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16
S eeking his political future in realms of numerology, Karnataka BJP president BS Yeddyurappa changed his last name to Yediyurappa a few weeks ago. The stars did smile on him and on Friday he took oath as Chief Minister of Karnataka for the fourth time on Friday. Governor Vajubhai Vala administered the oath of office and secrecy to the 76-year-old Yediyurappa at a ceremony at the Raj Bhavan. Only Yediyurappa was sworn in. BSY, as he is popularly called, carried the last name of Yediyurappa till 2007 when he became the Chief Minister for the first time in 2007. Then he changed his name to “Yeddyurappa” on the advice of numerologists. The name change then wasn’t of much help as the coalition with the JD(S) Government survived for only a week. Sources said acting on the advice of a numerologist, BSY has reverted to older spelling. Sources said BSY had got his name changed in State Assembly records a few weeks ago. Yediyurappa-led BJP Ministry is assuming office three days after the collapse of the Congress-JD(S) Government with the defeat of the motion of confidence moved by HD Kumaraswamy in by 99-105 votes. Yediyurappa met the Governor to stake the claim for Government formation and requested him to administer the oath of office and secrecy on Friday itself. Before the swearing in, Yediyurappa said he would decide on members to be inducted into the ministry after consulting party president Amit Shah. This is the fourth times Yediyurappa will occupy the chair of the Chief Minister — the last one was after the May 2018 Assembly polls, when he barely lasted three days after being sworn in. In Delhi, BJP working pres- ident JP Nadda said the Congress-JD(S) coalition Government fell due to inter- nal reasons and asserted that his party would provide a sta- ble Government in the State. “They (Congress-JD-S) fell under their own weight due to internal reasons...The BJP is synonymous with stability. Wherever we go, we bring sta- bility,” Nadda told reporters at his maiden Press conference where he also shared the Narendra Modi Government’s achievements in its first 50 days. Nadda played down queries about the fact that Yediyurappa is over 75-year age bar the party has stipulated for its leaders holding any Government position. Yediyurappa was the leader of the BJP legislature party in the State and it was natural for him to be the party’s choice for the Chief Minister’s post, he said. “It depends,” he said when quizzed about the party’s age- bar and then added, “you see, first of all he is a leader, he is an elected leader of the legis- lature party. Accordingly, he is taking oath. It is a continuous process and the party takes note of ongoing developments from time to time.” As the leader of Opposition he is alright and the day he takes oath the question is asked about his age, he said, adding that it does not work like that. The BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its president Amit Shah has introduced the 75 years limit for Ministers in the party-run Governments as well as for its candidates in the recent Lok Sabha election to ease out many veterans, including LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Sumitra Mahajan among others. O pposition parties on Friday strongly protested to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu over the hurried passage of Bills in Parliament without requisite scrutiny and in breach of convention. Leaders of 17 parties, including Congress, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Telugu Desam Party, Communist Party of India and CPI(M) urged Naidu to ensure that the voice of the Opposition is not “smothered”. “We, the undersigned par- ties, wish to register our anguish and serious concern over the manner in which the Government is hurriedly pass- ing legislations without any scrutiny by Parliamentary Standing or Select Committees. This is a fundamental depar- ture from the established prac- tice and healthy traditions of enacting legislations,” the letter said. It said that in the 14th Lok Sabha, 60 per cent of Bills were sent for scrutiny to Parliamentary Committees while in the 15th Lok Sabha, 71 per cent of Bills were sent for scrutiny. However, the letter said, in the 16th Lok Sabha, only 26 per cent of Bills were sent for scrutiny. “Now, in the 17th Lok Sabha, 14 Bills have already been passed in the first session. None of these Bills has been referred to a Standing Committee or Select Committee for legislative scrutiny. Public consultation is a long established practice where parliamentary commit- tees scrutinise Bills, deliberate, engage and work towards improving the content and quality of the legislation,” the letter stated. The parties also asked Naidu, the Vice President, to intervene in the matter. The let- ter further said the ongoing Lok Sabha Session has the “dubious” record of passing 14 Bills, none of which has been scrutinised by any Parliamentary Committee. Further, 11 more Bills have been listed for introduction, consideration and passing, it said. The parties said that the first sessions of the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th Lok Sabha had about 10 sittings each and dur- ing that time only a handful of Bills that had undergone par- liamentary scrutiny were passed. The Opposition parties also demanded that short dura- tion appeals should be allowed in the House. “We urge you to ensure that the voice of the Opposition is not smothered in the Rajya Sabha. While we understand our responsibility and the need to enact legisla- tion, any attempt by the Government to undermine the privileges of members, the rules and established conven- tions will diminish the role of the Council of States as envis- aged by our founding fathers,” the letter stated. T he Lok Sabha on Friday saw a massive uproar over Samajwadi Party MP Azam Khan’s “sexiest” comment against BJP woman MP Rama Devi with members of the House authorising Speaker Om Birla to seek an apology from the lawmaker. MPs cutting across party lines condemned Azam’s remark in strong terms with some saying that if such sexi- est behavior prevailed in the august house against women than what is to be expected elsewhere. After hearing out the House for one hour, the Speaker said he would decide on the issue after consulting all leaders. According to sources, the Speaker may ask the SP to tender an unconditional apol- ogy to resolve the issue. Azam’s remarks to Rama Devi when she was in the Chair during a discussion on the triple talaq Bill on Thursday were slammed as malicious, utterly condemnable and a blot on all legislators by the Ministers and MPs who spoke after BJP’s Sanghmitra Maurya raised the issue during the Zero Hour. Several women MPs, including Central Ministers, TMC, NCP, DMK and BJP, vociferously demanded strongest possible action against the SP MP as the Speaker opened the floor and allowed all to speak during the Zero Hour. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said the Speaker was the custodian he could take strong action against the MP. He said all MPs have to maintain decorum in the House and asked the Speaker to take “most exem- plary punishment” in the case. Other Central Ministers, including Ravishankar Prasad, Nirmala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani and Anurag Thakur, vociferously condemned the Azam’s remark. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said his party does not approve of such behaviour and Privilege or Ethics Committee should look into the issue. He, however, also said that at times a Congress leader was also referred as “daughter of Italy, Italy ki kath- putli”. This evoked protests from the Treasury Benches which demanded the Congress to come clean on its stand on the current issue. Chowdhury later agreed with the prevailing view that the Speaker should take a call on punishing Azam. Continued on Page 4 D ay after the Supreme Court directed setting up of a centrally-funded designated court in each district having more than 100 FIRs under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act to deal exclusively with cases of sexual offences against chil- dren, the Delhi Cabinet approved the proposal of the Law Department to set up 18 permanent fast-track courts and 22 new commercial courts. According to the CrPC, cases of rape and incidents of sexual assault against minors under the POCSO Act should be decided in two months after the filing of the chargesheet. Such trials necessitate the exis- tence of fast-track courts. The Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also approved a proposal of creation of 22 posts of Delhi Higher Judicial Services (DHJS) in super time scale for Commercial Court judges along with ancillary staff. A total 212 posts, request- ed by the Delhi High Court in January, have been approved. The Government decision will have the annual financial implication of 13,55,90,280. When it comes to fast- track courts, Delhi already has 20 of them, all set up in 2005, but they operate entirely with ad-hoc staff. Detailed report on P3 C handigarh’s JW Marriott Hotel may have to cough up a penalty of 25,000 for charging an exorbitant amount for two bananas served to Bollywood actor Rahul Bose during his stay at the luxury hotel. The actor was charged 442.50 for two bananas at the hotel which is located in Sector 35 here. A team headed by RK Chaudhary, Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Chandigarh, has already begun probe into the levying of tax on fresh fruits and other items at JW Marriott and the hotel authorities have been asked to submit a reply by Saturday. A senior officer of UT Excise and Taxation Department said under the GST regime, fresh fruits are tax-free items and this is a clear violation by the hotel authori- ties. While the hotel is expect- ed to submit its reply by Saturday, under the Section 125 of CGST Act 2017, any person who contravenes the provi- sions of this Act is liable to a penalty which may extend to 25,000. “A day before, the team of UT Excise and Taxation Department had also seized documents related to the sale in the hotel to check whether they have been depositing reg- ularly the relevant tax to the department or not. We are checking the violations from all angles and will act against the hotel authorities accordingly,” the officer said. Bose had posted a video on Twitter expressing shock over being charged 442.50 for two bananas at the hotel in which he is seen explaining how he was charged 442 (including GST) for two bananas. “You have to see this to believe it. Who said fruit was- n’t harmful to your existence? Ask the wonderful folks at JW Marriott Chandigarh,” the actor, captioned the video, adding “bananas are just too good for me. A s India commemorated 20 years of Kargil war, Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Friday warned Pakistan against attempting another Kargil-like “misadventure”. General Rawat was asked by a reporter at a Press con- ference to share his message for Pakistan on the 20th anniver- sary of India’s victory in the Kargil war. Earlier on Thursday, while interacting with the media- persons in Drass, the Army chief had said, “The enemy would never be allowed to succeed. No matter what heights they capture, we will always get back to them and this was evident during the Kargil war in 1999. They will not dare to repeat it.” “Don’t do it. This was a misadventure. Misadventures are normally not repeated. You will get a bloodier nose next time,” the Army chief reacted firmly standing tall in the backdrop of a war memorial located at the foothills of the Tololing feature. Meanwhile, speaking in the Lok Sabha on the occasion as Parliament paid tributes to Indian soldiers who drove out enemy forces and reclaimed Kargil heights, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the bravery and sacrifice of soldiers cannot be forgotten. To commemorate the 20 years of the Kargil War, Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared pictures of his visit to the area during the conflict and his interaction with the sol- diers. “During the Kargil War in 1999, I had the opportunity to go to Kargil and show soli- darity with our brave soldiers,” he said on Twitter. The Prime Minister said that in 1999, he was working for the BJP in Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. “The visit to Kargil and interactions with soldiers are unforgettable,” Modi said. In the photographs, he is seen interacting with Army men and meeting wounded soldiers. Meanwhile, bad weather prevented President Ram Nath Kovind from visiting the Drass war memorial to attend the ‘Kargil Diwas’. He landed in Srinagar and participated in the Vijay Diwas function at Badami Bagh Cantonment. In Drass, Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh, Air Force chief BS Dhanoa both accompanied by Army chief General Bipin Rawat paid trib- utes wearing their respective forces’ combat fatigues. GoC-in-C, Northern Command, Lt-Gen Ranbir Singh, Lt Gen YK Joshi, GOC Fire and Fury Corps, former Army Chief (Retd) Gen VP Malik too were present on the occasion. Continued on Page 4 I n an apt celebration of Kargil Vijay Diwas, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh came as a saviour for a Kargil War hero on Friday ordering double promotion for Vir Chakra awardee Satpal Singh after learning that he was managing traffic after being re- employed as a senior police constable — a rank below his stature — in Sangrur district of the State. The CM, himself a former Army man, accused the previ- ous SAD-BJP Government of ignoring the credentials of Satpal at the time of his recruit- ment in 2010. “Satpal, who joined the Punjab Police after his dis- charge from the Army, has been awarded a double pro- motion to the rank of Assistant Sub-Inspector following direct orders from the Chief Minister in recognition of his valiant contribution during the Kargil War,” a Punjab Government spokesperson said. As a special case, he will be recruited as an Assistant Sub- Inspector, in relaxation of Rule 12.3 of the Punjab Police Rules by the DGP, who has been so authorised by the Chief Minister, he said. Satpal was posted in Drass Sector during Operation Vijay and was part of the team that helped the Indian Army cap- ture Tiger Hill. He killed Pakistani Captain Karnal Sher Khan of the Northern Light Infantry and three others. Continued on Page 4

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Seeking his political future inrealms of numerology,

Karnataka BJP president BSYeddyurappa changed his lastname to Yediyurappa a fewweeks ago. The stars did smileon him and on Friday he tookoath as Chief Minister ofKarnataka for the fourth timeon Friday.

Governor Vajubhai Valaadministered the oath of officeand secrecy to the 76-year-oldYediyurappa at a ceremony atthe Raj Bhavan. OnlyYediyurappa was sworn in.

BSY, as he is popularlycalled, carried the last name ofYediyurappa till 2007 when hebecame the Chief Minister forthe first time in 2007. Then hechanged his name to“Yeddyurappa” on the advice ofnumerologists.

The name change thenwasn’t of much help as thecoalition with the JD(S)Government survived for onlya week.

Sources said acting on theadvice of a numerologist, BSYhas reverted to older spelling.Sources said BSY had got hisname changed in StateAssembly records a few weeksago.

Yediyurappa-led BJPMinistry is assuming officethree days after the collapse ofthe Congress-JD(S)Government with the defeat ofthe motion of confidencemoved by HD Kumaraswamyin by 99-105 votes.

Yediyurappa met the

Governor to stake the claim forGovernment formation andrequested him to administerthe oath of office and secrecyon Friday itself. Before theswearing in, Yediyurappa saidhe would decide on membersto be inducted into the ministryafter consulting party president

Amit Shah.This is the fourth times

Yediyurappa will occupy thechair of the Chief Minister —the last one was after the May2018 Assembly polls, when hebarely lasted three days afterbeing sworn in.

In Delhi, BJP working pres-

ident JP Nadda said theCongress-JD(S) coalitionGovernment fell due to inter-nal reasons and asserted thathis party would provide a sta-ble Government in the State.

“They (Congress-JD-S) fellunder their own weight due tointernal reasons...The BJP is

synonymous with stability.Wherever we go, we bring sta-bility,” Nadda told reporters athis maiden Press conferencewhere he also shared theNarendra Modi Government’sachievements in its first 50days.

Nadda played downqueries about the fact thatYediyurappa is over 75-year agebar the party has stipulated forits leaders holding anyGovernment position.

Yediyurappa was the leaderof the BJP legislature party inthe State and it was natural forhim to be the party’s choice forthe Chief Minister’s post, hesaid.

“It depends,” he said whenquizzed about the party’s age-bar and then added, “you see,first of all he is a leader, he isan elected leader of the legis-lature party. Accordingly, he istaking oath. It is a continuousprocess and the party takesnote of ongoing developmentsfrom time to time.”

As the leader of Oppositionhe is alright and the day hetakes oath the question is askedabout his age, he said, addingthat it does not work like that.

The BJP under PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andits president Amit Shah hasintroduced the 75 years limitfor Ministers in the party-runGovernments as well as for itscandidates in the recent LokSabha election to ease outmany veterans, including LKAdvani, Murli Manohar Joshiand Sumitra Mahajan amongothers.

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Opposition parties on Fridaystrongly protested to Rajya

Sabha Chairman M VenkaiahNaidu over the hurried passageof Bills in Parliament withoutrequisite scrutiny and in breachof convention.

Leaders of 17 parties,including Congress, SamajwadiParty, Trinamool Congress,Bahujan Samaj Party, RashtriyaJanata Dal, Telugu DesamParty, Communist Party ofIndia and CPI(M) urged Naiduto ensure that the voice of theOpposition is not “smothered”.

“We, the undersigned par-ties, wish to register ouranguish and serious concernover the manner in which theGovernment is hurriedly pass-ing legislations without anyscrutiny by ParliamentaryStanding or Select Committees.This is a fundamental depar-ture from the established prac-tice and healthy traditions ofenacting legislations,” the lettersaid.

It said that in the 14th LokSabha, 60 per cent of Billswere sent for scrutiny toParliamentary Committeeswhile in the 15th Lok Sabha, 71per cent of Bills were sent for

scrutiny. However, the lettersaid, in the 16th Lok Sabha,only 26 per cent of Bills weresent for scrutiny.

“Now, in the 17th LokSabha, 14 Bills have alreadybeen passed in the first session.None of these Bills has beenreferred to a StandingCommittee or SelectCommittee for legislativescrutiny. Public consultation isa long established practicewhere parliamentary commit-tees scrutinise Bills, deliberate,engage and work towardsimproving the content andquality of the legislation,” theletter stated.

The parties also askedNaidu, the Vice President, tointervene in the matter. The let-ter further said the ongoingLok Sabha Session has the“dubious” record of passing 14Bills, none of which has beenscrutinised by anyParliamentary Committee.

Further, 11 more Bills havebeen listed for introduction,consideration and passing, itsaid. The parties said that thefirst sessions of the 13th, 14th,15th and 16th Lok Sabha hadabout 10 sittings each and dur-ing that time only a handful ofBills that had undergone par-liamentary scrutiny werepassed.

The Opposition partiesalso demanded that short dura-tion appeals should be allowedin the House. “We urge you toensure that the voice of theOpposition is not smothered inthe Rajya Sabha. While weunderstand our responsibilityand the need to enact legisla-tion, any attempt by theGovernment to undermine theprivileges of members, therules and established conven-tions will diminish the role ofthe Council of States as envis-aged by our founding fathers,”the letter stated.

����� �35�6347#�

The Lok Sabha on Friday sawa massive uproar over

Samajwadi Party MP AzamKhan’s “sexiest” commentagainst BJP woman MP RamaDevi with members of theHouse authorising Speaker OmBirla to seek an apology fromthe lawmaker.

MPs cutting across partylines condemned Azam’sremark in strong terms withsome saying that if such sexi-est behavior prevailed in theaugust house against womenthan what is to be expectedelsewhere.

After hearing out theHouse for one hour, theSpeaker said he would decideon the issue after consulting allleaders. According to sources,the Speaker may ask the SP totender an unconditional apol-

ogy to resolve the issue.Azam’s remarks to Rama

Devi when she was in theChair during a discussion onthe triple talaq Bill on Thursdaywere slammed as malicious,utterly condemnable and a bloton all legislators by theMinisters and MPs who spokeafter BJP’s Sanghmitra Mauryaraised the issue during theZero Hour.

Several women MPs,including Central Ministers,TMC, NCP, DMK and BJP,vociferously demandedstrongest possible actionagainst the SP MP as theSpeaker opened the floor andallowed all to speak during theZero Hour.

Parliamentary AffairsMinister Pralhad Joshi saidthe Speaker was the custodianhe could take strong actionagainst the MP. He said all MPshave to maintain decorum inthe House and asked theSpeaker to take “most exem-plary punishment” in the case.

Other Central Ministers,including Ravishankar Prasad,Nirmala Sitharaman, SmritiIrani and Anurag Thakur,vociferously condemned the

Azam’s remark.Congress leader Adhir

Ranjan Chowdhury said hisparty does not approve of suchbehaviour and Privilege orEthics Committee should lookinto the issue. He, however, alsosaid that at times a Congressleader was also referred as“daughter of Italy, Italy ki kath-putli”. This evoked protestsfrom the Treasury Bencheswhich demanded the Congressto come clean on its stand onthe current issue. Chowdhurylater agreed with the prevailingview that the Speaker shouldtake a call on punishing Azam.

Continued on Page 4

� �� ����+�� �35�6347#

Day after the Supreme Courtdirected setting up of a

centrally-funded designatedcourt in each district havingmore than 100 FIRs under theProtection of Children fromSexual Offences (POCSO) Actto deal exclusively with cases ofsexual offences against chil-dren, the Delhi Cabinetapproved the proposal of theLaw Department to set up 18permanent fast-track courtsand 22 new commercial courts.

According to the CrPC,cases of rape and incidents ofsexual assault against minorsunder the POCSO Act shouldbe decided in two months afterthe filing of the chargesheet.Such trials necessitate the exis-tence of fast-track courts.

The Cabinet chaired byChief Minister Arvind Kejriwalalso approved a proposal ofcreation of 22 posts of DelhiHigher Judicial Services(DHJS) in super time scale for

Commercial Court judgesalong with ancillary staff.

A total 212 posts, request-ed by the Delhi High Court inJanuary, have been approved.The Government decision willhave the annual financialimplication of �13,55,90,280.

When it comes to fast-track courts, Delhi already has20 of them, all set up in 2005,but they operate entirely withad-hoc staff.

Detailed report on P3

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Chandigarh’s JW MarriottHotel may have to cough

up a penalty of �25,000 forcharging an exorbitant amountfor two bananas served toBollywood actor Rahul Boseduring his stay at the luxuryhotel.

The actor was charged�442.50 for two bananas at thehotel which is located in Sector35 here.

A team headed by RKChaudhary, Assistant Exciseand Taxation Commissioner,Chandigarh, has already begunprobe into the levying of tax onfresh fruits and other items atJW Marriott and the hotelauthorities have been asked tosubmit a reply by Saturday.

A senior officer of UTExcise and TaxationDepartment said under theGST regime, fresh fruits aretax-free items and this is a clearviolation by the hotel authori-ties. While the hotel is expect-ed to submit its reply bySaturday, under the Section 125

of CGST Act 2017, any personwho contravenes the provi-sions of this Act is liable to apenalty which may extend to�25,000.

“A day before, the team ofUT Excise and TaxationDepartment had also seizeddocuments related to the salein the hotel to check whetherthey have been depositing reg-ularly the relevant tax to thedepartment or not. We arechecking the violations from allangles and will act against thehotel authorities accordingly,”the officer said.

Bose had posted a video onTwitter expressing shock overbeing charged �442.50 for twobananas at the hotel in whichhe is seen explaining how hewas charged �442 (includingGST) for two bananas.

“You have to see this tobelieve it. Who said fruit was-n’t harmful to your existence?Ask the wonderful folks at JWMarriott Chandigarh,” theactor, captioned the video,adding “bananas are just toogood for me.

��+��, ��+ �� ,)��2

As India commemorated 20years of Kargil war, Army

chief General Bipin Rawat onFriday warned Pakistan againstattempting another Kargil-like“misadventure”.

General Rawat was askedby a reporter at a Press con-ference to share his message forPakistan on the 20th anniver-sary of India’s victory in theKargil war.

Earlier on Thursday, whileinteracting with the media-persons in Drass, the Armychief had said, “The enemywould never be allowed tosucceed. No matter whatheights they capture, we willalways get back to them and

this was evident during theKargil war in 1999. They willnot dare to repeat it.”

“Don’t do it. This was amisadventure. Misadventuresare normally not repeated. Youwill get a bloodier nose next

time,” the Army chief reactedfirmly standing tall in thebackdrop of a war memoriallocated at the foothills of theTololing feature.

Meanwhile, speaking inthe Lok Sabha on the occasionas Parliament paid tributes toIndian soldiers who drove outenemy forces and reclaimedKargil heights, DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh said the

bravery and sacrifice of soldierscannot be forgotten.

To commemorate the 20years of the Kargil War, PrimeMinister Narendra Modishared pictures of his visit tothe area during the conflict andhis interaction with the sol-diers. “During the Kargil Warin 1999, I had the opportunityto go to Kargil and show soli-darity with our brave soldiers,”he said on Twitter.

The Prime Minister saidthat in 1999, he was workingfor the BJP in Jammu &Kashmir and HimachalPradesh. “The visit to Kargiland interactions with soldiersare unforgettable,” Modi said.

In the photographs, he isseen interacting with Armymen and meeting woundedsoldiers.

Meanwhile, bad weatherprevented President Ram NathKovind from visiting the Drasswar memorial to attend the

‘Kargil Diwas’.He landed in Srinagar and

participated in the Vijay Diwasfunction at Badami BaghCantonment.

In Drass, Navy chiefAdmiral Karambir Singh, AirForce chief BS Dhanoa bothaccompanied by Army chiefGeneral Bipin Rawat paid trib-

utes wearing their respectiveforces’ combat fatigues.

GoC-in-C, NorthernCommand, Lt-Gen RanbirSingh, Lt Gen YK Joshi, GOC

Fire and Fury Corps, formerArmy Chief (Retd) Gen VPMalik too were present on theoccasion.

Continued on Page 4

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In an apt celebration of KargilVijay Diwas, Punjab Chief

Minister Capt AmarinderSingh came as a saviour for aKargil War hero on Fridayordering double promotionfor Vir Chakra awardee SatpalSingh after learning that he wasmanaging traffic after being re-employed as a senior policeconstable — a rank below hisstature — in Sangrur district ofthe State.

The CM, himself a former

Army man, accused the previ-ous SAD-BJP Government ofignoring the credentials ofSatpal at the time of his recruit-ment in 2010.

“Satpal, who joined thePunjab Police after his dis-charge from the Army, hasbeen awarded a double pro-motion to the rank of AssistantSub-Inspector following directorders from the Chief Ministerin recognition of his valiantcontribution during the KargilWar,” a Punjab Governmentspokesperson said.

As a special case, he will berecruited as an Assistant Sub-Inspector, in relaxation of Rule12.3 of the Punjab Police Rulesby the DGP, who has been soauthorised by the ChiefMinister, he said.

Satpal was posted in DrassSector during Operation Vijayand was part of the team thathelped the Indian Army cap-ture Tiger Hill. He killedPakistani Captain Karnal SherKhan of the Northern LightInfantry and three others.

Continued on Page 4

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Apassenger bus headingtowards Bihar overturned

after hitting the divider on theNoida-Greater NoidaExpressway on Friday evening,leaving 12 people hospitalisedwith severe injuries, officialssaid.

The accident happenedaround 5pm in an area underSector 39 police station, asenior official said.

“About 45 passengers werein the bus which had started itsjourney from Kashmere Gatein Delhi and was bound forSitamarhi in Bihar. Prima facieit appears that the driver lostcontrol over the speeding buswhich collided with the dividerand overturned,” Circle Officer,Noida 1st, Shwetabh Pandeysaid.

“Twelve passengers wereinjured in the accident andhave been hospitalised. Some ofthem were rushed to the dis-trict hospital, while some to aprivate nearby hospital,” hesaid.

The CO said the matter isbeing probed.

Earlier this month, 29 pas-sengers were killed after theirbus skidded off the YamunaExpressway and fell into a 50-foot deep drain.

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The sleuths of Delhi PoliceSpecial Cell are continuing

to put bridle on the AfghanNarco syndicate, which areusing alternate routes andinnovative modus operandi topump in contraband in India.Police on Friday said they havearrested two persons includingan Afghan national and recov-ered over 260 jute bags con-

taining almost 130 kilo-grams of soaked anddried Afghan Heroinfrom a container in NaviMumbai which wereimported under thecover of Basil Seed con-signment.

The duo arrestedwere identified as, TifalNau Khez alias Tifaley(35) a native ofBulandshaher UP was

the kingpin of the net-work in Delhi and oneof the most important Afghanlinks, Ahmad Shah Alokozai(37) of Kandahar,Afghanistan.

The cartel used to importheroin soaked in jute bags.After initial recovery of 200kgs, another 130 kgs heroinsoaked in jute bags alsorecovered from a NaviMumbai Customs BondedWarehouse, police said.

DCP (Special cell)Manishi Chandra said, on theinstance of Ahmad Shah asearch was conducted at

Customs Bonded area ofMumbai wherein, around 260jute bags containing 130 kg ofsoaked and dried Afghan hero-in were seized from a contain-er. The drug was transported asa basil seed consignment. Theroute originated from IslamQila in Afghanistan’s Heratand took the sea-route toMumbai via Bandar Abbasport in Iran.

The jute bags were foundcontaining another jutebagcovered with thin white colourpolythene layering. The inner

jute bag covered withthin white colour poly-thene was found con-taining soaked anddried Afghan Heroin.Each bag has approxi-mately 500 Gms ofpure raw heroin.

During preliminaryinterrogation it wasrevealed that Tifal isthe kingpin of the Delhigroup. On the direc-tions of his handlersbased in Afghanistan,

he had setup a reconstitutionfactory at a flat in Zakir Nagar.

He was the one who over-saw all the operations fromreconstitution to delivery ofprocessed Heroin in Punjab onthe directions of Afghan baseddruglord Haji. While AhmadShah who was dealing in dryfruits in Delhi was given thetask to import the soaked jutebags in India under the coverof dry fruits, DCP said addingthat, these bags were to bedelivered to reconstitution fac-tories in Delhi and Punjab.

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Be aware before apply-ing for a job in Airport

Authority of India (AAI)after reading advertise-ment in newspaper as theDelhi Police has busted asyndicate by arrestingseven persons for dupingpeople on the pretext of pro-viding jobs. The accused wererunning a call center for thepurpose.

The accused have beenidentified as Chander Shekhar(49), Jitender Arya (26), BaldevRaj (55), Beena Rani (28), Rinki(23), Versha Kumari (22) andBhavna, all residents of Delhi.Shekhar was the mastermindand Arya is his nephew. Theyhave duped around 1,000 peo-ple to the tune of �2.5 crore.

According to police, a com-plainant on July 14 alleged

that, after reading an adver-tisement for job at AAI in anewspaper he contacted them,where a lady assured the com-plainant about job at IGIAirport with a monthly salaryof �40,000 and asked him todeposit over �50 thousand indifferent instances. Later cameto know that he has been dupedand lodged a case.

“The ATM machines thatused to withdraw the money ledthe police to Shekhar andJitendra who were arrested onWednesday. On their instance,

their office Sai Enterprisein Naraina area was raid-ed and five more persons,including four womenwere arrested onThursday,” said DeputyCommissioner of Police(IGI Airport) SanjayBhatia.

“Shekhar had hiredBaldev and four girls to

run that call centre. Shekharwanted to build a house forwhich, he started duping peo-ple. They had contacted morethan 20,000 people in last oneyear and out of these, around1,000 people became the vic-tims,” he said.

The accused used to giveadvertisements of jobs in AAIin various newspapers everymonth. They mentioned thatthe recruitment was directwithout interview with a salaryfrom �19,500 to �75,500, theDCP said.

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The Gurugram DistrictAdministration on Friday

took up a massive ‘DistrictEnforcement Drive’ to curbmisuse of water and seal ille-gal borewells.

The DeputyCommissioner (DC) AmitKhatri sent 57 teams com-prising of volunteers, offi-cers, police personnel andengineers from the Tau DeviLal Stadium to conduct thedrive.

Under the drive 200 ille-gal borewells and tube wellssealed and by the teams.These included theunmanned borewell and ser-vice stations who were wash-ing cars by tapping into thegroundwater.

“This was the massiveexercise was undertaken in aday to check misuse of water,though the drive will contin-ue further also as part ofJalshakti Abhiyan underGurujal project. The drivecontinues for the entire nextweek,” Khatri said.

These teams consistedof 100 police personnel, tenITI plumbing apprenticestrained to check the func-tionality of rainwater har-vesting structures and morethan 50 NCC or NSSVolunteers. Each team wasaccompanied by two policepersonnel. The plumberswere also prior trained andinformed about the districtaction plan to prevent waterwastage.

“The teams will seal ofillegal tube wells andborewells, took action againstmisuse and wastage of waterchecked whether the RainWater Harvesting is func-tional or not. These teamsalso reported leakages ofwater in public areas andplugged those leakages also,”the DC said.

Khatri further said thatusually we talk hard and saythat no illegal borewells willbe tolerated but when itcomes to taking action, webecome reluctant, which iswrong. He said that now it’stime to strike hard on the cul-

prits who are drawing waterillegally through borewells.

He directed the teams totake strict action in the realsense of the term and alsoreport the leakages in pipelinesin public places adding thatwater management involvesdue diligence and strict enforce-ment to prevent water wastage.

“The objective of initiatingthe drive is to channelizeknowledge through studentabout saving water, createawareness amongst students,teachers, parents and adminis-tration spread awareness toprevent wastage of water in theschool and at home,” an admin-istration official said.

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A42-year-old man wascharred to death as he failed

to escape his moving SUV whenit caught fire in Mahendra Parkarea in northwest Delhi, policesaid on Friday.

Ajay Gupta, a resident ofAlipur, was on his way to the IGIAirport in his Mahindra XUV500 on Thursday night when theincident happened, VijayantaArya, deputy commissioner ofpolice (northwest), said.

When he reached MukarbaChowk, his vehicle caught fire,he said. Police were informedthat a vehicle has caught fire anda man was trapped inside, hesaid.

Two fire tenders wererushed but the vehicle was com-pletely burnt and the fire wasextinguished by the time theextinguishers reached the scene,a senior fire department officersaid.

A fully charred body waspulled out of the SUV, a Forensic Science Laboratoryteam inspected the scene, policesaid.

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Delhi Cabinet has approvedthe proposal of 22 new

commercial courts and 18 per-manent fast track courts inDelhi. Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal who chaired theCabinet also approved a pro-posal for the conversion of 90per cent of temporary postsanctioned for the Fast TrackCourts in to permanentincludes 18 posts of ADJ inDelhi Higher Judicial Servicesalong with 86 posts of ancillarystaff.

According to DelhiGovernment official, the annu-al financial implications forthe conversion of the postsinto permanent posts is �8,8,88,45,120 .

Notably, the 11th financecommission had allocated �502crore under Article 275 of theConstitution of India for thepurpose of setting up 1,734courts in various States to deal

with long pending cases. “The 11th Finance

Commission, however, did notinclude within its fold any pro-posal for setting-up fast trackcourts in Delhi however theGovernment had taken up thematter with the Union law andJustice Ministry,” quoted astatement from Chief Minister’soffice.

“The Union Ministry ofHome Affairs had in the finan-cial year 2003-04 released fundsas non-planned grant to Delhi

Government for setting-up 20fast track courts for a period offive years.

The term of 11th FinanceCommission ended in the year2005, and even the 12th FinanceCommission also did not allo-cate any funds for fast trackcourts in Delhi,” “Therefore,the posts of 20 judges and 95ancillary staff created on a tem-porary basis in 2005 kept onextending on an annual basis tillnow,” Delhi Government offi-cial said further.

�� ���������� �35�6347#�

Afew days after Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal

and Deputy Chief MinisterMansih Sisodia met UnionFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman pertaining to get due share in central taxesfor the national Capital, theAam Aadmi Party’s (AAP’s)National convener gave freshattempt with meeting 15thFinance CommissionChairman NK Singh and sub-mitted a memorandumrequesting recommendation oflegitimate share.

Kejriwal along with Sisodiawho also hold the portfolio ofFinance minister requested forlegitimate share in basic andperformance grants to localbodies.

Presenting the case ofDelhi, Kejriwal informed theNK Singh that the nationalCapital has been subjected togross injustice since last twodecades.

Kejriwal said that for the

growth of the nation, Delhigives �1.75 lakh crore asincome tax to the Centre. But,it gets back only �325 crorefrom the Centre for its owngrowth. Centre should investmore in Delhi so that economicactivities could grow in thenational Capital.

“Till the year 2000, theConstitution of India providedfor money for Delhi in line withwhat the other States were get-ting. However, in the year2000, the Constitution wasamended and Delhi was

removed from the list. Nothingcan be done about what hap-pened then. But what hap-pened as a result was Delhiceased of getting money fromthe Centre. This is injusticewith Delhi,” the Chief Ministersaid.

Kejriwal stated,”Ourrequest to the FinanceCommission is that Delhishould also get funds for development like other states ofthe country receive from the Centre. FinanceCommission decides on howmuch of funds should be givento a particular state and thus wehave made a request with them.We have asked them to giveDelhi its due. We believe thatif the formula of post-the year2000 is implemented, Delhi willget �6000 crore annually.”

The meeting was attendedby senior officers of the FinanceCommission and the ChiefSecretary of Delhi Vijay Devand Finance Secretary andAdditional Chief SecretaryRenu Sharma.

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The Delhi High Court onFriday asked the AAP

Government to “think out ofthe box” and “act like com-mandos” to prevent waterlog-ging in the national Capitalduring the rainy season.

A bench of Justices G SSistani and Jyoti Singh saidsince heavy rains are expectedin the next 20 days, the Delhigovernment’s Public WorksDepartment (PWD) shouldmake “every endeavour” toensure there is no waterloggingin the city.

The court said that apartfrom causing traffic snarls,waterlogged roads and pave-ments were a hazard for pedes-trians, including children, asthey would not see the opendrains and may fall into themcausing serious injuries and

even death.The bench directed the

PWD to be prepared inadvance with water pumps toprevent waterlogging at thesusceptible sites, like ITO here,already identified by theauthority.

The court directed thedepartment to ensure all theidentified areas are constantlymanned and supervised by itsofficials so that the momentwaterlogging occurs, theauthority can swing into actionimmediately to pump away

the water and prevent trafficsnarls. It also suggested build-ing reservoirs, or engagingtankers temporarily, at the siteswhere it was not feasible topump away the water, so thatit can be stored and used forother purposes.

During the hearing Delhigovernment additional stand-ing counsel Satyakam, appear-ing for PWD, told the benchthat the agency has carried outde-silting in all the drainsunder its control and whilethere have been instances ofwaterlogging in the recentrains, there was no water stag-nation.

The court was hearing aPIL initiated by it regarding theissue of waterlogging after coming across mediareports that it occurred everymonsoon and resulted in hugetraffic jams.

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In order to ensure free flow ofwater and avoid water-log-

ging in its area, South DelhiMunicipal Corporation(SDMC) claimed to have de-silted all its 246 drains with atotal length of 164.38 km.

A senior SDMC officialsaid that the drains have beencleared which was full ofhyacinth and floating garbage.

North and east corpora-tions have also stepped up theprocess of de-silting in itsdrains. Till now, 90 per cent ofde-silting has been done andremaining will be cleared innext 15 days, a senior Northcorporation official said.

Meanwhile, Mayor ofNorth Delhi Avtar Singh onFriday inspected Kirari areaand directed the officers to

write to the Delhi DevelopmentAuthority (DDA) seeking sta-tus of water logging in itsvacant plots. He also directedofficials to clear the water byputting a pump in the area.

Recently, SDMC Mayor

Sunita Kangra discussedthe issue of desilting andwater logging in a highlevel meeting attendedby officials of engineeringdepartment & othersenior officers and rep-resentatives other 11 gov-ernment agencies toensure coordination incleaning drains.

Every year, due toapathy of civic agencies, de-clogging of drains resulted inwaterlogged roads disrupt traf-fic and choked drains over-flowing on to the streets andfurther providing an ideal mos-quito breeding ground.

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APIL was moved in theDelhi High Court on

Thursday, seeking directions tothe Centre and AAPGovernment to cap cash trans-actions at �10,000, saying sucha step would help curb illegalactivities like terrorism, cor-ruption and use of blackmoney.

The petition, by BJP leaderand lawyer Ashwini KumarUpadhyay, claimed that “cashtransactions in high denomi-nation currency is used in ille-gal activities like terrorism,naxalism, separatism, radical-ism, smuggling, money laun-dering, kidnapping, extortionand bribery”.

Upadhyay has contendedthat a cap on cash transactionswould force black money hold-ers to declare their unaudited

movable and immovable assets.“Thus, in a long way, it will

help in putting an end to blackmoney,” the petition said andadded it would also lead to peo-ple depositing their cash inbanks which in turn wouldgenerate revenue forGovernment.

The plea said theGovernment can use the rev-enue so generated for better-ment of society and to providegood infrastructure and facil-

ities to people.The petition further

said that black money“distorts and disrupts thepublic distribution systemwith great violence”.

“It is inimical to thefostering of excellenceand has adverse impacton EWS and BPL fami-lies.”

It claimed that evenafter seven decades of inde-pendence, half of the popula-tion “is still in distress, leadinga hand-to-mouth existence,large segments not knowingwhere the next meal is comingfrom, with abominable healthstandards and primary educa-tion levels”.

“Much of this malaise istraceable to widespread cor-ruption, benami transactionand existence of black money,”the PIL alleged.

�� ���������� �35�6347#�

Anearly three-feet-longMonitor Lizard was res-

cued by the Wildlife SOS RapidResponse Unit from a plasticmanufacturing factory inOkhla Industrial Area, Phase I.The reptile was kept underobservation for a few hours andlater released back into thewild.

Sumit Singh, an employeeof the company said, “Ouremployees discovered the mon-itor lizard in the storage unitwhich is in the factory base-ment.We immediately calledWildlife SOS after comin-gacross the Wildlife SOShelpline number online andimmediatelycalled them forhelp.”

“A few employees were inthe storage unit when theyheard a scuffling noise comingfrom behind a stack of boxes.

On taking a closer look, theywere surprised to find themonitor lizard peering back atthem!,” Singh said further.

A team of two trained res-cuers from the NGO wasimmediately deployed to carryout the rescue operation.Taking care not to harm orstartle it, the teamcarefullyextricated the nearly 3-foot-longreptile and transferred itinto a safe transport container.

Wasim Akram, DeputyDirector-Special Projects,Wildlife SOS, said, “Many rep-tile species end up getting dis-

placed in the rainand are forcedto seek shelter in higherground. Monitor lizards arenon-venomous but can bite oreven use their strong claws inretaliation if threatened or pro-voked. Therefore, our teamhad to be cautious while car-rying out the rescue operationas they wanted to avoid agitat-ing the distressed reptile.”

Common Indian MonitorLizard (Varanusbengalensis)or Bengal monitor Lizard iscommonly found in the Indiansubcontinent. They inhabitscrubs, parks, jungles andmainly feed on small mam-mals, birds, rodents, insects etc.This species is listed underSchedule I of the WildlifeProtection Act, 1972. Monitorlizards play an important rolein the ecosystem but they areoften killed for their meat andbody parts due to miscon-strued beliefs.

�� ���������� �35�6347#

The Delhi Commission ForWomen (DCW) on Friday

wrote a letter to the Lok SabhaSpeaker and the Minister ofSocial Justice andEmpowerment alleging thatthe Transgender Bill encour-ages sexual assault on trans-genders.

The Transgender Persons(Protection of Rights) Bill,2019, was introduced by SocialJustice and EmpowermentMinister Thaawarchand Gehlotlast week and provides a mech-anism for social, economicand educational empowermentof transgenders.

DCW Transgender Cellheld series of consultationswith transgenders and has givenrecommendations on “defi-ciencies” of the Bill to LokSabha Speaker Om Birla andGehlot, the commission said.

The biggest flaw with theBill is that in its present form,it encourages rape and sexualassault of transgender persons,it alleged. “In the Bill, penalprovision for sexual assaultagainst a transgender person isimprisonment for a period ofminimum six months to max-imum two years only whereasfor others, sexual assault is pun-ishable by imprisonment ofnot less than seven years andmaximum of life imprison-ment,” the panel added.

The DCW said this shouldbe urgently amended. It saidthe bill should properly enlistthe rights of transgender per-sons to marry, adopt and inher-it property.

The panel suggested freesex reassignment surgeries,hormonal therapy, laser thera-py or any other health treat-ment for transgenders in bothpublic and private hospitals.

Setting up of National andState Transgender Commissionon the lines of women com-missions have also been sug-gested, the DCW said. Thewomen’s panel recommendedthat the bill be referred to theStanding Committee for hold-ing wider consultations.

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Traffic challans in Delhi cannow be paid online with the

launch of virtual court portalon Friday. Launched by formerSupreme Court judge, Justice(retd.) Madan B Lokur, the firstsuch legal portal —https://vcourts.Gov.In — willcater to the traffic challansdigitally generated by the DelhiTraffic Police via the e-challanapplication.

Traffic offenders will begiven the option to pay the fineonline, without coming to thecourt, said Justice Lokur,adding, “The service may laterextend to other cases.”

“If a person is given chal-lan and has pleaded guilty,there is now e-payment portalso it can be paid online and itwill work 24x7,” he said further.

He hoped that other courtsin the country will realise itsimportance and follow it.

“This will gradually beextended to variety of cases. Iam told that 4,000-5,000 caseswill be transferred to virtualcourt in 2-3 days. You may nowhave repeat offender, comput-er will keep a track of these traf-fic offenders,” he said.

Delhi High court ChiefJustice DN Patel and otherjudges, besides Delhi PoliceCommissioner AmulyaPatnaik, were also present at theoccasion.

All traffic challans, exceptthose, where the vehicle isimpounded, can be disposedoff by making online paymentat the portal.

Metropolitan MagistrateRuchi Aggarwal Asrani willhold the first virtual court inDelhi.

According to the newscheme, the digital challansgenerated through the e-chal-lan application will be sent indigital form to the court.

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China on Friday said Indiaand Pakistan should peace-

fully settle the Kashmir issueand other disputes throughdialogue and expressed its sup-port to the international com-munity, including the US, inplaying a “constructive role” toimprove the Indo-Pak ties.

China’s reaction came afterUS President Donald Trumpon Monday offered to be the“mediator” between India andPakistan on the Kashmir issueduring his meeting withPakistan Prime Minister ImranKhan at the White House.

Chinese Foreign Ministry

spokesperson Hua Chunyingsaid “as a neighbour to both Pakistan and India,China sincerely hopes thatPakistan and India can live inharmony”.

“We hope the two coun-tries can peacefully settle theKashmir issue and other bilat-eral disputes through dialogue,and make concerted efforts tosafeguard peace and stability inSouth Asia,” Hua said in aguarded reaction.

Trump, who is known tomake inaccurate statements,claimed that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi asked him tomediate on the Kashmir issueduring the G20 summit in

Osaka, Japan.“We support the interna-

tional community, the USincluded, in playing a con-structive role in improvingPakistan-India relationsthrough dialogue,” Hua wasquoted as saying by theAssociated Press of Pakistan(APP), the official news agencyof Pakistan.

India has denied Trump’s

claim and said Modi made nosuch request and Kashmir is abilateral issue between Indiaand Pakistan.

External Affairs Minister SJaishankar has refuted thatPrime Minister Modi evermade the request to Trump.

“I would like to categori-cally assure the House that nosuch request has been made bythe Prime Minister to the US

President. I repeat, no suchrequest was made by the PrimeMinister to the US President,”he said in a statement toParliament.

After Trump’s remarks, theUS State Department, in adamage control effort, latersaid it considered Kashmir abilateral issue between Indiaand Pakistan and was ready tohelp only if the two countrieswanted.

Over the years, China’sofficial stand on Kashmir hasbeen that it is an issue left overby history and should be prop-erly addressed by India andPakistan through consultationand negotiations.

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Commemorating the 20thanniversary of Kargil Vijay

Diwas, Defence MinisterRajnath Singh paid tribute tothe heroes who fought toughbattles during the conflict, say-ing their unwavering courageand supreme sacrifice ensuredthe safety and sanctity of thecountry’s borders.

The Union Minister, alongwith his deputy Shripad YessoNaik, and the vice chiefs ofArmy, Navy and Air Force —Lt Gen Devraj Anbu, ViceAdmiral G Ashok Kumar andAir Force Air Marshal RakeshKumar Singh Bhadauria —paid homage to the martyrs atthe National War Memorial inthe India Gate complex here.

“Paid homage to martyredsoldiers at the National WarMemorial in New Delhi on theoccasion of 20th anniversary ofKargil Vijay Diwas. Theirunwavering courage andsupreme sacrifice ensured thesafety and sanctity of our bor-ders,” Singh tweeted.

It was on July 26, 1999,dubbed ‘Kargil Vijay Diwas’,that Indian armed forces haddeclared a win in the Kargilconflict after the neighbouringcountry’s infiltration.

The India Army respond-ed to the intrusion withOperation Vijay — the namegiven to India’s limited waragainst Pakistan in 1999, fight-

ing battles on icy heights ofKargil. In the Lok Sabha, theDefence Minister said Pakistancan neither fight a full-fledgednor a limited war with Indiaand is waging a proxy war.

He was speaking inParliament on the 20thanniversary of the Kargil con-flict as it paid tributes to Indiansoldiers who drove out enemyforces and reclaimed Kargilheights. Army chief Gen BipinRawat, Air Chief Marshal BSDhanoa and Navy chiefAdmiral Karambir Singh alsopaid tributes by laying wreathsat the Kargil War Memorial inDras in Jammu & Kashmir.

After paying homage atthe National War Memorial,the defence minister also wrotea message in the visitors’ book.

“Homage to the brave sol-diers of Kargil War who laiddown their lives for the honour,prestige and pride of India.Their valour and sacrifice area motivation for every Indian.

“On 20th anniversary ofKargil Vijay Diwas, we take apledge that the grateful nationwill never forget the supremesacrifice the soldiers made for the country’s honour,”he wrote.

The Indo-Pak Kargil Warwas fought during May-July1999 in the toughest terrainalong the Line of Control (LoC)from ZojiLa in the west toTurtok in the east, the Armysaid in a statement.

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As the nation observes the20th anniversary of the

Kargil war, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Fridayshared pictures of his visit tothe area during the conflictand his interaction with thesoldiers.

“During the Kargil War in1999, I had the opportunity togo to Kargil and show soli-darity with our brave soldiers,”he said on Twitter.

The Prime Minister saidthat in 1999, he was workingfor the BJP in Jammu &Kashmir and Himachal

Pradesh. “The visit to Kargil and

interactions with soldiers areunforgettable,” Modi said.

In the photographs, he isseen interacting with Armymen and meeting woundedsoldiers.

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The US has a very good andgrowing relationship with

India, the White House hassaid. White House CounsellorKellyanne Conway wasresponding to a question onThursday on the denial by theIndian government that PrimeMinister Narendra Modirequested President DonaldTrump to mediate on theKashmir issue.

“We have a very good andgrowing relationship with(Prime Minister) Mr Modiand the Indian government,”Conway told reporters duringa press gaggle.

At a separate StateDepartment briefing onThursday, while responding toa question whether theKashmir policy of the US haschanged, spokesperson MorganOrtagus declined to comment.

“Yeah, I don’t have any-thing to say beyond thePresident’s statement,” she said.

On Monday, PresidentTrump stunned India during ajoint media availability withvisiting Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan by claim-ing that Prime Minister Modiasked him to mediate on theKashmir issue during theirbilateral meeting on the side-

lines of G20 Summit in Osaka,Japan, last month. ExternalAffairs Minister S Jaishankarhas said that Prime MinisterModi never asked for media-tion and the issue of Kashmirwas never discussed betweenthe two leaders.

The EAM has also strong-ly reiterated India’s consistentposition that all outstandingissues with Pakistan will haveto be discussed bilaterally,including the Kashmir issue.

External Affairs MinistrySpokesperson Raveesh Kumaron Thursday said it was time to“move on” and asserted that theIndo-US ties remained verystrong. Kumar said the con-troversy should be put to restas India made its position clearand the US State Departmentissued a quick clarification.

“We should move on. Astatement was made by theExternal Affairs Minister inboth houses of Parliament.The ministry made a statementon the issue. The US StateDepartment has issued a clar-ification. I think we shouldleave it at that,” Kumar said.

Sources said India hadchecked with the US the recordof Trump-Modi meeting inOsaka and there was no men-tion of the two leaders talkingabout Kashmir or mediation.

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The death toll in the coalmine accident in Odisha’s

Angul district increased tothree with the recovery of twomore bodies on Friday, officialssaid. The miners were killed ina dump slide at the opencastmine in the Talcher coalfieldson Tuesday.

Nine workers sufferedinjuries in the accident, while

four were feared trapped. Thebody of one of the miners wasrecovered a day after.

“An inquiry committee,under the supervision of thegeneral manager (safety andrescue), has started a probe toascertain the cause of strata fail-ure,” the spokesperson added.Chief Minister Naveen Patnaikhas announced an ex gratia ofRs 5 lakh each to the kin ofthose killed in the incident.

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Uttarakhand Chief MinisterTrivendra Singh Rawat has

kicked up a controversy by say-ing that the cow exhales oxy-gen, a claim rubbished by live-stock and animal husbandryexperts. A video had gone viralon Thursday showing Rawatextolling the curative powers ofthe cow at a function here.

He is also heard in thevideo as saying that massagingthe cow can cure one of breath-ing problems while living inclose proximity with the animalcan cure one of tuberculosis.

He also extols the medici-nal properties of cow milk andurine in the video.

The chief minister’s coweulogy comes after PradeshBJP president and Nainital MPAjay Bhatt recently said preg-nant women can avoid cesari-an deliveries if they drink waterof Garud Ganga, a river inBageshwar district.

An official at the CMOdefended the chief minister,saying he was only speakingsomething which is a commonbelief in the hills ofUttarakhand.

“While the medicinal val-ues of cow milk and urine arewell known, people in the hillsalso believe that the cow givesthem oxygen, “he said request-ing anonymity. However,experts here ruled out the pos-sibility of the cow exhaling oxy-gen.

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Former Information CommissionerShailesh Gandhi has urged

President Ram Nath Kovind to returnthe Right to InformationAmendment Bill to the Parliament forreconsideration to “defend the citizen’sfundamental right”.

Kovind was a member of thestanding committee which finalisedthe Right to Information Bill, 2004,suggesting parity of informationcommissions with the ElectionCommission to ensure that they per-form their duties “independentlyand with complete autonomy”.

Gandhi said whenever the gov-ernment does not disclose anyinformation which is not exempted,

citizens approach the InformationCommission.

“This places the responsibility

on the commissions which are cre-ation of the RTI Act to adjudicatefairly to safeguard the right of the cit-

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Ranchi: After unrestrained ‘Ram bhakts’, a BJPminister in Jharkhand was on Friday seen onnational TV brazenly asking a Muslim MLA tochant ‘Jai Shri Ram’, insisting he was a “Ram wala”and that “Babur or Timur Lang”, the medieval eraMuslim conquerors, were not his ancestors.

It all started on a lighter note when C P Singh,the state’s urban development minister, and IrfanAnsari, a Congress MLA, were standing outside theLegislative Assembly surrounded by cameramen.

Singh was seen wrapping his arm aroundAnsari’s shoulders and asking him to chant the slo-gan hailing the Lord. “Ek baar zor se Jai Shri Ramboliye (say Jai Shri Ram vigorously,” Singh toldAnsari, who smilingly showed the red ‘Mauli’ tiedon his right hand. PTI

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New Delhi: Former informationcommissioner Sridhar Acharyuluhas said that the chief ministers ofOdisha, Telangana and AndhraPradesh should explain why theysupport the RTI amendment billwhich, according to him, “destroysthe independence of informationcommissioners” and “encroachesupon the sovereign rights of states”.

In an open letter, Acharyulu saidall the three — Naveen Patnaik, KChandrashekar Rao and YS JaganMohan Reddy — are eminent per-sonalities who have sacrificed a lotin taking up people’s issues, strivedfor the interests of their region, andalso the rights and sovereign pow-ers of the States under theConstitution. PTI

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Claiming that the Congress-JD(S) coalition in

Karnataka collapsed under its“own weight” and internal con-flicts, BJP’s working presidentJP Nadda on Friday dismissedthe argument of age bar of 75years applicable to BSYediyurappa saying he is mov-ing from being the leader ofOpposition to taking the man-tle of Chief Minister of the State.

Nadda said the BJP wassynonymous with “stability”and would provide a firmGovernment in Karnataka.

He dismissed the charges ofhorse trading in the State sayingthe Government fell on accountof its own contradictions.Quizzed on West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee’s alle-gation that BJP was destabilisingStates, Nadda said, “Apne kara-no se unko dar laga hai” (she isscared for her own reasons.)

“They (Congress-JDS) fellunder their own weight due tointernal reasons...The BJP issynonymous with stability.Wherever we go, we bring sta-bility,” Nadda told reporters athis maiden Press conferencewhere he also shared theNarendra Modi Government’sachievements in its first 50 days.

Asked about the fact thatBJP leader Yediyurappa, who istaking oath as Chief Minister,

is over the 75-year age bar theparty has stipulated for its lead-ers holding any Governmentposition, he played it down.

Yediyurappa was the leaderof the BJP legislature party in theState and it was natural for himto be the party’s choice for theChief Minister’s post, he said.Yediyurappa is 76 years old.

“It depends,” he said whenquizzed about the party’s age-barand then added, “You see, firstof all he is a leader, he is an elect-ed leader of the legislature party.Accordingly, he is taking oath.It is a continuous process and theparty takes note of ongoingdevelopments from time totime.” As the leader of opposi-tion he is alright and the day hetakes oath the question is askedabout his age, he said, addingthat it does not work like that.

The BJP under Prime

Minister Narendra Modi and itspresident Amit Shah has intro-duced the 75 years limit forMinisters in the party-runGovernments as well as for itscandidates in the recent LokSabha election to ease out manyveterans, including L K Advani,Murli Manohar Joshi and

Sumitra Mahajan among others.Asked about reports that

some rebel Congress-JD(S)MLAs may be accommodatedby the BJP Government inKarnataka as Ministers, Nadda said it is for these MLAsto decide their future course ofaction.

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Issues like exorbitant feescharged by private schools

and a demand to regulate them,illegal sand mining in variousparts of the country therebyposing threat to environmentand lack of facilities like hearseand ambulance to ferry thedead from the hospital saw themembers from nearly all polit-ical parties expressing concernin the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

Raising the fees issue,Shwait Malik(BJP) demandedthat such schools should beregulated to provide succor tohapless parents. He said edu-cation had now become likeshops with industrialists andtraders opening educationalinstitutions and exploit throughvarious charges like buildingfund and force the parents tobuy books and uniform fromthe school.

Associating himself withhis assertion, Surendra SinghNagar (SP) said schools haveseen 150 per cent rise in fee inthe last 10-15 years. In 2018,Uttar Pradesh made a law tocontrol private schools but it hasnot been implemented, he said.The Centre should frame a lawto end exploitation of parentsand students by private schools,he added and various othermembers cutting across linesagreed with his contention.

Highlighting the hazardscaused by illegal mining inmany parts of the country,Kumari Selja (Congress) saidnatural resources weredestroyed and cited instances in

Haryana. She alleged illegalmining was taking place withconnivance of political partiesand administration.

Echoing similar sentiments,Vikas Mahatame (BJP) saidafter China, India is the biggestconsumer of sand for con-struction. As the demand andsupply gap is growing, sandmafia was exploiting the situa-tion. He also said instances ofofficers and locals getting mur-dered and assaulted after object-ing to illegal mining also cameto notice. The entire Houseassociated with the issue.

Drawing the attention tothe plight of poor in ferryingthe bodies of their relative fromhospital, Javed Ali Khan (SP)said several instances came tolight where due to lack of trans-port, bodies were taken on

cycle carriers, motorcycles andin one case in Odisha a mancarried the body on his head.

Khan demanded that itshould be made mandatory forall private hospitals to havesome vehicles earmarked forferrying bodies and soughtsame systems in theGovernment hospitals. Almostthe entire house agreed withKhan who lauded the OdishaGovernment decision to pro-vide free facilities to take thebodies from hospitals to homes.

Among other matters, DPVats (BJP) demanded that aheroes’ gallery showing pic-tures of Defence personnelwho have sacrificed their livesfor the country be set up at theJawaharlal Nehru University(JNU). He said elite institutionsof armed forces like NationalDefence Academy (NDA) andArmy Cadet College are affil-iated with the JNU. He said stu-dents passing from those insti-tutes simultaneously becomealumni of JNU.

RK Sinha (BJP) saidBhojpuri language should beincluded in the Eight Scheduleof the Constitution. He said thelanguage is spoken in overtwo dozen countries besides by20 crore people in India. Vaiko(MDMK) opposed the drillingfor hydrocarbons permitted inTamil Nadu, saying the “mostdisastrous and dangerous”activity will destroy fertile landin the Cauvery delta. Dola Sen(TMC) opposed corporatisa-tion of Indian OrdinanceFactories saying it will eventu-ally lead to privatisation.

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Maharashtra and Karnatakawill go for cloud seeding

or artificial rain procedure totackle deficient rainfall. Thetarget areas for cloud seedingwill be identified based onfactors such as rainfall deficitand moisture deficiency, cloudformation and data generatedby the radars.

According to the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD), cloud seeding will be car-ried out in Aurangabad, Solapurand Ahmednagar districts inMaharashtra and Mysuru andHubballi in Karnataka fromMonday. Maharashtra had con-ducted a similar cloud-seedingexperiment over Marathwada in2015 while Karnataka had pre-viously carried out cloud seed-ing in 2017.

The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) predictsIndia is likely to get above-aver-age rainfall in the next two weeksafter receiving below averagerains in the past two weeks.

IMD said the Governmenthas decided to carry out cloud

seeding for artificial rain inthese regions. For that officialswill survey the skies for nextsome days. “If the cloud den-sity is sufficient then seedingwill be done for artificial rain.Three planes for bringing aboutartificial rain in southern dis-tricts of Maharashtra alongthe borders of Karnataka andTelangana have arrived at theSolapur airport,” the IMD said.

Cloud seeding is a type ofweather modification in whichchemicals like silver iodide,potassium iodide, dry ice (solidcarbon dioxide) or liquidpropane is dispersed in the air toact as cloud condensation to alterits microphysical processes.

In Karnataka, the progressof monsoon in Karnataka hasnot been satisfactory so far.While half of the State hasreceived normal rains, there isdeficit in the remaining areas.Cumulative rainfall acrossKarnataka this monsoon sea-son has witnessed a deficiencyof 19 per cent till date. TheMalnad region that consists ofWestern Ghats has the highestdeficit of 33 per cent, while the

shortfall in the drought-proneNorth Interior Karnataka is at21 per cent. The deficit inCoastal Region and SouthInterior Karnataka is estimat-ed at 16 per cent each.

On the other hand,Maharashtra’s water crisis hasbeen steadily worsening sincelast year, particularly indrought-hit Vidarbha andMarathwada. Nearly twomonths into the monsoon —that officially begins on June 1— Marathwada and Vidarbhaare facing rainfall deficits of 35per cent and 42 per cent respec-tively (as on July 26).

Solapur, Osmanabad andseveral districts fromMarathwada and Vidarbhahave received rainfall between50-75 per cent of their averageprecipitation whileMaharashtra is experiencing anoverall 9 per cent shortfall inrainfall. As on July 26, dams inthe State have just 24 per centwater stock, compared to 46.5per cent stock during the sametime last year. Shockingly, damsin Marathwada have just 0.82per cent of water.

According to IMD, themonsoon rains were 35 per centbelow average in the week end-

ing July 24, after receiving 20 percent less rainfall in the priorweek, raising concerns over theoutput of summer-sown crops.

Overall, the country hasreceived 17 per cent less rainthan average since the monsoonseason began on June 1, but insome states such as Gujarat, thebiggest producer of cotton andgroundnut, the rainfall deficit isas high as 42 per cent. Thecountry has received 325.5 mmas against the normal rainfall of394.5 mm so far.

According to theAgriculture Ministry datareleased on Friday, the totalkharif crops area covered so farremained 688.78 lakh hectares(lh), as compared to 736.18lakh hectare, a less than 47.39lakh hectare planted during thecorresponding period last year,The sowing of rice, pulses,oilseeds and coarse cereals areworst affected. Rice planting tillthis week is stood at 185.14lakh hectare as compared to215.71 lakh hectare sown in thesame week last year. Similarly,pulses cultivation recorded 9.24lakh hectares less this year.

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The deadly connectionbetween toxic lead and

fatty liver disease has beenknown for a while, but IITMandi researchers have recent-ly unraveled the process bywhich the harmful metal canpromote accumulation of fat inthe liver, causing non-alco-holic fatty liver disease(NAFLD). The NAFLD is relat-ed to conditions like diabetesand obesity. It’s also linked toan increased risk of cardiovas-cular disease (CVDs).

Lead toxicity is a seriousconcern in India given that useof paints containing lead, pes-ticides, packaging and evenbeer contributes towards highexposure of people to this toxicmetal and its salts.

Experts say, NAFLD is adangerous epidemic of thisgeneration and is a rapidlygrowing health problem inti-mately related to the metabol-ic group of diseases such asobesity and diabetes, amongothers. While obesity has beenknown to be the leading causefor NAFLD, recent observa-tions have shown that even thinpeople can be ‘metabolicallyobese’ and have NAFLD.

Researchers from Council ofScientific and IndustrialResearch (CSIR)-Indian Institute

of Toxicology Research,Lucknow and School ofChemical and Life Sciences —Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi hadjointly conducted the researchwork, which was recently pub-lished in a reputed peer-reviewedjournal “FEBS Letters”.

Dr Prosenjit Mondal,Assistant Professor, School ofBasic Sciences, IIT Mandi, whohas uncovered the pathway bywhich lead promotes NAFLD,said, “While the connectionbetween lead and fatty liver dis-ease has been known for a while,the actual mechanism by whichlead worsens this condition hashitherto remained unknown.”

NAFLD, and most meta-bolic group of diseases, are oftencaused by the poor regulation ofDe novo lipogenesis (DNL), acomplex process in which car-bohydrates circulating in theblood are converted into fat. Thepoor regulation of DNL leads toabnormal production of fat,

which settles in the liver andother internal organs as viscer-al fat. Lead salts absorbed by thehuman body is stored in soft tis-sues, and autopsy studies haveshown that the liver hoardsalmost 33 per cent of the totallead cruising in the body.

De novo lipogenesis or DNLis a complex process that involvesnumerous biomolecules, one ofwhich is CarbohydrateResponsive Element BindingProtein (ChREBP). ChREBPactivates the regulatory enzyme,fatty acid synthase, which isresponsible for fat production inliver cells. The activity ofChREBP in human liver cells iskept in control by another bio-molecule called sorcin. “Weobserved Pb2+ ions to suppresssorcin activity, and this over-acti-vates ChREBP, which in turntriggers fatty acid synthase. Thisincreases fat production in theliver, leading to NAFLD,”explained Dr Mondal.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday sought theCentre’s response on the allegation that it has notimplemented a slew of directions issued last year tocurb lynching and mob violence. A Bench compris-ing Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice DeepakGupta issued notices to the Ministry of Home Affairsand State Governments on a petition filed by an organ-isation, Anti-Corruption Council of India Trust.

Senior advocate Anukul Chandra Pradhan,appearing for the trust, said incidents of lynching wereincreasing and no step was being taken to implementthe directions of the apex court aimed at tackling themenace of mob lynching. The trust said a slew ofdirections passed on July 17, 2018, by the apex courtto the Government to provide “preventive, remedi-al and punitive measures” to deal with offences likemob violence have not been implemented.

The directions were passed on the PIL byCongress activist Tehsin Poonavall who hadbrought the issue of rising incidents of moblynching and cow vigilantism.

The apex court had asked Parliament to con-sider enacting a new law to sternly deal with moblynching and cow vigilantism, warning that suchincidents may rise like a “Typhon-like monster”across the country.

The top court had said that it was the duty ofthe States to strive and promote fraternity amongstall citizens, as such mob violence was being insti-gated by intolerance and misinformed by circula-tion of fake news and false stories.

The apex court had said there was a need toenact a special law as it would instill a sense of fearfor law amongst those who involve themselves inmob lynching.

It had said it was the duty of State Governmentsto ensure law and order in the society, besides ensur-ing that the rule of law prevailed. PTI

New Delhi: Karnataka political rivals, BJP’s BSYediyurappa and DK Shivakumar of Congress,were seen on the same side in the SupremeCourt on Friday — opposing an applicationseeking to revive an alleged corruption caserelating to denotification of land in Bengaluru.

The matter, which came up for hearingbefore a bench of Justices Arun Mishra andMR Shah, saw their advocates questioning themaintainability of the application filed by anintervenor for reviving the criminal case inwhich the complainant has already with-drawn his plea. The issue relates to denoti-fication of 4.20 acres of land allegedly in con-travention of the Karnataka Restriction ofTransfer of Land Act, 1991.

Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and AMSinghvi, who were appearing forYeddyurappa and Shivakumar respectively,told the bench that the complainant in thecase had withdrawn his appeal from the apexcourt last year and a third party, who hasnothing to do in the case, cannot be allowedto intervene at this stage.

Shivakumar was present in the court-room during the hearing.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearingfor intervenor NGO ‘Samaj ParivartanaSamudaya’, told the Bench that complainanthad withdrawn his plea from the apex courton mentioning the matter before a Bench butintervention plea can be heard. He soughtrecall of the February 21 order by which theplea filed by the complainant was “dismissedas withdrawn” by the top court. PTI

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Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Friday informed

the Lok Sabha that the Governmenthas de-registered 4 lakh shell com-panies and tightened the CorporateSocial Responsibility (CSR) norms.She was speaking during the debateon the amendments to theCompanies Bill.

Piloting the CompaniesAmendment Bill 2019, the Ministersaid companies not spending themandatory 2 per cent profit on CSRactivities for a total period of fouryears will be required to deposit theamount in a special account.

The amendments in theCompanies Act, she added, wereaimed at improving ease of doingbusiness and also reducing compli-ance burden on the companies, espe-cially the smaller ones. The Bill waslater passed unanimously afterCongress leader Adhir RanjanChowdhury withdrew statutory res-olution opposing it.

Responding to the concerns ofmembers on shell companies,Sitharaman said the word “shell com-panies” has not been defined in therule book, but it is loosely referred toinactive companies or those which donot maintain a registered office.“Four lakh companies have beenidentified and de-registered,” shesaid, adding non-maintenance ofregistered office will be a ground forde-registration of companies.

A key change in the Bill pertainsto CSR spending, wherein companieswould have to mandatorily keepunspent money into a specialaccount. Under the Act, companiesearning profit of over Rs 5 crore,turnover of Rs 100 crore or networthof more than Rs 500 crore are

required to shell out at least two percent of their three-year annual aver-age net profit towards CSR activities.India, Sitharaman said, has becomethe first country to make CSR spend-ing mandatory through a law.

The companies will have one yearto firm up the CSR proposal andanother three years to spend funds.In case money remains unspent forone plus three years, the money willhave to be moved to an escrowaccount, she said, adding it could evenbe the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

Opposing the ordinance broughtearlier, Chowdhury and Saugata Roy(TMC) said it was not required as thelaw has been amended on severaloccasions. Pinaki Misra (BJD)described the bill as “disastrous”, say-ing the legislation has been draftedby bureaucrats and the lawmakershave just rubberstamped it. A Raja(DMK) said the registrar of compa-nies has been given “excessive pow-ers” which is not good. PPChaudhury (BJP) said once the lawis amended, it will help in ease ofdoing business and give a boost tocommerce.

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attachedassets worth Rs 66.57 crore in the Manesar Land

Scam under Prevention of Money Laundering Act.The attached assets consisting of 14.56 acres of landat Gurgaon (valued at Rs 43.54 crore) belongs toMahamaya Exports Pvt. Ltd., and 4 acres of land andbank balances worth Rs 23.03 crore of other accusedpersons.

ED initiated investigation under the provisions ofPMLA, on the basis of an FIR registered initially byGurgaon police under IPC sections related to cheat-ing, criminal conspiracy and forgery besides provisionsof the Prevention of Corruption Act. Subsequently thecase was transferred to CBI for investigation againstunknown public servants of Government of Haryanaand unknown private persons.

The Government of Haryana had issued notifi-cation under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 onAugust 27 and had issued notification to the effecton August 25 for acquisition of land measuring about912 acres for setting up an Industrial ModelTownship in villages Manesar, Naurangpur andLakhnoula of Gurgaon district.

A large number of land owners, in haste, had tosell about 400 acres of their land at throwaway priceto private builders and thereby caused a wrongful lossof Rs 1,500 crore to the land owners of Manesar,Naurangpur and Lakhnoula villages and corre-sponding wrongful gains to the realtors.

“Investigations under PMLA revealed that the pri-vate builders, to whom the licences were granted, madewrongful gain by conspiring with the public servantsof Haryana Government and politicians, who wereinvolved in decision making for release of land,” the EDsaid in a statement. Most of the land was purchased byABWIL Group controlled by Atul Bansal. After obtain-ing the licences, ABWIL had fraudulently sold thelicenced/ unlicensed land and licences to the private per-sons/ developers, making huge profit, the agency said.

Proceeds of crime consists of 14.56 acres of landof Mahamaya Exports Pvt. Ltd in which Atul Bansaland Sona Bansal hold 74 per cent of shares and fouracres of land and balances in the bank account ofother accused persons were provisionally attachedunder PMLA. Earlier in this case, assets worth Rs42.19 crore were attached.

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Speaking on the 50-day deci-sion making in the Modi-2

Government, Nadda said thesewere much more and concretethan taken during last 50 yearsof other parties and reflectspolitical will of the leadership.He said by 2024, 1,00,24,000houses with electricity, toiletsand gas connections would beready for delivery and make wayfor “ease of living”. He said by2024 every rural house will gettap drinking water which itselfwould be a “revolutionary step”.

PM Gram Sadak Yojanawill have 1.25 crore km roadsmade in rural areas, providingrural connectivity and creatingnetwork for business and mar-keting. He said Modi

Government has deleted 44labour laws and ensured theirminimum wages, improvedworking conditions, andupgraded their health, safetyconditions which would bene-fit 50 crore workers. He men-tioned pension for smalltraders which would help threecrore small traders.

Nadda said Governmenthas taken steps to supportwomen employment by helpingself-help groups in the countryby giving Rs 5,000 and Rs 1 lakhloan to them that would go along way to improve ruraleconomy.

Similarly, he said thescheme of scholarship to mar-tyred families in the army hasnow been extended to policeand para-military forces too.

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Mumbai: Three days after agroup of eminent citizens wroteto Prime Minister NarendraModi on the lynching ofminorities and hate crimes, 61high-profile personalities fromvarious fields on Fridayresponded with a counter state-ment against “selective outrageand false narratives”.

The July 23 letter by 49“self-styled guardians and con-science keepers” expressedselective concerns and demon-strated a “clear political biasand motive”, said the statementsigned by actor KanganaRanaut, lyricist Prasoon Joshi,dancer Sonal Mansingh andfilmmakers MadhurBhandarkar and VivekAgnihotri and others.

"It (the July 23 letter) isaimed at tarnishing India'sinternational standing and tonegatively portray the primeminister's untiring efforts toeffectuate Governance on thefoundations of positive nation-alism and humanism which isthe core of Indianess," thestatement read.

The document of selectiveoutrage, it said, comes across asan "attempt to foist a falsenarrative with the intention ofdenigrating the democraticethos and norms of our col-lective functioning as a nationand people".

On July 23, 49 personali-ties, including filmmakersMani Ratnam, AnuragKashyap, Shyam Benegal and

Aparna Sen as well as vocalistShubha Mudgal and historianRamchandra Guha, expressedconcern at the number of "reli-gious identity-based hatecrimes" and noted that Jai ShriRam' has become a provocativewar cry with many lynchingstaking place in its name.

In their statement onFriday, 61 signatories ques-tioned the silence of the letterwriters on their silence "whentribals and the marginalisedhave become victims of Naxalterror".

"They have kept silentwhen separatists have issueddictates to burn schools inKashmir, they have kept silentwhen the demand for dis-membering India, for makingpieces of her -Tukde Tukde –were made, they kept silentwhen slogans chanted by ter-rorists and terror groups wereechoed in some leading uni-versity campuses in the coun-try," the statement said.

The civil society leadershad noted in the open letter tothe prime minister that criti-cising the lynchings inParliament is not enough.

"What action has actuallybeen taken against the perpe-trators? We strongly feel thatsuch offences should bedeclared non-bailable, and thatexemplary punishment shouldbe meted out swiftly and sure-ly," they said.

The response, also signedby actor Pallavi Joshi, singerMalini Awasthi, film producerSaikat Mukherjee and formervice chancellor Netaji SubhasOpen University, RadharamanChakraborty, emphasised thatthe PM has spoken out repeat-edly against lynching.

"Prime Minister has spo-ken out against it repeatedlyand respective state govern-ments are empowered to takeaction. We would urge every-one to give up being selectiveand condemn lynching, dis-

crimination and desecration ofreligious places with equalvehemence when they occur.

"Instead of indulging ingrand-standing, personalitieswith a social and public profileought to generate greaterawareness on the need to tack-le and eliminate the mind-setthat leads to lynching," thestatement added.

Terming the open letter tothe PM agenda driven, thesignatories said the selectiveoutrage "makes us believe thatthey are working to a certainagenda and are only playinginto the hands of those forcesthat out Balkanise India".

Targeting those that sup-ported the July 23 letter, thestatement said they had beenquiet on issues like killing ofpeople for chanting 'Jai ShriRam', the exodus of KashmiriPandits from Kashmir Valleyand Hindus from Kairana inUttar Pradesh and not stand-ing beside women who arefighting the practise of tripletalaq.

Those who have signedFriday's statement also includeacademics such as DebashishBhattacharya from VisvaBharati in Santiniketan, AvadhUniversity Vice ChancellorManoj Dikshit, AnirbanGanguly of the Dr SyamaPrasad Mookerjee ResearchFoundation as well as MP andjournalist Swapan Dasguptaand yesteryear actor BiswajitChatterjee. PTI

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Lucknow: BSP supremoMayawati on Friday attackedSamajwadi Party leader AzamKhan for his sexist remarkagainst MP Rama Devi in theLok Sabha, saying he shouldnot only apologise inParliament but to all women.

"The indecent languageused by Azam Khan, an SP MPfrom Uttar Pradesh, against awoman presiding officer inLok Sabha yesterday hurt thedignity and honour of women,and is very condemnable. Forthis he should not only apolo-gise in Parliament but to allwomen," Mayawati said in atweet.

Khan on Thursday court-ed a fresh controversy when hemade a sexist remark againstDevi, who was in the Chair inthe Lok Sabha, sparking anuproar and demands for hisapology. PTI

9>������ ����� ���� ������,�� �*������� ����0��� � Kannur: A sessions court here

on Friday sentenced fiveCPI(M) workers to life impris-onment for hacking to death aBJP activist in 2008.

Thalassery AdditionalDistrict Sessions court judge PN Vinod also slapped a fine ofRs 1 lakh each on the convictsfor murdering K V Surendran(62).

The court sentencedThiruvangod residents

Akhilesh (35), M Kalesh (36),M Lijesh (32), Vineesh (25) andP K Shaijosh (28) in the case.

It also directed that the fine

amount be paid to the family ofSurendran.

The court, however, acquit-ted two persons in the case.

The prosecution case wasthat the convicts hacked todeath Surendran at his houseon March 8, 2008 to settle polit-ical scores.

The court relied on the tes-timonies of witnesses, includ-ing the prime witness Soumya,wife of the deceased. PTI

Kolkata: The West BengalGovernment on Fridayannounced a hike in the gradepay of primary teachers in theState on the fourteenth day oftheir hunger strike.

The enhancement of gradepay for trained and untrainedprimary teachers was notifiedby the school educationdepartment of theGovernment.

"The grade pay of trainedprimary teachers in enhancedfrom �2,600 in pay band 2 to�3,600 in Pay Band 3 and thegrade pay of untrained prima-ry teachers is enhanced from�2,300 to �2,900 in Pay Band2 with effect from August 1,2019," the notification said.

Members of Usti PrimaryTeachers Association (UPTA)have been on indefinite hunger

strike in front of Bikas Bhawanin Salt Lake, which houses thestate directorate of school edu-cation for the past fortnight.

"We have not seen theorder yet. But we have heardabout it. If this announce-ment is true we are not at allhappy. We are waiting for theGovernment's decision on therevocation of transfer orders of14 primary teachers," SandeepGhosh, one of the agitatingteachers, said.

State Education MinisterPartha Chatterjee had said onThursday that the Governmentwas ready to effect a hike in thegrade pay of the primaryteachers.

Chatterjee had reasonedthat the teachers were trans-ferred to schools having short-age of teachers. PTI

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Senior juristJ a g d e e p

Dhankar whowill replaceKeshri NathTripathi as theBengal Governor is likely to besworn in on July 30, sourcessaid.

The Chief Justice ofCalcutta High Court willadminister the oath to the newGovernor. Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee whohad earlier welcomed Dhankara former MP to his new assign-ment is scheduled to remainpresent at the swearing-in pro-gramme along with other dig-nitaries, sources said.

Dhankar will swear in asthe 20th Governor of the Statereplacing Tripathi who com-pleted his term on July 23.

Gandhinagar: The Justice DKTrivedi Commission whichprobed the death of two chil-dren who studied at a residen-tial school run by controversialgodman Asaram inAhmedabad in July 2008 hasgiven a clean chit to him and hisson Narayan Sai.

The commission's report,submitted to the Gujarat gov-ernment way back in 2013, wastabled in the Assembly onFriday, almost six years later.

The commission, however,held that school authoritieshad been negligent.

On July 5, 2008, decom-posed bodies of cousins DipeshVaghela (10) and AbhishekVaghela (11), studying atAsaram's 'Gurukul' (residentialschool) in Motera area ofAhmedabad, were found on thebank of the Sabarmati river.

The children had gonemissing from the school's hos-tel two days earlier. Asaram's`ashram', which housed theschool and hostel, is situatedalong the riverbank.

"There is no evidence tosuggest that in the ashram,Asaram-ji and his son NarayanSai performed Tantrik Vidhi(black magic rituals)," thereport said. "The managementof the gurukul as well as ashramauthorities are custodians andguardians of the children whoare staying in gurukul hosteland it is their duty to look afterthe children," it said.

"From the perusal of theevidence, the commission is ofthe view that the same is lack-ing by the management of thegurukul," the report added.

Parents had alleged thatAsaram and his son performed

black magic rituals on the twochildren, causing their death.

"Missing of Dipesh andAbhishek, from the ashramcampus from 3-7-2008 in thelate evening is due to the neg-ligence of the management andaccording to the commissionsuch negligence is not at all tol-erable," the report said.

The medical evidence wasconclusive and the possibility ofdeath due to drowning cannotbe ruled out, the commissionsaid. It also noted that noorgans were missing from thetwo bodies. It was speculatedearlier that some organs hadbeen removed. Following a vio-lent agitation demanding actionagainst Asaram over the deaths,the state government set up aprobe panel headed by JusticeTrivedi, a retired high courtjudge, in July 2008. PTI

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Morigaon (Assam): The car-casses of two rhinos have beenfound from Assam's flood-hitPobitora Wildlife Sanctuarywhich had recorded no animaldeaths because of inundationeven four days ago, an officialsaid.

Forest Protection Force inPobitora recovered the carcassof a rhino calf from the floodwaters near Amaramul Campinside the sanctuary on Friday,its ranger said.

The forest guards had alsofound the carcass of anotherrhino calf on Wednesday fromthe sanctuary which was flood-ed by the Brahmaputa, he

added. The cause of the deathof both the animals was drown-ing in the flood inside the sanc-tuary, said the forest official.

The entire PobitoraWildlife Sanctuary, the densesthabitat of one horned rhinos inthe world covering an area of46 sq km, was completely sub-merged by the flood watersforcing its wild animals toleave for the nearby highland,the ranger said.

Over 100 rhinos living inthe sanctuary have been facingserious problems as there is nogreen grass or sufficient food forthese endangered species, forestdepartment sources added. PTI

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Kolkata: The Border SecurityForce (BSF) on Friday appre-hended six Bangladeshi andone Indian national while theywere trying to cross the inter-national boundary illegally inWest Bengal.

"We had apprehended six Bangladeshi national and one Indian national duringthe night when they were trying to crossover to India and vice verse. They werearrested from various sectors ofMalda, Baharampore and Nadia," a senior BSF offi-cial of south Bengal frontiersaid. PTI

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Bengaluru: BJP Karnatakachief BS Yeddyurappa hasreverted to the earlier Englishspelling of his name BSYediyurappa, apparently influ-enced by numerology.

The change became pub-lic on Friday in his letter toGovernor Vajubhai Vala, stak-ing claim to form the gov-ernment, and later, in theofficial invitation for theswearing-in ceremony of theBJP leader as Karnataka chiefminister.

There are reports that theBJP strongman, who will

become chief minister for thefourth time this evening, hasgone in for the change basedon numerology.

He had changed thespelling of his name fromYediyurappa to Yeddyurappaafter he had to resign as chiefminister in 2007.

He had to quit barely aweek after becoming the CMas the then coalition partnerJDS reneged on its promise toshare power for 20 monthseach.

However, it seems to havefailed to bring him any luck as

the two subsequent terms aschief minister did not lastlong.

Meanwhile, BJP workersheld celebrations across thestate after the party stakedclaim to form the governmentthree days after the fall of theHD Kumaraswamy-led coali-tion front of the Congress andthe JD(S).

Party workers danced todrumbeats in various parts ofthe state, burst crackers andraised slogans hailing the BJPand Prime Minister NarendraModi. PTI

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Mumbai: The Bombay HighCourt on Friday reserved itsverdict on a plea filed by rightsactivist Gautam Navlakha,seeking that the FIR filedagainst him by Pune Police inthe Elgar Parishad-BhimaKoregaon case be quashed.

A bench of Justices RanjitMore and Bharati Dangre,which heard the plea, saidwhile some documents placedon record by police suggestedthat activist Navlakha wasinnocent, the rest of the mate-rial on record needed furtherinvestigation.

The case, in whichNavlakha is an accused, relat-ed to an event, Elgar Parishad,and subsequent violence atBhima Koregaon village nearPune between December 31,2017 and January 1, 2018.

He is among the five rightsactivists booked in the case.

Navlakha has been bookedon a slew of charges, includingsections under the UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act(UAPA), an anti-terrorism law.

On the last hearing earli-

er this week, Pune Police'scounsel Aruna Pai alleged thatthe police had adequate evi-dence to show that Navlakhawas complicit in the BhimaKoregaon incident.

Pai had also alleged thatNavlakha had links with Naxal

groups and banned terror out-fit Hizbul Mujahideen.

She had said the police hadrecovered some documentsfrom the laptops of RonaWilson and SurendraHandling, Navlakha's co-accused in the case, to provethe same.

However, on Friday,Navlakha's counsel, YugChaudhary, denied thecharges.

He argued that a mereclaim by the police of havingfound some documents withhis client's name did not provethat he was a "terrorist".

The bench, however, saidthat Section 13 of the UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Actalso provided for punishmentfor "advocating, abetting, andadvising on unlawful activities.

"Can you say that onlysomeone who drops a bomb isa terrorist, there are abetterstoo," the bench said.

"Some of the documentsgiven by police show inno-cence, others need an investi-gation. We will apply our mindand pass an order," the courtsaid while reserving its verdict.

The interim protectionagainst arrest granted toNavlakha by the high courtearlier this month will contin-ue till the verdict, it said.

The police had arrested thefive activists in August last yearin connection with an FIRlodged following a conclave —'Elgar Parishad' — held inPune on December 31, 2017,that had allegedly triggeredviolence the next day at BhimaKoregaon. PTI

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Mumbai: Former Lok SabhaMP Eknath Gaikwad was appointed the workingpresident of the MumbaiCongress.

The announcement wasmade by AICC general secretary (organisation) KCVenugopal through a statement on Friday, with party sources claiming thatone more person will beappointed to the post of work-ing president.

Milind Deora, who had

announced his resignation asMumbai unit chief owing to theparty's poor Lok Sabha show-ing, has been asked to contin-ue, sources close to the formerMumbai South Lok Sabha MPsaid.

Later in the day, in a state-ment, Deora asked the party'sleadership to take a decision onhis resignation.

"I trust that the party willtake a decision on the post ofMumbai Congress president atthe earliest," Deora said. PTI

Kohima: A political solution tothe Naga issue has to beachieved within a year becauseNagaland needs permanentpeace for development andprogress, outgoing Governor PB Acharya has said.

"And for this, we havePrime Minister NarendraModi, who has the will andguts to resolve the issue,"Acharya said while addressinga farewell programme, organ-ised by the State Government,on Thursday.

Noting that Nagaland isrich but Nagas are economi-cally weak, he said, "We alsoneed to march along withother states towards develop-ment and progress."

Acharya was sworn in asthe 19th Governor of Nagalandon July 19, 2014. His successor,

R N Ravi, is scheduled to takecharge on August 1.

He expressed hope that thenew governor will delivergoods to the people and workfor the solution of the Nagapolitical issue.

Ravi had been the Centre'sinterlocuter for the Naga peacetalks.

Acharya also offered toextend his support to the state,whenever required.

"I am leaving as the gov-ernor of the state but not theNagas, and I will always be atyour disposal," he said.

Mentioning that the Nagapeople were fortunate to havesuch an eminent personality astheir governor, Chief MinisterNeiphiu Rio said, the peoplehave been enriched throughhis guidance and leadership.

"Your support to the gov-ernments efforts towards real-ising permanent peace andsolution to the Naga politicalissue is well appreciated," Riosaid.

As constitutional head ofthe State, Acharya had a metic-ulous and exemplary tenure,the chief minister said.

"The state experienced afew political crises during thepast few years but the governorconducted himself in animpeccable manner and upheldthe Constitution of India inexemplary fashion, for whichhe deserves to be compliment-ed," the chief minister said.

Leader of Opposition T RZeliang expressed hope thatAcharya will continue to sup-port the Naga people for anamicable solution to the Naga

political problem.He also recalled the frame-

work agreement signedbetween the NSCN-IM gener-al secretary ThuingalengMuivah and the governmentsinterlocutor R N Ravi, in thepresence of PM Modi, onAugust 3, 2015.

As the governor, Acharyahad played his role in thisevent, which makes him anintegral part of Naga history,Zeliang said.

The agreement had comeafter over 80 rounds of nego-tiations spanning 18 years,with the first breakthroughmade in 1997 when the cease-fire agreement was sealed afterdecades of insurgency inNagaland, which started soonafter the country's indepen-dence in 1947 . PTI

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Srinagar: National Conferenceleader Omar Abdullah onFriday warned the people ofKashmir against boycottingthe forthcoming Assemblyelections in the State, saying itwould benefit the BJP.

He said the election boy-cott had benefited the BJP inthe 2019 Lok Sabha polls in theTral segment of Anantnag LokSabha constituency.

"If the trend of parliamen-tary polls continues in theassembly elections, then therewill be a BJP MLA from Tral,"Abdullah said addressing partyworkers here.

The NC vice-president was

referring to the BJP's lead in theTral assembly segment of southKashmir's AnantnagParliamentary constituency dueto poll boycott.

Abdullah asked the peopleto imagine a scenario wherethere could be a BJP MLA fromTral — a town where slainHizbul Mujahiddeen com-mander Burhan Wani and

Ansar Gazwatul-ul-Hind com-mander Zakir Mussa belongedto — pointing out a contradic-tion because of the boycott ofthe polls.

"Imagine, there will be aBJP MLA from the same Tralwhere from Burhan Wani andZakir Mussa were if there is aboycott," he said.

Later, referring to the con-troversy over his remarks withsome news channels accusinghim of praising the slain mili-tant commanders, the formerchief minister said he was onlypointing out the strange con-tradiction of the boycott anddid not praise anyone. PTI

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Akola: A gang of eight people,two of them from adjoiningMadhya Pradesh, was arrestedfor allegedly practicing blackmagic while looking for a "hid-den treasure" here inMaharashtra, police said onFriday. Acting on a tip-off, apolice team went to Dahikhedvillage near here on Thursdayand nabbed these people, allpart of a gang, when they wereconducting rituals at an agri-culture field as part of blackmagic, Akot rural police stationin-charge Inspector DnyanobaPhad said. PTI

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The Human ResourceDevelopment (HRD)

Ministry on Friday issued anadvisory informing that a fakeboard, which has cheated morethan 10,000 students fromacross the country, has beenoperating in the name of “Boardof Higher Secondary Education,Delhi’, and it has not given anyrecognition to the same.

"It has come to the notice ofthat one entity operating in thename of 'Board of HigherSecondary Education, Delhi' isclaiming to be a recognisedboard of education by us. Onscrutiny of the relevant recordsof this, it has been found that nosuch letters, as being circulated,have ever been issued by us infavour of the so-called board,"

the HRD Ministry said in theadvisory.

"Both the letters are, there-fore, completely forged and fab-ricated. It is abundantly clarifiedthat no letters have ever beenissued by the ministry recog-nising the said entity," it added.

The advisory stated that ifany other documents are pro-duced in relation to the board'srecognition, then the same maybe deemed to be fake and theveracity of the documents mayfirst be confirmed from the con-cerned organisation.

Delhi Police had inDecember last year busted agang operating the fake board."The gang has cheated morethan 10,000 students from UttarPradesh, Bihar, Gujarat,Chhattisgarh, and several otherstates. The fake board syndicate

also provided documents ofhigher education fromrenowned institutes of differentstates in the country," police hadsaid.

The ministry has advised allstudents, parents and otherstakeholders to not engage withthe fake board in any manner.

In a separate communica-tion HRD Ministry said thatstudents pursuing teacher train-ing courses, including BEd andMEd, will now be able to getdegree verification certificateonline with the NationalCouncil of Teacher Education

(NCTE) launching a portal forthe purpose. So far the processused to be manual. Union HRDMinister Ramesh Pokhriyal'Nishank' launched the portal atthe inauguration of the newbuilding of NCTE on Friday.

"The platform has beendesigned by NCTE to facilitateregistration of teacher-pupiland essential documentationwhile seeking employment asschool teachers," Nishank saidat the launch. According toofficials statistics, there are19,000 BEd colleges in thecountry and 90 lakh teachers.

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Following reports that thou-sands of crores have gone

into campaigning during theLok Sabha polls, Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee haswritten to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi seeking thor-ough “electoral reforms” andState funding of elections.

In her letter she has calledupon the Prime Minister toexplore possibilities of publicfunding of elections and buildup a consensus through an all-party meeting.

Public funding of electionswill lead the Government to bearthe expense of contesting theelections on behalf of the polit-ical parties.

She has referred to news-paper reports which alleged�60,000 crore had been spent inthis year’s parliamentary elec-tions saying such reports will notdo any good to India’s reputa-tions as a democratic country.Fearing that this amount may

surpass �1 lakh crore in the nextgeneral elections, Banerjee saidthe issue should be addressedimmediately.

“I urge you to call an all-party meeting with the singleagenda of public funding of elec-tions in India, with the objectiveof rooting out what has beencalled the mother of all corrup-tion,” the Chief Minister haswritten in her letter, sources said.

Referring to the lettersources said how the ChiefMinister has expressed her deepconcern about the degeneratingelectoral scenario. “She hasdrawn the Prime Minister’snotice for an urgent electoralreforms,” so that elections can beconducted in a “free, fair andtransparent manner,” a seniorofficial said.

State funding of polls mayimply the political parties con-tributing on their behalf the elec-toral expenses to theGovernment which will thenspend the money on their behalfso that transparency will be

maintained, sources said.Alternatively the governmentmay also bear the expenses onbehalf of the parties for fightingthe elections.

This will also ensure somesorts of level-playing field for allthe parties and the competingideologies, experts maintained.

The Chief Minister hasreferred to how State fundedelections take place in advancedcountries like Japan, Italy, UK,Germany, Canada, Australiaand France where the “politicalparties receive direct funding forfighting the elections.”

She said, “the poll expenditure of Parliamentaryelection in 2019 had crossed alllimits, reaching a minimum of�60,000 crore (�8.65 billion)and maximum expenditureremains unknown and could bemuch higher,” adding “may Ipoint out that combined expen-diture in the United States ofAmerica for Presidential andCongressional elections in 2016was $ 6.5 billion.”

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Pilibhit (UP): An FIR waslodged against 43 persons onFriday after a video showingsome villagers beating an adulttigress to death went viral onsocial media.

According to PrincipalConservator of Forests, SunilPandey the tigress had onWednesday attacked and injurednine villagers while they wereworking in an agriculture fieldin Deurea range of the Pilibhittiger reserve.

The forest staff rushed to thespot but was manhandled by thevillagers, Pandey alleged.

The staff later found thetigress dead, Pandey said, addingthat a three-member panelwhich conducted the postmortem examination of the ani-mal found broken ribs, injuriesand excessive bleeding as thecause of the death.

Later, a video showing thelocals beating the adult tigresswith sticks surfaced, he said.

A case was registered against31 named an 12 unnamed per-sons at the Puranpur Kotwaliand a probe is underway, apolice officer said. PTI

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Election from Vellore LokSabha Constituency which

was rescinded following theseizure of a large cache ofmoney from the residence andoffice premises of the DMKcandidate would be held onAugust 5. Tamil Nadu is in thegrip of another poll feverdespite the fact that the resultwould not make any impact onnational politics.

People are watching withinterest whether the DMKwould walk away with the seatas the party-led alliance won 37of the 38 seats where electionwas held in the month of April2019. The DMK-front’s onlyloss was at Theni where formerunion minister EVKSElangovan was defeated byAIADMK’s Raveendra Kumarby a narrow margin.

Vellore which has a con-siderable Muslim population isa DMK stronghold. The partyhas fielded D M Kathir Anand,son of local DMK chieftainDurai Murugan . Murugan ,

deputy leader of the DMK inthe assembly is a former PWDminister. The AIADMK hasallocated the seat to the NewJustice Party , one of thefringe groups in the region. AC Shanmugan founder of theNJP is contesting in the TwoLeaves symbol of theAIADMK.

Next week will see ChiefMinister EdappadyPalamiswamy and Leader ofthe Opposition M K Stalintouring the constituency solic-iting votes for the respectivecandidates. Most of the politi-cal observers are of the viewthat the DMK is likely to winin Vellore because there hasbeen no major political changesin the State over the last twomonths which could make anyimpact in the political for-tunes of the main contenders.

But K A Johny, politicalcommentator and a keen DMKwatcher chose to differ slight-ly from other analysts . “It istrue that there is nothingagainst the DMK as of now. ButShanmugan , who owns a uni-versity and medical colleges is

a rich man and in Tamil Nadupolitics money matters a lot.You should take note of whathappened in the case of T RParivendhar, who contestedfrom Perambalur under theDMK symbol. He won with amargin of more than 4 lakhvotes though he is a non-enti-ty in the State,” said Johny.Parivendhar owns the SRMUniversity in Chennai andheads a party by name IndiaJananayaka Katchi. He wasimprisoned in a cheating casefor weeks by the Tamil NaduPolice but still managed to winthe election, pointed out Johny.

The Vellore election is aprecursor to the two Assemblyby-elections to be held fromTamil Nadu. Nanguneri assem-bly constituency fell vacantfollowing the resignation ofVasanth Kumar (Congress)who was elected to the LokSabha while K Radhamani, theDMK legislator representingthe Vikravandi constituencydied last month. Moreover,Tamil Nadu is getting ready forthe local body elections whichare long overdue.

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Jalpaiguri (West Bengal): Tenpeople were electrocuted afterthey came in contact with ahigh tension wire in WestBengal's Jalpaiguri district onFriday, police said.

Their condition is stable,the police said.

The incident occurred atMainaguri block's Uller Dabriarea on Friday afternoon whenthey were boarding a Siliguri-bound private bus and a 11,000volt overhead wire snappedand fell on them, Mainaguripolice said.

Deaths were averted as thepower connection in the wiregot disconnected as soon as itsnapped, he said.

Five of the injured havebeen shifted to Siliguri super-specialty hospital, the policesaid. PTI

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Guwahati: Assam IndustryMinister Chandra MohanPatowary on Friday said a geo-graphical indication (GI) tagwould have helped "save" thestate's ailing tea industry.

Opposition Congress MLARupjyoti Kurmi raised the issueof the tea industry in theassembly, stating that GST andhigh fuel prices were some ofthe deterrents to its economicprogress. "Despite noticingthese shortcomings, there is nosincerity of the state govern-ment to revive the tea industry,"Kurmi alleged.

In reply, Patowary said

there are two lakh small teagrowers in Assam, but they arenot getting the just price fortheir produce.

"Our tea has not been ableto compete with the new vari-eties of tea... The big tea leafsellers blend our tea with otherteas and then brand them tosell as theirs, because we do nothave GI (tag) for Assam Tea,"Patowary said. "If we had GI, itwould have saved the state's teaindustry. Our government hastaken it up so that Assam Teacannot be used and brandedwithout our permission," theminister added. PTI

Lucknow: The Uttar PradeshGovernment on Friday said ithas accepted recommendationsof a committee formed after theYamuna Expressway accidentfor breath analyser test of dri-vers travelling on longer routes.

Twenty-nine people werekilled and 18 others injuredwhen their bus veered off theYamuna Expressway andplunged into a deep drain onJuly 8.

"We have accepted the rec-ommendation of the commit-tee formed after the Yamunaexpressway incident that breathanalyser test of long routes beconducted," ParliamentaryAffairs Minister Suresh KumarKhanna said.

He was replying to a ques-tion in state legislative assem-bly.

When asked about the rea-sons which led to the accident,Khanna said nothing concretecould be said about the state inwhich the driver was at thattime.

"The bus before falling intogorge ran 50 metres. The steer-ing of vehicle should have beenturned, which was not. Nothing

could exactly be said about thestate of the driver as the post-mortem report says he died dueto drowning," the minister said.

He said the duty of the busdriver on that fateful day wasscheduled as per norms.

"He had joined after threedays of leave and took the busat 11 pm on the route on whichhe had gone earlier as well. Asper the norm, a long route dri-ver is put on eight-hour dutyand half-an-hour rest after five-hour travel. In a week, driversworking hours are fixed at 54hours," Khanna said.

According to the UP StateRoad Transport Corporation(UPSRTC) officials, it has beenrecommended to use breathanalyser on each driver beforeand after completion of everytrip.

The corporation officialsare in the process to equip 286government-run bus stations inthe state with breath analysers.

Any bus driver founddrunk during checking will besuspended immediately whilecontractual drivers will beremoved from the service onthe spot, the officials said. PTI

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Mumbai: Sounding an orangealert for Raigad, Ratnagiri andSindhudurg districts ofMaharashtra, the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) on Friday also predict-ed heavy to very heavy rainfallin Mumbai, Thane and NaviMumbai in the next 24 hours.

An orange alert signifiesthat the authorities should getready for necessary action.

"We have issued an orangealert for Raigad, Ratnagiri andSindhudurg districts. An orangealert is merely a warning forauthorities to get prepared,while a red alert directs them totake action as the situationmight turn severe," an IMDofficial said.

"Heavy to very heavy rain-fall is likely in Mumbai, Thane,

and Raigad districts, whileextremely heavy rainfall is like-ly at isolated places in Palghardistrict," the official added.

Meanwhile, K S Hosalikar,Deputy Director General(DDG) of the IMD tweeted,"Rainfall in last 24 hrs at morn-ing 6.30 am today in Mumbaiand around: few stations report-ed heavy rainfall in Mumbai andNavi Mumbai. Rest it was mod-erate as expected. Today watchfor more rains please." PTI

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Pakistan Prime Minister ImranKhan has been walking thetightrope of the genealogical andevolutionary compulsions that areunique to his nation. His jazba

(passion) of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)had stormed the elections in 2018 andpromised a “Riyasat-e-Madina”, where all cit-izens are equal in the eyes of the law withguaranteed full fundamental rights — anidyll that is historically, Constitutionally andpractically undeliverable.

Acknowledging the enormity of hispromise and reset, he instinctively suggest-ed reconstructing the edifice of Pakistan andrechristened it as “Naya Pakistan.” The inher-itance of an economy in slide with risingdebts, falling currency, inflation and deplet-ed coffers had him scurrying to the Arab cap-itals, Beijing and even to the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF). This to impress uponthem an economically-prudent, austere andreformist agenda that would no longer beprofligate or reckless with the sanctioned“aid.”

This entailed the toning down of hisanti-IMF tirade that he had invoked duringthe pre-election campaigning, as indeed, per-sonally chauffeuring the all-importantPrincelings from the rival camps of SaudiArabia and Qatar. While money has start-ed trickling in bits, it has extracted a severeprice from the common citizenry as they reelunder spiralling price rises and shortages.

The onerous task of re-setting to “NayaPakistan” essentially implies the reneging ofvarious Pakistani positions. The opening actof the tenure was lavish in promising suchchange, including the famous “If Indiatakes one step, Pakistan will take two.” Theoptics and soundbites emanating from theprime ministerial house were in conformi-ty with the naya way of things and soon theusual ostentatiousness was frowned uponand the all-powerful razzmatazz was suppos-edly cut.

The world at large waited with batedbreath to figure out if it was yet another exer-cise in political posturing or if Pakistan hadindeed evolved to the portents of “NayaPakistan.” But the cracks showed up almostimmediately as Imran Khan succumbed tothe nation’s ingrained bigotry and droppedthe economist, Atif Mian, from the econom-ic advisory, apparently on account of hisbelonging to the minority and the persecut-ed Ahmediya faith.

From the Indian perspective, ImranKhan continued making naïve statementsagainst terrorism while the Pakistani incor-rigibility continued in Afghanistan. Then thePulwama episode happened. The trustdeficit between Pakistan and all its irateneighbours (India, Afghanistan and Iran)widened. A certain disillusionment againstthe built-up hype of “Naya Pakistan” start-ed afresh.

The US was already breathing downPakistan’s neck for its duplicity and US

President Donald Trumpfamously tweeted that Pakistandoes not “do a damn thing” inreturn for the billions of dollarsin American “aid.” Imran Khanretaliated and tweeted back:“No Pakistani was involved in9/11 but it decided to participatein the US’ war on terror” andadded, “Pakistan suffered 75,000casualties in this war and over$123 billion was lost to theeconomy.” US aid “was a minus-cule $20 billion.” The free-for-allbetween Pakistan and the USensured that Islamabad swungeven more sharply towards thewilling arms of Beijing andalmost started behaving like abeholden and vassal state ofChina.

Providentially, for ImranKhan and Pakistan, the whim-sical Trump, who had rantedagainst the Pakistani establish-ment, had a re-think on hisAfghanistan strategy andrealised that he would need theservices of its bête noire ie,Pakistan, in extricating itselfout of the mess in Afghanistan.

In a move reminiscent ofdumping Afghanistan in thelurch after ensuring the Soviet-withdrawal from Kabul, the USis yet again working towards asimilar vacuum; with Pakistanrubbing its hands in glee.Suddenly, Islamabad is back infavour as all is seemingly forgot-ten and forgiven and ImranKhan is back to reverse-swing-ing his “Naya Pakistan” withrevised gusto — this time inWashington, DC.

Both Pakistan and the USare masters of selective amnesiaand their dalliances of the past,which included flying and fetingof the Afghan mujahideen to theWhite House and supportingthese warlords with weapons,have become a lost memory.Both Imran Khan and Trumpnow shake hands and the formerthanks the Presidents of theUnited States of America(POTUSA) with “his under-standing of Pakistan’s point ofview!”

The incredulity continueswith Imran Khan promising, “Iwant to assure President Trump,Pakistan will do everythingwithin its power to facilitate theAfghan peace process” — a rotestatement that has consistentlyand unfailingly been dishon-oured by Pakistan.

The hapless Afghan regimeof Ashraf Ghani looks on withshocked bewilderment and NewDelhi is left having to deal withTrump’s creative memory ofPrime Minister Modi apparent-ly asking him to mediate inKashmir!

The US President’s state-ments were rightfully, stronglyand unequivocally slammed byNew Delhi as outrightly incor-rect and the same got acknowl-edged by other functionaries atthe Capitol Hill. However, ImranKhan persisted with his façadeof “surprise” at the Indianresponse to “Trump’s offer ofmediation” as he feigned igno-rance at India’s unwavering andconsistent stand on a bilateral

framework on Kashmir. Today, Imran Khan is on a

charm offensive both domesti-cally (flying commercial) andinternationally, staying at hisAmbassador’s residence to avoid“unnecessary expenditure.”Trump has added one more tohis embarrassingly long list ofdocumented inexactitudes,which now “exceed 10,000.”

Both the US and Pakistanare again in a convenient andtactical huddle that suits theirindividual and topical urgen-cies, without bothering aboutthe past, present or future withsuch tenuous underpinnings.Beyond the reality of US-Pakistan sparring openly, just afew months back, this regionhas not forgotten the murkyhistory of American hand in thebloodshed of the 1980s duringthe height of the Cold War orindeed in India with the US’seventh fleet sailing menacing-ly towards the Bay of Bengal in1971. It would be premature foreither the US to trust thePakistanis or vice versa as his-tory suggests that both nationsultimately succumb to theirbasic instincts and while India,Afghanistan and Iran will licktheir wounds for now — the“deep state” within Pakistan willultimately rear its head andboth Trump and Khan willend up looking like their pre-decessors.

(The writer, a military veter-an, is a former Lt Governor ofAndaman & Nicobar Islandsand Puducherry))���������*������+���������

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “India on the moon” (July23). Scientists at the IndianSpace Research Organisation(ISRO) have achieved a spectac-ular success with the launch ofChandrayaan 2. India hasbecome the fourth nation afterthe United States, Russia andChina to send a mission to themoon. One hopes that the lan-der, Vikram, and the moonrover, Pragyan, will function asplanned.

NR RamachandaranChennai

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “BoJo joins the gang!” (July26). It is far easier to come upwith a cool acronym than man-aging the Brexit in favourableterms. By agreeing to leave theEuropean Union (EU), theBritish inflicted self-harm. Withsuch a massive divide betweenpeople across their society, noone knows what would happennext and what should be done.

Boris Johnson, the new

Prime Minister of the UK, hashis task cut out. The October 31deadline to leave the EU is notfar away. He should look for ameaningful and logical solu-tion to crack a deal with otherEuropean nations. The bestoption for the UK is to stay putin the EU. It will be a win-winsituation for both.

Bal GovindNoida

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“BoJo joins the gang!” (July 26).Over time, the mighty Britishempire has been reduced to a merekingdom even as the centres of itseconomy shifted elsewhere. Theglobal economic downturn of2008 aggravated problems as itstruggled to provide jobs to its

natives. Britain, like most liberaldemocracies, found a scapegoat inits immigration policies. Rightwingers everywhere lost little timein grasping the coat-tails of neo-nationalism and isolationism.

Brexit was floated as a politicalteaser, a trial balloon. None hadexpected it to turn menacingly realand burst on a disillusioned popu-lace. Soon enough, the UK not onlytied itself into knots over Brexit but

thrust many nations into the chaos.The anointment of Boris

Johnson as the nation’s PrimeMinister is ominous. Boris, muchlike US President Donald Trump,comes with a colourful personalhistory, having solutions up hissleeve for everything and sport-ing a loose tongue. Both revel inriding an opportunistic vehicle ofhollow nationalism. While Trumphas managed to traverse this far,armed with the might of his dol-lar and an ardent fan club, Borismay well succeed in draggingdown both the pound andBritain’s stature in global politics,trade and finance.

R Narayanan Navi Mumbai

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Sir — With the auto industry fac-ing its worst slump, the situationcalls for immediate attention of theGovernment in order to save thisindustry from a huge fall and theconsequent serious impact onemployment and the economy.

ShubhamVia email

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The nationalisation of the 14 largest com-mercial banks on July 19, 1969, by the thenIndira Gandhi Government, was the most

significant decision, which has had wide impli-cations across the economy even 50 years later.These 14 banks accounted for 85 per cent of thebank deposits in the country. Nationalisation wasdone to free up the banks from the hands of afew industrial houses, who tried to use thedepositors’ money under their control toincrease credit flow and thereafter address therank neglect of rural and agricultural sectors,which were starved of funds.

Circumstances leading to nationalisationRecognising the need to improve the flow

of credit in rural areas as also the agriculturalsector, the then Government took the move tonationalise 14 large banks by passing theBanking Companies (Acquisition and Transferof Undertaking) Bill in 1969. India’s agricultur-al growth had just started recovering after thesuccessive drought years of 1966 and 1967 withhelp from green revolution technologies, whichresulted in more intensive farming than tradi-tional methods. Industrial recovery, too, had justbegun after the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war and by1968, the country recorded an industrial growthof 6.2 per cent. All of these created huge demandfor credit across sectors, especially from farm-ers and small-scale industrialists. Petty business-men, farmers and consumers suffered a cashcrunch all those years as business houses main-tained their dominant position and the banksfocussed on giving credit to them with an aimto earn profits. This total neglect of agricultureand the rural sector by private banks prompt-ed the Government to nationalise the banks andtake direct control of credit delivery. The movealso made banking in unbanked areas a realitywhile also giving a powerful tool to a vast major-ity of weaker sections, including the rural andagricultural farmers and labourers. This was themost prudent decision taken by the IndiraGandhi Government at that time.

Shift from class to mass bankingImmediately after the nationalisation of

banks, a plethora of measures was taken by suc-cessive Governments to enhance the flow ofcredit so as to make it accessible to diverse sec-tions of society. The focus of banks shifted from‘class banking’ to ‘mass banking’. The commit-ment to spread the reach of banks began withthe introduction of the Lead Bank Scheme (LIS)in 1969, the constitution of the State LevelBankers’ Committee (SLBC), district creditplans, priority sector lending (PSL) norms in1974, branch expansion policy and the forma-tion of Regional Rural Banks in 1975.

Spread of banking networkWith nationalisation, unreachable and

unbanked areas were easier to reach. The num-ber of bank branches increased from 8,187 in1969 to 59,752 in 1990, to 1,41,756 as of March,2019. The share of rural and semi-urbanbranches increased from 58.4 per cent to 77.2per cent, to 62.89 per cent during the same peri-od. The total network of rural and semi-urbanbranches increased from 4,781 in 1969 to46,128 by 1990 and further increased to 89,144in March 2019. In addition, 1.26 lakh bankmitras (business correspondents) provide

branchless banking in villages. Now, one ATMis available for every three villages and for every375 people, one Point of Sale is available in India.Effectively, 80 per cent of adults aged 18 andabove have a bank account as of today. Of the36 crore new savings bank deposit accountsopened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan DhanYojana till May 2019, Public Sector Banks (PSBs)accounted for 96.6 per cent, reflecting their suc-cess in achieving socially responsible banking.

Banks as an extended arm of theGovernment

The nationalised banks, now popularlyknown as PSBs, played a major role in the imple-mentation of a plethora of credit-linked inter-est subsidy schemes. Programmes such as theIntegrated Rural Development Programme(IRDP), Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana(SGSY), Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), Self HelpGroup-Bank Linkage Programme (SBLP),MUDRA loans and the most recent one, JanDhan Aadhaar Mobile initiative, all depend onthe banks to distribute subsidies so as toachieve the target of integrated rural develop-ment, higher interest subvention, facilitatedebt-waiver schemes and, thus, fulfill themandatory lending norms for agriculture andsmall-scale industries. Further, a wide networkof PSBs has helped in the implementation of var-ious Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes likesubsidy on LPG gas, MGNREGA wages, assis-tance under PM-KISAN, Rythu Bandhu schemeand various other pension schemes ensuringtransparency and zero leakages.

Flipside of nationalisationAlthough nationalisation of banks worked

well until the 1980s, the Government overstayedits welcome and delayed the process of privati-sation, which was badly needed under changedcircumstances. The administered interest ratesand the burden of direct lending to priority sec-

tor constrained the autonomy of PSBs to oper-ate on commercial lines. The mandatory expan-sion of branches in unbanked centres with lowbusiness potential impacted their working.Regulatory entry barriers for private sector tomake a foray into the banking sector acted ashindrance for the development of a healthy com-petition between the two. Too much involvementof the Government in the banks’ operations andfailure to invest in new technology perpetuat-ed the inefficiency of the banking sector for aprolonged period.

Entry of private sector banksSince 1993, the entry of new private sector

banks brought new technology and institution-al innovations. Their entry infused the much-needed competition in the banking sector. Postthis, the PSBs had to compete with the privatebanks in spite of their social responsibility ofmeeting various Government scheme targets. Ontop of it, PSBs had to also meet the capital ade-quacy standards in line with the Basel frame-work from time to time. Recent data from theReserve Bank of India (RBI) show that privatesector banks are taking away market share fromPSBs and will extend that pie from the current30 per cent to 40 per cent in near future.

High NPAs and lossesAs per data, aggregate gross advances of

PSBs increased from over �18.19 lakh crore ason March 31, 2008 to more than �52.15 lakhcrore as on March 31, 2014. This is due to thecumulative effect of the pressure to achieve socialbanking targets to cater to the low profitable sec-tors in un-bankable areas, frequent loan waivers,slower adoption of technology and inept mon-itoring and control systems.

Because of huge NPAs and losses, some PSBswere put under the Prompt Corrective Action(PCA) and were not able to cater to the grow-ing credit demand. To strengthen the PSBs, the

Government PSBs were recapitalised to theextent of �3.12 lakh crore, with an infusion of�2.46 lakh crore by the Government and mobil-isation of over �0.66 lakh crore by PSBs them-selves. As per RBI data on global operations(provisional data for the financial year endingMarch 2019), gross NPAs of PSBs have declinedby �89,189 crore from the peak of �8,95,601crore in March 2018 to �8,06,412 crore in March2019 (provisional data).

It is questionable as to how long theGovernment can infuse capital into the PSBsthrough recapitalisation by spending hugesums of tax payer’s money.

Way forwardThe current situation demands a totally dif-

ferent approach compared to the one taken in1969. There is a need for “denationalisation” and“privatisation” barring three to four large strate-gic banks. This will hasten the spread of banknetworks and establish a healthy competitionamong them as well as provide a wide choice tothe consumers.

Banks should be freed from all Governmentcontrols in exercising commercial activities,including stake sale, privatisation and mergers,to maximise their profitability and competitive-ness. However, the need is also for enforcementof stringent regulations, improved governanceand internal monitoring and control system toreduce NPAs so as to enhance trust in the bank-ing system. All large ticket NPAs need to bedeclared as willful defaulters and subjected tojustice to maintain good health of the bankingsector. Instead of brick and mortar bankingbranches, the focus should shift to simplified vir-tual banking systems with proper cyber secu-rity measures. This alone can take the outreachto remote people and areas.

(The writer is Principal Scientist, AgriculturalEconomics, ICAR)

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Politicians in Tamil Nadu, espe-cially those who are mouldedin the Dravidian gharana, have

a penchant for publicity and fame.They want to be the cynosure of alleyes wherever they go. Starting fromthe ward committee member to thepresident of a party, none is free fromthis “passion” for recognition. Theywill not move out of their housesunless they are accompanied by acavalcade of SUVs or cars, depend-ing on their hierarchy in the party.Ward-level leaders are accompa-nied by an army of followers in auto-rickshaws and two-wheelers shout-ing: “Thalaivar Vaazhka”, meaning“Long Live the Leader.”

If they are invited for marriages orany social get-togethers, the organis-ers must ensure that the larger-than-life size posters of these leaders are dis-

played along the route they travel.Vayapuri Gopalasami, popularlyknown as Vaiko, the Telugu speakingTamil leader of the MarumalarchiDravida Munnetra Kazhagam(MDMK), is no exception. Though heheads a letterhead organisation, hismission is to establish a separateTamil Eelam in Sri Lanka. He was aDravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)member of the Rajya Sabha for threeterms (1978-96). When he turned outto be a threat for the coronation of MKStalin as party chief, M Karunanidhi,threw Vaiko out of the party.

Vaiko had no option but to launchhis own political outfit, the MDMK.But he saw the writing on the wall wellin advance and sided with JJayalalithaa’s All India Anna DravidaMunnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).He was elected to the Lok Sabha in1998 with active support fromJayalalithaa and the BJP. When the lat-ter pulled down the then NDAGovernment led by Atal BihariVajpayee, Vaiko turned emotionaland jumped to the DMK. He waselected in the 1999 mid-term electionwith support from the DMK and theBJP. The MDMK managed to win foursears, including that of Vaiko.

By 2004, Vaiko turned secular,dumped the BJP and joined the UPA,led by the DMK and the Congress.Though his party won all contestedseats, Vaiko stayed away from electoralpolitics as he had been arrested underthe Prevention of Terrorism Act 2002and was detained for 18 months fordelivering pro-LTTE speeches.Jayalalithaa was adamant in her stanceagainst the LTTE and Vaiko failed todilute her hatred for the Tamil Tigers.

But his association with the DMKdid not last long. Some of his closeaides began to cross over to the DMKas they understood that Vaiko’s LTTEhopes would always remain apipedream. Tamil Nadu has a motleycrowd of LTTE supporters, whichincludes Maoists, Islamic extremists,Tamil nationalists, fringe politicalparties, some of the major factions ofthe Church and professional humanright organisations. They are allfinanced by the LTTE and these ben-eficiaries return gratitude through pro-Eelam speeches and literature.

What is common among thesegroups is their opposition to any kindof progressive measure taken by theCentral or State Government. Forexample, they demanded the abroga-

tion of the Supreme Court order thatbanned the taming of bulls. These werethe organisations, who stood againstthe Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant.It is the same crowd, which is againstthe Sterlite Plat at Thoothukudi andthe greenfield eight-lane Chennai —Salem state-of-the-art highway. Theyare also against the hydrocarbonexploration projects undertaken by theCentral Government-owned Oil andNatural Gas Commission. Whatmakes these agitations and groupsunique is the presence of Vaiko, whois always in the forefront. His double-standards with respect to the Sterliteagitation became a butt of jokes.

Vaiko is also among those who aredemanding the release of those con-victed for the assassination of formerPrime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. TheCongress is against any kind ofamnesty to these assassins as they wereall saved from the gallows by the topcourt and their sentence was convert-ed to life-term as part of amnesty. Itis strange that Vaiko has been brayingfor the blood of Sri Lanka, an islandnation strategically important to India.Our ties with Colombo should neverbe sacrificed to satisfy the ego and vest-ed interests of self-serving people.

KS Radhakrishnan, former asso-ciate of Vaiko, who switched over tothe DMK, mentioned in his blog, MyLove Affair with Don Quixote, the heroof a Spanish novel by the same nameauthored by Miguel de Cervantes.Alonso Quixano, a knight-errant,wanders all over the land in search ofadventures to prove his chivalricvirtues. Most of the characteristics dis-played by Vaiko have similarities withAlonso Quixano, who addresses him-self as Don Quixote!

Vaiko’s recent outbursts againstHindi is a point of interest. His “find-ing” is that the debates in Hindi havebrought down the standard of discus-sions in Parliament. His allegation thatHindi, Hindu and Hindu Rashtra areall the same should be viewed as astatement made with ulterior motive.In a country where nearly two-thirdsof the population speak Hindi, it is asin to portray that language as belong-ing to a particular religion. If whatVaiko said is right, he should put anembargo on the Tamil actors’ penchantto act in Bollywood. Vaiko should alsotell the Tamil film makers not to pla-giarise Hindi songs.

Hundreds of thousands of chil-dren in Tamil Nadu are denied the

opportunity to learn in JawaharNavodaya Vidyalayas because chau-vinists like Vaiko will not allow theopening of such public schools, citingthe two-language policy. It is a crim-inal offence to deny the poor and ruralchildren an opportunity to learn in apublic school, which charges nothingfor quality education. The Congressremained a mute spectator even asVaiko rubbished the very concept ofJawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya,launched by its own leader as part ofthe New Education Policy 1985. TheCongress is afraid to tell this DonQuixote to stay away from preventingthe opening of the schools in the State.Tamil Nadu is the only State whichdoes not have a single NavodayaSchool thanks to the hardliners.

It may be a strange coincidencethat while children of poor parentsstruggle to get admission in privateschools, sons and daughters of lead-ers like Vaiko get admitted to the bestschools and universities all across thecountry. Most of them end up as highpaid managers in multi-national cor-porations or as monopoly dealers oftobacco products manufactured byMNCs. Vaiko’s love for Tamils in SriLanka itself is dubious. It was during

the Manmohan Singh tenure that theSri Lankan Army tamed the last chal-lenge put up by the LTTE terrorists.A person no less than GotabayaRajapakshe, former defence secretaryand the brain behind the obliterationof the Tamil Tiger terrorists, had toldThe Pioneer that the IndianGovernment as well as the then TamilNadu Government led by MKarunanidhi were kept in the loopabout the Sri Lankan Army’s actions.

If Vaiko has any decency left andif he still loves Sri Lankan Tamils, heshould maintain safe distance fromboth the Congress and the DMKinstead of criticising Hindi debates inParliament. Vaiko can never survivewithout publicity and media coverage.It is because of this reason that heattacked Hindi language. Now, whenhe makes an appearance in the RajyaSabha, thanks to an act of charity byDMK president MK Stalin, he wouldbe the “cynosure.” But Stalin sitting inthe DMK headquarters may be chuck-ling. It was the same Vaiko who hadchallenged Stalin’s elevation in theDMK and left the party to formMDMK. Strange are the ways of fate!

(The writer is SpecialCorrespondent, The Pioneer)

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After deciding to privatisesix major airports in

February this year, the Centralgovernment is planning to pri-vatise 20-25 more in the nextphase with an expectation thatthere will be a significant par-ticipation by foreign airports,said AAI ChairmanGuruprasad Mohapatra onFriday.

Adani Group had won thebids to operate, manage anddevelop the six airports —Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur,M a n g a l u r u ,Thiruvananthapuram, andGuwahati — which theAirports Authority of Indiahad put up for privatisation inthe first round.

“We have privatised sixairports... We are now planningto privatise 20-25 airports innext phase,” said Mohapatra ata press briefing here.

He said the AAI will decidethe names of these airports —with annual passenger trafficover 1.5 million — soon andrecommend them to theMinistry of Civil Aviation.

“They will take a final call,”he said.

In the latest bureaucraticshuffle, Mohapatra was trans-ferred to the Department forPromotion of Industry andInternal Trade, which comesunder the Ministry of

Commerce.On Friday, Mohapatra said

he would take charge as DPIITsecretary on August 1.

Explaining about the plan-ning related to the secondround of privatisation, he said,“What we have done is we haveappointed a consultant tounderstand relative attractive-ness of various airports for pri-vate sector investments.”

“It is open for everyone tobid. There are tremendouspossibilities. With this (successin first round), I am sure thatin the next round of privatisa-tion we do, I am hoping to seea lot of foreign airports partic-ipating in it.”

He said airports such asDublin and Munich showedtremendous interest but they“probably required more con-fidence” and waited to see thesuccess of the first round of pri-vatisation.

“They have seen that nowthat it is successfully happen-

ing. So, in the second round, weexpect signification participa-tion coming from airports likethem,” he said.

In November last year, thegovernment had decided toprivatise airports in Lucknow,Ahmedabad, Jaipur,M a n g a l u r u ,Thiruvananthapuram, andGuwahati for operation, man-agement and developmentthrough public-private part-nership (PPP) model.

In February, the AdaniGroup bagged contract for allsix airports by winning the bidswith huge margins.

The AAI had chosen thewinner on the basis of the “per-passenger fee” offered by thebidders.

On July 3, the UnionCabinet had approved the leas-ing out of Ahmedabad,Lucknow and Mangaluru air-ports to Adani Group. The cab-inet is yet to approve the leas-ing out of the other three.

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The American economy hitthe brakes in the second

quarter, as activity declined inan increasingly skittish indus-trial sector and exports fell, butthe US continues to outper-form other advancedeconomies, according to gov-ernment data released Friday.

Officials also slashedgrowth for last year using newlyavailable data — cutting a cru-cial 2018 GDP measure to 2.5per cent, undercutting PresidentDonald Trump’s frequent boastsabout beating 3.0 per cent.

The new data covering thepast five years now show theworld’s largest economy actu-ally slowed in the year afterTrump pushed through asweeping tax overhaul.

The updated data alsohighlight how momentumdeteriorated in the final monthsof 2018, when the FederalReserve raised interest rates indefiance of intense pressurefrom Trump.

The central bank next weekis widely expected to cut itsbenchmark lending rate,reversing December’s increase.

The CommerceDepartment reported that GDPin the April-June quarterslowed to 2.1 per cent from thefirst three months of the year,slowing sharply from 3.1 percent growth in the first quarter,but that was better than expect-

ed, helped by strong consumerspending.

Taken together the newdata portrayed an economythat enjoys robust strength insome quarters but has begun tosputter worryingly in others,even while the US is outshin-ing sluggish economies inEurope, Japan and elsewhere.

Analysts had expected sec-ond quarter growth of just 1.8per cent, but the economy gota boost from strong consumerspending on autos, food andclothing.

Federal spending also tookits biggest leap in a decade —with non-defense spending ris-ing at the fastest pace in 21 years— a one-time jolt when thegovernment resumed payingemployees following the five-week partial government shut-down at the start of the year.

But that was not enough tomake up for tumbling invest-ment in factories and com-mercial buildings, which sankmore than 10 percent for thequarter, and falling incomefrom software royalties andother intellectual property.

Amid a global economicslowdown, weakening foreigndemand for US exports meantAmerican factories sold fewerautos, parts and factory equip-ment. The ailing Americanmanufacturing sector also pro-duced fewer non-durablegoods while retail and whole-sale trade softened.

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The Government on Fridayadmitted in Rajya Sabha

that doubling of farm incomeby 2022 was not possible withthe current rate of growth inthe agriculture sector, and saidit was trying to promote alliedsectors to achieve the target.

During the Question Hour,SP member Ram Gopal Yadavsaid going by the presentgrowth rate of 4 per cent in theagriculture sector, it was notpossible to double the farmersincome by 2022. Replying tosupplementaries, Minister ofState for AgriculturePurshottam Rupala said, “Weagree with Ram Gopal ji’s querythat it was not possible to dou-ble farm incomes with the cur-rent growth rate in agri sector.”

He said the raising of farmincome was not possible withgrowth in only one sector, but thegovernment was making effortsto promote allied sectors of agri-culture and that will aid in help-ing double the farm income.

Rupala also informed thehouse that the governmentwas making efforts to increasethe clusters under organicfarming and was giving themvarious incentives.

“We are running 20 centresfor promotion of organic farm-ing.... We have set a target ofsetting up 1 lakh clusters oforganic farming in this Plan,”he said.

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IT industry body Nasscomand property consultant

CBRE on Friday said they willmentor and support three star-tups that offer tech-based solu-tions for the real estate market.

The startups —Touchwizard Technologies,XLSYS Technologies andWEGoT Utility Solutions —were declared winners postthree stages of evaluation byindustry leaders from acrosssectors, CBRE said in a state-ment.

The National Associationof Software and ServicesCompanies (Nasscom) andCBRE South Asia had startedthis competition in May thisyear.

Srikanth Srinivasan, HeadMembership, Nasscom said,“We see this initiative as a stepforward towards building asustainable ecosystem forPropTech start-ups in the

country.”“We wanted to create a

platform in India that advo-cates PropTech and slowly butsteadily walk towards creatinga truly global experience forconsumers in the Realty sec-tor,” said AnshumanMagazine, Chairman andCEO, India and South EastAsia, CBRE.

C h e n n a i - b a s e dTouchwizard Technologies,which came first in the chal-lenge, deals in manufacturingand trading of video projectors,interactive boards, projectorscreens, interactive floor sys-tems, virtual field trip serviceand virtual reality kit trip ser-vices.

Bengaluru-based XLSYSTechnologies offers jobsitemanagement and analyticsservices for the real estateindustry. WEGoT UtilitySolution specialises in utilitymanagement and water man-agement solutions.

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Senior bureaucrat and formerfinance secretary Subhash

Chandra Garg on Friday tookover as the new PowerSecretary.

The senior most officer inthe Ministry of Finance, Gargwas shifted to the PowerMinistry on Wednesday.Thereafter he announced thathe had applied for voluntaryretirement from service onThursday.

“Handed over charge ofEconomic Affairs today(Thursday). Learnt so much inthe Finance Ministry andEconomic Affairs Dept. Willtake charge in Power Ministrytomorrow (Friday). Have alsoapplied for VoluntaryRetirement from the IAS witheffect from 31st October”, Garghad tweeted on Thursday.

An interaction of Gargwith media is scheduled lateron Friday.

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Markets watchdog Sebi onFriday eased the condi-

tions for exchanges to provideincentives under liquidityenhancement schemes (LES) inthe first five years of operation.

Under the scheme, brokersand other market intermedi-aries are given incentives for aspecified period of time tobring in liquidity and generateinvestor interest in securities,which have limited tradingactivity.

The move comes after theregulator noted that “anexchange in early years of itsformation or commencementof business may not be able togenerate profits or have freereserves from business opera-tions”.

Laying down the condi-tions for such exchanges, Sebiin a circular said the yearlyincentive that an exchange canearmark for LES will notexceed 25 per cent of its audit-ed net-worth as on the last dayof the previous financial year.

New Delhi: Reckitt Benckiser on Friday launched Vanish, an ’All-New’ detergent booster. Studies conducted by leading market-ing agencies Nielsen and Third Eye revealed that more than 60per cent consumers are inherently dissatisfied with their laun-dry results despite using premium detergents. Vanish aims to fillthe void in the market by providing home makers with the per-fect laundry solution. The Post use consumer research showedthat 9 out of 10 consumers after trying the product were moti-vated to buy the product. PNS

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The complexity of RelianceIndustries’ giant refinery

complex at Jamnagar has risenby over 66 per cent to 21.1, giv-ing it the ability to process awide basket of crude oil andboosting its margins.

The company in its latestannual report said the Jamnagarsupersite ranks first in the worldin complexity barrels, aided bybest-in-class refinery and petro-chemicals integration.Complexity index (CI) desig-nates the capabilities of a refin-

ery to upgrade the lowest qual-ity crude to the highest qualityrefinery products, includingfuels and petrochemicals.

“Complexity index ofJamnagar supersite, as per KBC,a global refinery consultant,has increased from earlier 12.7to 21.1 or a 66.1 per cent boostwith the start-up of Jamnagarexpansion projects, includingROGC and downstream units,Paraxylene complex andPetcoke Gasification complex,”it said. This gives the firm an“ability to run a wide basket ofcrudes”.

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Snapping its six-sessionfalling streak, equitybenchmark BSE Sensex

ended 51.81 points higher onFriday, led by select finance andprivate bank stocks.

While subdued corporateearnings, foreign fund out-flows and weak global cuescontinue to weigh on the mar-kets, hopes of above-averagerainfall in the next two weeksbuoyed investor sentiment tosome extent, traders said.

After a choppy session,the 30-share Sensex ended51.81 points or 0.14 per centhigher at 37,882.79. Similarly,the broader NSE Nifty rose32.15 points or 0.29 per cent tosettle at 11,284.30.

During the week, theSensex lost 454.22 points or1.18 per cent, while the Nifty fell134.95 points or 1.18 per cent.

Yes Bank was the top gain-er in the Sensex pack on Friday,rallying 9.64 per cent. BajajFinance soared 7.20 per centafter the company posted itshighest-ever quarterly consoli-dated net profit at �1,195 crorefor the June quarter. Other gain-ers included Hero MotoCorp,M&M, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors,Asian Paints and Kotak Bank,rising up to 3.21 per cent.

Maruti Suzuki inched up

0.78 per cent after the compa-ny reported a 31.67 per centdecline in consolidated netprofit at �1,376.8 crore for theJune quarter.

Vedanta, RIL, Bharti Airtel,ONGC, HDFC, Tech Mahindra,HCL Tech and Infosys wereamong the top losers, falling upto 4.26 per cent.

“Market recovered aftersix consecutive days of fallwhile the recovery was notsolid due to concern on Q1earnings. Expectation of aboveaverage rainfall in comingweeks provided some respite tobroad indices.

“A decisive up-move willrequire liquidity from FIIswhich is now in doldrums whileany signs of stability and devel-opment in economic activity

can change the situation,” saidVinod Nair, head of research atGeojit Financial Services.

Sectorally, the BSE auto,bankex, capital goods, health-care, industrials, finance andconsumer durables indicesended up to 1.98 per cent high-er. However, energy, IT, teck, oiland gas, utilities and power lostup to 1.01 per cent.

The broader BSE midcapand smallcap indices outper-formed the benchmarks, risingup to 0.53 per cent.

On a net basis, foreigninstitutional investors soldequities worth �126.65 crore onThursday, while domestic insti-tutional investors purchasedshares to the tune of �398.53crore, provisional data availablewith stock exchanges showed.

Elsewhere in Asia, mostbourses ended on a negativenote. Hang Seng, Nikkei andKospi ended in the red, whileShanghai Composite Index set-tled in the green. Bourses inEurope were also trading in thepositive terrain in their earlysessions.

On the currency front, theIndian rupee appreciated 7paise to 68.97 against the USdollar (intra-day).

Meanwhile, the global oilbenchmark Brent crude futuresrose 0.50 per cent to USD63.71 per barrel.

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New Delhi (PTI): The country’s largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Fridayreported 31.67 per cent decline in consolidatednet profit at �1,376.8 crore for the first quarterended June 30, on account of lower sales volumeand higher depreciation expenses. It had posteda net profit of �2,015.1 crore in April-June 2018-19, MSI said in a regulatory filing. Revenue fromsale of products was at �18,738.8 crore as com-pared with �21,813.8 crore earlier, down 14 percent. Depreciation and amortisation expenses dur-ing the first quarter stood at �919 crore as com-pared with �720.3 crore in the year-ago period.The company sold a total of 4,02,594 vehicles dur-ing the quarter, lower by 17.9 per cent as com-pared to the same period previous year. Sales inthe domestic market stood at 3,74,481 units, lowerby 19.3 per cent. Exports were at 28,113 units.

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JSW Steel on Friday reported a sharp fall ofover 56.90 per cent to �1,008 crore in its con-solidated net profit during the first quarter endedJune 30, due to rise in expenses. The SajjanJindal-led company had clocked �2,339-crore netprofit during the same period a year ago. InApril-June 2019, the company’s total expensesrose to �18,164 crore from �17,206 crore in thecorresponding quarter of the preceding fiscal,JSW Steel said in a BSE filing. The company alsoreported a fall in its total income to �19,953 croreduring the quarter, as compared to �20,577 crorein April-June 2018-19. Part of USD 14 billionJSW Group, JSW Steel Ltd has significant pres-ence in sectors such as steel, energy, infra-structure, cement, and sports among others.

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State-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB)on Friday returned to black as it posted a stand-alone net profit of �1,018.63 crore in first quar-

ter of this fiscal. Bank had posted a net loss of�940 crore during the corresponding April-Juneperiod of 2018-19. In the last quarter of fiscalended March 2019, the bank had registered anet loss of �4,749.64 crore. Total income roseto �15,161.74 crore during the June quarter of2019-20, as against �15,072.41 crore in the samequarter of previous fiscal, the bank said in a reg-ulatory filing. On the assets front, bank’s grossnon-performing assets fell to 16.49 per cent ofgross advances at end of June 2019, as against18.26 per cent of gross advances at end of June2018. Net NPAs or bad loans were at 7.17 percent as against 10.58 per cent year ago.

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Bajaj Auto on Friday posted 2.84 per centdecline in its consolidated net profit at �1,012.16crore for the first quarter ended June 30. Thecompany had posted a net profit of �1,041.77crore during the same period of previous fis-cal. Its total revenue from operations rose to�7,755.82 crore for the April-June period from�7,464.89 crore in the same period of 2018-19fiscal, Bajaj Auto said in a regulatory filing. BajajAuto said it sold 1,247,174 units during the firstquarter, up 2 per cent from 1,226,641 units inthe year-ago period.

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India’s largest telecom operator VodafoneIdea Ltd on Friday narrowed its consolidated lossto �4,873.9 crore for the June 2019 quarter. Thecompany had registered a loss of �4,881.9 crorein the fourth quarter of 2018-19, Vodafone IdeaLtd said in a regulatory filing. The merger of theIndia unit of Vodafone Group and Idea Cellularwas completed on August 31, 2018, and thenumbers of June quarter are not comparablewith those in the year-ago period. The revenueof Vodafone Idea for the June 2019 quarter fellto �11,269.9 crore as against �11,775 crorelogged in the January-March 2019 quarter.

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������ �����4$&�New Delhi (PTI): Gold

prices on Friday fell by �140 to�35,730 per 10 grams in the bul-lion market here due to lack-lustre demand from jewellers,according to the All India SarafaAssociation. Silver also declinedby �150 to �42,150 per kg dueto reduced offtake by industri-al units and coin makers.Globally, spot gold was tradingmarginally up at $1,418.80 anounce in New York.

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Script Open High Low LTPYESBANK 88.75 96.90 87.10 96.10RCOM 1.55 1.58 1.50 1.53BAJFINANCE 3050.00 3279.65 2995.55 3265.85TATAMOTORS 138.15 150.05 138.15 147.20MARUTI 5737.00 5955.25 5685.15 5805.55RELIANCE 1233.45 1242.00 1210.05 1214.10SPICEJET 143.00 144.40 141.50 142.05IDEA 9.74 10.00 9.12 9.25RELINFRA 47.40 51.30 46.90 50.55ZEEL 390.55 405.50 389.65 403.95PNB 66.50 69.55 66.00 68.00GRAPHITE 286.05 322.50 285.05 320.00INFY* 793.00 794.70 782.70 787.30RELCAPITAL 50.70 54.60 50.50 54.05HEG 965.00 1048.50 963.00 1038.75DHFL 55.00 56.55 53.50 55.00ICICIBANK 409.30 419.40 408.70 415.50BANKBARODA 111.10 114.25 110.05 112.55VEDL 175.10 175.60 162.80 164.05BAJAJFINSV 6761.00 7285.15 6626.10 7274.00IBULHSGFIN 615.25 639.80 613.35 624.15LT 1377.90 1396.80 1363.35 1391.85IDFCFIRSTB 38.60 42.90 38.55 42.40TEJASNET 100.00 100.00 83.10 84.55SBIN 341.45 346.10 340.85 342.50BAJAJ-AUTO 2540.10 2679.50 2506.15 2619.40HDFCBANK 2285.00 2293.40 2273.15 2276.30PHILIPCARB 115.00 135.05 114.00 133.25INDUSINDBK 1392.00 1422.00 1387.40 1415.95BIOCON 250.50 252.00 240.60 241.60RPOWER 3.60 3.67 3.56 3.64RBLBANK 455.00 466.10 453.60 456.50PVR 1725.00 1760.90 1662.95 1718.20TATASTEEL 441.50 447.95 435.75 445.25ASHOKLEY 72.30 74.85 72.30 74.25HDFC 2198.00 2198.60 2159.60 2168.50ASIANPAINT 1495.00 1530.00 1486.10 1524.60GMRINFRA 14.85 14.85 14.55 14.62BANDHANBNK 469.00 494.30 463.65 494.30SUZLON 4.00 4.78 3.95 4.62AXISBANK 723.30 732.30 719.10 729.85L&TFH 102.00 106.10 101.85 103.80JINDALSTEL 135.00 142.20 133.80 138.10ADANIPOWER 62.00 63.40 61.50 62.95PCJEWELLER 37.00 38.35 36.65 37.45HDFCAMC 2092.00 2208.00 2092.00 2194.35IOC 146.35 146.35 141.20 141.80SUNPHARMA 437.50 442.10 433.25 439.80SOUTHBANK 12.75 13.40 12.70 12.98UPL 606.05 610.20 589.25 600.00ADANIPORTS 380.20 384.15 377.30 380.50CANBK 239.45 246.45 235.00 240.10M&M 547.70 566.85 545.25 564.80BHEL 61.70 62.50 60.35 60.60JUBILANT 438.25 462.00 432.90 445.85SAIL 43.20 45.55 42.85 45.15HDFCLIFE 504.90 508.10 495.45 498.55SRTRANSFIN 985.00 1006.85 972.00 976.40CHOLAFIN 256.50 256.50 241.25 245.60BANKINDIA 74.80 78.25 74.80 76.10WESTLIFE 288.00 300.00 272.00 297.90SBILIFE 795.00 806.90 783.00 795.00STRTECH 151.00 158.25 149.70 157.00EICHERMOT 16438.00 17470.00 16343.05 17186.40TCS 2111.00 2130.10 2096.00 2108.80KOTAKBANK 1485.90 1518.50 1477.15 1511.00DISHTV 32.70 32.70 30.10 31.45JUSTDIAL 726.25 726.25 705.95 710.40INDIGO 1570.05 1605.70 1570.05 1578.70FORCEMOT 1129.95 1174.90 1101.15 1145.85PEL 1763.00 1838.40 1723.90 1797.25M&MFIN 305.00 306.00 294.75 296.50HEROMOTOCO 2399.65 2486.90 2368.00 2462.60TORNTPHARM 1625.00 1681.55 1610.00 1674.25HINDPETRO 270.90 276.60 257.80 275.30BHARTIARTL 338.95 338.95 328.15 334.00DLF 176.95 181.30 176.00 180.45FEDERALBNK 93.00 95.75 92.65 95.30TATAMTRDVR 68.05 72.45 67.55 70.85IBREALEST 105.80 108.00 104.30 105.85RAIN 89.00 99.00 88.60 95.95COALINDIA 209.75 212.75 205.45 210.70ICICIGI 1095.00 1149.95 1089.50 1143.70HEXAWARE 362.00 367.90 353.40 358.00ICICIPRULI 399.00 404.65 396.95 401.50NBCC 48.20 49.60 47.80 48.90JPASSOCIAT 2.50 2.60 2.45 2.57ESCORTS 470.35 487.35 467.00 473.25JUBLFOOD 1179.90 1218.00 1160.00 1212.30ONGC 143.35 144.35 141.35 141.85NIITTECH 1320.00 1320.00 1231.30 1305.00JSWSTEEL 247.70 253.40 247.20 249.65BOMDYEING 85.00 86.50 83.65 85.25TVSMOTOR 365.00 379.75 363.75 379.00GRUH 250.00 261.00 249.00 256.00BPCL 339.75 345.20 334.85 344.40UNIONBANK 70.20 73.45 69.60 70.10BAJAJELEC 408.00 408.00 375.40 377.70BEL 100.20 100.35 97.95 98.10BRITANNIA 2671.60 2681.60 2616.35 2664.05AMBUJACEM 214.00 215.50 209.10 213.35ADANIENT 129.55 134.15 128.55 131.75MANAPPURAM 115.55 116.45 112.60 113.10AUBANK 658.00 677.00 651.60 659.45ITC 269.80 270.90 267.00 270.30TATAELXSI 655.00 661.00 643.50 646.15TITAN 1085.00 1111.90 1084.00 1106.05SPARC 163.10 167.85 163.00 164.95DRREDDY 2655.10 2713.00 2623.05 2704.45

IFCI 7.80 7.90 7.75 7.78MOTHERSUMI 112.00 114.90 110.30 114.05HINDUNILVR 1734.50 1741.00 1719.70 1730.65IBVENTURES 268.95 279.80 267.00 270.10DMART 1418.95 1444.95 1414.40 1424.25AUROPHARMA 555.90 568.90 550.75 563.20KRBL 242.30 256.50 242.00 252.05RECLTD 145.50 147.90 141.30 141.90GAIL 134.15 135.70 132.50 133.00ACC 1587.00 1588.80 1568.90 1580.25ULTRACEMCO 4460.00 4525.45 4430.00 4500.00VENKYS 1323.95 1374.00 1260.80 1330.95SRF 2650.00 2764.00 2650.00 2738.05IGL 312.20 313.50 303.80 305.85WIPRO 262.00 264.65 261.20 263.60DABUR 423.00 429.60 422.30 428.10GLENMARK 425.00 433.30 424.70 426.20INFRATEL 264.80 271.55 264.50 270.05LTTS 1466.85 1474.45 1442.15 1448.00HAVELLS 690.00 703.90 679.05 698.45TECHM 655.00 655.00 641.20 645.00SOBHA 549.55 550.65 515.00 529.85NCC 74.40 76.75 73.65 74.95LUPIN 771.95 779.55 761.40 775.05AVANTI 319.05 328.85 314.00 322.70MPHASIS 926.30 938.15 890.60 926.35RITES 304.75 308.35 299.85 301.70POWERGRID 212.60 213.90 210.25 211.10PIDILITIND 1238.10 1253.00 1226.70 1242.50EXIDEIND 180.20 186.50 180.20 185.00TATAPOWER 61.35 63.10 61.00 62.30VIPIND 370.50 370.50 350.00 351.90RAJESHEXPO 717.00 726.85 685.00 709.05INTELLECT 233.60 235.00 226.40 230.00EDELWEISS 147.90 148.00 143.50 147.40JAICORPLTD 84.50 87.70 82.70 85.45UJJIVAN 269.00 276.70 267.60 271.30TATACOMM 481.85 508.70 473.50 492.85APOLLOHOSP 1350.00 1368.10 1324.00 1365.75MCX 835.30 848.25 816.90 844.25TATAGLOBAL 251.00 260.50 250.40 259.40KAJARIACER 478.30 484.00 465.00 484.00STAR 344.45 355.45 343.30 353.30PFC 112.55 113.95 111.75 112.50ABCAPITAL 85.80 87.50 83.60 87.05BEML 895.90 908.00 893.90 900.20SUNTV 476.85 495.15 471.95 491.20FCONSUMER 29.00 30.90 26.70 30.10LTI 1525.00 1528.65 1480.40 1491.00INDIANB 215.00 216.50 205.10 212.00SHANKARA 307.00 321.00 307.00 309.30DIVISLAB 1645.00 1673.00 1626.20 1669.60DELTACORP 145.60 151.00 144.00 146.95NMDC 108.60 111.85 108.10 111.60ABFRL 202.90 203.60 196.20 196.90HCLTECH 1002.05 1012.05 998.55 1001.45ABB 1404.65 1423.00 1371.30 1375.10DEEPAKNI 277.65 286.20 275.55 284.30NTPC 130.80 130.80 128.40 129.00WELCORP 122.05 123.75 117.50 118.20BHARATFORG 427.00 438.75 423.90 435.10BATAINDIA 1300.75 1328.00 1295.05 1322.00GET&D 195.45 196.85 183.00 183.60ORIENTBANK 73.30 75.00 72.20 73.15GSPL 206.30 210.95 205.15 209.95LICHSGFIN 529.00 529.00 518.60 523.30MINDTREE 690.00 697.80 683.25 689.50ATUL 3641.40 3687.50 3612.20 3651.40RADICO 304.45 307.25 301.60 303.05VOLTAS 576.05 585.25 572.35 582.80CANFINHOME 387.00 395.00 385.20 386.00KTKBANK 94.55 95.40 93.95 95.05DCMSHRIRAM 436.40 463.00 436.40 456.00TATACOFFEE 75.05 78.30 74.25 76.35PETRONET 231.05 238.60 229.70 238.30DCBBANK 194.70 196.50 172.00 193.10IRB 92.90 96.00 91.80 95.50NOCIL 93.00 93.00 89.65 92.00INDIACEM 94.85 97.00 94.20 96.25IDBI 30.50 32.50 30.30 31.25WOCKPHARMA 321.75 328.90 320.40 323.00

NAUKRI 2235.00 2282.70 2210.00 2225.15APOLLOTYRE 162.00 165.50 160.75 163.55REPCOHOME 322.50 332.25 322.05 323.55CIPLA 535.00 539.60 528.50 532.45HINDALCO 196.50 199.30 194.80 198.55BERGEPAINT 327.95 331.35 325.00 328.05MARICO 361.35 362.90 357.55 360.90TIINDIA 380.00 380.00 336.00 340.80GODREJPROP 943.15 952.60 933.00 947.30QUESS 452.55 454.60 445.00 448.35EQUITAS 111.50 115.50 111.00 114.00WHIRLPOOL 1525.00 1562.50 1491.35 1538.20ADANIGAS 160.40 162.95 159.05 160.80AMARAJABAT 638.40 653.05 635.80 650.25DBL 416.65 432.00 411.60 423.40IBULISL 116.80 127.85 115.75 127.85FSL 49.50 50.90 48.80 50.70SUNTECK 415.35 418.65 409.05 416.55GNFC 213.00 214.80 210.45 211.15CYIENT 483.50 486.60 468.50 472.00HEIDELBERG 195.80 208.40 195.15 206.60PGHL 4592.40 4848.90 4525.00 4780.00FRETAIL 419.70 428.00 416.00 422.55OMAXE 199.35 202.65 198.05 199.50CENTURYTEX 890.10 917.00 888.00 913.30JINDALSAW 76.00 76.50 75.00 75.90RAYMOND 664.50 686.30 662.45 682.50ADANIGREEN 48.75 50.35 48.20 49.60NILKAMAL 981.40 985.80 962.80 969.55PTC 60.10 60.20 58.55 58.85ADANITRANS 213.90 219.80 213.90 213.95GODREJAGRO 460.00 460.00 449.05 456.00TATACHEM 597.65 600.60 592.70 595.45MEGH 54.05 55.00 53.65 55.00HINDZINC 219.95 226.15 216.00 225.00HSCL 82.50 83.00 81.00 82.45BDL 296.50 305.10 295.50 300.00WABAG 302.00 312.50 302.00 308.95ITI 83.95 84.60 83.10 83.35CASTROLIND 124.55 127.15 124.15 126.10ISEC 226.00 227.50 221.50 225.90PERSISTENT 551.00 567.35 536.00 561.50SUVEN 235.55 240.00 232.15 235.70ENGINERSIN 103.75 106.95 103.05 106.70SYNDIBANK 35.35 35.80 35.00 35.15MUTHOOTFIN 591.55 596.00 583.20 591.00PARAGMILK 260.00 260.10 246.05 247.15TORNTPOWER 299.00 305.90 298.25 305.10TRIDENT 56.95 56.95 53.25 55.35PAGEIND 19010.00 19010.00 18371.30 18450.00INFIBEAM 40.90 42.90 40.20 41.15MAHINDCIE 188.30 189.35 185.10 186.70CARERATING 752.00 752.65 734.20 740.05UFLEX 211.85 224.50 211.05 221.35BBTC 863.25 876.35 862.15 866.90UBL 1414.75 1414.80 1388.45 1404.00CONCOR 525.00 525.60 512.50 517.35OBEROIRLTY 543.50 554.00 535.30 549.95BALKRISIND 701.00 735.00 701.00 720.85MFSL 414.70 426.00 414.65 425.00MGL 774.80 780.80 764.95 780.80KEI 452.80 463.90 449.60 461.00COLPAL 1143.30 1163.45 1138.35 1160.70JSLHISAR 67.10 71.35 67.10 68.80VBL 623.05 666.80 623.05 660.95JISLJALEQS 22.95 24.15 22.95 23.80INOXWIND 57.00 61.95 56.50 59.45INDHOTEL 149.90 149.90 143.60 143.95CADILAHC 231.00 234.85 228.60 234.40BAJAJHLDNG 3357.20 3434.00 3320.00 3385.35GRINDWELL 538.00 550.00 529.00 550.00NATIONALUM 45.35 46.10 44.90 45.90LALPATHLAB 1180.00 1180.00 1108.95 1120.70GALAXYSURF 1213.75 1240.50 1211.80 1240.50CGPOWER 20.35 20.65 19.70 20.10GODREJIND 456.05 463.50 451.10 453.00MAHSCOOTER 3749.65 4247.50 3612.20 4180.10CENTRUM 24.75 25.30 24.65 25.30GRASIM 870.00 879.70 869.45 873.80SADBHAV 162.00 168.10 154.90 165.25KANSAINER 408.00 408.00 400.00 403.75TRENT 430.00 430.00 403.00 405.05RCF 53.10 53.45 52.55 52.75JETAIRWAYS 38.95 40.00 38.95 39.40VGUARD 236.40 237.65 233.60 233.60SIEMENS 1173.05 1198.00 1171.45 1186.85CROMPTON 226.90 230.25 224.00 225.25SWANENERGY 104.20 104.80 103.20 103.90NHPC 22.65 22.65 22.25 22.40GRANULES 85.05 86.00 84.25 85.25ORIENTCEM 97.90 102.20 96.75 101.30GSFC 85.00 85.00 83.25 83.80NATCOPHARM 508.20 521.25 508.20 516.55GICRE 212.15 217.00 209.00 209.00ITDCEM 84.50 84.95 82.25 84.00GREAVESCOT 139.60 143.85 139.60 141.20IDFC 34.30 35.45 33.50 34.80SCHNEIDER 81.30 83.40 80.60 82.60GHCL 207.45 220.00 207.15 220.00JYOTHYLAB 156.30 160.75 156.25 156.80MRPL 54.70 55.50 54.50 54.50ALBK 40.10 41.00 39.75 40.20ASTRAL 1202.00 1221.30 1188.35 1212.00PFIZER 3155.65 3176.15 3140.00 3160.00LAKSHVILAS 60.00 61.85 59.50 60.55KEC 316.50 318.90 311.95 314.00ASHOKA 119.00 122.05 119.00 120.90TV18BRDCST 21.95 22.75 21.80 22.30NESTLEIND 11538.55 11664.00 11470.20 11641.00CEATLTD 856.45 862.05 843.25 850.25

TVTODAY 282.50 289.90 280.00 285.45JKTYRE 72.05 72.80 70.85 71.55RALLIS 157.00 158.10 155.00 158.00HUDCO 34.95 35.50 34.10 35.20DEEPAKFERT 87.55 89.90 86.50 88.65CHAMBLFERT 154.00 156.00 151.65 154.90OIL 156.30 157.55 156.00 156.30RAMCOCEM 741.70 753.75 734.00 751.65HINDCOPPER 33.50 34.05 33.30 33.40JAMNAAUTO 42.65 44.05 42.60 43.85EMAMILTD 321.55 327.00 319.00 324.00AEGISLOG 199.85 200.60 195.60 200.00ENDURANCE 950.00 950.00 905.00 919.90DCAL 215.55 215.55 207.00 210.00CUMMINSIND 748.60 749.25 733.00 741.40MINDAIND 284.85 297.80 283.55 297.00AJANTPHARM 880.00 910.00 875.00 901.15VINATIORGA 1843.20 1874.05 1813.30 1870.00NAVINFLUOR 589.50 599.20 582.00 584.00MOTILALOFS 543.25 575.00 540.00 563.85CHENNPETRO 193.05 195.20 189.90 194.25CHOLAHLDNG 479.55 479.60 462.45 463.50INOXLEISUR 314.10 314.80 311.00 312.00ALLCARGO 98.10 101.00 98.10 100.65GODREJCP 614.95 620.90 612.00 620.90FINOLEXIND 502.15 518.45 500.00 515.00JSWENERGY 67.35 69.00 67.35 67.85GESHIP* 241.15 242.95 236.25 242.50TAKE 104.95 106.30 103.35 103.60BAJAJCON 287.90 295.00 283.90 284.10SHOPERSTOP 398.00 406.45 386.65 395.00HFCL 19.25 19.45 19.15 19.35ANDHRABANK 21.60 22.30 21.50 21.70RELAXO 408.90 414.55 395.55 408.40GULFOILLUB 767.00 768.50 742.00 750.00SONATSOFTW 328.35 332.55 325.00 329.00EVEREADY 74.70 74.70 69.65 74.15CENTURYPLY 126.50 129.05 124.70 128.40CAPPL 424.00 425.75 407.90 416.70JAGRAN 94.35 95.25 91.05 91.50NLCINDIA 58.55 58.65 58.00 58.60HAL 678.40 685.00 673.35 679.70MAHLOG 417.00 417.05 407.05 414.00VARROC 430.15 438.45 429.00 435.00SCI 29.00 30.00 28.90 29.85FLFL 471.00 475.85 461.55 463.05MOIL 143.40 145.45 141.55 145.40PNBHOUSING 704.05 715.95 704.00 708.75KALPATPOWR 480.60 488.55 465.00 467.10REDINGTON 107.90 109.70 107.70 107.95OFSS 3299.00 3366.00 3299.00 3344.45SANOFI 6110.00 6213.20 6035.00 6162.05TTKPRESTIG 5840.00 5840.00 5709.30 5736.05PIIND 1094.55 1100.00 1083.00 1094.90JMFINANCIL 71.05 71.05 69.45 69.90GICHSGFIN 240.70 247.65 240.70 243.00J&KBANK 38.30 38.30 37.05 37.85ALKEM 1800.00 1826.80 1797.10 1797.10MASFIN 590.70 645.00 573.10 620.20GUJALKALI 437.25 437.25 428.10 430.20BASF 1080.00 1125.00 1080.00 1102.65CCL 243.55 253.95 243.20 244.20IOB 11.34 11.50 11.34 11.46GODFRYPHLP 715.00 721.20 706.50 710.00SYNGENE 310.00 313.80 307.35 311.90ERIS 398.95 403.95 398.00 400.60IFBIND 629.00 645.70 603.95 639.00MRF 53976.30 54900.00 53976.30 54337.05CENTRALBK 18.00 18.35 17.80 18.30HIMATSEIDE 143.70 146.90 143.00 143.20FORTIS 125.65 126.30 124.40 124.90PRSMJOHNSN 92.25 93.00 92.10 92.60CARBORUNIV 335.35 335.35 332.85 333.00GLAXO 1198.00 1214.00 1192.75 1209.85EIDPARRY 160.20 163.00 158.10 159.55PRESTIGE 265.75 268.20 262.35 262.45THERMAX 1105.80 1123.00 1090.50 1118.00MMTC 20.25 20.70 20.25 20.50GMDCLTD 71.10 71.40 70.15 70.25LEMONTREE 60.00 60.00 57.30 58.65KNRCON 274.40 275.85 267.75 271.60UCOBANK 17.20 17.50 17.10 17.25IPCALAB 940.10 951.00 933.75 951.00MAHABANK 14.30 14.65 14.15 14.50BOSCHLTD 14990.00 15125.35 14815.85 15004.05BALMLAWRIE 172.15 174.25 170.30 173.90NIACL 124.20 124.60 123.15 123.60SUNDRMFAST 440.95 444.00 439.35 441.70GUJGAS 161.85 162.85 158.70 159.10TVSSRICHAK 1626.00 1673.00 1613.05 1640.00PHOENIXLTD 684.65 690.00 673.60 678.25ASTRAZEN 1853.00 1912.55 1853.00 1870.40SHK 126.50 126.75 123.25 123.35LAXMIMACH 4424.65 4429.55 4400.00 4400.20THOMASCOOK 186.85 189.95 186.85 188.55LAURUSLABS 335.35 341.15 334.80 336.85DBCORP 166.35 166.70 163.35 164.80COCHINSHIP 356.00 362.20 355.80 360.00WELSPUNIND 53.20 54.10 53.00 53.85GSKCONS 7419.20 7452.40 7347.55 7401.55TEAMLEASE 2802.65 2829.00 2771.90 2795.00CUB 195.85 197.00 194.60 194.65PNCINFRA 190.75 191.90 189.00 190.20COROMANDEL 384.10 385.45 379.00 379.00EIHOTEL 163.45 165.00 162.85 163.60SJVN 24.10 24.15 23.95 24.10MONSANTO 2025.50 2096.00 2001.00 2049.50CREDITACC 528.00 537.75 528.00 537.75ECLERX 597.25 601.15 580.20 584.60TNPL 165.80 167.25 164.00 164.00

JKLAKSHMI 333.90 336.40 333.30 335.45PGHH 10685.00 10888.00 10534.60 10888.00MHRIL 211.15 224.45 209.75 223.90BIRLACORPN 573.90 592.85 573.90 590.00ASTERDM 121.80 126.95 121.40 126.90ZENSARTECH 216.55 218.00 210.55 214.75GPPL 79.70 79.80 79.00 79.30SYMPHONY 1223.70 1239.00 1212.10 1224.10ITDC 206.00 206.00 200.00 201.85SHREECEM 21180.60 21545.05 21033.45 21440.00GILLETTE 7080.70 7121.45 7029.85 7106.30SUPREMEIND 1089.45 1099.25 1089.45 1098.40GEPIL 792.00 820.05 774.80 791.40MAGMA 77.40 80.50 77.40 77.85ZYDUSWELL 1360.00 1385.20 1350.00 1359.95GDL 115.30 116.50 114.10 114.50BLUESTARCO 743.10 750.25 738.35 744.35BLISSGVS 156.90 157.00 154.75 155.00IEX 143.80 144.45 142.05 142.05HATHWAY 21.85 22.05 20.80 20.85NESCO 540.00 543.90 535.50 543.90MAHLIFE 397.45 400.90 389.80 394.50IRCON 371.20 372.25 366.40 368.10APLLTD 529.60 541.50 529.60 533.55TRITURBINE 87.90 87.90 83.10 83.25NETWORK18 22.20 22.45 21.90 22.25JSL 29.55 31.20 29.55 30.80FINCABLES 378.60 381.00 374.50 380.00SREINFRA 15.15 15.75 15.05 15.203MINDIA 20945.00 20985.00 20780.00 20861.80TATAINVEST 841.95 843.65 832.15 834.35FDC 161.00 161.70 157.45 158.80VTL 912.55 913.15 898.60 906.20JKCEMENT 941.10 985.40 941.10 978.20HSIL 220.15 222.60 219.00 220.10MINDACORP 95.00 97.90 95.00 97.00SIS 885.00 885.00 852.70 858.45SOMANYCERA 387.55 392.25 374.90 392.25AAVAS 1475.00 1475.00 1453.00 1465.05CORPBANK 24.00 24.25 23.75 23.95ABBOTINDIA 8660.00 8660.00 8544.80 8569.10RNAM 227.50 227.55 227.15 227.35INDOSTAR 312.00 315.50 311.00 313.30SKFINDIA 1848.75 1885.60 1848.75 1872.00TATAMETALI 557.00 557.00 553.05 553.05SUDARSCHEM 317.85 321.75 317.85 320.00TIMETECHNO 78.35 80.65 78.35 79.00

TIMKEN 691.00 697.85 685.00 685.05APLAPOLLO 1461.85 1470.30 1445.00 1447.40KPRMILL 562.55 583.00 562.55 572.90GFLLIMITED 906.00 913.00 896.30 910.00COFFEEDAY 195.90 195.90 193.50 193.65ADVENZYMES 155.85 157.85 154.40 157.50ESSELPRO 132.30 133.00 132.25 133.00WABCOINDIA 6092.65 6200.00 6092.65 6115.00SOLARINDS 1190.00 1198.00 1155.00 1155.00SHILPAMED 346.30 352.50 344.85 349.95HERITGFOOD 355.50 377.00 355.50 364.70BAYERCROP 3173.25 3176.70 3146.20 3146.20JBCHEPHARM 372.00 373.10 370.05 370.75SCHAEFFLER 4017.15 4064.70 4000.00 4060.75NBVENTURES* 91.50 94.00 90.55 93.75AKZOINDIA 1717.70 1738.60 1700.00 1728.60BLUEDART 2403.00 2415.85 2398.60 2415.85HONAUT 22450.00 23437.00 22450.00 23310.00UNITEDBNK 9.50 9.65 9.50 9.60LUXIND 1092.50 1107.10 1085.00 1091.65LINDEINDIA 494.45 503.35 494.45 501.20CERA 2536.05 2621.80 2530.00 2575.05ORIENTELEC 155.40 155.65 152.90 154.00TCNSBRANDS 731.10 738.45 728.05 728.10CRISIL 1361.60 1368.15 1351.50 1353.00GAYAPROJ 140.50 145.25 140.50 145.25FINEORG 1392.00 1430.00 1392.00 1422.00DHANUKA 385.00 385.10 375.70 379.15VMART 1902.35 1939.00 1902.35 1939.00LAOPALA 182.00 184.25 180.60 184.00MAHSEAMLES 416.65 416.65 412.30 414.10NH 223.55 224.65 221.00 224.65AIAENG 1723.55 1730.00 1710.05 1721.35APARINDS 523.45 530.00 523.25 529.45SFL 1270.00 1279.00 1260.00 1270.05MAXINDIA 60.65 60.80 60.35 60.65SUPRAJIT 191.15 193.20 191.15 193.20STARCEMENT 107.95 107.95 106.00 106.00THYROCARE 441.30 443.05 440.20 442.80JCHAC 1595.00 1595.00 1576.00 1595.00HATSUN 689.40 699.90 689.00 696.25ASAHIINDIA 201.00 202.50 201.00 202.50ELGIEQUIP 256.00 256.00 253.90 255.00SHRIRAMCIT 1414.45 1429.55 1414.00 1428.95

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11247.45 11307.60 11210.05 11284.30 32.15YESBANK 88.75 96.90 87.10 95.60 7.95BAJFINANCE 3046.50 3278.00 2994.00 3272.00 225.50BAJAJFINSV 6775.00 7298.00 6631.70 7279.70 497.40EICHERMOT 16443.90 17476.90 16327.20 17126.00 689.15INFRATEL 263.95 271.80 263.10 270.90 9.00HEROMOTOCO2397.80 2487.55 2366.50 2466.60 80.10M&M 545.90 566.40 545.00 564.70 17.15BAJAJ-AUTO 2547.00 2679.95 2506.25 2624.00 77.00ZEEL 392.10 405.20 389.40 402.55 10.60TATAMOTORS 138.10 150.15 138.10 148.20 3.90ICICIBANK 410.25 419.40 408.55 419.15 10.15ASIANPAINT 1488.10 1530.80 1485.60 1525.00 29.15DRREDDY 2640.05 2714.00 2621.70 2705.00 50.90KOTAKBANK 1490.00 1517.95 1477.05 1512.10 27.05IBULHSGFIN 618.00 639.75 613.50 623.00 11.00INDUSINDBK 1400.50 1422.00 1386.55 1416.50 24.85TITAN 1085.80 1112.20 1083.00 1107.50 17.05LT 1370.90 1397.25 1363.10 1393.00 20.60BPCL 339.40 345.50 335.00 344.20 3.90TATASTEEL 439.00 448.20 435.65 445.35 5.00MARUTI 5728.00 5955.00 5683.90 5820.00 63.25ITC 268.75 271.00 266.90 270.60 2.75AXISBANK 723.55 732.00 719.20 730.55 7.40ULTRACEMCO 4477.00 4527.00 4425.05 4501.00 40.90COALINDIA 209.00 212.95 205.50 210.65 1.60GRASIM 870.05 879.90 867.05 875.00 6.35SUNPHARMA 437.00 442.20 433.10 440.30 3.15HINDALCO 196.75 199.35 194.75 197.90 1.15SBIN 340.80 346.15 340.50 342.80 1.50WIPRO 262.20 264.75 260.80 263.35 1.10ADANIPORTS 380.65 384.40 377.20 380.60 0.45BRITANNIA 2665.00 2684.85 2616.55 2661.75 -9.80HINDUNILVR 1731.10 1742.00 1719.30 1730.00 -6.65NTPC 130.40 130.40 128.25 129.20 -0.55HDFCBANK 2278.20 2293.65 2272.85 2276.00 -10.05JSWSTEEL 248.95 253.35 247.10 247.50 -1.15POWERGRID 213.15 214.00 210.25 212.00 -1.15UPL 607.00 610.45 589.00 601.00 -3.35INFY 792.30 795.00 782.20 789.50 -5.00TCS 2129.80 2129.80 2095.00 2112.65 -15.25HCLTECH 1007.70 1012.10 997.40 1003.75 -7.55CIPLA 533.20 539.90 528.25 532.30 -4.35ONGC 144.40 144.40 141.40 142.40 -1.45GAIL 134.20 135.70 132.40 133.20 -1.55RELIANCE 1231.50 1242.50 1210.00 1217.00 -14.50TECHM 649.70 651.00 641.05 644.75 -7.75HDFC 2193.75 2197.80 2159.40 2165.00 -30.35BHARTIARTL 338.00 338.90 328.20 333.55 -5.45IOC 146.25 146.35 141.10 141.85 -4.80VEDL 175.10 175.90 162.75 164.10 -7.35

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New Delhi: Pond's, a beauty and skincare brand has come upwith a new women related survey which reveils issues led themto a research that explores the internal barriers/inner hesitationsthat are experienced by even the most confident women in India.

There are multiple faces and names to these self-limiting hes-itations, from inner voices to negative self-dialogue that womenface as barriers and these beliefs are not born overnight, but area by-product of years of social conditioning, societal confiningnorms and of being told what they should or shouldn't do. Asa result, women tend to hold back from acting on their thoughts.Almost half (47%) of women hesitated when asking a questionin a large group. 4 in 10 (40%) women stop themselves from mov-ing out and living with their boyfriend because they are not surehow others will react. 5 in 10 (52%) also worry that what theysay will negatively impact how others see them. PNS

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North Korea’s test of a newmissile is meant as a

“solemn warning” over rivalSouth Korea’s weapons devel-opment and plans to hold mil-itary drills with the UnitedStates, Pyongyang said Fridayas it continued its pressurecampaign ahead of potentialnuclear talks.

South Korea’s military latersaid that the flight data of theweapon launched Thursdayshowed similarities to theRussian-made Iskander, a short-range, nuclear-capable missile.A North Korean version couldlikely reach all of South Korea— and the 28,500 US forces sta-tioned there — and would beextremely hard to intercept.

The North Korean state-ment was carried in state mediaand directed at “South Korean

military warmongers.” It appearsto be part of broader efforts dur-ing recent weeks to make surePyongyang gets what it wants asUS and North Korean officialsstruggle to set up working-leveltalks after a recent meeting onthe Korean border betweenNorth Korean leader Kim JongUn, who supervised Thursday’stest launch, and PresidentDonald Trump seemed to pro-vide a step forward in stallednuclear negotiations.

Although the North hadharsh words for South Korea,the statement stayed away fromthe kind of belligerent attacks onthe United States that havemarked past announcements, apossible signal that it’s interest-ed in keeping diplomacy alive.

It made clear, however,that North Korea is infuriatedover Seoul’s purchase of U.S.-made high-tech fighter jets

and US-South Korean plans tohold military drills this sum-mer that the North says arerehearsals for an invasion andproof of the allies’ hostility toPyongyang. US Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo playeddown Thursday’s launches andsaid in an interview withBloomberg TV that working-level talks with North Koreacould start “in a couple weeks.”

“Everybody tries to getready for negotiations and cre-ate leverage and create risk forthe other side,” Pompeo said ofthe launches.

The North Korean state-ment was gloating at times, say-ing the weapons test “musthave given uneasiness andagony to some targeted forcesenough as it intended.” It alsoaccused South Korea of intro-ducing “ultramodern offensiveweapons.”

That’s likely a reference toSouth Korea’s purchase andongoing deployment of U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets. Earlierthis month, North Korea saidit would develop and test “spe-cial weapons” to destroy theaircraft. In its biggest weaponspurchase, South Korea is to buy40 F-35 fighter jets fromLockheed Martin by 2021. Thefirst two arrived in March and

two others are to be deliveredin coming weeks.

After watching the launch-es, Kim said the new weaponsare hard to intercept because oftheir “low-altitude gliding andleaping flight orbit,” the North’sKorean Central News Agencyreported Friday. He was quot-ed as saying the possession of“such a state-of-the-art weapon-ry system” is of “huge eventfulsignificance” in bolstering hiscountry’s armed forces andguaranteeing national security.

A joint South Korean-US analysis of the launchesshowed the North Koreanweapons are of a new type ofshort-range ballistic missilethat have a “similar flight fea-ture” as the Iskander, which hasbeen in the Russian arsenal formore than a decade, a SouthKorean defense official said,requesting anonymity because

of department rules.That missile is designed to

fly at a flattened-out altitude ofaround 40 kilometers (25miles) and make in-flight guid-ance adjustments. Both capa-bilities exploit weaknesses inthe US and South Korean mis-sile defenses that are now in

place, primarily Patriot missilebatteries and the THAAD anti-missile defense system. TheIskander is also quicker tolaunch and harder to destroyon the ground, because of itssolid fuel engine. Its advancedguidance system also makes itmore accurate.

Cairo: Libya’s coast guardrecovered dozens of bodies ofEurope-bound migrants whoperished at sea as search oper-ations continued on Friday, aday after up to 150 people,including women and chil-dren, went missing and werefeared drowned after theirboats capsized in theMediterranean Sea.

A top UN official describedThursday’s shipwreck as “theworst Mediterranean tragedy” sofar this year. Also Friday, Libyanauthorities transferred dozens ofmigrants rescued from the dis-aster to a detention center nearTripoli that was hit by an airstrikeearlier this month despite UN

objections to such a move, theUN refugee agency said.

The Anti-IllegalImmigration Agency in thecapital, Tripoli, said that up to350 migrants were on board theboats that capsized onThursday off the coast of theLibyan town of Khoms, around120 kilometers east of Tripoli.

The migrants includenationals from Eretria, Egypt,Sudan and Libya, the agencysaid. Libyan officials said morethan 130 migrants have beenrescued since Thursday. Atleast a dozen were taken to ahospital in Khoms while therest were transferred to differ-ent detention centres. AP

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Hundreds of Hong Kongers,including flight attendants,

held a rally in the airport’sarrival hall on Friday to “edu-cate” visitors about the demon-strations currently grippingthe international finance hub asit braces for another weekendof protests.

The cavernous hall is usu-ally filled with excited friendsand relatives waiting to greetloved ones as they make theirway out of one of the world’sbusiest airports.

But on Friday visitors were greeted by a sea of black-clad protesters chantinganti-government slogans, hold-ing banners and handing out flyers.

The rally is the latest bid tokeep pressure on Hong Kong’spro-Beijing leaders after sevenweeks of largely peaceful massdemonstrations followed byviolent clashes, an unprece-dented challenge to Beijing’s

authority since the city’s 1997handover.

The protests were trig-gered by a controversial billwhich would have allowedextraditions to mainlandChina, but they have evolvedinto a call for wider democra-tic reforms and a halt to slid-ing freedoms.

Organisers billed the air-port rally as an opportunity tobrief arrivals on the politicalunrest, particularly visitorsfrom mainland China wherethe state-controlled news hasportrayed the protests as aviolent, foreign-funded plot todestabilise the motherland.

The demonstration waspeaceful and good-humoured,and there were no reports ofany disruption to flights.

One particularly creativegroup were using a television todisplay a satirical version of anairline safety announcementvideo that details the move-ment’s demands and warns ofprotests in the city.

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The European Union onThursday flatly rejected an

aggressive push by Britain’snew prime minister BorisJohnson to rewrite the Brexitagreement. Chief Brexit nego-tiator Michel Barnier warnedEU member states that Johnsonwas trying to divide them byamping up the threat of adamaging “no-deal” divorce.

And the president of theEuropean Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, told Johnson ina phone call that EU leadershave given Brussels no mandateto renegotiate.

Earlier, in a pugnaciousparliamentary debut as leader,Johnson had urged theEuropean Union to “rethink”its opposition to re-opening thecurrent deal.

“If they do not, we will ofcourse have to leave the EUwithout an agreement,” hedeclared, vowing to “turbo-charge” preparations ahead ofthe latest deadline of October31. The former London mayor

warned that the terms of theagreement struck in Novemberby his predecessor TheresaMay were “unacceptable” andwould “sign away our eco-nomic independence”.

The former foreign secre-tary also threatened to with-hold the $39 billion ($49 bil-lion) divorce bill that Britainhas previously said it owes theEuropean Union and spend itinstead on preparing for a no-deal outcome.

Just hours later, Barnierwarned that Johnson’s demandswere “unacceptable”, in anemail to member state ambas-sadors seen by AFP thatdescribed the speech as “rathercombative”. “PM Johnson hasstated that if an agreement is tobe reached it goes by way ofeliminating the backstop,”Barnier wrote, referring to aclause of the current deal thatwould keep the Irish borderopen under all scenarios.

“This is of course unac-ceptable and not within themandate of the EuropeanCouncil,” he wrote.

Paris: Boris Johnson will trav-el to France to meet FrenchPresident Emmanuel Macronin the next few weeks, Frenchofficials said on Friday, whilewarning the new British pre-mier against “posturing” and“provocations.” The Frenchleader, who has said he ishappy to be considered the“bad guy” in the Brexit nego-tiations, is set to be a key fig-ure during the tricky andpotentially bad-tempered talksin the months ahead.

Macron extended the invi-tation to Johnson in a call lateon Thursday from his officialsummer vacation residence inthe south of France. But in asign of wariness in Franceabout Johnson’s anti-EUrhetoric, France’s EuropeMinister Amelie de Montchalinurged Britain’s new leader towork on creating a workingrelationship with his partnerson the continent. AFP Houston: The Indian-American

foster father of 3-year-old SherinMathews, sentenced to life inconnection with the death of thetoddler whose body was foundin a culvert in 2017, has start-ed serving the jail term in a stateprison, days after he filed anappeal for a fresh trial.

Wesley Mathews, 39, wastransferred from Dallas CountyJail to a state prison around12:58 am on Thursday to servehis life sentence, Dallas CountySheriff officials said.

In a case that attractedmuch international attention,Mathews pleaded guilty onJune 24 to a lesser charge of

injury to a child in Sherin’s trag-ic death.

He was originally chargedwith capital murder by author-ities in the US state of Texas afterthey discovered Sherin’s highlydecomposed body after a mas-sive search that lasted 15 days.A Dallas County jury heard thecase in June and Mathews wassentenced to life in prison onJune 26 in Sherin’s death. He willbe eligible for parole after 30years’ imprisonment, US mediareported in June. Last week,Mathews’ attorney confirmed heis appealing the sentence and hisattorney also filed a motion fora new trial. PTI

Washington: Iran test-launcheda medium-range ballistic missileinside its borders, US officialssaid on Friday, defying Trumpadministration demands that itcurtail the weapon programand demonstrating its intent tofurther push back against USsanctions. The test came amidheightened tensions betweenIran and the West, mainlyregarding the safety of com-mercial shipping in the PersianGulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has responded tostepped-up US economic sanc-tions with a variety of militarymoves, and the Shahab-3 missiletest launch could be consideredanother signal from Tehran thatit will not back down.

The US officials who con-firmed the missile launch spokeon condition of anonymity todiscuss sensitive information.White House said in brief state-ment it was aware of reports ofa projectile launched in Iran, butWhite House officials declinedto comment further. AP

Dublin: Boris Johnson has delib-erately set Britain on a “collisioncourse” with the EU over Brexitnegotiations, Ireland’s ForeignMinister said. “He seems tohave made a deliberate decisionto set Britain on a collisioncourse with the European Unionand with Ireland in relation to theBrexit negotiations,” SimonCoveney was quoted by Irishstate broadcaster RTE as sayingin Belfast. “I think only he cananswer the question as to whyhe’s doing that.” In his maidenparliamentary speech as PMJohnson promised to reopenthe deal agreed with the EU —despite firm pushback fromother EU leaders. AFP

London: With Britain’s depar-ture from the European Uniondue in less than 100 days, newPrime Minister Boris Johnsonis a man in a hurry. But he’s notrushing off to Brussels.

The UK leader has nomeetings scheduled with EUofficials. Instead, he is in cen-tral England on Friday, talkingabout his promise to recruit20,000 more police officers. Inthe coming days, he’ll speak onother aspects of a packeddomestic agenda that lookssuspiciously like an electionplatform.

Britain’s next scheduledelection is three years away, butsigns suggest Johnson may bepreparing for a snap poll tobreak the Brexit impasse thatdefeated his predecessor,Theresa May.

Observers say there may beno other way Johnson can ful-fill his pledge leave the EU byOctober 31. AP

London: US President Donald Trump relationship with new UKPrime Minister Boris Johnson is going to be “sensational” as thetwo have a lot in common in their leadership style and desireto “get things done”, US ambassador to the UK Woody Johnsonsaid on Friday. “I think they do have a lot (in common). Boththese leaders have their own style, but they have similarities andI think they have clear vision of what they want to accomplish,”the ambassador told the BBC. Trump had welcomed BorisJohnson’s rise to power earlier this week, saying he would do a“great job” and even described him as “Britain Trump”. “We havea really good man who’s going to be the Prime Minister of theUK now,” the US President had said. IANS

��� �������������������������������0�3�(����* ���� �,��*�+����+����������� ������� '�����Washington: The United States said it wanted to continue talkingwith North Korea but called for a halt to “provocations” after a freshmissile test by Pyongyang. Earlier in the day, North Korea fired twoshort-range missiles into the sea, its first test since an impromptumeeting between US President Donald Trump and North Koreanleader Kim Jong Un last month that produced an agreement toresume a working-level denuclearisation dialogue. “We want to havediplomatic engagement with North Korea and we continue to urgethem to resolve all the things that the president and Chairman Kimhave talked about through diplomacy,” US State Department spokes-woman Morgan Ortagus told reporters in Washington. AFP

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Sulakshana Monga’s show onthe fourth day of CoutureWeek gave a panaromic view

of the city of Banaras, creating ahypnosis beyond time and space.Much like the eternal light of thecity. The assortment of yellowmarigolds stretched across theentire length of the ramp in thecentre with the distinct incense offlowers were the first step into thecreation of the phantasm ofBanaras.

The collection, a milestone,which marked the debut ofMonga in the Couture Week, wasa continuous vision of her labelwhich is representative of Eastmeets West. It was a progressiveensemble of Indian andWestern, with an unswervingdedication to the use ofcolours. Dhruv Monga,designer and Sulakshna’sson, said that the theinspiration was drawnfrom Indian culture and theidea was to renovate it .Sulakshana gave a slightly moredetailed insight into the designs,“In one segment we used totallyIndian designs while the otherwas very global Varanasi, includ-ing in the colours. We have twolooks in our collection, one is thewarm Indian for weddings, whilethe other features evening gownsand cocktail dresses.”

At first glance, the eveninggowns and the cocktail dressesseem like a modern reminis-cence of The Great Gatsby. Thefeathers on the shoulders and onthe hem of the floor-length gownslooked like they belonged to thecloset of a socialite in the 1920s.While the western was takencare of, the Indian twist to thegarments came through with theplayful use of colours and sequinswhile the bows delicately held thehair of the models. If DaisyBuchanan was an Indian bride inBanaras, she would definitelyfashion the purple lehenga, withfeathers on the sleeves of the off-

shoulder blouse with ruffles onthe hem and an elaborate trailgliding behind.

The other segment was acareful demonstration of the cityof Banaras where the lehengas hadthe sceneries intricately designedon them and thin embroideredchunnis draped over the neck.Some lehengas had geometricprints in yellow, orange, blue,pink, neon green.

The colours used throughoutthe ensemble had extensive huesof yellow, green, orange, purple,pink and red. The synthesis ofsequins and embroidery with therichness of colour and a reso-nance with the elements ofBenaras ensured a festive spirit onthe ramp.

Malaika Arora, the show-stopper, wore a green lehenga.About its design, Monga said,“Malaika is wearing a lehengawhere the skirt has the scene of

a sunset at the Varanasi ghats,bells and jharokhas embroideredon it. It also has calligraphy on theskirt. We tried to express Banarasin a very different way.”

Arora was walking for thefirst time for the designer andwhen asked about her fashionstatement, Monga answered forher, “She can look beautiful in anygarment, she can justify anyclothing. Her fashion statement isthat whatever she carries, shelooks beautiful. She knows howto carry colours, how to balancethe fashion, how to justify thelook whether it is Indian, evening,cocktail, or a short western out-fit. In my eyes, she justifies every-thing.”

Malaika said that there’s astark difference between cou-ture and the fashion we usuallysee “Couture is couture. It is a dif-ferent market, a different way ofviewing garments and a different

collection altogether. I thinkeverybody does a regular collec-tion all the year round.”

She also shared that her pre-ferred garment at a function is asari, “It is undoubtedly the best gar-ment the world over. Lehenga isanother one that I would wearwhenever I have to go for a func-tion. There is so much you can dowith it as it’s a very versatile pieceof clothing. It can be really tradi-tional, it can be a bit western orcocktail.” Arora raves about the ver-satility of Monga’s creation as thedesigner has a clear and open-minded approach to Indian andWestern elements.

Sulakshana believes her collec-tion is timeless, and even after 20years it would still look fresh. Herassortmented collection could caterto the needs of different brides, orsomeone simply looking to mak-ing a style statement at a function.

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The modern bride, like the artistsof Renaissance, is both tradition-

al and classic. And designers Shyamaland Bhumika found their sense inthat period of creativity to put out aline inspired by Florence. “It is ourlove for history, exploration of palacesand textiles that we wanted to showin our couture line collection,” saidBhumika.

Though they believe in moder-nity through garments, the essence oftheir style is firmly rooted in heritage.The fabrics used for the assortmentswere handmade and matka silks.They used beautiful tools, drapes andpatterns. “Our signature threadembroidery has a lot of contrastmulti-colour with hints of sparkle andthe collection is richly embellished.These are the techniques we havebeen trying since a very long time,and it is all about taking India to theworld.”

The designers, progressive intheir approach, express that aShyamal Bhumika woman is “mod-ern, adventurous and contempo-rary.” She is well-travelled yet firmlyrooted. “That’s what the brand isabout, taking India to the worldthrough the use of fabric.”

The colours of the collection didnot deviate from conventional wed-ding colours. Shades of deep reds,greens were a common spectacleamong the lighter hues of beige andivory. Kriti Sanon, who has walkedthe ramp for the label during hermodelling days, closed the show forthe designer duo. She wore a beigeraw silk lehenga. Bhumika describedits details, “Raw silk is one of ourfavourite fabrics for bridal wear. Thelehenga draws inspiration from thebeautiful scenes in frescoes and thearchitectural details of theRenaissance period, so a lot of water-colour effect has been given to theembroidery. Shimmer, sparkles,sequins with glass pipes along withthe 30-40 colours of thread have beenused here in different shades ofpink, blue and ivory.”

It’s the duo’s third year at theIndian Couture Week and it’s certain-ly not the first time for Sanon as well.She was nostalgic while describingthe experience of the night. “WhileI was coming down the escalator, I

realised I had taken it many, manytimes when I was a model. I used tocome here and do my fittings andrehearsals. The excitement and thenervousness are still the same as isthe rush backstage.”

Bhumika said that Sanon istheir modern woman. “When wewere conceptualising the outfit, weknew it could not be something reg-ular. We conceived this look especial-ly for her.” The blouse that she worewas one of a kind, modern garment.It had one sleeve and had a puff onit.

About her outfit, Sanon said, “Iabsolutely love what I am wearing.I feel Bhumika and I have telepathyas whenever I have worn her outfits,it always felt like they suit me, mybody and my complexion. The sleeveof the blouse is so different, it has oneshoulder and it’s got a little puff as

well. This outfit is fun, its modernand perfectly designed for today’s girlwho wants to be comfortable whilelooking beautiful.”

Their inspiration may have beendrawn from Italian artistry butShyamal and Bhumika guaranteeabsolute support to the Skill Indiacampaign. “We are blessed withpeople who need employment, andthey are already skilled. Second, wewant the next generation of artisansto be interested in their work and notjust sit at a desk job and forget whattheir previous generations have beendoing. Artistry is the true treasure ofour country, if we lose that it’s a prob-lem.” The label has also maintainedthe foundation of sustainability. “Allour products are biodegradable.Most of our work is done by hand,which generates a lot of employ-ment.” ,����7�,�� �����

Imagine the economic distress and chaosthat would erupt in Chandni Chowk if

designers like Manish Malhotra orSabyasachi were to sue the shopkeepers whomonetise their designs by selling replicas oftheir lehengas and saris with minor tweaks?

Senior Intellectual Property Rights(IPR) lawyer Safir Anand, said the unorgan-ised sector poses a unique problem in thecase of plagiarism. “Sometimes these shopowners also have local support from policeand politicians to indulge in their activities.And it becomes extremely difficult tocurate evidence. They are prospering at thecost of the entire fashion industry,” he toldus on the sidelines of the India CoutureWeek at a masterclass session.

Designers, too, are now in a rush to get-ting their work protected, sometimes downto a particular motif, curl and style, evenbefore a collection is launched. For once thereplica is out in the public domain, even ifyou have sold one piece, you cannotreclaim your creative legacy. Therefore,Anand stressed on the need for designersto protect their work. “Last year, at CoutureWeek, Rohit Bahl had done a session withthe media and apprised them that he’dsought protection. Anju Modi took the samestep, she even watermarked her designs onthe website to indicate that unlike the past,her collection was protected that time.”

Though the issue of copying has notbeen tackled 100 per cent but its extent hasdiminished drastically. So, when a design-er creates something original, he/she shouldimmediately file for its protection before itis released to the public. While the dura-tion of protection originally is for 10 years,it can be extended for another five years. Sothat means 15 years of absolute monopoly.This is what design protection entails.

Sabyasachi, who had design registration,sued another creator for infringement andhe was restrained. The defendant hadcopied one of Sabyasachi’s lehengas. Thoughthe colour was different, the pattern was anexact copy. If a designer has the registration,he can seek legal redress.

Copyright, on the other hand, does notrequire any prior registration. It comes intoeffect the moment the design is created. Thedesigner can have copyright over all theirintellectual properties. The position of thestage, the way the models walk, the dura-tion of the music are all intellectual prop-

erties. “During Rahul Mishra’s show theother day, he did a certain arrangement inwhich even the way people sat is protect-ed. If somebody copies that concept, aslong as Rahul Mishra is able to demon-strate that it did not exist earlier, he willbe able to assert his right under copyrighteven without design protection,” Anandsaid.

Tarun Tahiliani also had his designscopied. In his claim, he not only said thatthere was a violation of his copyright onhis drawings but also that his drawings hadbeen subjected to derivative work. And he

had the entire evidence. This is a clearexample of when a designer does not haveprotection. Claims can be made on viola-tion of drawings, patterns and embroidery.

Designer Ritu Kumar could not suc-ceed against Biba because she did not havedesign protection and the retail chain hadsold more than 50 copies. “We have goneto the Supreme Court to have the rule of50 copies dropped and that design andcopyright should merge. It becomes verydifficult for the designer fraternity to pro-tect their designs. In case the sales cross50, they are hit by a certain provision of

law, which actually favours the person onthe wrong side.” The petition is still pend-ing in court.

Designers have come forth with theirown trademarks which further the sacred-ness of their label. Burberry created thecheck design that had trademark protec-tion, which meant that nobody was enti-tled to use it. They sued the Target storebecause it sold scarves which resembledthe check design. They entered into an out-of-court settlement, and of course,Burberry’s rights were honoured.

“If an accessory is to become a trade-

mark, one should be able to look at it andbe able to recognise its proprietor,” Anandsays, further sharing notes about trade-mark protection. That’s why Louis Vuittonis trying to make its design pattern muchmore conspicuous and create trademarkrights around it. Because they don’t havethe label name on them, the design itselfis the brand. Similarly, sometimes colourcan become a trademark. In real terms, onecannot have absolute monopoly over acolour but in the case of Christian Dior,the red coloured console is its trademark.

Copying is a dire issue plaguing thefashion industry. If Louis Vuitton were notto stop anyone in the market from copy-ing its designs, which would becomeavailable in the market for a mere �500,customers would ignore it because itwould appear cheap. But what then if itwere to become more sophisticated, whichis possible with advanced technology,and the quality of the copied item impro-vises? “Then the customer would move onto another brand since they cannot distin-guish if the item is real or fake since theitem has been copied to perfection. Thefact that a copied luxury item is common-ly available in the market, makes the orig-inal lose its value”, Anand justified.

He said there has to be awarenessabout intellectual properties, “And if theproblem is not cracked down, there shouldat least be a regulatory body like the FDCIto register designs. It need not be a statu-tory recognition but just enough to main-tain registries. It can work as an interme-diary measure which doesn’t have a costimplication because it would not beunder the government but for the inter-ests of the designers, it would be more likea watchdog.”

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�What did you know about Bob Fosse andGwen Verdon before you started working onthis series?

MICHELLE WILLIAMS: I hadn’t beenfamiliar with Gwen’s work. I only knew aboutBob’s, but that too not in-depth. They had anartistic connection, which I always thought waslike a chord between them. It’s a really deepbond, almost like the male/female versions ofthe same soul.

SAM ROCKWELL: She was an amazingdancer. She really helped him with his careerand life. It was a meeting of two great minds.They really needed each other, almost like twins.I am glad we are going to tell that story.

�What preparations went behind taking theseroles and stepping into Bob and Gwen’s shoes?

WILLIAMS: We were not able to learn allthe dances and songs before shooting. So, wewere learning them simultaneously during theshoots. It almost felt like taking acting, singingand dancing lessons at school.

ROCKWELL: You think you can dance butthen you have to do it with some professionaldancers who have been dancing since they weresix. Learning ballet training, modern dance, andfosse style of dancing along with the vocabu-lary which is a whole style on its own was chal-lenging.

�A lot of prosthetic make up was used to tellthe story. What do you think about this?

ROCKWELL: A lot has gone into themakeup, hair and the way they talk. Peoplejoked about how they often saw me andMichelle with our earphones in. We listenedto interviews of Gwen Verdon and Bob Fosse,trying to mimic their voices to some degree.We were also bridging the gap between pre-

sent and future. There was an interestingepisode where we had to use a fake beardbecause we had shaved for the young Fosse andGwen.

WILLIAMS: I always kept my nails short.But after noticing her well kept long nails insome pictures, I had to put on fake nails. Thatchanged the way I moved my hands. It wastime-consuming because we had to jump intothe future for about 30 years.

�What do you hope to convey to the audi-ence through Bob and Gwen’s story?

ROCKWELL: There are people who arealready very excited for the musical theatre. But,I hope to move those people by their story whodo not know anything about them.

WILLIAMS: I am really excited for peo-ple to get to experience who Gwen was and seehow much love she gave while looking backat her legacy. They should discover what a com-passionate, unparalleled dancer and hardworker she was.

(The series will premiere on July 29 on StarWorld.)

Broken slabs of stone, black-ened walls and cracked doorsare clear indications that the

Loharu Fort, which provided thecanvas for tales of valour andheroism, has turned into a ruin.

Yet it was once rich, the seat oferudition with poet Mirza Ghalibplacing up and down its library.Nestled at the edge of Rajasthanborder, the golden soil of thistownship hides a regal history thatneeds to be told. If only to inspirelocals out of their wasteland.Director Aditya Sangwan, whomade an award-winning short doc-umentary, titled Loharu Fort: TheGreat Story Never Told, says thatpeople always forget about archae-ological sites. The fort was built inthe year 1570 CE by Thakur ArjunSingh. Rao Shekha had originallydivided Shekhawati into 33thikanas, of which Loharu Fort was33rd. The fort spreads over 6.5acres and combines Rajput, Mughaland Victorian influences in itsarchitectural style.”

Two major battles fought overthe fort. The first was in 1671 ADbetween Thakur Madan Singh andthe Mughal governor of Hisar,over land revenue. The other wasfought between the Thakur KiratSingh and Raja Bhopal Singh ofKhetri, who claimed Loharu as apart of Khetri. But that is not itsonly claim to fame. Poets like

Mirza Ghalib and Dagh Dehlvispent hours in its grand library,pouring over Urdu tomes. UmraoBegum, who married Ghalib whenhe was 13, was the daughter of theNawab of Loharu, Ilahi BakhshKhan Maroof.

The fort was in the hands oflater Nawabs of Loharu until 1971when the Late Nawab AminuddinAhmed Khan sold it to theGovernment of Haryana. Since

these buildings were uninhabited,the entire north-wing collapsed asdid a part of the east-wing. Onlythe south-wing of the fort, contain-ing the Farukh Manzil, survives,and that too in a very dilapidatedstate.

But the 23-year-old Sangwanhas finally taken the initiative ofprotecting the monument by pro-jecting it in his documentary. Beinga local, he says, “I saw this fort

every day on way to my school. ButI couldn’t do much about its con-servation and restoration then.But now, it’s time.” The documen-tary comprises interviews withrepresentatives of Rampur RazaLibrary, which now holds some3,000 books donated from thelibrary of the fort, director ofGhalib Institute, which has artifactsand memorabilia from the poet’sassociation with the Nawab of theplace, former ministers from UP,Rajasthan and Haryana, includingformer chief minister of Haryana,Bhupinder Singh Hooda anddescendants of the last Nawab ofLoharu, Aminuddin Ahmed Khan,who sold the humongous proper-ty to the state government in 1971.

He says, “It’s important tostress on the need of restoration ofour legacy. It doesn’t matter whichera it is, be it 21st cent or 10th. Oneshould never forget their roots. Aslong as you are grounded, you willreach new heights. A nation’s cul-ture resides in the hearts and soulof its people. As a youngster, I feelthe responsibility of protecting myheritage. As they say one needs toprotect the past in order to securethe future.”

It seems that he has a very pos-itive approach when he says,“When you have made up yourmind about anything, just like I did,you easily cross all the hurdles that

come your way.”The director tells us that his

main focus while making the doc-umentary was to generate employ-ment for the locals. As he says,“Loharu is in the Bhiwani districtof Haryana. It is a very backwardarea and I wanted to benefit the res-idents. The fort could easily beturned into a tourist spot just likemany other archaeological sites. Orat least it could be developed intoa library.” The mere thought aboutthe development of the place indi-cates that Sangwan knows andaccepts his responsibility as ayoungster of the country.

“The fort is a real unexploredgem and there are many that are yetto be discovered,” says he. Ask himwhat next he has in store, he tellsus in a quite enthusiastic voice as ifhe would just pop-out of the phone“My next target is Kangra Fort, 20kilometres from the town ofDharamsala on the outskirts of thetown of Kangra. The fort was builtby the royal Rajput family of KangraState (the Katoch dynasty), whichtraces its origins to the ancientTrigarta Kingdom, mentioned inthe Mahabharata epic. It is thelargest fort in the Himalayas andprobably the oldest dated fort inIndia. I want to make a documen-tary on that. The perspective againis to restore the monument and gen-erate employment for the locals.”

As the musical teaser of Umrao JaanAda — Dil Cheez Kya Hai was pro-

jected on the screen, I noticed how musiccomposers Salim-Sulaiman Merchantwere not looking at the screen but rathereyeing the audience intently trying toread the expressions and fathom theirexcitement. Their smiles broadenedwith each waah from the audienceindicating how special this teaser was forthem.

Umrao Jaan Ada, adapted from theeponymous Urdu classic novel, writtenby renowned urdu novelist Mirza HadiRuswa will be brought alive on stage.Directed by Rajeev Goswami and writ-ten by Aashayein (Iqbal) fame screen-writer Irfan Siddiqui, will retell the time-less tale that follows the journey of thefamous Lucknow courtesan UmraoJaan. The story of love and struggle isimmersed in culture and opulence withtraditional ghazals, thumris and qawalis.

As I was awaiting my turn for theinterview of the music composers, ahilarious sight was unfolding before myeyes as the music directors were explain-ing the nuances of Urdu to the otherinterviewers “Humein clear instructionsmile hain, ‘phool’ hota hai, ‘fool’ nahi.” Bythen I already knew it was going to bean interesting conversation.

Sulaiman says, “We have done amusical before this, Beyond Bollywoodwhich ran into 600 shows with the samedirector. This time we wanted to dosomething truly authentic with charis-matic performances and larger-than-lifesets. We wanted a script that had meatand could actually take live music anddrama to the next level, which is whereUmrao Jaan came in.”

Two films have already been madeon the novel, one in 1981, where Rekhaplayed the lead and another in 2006. Theplay has revived the story by bringing thecharacters alive in a very nuanced man-ner. This has created a deeper curiosityamong the audience. The duo said, “Wewanted to bring out the true story ofUmrao Jaan Ada. There are lots of facetsto it which were not dealt with by the twofilms. We wanted to bring the charactersalive to the core.” The characters are alldolled up in such a manner that the audi-ence can make out the differencebetween Khanum Jaan, Nawab Sultanand Gauhar Mirza at the very firstglance.

The story of Umrao Jaan is not onlypopular among the older generation butwith the newer ones as well. It still hasa charm and people hum its songs evennow. Sulaiman excitedly said, “That is thereason why we wanted to recreate theepic drama as everyone will relate to itespecially because of the music of theoriginal. It’s always great to be able tobring back stuff like this, especially for

the younger generation, because theymight have heard the music but have notseen the story. They wouldn’t know whata story with a bitter ending is like. Thetheatre intends to make the younger gen-eration aware about the complexity ofrelationships.”

This love story, a timeless classic of19th century, still has the same charmas it had years ago. The duo told us thatthey are a big fan of it themselves. Andthat they can still recall listening to itssong, Dil Cheez Kya Hai and even afterso many years the music feels fresh.

They have tried to recreate themusic by capturing its authenticity andweaving it into a beautiful story. The duosays, “Music is a big USP of such shows.Performing Khayyam sahab’s music livealong with three of our original songs is

a big thing today. He has done so manyfilms but the feeling of music that he cre-ated in this particular album can neverbe measured.”

In recreating the work of such a stal-wart, the responsibility of keeping it nat-ural by infusing a personal touch into itis higher. The dialogues and poetry haveto be reflect the time. “The dialogues arevery beautiful coupled with a lot of poet-ry. The theatre lovers will undoubtedlyenjoy the whole experience. The wholeLucknawi ada of the poetry and the wayit is delivered is exceptional. The char-acters have completely delved into thestyle of Lucknow,” says Salim and goeson to add, “This musical theatre willmake you feel like you have stepped intoa different world altogether. The idea wasto recreate the whole experience and not

create it halfway.” Going to a musical should be a very

immersive experience as you become apart of the story as it unfolds. Salim says,“When you go to watch any musical atBroadway or The Lion King, you get soimmersed in it that you feel every emo-tion — love, sadness and pain. The samehas been recreated here. The story willtake you away from the madness of traf-fic, heat, noise and all the chaos that youare in.”

A musical like this will compel youto leave everything behind and just fallin love with Umrao Jaan Ada, again.

Talking about their journeys, theduo shares, “It’s very close to our heartsbecause we studied Indian and Westernclassical music, which enhanced ourimmense love for theatre productionsand musicals. So, we wanted the audi-ence to experience something which isakin to our own.” The excitement withwhich they were describing their love forIndian culture clearly showed that bring-ing Indian tradition to the forefrontmeant a lot to them.

During the rehearsals of the musi-cal, a memorable incident touched theduo to such an extent that it would stayin their heart forever. “In the originalmusic, the one that Khayyam sahab did,Ustaad Sultan Khan played the sarangi,which plays a crucial role in the thum-ris and mujra culture. This time aroundwhen we were recording the songs, hisnephew and son recorded the samepieces for us, (he pauses with a contem-plative smile). It’s very nostalgic for usto know that Khayyam sahab recordedwith the father and we are recording withhis younger generation,” Sulaimanshares.

Performing it all live and syncing themusic with the whole set up of actors andmusicians is not an easy task. For theactors, it might have been challenging asthey had to sing and dance along withthe act. The duo completely agreed andtold us, “The cast primarily consists ofsingers, but getting them to act was noteasy. We had to make them understandthe nitty-gritty of each character so thatthey do justice to the stature of what theyare portraying. We did many workshopsfor the whole cast to enable them to fitinto the mould that we wanted. They hadto bring that authenticity and purity ofthe Lucknowi Urdu. Getting the wholething to work seamlessly, with a lot ofrehearsals, live music, varied back-ground score was a huge challenge.” Hequestioned me, “But then, who wants todo easy stuff?” and then answered it him-self, “We all want to create a benchmarkin our lives and I think this was a per-fect one for all us, to create somethingwhich is so high up there that it’simpossible to break.”

The dynamic duo, Sajid Nadiadwala andAkshay Kumar are back again with an

exciting announcement featuring AkshayKumar as Bachchan Pandey.

Sharing the announcement, NadiadwalaGrandson Entertainment shared the firstlook, which showcases the actor in a don-ning and enraged look, he is seen in a lungiand a belt in his hand with a rowdy SouthIndian persona.

Titled Bachchan Pandey, the film marksthe 10th collaboration between filmmakerSajid Nadiadwala and Akshay Kumar. Theduo was earlier seen working together infilms like Heyy Babyy, Jaan E Mann, WaqtHumara hai. Houseful franchise is one of themost celebrated collaborations of the duo.

Bachchan Pandey is directed by FarhadSamji and is slated to release in Christmas2020.

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Wimbledon champion andworld number one

Novak Djokovic has with-drawn from next month’s USOpen hardcourt tuneup eventin Montreal, saying he needsmore rest after capturing his16th Grand Slam singlescrown.

The 32-year-old Serbian,who outlasted Roger Federerin an epic All-England Clubfinal earlier this month, wasjoined by Argentina’s 12th-ranked Juan Martin Del Potroin pulling out of the ATPMasters Canada tournament.

“I’m sorry to announcethat I decided to pull out ofRogers Cup,” Djokovic said ina statement released by TennisCanada.

“With the support of myteam, I have decided to givemy body longer rest andrecovery time before comingback again to play.

“I love Canada and I havemany friends there that alwaysmake me feel like I’m at homeand I’m looking forward tocoming back again to play infront of al l of you inMontreal.”

Djokovic’s withdrawalmeans Spanish star RafaelNadal, an 18-time GrandSlam singles champion,will be the top seed inMontreal when maindraw begins August 5.

Nadal has capturedthe Canadian crown fourtimes, most recently lastyear by defeatingStefanos Tsitsipas in thefinal.

Djokovic has wonthe Canadian eventthat alternates betweenToronto and Montrealfour times, twice ineach city — Torontoin 2012 and 2016and Montreal in2007 and 2011.

He was oustedlast year in Torontoby Greek star Tsitsipas in thethird round.

“We would have loved for

Djokovic to have the chance tobe crowned champion for athird time in Montreal, but weunderstand his decision andwe wish him a quick returnfor the rest of the season,”Montreal tournament directorEugene Lapierre said.

Del Potro was injured lastmonth at Queen's and under-went r ight knee patel lasurgery and is undergoingrehabilitation for the setback.

“In del Potro’s case, wewish him a speedy recovery,he who has experienced hisshare of injuries in the pastfew years,” Lapierre said.

“We look forward to see-ing him back on court in thenear future.”

World number threeFederer said after hisWimbledon final loss that hetoo intended to skip Montreal.

Frenchman RichardGasquet and MikhailKukushkin of Kazakhstan will

take the two availablespots in theMontreal maindraw as a result ofthe withdrawalsby Djokovic and

Del Potro.

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Olympic Silver-medallistP V Sindhu crashed outof the Japan Open bad-

minton tournament after a sec-ond successive defeat to localfavourite Akane Yamaguchiwhile B Sai Praneeth continuedhis good form to advance to thesemifinals here on Friday.

Sindhu lost to Yamaguchi18-21, 15-21 in a 50-minutewomen’s singles quarterfinalmatch. This was Sindhu’s sec-ond defeat at the hands ofYamaguchi, who had beaten theIndian in the final of theIndonesian Open last week.

However, in men’s singles,Sai Praneeth recorded an easywin over Indonesia’s TommySugiarto to reach the semifinals.

His 21-12, 21-15 win overSugiarto fetched him a clashagainst top seeded JapaneseKento Momota in the semifi-

nals.Meanwhile, India’s men’s

doubles pair of SatwiksairajRankireddy and Chirag Shettylost to second seeded Japaneseduo of Takeshi Kamura andKeigo Sonoda 19-21, 18-21 ina 41-minute clash in the quar-terfinals.

Sindhu was leading 12-7 inthe first game but she squan-dered the advantage as herreigning Asian champion oppo-nent clawed her way back tolevel the scores at 14-14.

From there on, Sindhu lostmomentum allowingYamaguchi to surge ahead to18-15 and then to 20-16.

Sindhu won two consecu-tive points to narrow the gapto 18-20 but could not stopher opponent from baggingthe next point and the firstgame.

In the second game, bothwere locked 6-6 initially butfrom there on, it wasYamaguchi all the way as sheraced to 13-7 and then to 16-10. Sindhu recovered a bit bywinning two consecutive

points but in no time, theJapanese had five matchpoints and she wrapped up thetie without much hassle.

Sai Praneeth, in contrast,hardly broke a sweat as he justtook 36 minutes to clinch upthe match.

The unseeded Indian ledalmost all through the firstgame leaving the former

world championships bronze-medallist Indonesian to playthe catch-up game.

The second game was a bitcloser but Sai Praneeth keptthe lead from the start. Notmore than four points separat-ed the two for most part butthe Indian reeled off threeconsecutive points from 18-15to win the match.

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India’s leading table tennis playerManika Batra on Friday said she

doesn’t want to burden herself ahead ofthe next year’s Tokyo Games and isinstead targeting a singles medal at the2024 Olympics.

The 24-year-old paddler made his-tory last year by winning as many as fourmedals at the Commonwealth Gamesincluding a singles Gold.

At the Asian Games, Batra and vet-eran Sharath Kamal almost did theunthinkable by clinching a mixed dou-bles Bronze, ending India’s 60-year-longwait for a medal in the sport.

“All the paddlers are working hardfor the Olympics and if we play our bestand are lucky, we will win a medal. ButI don’t want to put pressure on myselffor 2020, I am aiming for a singles medalin 2024 Games,” Manika said on the side-lines of Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT).

Manika, who recently parted wayswith her childhood coach SandeepGupta to train with Sanmay Paranjape,said she is happy with the progress in hergame after moving her base to Pune.

“I changed the coach because Ineeded something new in my game. Ihave improved a lot. My forehand hasimproved. I have beaten Chinese andKorean players, so I am quite happy withmy training in Pune.”

The Commonwealth Games Goldmedallist, who feels opponents are nowable to read her game, said she has beenworking on introducing variations in herstyle of play.

“I am working on changing mygame because internationally players aretaking note, they are studying my game.

“Everyone used to play on my fore-hand because they knew that wasn’tstrong so I have worked on that. I haveworked on it a lot now. I turn and switchand finish from the forehand. I have alsobeen working on my rallies,” sheexplained.

With the Olympics less than a yearto go, India’s best shot at winning a medalin table tennis comes from the Asiangames Bronze medallist mixed doublespair of Manika and Sharath.

Talking about the preparation,Manika said the duo is keen to win anOlympic medal as both the players havethe potential to succeed.

“We are keen to get an Olympicmedal in this event and we have also gota Bronze in Asian Games. So I think ifwe practice more we will be in con-tention for a medal. Sharath and I havea good understanding which is veryimportant in mixed doubles.

“Practice is important, so we havedecided we will train for mixed doublesbefore the Asian Championship and also

before Grand Finals. We may go toEurope and train together,” she added.

On Tuesday, new national coachDejan Papic accepted the one-year con-tract offered by the Sports Authority ofIndia (SAI) to coach the Indian table ten-

nis team.Since the Asian Games last year, the

Indian paddlers have been without theservices of a coach but the world num-ber 56 feels the appointment of Papic willhelp in doubles and team events but itwill be a difficult road ahead.

“Individually it’s easy like Sharath,Sathiyan, everyone go outside to train.But for mixed doubles we need the coachand are already scheduled to have acamp.

“Massimo (Constantini) knew thegame of all the Indian players. Nowwhen the new coach comes, it will bevery difficult for him and for us. It willtake time for him to settle down. Weneed the coach for team matches,”Manika said.

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Indian’s challenge came to anend at the Badminton Asia

Junior Championships afterboth the boys and girls dou-bles teams crashed out afterlosing in the quarterfinals inSuzhou, China on Friday.

The boys’ doubles pair ofIshaan Bhatnagar and VishnuVardhan Goud Panjala lost 14-21, 19-21 to the unseededSingapore combination of JiaHao Howin Wong and ChuanShen Aaron Yong.

It was the same story for

India in the girls doubles as theduo of Tanisha Crasto andAditi Bhatt went down to sec-ond seeds Li Yi Jing and LuoXu Min 7-21, 16-21.

The Indian contingentthis time has returned emptyhanded from the event, a yearafter Lakshya Sen won theboys’ singles title.

“Despite facing toughopponents, the Indians did notfeel intimidated which was ahuge positive to take from thistournament,” said India’sjunior national coach SanjayMishra.

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Pakistan’s tarnished left-arm pacer MohammadAmir retired from Test cricket on Friday but

affirmed his commitment to continue playing lim-ited-overs for his country.

Convicted in the 2010 spot-fixing scandal inEngland, the 27-year-old has been indicating forsome time now that he wanted to quit playing Testcricket and focus on ODIs and T20s.

In a statement issued by the Pakistan CricketBoard, Amir said: “It has been an honour to rep-resent Pakistan in the pinnacle and traditional for-mat of the game. I, however, have decided to moveaway from the longer version so I can concentrateon white ball cricket.”

Amir, who played 36 Tests for his 119 wick-ets, has also appeared in 59 ODIs and 49 T20 inter-nationals. In the recent World Cup in England, heended with 15 wickets.

In a recent interview, Amir had said that hewas a human being and not a machine while refer-

ring to the non-stop cricket he played since return-ing to the Pakistan team after the end of his five-year ban for spot-fixing in 2015.

Last year, he had informed head coach MickeyArthur about his intentions but was told to carryon till the World Cup.

“Playing for Pakistan remains my ultimatedesire and objective, and I will try my best to bein the best physical shape to contribute in the team’supcoming challenges, including next year’s ICC T20World Cup,” he said.

“It has not been an easy decision to make andI have been thinking about this for some time. Butwith the ICC World Test Championship commenc-ing shortly, and Pakistan boasting some very excit-ing young fast bowlers, it is appropriate that I callon my time in Test cricket so that the selectors canplan accordingly,” he added.

“I want to thank all my team-mates as well theopponents in red ball cricket. It has been a privi-lege to play with and against them. I am sure ourpaths will continue to cross in limited-overs crick-et as all of us play and compete with the samevigour and determination.”

PCB’s Managing Director, Wasim Khan saidAmir has been one of the most exciting and tal-ented left-arm fast bowlers in Test cricket in recenttimes.

“He overcame adversity as a young cricketerand came back stronger not only as a cricketer butalso as a better human being. His skill, on the field,and his personality will be missed in the dressingroom in the longer format,” he said.

“However, we respect his decision and look for-ward to him continuing to play an integral role inwhite ball cricket for Pakistan,” he added.

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England bowled Ireland out forjust 38 to win their one-off Testat Lord’s by 143 runs on Friday,

emphatically crushing the visitors’hopes of a stunning upset.

Ireland, playing only their thirdTest, were chasing just 182 runs tocomplete what would have been oneof the biggest upsets in cricket his-tory.

But they did not get close, last-ing just 94 balls as Chris Woakestook a career-best six wickets for 17runs and Stuart Broad returned fig-ures of 4-19 .

Their second innings score wasthe seventh-lowest total of all time.

“I knew that was a lot of runs (tomake) on that surface,” said Root,whose side mustered just 85 runsthemselves in their first innings.

“It’s very pleasing, the way wemanaged certain pressure situa-tions,” he added. “It wasn’t by anystretch the perfect game for us butsometimes that can be a reallyimportant part of your learning.We’ll take a lot from this game.”

Ireland, playing England for thefirst time in a Test, have now lost allthree of their Tests following lossesto Pakistan and Afghanistan, buttheir day started brilliantly.

The home side resuming ontheir overnight 303 for nine, sawtheir second innings end with thefirst ball of the third day’s play whendebutant Olly Stone was bowled fora duck by Stuart Thompson.

Rain delayed the scheduled startby a few minutes but any hopesEngland had of adding to theirovernight total evaporated whenThompson’s inswinger knocked overStone’s leg stump.

Ireland had yet to give off themark in their second innings whenrain stopped play just seven ballsinto their chase and kept the play-ers off the field for more than anhour.

But when the match resumedthe overcast conditions — the flood-lights were switched on — madeconditions ideal for seamers Woakesand Broad.

�� ������� ���The cascade of wickets in an

innings where only opener JamesMcCollum made it into double fig-ures began when Woakes had Irelandcaptain William Porterfield caughtbehind by wicketkeeper JonnyBairstow for two.

Andy Balbirnie, who top-scored

with 55 in Ireland’s first innings totalof 207, fell next when he edged Broadto Root at first slip.

Kevin O’Brien, who hit thequickest World Cup century whenIreland beat England at Bangalore in2011 and made a hundred in theirinaugural Test at home to Pakistanlast year, fell for just four, lbw to Broad

— one of three wickets that fell forno runs to leave the visitors 24-6.

An extraordinary match endedwhen Woakes cleaned up tailenderTim Murtagh for his best return inTest cricket.

One-day world championsEngland, missing injured pacemanJames Anderson, were indebted tonightwatchman Jack Leach’s sec-ond-innings 92 — his career-bestscore — with the Somerset left-armspinner named man-of-the-matchfor his batting heroics.

Yet there was no disguising thatEngland’s top-order batsmen strug-gled badly in the match, just a weekbefore the start of a five-matchAshes series against Australia atEdgbaston.

Ireland captain WilliamPorterfield said his side were partic-ularly disappointed because theyhad put themselves in a position towin the game.

“We knew it was going to betough with the lights on and drizzlein the air,” he said.

“But we had to dig deep and getthrough that. Fair play to the two ladsto how they bowled — they made itdifficult.”

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Lasith Malinga shone in hisfarewell match after Kusal Perera

struck a quick-fire century as SriLanka crushed Bangladesh by 91runs in the first one-day of a three-match series in Colombo on Friday.

Malinga rattled Bangladeshwith his fiery opening spell, reduc-ing the visitors to 39-4 in theprocess, without allowing them torecover from the damage despite thebest efforts by Mushfiqur Rahimand Sabbir Rahman.

Mushfiqur made 67 whileSabbir added 60 as the duo sharedan 111-run partnership for thefifth wicket but Bangladesh stutteredto 223 all out in 41.4 overs replyingto Sri Lanka’s 314-8.

Retiring Malinga claimed 3-38while Nuwan Pradeep (3-51) andDhananjaya de Silva (2-49) playedtheir parts in the win.

“I feel it’s the right time for meto retire from ODIs. I have beenplaying for the last 15 years for SriLanka and this is the right time tomove on,” Malinga, who finished hisODI career with 338 wickets, saidafter the game. “My time is over andI have to go.”

Perera struck 111 off 99 ballswith 17 fours and a six, his fifth ODIcentury, to set up Sri Lanka's totalafter skipper Dimuth Karunaratnewon the toss and elected to bat first.

Left-handed Perera put on 97runs with Karunaratne for the sec-ond wicket before adding 100 withKusal Mendis for the third wicket.

Shafiul Islam, who finishedwith 3-62 in his first match in three

years, drew the first blood forBangladesh when he had openerAvishka Fernando caught bySoumya Sarkar at slip for seven.

Perera was reprieved on 49 runswhen the third umpire overturneda caught behind decision off Shafiul.

Part-time seamer Soumyaended the valiant knock of Pereraas he was caught at short fine leg byMustafizur Rahman.

Mendis, who was dropped on28 by Mahmudullah Riyad offSoumya, fell to Rubel Hossain thenext over after making 43 off 49balls.

Mendis walked after a mutedappeal for caught behind fromwicketkeeper Mushfiqur and bowlerRubel.

Angelo Mathews took SriLanka's total past the 300-run markwith 48 off 52 balls.

Mustafizur dismissed Mathewsbefore finishing with 2-75.

Malinga, who was unbeaten on

six with the bat, hit the leg-stumpof opener Tamim Iqbal in his fifthball with a deadly yorker.

Tamim, who debuted asBangladesh’s 14th ODI captain,was unable to open his account andthe team’s other top-order batsmendid hardly any better.

Pradeep trapped one-downMohammad Mithun leg-before for10 and Malinga bowled out open-er Soumya for 15 in the next over.

Kumara compoundedBangladesh’s problem once heremoved Mahmudullah for three.

De Silva ended the resistance ofSabbir, forcing him to give a catchat deep midwicket to leave SriLanka's victory all but a formality.

Malinga took the final wicketfittingly to end the brief entertain-ment by Mustafizur, who made 18off 14 balls before being caught byThisara Perera at mid-off

The second match will be heldat the same ground on Sunday.

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Veteran opener Chris Gayle was on Fridaynamed in the West Indies squad for the

three-match ODI series against India, beginningAugust 8.

Left-handed opener John Campbell, fellowbatsman Roston Chase and all-rounder KeemoPaul have all been recalled to the 14-membersquad for the series which will be contested onAugust 8 at the Guyana National Stadium, andon August 11 and 14 at the Queen’s Park Ovalin Trinidad.

Ahead of the England series in March, Gaylehad said that he planned to retire following theODI World Cup but he changed his mind dur-ing the tournament and has made himselfavailable for this series.

The southpaw will miss the preceding T20series as he will be busy with GT20 Canada.

The self-proclaimed “Universe Boss” also hasthe extra motivation to chase two records dur-ing the ODI series.

Gayle currently has 10,338 runs and needsjust 11 more to pass batting legend Brian Lara(10,348) for the highest aggregate in ODIs forWest Indies.

He has also amassed 10,393 runs and needs13 to again overtake Lara (10,405) for the mostruns by a West Indian in the history of ODIs.

“Chris is a very valuable player and he bringsa lot of experience, a lot of knowledge, he lendsa lot to any dressing room and it is great to havehim in the squad,” said interim West Indies headcoach Floyd Reifer.

Reifer said Campbell, Chase and Paul havebeen brought back to add more balance to thesquad, whilst Sunil Ambris, Darren Bravo,Shannon Gabriel and Ashley Nurse have allmissed out on selection for the matches againstVirat Kohli’s side.

The rest of the World Cup squad remains inplace.

“We have a mixture of some experienced andyoung ODI players,” said Reifer.

“It is good to have Keemo, John and Rostonback, and they will help to bring further balanceto the team. Looking ahead to the series, I thinkwe have a lot to build upon following the WorldCup. We have retained a large number of play-ers from the World Cup squad, so there is a lotto build on and I am looking forward to theseries,” he added.

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Opening batsman CameronBancroft was on Friday

included in Australia’s 17-mansquad for a five-Test Ashes seriesagainst England alongside SteveSmith and David Warner.

All three batsmen servedlengthy bans for their roles in aball-tampering scandal in SouthAfrica last year.

Former captain Smith and histhen deputy Warner were bothgiven 12-month suspensions byCricket Australia, with Bancroft— who actually applied sandpa-per to the ball while in the fieldduring a Test in Cape Town —banned for nine months.

Both Smith and Warner wereexpected to be in the Ashes squadafter doing well in the recentWorld Cup, when the defendingchampions reached the semi-finals.

Bancroft, who has been cap-taining English county sideDurham, appears to have forcedhis way in after making anunbeaten 93 in the tourists’ intra-squad match at Southamptonthis week.

“David Warner, Steve Smithand Cameron Bancroft haveforced their way back into the Testsquad through the excellence oftheir recent performances,” saidAustralia national selector Trevor

Hohns in a statement.“David and Steve also have

the advantage of being provenplayers at Test level whileCameron has produced impres-sive numbers for county sideDurham this season.

“His innings in the intra-squad match in Southampton ona tough pitch was outstanding andshowed his quality.”

Holders Australia are lookingto win their first Ashes series inEngland since 2001.Australia’s 17-man squad for afive-Test Ashes series againstEngland announced on Friday:Tim Paine (capt/wkt), CameronBancroft, Patrick Cummins,Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood,Travis Head, Usman Khawaja,Marnus Labuschagne, NathanLyon, Mitchell Marsh, MichaelNeser, James Pattinson, PeterSiddle, Steve Smith, MitchellStarc, Matthew Wade, DavidWarner.

�(����August 1-5: First Test, Edgbaston,Birmingham.August 14-18: Second Test,Lord’s, LondonAugust 22-26: Third Test,Headingley, LeedsSeptember 4-8: Fourth Test, OldTrafford, ManchesterSeptember 12-16: Fifth Test, TheOval, London.

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India’s current bowling coach BharatArun is likely to retain his position

even if there are multiple candidateswhile R Sridhar will have his noseahead despite South African starJonty Rhodes throwing his hat in thering for the fielding coach’s position.

But batting coach Sanjay Bangarmight find it difficult to retain hisposition when the national selectorspick the support staff for the Indianteam.

As per norms, while the newCricket Advisory Committee —chaired by Kapil Dev — will decideon the head coach, the selectors have

been tasked to conduct interviews forthe rest of the support staff.

If those privy to the develop-ments are to be believed, Arun couldturn out to be a unanimous choiceconsidering the performance ofIndia’s pacers in all formats of thegame.

“In the last 18 to 20 months, thework put in by Arun has been phe-nomenal. The current Indian attackis considered to be the best in thelongest format. Mohammed Shamiback at his best and (Jasprit) Bumrah’sconsistency are a few things Arunmust get credit for. It’s up to the selec-tors but they might find it difficult toreplace him,” a senior BCCI official

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said on Friday.However, same can’t be said

about Bangar, who many believehasn’t been able to create a solidmiddle order despite four years inthe job.

“Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharmahave been performing much beforeBangar came into the fray. He hasno role in their success. However,his job was to create a few solidoptions in the middle order and wehave seen in the World Cup that hehas failed miserably in that,” theofficial added.

There have been reports that itwas on Bangar’s insistence that MSDhoni was asked to bat at No 7 in

the lost semifinal against the NewZealand, a decision that has beenroundly criticised.

While Arun is the favouriteamong three specialist coaches,Sridhar is also not far behind asIndia has made rapid strides in thefielding department.

But he will get a tough fightfrom Rhodes, who is set to get anopportunity to give a presentationto the selection committee.

“Rhodes is a big name and hiscandidature can’t be ignored.However, this also needs to betaken into account that how theteam’s fielding performance hasbeen,” the official said.