's team event WestBengal won Gold medal,Rajasthan won Silver medal,and Madhya Pradesh wonBronze medal.

In 10m rifle youth women'steam event Maharashtra wonGold Medal, Madhya Pradeshwon Silver medal, and UttarPradesh, won Bronze Medal,Team - Vidisha Saxena, KhyatiChaudhary, Samya Meher.

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In a meeting of the AdvisoryCommittee held at

Mantralaya, the Minister forNew and Renewable EnergyHarsh Yadav informed thatnot only Metro Rail of Delhi isbeing operated by the solarenergy being produced in theState but other States are alsoshowing keen interest in buy-ing it. He said that MadhyaPradesh is moving aheadspeedily in this field, whetherit is setting up of rooftop solarplants at the Governmentbuildings or use of wind ener-gy.

The members of the com-mittee MLAs OPS Bhadoriya,Virendra Raghuvanshi,Principal Secretary New andRenewable Energy ManuShrivastava, ManagingDirector-MP Urja Vikas NigamRajeev Ranjan Meena werepresent at the meeting.

Harsh Yadav gave direc-tives for its implementation onthe suggestions of ShriBhadoriya and ShriRaghuvanshi. In the meeting,MLA Shri VirendraRaghuvanshi said that the com-ing time is of environmentfriendly and anti-pollutionrenewable energy. The use ofrenewable energy is increasingday by day. MLA OPSBhadoriya said that he himselfhas used two horse power solarpumps which are very suc-cessful. It is an economicalpump. The Minister Yadavexpressed hope that good resultwill come soon in the renew-able energy sector with the helpof public representatives.

It was informed in themeeting that at present, 2071mw solar energy and 2444 mwwind energy is being used inthe state. The state has suc-ceeded in getting full 750 mwsolar energy from the RewaProject by focusing on maxi-mum use of solar energy in thestate. The 250 mw unit ofNTPC, Mandsuar is also func-tioning efficiently. Work isbeing carried out on develop-ment schemes of solar parks.

New solar plants willinstalled shortly in Morena,Chhatarpur and Sagar districts.Work has been started to install2 lakh solar pumps in thestate. About 300 colleges aregetting electricity at the low rateof about Rs 2.25 per unitthrough rooftop plants.Previously, they used to getelectricity at the rate of Rs.7.40per unit.

Besides, it was informed inthe meeting that the facility of90 percent grant to farmers ofthe state for installing solarpumps will enhance its use inthe coming days. During thelast one year, approval hasbeen granted for solar parks inNeemuch, Agar-Malwa andShajapur.

The work for producingone thousand mw electricity inthe first phase of estimated17,000 mw solar energy projectin Mandhata through floatingsolar plant from Omkareshwarwill be undertaken soon.

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Aday after the matter ofexpulsion of 23 students

Makhanlal ChaturvediJournalism University res-onated in the MP Assembly, theuniversity administrationrevoked expulsion of remain-ing 20 students on Thursday.

The university had with-drawn expulsion orders issuedagainst three other students onthe Wednesday evening.

Meanwhile, the universityon Thursday evening issued anorder signed by Rector ShrikantSingh which claimed that spe-cial meeting of disciplinarycommittee held on Thursdayand while considering the let-ter of regret submitted by thestudents, decided to revokeexpulsion of 20 students, hail-ing to various departments ofthe university.

While accusing the twoadjunct processes—DilipMandal and Mukesh Kumar, ofspreading cast bias in theUniversity Campus and also onthe social media, a group of stu-dents had staged a certainprotest outside Vice ChancellorDeepak Tiwari chamber onDecember 13 late evening.

Despite the university reg-istration ordering an enquiryagainst the two faculty mem-bers, the students continuedfrom the university to call inpolice force and drag them out.

The police have arrested 10of the students while threeothers injured in the actionwhere hospitalised.

Names of more studentswere added in the FIR lodgedby the police later.

Based on the recommen-dation of the disciplinary com-mittee, the university hadexpelled 23 students who wereinvolved in the protest coupleof days ago.

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Angul has been hailed as a rolemodel of nutrition in the

State as community,Government and political lead-ers have been working togetherto improve the nutritional statusof women and children. In aunique event named ‘PustiUtsav’ at Angul, organised byAngul Pusti Adhikar Abhiyan(APAA), nutrition championswere feliciated.

Collector, Angul, ManojKumar Mohanty felicitatedAnganwadi workers, Sarpanch,Jaanch Committee members,Child Development ProjectOfficers (CDPOs) from fourblocks and the District SocialWelfare Officer (DSWO) inAngul for their exemplary workto fight malnutrition in the dis-trict. Addressing the gathering,Mohanty told," The agenda toimprove nutrition is a high pri-ority for our district and we havetaken this on war footing. Wehave recently cleared a demandby community members to con-struct 156 new mini AnganwadiCentres.

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Ateam of the Delhi policehas arrested a person from

the Nilagiri area in Baleswardistrict in connection with atheft from the residence of adoctor at Vasant Vihar in NewDelhi.

The accused had allegedlydecamped with cash and valu-ables along with three others,a few days ago. The accusedwas identified as RajendraMalik (32) of village Bhimeiunder Iswarpur GP in the dis-trict.

According to Delhi police,Malik was engaged in house ofthe doctor as domestic helpbefore a week of the incident.

Within the brief period hewon the confidence of theowner and looted cash andvaluables worth �1 crore, withthe help of three others andwhen the doctor and otherfamily members had gone out,police said.

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To promote the aviation sec-tor, identified as a thrust

area in the Industrial andBusiness Development Policy-2017, the Punjab Cabinet onThursday approved leasing offour sites, of 5000 square feeteach, for the development of aMaintenance, Repair andOverhaul (MRO) facility atPatiala Aviation Complex(PAC).

The move was aimed atenabling Punjab’s developmentas a hub for the aviation anddefence industry to tap thefuture potential of the sectorand create employment oppor-tunities for youth, said an offi-cial spokesperson after theCabinet meeting.

The Department of CivilAviation has received commu-nication from the PunjabBureau of InvestmentPromotion (Invest Punjab),Department of InvestmentPromotion, regarding the set-ting up of MRO facility inPunjab.

Various companies haveexpressed interest in settingup such a facility in Punjab andhave requested for space nearairports, preferably hangar sitesat airports or flying clubs.

While proximity ofChandigarh-Patiala from thenational capital Delhi makes itan ideal ground for setting upof MROs, the Department ofCivil Aviation does not have anyland at Chandigarh-SAS Nagar.However, it has around 235acres of land at the PatialaAviation Complex, which cur-rently houses a Flying TrainingSchool, an operational runwayfor medium size aircraft usedfor flying training, the PunjabState Aeronautical EngineeringCollege for aeronautical engi-neers and the Punjab AircraftMaintenance EngineeringCollege (PAMEC) for techni-cians. It also houses the CivilAviation regulatory body – theDirector General Civil Aviation(DGCA).

CABINET APPROVESADVOCATES WELFAREFUND RULES-2019??

Giving its nod to ‘ThePunjab Advocates Welfare FundRules, 2019’, the Cabinet onThursday paved the way forimplementation of the relatedAct.

Spokesperson said that the

State Government is required toprepare and notify the amend-ed rules under Section 28 of thePunjab Advocates Welfare FundAct, 2002.

The rules would provide fordeposit of funds in nationalizedbank, preparation of annualstatement of Accounts andBudget Estimates and Accountsof Expenditure and Investmentas well as the annual audit.

The amendment will pro-vide for procedure for admis-sion to the Fund as well asremoval from membership. Italso contains a provision forappointment of staff to carryout various activities.

PKVC PROPERTY TO BEHANDED OVER TO AGRIDEPT

Finding that the PunjabKisan Vikas Chamber (PKVC),Mohali, had totally failed in itsobjective of ensuring farmerwelfare, the Cabinet approvedto hand over the possession oftwo acres of its land and officein Mohali to the Department ofAgriculture and Farmers’Welfare.

The move is aimed atenabling optimal utilization ofthe property, which had beenprovided free of cost to PKVC,for the welfare of farmers.

Spokesperson said that theoffice of Punjab State Farmersand Farm LabourersCommission and AgricultureMarketing Innovation Researchand Intelligence Centre (AMIR-IC), which are focused on farm-ers’ issues and aimed at sup-porting farmers, will now beestablished in the building.Other institutions, includingPKVC, will be allowed to con-duct seminars for the welfare ofthe farmers in the premises.

The Cabinet had alsoobserved that amount thatremains pending from the Rs 25crore granted to the Chamberwould also need to be takenback from it, said thespokesperson.

The PKVC was establishedas a Society after Cabinet’sdecision dated February 25,2016, allotting two acres landfree of cost in Mohali with theactual value of the land, (Rs8.47 crore) adjusted from CLUcharges of its scheme andlicense fees. Additionally, Rs 25crore were grantee to theSociety, which built its office atan estimated amount of Rs21.93 crore and the balance

amount of approximately Rsthree crore still lying with it.

“The State Government,vide letters dated September25, 2019, October 7, 2019 andOctober 22, 2019, had soughta report from the SecretaryGeneral as to what steps hadbeen taken by the Chamber toimprove the farmers’ econom-ic conditions, and how muchsuccess it got in this regard, inthe three years since PKVCwas established. Subsequently,a report was submitted byPKVC on November 7, 2019.After scrutinizing the report, itwas found that the Chamberdid not make any worthwhileefforts to improve the farmers’economic conditions nor hadthe farmers benefitted in anyway,” added the spokesper-son.

AMENDMENTS TO SER-VICE RULES FOR SCHOOLTEACHING, NON-TEACH-ING CADRES APPROVED

Cabinet has approvedamendments to the PunjabEducational Service Rules(Teaching Cadre) and Non-Teaching Cadres of theDepartment of SchoolEducation to realign themwith various court judgmentsand change in the basic qual-ifications for various cadres.

Spokesperson said that therules governing service condi-tions of government employ-ees to various services ofSchool Education Departmenthad become outdated and vir-tually outlived their relevance,since these rules were framedin the years 1941, 1955, 1978,1995 and 2004 to regulaterecruitment and service con-ditions of various teachingand non-teaching personnel.

The amendments orchanges would be incorporat-ed in various existing rules vizthe Punjab State Educational(School and Inspection CadreGeneral) Group-A ServiceRules, 2018, the PunjabEducational (School andInspection Cadre) Group-BService Rules, 2018, the PunjabState Elementary Education(Administrative Cadre)Group-B Service Rules, 2018,the Punjab Educational Service (Teaching Cadre)Group-C Service Rules, 2018and the Punjab StateElementary Educational(Teaching Cadre) Group-CService Rules, 2018.

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Santhal Pargana is all set towitness decisive poll battle as

the 16 Assembly seats will go tovote on December 20 — thefifth and final phase of election.The tribal area of Santhal willdecide who will rule the Statefor next five years. The BJP towin the confidence of people inSanthal Pargana, the tradi-tional stronghold of JharkhandMukti Morcha (JMM), hasworked hard in the region.

Prime Minister NarendraModi visited twice in the areafirst addressing rally in Dumkaand then two days lateraddressed rally in Barhet.Interestingly, JMM executivepresident Hemant Soren iscontesting from both Dumkaand Barhet. Apart from Modi,BJP star campaigners includingBJP national president AmitShah, Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath andChief Minister Raghubar Dashad spent days in Santhal areasseeking votes for Saffron partycandidates.

The BJP, which enteredJharkhand with developmentissue in last few days managedto bring shift the narrative tothe BJP’s achievement in push-ing the National CitizenshipRegister (NCR) andCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA). Modi addressing twin

rallies in Dumka and Barhettried to highlight how CAA isimportant for country daredCongress and JMM to give cit-izenship of Pakistanis.

However, Opposition par-ties, including the Congressand Shibu Soren led JMM aretrying hard to divert the debateaway to local issues, economyand unemployment. Congressgeneral secretary PriyankaGandhi and JMM executivepresident Hemant Soren whileaddressing rallies had said thatBJP has brought CAA to shiftthe attention of people fromburning issue such as unem-ployment, rising inflation andjob cuts.

Sources said that the NRCand CAA issues are likely tocreate an impact given thatthe Santhal Parganas haveseen debates over allegedBangladeshi infiltrators inJharkhand's north east overdecades. Pakur, Jamtara andother districts, which borderWest Bengal, have high pop-ulation of Bangladeshi infil-trators.

A senior State BJP leaderrequesting anonymity said,“The BJP has been eyeingSanthal Pargana for long. TheState BJP with an aim to con-quer Santhal Pargana, hasbeen working on strategy inmission mode to strengthenthe party in the region.

Holding the Cabinet

meeting in Deoghar, holdingstate government functionsuch as launching importantschemes from region is somethe steps in this direction.”

The BJP leader furthersaid that after thumping vic-tory in Lok Sabha elections inState the morale of JMM andCongress is down. “The defeatof JMM patriarch Shibu Sorenfrom Dumka in Lok Sabhaelection has established thefact the JMM has lost groundin Santhal. As Hemant does-n’t enjoy the charisma likeShibu Soren, the people arelooking for an alternative.”

On other hand JMM con-testing 12 seats and Congressfour, retaining its hold in theregion gains importance forJMM and Congress to retainits ‘Jal, Jungle, Zameen’ poli-tics. The BJP test also lies inMuslim dominated areas ofRajmahal, Pakur and Jamtara.

Presently, both BJP andJMM have six MLAs eachwhile Congress and JVM(P)has three and one legislatoreach. In 16 seats a total 237candidates are in fray whichwill go to poll on December20.

The fate of importantleaders whose fate will bedecided includes JMM leaderHemant Soren, Minister LouisMarandi, Randhir Singh, andCongress’ Irfan Ansari amongothers.

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The Aide et Action organiseda consultation on 'Rights

and welfare of seasonal migrantworkers- Policies and gaps'here on the InternationalMigrants’ Day on Wednesday.

It was attended by repre-sentatives of Governmentdepartments, judiciary and

legal professionals, civil societyorganisations, migrant workersfrom different sectors andmedia personnel.

Welcoming the partici-pants, Director-Migration andEducation, Aide et Action,Umi Daniel delivered the keynote address and provided anoverview about labour migra-tion in India and

Odisha.He highlighted on the sit-

uation of distress migration inthe western part of Odisha andthereby about the existing lawsand policies like that of Inter-State Migrant Workers’ Act,1979 and the newly formedOccupational Safety, Healthand Working Conditions(OSH) Code of 2019.

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Continuing with its pressureon the Government over

the Citizenship (Amendment)Act (CAA), the Congress onThursday accused the NDAregime of muzzling the voice ofpeople through “draconianmeasures” like shutting ofinternet and misusing pro-hibitory orders and said it wasan “undeclared emergency” inthe country.

The grand old party, whichhas also announced for a FlagMarch on December 28, said itis the democratic right of everycitizen to protest peacefullyagainst the Government.“Imposing Section 144 andinternet shutdowns are dra-conian measures to muzzlecitizens by a Government thatis terrified of hearing whatIndians have to say. BJP shouldbe ashamed,” Congress said ina statement.

Top Congress leaders gottogether and discussed the pre-vailing situation in the country,including the national capital,at party chief Sonia Gandhi'sresidence. Among them were AK Antony, Ahmed Patel,Ghulam Nabi Azad, AnandSharma, Jyotiradtiya Scindia,Depender Singh Hooda andRPN Singh.

During the meeting whilethe main agenda was the cur-rent situation in the countrydue to CAA, the leaders alsodeliberated on the Jharkhandelections and what could bedone post results if they werenot in favour of the ruling partythere.

“There is pain among thepeople across the country.While the protest and demon-stration against the attack onconstitution will continue untilthe Government relents, theparty has been always againstviolent protest. We urge theprotestors to chose the path ofMahatma Gandhi's satyagraha.On our foundation day newtweek the party will conduct aflag march to protest theunconstitutional acts by BJPruled Governments both atCentre and States,” said Scindia.

Congress leaders RahulGandhi and Priyanka GandhiVadra warned that “the morethe Government tries to sup-press the voice of people, thelouder it will become”. “Everytime force is applied to domi-nate and rule, every time youbeat and suppress, every timeyou push people to the wall,they will rise up stronger, theirresolve will strengthen andtheir voice will grow louder,”Priyanka tweeted.

Senior Congress leaderslike Ajay Maken and SandeepDikshit besides students andactivists were detained onThursday by police on theirway to demonstrationsagainst the new citizenshiplaw as prohibitory orders andrestrictions on internet andmobile phone services inparts of Delhi-NCR regioninconvenienced thousands ofpeople.

Congress spokespersonAbhishek Singhvi said unde-clared emergency has beenimposed in the country and theBJP government has become“adamkhor (man-eater).

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Union HRD MinisterRamesh Pokhriyal

'Nishank' on Thursdayappealed to political parties tokeep academic institutionsaway from their politics, whileasserting that students are apriority of the Narendra ModiGovernment.

“With folded hands Iappeal to political parties tokeep academic institutionsaway from their politics,”Pokhriyal said. Asserting thatacademic institutions areimportant of any country asthey build the future of thenation, he described the stu-dents as “assets” and said,“They are our priority and theNarendra Modi Governmentis working day and night fortheir better future.”

Earlier Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had also

appealed people to maintain-ing peace, unity and brother-hood, and requested them tostay away from any sort ofrumour mongering and false-hoods.

The HRD Minister'sremarks came against thebackdrop of police crackdownagainst students of JamiaMillia Islamia in Delhi and theAligarh Muslim University(AMU) in Uttar Pradesh, fol-lowing protest against the

Citizenship (Amendment)Act.

Protesters torched fourpublic buses and two policevehicles as they clashed withthe police near Jamia MilliaIslamia during the demon-stration on Sunday, leavingnearly 60 people includingstudents, cops and fire fightersinjured.

On Sunday itself, AMUstudents protested against thelegislation in Aligarh andclashed with police at a cam-pus gate, after which the uni-versity administrationannounced closure of the insti-tution till January 5. Officialssaid at least 60 students wereinjured in the clashes.

Students from various aca-demic institutions both insideand outside the country cameout in support of the Jamia stu-dents, opposing the policeaction in the campus.

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Notwithstanding theprotests against the

amended citizenship law,BJP working president JPNadda on Thursday assert-ed that the CitizenshipAmendment Act will beimplemented and theNational Register of Citizenswill also be brought in.

Nadda made theseremarks here after meetingSikh refugees fromAfghanistan, who under theamended act will becomeIndian citizens. He alsoslammed the opposition forprotesting against the newlegislation.

He said BJP's rivals areprotesting for vote bank pol-itics while ignoring the plightof minorities of three neigh-bouring countries living inIndia.

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As Opposition partiesprotest against the new

citizenship law, the BJP onThursday posted a video clipof Congress leaderManmohan Singh's 2003speech in the Rajya Sabha inwhich he had advocated a“most liberal” approach togrant citizenship to minoritiesfrom neighbouring countrieslike Bangladesh.

In the video, the formerPrime Minister is heard say-ing, “After the partition of ourcountry, minorities in coun-tries like Bangladesh havefaced persecution. And it isour moral obligation that ifcircumstances force people -these unfortunate people - toseek refuge in our country, our

approach to granting citizen-ship to these unfortunate per-sons should be most liberal”.

“I sincerely hope that thehonourable deputy PrimeMinister will bear this inmind in charting out thefuture course of action withregard to the citizenship act,”he said.

As Singh, who was theprime minister between 2004-14, finished his speech, thenRajya Sabha DeputyChairperson Najma Heptullahis heard telling LK Advani, thethen deputy Prime Minister,that minorities in Pakistanwere also suffering and theytoo should be taken care of.

Advani acknowledged theissue and said he fullyendorsed what the leader ofopposition (Singh) said.

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CPI(M) general secretarySitaram Yechury on

Thursday claimed the situationin Delhi was worse than thatduring the Emergency withinternet shut, metro stationsclosed and crackdown onprotests against the amendedcitizenship law. The Left partieshad called for a nationwideprotest against the legislation.

Asserting that demonstra-tions against the contentiouslaw will continue, Yechury said:“India today has the ignominy ofbeing the largest internet shut-down in the world. It is unac-

ceptable. Metro stations wereclosed. This is worse than whatwe saw during the Emergency.The manner in which they are

dealing with democratic protestsis unacceptable.

“Today's protests showed thedetermination of youngsters tonot let democracy be butchered.This was not a one off protest,such protests will continue.”

CPI general secretary DRaja said citizenship cannot bebased on religion.”The BJP isworking against the legacy ofSardar Patel and citizenshipcannot be based on religion.The CAA is an undeclaredsubversion of the Constitutionby (Prime Minister Narendra)Modi and (Union HomeMinister Amit) Shah,” heclaimed.

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Various measures taken overthe past years to check

tobacco consumption acrossthe countries have started pay-ing results, if one goes by thelatest data available from theWorld Health Organisation(WHO).

During nearly the past twodecades, overall global tobac-co use has fallen, from 1.397billion in 2000 to 1.337 billionin 2018, or by approximately 60million people, said the WHOglobal report on trends inprevalence of tobacco use 2000-2025 third edition.

However, this has beenlargely driven by reductions inthe number of females usingthese products (346 million in2000 down to 244 million in2018, or a fall over around 100million), said the reportreleased on Thursday.

Over the same period,male tobacco use had risen byaround 40 million, from 1.050billion in 2000 to 1.093 billion

in 2018 (or 82 per cent of theworld's current 1.337 billiontobacco users).

For the first time, theWHO projects that the numberof males using tobacco is on thedecline, indicating a powerfulshift in the global tobacco epi-demic. The findings, demon-strate how Government-ledaction can protect communitiesfrom tobacco, save lives andprevent people suffering tobac-co-related harm, said a state-ment from the global healthagency.

“Declines in tobacco useamongst males mark a turning

point in the fight against tobac-co,” said Dr Tedros AdhanomGhebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

By 2020, WHO projectsthere will be 10 million fewertobacco users, male and female,compared to 2018, and anoth-er 27 million less by 2025,amounting to 1.299 billion.Some 60% of countries havebeen experiencing a decline intobacco use since 2010.

Despite such gains,progress in meeting the glob-al target set by Governments tocut tobacco use by 30% by 2025remains off track. Based on

current progress, a 23% reduc-tion will be achieved by 2025.Only 32 countries are current-ly on track to reach the 30%reduction target.

However, the projecteddecline in tobacco use amongmales, who represent the over-whelming majority of tobaccousers, can be built on and usedto accelerate efforts to reach tothe global target, said DrVinayak Prasad, head ofWHO's tobacco control unit.

Every year, more than 8million people die from tobac-co use, approximately half of itsusers.

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Despite bitter diplomaticties with Turkey after its

President Recep TayyipErdogan backed Pakistan andraised the Kashmir issue at theUnited Nations in September,skyrocketing onion prices haveforced the Government agen-cies to approach the MiddleEast nation to procure onion tokeep its prices under control.

The Centre has contractedan additional 12,500 metrictonne onions from Turkey andthis is expected to arrive bymid-January next year. Thefirst shipment of 12000 milliontonne of onion is expected toarrive from Turkey byDecember 31.

Onion prices are rulinghigh since September and werein the range of �130-170 a kilo-gram across the country afteruntimely rains caused crops tofail. Interestingly, soaring onion

prices figured prominently inthe deliberations of the high-powered rating setting panel ofthe Reserve Bank as it voted forstatus quo in interest rates thismonth.

Officials said that with thisadditional 12,500 metric tonne(MT) onion, the total con-tracted onions so far forimports have gone upto 42,500MT. “This will help to improveavailability and reduce theprices,” officials added.

Onion prices have shot up

as domestic production inkharif and late-kharif seasons(summer-sown) is estimated tohave declined by 26 per cent.

Onion prices have risen by81 per cent in the last onemonth and are ruling above the�100 per kg mark for the thirdweek in a row in most cities, asGovernment efforts to coolthe rates seem to be takingmore time than expected.

“Headline inflation rosesharply in September and fur-ther in October, driven up by

a sudden spike in prices of veg-etables as kharif crop was dam-aged due to unseasonal rains inmany parts of the country;increase in prices of onion wasparticularly sharp,” RBIGovernor Shaktikanta Das saidin the Monetary PolicyCommittee (MPC) meetingwhile voting for status quo inthe key interest rate.

“First, the surge in foodinflation in last three months,driven up by a spike in onionand other vegetable prices,could be transitory. It is likelyto reverse gradually as latekharif output comes to themarket,” he said.

The Government has beenmaintaining that it has taken allpossible steps to rein in pricessuch as allowing imports,imposing a ban on exports andputting restrictions on thequantity of onion which can bestocked by retailers and whole-salers.

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In an initiative of 'one nation,one ration card', the Ministry

of Food and Consumer Affairshas come up with a standardformat for ration cards and hasasked State Governments tofollow the pattern while issuingfresh ration cards.

An official in the Ministrysaid that a standard format forration card has been preparedafter taking into account theformat used by different Statesand after consultation withother stakeholders. The StateGovernments have beenadvised to use this new formatwhenever the States decide toissue new ration cards, theofficial added.

Currently, the CentralGovernment's ambitious ini-tiative is being implemented ona pilot basis in a cluster of sixStates. It wants to implementthis facility across the countryfrom June 1, 2020.

“In order to achieve aim ofnational portability, it is nec-essary that ration cards issuedby different States and UT’sconform to a standard format.Accordingly, a format for stan-dardised ration card has beenprepared for issue of ration cardunder NFSA,” a senior FoodMinistry official said.

Elaborating more, the offi-cial said the standardised rationcard includes the requisite min-imum details of the ration cardholder and States can add moredetails as per their requirement.

For national portability,the State Governments havebeen asked to issue the rationcard in bi-lingual format,

wherein besides the local lan-gauge, the other language couldbe Hindi or English.

The States have also beentold to have a 10-digit standardration card number, whereinfirst two digits will be Statecode and the next two digitswill be running ration cardnumbers.

Besides this, a set of anoth-er 2 digits will be appendedwith ration card number to cre-ate unique member IDs foreach member of household ina ration card, official added.Under NFSA, about 75 crorebeneficiaries have been coveredso far against the target of 81.35crore, as per official data.

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Seeking to allay citizenshipconcerns of a large number of

people, government sources saidon Thursday that one can proveIndian nationality by submittingany document related to his dateof birth and its place, and therewill be “absolutely no compul-sion” to submit any document byhis parents during any suchexercise.

An explainer shared byofficial sources said no docu-ment will be required for any-body's pre-1971 genealogy assuch a condition was specific tothe NRC exercise in Assam andasserted that it will be sufficientto provide one's details of birth

like date and place in anyfuture nationwide NRC.

The clarification comes inthe wake of allegations fromopposition parties and civicgroups that the amended citi-zenship law and the proposedNational Register of Citizens aredivisive and discriminatoryagainst Muslims. Protests havebeen going on in various partsof the country against the law.

Sources said the NRC, asand when it is implemented,has nothing to do with any reli-gion and will be for every cit-izen of India as it is a citizenregister in which names ofevery Indian will be recorded.

The Citizenship(Amendment) Act is a separate

law and the NRC is a separateprocess, they said, adding thatthe CAA has come into forcenationwide after its passagefrom Parliament, while theNRC rules and procedures forthe country are yet to be decid-ed. Home Minister Amit Shahhad recently asserted inParliament that

NRC would be rolled outacross the country but the gov-ernment has so far not madeany announcement on its tim-ing. The explainer said if some-body is “illiterate” and has nodocuments, witness and com-munity verification will beallowed during any such exer-cise to ensure that no Indiancitizen is troubled.

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The CBI has sought sanctionfrom the Karnataka

Government to prosecute fivepolicemen and a StateGovernment official for theiralleged role in the multi-croreponzi scheme run by I-Monetary Advisory (IMA) andits group entities which alleged-ly duped lakhs of peoplepromising higher returns usingIslamic ways of investment.

The move indicates thatthe agency is set to file a sup-plementary charge sheetagainst them in the case.

The agency has alreadyfiled two charge sheets against22 accused, including directors,chartered accountants, mid-dlemen and the company aswell as its sister concerns.

The CBI has written to theKarnataka Government seek-ing nod for prosecuting IPSofficers Hemant Nimbalkar of1998 batch and Ajay Hilori of2008 batch. The residences ofthe two officers were searchedby the CBI earlier this year, offi-cials said.

While Nimbalkar wasposted as the then InspectorGeneral of Economic Offences,Hilori was the then DeputyCommissioner of EastBengaluru when they alleged-ly went soft on the illicit oper-ations of the accused firm.

Besides these two IPS offi-cers, the agency has alsoapproached the State authori-ties for granting sanction toprosecute the then DeputySuperintendent of Police CIDEB Sridhara, Inspector andSHO Commercial Street PoliceStation M Ramesh and sub-inpector of the station PGowrishankar, the thenAssistant CommissionerBengaluru North Sub DivisionLC Nagaraj.

Once the agency receivesnod from the Government,

the agency will file a supple-mentary charge sheet, officialssaid.

The CBI has alleged thatthese public servants had con-ducted inquiries against theIMA group entities, furnishedfavourable reports and hadgiven clean chits to its entitiesas a result no action was initi-ated against the company,which let the fraud continueunhindered, the officials said.

The Reserve Bank of Indiarepeatedly flagged the issueabout unauthorised collectionsand raising of deposits by theIMA group at the State levelcoordination committee meet-ings and had also written sev-eral letters to various authori-ties in Karnataka, the officialsfurther said.

Based on these letters fromthe RBI, enquiries were con-ducted by these officers andthey allegedly failed in theirduties in pointing out glaringirregularities committed by theIMA group and did not takerequisite action against thefirm and its promoters, theyadded.

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Union Home Minister AmitShah on Thursday said

that certain elements who donot want to see peace in Indiaare using its open borders,especially that with Nepal, toenter the country.

Addressing the troops andofficers of Sashastra Seema Bal(SSB) during its 56th RaisingDay celebrations, Shah said inthe last one year 54 "infiltra-tors", including two Pakistanis,have been nabbed at this bor-der. These infiltrators werefrom 24 countries apart fromPakistan, he said.

The SSB, raised in theaftermath of the 1962 Chineseaggression, is tasked with

guarding the 1,751-km longfrontier with Nepal andBhutan.

Shah said India enjoys very"cordial and friendly" relationswith Nepal and Bhutan and theborder force has ensured thatpeople from these nations aretreated with "respect" at thesefronts.

"But, as travelling across theglobe has become easier, ele-ments from those countrieswho do not want peace in Indiahave been using the Nepal bor-der to infiltrate into the coun-try," the home minister said.

The SSB, he said, has beendoing a good job in checkingwho to allow and who to stopat the borders with the twoHimalayan nations.

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Page 6: ˆ( !(()(˘’’*˘+&, %*ˆ%( · Bollywood superstars Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan are among the top paid celebri-ties of India, Forbes India has ... would offer a copy of the letter

Three events witnessed by merecently have come to dominatethe political landscape in Nepal:A new power-sharing dealbetween ailing Prime Minister

KP Oli and co-chairman of the NepalCommunist Party (NCP) Pushpa KamalDahal, also known as Prachanda; flare-upof the Kalapani territorial dispute betweenIndia and Nepal; and the holding of elec-tions to 52 vacant posts in Kathmandu, thefirst political test after the NCP swept thethree-tier polls in 2017-18. The most sen-sational development, however, was theobituary pasted over the much-toutedgentleman’s agreement between Oli andDahal. According to the latter, both hadagreed to share prime ministership for two-and-half years each. On an official visit toNew Delhi in 2018, Dahal had publiclyaffirmed the deal. Oli had then sought anexplanation from Dahal.

Suddenly last month, Nepal woke upto President Bidhya Devi Bhandari broker-ing a new deal (which is no deal).According to it, Oli, while continuing to bethe Prime Minister till termination of thepresent House, would elevate Dahal as theexecutive chairman of the party. Theintended separation of office and power,however, could not be achieved. Oli toldKantipur Television twice in an interview:“Not only am I the other executive chair-man but also senior to Dahal… we bothwill chair party meetings but I am thesenior chair and he is the other chair.”

The power struggle has been resolvedto Oli’s advantage with the former civil wartime hero Prachanda conceding the battle,not the campaign. Oli has positioned theDamocles’ sword over Dahal for war-timeexcesses, which is to be investigated by theTruth and Reconciliation Commission(TRC). Dahal’s confidant, Speaker KBMahara, has landed in jail over an allegedcase of rape. Grapevine suggests he wasframed. Mahara has served as the DeputyPrime Minister three times and has beena Minister in every coalition Government,which Maoists had joined/formed.Prachanda is now an emperor withoutclothes whom Oli is able to bully as thejunior but is an unyielding partner.

Kalapani catapulted into the headlinesthe moment India published its new mapon November 2, following the Jammu andKashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, thatshowed Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK)as a part of the newly created UnionTerritory of Jammu & Kashmir whileGilgit-Baltistan and Aksai Chin figured inthe Union Territory of Ladakh. It alsoshowed Kalapani and Susta, both unsettleddisputes, as part of India, promptingKathmandu to ask, “Why were they shownin India when they are disputed areas?” OnDecember 13, Minister for LandManagement and Cooperatives PadmaKumari Aryal said Nepal would release its

own map, showing LimpiyaDhura as the source of Kaliriver. At the heart of the disputeis the origin of Kali river alongthe western boundary of Nepal.Nepal claims it originates inLimpiya Dhura while Indiasays it is at Kalapani, where itmaintains a military post. Everyfew years, the Kalapani disputeis revived but this timeKathmandu won’t let it go. It istime to get real about the dis-pute, especially at a time whenIndia’s popularity has beenplummeting.

Oli carried out the much-awaited Cabinet reshuffle,which turned out to be a stormin a teacup. Though newMinisters were inducted, threesenior and three juniorMinisters were dropped. Theevergreen Madhesi leader,Upendra Yadav of theSamajwadi Party Nepal (SPN,which has changed namesmore frequently than change inseasons), whose portfolio waschanged from health to law andjustice while he was in NewDelhi attending a conference,made some noises but quietlyaccepted the alteration.

With 17 seats in the House,Yadav’s party has many talent-ed leaders, including formerPrime Minister BaburamBhattarai. This provides Oli the

silver bullet of a two-thirdmajority, with which, theMadhesis hope, he will alter theConstitution and meet theirresidual demands. India, too,has been pressing for the samefor quite some time now.Prachanda is more amenabletowards settling Madhesi griev-ances. The only real Madhesiparty left is the Rastriya JanataParty (RJP), which in coalitionwith SPN and NCP, rules theonly Madhesi Number 2province. The tamed CK Rautis leading the fledgling JanmatParty, which espouses EkMadhes Hamro Desh. The RJPhas 16 lawmakers inKathmandu and at one time, itwas supporting theGovernment till it fell out as itkept dragging its feet on thesecond Constitutional amend-ment.

The recent by-elections tofill 52 vacant posts for differentoffices did not move the nee-dle significantly in any oneparty’s favour except that theonly federal seat contested wasbagged by NCP in Pokhara. Italso took 50 per cent of thelower level posts but NepaliCongress (NC) defeating NCPin three of its strongholds inDharan, Chitwan andBhaktapur was a feather in itscap. There is no big swing in

voteshare either way. Both par-ties are introspecting even asthey are internally divided.This is the first election theNCP has fought as a mergedentity (UML and Maoist party);whereas in 2017-18 it contest-ed elections separately.Unfortunately, the two newparties, Bibeksheel Party andSajha Party, made an impres-sive showing but could not winany seat.

Kathmandu may, therefore,have a Government completingits full term on March 18, 2023.Oli’s health, a cause of concern,is the only contingency whenleadership change can occur,which can happen any timesoon. The successor PrimeMinister will surely emergefrom the NCP. The lawmakernumbers are stacked in favour ofthe Oli faction (121) againstPrachanda Maoists (53) in aHouse of 275 members. TheNCP’s general convention hasnot been held, nor have the twoparties amalgamated at thegrassroot level. As has hap-pened before — though thistime it’s less likely — Prachandacan jump ship if he is notoffered the top job or at least thepower-sharing deal is notrevived for the remaining threeyears in case of leadershipchange. Crossing the rubicon

and re-joining NC will take theHouse tally to 116 (NC 63 andMaoists 53). With obliginghands from RJP (17) and SPN(16), the coalition will reach 150lawmakers, crossing the halfwaymark of 138. Oli fears Prachandacan dislodge him but he has saidno power on earth can preventthe NCP from completing itsfull-term. Only Prachanda canchange that. Oli’s physical inca-pacity to be the Prime Ministerwill be the inflection point inNepalese politics.

Meanwhile, Kathmanduwas momentarily rocked byformer King Gyanendra’simpromptu jiving; twirling hisjacket at the famous pub, Lordof Drinks, where he danced thenight away with his family,applauded by an enamouredhouse. This single earthly act ofhis is unlikely to restore divinemonarchy. India’s Kalapaniwoes could grow given themushrooming price of onionsimported from here. Pricesrecorded a 318 per centincrease in three months. LordPashupatinath’s forecast for2020 is a less stable Nepal.

(The writer, a retired MajorGeneral, was Commander IPKFSouth, Sri Lanka and foundermember of the Defence PlanningStaff, currently the IntegratedDefence Staff.)

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Sir — The Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) has had a very profitableouting since 2014, opening upfronts against the Congress andPakistan, as per its convenience.In the aftermath of theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA), it has taken a new line bysaying that both the Congress andPakistan are talking the same lan-guage. However, the latter is yetto utter a word. The BJP needs toopen more fronts rather thanmerge them. This, especiallywhen it has to juggle multiplescripts to divert people’s attentionfrom one adverse economic indexto the other.

R Narayanan Navi Mumbai

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Jackboots vs Ahimsa”(December 17). The passage ofthe Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA) is but an ill-thought outdecision of the Government andis bound to increase the country’spopulation as doors will beopened for immigrants from

Bangladesh, Afghanistan andPakistan.

Given the troubling state ofthe Indian economy and high lev-els of unemployment, more peo-ple are likely to join the queue forjobs and education. This will

have an adverse impact on oureconomy. The country is alreadygrappling with limited resourcesthat are insufficient to cater to theneeds of its large population.

Devendra Khurana Bhopal

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Jackboots vs Ahimsa” (December17). The police crackdown onpeacefully protesting students

was excessive and not acceptable.Do standard operating proce-dures call them to march into uni-versity premises without seekingpermission? Or do they allowthem to force the students to walkout and engage in a lathicharge?It was the high-handedness of thepolice that backfired. It alienatednot just the students of the JamiaMillia Islamia university but thosein universities across the country.Students have to be treated as stu-dents, and their institutes asspaces where they have the rightto express freely.

ShamiVia email

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Sir — Noted actor ShreeramLagoo will be remembered for hisroles in Marathi plays such asNatsamrat and Himalaya ChiSawali and movies like Pinjra,which made him popular. He wasnot only a spontaneous actor buta talented director, too. We havelost a versatile personality.

Jubel D’CruzMumbai

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At the turn of the decade, it is but natural toassess whether global and Indian median liv-ing standards and per capita income erod-

ed, improved or stagnated over 10 years? And, moreimportantly, what are the future economic trends,and are policymakers better equipped after thelessons learnt from the 2008 global crisis to rescuethe economy from the brink of recession?

The fallout risks of post-deglobalisation arewhat economists call the “islandisation ofeconomies.” This has placed the biggest stress onemerging markets and on multinational corpora-tions that are part of the global value chain, lead-ing to lowering of global growth forecasts to belowthree per cent. Mitigating risks and recalibrating tonew power-shifts poses the biggest challenges forexperienced central bankers, policymakers and cor-porates, depending on whether they factor indeglobalisation as a prolonged phenomenon or atransitory shock. However, last week’s break-through of the 18-month trade impasse between USand China brings year-end cheer globally, “boost-ing prospects for global GDP for 2020 by 0.6 percent. Conversely, a breakdown in talks could dragglobal output down by 0.1 per cent.” Coming to theIndian context, periods of economic growth andcontraction have always been in sync with the glob-al rise and falls. Except that in 2017, growth decel-erated due to legacy issues of the previous regimeand the shock effects of structural reforms, viewedas “short-term negative, but long term-positive.”

What are the big policy and economic trendsat the turn of the decade? Where are the potentialopportunities to look for within the crisis? And whatare the confidence-building measures theGovernment can offer to bring the economic growthrate back to a healthy eight per cent pre-crisis level?

Let’s have a look at the answer to these ques-tions. We have an interactive Finance Minister whohas set a new trend by coming up with four mini-budgets after her maiden Union Budget. With suchreal-time interventions, while future budget-mak-ing will be an annual event, timely interventions willbe a round-the-year phenomenon to expeditious-ly redress sectoral concerns.

Empirical evidence points to two “new normals”that will perpetuate into the next decade: That sov-ereign and corporate indebtedness in proportionto the GDP has kept rising unabated since the post-Lehman crisis years, so the rise of leverage will keepgrowing globally and in India. Even central bankersfrom the European Central Bank to the IMF haveencouraged fiscal expansion, by governmentsspending more in the hope of reaping economic div-idends, regardless of incurring high debt-to-GDPratios. American corporate debt alone accounts for70 per cent of this year’s total corporate defaults,while China’s defaults are expected to hit a recordhigh according to S&P Global Ratings.

The other “new normal” is that forecasts fornational growth rates will see downward revisions,falling by at least a percentage annually from pre-vious years for another few quarters.

Today, there is a more digital form of globali-sation trending, opening the doors for local agro,small and mid-sized enterprises to uplink with thevirtual E-commerce marketplace. The digital econ-omy and e-commerce will be the new game-chang-ers. We need to scale up on our digital potential tocreate equivalents of Google, Facebook andAmazon. These platforms are the future wealth cre-

ators. India’s greatest advantage is accessto data of 1.2 billion people, four timesthe size of the US. Leveraging the poten-tial of Digital India can take us towardsa $5 trillion economy much faster.

The cleansing and formalisation ofthe economy that started with demoneti-sation are a work in progress. Much needsto be done to improve corporate andbanking governance standards to clean upbalance sheets of PSBs, NBFCs and cor-porates. As regards banking, there is aneed for mandatory evaluation of creditratings of banks, improved governanceand credit-risk monitoring systems, andfor the RBI to play a more proactive andvigilant role. The RBI is constrained forlack of access to the inner workings ofbanks other than a review of balancesheets.

Lowering of interest rates and corpo-rate taxes has not yet led to the revival ofCapex or consumer demand, attributedto the economic phenomenon of “hystere-sis.” Put simply, this happens wheneconomies take longer to reflate, despitebooster shots at revival.

We need to adapt to the new businessmodel of the “sharing economy or on-demand economy.” This has led to the“creation of secondary economics”, toquote the Chairman of World EconomicForum, Klaus Schwab, which is difficultto quantify. Because, “Alibaba, the biggestretailer doesn’t own a single store nor hasany inventory build-up; Uber, the largesttransportation provider does not own asingle vehicle and Facebook, the world’smost popular media owner creates nocontent.”

Consumer behaviour and alteredconsumption patterns are being redefinedby millennials who account for 51 per centof the population, and are opting for thesharing economy projected to grow glob-ally by $275 billion over the next five years.There is a generational shift amongst mil-

lennials who are opting to lease out liv-ing and office space or automobiles, inpreference to physically owning an asset.

Due to underemployment and stag-nating wages, the working classes find ithard to service EMIs, despite an insatiabledemand for affordable housing.Consequently, the housing sector whichis one of the prime propellers of growthand has a backlog of 1,600 stalled projects,could take longer to revive despite theinfusion of a �25,000 crore fund from theGovernment, with the SBI and LIC pool-ing in. Only once real estate activity picksup, will it impact the wages of agricultur-al labourers, as 50 per cent of rural incomecomes from realty.

The workforce will have to adapt togig-employment modules, with moreenhanced capabilities and specialisedskills. This is because fewer jobs are beingcreated by the organised sector, while 56per cent of new employment is being gen-erated through the platform-enabled ser-vices. A global survey shows that there are180 platform companies currently valuedat $4.5 trillion, which are the newabsorbers of the workforce.

Behavioural psychology of con-sumers in times of “secular stagnation” ismanifesting on predictable lines, where“persistent demand shortfalls are notbeing overcome even if the cost of bor-rowing lowers to near-zero interest rates.”Till sentiments and disposable incomesimprove, the major propeller of growthwill rest on increased Government stim-ulus through MNREGA and increasingspending on infrastructure.

India cannot continue with its poli-cy of “creeping protectionism” withenhancing import tariffs but insteadneeds to shore up its global competitive-ness, lack of which is making it reluctantto participate in Free Trade Agreementswith other trading blocs like the EuropeanUnion. A comprehensive plan towards a

$5 trillion economy cannot make up thenumbers if our share in world exports lan-guishes at 1.7 per cent.

A recent article highlighted thatthere has been a year-on-year exodus ofcapital and calibre out of the country dueto a fear psychosis. The Governmentneeds to contain the drain through con-fidence-building messaging; by reducingareas of frictions for investments; ensur-ing that the State will be less litigious;bureaucracy will be less discretionary; tax-ation policies will be more predictableinstead of retrogressive and that thebiggest employment generators like auto-mobile, airline and telecom sectors are res-cued from the brink of collapse.

India has a long way to go in gain-ing investor confidence and has amongthe lowest global rankings when it comesto the enforceability of contracts. Thebiggest uncertainties arise from a frequentchange of regimes, as new governmentsrenege on contracts signed by the previ-ous one, like the revocation of the bullettrain project in Maharashtra.

This poses a risk to lenders, as alsoto allied activities of contractors, affect-ing jobs, suspension of infrastructure pro-jects, and adding to cost overruns. Oncethe CAG has approved procedures forprocurement and pricing is fair, it shouldbe made an irreversible and contractualobligation by the State to honour the same.

To work towards a $5 trillion econ-omy is an arduous task for policymakers,which needs a quantum leap in planning.For a comprehensive revival package, theGovernment needs to outsource the best“brain-trust pool,” comprising economists,academia and businessmen, as also toevolve a consensus between the swadeshiand Ox-bred economists with minimalcontradictions.

(The writer is an author, columnist,Chairperson for the National Committeeof Financial Inclusion at Niti Aayog.)

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Let’s try and get into the psyche ofthe serving Army chief ofPakistan, nine Corps

Commanders and the DirectorGeneral (DG) of Inter-ServicesIntelligence (ISI), supposedly hud-dled in an “emergency meeting” fol-lowing the special court’s verdict giv-ing a death sentence to former Armychief and President, General PervezMusharraf.

“Gentlemen, we meet today, at acritical time of our nation’s history, totake stock of the situation. As you areaware, a lower court has inflicted oneof the most unjust, bad, illegal and malafide verdicts against my predecessorGeneral Pervez Musharraf. I am pained

to state, and am sure you all agree withme, that anyone trying to mess withour brave and patriotic army in anyform — its men, officers and General,serving or retired — will be dealt withsternly and in a befitting manner inproportion to his/her misadventure.”

“Indeed, today we will have toclearly understand that the so-calledcourt verdict of a death sentence forGeneral Sahib amounts to giving adeath sentence to me.”

“If allowed to do what it is tryingto do, this sham judiciary of our greatcountry, founded by Quaid-i-AzamJinnah, will see worse days in future.This court, despite having no right todo what it has done, has given a warn-ing to each one of us present here.Today it is the former ailing chief.Tomorrow it will be the serving chief,followed by more men and officersdown the line. God only knows wherethese judges are from and whosegames they are playing? Where are theygetting evil ideas and how are theymaking property disproportionate totheir legal source of income?”

“Is the DG ISI here?” “Yes sir, hereI am”, replied the DG ISI Faiz Hameed.

The Army chief proceeded: “Put yourboys on the job and make a list of alljudges across the country who are anti-Army and anti-ISI. Make full dossiersand give them to me within six weeks,covering all aspects of their personallives and professional deeds, mis-deeds and links. These fellows thinkthey know everything, but actually,they know nothing. Else, they would-n’t dare challenge and humiliate theArmy. By now they should haveknown that in Pakistan, the Army isthe State and the State is the Army.”

“Pakistan was born after sacrificeswere made by millions of our broth-ers. Their selflessness can never beallowed to be seen to be brushed asideby some anti-national, small-timejudges in our midst. They will have tobe uprooted. It’s because we are anation of a martial race, which hasnever lost a war. We have been victo-rious everywhere, in every skirmish,battle and war, from the dawn ofhuman civilisation; and there is no waythat things are going to be any differ-ent in future.”

“These fake judges talk of ‘law’without an iota of idea on evolution

thereof. They don’t even know that lawand history are written and created byvictors.”

“We Pakistanis, being born victo-rious, created our law through thepower of the sword. Our predecessorBabar had only 12,000 soldiers and yethe destroyed the mighty enemyIbrahim Lodi, which was ten timessuperior, on April 21, 1526, in the fieldof Panipat. That’s our heritage. Hencethat’s our honour, strength, power, rep-utation.”

“Under no circumstances, there-fore, will we allow this band of igno-rant and irresponsible civilians, in thegarb of all-knowing legal tool, to curband crush the fighters of our land. Thejudiciary must be re-educated aboutthe achievements of our Army. Thus,when the first civilian Prime MinisterLiaquat Ali on March 9, 1951, allegedconspiracy by Major-General AkbarKhan and others to overthrow theGovernment, he was assassinated onOctober 16, 1952.”

“That our civilians leaders havealways been corrupt and anti-Army,came to fore again when BenazirBhutto, in her second term as Prime

Minister, needlessly uncovered a falseand fabricated conspiracy case againstMajor-General Zaheer-ul-Islam Abbasiin September 1994 and convicted himthereby maligning the best and themost dedicated uniformed people ofthe State.”

“It’s a matter of shame that even aPunjabi civilian Prime Minister NawazSharif took the Army head-on in1999 when General Musharraf ’s planewas on a return journey from Sri Lankaand he wasn’t allowed under directorders of Sharif to land in Pakistan. Notonly that, the Prime Minister byappointing Lieutenant-GeneralZiauddin as new Army Chief instant-ly, tried to irreparably divide us.Fortunately, however, when Sahib wasstill in the air, in search of a landingspace, Lieutenant-Generals MahmudAhmed and Aziz Khan launched acoup to remove Sharif from power tosteer a clear path for Pervez Sahib tosuspend Nawaz, and rightly suspendthe Constitution, to take over as chiefexecutive of Pakistan.”

That’s the only reality of theArmy-civilian tradition of Pakistan inthe words of the Army chief despite it

being an imaginary scenario buildingenterprise. The situation follows thesame pattern even today, the apparentsupremacy and superiority of civilianImran Khan as head of Governmentnotwithstanding. The Army ofPakistan is used to a certain power andposition and there’s little to suggest thatthe strategic wand of the State wouldbe wielded by anyone other than theincumbent Army chief. Hence, what-ever be the court order, whosoever thejudge, and however grave the culpabil-ity, mens rea and offence of Musharraf,he cannot be hanged to death. Not inPakistan. Any civilian, trying to pushfurther, will face fatality. If at all, onlythe Army can punish an Army official.One needs to carefully go through thePakistan Army Act, 1952. If Musharrafis hanged, it would amount to a deathknell for/of the Pakistani Army.

This is worse humiliation than thesurrender of the entire East PakistaniArmy to victorious Indian FieldMarshal Manekshaw’s men on Friday,December 16, 1971, in Dhaka’sRamana Maidan.

(The writer is an alumnus of theNational Defence College)

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Though there were no untowardincidents reported from any-

where in Tamil Nadu, discontent-ment over the CitizenshipAmendment Act 2019 is brewingup among the student community,especially among those in the grad-uate and post-graduate levels. Manycolleges in southern districts ofKanyakumari, Tirunelveli andThoothukudi managed by minor-ity communities remained closed asstudents took to the streets toexpress their opposition to theAct.

The DMK and its allies hascalled for a major rally in Chennaion Monday and hectic activities areon to make it a big success. All lead-ing lights of the DMK, Congress,CPI(M), CPI, VCK, Muslim League

are expected to attend the same.Interestingly, the CAA has

turned out to be the bone of con-tention between the AIADMK andthe DMK, Tamil Nadu’s majorpolitical forces. While the DMK hasslammed the AIADMK for sup-porting the CAB 2019 in the RajyaSabha which helped the govern-ment to get it passed and make itan Act, the AIADMK is on thedefensive. Chief Minister EdappadiPalaniswami told the media onThursday before boarding a flightto New Delhi that the Act would inno way affect anybody in the Stateof Tamil Nadu.

But the DMK is blaming theAIADMK over denial of citizenshipto the Srt Lankan Tamils whocame as refugees to the State dur-ing the civil war that ravaged theisland nation. The election to the

rural local bodies to be held onDecember 27 and 30 has added fuelto the statement war between thetwo major parties. The CAA wouldbe the main issue on which both theparties will be locking horns in thisround of election.

Notwithstanding the protestmarches seen in the rest of the

country on Thursday, Tamil Naduremained peaceful except for smallrallies reported from the districtswhich were held peaceful.

There was no prohibitoryorders in the State. “But the peacewhich we see could be a temporaryreprieve as the Opposition is busypreparing for the Monday rally,”said one of the police officialsmonitoring the law and order sit-uation in Chennai.

The DMK continued to attackand challenge the AIADMK overthe statement by S RBalasubramonyen , Rajya Sabha MPrepresenting the latter who had saidthat the BJP was trying to makeIndia into a Hindu nation. TheAIADMK has not issued any state-ments over the charge byBalasubramonyen.

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Though the DMK-ledOpposition parties in Tamil

Nadu have decided to stage amassive rally in Chennai onDecember 23 against theCitizenship Amendment Act2019, there are contradictionsand differences of opinionsbetween the outfits constitutingthe mega front.

Intelligence agencies in theState are worried about thepresence of foreigners in agi-tations against the CAA by thestudents of Anna Universityand IIT Madras.

The VCK, an extremistoutfit representing a section of

the Dalits have made it knownas early as June 2019 that theparty was totally against theinflux of North Indians toTamil Nadu.

“North Indians and Hindispeaking people are not wel-come in Tamil Nadu. They area major threat to the Tamil cul-ture and people,” TholThirumavalavan , president,VCK, had said on June 3 atChennai while addressing arally held by the DMK inmemory of former party pres-ident M Karunanidhi.

Thirumavalavan, a strongproponent of Dravidian rulewho describes SanatatanaDharma as a major threat toTamil Nadu , had said people

from north India should not beallowed to settle down in theState.

“The North Indians com-ing to Tamil Nadu and settlingdown here is dangerous toTamil Nadu,” he had said.

Last two days saw the stu-dents of IIT Madras and AnnaUniversity staging demonstra-tions in Chennai against thecontroversial Act. “The stu-dents from the IIT Madraswere from the department ofhumanities while the engi-

neering branch students wereconspicuous by their absence.It was the Periyar—AmbedkarStudents Circle which led thedemonstrations.

Some foreigners were seenrubbing shoulders with thestudent demonstrators,” saidRangarajan, political com-mentator and publisher, RareBooks. He said the crowd wasdrawn from Left Wing extrem-ists and Sri Lankan Eelam out-fits. “It is the same crowdwhich we saw during Jallikkattu(bull taming sports) and anti-Nuclear Power agitations,” saidRangaraj

While a senior police offi-cial said efforts were on to iden-tify the foreigners present

during the agitation, sources inthe DMK, close to party lead-ership said there were differ-ences of opinion in the partyabout the role of outfits likeVCK and TMMK, an Islamicgroup. “This is a sensitive issueand should be handled care-fully. If we play into the handsof Islamic outfits against theauthenticity of the CAA,chances are that the AIADMKwould play the Hindu card,”said a senior DMK leader.

Elsewhere in the Stateschools and colleges run byminority communities downedthe shutters and made the stu-dents stage rallies and sit insagainst the move to usher inthe new citizenship act.

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Srinagar: PDP presidentMehbooba Mufti on Thursdaysaid people of the countryneed not visit Kashmir to expe-rience the subjugation of thelocals in the valley as the BJPhas ensured that a "Kashmir-like" situation prevails in everypart of India.

"Fellow citizens don't needto visit Kashmir anymore towitness their subjugation. BJPhas Kashmir right to thedoorstep of every Indian," atweet on Mehbooba Mufti'stwitter handle read.

The twitter handle of thePDP president is being oper-ated by her daughter IltijaMufti after the former wasplaced under preventive deten-tion hours ahead of the Centreabrogating Article 370 andbifurcation of Jammu &Kashmir into two union terri-tories. Protests against theamended Citizenship Act arebeing held across the countryever since the bill was intro-duced in Parliament earlierthis month. PTI

Bengaluru/Hyderabad: Protestswitnessed an uptick in southerncities against the CitizenshipAmendment Act with demonstra-tions turning violent that led toclamping of curfew at Mangaluru inKarnataka. Prominent citizens hitthe streets in Bengaluru and Chennaialongside students, activists and thegeneral public to oppose the con-tentious law.

In BJP-ruled Karnataka, demon-strations, defying prohibitory orders,turned violent at Mangaluru when asection of protesters pelted stones atpolice personnel and burnt vehicles.

Police opened fire in the air todisperse defiant protesters, baton-charged and fired tear gas to dispersethem.

Historian Ramachandra Guha,who attempted to go on protest at theTown Hall area in Bengaluru wereremoved from the location and let offlater.

Guha said it was "absolutelyundemocratic" that police was notallowing even a peacefulprotest.

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappasaid he instructed police to exerciserestraint while handling agitationsand alleged that Congress was behindthe protests. PTI

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Pune: Members of the AkhilBharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad(ABVP), the RSS's student wing,and local BJP workers organiseda march-cum-meeting here onThursday in support of theamended Citizenship Act,which is facing opposition fromvarious quarters in the country.

The march-meeting wasorganised on the campus of theSavitribai Phule Pune University(SPPU), which saw a protestagainst the Citizenship(Amendment) Act (CAA) ear-lier this week.

Holding placards with mes-

sages in support of the CAA andthe proposed NRC, ABVPactivists and BJP workers took out a march fromthe main building and shoutedslogans backing the Centre and the newlegislation.

"We welcome the CAA andwe also welcome the NRC(National Register of Citizens).The Act will not cause any harmto the Muslims in the country.

"Those Muslims who are inthe country, they will remain inthe country and Government ofIndia is committed for their

safety," said RaghvendraRisaldar, an ABVP member.

He said the ABVP con-demns the "Left-liberal lobby" inthe country which is spreadinga "misleading" narrative aboutthe Act, which promises citi-zenship to persecuted non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan,Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Risaldar said religiousminorities in three countries -Pakistan, Afghanistan andBangladesh — who are facingpersecution in their homenation, have no option but tocome to India. PTI

Aligarh (UP): Several teachersof the Aligarh MuslimUniversity held silent marchopposing the Citizens(Amendment) Act on Thursday,days after the institute witnessedpolice crackdown against itsstudents who were agitatingagainst the new legislation.

The protestors, including alarge number of women teach-ers, marched from the AMUTeachers Club to the PuraniChungi crossing and circled thecampus.

"We want to convey to thepeople of India that our strug-gle against the Citizens(Amendment) Act will contin-ue peacefully within the demo-cratic framework of the system,"AMU Teachers Association sec-retary, Professor Najmul Islamtold PTI.

"We feel that we are fightingfor the idea of India as envisagedby the founding fathers of thenation. This is not a struggle forthe rights of any particular com-munity," he stressed. PTI

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Hundreds of protesters,including Samajwadi Party

workers and leaders, weredetained in Gorakhpur andother cities of eastern UttarPradesh during anti-citizen-ship law protests on Thursdayafter they defied prohibitoryorders, police said.

In Gorakhpur, a largenumber of SP workers demon-strated at Laxmibai Park andmany of them were shirtless.Police detained over 300 pro-testers, including former min-ister Rampal Nishad and for-mer MLAs Mohsin Khan andVijay Bahadur Yadav, fromthere and took them to policelines.

Police said they havedetained dozens of SamajwadiParty workers in Kushinagarand Deoria.

The SP also demonstratedin Maharajganj, Basti,Siddharth Nagar andKushinagar districts.

Former cabinet ministerBrahma Shankar Tripathi wastaken into police custody inKushinagar and and policestopped former assemblyspeaker Mata Prasad Pandey at

his residence in Itwa area ofSiddharth Nagar. Ex-MinisterRampal Nishad was alsodetained in Gorakhpur.

Prohibitory orders underCrPC section 144 have been inplace in entire Uttar Pradeshsince Nov 9, banning assemblyof four or more people in anarea.

The police had said no per-mission was given for stagingprotests, but Samajwadi Partyand a few other organisationshad announced they will agitateagainst the CitizenshipAmendment Act, which seeksto grant Indian citizenship toHindu, Christian, Sikh,Buddhist and Parsi refugeeswho faced persecution inPakistan, Afghanistan andBangladesh.

However in Maharajganj,police didn't allow SP workers

to come out from theparty office.

Police said theyhad been tracking pro-testers with the help ofdrones in Gorakhpurand tried to dispersethem but they refusedto leave the park sowere taken to thepolice lines.

Heavy police force wasdeployed at major intersec-tions in the city.

In Kushinagar district, pro-testers blocked the Padrouna-Dudahi road and raised slogansagainst the new citizenshiplaw when police tried to dis-perse them.

Sub-Divisional Magistrate(Sadar) Ramkesh Yadav andCircle Officer (Sadar) RanaMahendra Pratap Singhreached there with police forceand tried to pacify them butthey started demanding thatthe protesters taken into policecustody be freed.

They also pelted stones, butno report of injury has beenreceived so far. DM AnilKumar Singh, SP Vinod KumarMishra and ADMVindhyavasini Rai havereached the spot.

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Kolkata: The Indian Railways are planningto file a civil suit against BengalGovernment for being a party to thedamage of its properties worth severalcrores in the ongoing violence against theCitizenship Amendment Bill.

According to sources the Railways willfile a damage suit on the grounds that theState had failed to ensure order when thelaw and order was its charge.

Though defending a similar cause inCalcutta High Court the State Governmentpleaded that the Railways had its owndefence mechanisms which could havetaken care of its properties.

“The Railways have the RailwayProtection Force which can be used to pro-tect is properties,” State lawyer told the HighCourt.

However the Railway authorities saidthat it will file a fresh suit on the groundsthat the State police was responsible forsecuring the areas adjoining the railwaypremises which it didn’t enabling themobs to attack the railway properties atUluberia, Malda, Beldanga, Rezinagar andother places.

At least five trains were set on fire andmany offices and electronic apparatusincluding signaling system of the IndianRailways were vandalized and damaged bythe angry mob protesting against theenactment of the CAA. PNS

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Rajasthan Chief Minister AshokGehlot on Thursday alleged that the

Narendra Modi government is runningits own agenda and not focussing onthe economy, which was sufferingbadly.

Gehlot said despite the present eco-nomic situation, where people are los-ing jobs and businesses are adverselyimpacted, people were still chanting thePrime Minister's name.

"I would like to tell those who chant'Modi-Modi' that now it has become'Modi hai to mandi hai' (Modi isresponsible for economic slowdown) inplace of 'Modi hai to mumkin hai'(Modi makes it possible)," Gehlot saidwhile addressing MSME conclave here.

He said the country faced economic slowdown during the previ-ous UPA government's rule as well butthe impact was low because of the poli-cies of former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh.

"But this time the situation isworst. The Government is not focusedon economy, which should have beenthe prime agenda of the Government.Instead of focusing on economy, theyare running their own agenda andpushing the country to a directionwhere no one knows what will happen.

"The country's situation is very bad.It is in the ICU. The condition of auto-mobile sector, textile industries, dia-mond industry is well known. The gov-ernment's advisors, RBI governorshad to resign. Finance minister's hus-band said the government has nounderstanding about the economy.This is the situation in the country," hesaid.

Gehlot said while the northeast wasburning and protests were taking placeagainst Citizenship Amendment Act,Kashmir was under lockdown and peo-ple were losing jobs. There is anatmosphere of fear in the country, hesaid.

The chief minister assured thebusinessmen and industrialists that theGovernment would take decisions asper their sentiments and for accelerat-ing growth and development of thestate.

He also launched the newIndustrial Development Policy-2019,Rajasthan Investment PromotionScheme-2019, Chief Minister's SmallScale Industries Promotion Scheme-2019, Solar Energy Policy-2019 andWind and Hybrid Energy Policy-2019.

Energy Minister B D Kalla,Industry Minister Parsadi Lal Meenaand others were present at theevent.

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Kerala will fight for protect-ing the Constitution, Chief

Minister Pinarayi Vijayanasserted on Thursday as hecondemned the police action indetaining left leaders in Delhiand historian RamachandraGuha in Bengaluru duringanti-Citizenship AmendmentAct protests.

Vijayan also alleged thatthe NDA Government was displaying an authoritariantendency that was not

witnessed even during theEmergency period(1975-77).

"We strongly condemn theact of detaining CPI(M) gen-eral secretary Sitaram Yechury,politburo members PrakashKarat, Brinda Karat, CPI gen-eral secretary D Raja in Delhiand historian RamachandraGuha in Bengaluru," Vijayansaid.

He also said the true emo-tion of Indians could be "seenin the mass protest and angeragainst those who are murder-ing the constitutional values."

"I salute those who havecome forward to protect thefreedom, secularism anddemocracy of the country.

Kerala has already declaredwe will stand in front andfight for protecting the Constitution...,"he tweeted.

He claimed that the gov-ernment was threatening andarresting those protesting. Inthe national capital, the centralgovernment has curtailed theuse of Internet and mobilephones, Vijayan alleged.

"The centre must stopattacking major universitiesand its students. It should nottry to move forward bydestroying constitutional valuesand rights of the citizens," hesaid.

According to him, historyhas shown that mass uprisingshave never been defeated byrepression, travel bans, arrests,and asked the government torollback the amended citizen-ship law.

The state has witnessednumerous protests by variouspolitical parties against theCAA.

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Amitabha Bagchi, a soft-spoken, pony-tailed

Associate Professor of com-puter science at IIT, Delhi, haswon the prestigious DSC prizefor South Asian Literature forhis evocative novel “Half TheNight is Gone”, a story thatexplores different dimensionsof religion, literature andIndian society in a way that fewcontemporary authors havedone in recent times.

In a post-colonial saga thatunfolds over three generations,Bagchi explores human rela-tionships, the intertwining offates and cultures, payingamazing attention to details.He poignantly captured theturmoil of our time andexplored the country's diverseaspects from the viewpoint ofhis protagonist, Vishwanathan,who confronts the wreckage ofhis own life while seeking tomake sense of the newIndia.

The winner of the DSCprize was announced at a spe-cial Award Ceremony at theIME Nepal Literature Festivalin the picturesque city ofPokhara on December 16.Pradeep Gyawali, Minister forForeign Affairs of Nepal, alongwith Surina Narula, co-founderof the DSC Prize, presented thewinner's trophy to AmitabhaBagchi.

The six shortlisted authorsand novels in contention forthe DSC Prize this year were:Amitabha Bagchi: Half theNight is Gone (JuggernautBooks, India); Jamil JanKochai: 99 Nights in Logar (Bloomsbury Circus,Bloomsbury, India & UK, andViking, Penguin RandomHouse, USA)l Madhuri Vijay:

The Far Field (Grove Press,Grove Atlantic, USA);Manoranjan Byapari: There's Gunpowder in the Air(Translated from Bengali byArunava Sinha, Eka, AmazonWestland, India); Raj KamalJha: The City and the Sea (Hamish Hamilton,Penguin Random House,India); and Sadia Abbas: TheEmpty Room (ZubaanPublishers, India)

The five-member interna-tional jury panel for the DSCPrize 2019 and the shortlistedauthors did a brief readingfrom their shortlisted novels.

Bagchi didn't mince wordsin commenting on the currentspate of protests in India onCitizenship act and their han-dling by the Government. “ Awriter's cannot remainimmune to what's happeningaround him — and what's tak-ing place in India is unfortu-nate. Our democratic valuesare being challenged eachand every day,” he told ThePioneer.

Speaking on behalf of thejury, Jury Chair Harish Trivedi,said, “For the five jury mem-

bers located in five differentcountries, reading 90 novels in90 days was a transformativeexperience.

Over the months, wearrived at a diverse and inclu-sive longlist of 15 and a short-list of 6 novels, representing thepolyphonic richness of theregion. It is out of this collec-tive literary churning that therehas emerged a winner whosework subsumes many lan-guages and sensibilities.”

Ajit Baral, Director of theIME Nepal Literature Festival,made the opening address andwelcomed the DSC Prize toNepal and the city of Pokhara.

Congratulating the winner,Surina Narula, co-founder ofthe DSC Prize said, “My hearti-est congratulations toAmitabha Bagchi. .

All the shortlisted booksthis year deal with diverse andpowerful themes and therewere three debut novels and abook about Afghanistan. It isa tough decision as always forthe jury to choose a winnerfrom these exceptional entries.We are delighted to be invitedto give the award this year inNepal and I hope this encour-

ages more publishers fromNepal to enter their books forthe prize next year. The DSC Prize has now com-pleted nine years and it isheartening to see the increasedinterest amongst readers acrossthe world in South Asian lifeand culture through thesebooks.”

This year's internationaljury panel included HarishTrivedi, (Jury Chair) formerProfessor of English at theUniversity of Delhi who haswritten extensively on colonialand post colonial literature,Jeremy Tambling, formerProfessor of Literature at theUniversity of Manchester withan interest in present and pastliteratures, in critical theory,and in film, Kunda Dixit,Editor of the Nepali Timesnewspaper in Kathmandu, andauthor of several books on theSouth Asian region, climatechange and technology,Carmen Wickramagamage,Professor of English at theUniversity of Peradeniya, SriLanka, whose work hasfocused on feminism, post-colonial theory, and 'Third World' women writers,

and Rifat Munim, a bilingualwriter, essayist, and translator,and the literary editor of DhakaTribune in Bangladesh, withspecial interest in South AsianEnglish writing.

While no author fromNepal submitted his books tothe jury panel, but the way peo-ple thronged thevenue of the Nepal Literature

Festival has made the orga-nizers hopeful that soon theirauthors would be competingwith the best in south EastAsia.

“ We have some fine tal-ents, but they have not receivedproper attention because theirworks have not been translated didn't English,” said

Started in 2011, the NepalLiterary Festival Festival aspiresto be a neutral platform wherewriters, artists, filmmakers,singers, and intellectuals fromSouth Asia come together todiscuss varied issues pertinentto the times.

The annual festival is orga-nized by the BookwormFoundation, a non-profit orga-nization dedicated to the worldof words, consisting of pub-lishers, journalists and writerswho are passionate aboutexpanding the public sphereand creating democratic spacesin Nepal and beyond.

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Thousands of illegal immigrantsfrom Myanmar (also known as

Rohingyas), camping in differentparts of Jammu & Kashmir contin-ue to occupy plots located close tothe vital defence installations includ-ing Sunjwan Army camp, PoliceLines, railway track without facingany resistance.

Out of an estimated populationof over 40,000 Rohingyas currentlystaying in India at least 10,000 arecamping in different parts of Jammuand its adjoining districts of Samba,Kathua, Rajouri etc.

Majority of these illegal immi-grants arrived here in the last onedecade via Bangladesh and madeJammu their second home.

According to a J&K Homedepartment report tabled in thestate assembly on February 2, 2018,“a total number of 6523 Rohingyas

were found camping across 39 dif-ferent locations spread across fivedistricts of Jammu and Kashmir”.

According to this report, “6461Rohingyas were staying in Jammudivision and 62 in Kashmir division.

However, local activists andpoliticians, spearheading a cam-paign in support of their deportationoften contest these figures claiminglarge number of these illegal immi-grants are scattered and even theirbio metrics have not been properlycollected by the security personnel.

According to this report , “48families comprising 206 Rohingyaswere found camping in Sunjwan areaon the outskirts of Jammu. A mili-tary station is located in the closevicinity.

On February 10, 2018, when aheavily armed group of terrorists(members of suicide squad) hadstormed the Sunjwan army camp inthe wee hours, security forces had

raised serious concerns claimingthese terrorists may have been shel-tered by the illegal immigrants, liv-ing close to the boundary wall of anarmy camp.

However, in the absence of anyclear evidence none of the illegalimmigrants were investigated bythe security agencies about their pos-sible involvement in sheltering themembers of the fidayeen group.

At least 40 Rohingyas were alsofound staying in Nagrota in the close

vicinity of 16 corpsheadquarters of theIndian army.

According to theHome departmentreport, “over 150 familieshave raised temporarysheds housing 734Rohingyas oppositepolice lines in ChanniHimmat area of Jammu”.Not only this, a grave

yard plot in Narwal area of Jammuis second home for over 250Rohingyas from Myanmar.

Instead of preventing their ille-gal entry, the concerning agencies,have been apparently caught nappingas their numbers have graduallyswelled in the region raising serioussecurity concerns.

In January 2017 Chief MinisterMehbooba Mufti had informed thestate assembly that over 5700Rohingyas are camping in the state.

In 2018, their numbers swelledup to 6523.

These illegal immigrants havealso managed to spread their footprints from two to at least five dis-tricts across the state in the last oneyear. Apart from Jammu Rohingyasare staying in Samba, Doda, Poonchand Anantnag in Kashmir valley.

The biggest cause of concern isthose illegal immigrants who havebeen staying here without anyRefugee cards issued by the office ofUnited Nations High Commissionerfor Refugees (UNHCR).

According to the report, out of6523 Rohingyas more than 400 arestaying here without their refugeecards issued by the United NationalHigh Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR). Jammu seems to be thefirst choice of Rohingyas. They arespread across 30 locations in Jammuonly. Majority of Rohingyas inJammu earn their livelihood by

doing daily wage jobs and some ofthem have become scrap dealers.Children support their families bycollecting and selling waste materi-al, and a few women work as domes-tic help and in local factories in thearea. Fears in the security estab-lishment grew after one of the twoforeign militants killed in a shootoutin south Kashmir in October 2015turned out to be originally fromMyanmar.

“No Rohingya has been foundinvolved in militancy-related inci-dents. However, more than twodozen other criminal cases have beenregistered against 50 Rohingyas forvarious offences,” official sources inthe state Home department said.

Under pressure from differentquarters to gather details of exactnumber of Rohingyas, the Jammuand Kashmir police had initiatedspecial drive to collect their personaldetails in a proper format.

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Scores of farmers inAmaravati region, who gave

up their fertile agriculturallands for the development ofAndhra Pradesh's new capitalcity, took to the streets onThursday protesting the YSRCGovernment's fresh idea ofhaving three capitals for theState.

On December 17, ChiefMinister YS Jagan MohanReddy hinted in the Assemblythat the State could have threecapitals Executive Capital inVisakhapatnam, LegislativeCapital in Amaravati andJudiciary Capital in Kurnool.

The Chief Ministers state-ment triggered widespreadprotests, particularly in thecentral coastal region of thestate.

Farmers, along with theirfamily members, organisedroad blockades in all the 29 vil-lages that form the core capi-tal of Amaravati.

Later, they organised amassive dharna at Velagapudi,close to the temporarySecretariat, demanding thatAmaravati be continued as thecapital.

Large contingents of policewere deployed in the capitalregion to ensure that trouble ofany sort did not break out.

Police sealed the routeleading to the temporarySecretariat.

The Chief Minister, whowas scheduled to hold a meet-ing with the visiting members

of the 15th FinanceCommission in the Secretariaton Wednesday afternoon, shift-ed it to his camp residence inview of the farmers agitation,police sources said.

All political parties extend-ed solidarity with the agitatingfarmers. Slogans like “We wantjustice” rent the air.

“We have given up our fer-tile lands for the capital in thehope that it will lead to a newdevelopment and change ourfuture for the better. But now,our future has been pushed intodarkness,” the farmers lament-ed.

They criticised the ChiefMinister for changing his standon the capital and rescindinghis promise on the develop-ment of Amaravati.

“If at all he wants to relo-cate the capital, the ChiefMinister should return ourlands in the same form they

were taken in 2015,” the farm-ers said.

The TDP, which drew theplans for Amaravati, has vehe-mently opposed the thought ofhaving three capitals at differ-ent locations.

Other parties too called theChief Minister's idea “impru-dent,” saying decentralisationshould be in terms of develop-ment (of all the three regions ofthe state) and not in terms ofadministration.

The Government, though,maintained that a final decisionon the capitals has not yet beentaken and what the ChiefMinister spoke was “just anidea.”

Information Minister PerniVenkataramaiah said a finaldecision on the capital wouldbe taken only after the com-mittee of experts, headed byretired bureaucrat G N Rao,submitted its report.

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The National Investigation Agency (NIA)has decided to take over UAPA cases

against two students who were arrested by theKerala police recently from Kozhikode forallegedly distributing pro-Maoist pamphlets,official sources said here on Thursday.

“We have re-registered the case yesterday(on Wednesday) and will take over the inves-tigation in coming days,” a NIA official toldPTI.

The Kerala High Court on November 27had dismissed the bail plea of two studentactivists of ruling CPI(M) —Thwaha Fazal(24) and Alan Suhaib (20) — who were arrest-ed under the Unlawful Activities PreventionAct (UAPA).

The court had admitted the evidences sub-mitted by the police to prove the arrested stu-dents had Maoist links and denied them bail.

Fazal and Alan, students of journalism andlaw respectively and the CPI(M)'s branch com-mittee members, were arrested on November2 from Kozhikode, leading to widespread crit-icism in the Left-ruled state.

The two are in judicial custody.

Kanpur (UP): An 18-year-oldwoman, whose family had alleged thatshe was raped and set ablaze inFatehpur, succumbed to her burns ata hospital here, officials said.

The police had registered an FIRlast week under sections relating torape and attempted murder after theincident, but are also investigating theclaim that she set herself afire after avillage panchayat put an end to herrelationship with a relative.

“She had suffered from organ fail-ure including lungs and kidneys fol-lowing serious injuries and we triedto resuscitate her, but she could notsurvive and died,” Head of the depart-ment (surgery) at the hospital, SanjayKala said.

The body has been sent to themortuary for autopsy.

The rape victim, who had over 90per cent burns, had been on ventila-tor support since Tuesday due to con-tinued multi-organ dysfunction. Shewas having problems while breathingtoo, Kala said.

“She was almost unconscious

since Wednesday evening and tookher last breath at around 6:30 am, hesaid.

“The patient had remained in anextremely critical condition sinceadmission to LLR hospital,” Kalasaid, adding that a team of severaldoctors tried to keep her stable, buther condition continued to deterio-rate over the last two days.

An FIR was registered on thebasis of a complaint lodged by thewoman's family last week and anaccused was arrested for rape andattempt to murder, according toFatehpur SP Prashant Verma.

The attempt to murder chargewas being converted to murder,police said. Additional Director

General of Police (Allahabad zone)Sujeet Pandey had earlier said it wasthe woman who allegedly set herselfablaze when a 'panchayat' did notapprove of her relationship with a dis-tant relative.

When the matter of her relation-ship with the distant relative came tolight, a panchayat was held in her vil-lage during which the woman and theman were made to take a pledge thatthey would live separately and notmeet each other.

Upset over the panchayat's deci-sion, the woman rushed to her houseat a village in Fatehpur and alleged-ly set herself ablaze, he had said.

District Magistrate FatehpurSanjeev Singh had said upon notic-ing smoke, villagers rescued thewoman and took her to a local com-munity health centre.

On December 5, a rape survivorfrom Unnao was set ablaze by fivepeople, including two accused ofraping her. They were arrested thesame day. The woman later died dur-ing treatment in a Delhi hospital. PTI

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With the KarnatakaCongress in a “vacuum”

following the resignation of itstop two leaders after the rout inthe December 5 Assemblybypolls, senior party leadersMadhusudan Mistry andBhakta Charan Das onThursday met a host of Stateleaders on behalf of the highcommand to gather their opin-ion on the next course of

action.Congress Legislature Party

leader Siddaramaiah and StateCongress chief Dinesh GunduRao quit after the party post-ed a poor show, winning onlytwo seats, as against 12 it hadheld of the 15 which went tothe December 5 bypolls.

According to sourcesMistry and Das gathered opin-ions on the resignations,whether they need to be accept-ed or not, and replacements in

case the resignations wereaccepted and also aboutstrengthening the party after its“disastrous” performance inthe bypolls. Among the seniorleaders who met the highcommand representatives wereDK Shivakumar, KHMuniyappa, Veerappa Moily,BK Hariprasad, HK Patil, KBKoliwad among others.

Mistry and Das also visit-ed former Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah, who is current-

ly recuperating after undergo-ing angioplasty recently.

“Shri. @MD_Mistry &Shri. @BHAKTACHARAN-DAS visited me at my residencein Bengaluru.

We discussed variousissues concerning our Countryand the need to actively fightagainst policies of @BJP4India,”Siddaramaiah tweeted.Speaking to reporters after themeeting, H K Patil said thatsince the leaders had resigned

in the backdrop of the party'sperformance in the bypolls,Mistry and Das hade come toseek the opinion of other stateleaders and he gave his inputsin the interest of the party.

Stating that feedback wasbeing gathered from more than50 people,he said, “they (Mistryand Das) will submit theirreport to Congress PresidentSonia Gandhi and what everdecision she takes, we willabide by it.”

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India and the US have agreedto further deepen their

strategic ties in key areas likedefence, counter-terrorism andtrade, and to work with like-minded countries to ensure afree and open Indo-Pacific,amidst China flexing its mili-tary muscles in the region.

The decisions were taken atthe second India-US 2+2 dia-logue between US Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo, DefenseSecretary Mark Esper andExternal Affairs Minister SJaishankar and DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh at theState Department onWednesday amidst the his-toric impeachment vote against President DonaldTrump.

The first 2+2 dialogue washeld in New Delhi inSeptember last year after themechanism was approved by

Prime Minister Narendra Modiand US President Trump.

“The content and quality ofour discussions today will com-mensurate with and reflectiveof the broad expanse of ourties,” Jaishankar told reportersat a joint press conference.

“We reviewed ongoingcooperation in all areas of theinterface of foreign policy anddefence and outlined new pri-orities” he said.

During the 2nd edition ofthe 2+2 dialogue, India and theUS agreed to further expandtheir defence ties and con-cluded the crucial IndustrialSecurity Annex.

Defence Minister Singhsaid the strong Indo-USdefence ties were an integralcomponent of the strategicbilateral partnership.

“In the last few years, wehave made a conscious decisionto diversify and indigenise ourarms acquisitions. This

increased defence trade withthe US is one important aspectof this,” he said.

“We are also working toencourage greater collaborationbetween defence manufactur-ing sectors in India in the US.

The conclusion of theIndustrial Security Annex withthe US will provide the neces-sary framework for pursuingthe co-development and co-production linkages in thedefence manufacturing cen-tre, Singh said.

Cross-border terrorismemanating from Pakistan alsofeatured during the talks.

Singh said India shared itsassessments of the situation inAfghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal,Sri Lanka, and the IndianOcean region in general.

“We conveyed that the

extreme rhetoric and belliger-ent statements and incitementto anti-Indian violence byPakistani leaders is not con-ducive to peace,” he said.

Pompeo also spoke aboutcross-border terrorism fromPakistan.

“We understand the con-cerns that India has, rightfulconcerns that they have aboutterrorism emanating fromPakistan, and we assured themthat we would take that intoaccount,” he said.

“We are determined toprotect the American people onthe threat of terrorism, andwe’re determined to work withour great democratic friendslike the Indians to protect thepeople of India as well. Andwe’ll continue to work on it,”Pompeo said.

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The US has discussed withIndia the “risks” posed by

Chinese-made communicationnetworks, including 5G, pose tothe treasured freedoms,Secretary of State Mike Pompeohas said, amidst the Trumpadministration stepped up itspressure against Chinese tele-com giants. President DonaldTrump has asked Americanfirms to stop doing businesswith Chinese telecom giantHuawei, alleging that it was atool of Chinese intelligence.

Pompeo told reporters at ajoint press conference with hisIndian counterpart S Jaishankarand Home Minister RajnathSingh and the US DefenceSecretary Mark Esper that the5G issue was discussed duringthe second edition of the 2+2ministerial dialogue betweenIndia and the US here onWednesday.

“And on China, we dis-

cussed the risks that Chinese-built communication networks,including 5G, pose to our trea-sured freedoms and howChina’s unfair and predatoryeconomic activity in the Indo-Pacific presents a risk to thosevery freedoms,” Pompeo said.

Asserting that 5G networkswill form the backbone offuture economies and criticalinfrastructure, US StateDepartment SpokespersonMorgan Ortagus earlier thismonth said the stakes are toohigh to allow these vital net-works to be provided and ser-viced by vendors open tomanipulation by authoritarianregimes.

“Chinese telecommunica-tions firms such as Huawei andZTE must comply with thedirectives of the government ofthe People’s Republic of China,without any meaningful checksand balances that would pre-vent misuse of data,” Ortagussaid.

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External Affairs Minister SJaishankar has pitched

strongly for the issuance of H-1B visa to Indians, underlingtheir significant contributionsto the US society, economy andpolity and deepening of bilat-eral ties. The H1B visa is anon-immigrant visa thatallows US companies toemploy foreign workers inspeciality occupations thatrequire theoretical or techni-cal expertise. The technologycompanies depend on it to hiretens of thousands of employ-ees each year from countrieslike India and China.

According to a study pub-lished on November by theNational Foundation forAmerican Policy think-tank,the Trump administration’srestrictive immigration poli-cies have led to massiveincrease in the rejection ofpetitions for H-1B visas withthe highest denial rate amongmajor Indian IT companies.

The study gave credence tocharges that Indian companiesare being unduly targeted bythe administration of PresidentDonald Trump. India hastaken up the problems faced byIndian professionals and ITcompanies with the Trumpadministration.

“People to people ties have

been one of the defining ele-ments of our friendship,”Jaishankar told reporters at ajoint news conference here onWednesday in the present ofDefence Minister RajnathSingh, US Secretary of StateMike Pompeo and DefenceSecretary Mark Esper.

“We take great pride in theachievements of Indians andIndian-Americans in theUnited States and their con-tribution to American society,economy and polity. Tradeand services, including themovement of persons in a fairand non-discriminatory man-ner has contributed signifi-cantly to the deepening of(bilateral) ties,” he said.

Jaishankar said he lookforward to work with the USto nurture and sustain theseties and the two countrieshave agreed to take steps topromote better understandingand awareness among eachother’s stakeholders who areconnected at multiple levels.

“We’ve arrived at a com-mon intent to facilitate regu-lar exchanges between ourparliamentarians and also toprovide short-term internshipopportunities for aspiringentrepreneurs to through ded-icated programmes,” he said atthe conference held after theconclusion of the 2+2 minis-terial.

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Shares of various Tata groupcompanies on Thursday

bounced back to close withgains of up to 3 per cent a dayafter an NCLAT ruling thatreinstated Cyrus Mistry aschairman of main group hold-ing company Tata Sons sent thestocks down. Various groupcompanies remained underpressure till morning trade,falling by up to 2 per cent.

However, buying emergedtowards the close of trade andmost of these companies settledthe day with gains.

Among the gainers, TataConsultancy Services climbed2.83 per cent, Tata Motorsjumped 2.55 per cent, TataCoffee rose 0.98 per cent, TataGlobal Beverages 0.67 per cent,Tata Steel 0.48 per cent, TataMetaliks gained marginally0.17 per cent, Titan Company0.07 per cent and TataCommunications 0.01 per centon the BSE.

In contrast, Indian HotelsCompany fell 2.03 per cent,Tata Elxsi went lower by 1.40per cent and Tata InvestmentCorporation declined 0.43 percent.

Various group scrips hadfallen up to 4 per cent in theprevious trade after the order.

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Government think tank NitiAayog on Friday will hold

a consultative meeting to dis-cuss a roadmap for populationstabilisation and come out witha working paper to address keygaps in India’s family planningprogrammes. Increasing thebasket of contraceptive choic-es and helping women makeinformed choices about delay-ing pregnancy are among thekey recommendations expect-ed to emerge from the meeting,the Aayog said in a release.

The meeting, which isbeing organised in partnershipwith Population Foundation ofIndia (PFI), will deliberate onways and means of strength-ening India’s population poli-cy and family planning pro-grammes.

The Aayog said that Indiais at a stage where birth ratesare falling but the populationcontinues to grow due to thefact that more than 30 per centof the population is young andin the reproductive age group.

“Nearly 30 million cur-rently married women in theage group of 15-49 years with-in this critical cohort of youngpeople have unmet needs infamily planning, which limittheir ability to delay or avoidpregnancy by not having accessor the agency to use contra-ception,” it said. The think

tank said that the recommen-dations from the consultationwill contribute to a Niti Aayogworking paper to help achieveIndia’s vision of attaining pop-ulation stabilisation, as voicedby Prime Minister NarendraModi on August 15, 2019.

India, with a current pop-ulation size of 1.37 billion, hasthe second largest populationin the world, the Aayog said,adding that for the country torealise its sustainable develop-ment goals and economic aspi-rations, it is important toensure that people haveinformed access to contracep-tion and quality family plan-ning services.

Some key recommenda-tions expected to emerge fromthe meeting are “increasingthe basket of contraceptivechoices, with greater focus onspacing methods and helpingwomen make informed choic-es about delaying pregnancyand spacing between children”.

The working paper, theAayog said, is expected toaddress key gaps in India’sfamily planning programmesand will offer constructive rec-ommendations to addressregional disparities in out-comes by focusing on adoles-cents and youths, inter-depart-mental convergence, demandgeneration, access to contra-ceptive services and quality ofcare.

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Aircraft engine-maker Prattand Whitney (PW) on

Thursday appointed AshmitaSethi as the managing directorof its India division, accordingto a statement.

Sethi had resigned fromher position of director forcommunications and corporateaffairs at Boeing India a fewweeks ago.

The A320neo family air-craft, which are powered byPW engines, have been facingfrequent on-ground and mid-air glitches since their induc-tion into the IndiGo and GoAirfleets in 2016.

Palash Roy Chowdhury,who served as the managingdirector of PW’s Indian divi-sion for around eight years, putin down his papers in July.

PW, which is a division ofUnited Technologies Corp, saidon Thursday,”Ms. Sethi bringsmore than 20 years of experi-ence from the defense andaerospace industry to this roleand joins PW following a dis-tinguished career in corporateand public affairs, and com-munications with Boeing andRolls-Royce.”

On November 1, aviationregulator Directorate Generalof Civil Aviation (DGCA) hadasked IndiGo to replace allunmodified PW engines on its97 A320neo family aircraft orface grounding of planes.

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Former Chief EconomicAdviser Arvind

Subramanian said on Thursdaythat it was a “puzzle” for himthat stock markets are buoyantwhile the economy is sinking.

Subramanian, the firstCEA under the Narendra Modigovernment, was at the IndianInstitute of ManagementAhmedabad (IIMA) for theinauguration of ‘NSE Centrefor Behavioral Science inFinance, Economics andMarketing’.

“I hope that the first behav-ioural economics project of thisCentre would be to explain to mewhy as the economy is goingdown and down and down, thestock market is going up, up andup”, said Subramanian, an alum-nus of IIMA.

“If you can crack this puz-zle for me, I would fly downhere all the way from the US tounderstand it....There are lots ofother things I do not under-stand, (such as) financial mar-kets in India,” said the econo-mist who had recently said thatIndia was facing a “great slow-

down”. After rallying to its life-time intra-day high of41,719.29, the 30-share BSESensex on Thursday settled115.35 points or 0.28 per centhigher at its fresh closing recordof 41,673.92. The NSE Niftyrose 38.05 points, or 0.31 percent, to its new peak of12,259.70.

The newly-inauguratedcentre on IIMA premiseswould conduct experimentson how different aspects ofbehavioural science impactprocesses and outcomes inmarkets, said IIMA Director

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Professionals from IT indus-try command the highest

salaries, while Bengaluru hasretained the tag as the highestpaying city in the country, areport said on Thursday.

According to RandstadInsights Salary Trends Report2019, the average annual costto company (CTC) inBengaluru for talent acrossjunior level stood at �5.27lakh, �16.45 lakh for mid-leveland �35.45 lakh for senior

level. Bengaluru had topped thelist in 2017 and 2018 SalaryTrends report as well.

Hyderabad (�5 lakh) andMumbai (�4.59 lakh) took thesecond and third spot forjunior level roles, Mumbai(�15.07 lakh) and the NationalCapital Region (�14.5 lakh) formid-level roles and Mumbai(�33.95 lakh) and Pune (�32.68lakh) for senior roles respec-tively, the report noted.

The report also revealedthat professionals from ITindustry command the highest

average annual CTCs at juniorlevel (�4.96 lakh) and seniorlevel (�35.84 lakh).

Digital Marketers emergedas the highest paid functionalrole for senior professionals,with an average annual CTC of�35.65 lakh.

The renewed demand forprofessionals with digital skills— cloud, product manage-ment, analytics, AI andautomation — could be themajor factors for the sector’sstrong showing this year, thereport said.

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Washington: Donald Trump wasimpeached by the House ofRepresentatives on Wednesday,charging the unfazed US Presidentwith abuse of power and obstruct-ing Congress, making him thethird president to face theignominy of a bruising Senate trial,months before he stands for re-election.

After some 11 hours of fiercearguments between OppositionDemocrats and the rulingRepublicans over Trump’s conductwith his Ukrainian counterpart,lawmakers voted almost entirelyalong party lines to impeach the73-year-old president, whoappeared defiant.

The first article of impeach-ment, abuse of power, was onparty lines with 230 to 197 votes.The second article of impeach-ment, obstruction to Congress,was passed by 229-198 votes.

Trump now joins a small

club of presidents who have beenimpeached by the House for “highcrimes and misdemeanours” citedin the Constitution: AndrewJohnson in 1868 and Bill Clintonin 1998. Richard Nixon quit in1974 before impeachment pro-ceedings against him could reachthe House floor.

In his first reaction on theimpeachment, Trump said theDemocrats were trying toimpeach him from day one.

“After three years of sinisterwitch hunts, hoaxes, scams, theHouse Democrats are trying tonullify the ballots of tens of mil-lions of patriotic Americans,” hesaid at a campaign rally in BattleCreek, Michigan.

“While we’re creating jobs andfighting for Michigan, the radicalleft in Congress is consumedwith envy and hatred and rage,you see what’s going on,” Trumptold his cheering supporters. PTI

Hong Kong: Hong Kongpolice on Thursday said theyhad frozen HK$70 million($10 million) from a majorfund for donations to helppro-democracy protesters, andarrested its four members formoney laundering.

Police said their investiga-tion focused on Spark Alliance,a non-profit online platformformed in 2016 that collectsdonations to provide supportto political critics of the city’spro-Beijing authorities.

It is one of two crowd-sourced funding platformsthat have collected millions ofdollars to provide legal and

other help for people arrestedin the pro-democracy proteststhat have upended the citysince early June.

But police said some of thedonations were allegedly usedby the fund owners for otherinvestments.

“We found the donatedmoney was transferred to ashell company and a signifi-cant portion of this money wasinvested in personal insuranceproducts,” SeniorSuperintendent Chan Wai-keitold reporters.

“The beneficiary of theseproducts is the person incharge of the shell company.”

Four people aged between 17and 50 -- three men and onewoman -- were arrested formoney laundering, includingthe alleged director of theshell company.

Chan did not responddirectly to questions fromreporters on whether donatingto legal defence funds forarrested protesters could countas money laundering.

“Money laundering meansyou continue to handle themoney even when you knowit’s gained from unlawful activ-ities,” he said.

He added people couldrisk committing offences of

inciting or facilitating crimesif a person knowingly financedunlawful activities.

In a statement on itsFacebook page, Spark Alliancedescribed the police’s allega-tions as “smears”. The fundsaid the four arrested had gotlegal representation and that itwould not comment furthergiven pending legal proceed-ings.

Last month, the fund saidit would stop receiving dona-tions to its HSBC accountwithout further explanation.

Semi-autonomous HongKong has been battered byincreasingly violent demon-

strations in the starkest chal-lenge the city has presented toBeijing since its 1997 handoverfrom Britain.

Millions have hit thestreets in protests fuelled byyears of growing fears thatauthoritarian China is stamp-ing out Hong Kong’s liberties.

Police have arrested morethan 6,000 people and chargedaround 1,000 of them, fillingthe city’s courts with cases thatare likely to last for years.

Around 40 percent ofthose arrested are students,some of whom face up to tenyears in jail on rioting charges.

AFP

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Chinese leader Xi Jinping met on Thursdaywith Macao’s new chief executive amid

celebrations of the 20th anniversary of theformer Portuguese colony’s handover toChinese rule. City leaders put the tiny gam-bling enclave of just 632,000 people on a secu-rity lock down, including barring politicalactivists and journalists from nearby HongKong, which has been wracked by months ofoften violent anti-government protests.

Even without the heavy security, Xi wouldlikely have seen little in the way of protestsor calls for greater democracy or self-rule.Unlike Hong Kong, whose former Britishleaders nudged their colony gradually towardgreater democratic freedoms, Macau’s smallsize, ineffectual rule by Lisbon and the over-riding influence of the tycoons who controlgambling and related businesses kept demo-cratic expectations low.

And with the opening of the casino indus-

try to new players and a massive influx ofChinese gamblers, Macao’s economy hasboomed in the two decades since 1999. Organised crime groups who had battled eachon Macao’s streets and in its gambling hallshave also been brought to heel, leading to arise in tourism and a general sense amongmany that their fortunes have improved underChinese rule.

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Pakistan’s special court whichsentenced former military

ruler Pervez Musharraf todeath in its detailed judgementon Thursday said that his bodyshould be dragged to the cen-tral square in Islamabad andhanged for three days if he diesbefore his execution.

The 167-page detailedjudgement was authored byPeshawar High Court ChiefJustice Waqar Ahmad Seth,who headed the three-membercourt that sentenced Musharrafto death on Tuesday for sub-verting the Constitution.

“As a necessary corollary towhat has been observed wefind the accused guilty as percharge. The convict be hangedby his neck till he dies on eachcount as per charge,” the verdictsaid.

Justice Seth wrote thatMusharraf should be hangedeven if he dies before his exe-cution.

Jerusalem: Israeli warplanes attackedan arms plant in the Hamas-con-trolled Gaza Strip early Thursday,after Palestinian militants in theenclave fired a rocket at Israel,theArmy said. “Overnight, a rocket waslaunched from the Gaza Strip atIsraeli territory,” an English-languagearmy statement said.

“In response... Fighter jets strucka Hamas weapons manufacturingsite in the northern Gaza Strip.”There were no immediate reports ofcasualties in the overnight rocketattack or the air strike that followed.

Later on Thursday, Israeli author-ities announced a punitive reductionin the fishing zone off Gaza.

COGAT, a unit of Israel’s defenceministry, said that in response to thelatest rocket fire, “the Gaza Strip fish-ing zone has been reduced to 10 nau-tical miles until further notice.” Israelconstantly adjusts the fishing zone

according to the level of tensionaround Gaza, sometimes allowingboats to fish up to 15 nautical milesoffshore and at others restrictingthem to six or banning fishing alto-gether. Hamas has controlled Gazasince 2007, and Israel generally holdsthe Islamist movement responsible forall rocket fire coming from the terri-tory, although it has targeted othermilitant groups too.

On Tuesday, an Israeli aircraft hitwhat the military said was an armedPalestinian seen approaching theIsraeli border fence in Gaza.

His death has so far not been offi-cially confirmed as no body hasbeen retrieved from the no-go areaadjacent to the frontier.

Last month, Israeli forces assas-sinated a senior Islamic Jihad leaderin the Gaza Strip, sparking a two-dayflare-up which killed 36 Palestinians.

AFP

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President Donald Trump phonedthe head of Boeing ahead of the

company’s announcement Mondaythat it was halting production of the737 MAX, a person familiar with thematter said on Thursday.

Trump called Boeing ChiefExecutive Dennis Muilenburg onSunday for details about the MAXproduction plans, the person said,confirming reports in US media.

Muilenburg assured Trump thatthe company’s plan to halt output onthe troubled plane would not resultin layoffs, the person told AFP.

The MAX has been groundedsince mid-March following twodeadly crashes that together killed346 people.

Boeing announced Mondaythat it was shutting down produc-tion for an unspecified time, sayingthe move was necessary because theregulatory process to recertify theplane was taking longer than expect-ed.

That has hampered the abilityto safely deliver some 400 planesbuilt and stored since the regulatorsgrounded the popular aircraft.

The MAX crisis is expected tohit Boeing’s earnings for the nextcouple of years, and economists saythe temporary halt to productionwill constrain US economic growththrough at least the first quarter of2020 because of the hit to exportsand suppliers.

Moody’s cut its debt rating onBoeing by one notch lateWednesday, citing regulatory uncer-tainty over the MAX and height-ened costs associated with the pro-duction shutdown and an eventualramp-up.

Beijing: China is urging dialogue betweenthe US and North Korea during a visit toBeijing by Washington’s special representa-tive for Pyongyang affairs.

Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui toldreporters that despite tensions, the situationon the Korean Peninsula “had not left thetrack of dialogue and negotiation” and that“opportunities and challenges” remained.

Luo’s comments came shortly before thearrival of Stephen Biegun in BeijingThursday during a swing through theregion. Biegun had offered to meet withNorth Korean officials during a stop inSouth Korea but received no public responsefrom Pyongyang. Some in the South havespeculated that a secret meeting could hap-

pen in Beijing although American diplomatshave said nothing to indicate that wouldhappen.

China, North Korea’s most importantdiplomatic ally and biggest source of invest-ment and financial support, has longpushed for both bilateral discussionsbetween Washington and Pyongyang andthe restarting of six-nation nuclear disar-mament talks that have been stalled for adecade.

Biegun’s visit comes as North Korea isratcheting up pressure on President DonaldTrump’s administration to extract majorconcessions as it approaches an end-of-yeardeadline set by leader Kim Jong Un to sal-vage deadlocked nuclear negotiations. AP

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The United Nations on Wednesday con-demned a deadly uptick in violence in Syria’s

last opposition bastion.Najat Rochdi, senior humanitarian adviser to

the UN’s Syria envoy, called for “immediate de-escalation” a day after a war monitor reported thatregime air strikes and artillery fire had killed 23civilians.

Rochdi condemned “the recent intensifica-tion of hostilities in northwest Syria, in particu-lar aerial bombardments and the reported use ofbarrel bombs, killing tens of civilians includingwomen and children,” her office said in a state-ment. The jihadist-dominated region of Idlib issupposed to be protected by a months-old cease-fire deal to prevent a broad regime offensive, butbombardment has continued. The Britain-basedSyrian Observatory for Human Rights saidThursday about 30 were wounded, includingsome seriously.

Perth: Australia’s most popu-lous State of New South Walesdeclared a seven-day state ofemergency on Thursday asoppressive conditions fannedaround 100 wildfires.

Around 2,000 firefighterswere battling the blazes, half ofwhich remain uncontrolled,with the support of U.S. AndCanadian backup teams andpersonnel from the AustralianDefence Force.

The last state of emer-gency ran for seven days inmid-November amid “cata-strophic” fire risk and was thefirst implemented in NewSouth Wales since 2013.Central Sydney reached a max-imum of 39 degrees Celsius(102 Fahrenheit) on Thursday,while outer suburbs scorchedat 42 Celsius (108 F).

A statewide total fire banannounced on Tuesday willremain in place until midnighton Saturday.

Around 3 million hectares

(7.4 million acres) of land hasburnt nationwide during atorrid past few months, withsix people killed and more than 800 homesdestroyed.

The annual Australian fireseason, which peaks during theSouthern Hemisphere sum-mer, started early after an

unusually warm and dry win-ter.

New South Wales PremierGladys Berejiklian said author-ities were concerned with theunpredictable conditions.

“With extreme wind con-ditions, extreme hot temper-atures, we have a good idea, agood sense, of where the most

concerning areas are, but againwhen you’ve got those turbu-lent conditions, embers andspot fires can occur veryunpredictably,” she toldreporters.

Sydney’s air pollution lev-els on Thursday ranged frompoor to hazardous. During thepast month, hazardous smokehas often blanketed Australia’smost populous city and madeits iconic skyline barely visi-ble.

Hospitals have recorded a10% increase in visits frompatients with respiratory con-ditions during the past week.

The Australian MedicalAssociation has recommend-ed people keep hydrated, cooland out of the sun.

Wildfires are also burningin Queensland, SouthAustralia and WesternAustralia.

The Bureau ofMeteorology said Tuesday wasthe hottest day on record in

Australia with an average of40.9 Celsius (105.6 F) nation-wide.

Perth, the capital on thewest coast, is experiencing itshottest December with averagetemperatures for the month at36 Celsius (97 F) and sevendegrees above the mean.

Adelaide, in the southeast,is currently experiencing afour-day heatwave culminat-ing in a sizzling 45 Celsius(113 F) on Thursday.

The unprecedented con-ditions has reignited debate onwhether Australia’s conserva-tive government has takenenough action on climatechange.

Australia is the world’slargest exporter of coal andliquefied natural gas.

Protesters on Thursdaycamped outside PrimeMinister Scott Morrison’sSydney residence demandingurgent action on climatechange. AFP

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Ukraine on Thursday brushedoff the impeachment of

Donald Trump an a US “internalissue”, despite the process beingtriggered by a telephone conver-sation between the Americanleader and his Ukrainian coun-terpart.

Trump was impeached onWednesday by the House ofRepresentatives for abuse of powerover the July conversation withPresident Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Ukraine does not interfere inthe internal affairs of any state,”Zelensky’s spokeswoman YuliyaMendel told AFP.

“The United States remains astrategic partner for us, and we arepleased to strengthen our relationsby expanding cooperation in var-ious fields,” she said.

Moscow: Russian PresidentVladimir Putin on Thursdaysaid that the impeachment ofDonald Trump was based on“made-up” grounds, addinghe did not believe it markedthe end of the US president.

“It still needs to go throughthe Senate, where theRepublicans have a majority,”Putin said after the House ofRepresentatives voted toimpeach Trump for abuse ofpower. “And it is hardly likelythat they are going to push outof office a representative oftheir own party, on groundsthat are absolutely made-up,”he added.

Speaking at his marathonend-of-year news conference,Putin described the events inthe US legislature as “simplythe continuation of a internalpolitical fight” between

Democrats and Republicans.He reproached the jour-

nalist who asked the questionfor “speaking about Trump asif he is finished”.

Trump was impeachedWednesday over a telephoneconversation where he pres-sured Ukraine’s president toinvestigate his potential WhiteHouse challenger in 2020, theveteran Democrat Joe Biden.

AFP

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Bayern Munich’s Joshua Zirkzee scoredon his Bundesliga debut, just two min-

utes after coming onto the pitch in histeam’s last-gasp 3-1 win away at SCFreiburg on Wednesday.

The 18-year-old Dutchman came onin the 90th minute before breaking a 1-1deadlock, becoming theyoungest player to score a goalthis Bundesliga season.

Bayern’s Serge Gnabryadded another in the finalminute of injury time to putthe result beyond doubt, crush-ing the hopes of a dogged anddetermined home side.

“When you score two goals with justminutes remaining to win the game, ofcourse the bus ride home will have a dif-ferent feel than if it had gone otherwise,”said Bayern caretaker boss Hansi Flick.

It was business as usual early forBayern, with 19-year-old CanadianAlphonso Davies put in a superb cross fromthe left wing, with Robert Lewandowski onthe spot to open the scoring. It was

Lewandowski’s 19th league goal of the sea-son — and the sixth time he opened thescoring for Munich this campaign.

The goal seemed to calm Bayern,before Vincenzo Grifo equalised in the 59thminute, nailing Janik Haberer’s cross to giveBayern keeper Manuel Neuer no chance.

The win sees Bayern go into third

place, four points behind Leipzig andBorussia Moenchengladbach.

Moenchengladbach overcame theirrecent poor form to defeat relegationfavourites Paderborn 2-0 through a goalfrom Alassane Plea and a penalty from LarsStindl.

Gladbach scored immediately after thebreak, with Plea’s goal coming just 13 sec-onds into the second half to make itGladbach’s best start to the season in 42years.

Wolfsburg left it late to equalise athome to Schalke, Kevin Mbabu scoring inthe 82nd minute to cancel out a 51st minutestrike from Ozan Kabak.

In Frankfurt, Cologne continued theirexcellent recent run of form, beatingEintracht 4-2 through three second-halfgoals.

After starting the season in terribleform, Cologne have now claimed thesame amount of points in their past fourgames (seven) as they did in the first 12match days.

Earlier, Jurgen Klinsmann claimed asecond straight 1-0 win in charge ofHertha Berlin as Karim Rekik’s second-halfgoal was enough to beat BayernLeverkusen.

The three points move Hertha fourpoints away from the relegation zone.

Peter Bosz’s side are seventh after a sec-ond straight defeat.

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Barcelona and Real Madridcould not be separated onWednesday in a Clasico that

was overshadowed by violentclashes between Catalanindependence protestors andpolice outside Camp Nou.

After being postponed inOctober, there were renewedfears of unrest around Spain’smost famous fixture andwhile the match was onlybriefly interrupted by yellow beachballs thrown onto the pitch, out-side the stadium, chaos ensued.

Masked protesters had setbins on fire and thrown rocks andglass bottles at police, whoresponded by firing foam bullets.

Forty-six people were lightly

injured in the clashes, includingeight who needed to be taken toa medical centre for extra care,local emergency services said.

Five people were arrested,according to a policespokesman.

The protesters,many of them carryingCatalan separatist flags,began setting up barri-cades in the middle ofthe street which theythen burned, after

police arrived in dozens of policevans.

Inside the stadium, the matchpassed largely undisturbed, savefor a brief pause early in the sec-ond half as dozens of yellowbeach balls had to be removed bystewards.

17 YEARS LATERThe game was less eventful

than expected, with neitherBarcelona nor Real ever really attheir best and both, perhaps in theend, happier not to win than tolose.

A goalless draw meansBarcelona stay top of La Liga,ahead of Real on goal differencewhile the historic score in leaguemeetings between the two rivalsremains 72 victories apiece.

Ramos played in his 43rdClasico, a record for any player inhistory.

For Barcelona, SergioBusquets was included in theline-up first announced before hewas swapped out for Ivan Rakitic.Barca claimed it had been a com-munication error.

If it was, it was not the firstmistake of the night, with a fran-tic first half full of them.

Real were the better side in theopening half an hour althoughLuis Suarez might have scoredearly had he controlled JordiAlba’s cross at the back post.

There was a goalline clearanceat both ends as Casemiro’s head-er bounced up and had to behooked away by Gerard Piquebefore Thibaut Courtois punchedout to Messi but his shot wasblocked by Ramos.

Shortly after the interval,

�������* �+&�0

Holders ManchesterCity will face

Manchester United inthe semi-finals of theLeague Cup after bothsides saw off lowerleague opposition tomake the last four onWednesday.

Raheem Sterling’ssecond half doubleensured City wardedoff a shock to win 3-1

at League One Oxford, while Unitedended fourth-tier Colchester United’sfairytale run with a 3-0 win at OldTrafford.

Leicester set up a semi-final meetingwith Aston Villa after the Foxes survived

a second half fightback from Everton to secure theirplace in the last four 4-2 on penalties after a 2-2 drawat Goodison Park.

City have won this competition for the past twoseasons with Pep Guardiola’s only defeat in theLeague Cup coming to United three years ago.

Guardiola’s men will have a chance to avenge their2-1 Premier League defeat to the Red Devils earlier thismonth when the sides clash over two legs in January.

“You always want to win trophies. We’ve got a nicelittle draw coming up, it’ll be exciting times,” said Unitedmanager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. “We’ve shown beforewe can do well against City.”

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Cristiano Ronaldo contin-ued his hot streak as his

towering header gave Juventusa 2-1 win at Sampdoria to putJuventus top of the table asGianluigi Buffon equalledPaolo Maldini’s Serie Aappearance record.

Ronaldo met AlexSandro’s looping cross with anincredible leap and headerjust before half-time to putJuve on 42 points, three aheadof Inter ahead of their matchwith struggling Genoa tomor-row.

“I’m really happy with theresult... It was a really goodgoal also because it was theone that won the three points,”said Ronaldo, who ear-lier in the season wasoff-form amid injuryconcerns.

His 10th leaguegoal of the season cameafter Samp’s GianlucaCaprari had levelledPaulo Dybala’s superbvolleyed opener.

The Argentine met AlexSandro’s raking cross in the19th minute with the mostdelicate of volleys, caressingthe ball past Emil Auderofrom the edge of the box.

The win, gained early inthe week ahead of Sunday’sItalian Super Cup clash withLazio in Riyadh, was a furthersource of happiness forBuffon, who made his 647thSerie A appearance in place ofthe injured Wojciech Szczesny.

The 41-year-old also

became Juve’s all-time recordappearance maker on 479matches, one ahead ofAlessandro Del Piero.

Buffon began his profes-sional career as a teenager in1995 at Parma, where he wonthe UEFA Cup and CoppaItalia in 1999 before movingto Juve two years later.

He has won nine Serie Atitles and the Coppa Italia fourtimes in Turin but has failedto conquer Europe despitereaching two ChampionsLeague finals under previouscoach Massimiliano Allegri.

However he will haveanother chance at winningEurope’s top club competitionafter returning to Juve in thesummer following a disap-

pointing season atParis Saint-Germain.

His team cruisedinto the last 16 afterqualifying from GroupD unbeaten, six pointsahead of second-placed Atletico

Madrid.The former Italy captain

also holds the appearancerecord for his national team,with 176 caps between 1997-2018, winning the 2006 WorldCup.

Later on Wednesday,Brescia missed out on achance to escape the relega-tion zone when they lost 2-0at home to Sassuolo.

The game was a resched-uled week seven fixture thatwas postponed following thedeath of Sassuolo presidentGiorgio Squinzi.

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Liverpool manager JurgenKlopp is looking forward to

a “really tough game” in theClub World Cup finalagainst Flamengo afterRoberto Firmino’s injury-time goal gave the Anfieldside a hard-fought 2-1win over Monterrey ofMexico on Wednesday.

Firmino came off thebench to turn in a cross fromfellow substitute TrentAlexander-Arnold in the 91stminute at the KhalifaInternational Stadium afterNaby Keita’s early opener for aweakened Liverpool side hadswiftly been cancelled out by

Argentine striker RogelioFunes Mori.

Having taken time outfrom their seemingly relentlessmarch towards the Premier

League title to travel toQatar, Liverpool will berelieved at coming throughthis test, and they remainon course to win this com-petition for the first time.However, they must now

beat a Flamengo side whohave won the CopaLibertadores and the Braziliantitle in the last month underPortuguese coach Jorge Jesus,and who will have had an extraday to prepare for the finalafter defeating Saudi club Al-Hilal 3-1 on Tuesday.

)������)� Japanese interna-tional Takumi Minamino signedfor Champions League holdersLiverpool on Thursday for areported fee of 7.25 millionpound from Austrian outfit RedBull Salzburg, the PremierLeague leaders announced.

The 24-year-old forward —who impressed Liverpool intheir two Champions Leaguegroup matches this season withthe Austrian side — is believedto have signed a four-and-a-half-year contract.

“Liverpool Football Clubcan confirm an agreement hasbeen reached with Red BullSalzburg for the transfer ofTakumi Minamino,” the clubsaid in a statement on their web-site.

Minamino — who scored inthe 4-3 defeat by Liverpool atAnfield in October — said it ful-filled a dream.

“It has been a dream, mydream to become a Liverpoolplayer,” he told Liverpool.Com.

“And I’m so excited that themoment has come true.

“To play in the PremierLeague was one of my targets.

“I think this is the top-classleague in the world; I was think-ing if my career as a footballerprogressed smoothly, somedayI would be able to play in the

Premier League.“But I never thought I

would be able to play in thisteam and I’m really happy aboutit.”

He will be free to play forthem from January 1 and couldbe involved in the FA Cup thirdround tie at home to city rivalsEverton on January 5.

His move brings an end tohis five-year spell with Salzburg,whom he joined from CerezoOsaka in January 2015 andmade 199 appearances for them,scoring 64 goals. AFP

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AParis Saint-Germainwithout a rested Neymar

cruised into the last eight ofthe French League Cup with

a 4-1 victory at second-tier LeMans on Wednesday.

Pablo Sarabia, EricMaxim Choupo-Moting,Kylian Mbappe and Angel Di-Maria scored for the record

eight-time tournament win-ners inside the opening 48minutes as Harisson Manzalaresponded for the hosts in thefinal edition of the competi-tion.

“I think it was a game thatwe had to win,” said Tuchel.

“We played with playerswho lacked rhythm. I didn’texpect too much from myteam. We could have scoredmore goals. “But we are happy— no injuries and now is thetime to prepare to playAmiens at the weekend.”

Elsewhere, Lyon, who areyet to win the trophy, ham-mered Toulouse 4-1 withoutMemphis Depay who hasbeen ruled out for six monthswith a knee injury.

���� ������Rafael Nadal insists he is not focused

on chasing Roger Federer's record GrandSlam haul, but admits it would be "amaz-ing" if he manages to eclipse the Swiss star'stally of 20 majors won.

Nadal's heroics in 2019 saw him cap-ture a 12th Roland Garros and fourth USOpen and the Spaniard is now just oneSlam shy of Federer's men's all-timerecord.

At 33, Nadal became the oldest year-end No.1 when he secured that positionlast month, following a tremendous sea-son that saw him scoop four titles on tour,along with the Davis Cup crown forSpain.

"Happy to achieve these things, but Iwould love to have five years less," Nadaljoked with reporters in Abu Dhabi onThursday ahead of his 10th appearance atthe Mubadala World TennisChampionship exhibition.

"It has been a little bit of a magic yearbecause it had been a good start, but thenI went through a couple of very hardmonths in terms of injuries.

"Then I came back and I came backwell. I started to play at a very high levelagain. I enjoyed a lot of great moments oncourt, very emotional ones, Roland Garros,Rome, then New York, that final was amaz-

ing, and then of course ending the seasonwith that Davis Cup title on home soil, soan unforgettable experience to finish thatway."

Nadal's Davis Cup participation meanthe had to finish his 2019 season later thanusual — on November 24 — and theMallorcan says he just started hitting again

a week and a half ago in preparation for2020.

He will get a taste of where his level isat when he takes on either KarenKhachanov or Chung Hyeon in the Emiraticapital on Friday, before resuming his pre-season training back home ahead of theAustralian summer.

Asked if usurping Federer is a maintarget for him moving forward, the top-ranked Nadal said: "I can't say yes becausehonestly I just work on my diary basis. Ihave to do my things the best way possi-ble and then to just give myself chances tokeep being competitive at the highest levelpossible.

"So if that happens, great, if not, I justgave my best all my career to be in the posi-tion that I am today. And obviously ofcourse, increase the number of 20, or tying20 would be something amazing, but I can-not complain at all.

"I'm super happy the way I am havingmy tennis career, I gave my best all the timeand I'm proud about the way I worked andthe way I enjoyed the tennis during allthese years.

"So I just really believe and hope thatI can keep having the chance to keep goingand keep having fun and keep givingmyself chances to compete at the highestlevel."

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Indian chess wizardViswanathan Anand on

Thursday admitted that 2019has been very disappointingfor him in terms of results,and said had it not been forsome "sloppy moments", thescenario could have been dif-ferent.

The f ive-time worldchampion did not have best ofresults in 2019, finishing intied third spots in both the81st Tata Steel Masters inWijk aan Zee and also at the2019 Gashimov Memorialchess tournament in Shamkir,Azerbaijan.

And Anand said not justfrom personal point of viewbut from the country's per-spective as well, 2019 has notbeen a fruitful year for Indianchess players.

"From the chess side, 2019has been slightly disappoint-ing for me and may be forIndia as well. Despite all theplayers we had, nobody qual-ified for the Candidates.

Personally, I had the feelingthat I let everything go at thelast minute," Anand toldreporters here.

"At many tournaments, Iwas in good positions at thehalf way mark but one sloppy

moment and I used to fallback in the middle and thisrepeated over and over again.

"At the The Grand ChessTour, I had my best perfor-mance ever, because my Rapidstabilised compared to earli-er years, but again in the lastminute it fell. So, I had this lit-tle bit of feeling that it couldhave been a much better year,"he said.

Anand was speaking afterreading out excerpts from hisbook "Mind Master: Winninglessons from a Champion'sLife" organsied by 'Fincare -Small Finance Bank', forwhich he is the brand ambas-sador.

"(R) Praggnanandhaa hada very good result in Londonbut the tendency is to look atthe last result. All youngstersare making steady progresswith the usual ups and downs,associated with the game. So,from their perspective, Iwouldn't use the word disap-pointing but nothing standsout for India," explained thefirst Grand Master from India.

Anand also informed thathe was going to skip theWorld Blitz and Rapid Chesstournament, which he haddecided earlier and alsotermed the year gone by as a"hectic" one. The tournamentis slated to be held in Russia.

He also attributed the risein number of grandmasters inthe country to the advent oftechnology.

"It (the growth of chess)has been mentioned, but this(the book) is my story and lifelessons, so I didn't want to getheavily into that but there arecouple of pattern. In 2000, wehad 6-7 grandmasters. Ibecame GM in December1988, next happened in 1990,very slow and then it pickedup a lot of speed.

"I remember saying that Iam really looking forward tonext GM because it will be(the) 64th and within coupleof weeks of that announce-ment, we had 65 (GMs)already and this number isincreasing very fast," Anandsaid.

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stewards ran on to collect thebeach balls and then Barcelonatwice should have scored, only forLionel Messi and Suarez both tofluff finishes in quick succession.

Bale scored with 15 minutes leftbut his provider Ferland Mendywas a fraction offside. Neitherteam wanted to go for broke in thelatter stages.

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The increasing popu-larity of computer,video games and tele-vision makes the chil-

dren to be very inactive intheir lifestyles. The time spentin these things may be spentin some physical activities.Parents should be a role modelfor their children. If the par-ents are looking very active,the children are more likely tobe more active and will stayactive for the rest of their life.Participation in sports andother physical activities canhave many benefits for chil-dren.

The participation inorganised sports offers thechance for youth people toenhance their physical andsocial skills. A balance shouldbe maintained that matchesthe child’s maturity, skills,and their interests with theirsports participation. Sportsoffer children a change fromthe monotony of their dailylife. It is also a useful meansof entertainment and physicalactivity for them.

Through competition,children can develop the

motivation to improve andavoid defeat. By working hardat every practice and stayingfocused on their goal, childrenbuild persistence and learn theimportance of patience, and inthe end, realise that hardwork pays off. This translatesto life in general — setting outto accomplish something

requires dedication and per-sistence over a long period oftime. There is some evidencethat long-term commitmentto sports has a positive impacton children’s behaviour in theclassroom.

Sports and games are theways of enhancing the chil-dren’s mental and physical

growth. Sports help them incharacter building and pro-vides them energy andstrength. A healthy diet andan active lifestyle will bringgood results in the children’slifestyle, minds and bodies.The recreational activitieseliminate the unhealthy habitsof the children that may lead

them to diabetes, high choles-terol, high blood pressure,heart disease, joint pain,strokes and other serious dis-eases.

When the students arephysically fit, they will achievemore academically. Sportsdevelop a sense of friendlinessamong the children and devel-op their team spirit.

They help the children todevelop the mental and phys-ical toughness. Sports shapetheir body and make it strongand active. Children shouldactively participate in thesports to avoid being tired andlethargic. This is becausesports improve their bloodcirculation and their physicalwell-being.

The health benefits ofsports and games – Studieshave revealed that childrenwho play sports are lessstressed out than those kidswho do not take part in anyphysical activity. Participationin sports has many other ben-efits like increased cardiovas-cular fitness, a healthy growthin their tendons, bones, liga-ments and muscles. They will

develop better balance andcoordination and get goodsleep.

Research has shown thatchildren who engage in morevigorous physical activity havemore muscle and less body fat.If we bear in mind that by hav-ing more lean mass, the organ-ism burns more calories, it’snot surprising that partici-pating in a physical activityand sports tends to reduce therisk of being overweight.

There are also socialadvantages of sports for kids –It helps them to make morefriends. When they join alocal football or a cricket teamor participate in school sports,it is helpful to them as they getto make new friends. A newactivity will also open upchances for an entirely newcircle of friends for the kids.

It gets them outdoors –Many kids are very happy tostay indoors, watching televi-sion and playing computergames; they have no exposureto real communication in theouter world or to fresh air.When they take up a newsport, it is a fun opportunityfor them to go outdoors, exer-cise and breathe in some freshair. It does not matter if theyget themselves and theirclothes dirty. There is alwaysSurf excel at home to take careof the stains.

There is also importanceof sports for kids when itcomes to reducing obesity—Over thirty percent of childrenbetween five and nineteenyears of age in the world areobese. This is linked to theabsence of exercise and also tothe type of diet they maintain.By participating in sports,children will not only have agreat time but they can alsoburn off excess calories, mak-ing them active.

Builds self-confidence.Sports is a good medium toboost up your child’s self-esteem and improve their self-confidence. It also teacheschildren about teamwork, goalbuilding and success in life.And while playing, if they

slip and fall, let them get upand wipe themselves off.

The Importance for thePersonality Development ofKids. Physical education has agreat role to play in the per-sonality development of chil-dren through sport activities.It also has an impact on theirability to learn and their edu-cational growth.

There is always a chance ofbuilding up a positive relation-ship between psychologicaldevelopment and involvementin physical activities. Physicaleducation makes up part of thebasis of children’s early person-ality development.

Skills that are picked upduring physical education andsports have a big impact on theholistic growth of your child.They will be learning aboutthe important values of team-work, fair play and respect foreach other.

It also offers them a forumto learn how to cope withcompetition. The learningaspects bring to the fore theimportance of sports andgames for the social develop-ment of a child.

Sports also eliminate men-tal exhaustion of the children.Education is incomplete with-out sports. Now-a-days sportsare the integral part of the edu-cation. In schools it, the chil-dren are taught some sorts ofgames in very early stage tokeep their value in life. Collegesports are also a part of acad-emic curricula.

The research proves thatin a public school classroomhalf of the students are over-weight. There is a lot ofimprovement in poor foodquality, culture of over-eating,and inactive lifestyles. Hencesports education is very muchessential for today’s youthgeneration.

The great ways to spendtime is running, walking, talk-ing throughout the day makethe children physically active.Sports infrastructure in vil-lages are being developedeverywhere to have great valuein life of the people.

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Ten international films, includingwidely acclaimed offerings fromSouth Korea, Spain and Senegal,

are on the shortlist of film vying forAcademy Award nominations.

The best international featureshortlist announced by the Academyof Motion Picture Arts and Sciencesincludes Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite,Pedro Almodovar’s semi-autobio-graphical Pain and Glory and Atlantics,Senegal’s entry from history-makingdirector Mati Diop.

In May, Diop became the firstblack woman to compete for the topprize at the Cannes Film Festival. Thathonour went to Parasite, whileAtlantics won the festival’s GrandPrix honour. If Parasite or Atlanticsreceive nominations, they would markthe first for South Korea and Senegal,respectively.

It is the first year the Oscar for-merly will be awarded under a newname: best international feature film.The category was previously known asthe best foreign language film.The 10short-listed films are: the CzechRepublic’s The Painted Bird; Estonia’s

Truth and Justice; France’s LesMisérables; Hungary’s Those WhoRemained; North Macedonia’sHoneyland; Poland’s Corpus Christi;Russia’s Beanpole; Senegal’s Atlantics;South Korea’s Parasite and Spain’sPain and Glory.

The shortlist was culled from 91eligible films. The film academyannounced nine shortlists Monday incategories including best documentaryfeature, visual effects and originalsong.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,which releases today, appears on twoshortlists for best original score andvisual effects. Also on the visualeffects shortlist are the blockbusterAvengers: Endgame and the forth-coming musical Cats.

No song from Cats made theoriginal song shortlist, but two songsfrom The Lion King did: Elton John’sNever Too Late and Spirit by Beyoncé.

Nominations for the 92nd annu-al Academy Awards will be announcedon January 13. The Oscars will be heldon February 9 in Los Angeles.

K��

Dignity and poise, these are the twoadjectives that come to mind whenone mentions the name Sunny

Leone. Adjectives that in our kind of socialset-up would never be applicable to some-one, who has been an adult film star. Butthis association started taking root whenthe actor appeared on an interview duringwhich despite being talked down severaltimes, she gracefully answered the ques-tions and put forth her point without get-ting in the least unnerved. But this was notthe lone instance where she came acrossas someone who could keep it all togeth-er. She did so when a web series, KarenjitKaur, based on her life invited the ire of theSikh community and also when peopleobjected to her website which they said wascorrupting the Indian culture.

When we meet her at a hotel, she rais-es her hand in mock horror and says,“Sunny and controversies! no,” beforesaying, “I am so happy that I kept it togeth-er. Each situation is very different. If thereis something that is intertwined with vio-lence, then I feel it is my job to speak up.If it is nonsensical, then I don’t think it isworth being given the dignity of a responseand make them popular. I won’t give jus-tification or more hits to their websites,news outlets, or Instagram because Iknow what my Insta post is worth.”

Sunny is in town to promote RaginiMMS 2, a web series where she makes acameo. She had, earlier, in 2014, starred inan eponymously named film. “The biggestdifference is that the role is a lot shorter,”she says with a laugh and adds, “When Ishot the film I was so new. I did not knowmy head from my feet and my toes. I wasbasically flying from the seat of my pantsand trying to figure out things. I havechanged and evolved,” while her eyebrowskeep on rising up as she makes a point. Thesegment that she acts in is like a short filmwhich is a kick-off to the series.

Sunny, who made her Bollywooddebut in 2012 with Jism 2, says, “There isa huge difference between a film and a dig-ital show. In the latter, you are able to learnso much more about the characters, thestory and the underlying issues. In a filmwe only touch them on the surface. Butwith a digital show, I love getting to knowthe characters. I love watching episode afterepisode and really liking one character orhating another. That is why we binge watch.Writing in digital shows is so much moreintricate and layered. Something might beshown in episode 1 which is connected inepisode 8. The character shifts are so sub-tly done through each episode. I was watch-ing a film the other day and realised it isnot the same.”

However, she does feel that the webcontent has ensured that the film indus-

try and its peoplehave evolved.

“There is a needto do something

d i f f e r e n t .There is abig shift inso manydirections.

The idea ofcreating the

same contentdoesn’t appeal any-

more and there is no for-mula. This is reflected in

box office numbers. It is nolonger true that a person, actor or

producer is known for making amaz-ing films and this will work. The con-sumers are so smart and we need to givethem credit about the things that theywant to consume,” she says and points outthat the shift started happening for two-three years because some people who werea little bit more forward thinking took achance.

Besides acting in films and web series,Sunny has also anchored the show,Splitsvilla. “You are being yourself. Thereis no script or lines. You are just having fun.The contestants write the story whileRannvijay (Singha), my co-host and I, justresponded to it.”

However, before going mainstream,from 2001 to 2010, she was a part of theadult film industry in the US. So does shefeel that her transition was easier in India?“I am a living proof that this country is veryaccepting. Hundred per cent. It is more ofa matter of how you conduct yourself whenyou are in someone’s country. It is weirdbecause people do not always think thatand assume that US would be so. But ithas its pockets and bubbles of very judg-mental people. That is true for all coun-tries,” she points out, dressed in black.

Over the years, Sunny feels that peo-ple have become more vocal and awareabout their sexual rights. “It is apparentthat people want a change where there arestricter laws and punishment. It has to justmove from top down. It is that simple.Moreover, the focus is no longer on phys-ical but also mental abuse like cyber bul-lying. We can definitely make a difference.So teaching young men and women aboutviolence whether it is verbal and physi-cal has to start at home,” she says.

Sunny has also been very vocal aboutchild sexual abuse and when we asked herabout it, her face registers a surprise thatit is a question that we should even be dis-cussing. “I don’t know who would thinkthat it is right. There have to be stricterlaws. Usually abusers are people that thechild knows. And it is a mistake to thinkthat predators differentiate between a boyor a girl. It is a very heavy subject andneeds to be addressed collectively. Weneed to hear our children and notice the

signs or even a change in behaviour,” saysSunny.

Talking of children naturally bringsus to her adopting Nisha Kaur Weber, herdaughter in 2017. “I have been wantingto adopt a child since I was a teenager. Iknew I had so much love to offer that Iwanted to do this. Every time I look at her,even for one second, I do not believe thatshe is not my blood. She is my heart andsoul. She really is an angel. Compared toher brothers who are very naughty. Sheis so easy, intelligent, smart, fun and verysensitive,” says Sunny who also has twoboys through surrogacy.

With 29.4 million followers onInstagram, Sunny finds social media as agreat way to put out social messages, “orpost silly things about yourself. What Ilove is that your fans now have directaccess and can post comments. Most ofthem are nice and some not so nice. I’vefiltered out a lot of bad words and it is pos-sible to do that,” she says.

Sunny also has an app on iPhonewhich she credits to her husband. “Overthe last so many years, we tried and workout many digital outlets. Especially Daniel,”she laughs as her face lights up at his men-tion. She points out that he makes sure toconnect to people, talk to them, attendevery phone call and meeting as anyonemight bring some interesting idea. “I hopea lot more people harness this as it is trulyan amazing time. A lot of young actors andactresses should harness this content withdigital media sources out there. You aremissing out on so much,” she says.

With so much happening in the polit-ical space in India and USA, where she wasborn, talk turns towards it and howHollywood is more political as comparedto their Hindi film counterparts. “India isa different society, made of different reli-gions and ways of life. Delhi is far-removed from a place which is perhaps justtwo hours away and might not even haveelectricity. People don’t want to hurt sen-timents,” she says and adds that shebelieves that actors do not make the great-est people to be talking about politics.“Know your craft and leave it at that. Thesecond that I hear someone saying some-thing, even in America, I am like, I grewup watching you and I love you but afterhearing that comment I don’t like you anymore. The political divide in the US isunbelievable. We have a rule in our housethat we don’t talk politics because we loveour friends. They are family to us,” saysSunny.

Next up she is starring in a film calledCoca Cola, which is in the same horrorgenre as Ragini MMS2. She is starting a cos-metic and fragrance line. She has also start-ed an interactive school in Mumbai sixmonths ago.

Certainly, there is an aura of dignityand poise that moves with her.

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Mulled wine, warm spicedcider and hot toddies have

long been British staples duringwinter. Whisky expert RossDennis at Dewar’s AberfeldyDistillery explains that the hottoddy comes from Scotland.“The first mention of what wenow think of as a hot toddycomes about in the 1780s. Wethink the name hot toddy comesfrom the Todian Well, an ancientwater source in Edinburgh,” hesays.

The traditional recipe mixeshoney and hot water with a shotof whisky, a squeeze of lemon,a cinnamon stick and orangeslice to finish. “In the 18th cen-tury, it would have been a verycommon thing to mix whiskieswith other ingredients to makeit more palatable. They didn’thave the same cask managementthat we have today,” Dennis says.

While the hot toddyremains popular, many cocktailbars now offer their own season-al winter warmer. Here are fiveexamples from London’s cock-tail scene, with tips for thehome mixologist:

���������Rewind to a ‘70s Christmas

at the kitsch seasonal pop-up“Miracle,” transported from NewYork to the Henrietta hotel inCovent Garden. Surrounded bygarish festive cheer, you canenjoy a “Bad Santa’’ served in awinking Santa mug.

“It’s based on rum,” barmanager Nico Brulin explains.“There’s a bit of Arak, which iskind of like a variation of sugarcane. We do a date-infused oatmilk and spiced vanilla syrup,and also some black chai tea. Soit’s like totally Christmas vibes,all the flavours you can find inone drink.” The smell of thespices, he adds, will have you“feeling like a kid again.”

�����For a more sophisticated

tipple, head to Manetta, theatmospheric, art deco basementbar at the Fleming hotel inMayfair. The hotel was estab-lished in the 19th century, andthe bar became a glamoroushangout for arts and literary fig-ures in the 30s.

Bar manager PasqualeFerrillo makes an upmarketand extravagant version of was-sail, a hot mulled cider drink atChristmas time in medievalEngland in hopes of a good har-vest the following year.

“I use cinnamon, fresh gin-

ger and cloves. They bring somenice Christmas atmosphere andsome sweetness to the cocktail,’’says Ferrillo. “Plus, of course, weuse apple juice and we serve itin combination with cognac.”

�� �����������Soho cocktail bar Swift is

serving a mulled wine with a dif-ference this season. “We thoughtwe’d do a bit more of a richer,more alcohol-full one with bour-bon, chestnut, orange and redwine. We added a little bit ofchocolate as well,’’ says seniorbartender Sam Ameye.

He uses a Malbec red wine,and says bourbon enhances theflavours. “It’s that kind of spiritthat, because it has such rich,caramel, grainy flavours, worksreally well being heated,’’ Ameyesays. Its nutty taste also goes wellwith the chestnut, he says.

��� �)� ��������Back in Covent Garden, at

Sushisamba’s latest outpost, barmanager Daniele Ziaco has cre-ated this wintery espresso mar-tini. He starts by combiningvodka with a hot double espres-so and a dash of sugar, adds ameasure of amaretto for a nuttytaste, and then adds coconut andpistachio foam. The top is gar-nished with marshmallows, pis-tachios and coconut.

Grey Goose brand ambas-sador Ambre Morin says vodka’sversatility makes it ideal formodern takes on the hot cock-tail. Her advice for home cock-tail makers: Be creative.

“Just try to do it step bystep and add things,’’ she says.“I would take inspiration frommulled wine, for example. Playaround with that, try to twistyour hot coffee or your hotchocolate. And think aboutflavours such as, we know thatchocolate and orange match. Ifwe think about mulled wine

and pear, that’s great. I wouldplay around with flavours a lot,and spices.”

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Finally, over in EastLondon at the Queen ofHoxton’s rooftop bar, head bar-tender Chris McGovern agreesit’s all about experimentation,but adds, “I’d stick to the spicesthat a lot of people recognise.So, your festive spices like cin-namon, clove, star anise. Butthen do experiment with total-ly new flavours like maybepineapple or play around withgins like hot gin and tonics.Things that you can recognise,but then give it a festive twist.”

This winter, McGovern hascreated a new version of his hotbuttered rum punch, addingfudge for an even creamier tex-ture.

“Our hot buttered rumhas always been a f irmfavourite with our customers.The spices we use — cinna-mon, nutmeg, clove, pepper-corns — it’s automatically thebeginning of the festive sea-son,’’ he says. “We add a bit ofspiced rum, calorific amountsof butter, and it’s just a realwinter warmer, almost like asoothing jacket going into thefestive season.”

He melts the butter andfudge in a pan with all thespices and an apple juice base,adding the rum at the endbefore pouring the mix into atin mug. McGovern’s top tipfor home mixologists makinghot serves is never rush it.

“You get the most flavourwhen you let it mull for maybeup to one or six hours,’’ he says.“I always like to add the alco-hol at the end so you get allthat flavour and you don’t loseanything.”

K��

Iarrive at Sangam Courtyard’sDhansoo café at dinner time on achilly December evening. The rest

of the city is either driving through thefog resting on the vehicle’s glass oractively raising slogans against the pre-vailing injustice. Sitting beside a wide,glass window, partially covered withthick, wooden blinds, I somehow feelfree from the damp chaos in Delhi.There is a wired drawing of a king’spalace on an off-white wall on myright. The lamps hanging above eachtable are adding to the dusky yet ele-gant vibe of the place. The round-white staircase with golden bars on itsside is looking as if it climbed up to aroyal court. And the colourful chaise-lounges have my heart already.

At what I describe as a tranquiltavern tucked in a very underratedcorner of my city, I find myself order-ing the Rio De La Hoz Rosé, a Spanishsparkling rose wine. Impressed by thewine collection, I flip the menu to lookat its gin-spreads and cocktails. ThePisco sour infusions catch my eye.While the cocktail of ‘Peruvian origin’offers different citrusy flavours, I optfor passion fruit and pineapple. In thedrink, I taste the two fruits individu-ally, which is its both good and badelement since it is too dilluted to becalled a cocktail. I wish the tanginesswould have been put across with theright balance.

Before hopping on to the nextdrink, I decide to order some food,wondering whether it would do jus-tice to the name ‘Dhansoo’ (a Hindiexpression for rocking). The chefshave worked hard to combine differ-ent ingredients which are otherwisenot ‘supposed’ to be together. The first,for example, is Japani samosa andpindi chana. The former is a layeredpuff, perfectly crisp on the outside andsoft on the inside. While I can’t decidewhat out of the brilliantly cooked twosteals the show, the pindi chana cer-tainly hits the right note, with its spicequotient on point. On a different note,there is nothing Japanese about thesamosa. It’s just a name that has been

derived from a famous stall-owner atthe Bhagirathi market who has beenserving the Japani samosa for years.

The next is the Podi idli. The bite-sized tiny idlis in a patta plate areserved with refried beans mixed withmashed potato and chopped onion,and smoked tomato chutney. Even asI order other delicacies, I constantlywish this one doesn’t end. It is thataddictive. The soft idlis and the beansbatter are garlic bread to my jalapenodip. Yes, it might sound like animprobable comparison but I can’t findanything else to describe what theheavenly dish feels like. On anothernote, the smoked tomato chutneycould have found a better companion,I feel, as it is almost ruining thetaste of idlis as a whole.

Quinoa gardenflower salad is thenext. Topped withorange vinai-grette, the saladis a blend of allthings healthy,except for oneimportant ele-ment — taste.While the quinoaseeds make abland appearanceon my tastebuds, itsfeta cheese balls in dif-ferent bites amaze me.

Even though the restaurantspecialises in Indian cuisine, I wonderwhy there is an Italian/Continentaldish after the end of every category ofdishes. For instance, pasta at the endof the main course and pizza at the endof the starters. The executive chef, whospecialises in Indian cuisine, tells methat the footfalls are at the end of theday dependent on multi-cuisine. Idecide to order a thin crustMargherita. Let’s look at the other sidetoo, isn’t it? The pizza’s crust, as permy desires, is as crispy and biteable asa thin cheese biscuit. However, thepizza, which could have done slight-ly better, comes with a realisation thatthis place isn’t really meant for exper-

imenting with theglobal cuisine. Its

amazing wine col-lection has to beprobably blendedwith Indian cui-sine only.Remember thebland quinoa

salad?The next dish,

Avocado maki roll,however, tries to prove

the above statementwrong. Served with nikkei

sauce (or commonly called soy sauce),the grain white rice sushi roll, filledwith bits of avocado, is simple yet sat-isfying and probably the best vegansushi I have ever relished.

The next two are Dhansoo cornseekh and Keema pao, which fail tomake a mark on my tastebuds. Whilethe former is the Varqui parantha,served with naan, mint chutney andonions dipped in white vinegar, thelatter is vegan meat, served with gar-lic chutney — almost like bhaji witha pao. Each of the two, I feel, lacks onits taste quotient as it is too ill-blend-ed.

To fix my disappointment, I orderTenali Rama, a cocktail that blends

Russian vodka, Ry gin with kiwi,cucumber, achari mirch, coriander,litchi squash and mint tea. It doesn’tturn out to be a wrong decision.Highly refreshing, the drink tastes ofall its ingredients one by one and then,all at once. It is certainly somethingthat is an answer to what makes peo-ple return to a place — well, the expe-rience it gave them. I want to comeback to this place for this cocktail.

The main course platter arrives,which consists of Palak saag, Ma ki dal,Methi matar mushroom malai andthree kinds of breads. I am worried Iwill never be able to finish all of it asI am already full, so these dishes bet-ter be good enough. However, the threegravies are absolutely creamy, with thebutter floating on top yet not once,making me feel guilty about ‘cheating’.If fullness of your tastebuds is whatyou’re looking at, go for this.

The last one, dessert, Kulfa, mag-nifies the Indian appeal. The phirni,topped with malai cream, sabja seed,rabri, kerna water and white faludanoodles, is the perfect yumminess onecould ask for after having a range ofdelectable dishes. I’m not much of abetting person and I should, perhaps,stop picking horses based on how won-derful this place has made my evening.

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Page 16: ˆ( !(()(˘’’*˘+&, %*ˆ%( · Bollywood superstars Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan are among the top paid celebri-ties of India, Forbes India has ... would offer a copy of the letter

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Australian cricketers hit pay dirtat the IPL players’ auctionwith pacer Pat Cummins

becoming the most expensive foreignbuy ever in the league by fetching awhopping �15.50 crore bid from two-time champions Kolkata KnightRiders here on Thursday.

All-rounder Glenn Maxwell,who was not considered for theupcoming ODI series against Indiain January, returned to Kings XIPunjab with a price tag of �10.75crore after an intense bidding warwith Delhi Capitals. KXIP went intothe auction with the biggest availablepurse of �42.70 crore.

The 31-year-old Maxwell hasbeen on his way back to cricket aftertaking a sudden break to deal withmental health issues earlier this year.

Maxwell’s compatriot NathanCoulter-Nile also enjoyed a milliondollar payday at the auction asMumbai Indians shelled out �8crore for the pacer.

Australia’s limited-overs captainAaron Finch went for �4.40 crore toRoyal Challengers Bangalore. Finch,who had opted out of the 2019 IPL,also attracted a bid from KKR. All-rounder Marcus Stoinis was sold toDelhi Capitals for �4.8 crore whilepacer Kane Richardson will go homericher by �4 crore after being boughtby RCB.

Australia’s big-hitting all-rounderChris Lynn, who was released byKolkata Knight Riders ahead of theauction, was bought for his base priceof �2 crore by defending championsMumbai Indians, whose opening bidbecame the winning bid. Similar wasthe case of seamer Josh Hazlewood,who went for his steep base price of�2 crore to Chennai Super Kings.

Teams going all out for the 26-year-old Cummins was on expectedlines as he has been in top form withthe ball and at times has also provedhis worth with the bat.

“Can’t wait,” tweeted Cumminsafter KKR head coach BrendonMcCullum posted a welcome mes-sage for him on the micro-bloggingsite.

“I am very happy to be back inKKR,” he later said in a videoreleased by KKR.

Delhi Capitals and RoyalChallengers Bangalore were engagedin an intense bidding war for theAustralian before KKR joined thebattle at � 15 crore and eventuallyoutbid the two franchises. Cumminshas taken 32 wickets in 25 IPLmatches so far with an economy ofjust over 6.

He is also the No1bowler in ICC Test rank-ings and has 92 wickets in77 career T20 matches atan economy of littleabove 7.

With the price he fetched,Cummins broke the record for themost expensive foreign buy held byBen Stokes. England all-rounderStokes was bought by Rising PuneSupergiant for �14.5 crore in the 2017auction. It also marks Cummins’return to KKR. The pacer has alsoplayed for Mumbai Indians andDelhi Capitals.

Both Maxwell and Cumminshad opted out of last year’s IPL.

Another big buy at the auctionwas South African Chris Morris, whowas sold for �10 crore to RoyalChallengers Bangalore. West Indiespacer Sheldon Cottrell, with a base

price of �50 lakh, fetched a winningbid of �8.50 crore from Kings XIPunjab.

“I am looking forward toplaying for Kings XI,” saidCottrell in a viedoe relased bythe franchise.

Another Caribbean star,Shimron Hetmyer, was expect-edly a sought-after entity for his

big-hitting abilities and went toDelhi Capitals for �7.75 crore. Theleft-hander had a base price of �50lakh and recently made his case witha match-winning hundred againstIndia in the first ODI in Chennai.

Veteran Indian spinner PiyushChawla remained a hit with thefranchises and was bought byChennai Super Kings for �6.75crore. He was the highest paidIndia during this auction.

KKR went for England’s WorldCup-winning captain Eoin Morgan,paying �5.25 crore for the stylishsouthpaw.

Asked why they paid big money

for Cummins and Morgan, KKR’sassistant coach Abhishek Nayarsaid: “Morgan’s recent form has beentremendous. As a leadership group,Morgan will add a lot of strength towhat we already have.

“And for a player of his(Cummins) calibre, he brings a lotwith the ball and bat as well.”

Maxwell returns to KXIP toboost their unsettled middle-order.KXIP CEO Satish Menon expressedconfidence in Maxwell cominggood for them.

“He was always on our radar.The middle order was a bit of con-cern. He has been with us (in thepast) so he knows the set up well,”said Menon.

The seasoned Robin Uthappawas bagged by inaugural editionwinners Rajasthan Royals for �3crore. Uthappa had gone into theauction with a base price of �1.5crore, the highest for an Indian. Hetoo was released by KKR lastmonth.

India pacer Jaydev Unadkatreturned to Rajasthan Royals for �3crore, a massive pay cut from thelast two editions when RR boughthim for �11.5 crore (2018) and �8.5crore (2019). India U-19 youngstersPriyam Garg (�1.9 cr for SRH),Yashasvi Jaiswal (�2.4 crore) andKartik Tyagi (�1.3 crore) — both toRajasthan Royals.

The Indian Test specialist duoof Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma

Vihara went unsold. South Africanpace great Dale Steyn finally had aface-saving bid of �2 crore from theRCB during the last round.

While 14-year-old youngest

auction entrant Noor Ahmed ofAfghanistan didn’t have any takers,the oldest Praveen Tambe at 48, gota base price bid of �20 lakh from theKolkata Knight Riders.

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India opener KL Rahul was onThursday named captain of the

Kings XI Punjab franchise for the2020 Indian Premier League withco-owner Ness Wadia calling himthe “unanimous choice”.

"We are happy to appointRahul as our captain for theupcoming season. He has beenthrough a lot in the last year or soand has now come back strongly,”Wadia said on the day of the IPLauction in Kolkata.

“He has silenced his critics.You will get to see his ability notjust as a batsman but also as a cap-tain. He was our unanimouschoice,” he added.

KXIP had bought Rahul for awhopping �11 crore ahead of the2018 season.

Rahul’s ascendancy to captain-cy was expected afterRavichandran Ashwin was tradedto Delhi Capitals last month.

“I feel he is one of the bestplayers in the world. He showedyesterday what he is capable of.Even India captain Virat Kohlirates him very highly. He is also avery humble human being, has allqualities of a good leader,” saidWadia.

At the IPL auction, KXIPspent big money for GlennMaxwell (�10.5 crore) and SheldonCottrell (�8.5 crore).

Asked if they shelled out a bit

too much for Maxwell, whorecently took a break to deal withhis mental health, Wadia said: “Notat all. Anil (Kumble, head coach)was very clear in his thinking andwhat he wanted. Maxwell hasbeen with us in the past so heknow the set up.

“I have no doubt in my mindthat he will be back to his best verysoon. Also very happy to haveCottrell on board,” added Wadia.

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Pakistan fought back afterbeing dismissed relatively

cheaply Thursday as bowlersdominated the opening day ofthe second Test against SriLanka in Karachi.

Lahiru Kumara and LasithEmbuldeniya grabbed fourwickets each to dismissPakistan for just 191 before thehome team had the visitors at64-3 at stumps at the NationalStadium.

Pacer Kumara took 4-49while left-arm spinnerEmbuldeniya finished with 4-71 after Pakistan won the toss.

But Pakistan staged afightback with the wickets ofOshada Fernando (four),Dimuth Karunaratne (25) andKusal Mendis (13) leaving SriLanka still 127 runs behind onthe first innings.

Lanky pacer ShaheenShah Afridi had Fernandocaught behind beforeMohammad Abbas removedKarunaratne and Mendis.

At stumps, AngeloMathews was eight not outand nightwatchmanEmbuldeniya unbeaten onthree.

Pakistan were well set at127-3 with Babar Azam (60)and Asad Shafiq (63) involvedin a 62-run stand for thefourth wicket, but once Azamfell the home side lost their lastsix wickets for just 24 runs.

Azam was shaping wellafter scoring his 13th half-cen-tury before Embuldeniya hadhim stumped off a well-dis-

guised delivery.

#�������*�����������Shafiq hooked Kumara

tentatively to deep square-leg, ending Pakistan's hopes ofa big total in their bid to winthe series after the first Testended in a draw due to poorweather in Rawalpindi.

Shafiq admitted thePakistani batsmen wereundone by the wicket.

“It was unexpected turnand seam on the first day’spitch,” said Shafiq, playing his67th consecutive Test.

“(But) If we bowl well wecan get them out in this totaland then put up a winningscore.” Kumara dismissedMohammad Rizwan for fourand Yasir Shah (nought) offsuccessive deliveries in thefirst over after tea beforeEmbuldeniya removed the tail.

Earlier, Sri Lanka left-arm pacer Vishwa Fernandodismissed opener ShanMasood for five and skipperAzhar Ali for a duck to rattle

Pakistan at 10-2 in the morn-ing.

Fernando’s new-ball part-ner Kumara dismissed firstTest centurion Abid Ali for 38to end a third-wicket partner-ship of 55, which had liftedPakistan from a precarious 10for two.

Fernando thought he hadAzam leg-before on four, butTV referalls showed the ballhit the bat first.

Azam reached his fourthhalf-century in the last fiveinnings with a crisp boundaryto cover off-spinner DilruwanPerera, but could not matchhis hundred in the first Test.

Azam’s 96-ball knock con-tained eight boundaries and asix while Shafiq's 126-ballstay had six boundaries.

It was Fernando who pro-vided Sri Lanka with earlybreakthroughs.

He angled one in toMasood to hit his off stumpbefore clean bowling skipperAzhar with a full-length deliv-ery.

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India pacer Deepak Chaharwas on Thursday ruled out

of the series-deciding thirdODI against the West Indiesowing to a back injury andreplaced by Navdeep Saini.

The series is currentlylocked 1-1 with the finalODI to be played here onSunday.

“Deepak felt mild painin his lower back followingthe second ODI played inVizag on Wednesday. TheBCCI medical team exam-ined him and has suggestedthat the fast bowler needssome rest in order to fullyrecover,” the BCCI said in astatement.

“He has thus been ruledout of the final ODI,” it

added.Saini had an impressive

start to his India career dur-ing the three-match T20series against the West Indiesin Florida and Trinidad ear-lier this year. In his firstmatch, he returned figures of3/17, which included a wick-et in his very first over andalso a wicket maiden in thelast over.

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