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ˇ˘-.&/ ˜01˛1˜˛ 2 ,˜#-. $/ ˆ4 ˘ , %+˛˙# ’+ ’ ’ ˆ ......zero hour, mishra said,...

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  • ˇ˘-.&/ ˜01˛1˜˛ 2 ,˜#-. $/ ˆ4 ˘ , %+˛˙# ’+ ’ ’ ˆ ......Zero Hour, Mishra said, “Only four of us (MLAs) are wearing dhoti. I have never seen the Speaker and the Chief
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P arliament on Wednesday approved the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2019 that aims to infuse more discipline on roads by tighten- ing rules and increasing penal- ties. The Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha envisages a sea change in how Indian roads and vehicular transportation are governed. After the amendment, minimum penalty for violation of traffic rules goes up from 100 to 500. The maximum penalty has been fixed at 10,000. As a novel step, the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill provides for community service as punishment to vio- lators of road safety rules and regulations. The Bill moved by Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari was passed in the Rajya Sabha after a long dis- cussion with a voice vote. The Bill will amend the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act of 1988. The Lok Sabha first passed the amendment Bill first in 2017, but it was not cleared in the Upper House and eventually lapsed with the dis- solution of the 16th Lok Sabha. As per the new motor vehi- cles law, in case of driving a vehicle without holding a licence, the penalty has been increased from 500 to 5,000. Not wearing a seat belt will invite a penalty of 1,000. It was 100 only till now. For drunken driving cases, the penalty is 10,000 — up from 2,000 under the existing law. For dangerous driving, the penalty is 5,000. Not giv- ing pass to emergency vehicles will attract 10,000 penalty. There was no such provision under the pre- vious law. In cases of over-speeding, the driver will be penalised 1,000 for light motor vehicles such as cars and 2,000 for heavier vehicles. If found engaged in racing, the driver will have to pay a penal- ty of 5,000. T he mystery over the where- abouts of Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) owner VG Siddhartha — who went missing two days ago — ended on a sombre note with the recovery of his body from the Netravati River in Dakshina Kannada district on Wednesday at 4.30 am. The billionaire coffee tycoon, whose chain of cafes helped make coffee a lifestyle beverage and brought in latte, cappuccino, Americano and espresso into the urban Indian lexicon, was 59 and was cre- mated on Wednesday at his estate in his home district of Chikkamagaluru after hun- dreds of people paid a tearful adieu to him. He is survived by his wife Malavika and two sons. His son Amartya lit the funeral pyre after the last rites were performed according to the traditions of the Vokkaliga community from which he hailed, in the presence of a large number of people. Poignant scenes were wit- nessed as Amartya broke down several times while performing the rituals. 87-year-old former Chief Minister SM Krishna, father- in-law of Siddhartha, and his wife Prema too fought hard to control their emotions. A police official said “everything” points to suicide, but nothing can be ruled out until the investigation is over. The body of Siddhartha was traced after 36 hours of an intensive search operation. After local fishermen fished it out, police rushed to the spot. Mangalore MLA UT Khader said friends and rela- tives confirmed that the body is of Siddhartha. Earlier, the officials con- firmed his identity and after the post-mortem handed over the body to the family members for last rites. Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, who was pre- sent at the place of the last rites, called Siddhartha “a simple man and a pioneer in popularising Indian coffee in the world.” “I can’t even imagine why a person who would have been under the guidance of SM Krishna ends his life. I give my tributes to his family,” he said. After identification, the body was kept at Wenlock Hospital in Mangaluru, from where it was taken to Chettanahalli estate near Mudigere in Chikkamagaluru district. SM Krishna was seen supervising the arrangements at the cremation place along with other family members. Former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Congress leader DK Shivakumar and host of VIPs paid their respects to Siddhartha. Siddhartha went missing mysteriously on Monday night en route to the coastal city of Mangaluru. Following which the police had launched a mas- sive search operation on Tuesday with teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Coast Guard, Home Guard, fire services and coastal police scouring the swollen Nethravathi River. Sources said hours before his disappearance, Siddhartha had phoned his personal staff at the CCD head office in Bengaluru and asked them to make the purported suicide he had written to make public. The letter referred to the tremendous pressure he was under from lenders and harass- ment from Income Tax offi- cials. He had said in the letter that he was very sorry to let down all the people that put their trust in him. Meanwhile, Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd named former chief secretary of Karnataka and independent director of the CCD SV Ranganath as the interim chairman of the com- pany. The board also appoint- ed Nitin Bagmane as an inter- im chief operating officer (COO) of the company, Coffee Day Enterprises, which runs India’s biggest coffee chain CCD, said in a regulatory filing. CCD, India’s biggest coffee chain, is facing mounting debts which topped almost 4,500 crore. Though the group had raised debt from banks, mutu- al funds and NBFCs among others, Siddhartha’s letter to the board made public on Tuesday also pointed to pressure from a private equity partner to buy-back its holdings in Coffee Day Enterprises. It said the pri- vate equity partner exerted pressure on him and his busi- nesses. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday react- ed to the death of Siddhartha and tagging a news report, tweeted, “‘Ease of Doing Business’ under BJP translates into ‘Ease of Ending Business’. The #VGSiddhartha tragedy reflects the worst of a broader, deeply worrying trend.” Late coffee tycoon’s mobile phone has so far not been recovered by the authorities. His wallet which contained his credit and debit cards and his ID card have been found. Fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who is facing extradi- tion proceedings in the UK, on Wednesday, took to Twitter to draw parallels with the case of CCD founder Siddhartha, who in his suicide letter has alleged “harassment” by the Income Tax Department officials. T he CBI has booked Uttar Pradesh MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and nine others on murder charges in connec- tion with the truck-car collision at Gurubakshganj area of Rae Bareli that left the 19-year-old Unnao rape victim and her lawyer critically injured and two of her relatives dead. The CBI has already chargesheeted Sengar in the rape allegation levelled by the Unnao girl. She was allegedly raped in 2017 by the MLA when she was a minor. Besides Sengar, those named in the accident FIR include his brother Manoj Singh Sengar, Arun Singh, Vinod Mishra, Hari Pal Singh, Navin Singh, Komal Singh, Gyanendra Singh, Rinku Singh, advocate Awadhesh Singh, and 15-20 unidentified persons. The accused have been charged with IPC sections relating to murder, attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy and criminal intimidation. The CBI has constituted a team for “speedy and smooth investigation” of the case. The probe team reached Gurubakshganj on Wednesday. “It was alleged that the accused persons were conspir- ing, threatening and harassing the family of the complainant. It was further alleged that in this matter, the accident that occurred on July 28, 2019, has resulted in loss of two lives. Also the Unnao victim and the family lawyer (both passengers in a car) are still under treat- ment at a hospital in Lucknow,” the CBI spokesper- son said. After collecting the case documents from the UP Police, the CBI team inspected the crime scene and the truck which had hit the white Maruti Swift car. As part of the probe, the CBI sleuths also spoke to police officers who were the first respondents after the acci- dent was reported. C ongress Legislature Party Leader Narasingha Mishra on Wednesday alleged in the State Assembly that dhoti-clad leaders have always been for- gotten by the BJD Government. Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Mishra said, “Only four of us (MLAs) are wearing dhoti. I have never seen the Speaker and the Chief Minister in dhoti. Most of our members even don’t know how to wear it,” rued Mishra. Stating that every Odia feels proud of Odisha Rasagolla getting GI tag, Mishra wanted to know whether use of dhoti or pyjama is Odias’ tradition. “Utkalmani Gopabandhu Das was wearing dhoti. When his Bakulabana has been rav- aged by Cyclone Fani, nobody from the Government has vis- ited it. While nine months have passed since the Chief Minister laid foundation-stone for the proposed Odia University at the Bakulabana, no step has been taken for con- structing it,” said Mishra. Stating that Gopabandhu would have been forgotten altogether if ‘The Samaja’ news- paper was not there, Mishra urged the Speaker to direct the Government to expedite Odia University works and restore the Bakulabana at the earliest and give respect to the Utkalmani. Besides, Mishra reiterated his earlier demand of making efforts for according Bharat Ratna to Utkalgaurav Madhusudan Das. “If Madhubabu was not there, Odisha would not have been a special State. I have many a time stated in this House that the State Government should place a demand with the Union Government for according Bharat Ratna to Madhubabu. I have also met the Chief Minister over the matter. But no step has been taken yet,” said Mishra. Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro directed the Government to take note of Mishra’s views. H eavy rains are forecast in the State in the next few days as a low pressure area (LOPAR) is likely to form over the northwest Bay of Bengal off the West Bengal coast on August 2 and intensify into a depression the next day, said the Centre for Environment and Climate (CEC) of SOA University on Wednesday. The system was expected to intensify into a deep depres- sion on August 4 over the northwest Bay of Bengal and merge with anoth- er depression, now lying over the South China Sea, which was likely to move towards the Bay of Bengal, CEC director Sarat Chandra Sahu. The depression over South China Sea would initially move in a north-northwestwardly direction and then southwest- wards towards northeast Bay of Bengal, he said. This system is likely to merge with the deep depression formed over northwest Bay of Bengal on August 5 and move in a northwestwardly direction and cross the O disha-West Bengal border near Digha on the night of August 5 or early morning of August 6. Under its influence, rainfall would increase gradually from August 2 in the districts of Baleswar, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Khordha, Cuttack and Dhenkanal, Sahu said. Heavy to very heavy rain- fall might be experienced from August 3 in the State’s coastal belt as also in the districts of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Angul, Dhenkanal, Nayagarh, Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Bargarh, Jharsuguda, Deogarh, Balangir, Sonepur, Boudh, Nuapada, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi and Kandhamal. The rains might continue till August 6 night, he said. Under the influence of the system wind, speed reaching 60 km per hour, might be experi- enced in coastal and adjoining districts, Sahu said, adding that the catchments of upper and lower Mahanadi, Brahmani, Baitarani, Budhabalanga and Subarnarekha rivers could receive heavy precipitation between August 3 and 6. T he Orissa High Court on Wednesday granted an interim stay on the operation of a recent State Government notification pertaining to recruitments of both teaching and nonteaching staffs in dif- ferent universities of the State. Citing violation of reser- vation guidelines, petitioners Dhanajay Soren and others have approached the High Court challenging the notifi- cation and a subsequent adver- tisement issued by the Sambalpur University. Admitting the petition for hearing, Justice Dr BR Sarangi earlier on July 11 had ordered the Sambalpur University to carry on with the recruitment process but had restrained the university from giving appoint- ments without the leave of the HC. Posting the matter to be heard again on August 20, the HC on Wednesday stayed the operation of the Government notification. It also asked the Government counsel to obtain instruction and file counters before the next date of hearing. T he BJD’s support to various Bills in the Parliament led to a flutter in the State Assembly on Wednesday with Congress mem- ber Tara Prasad Bahinipati demanding that the Chief Minister clarify if the BJD is part of the NDA Government now and a BJD-BJP alliance Government is running in the State. Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Bahinipati said the BJD issued a whip for its MPs to remain present in the Lok Sabha and support the Triple Talaq Bill of the Union Government. The regional party has also supported the BJP Government at the Centre on many other issues. “While Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik used to say that the BJD is maintaining equidis- tance from the Congress and the BJP, his party’s supports to the BJP on various issues doesn’t cor- roborate his stand. Further, the BJP and the BJD were talking against each other before elections. It indicates that the BJD is maintaining a dou- ble standard. The Chief Minister should make a clarification in the House if there is a BJD-BJP alliance Government running in the State also,” said Bahnipati. Reacting to Bahinipati’s contention, Government Chief Whip Pramila Mallick said the BJD is supporting only people-centric Bills. “Where did Congress vote go during the last election held in Patkura and other constituen- cies? There is no problem in supporting Bills in the interest of people,” added she. BJD member Amar Prasad Satapathy said the BJD supported the Triple Talaq Bill for women empowerment and that was an issue- based support also. The matter (the BJD’s sup- port to the Bill) should not be politicised, he said. T he State Assembly on Wednesday passed an Appropriation Bill of 146061, 09,32,000 presented by Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari for the financial year 2019-20 after a marathon discussion. Initiating the debate, Leader of Opposition Pradipta Kumar Naik said the State Government is always making false claims that the NDA Government at the Centre has neglected Odisha. “During the UPA Government’s 13th Finance Commission, the State had got Central assistances of 69,316 crore. But the assistances rose by 265 per cent to 1,84,000 during the 14th Finance Commission,” said Naik. He said the State’s own rev- enue even doesn’t meet the expenditure of salary and pen- sion now. He said the NDA Government provided 20,155 crore for various railway pro- jects in the State during the last five years. Even as funding for eight Central projects were stopped, introduction of 80 new projects have benefited Odisha much, claimed Naik. However, BJD’s Amar Prasad Satpathy said Odisha got 26,000 crore less even as the percentage of Divisional Pool increased from 32 per cent to 42 per cent. Funds were diverted from the Divisional Pool as the Centre levied more cess and surcharge, he said. He slammed the Union Government for not providing special category status or spe- cial focus status to Odisha. He claimed that Odisha has now become revenue surplus State due to efficient financial management of the State Government. Among others, Prafulla Samal, Santosh Singh Saluja, Priti Ranjan Ghadai, Debi Prasad Mishra, Debesh Acharya, Ashwini Kumar Patra, Suresh Kumar Routray, Pradeep Dishari, Rajendra Sahoo, Tara Prasad Bahinipati and Anant Das participated in the discussion. I ndia is fast emerging as glob- al dumping ground for plas- tic waste. More than 25 coun- tries, including neighbouring countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, have dumped 1,21,000 metric tonne of plas- tic rubbish here after recy- cling companies “slyly” import- ed the same. It has happened even as India is unable to tack- le its own plastic waste crisis, which prompted the ban on the import of plastic waste. According to Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Smriti Manch (PDUSM), an NGO affiliated with the Union Environment Ministry, the quantity of plastic waste import to Maharashtra was 19,375 met- ric tonnes, Gujarat 18,330 MT and Tamil Nadu 10,689 MT. Based on a study conduct- ed between April 2018 and February 2019, the report said 55,000 metric tonne of plastic waste was imported in India from Pakistan and Bangladesh for recycling purposes. More than 25 countries, including those from the West Asia, Europe and the US, are involved in the dumping the environ- mental hazard waste in India. More than 19,517 metric tonne of plastic waste was imported in Delhi, the second highest quantity of waste import after Uttar Pradesh which got 28,846 metric tonne of plastic waste.

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Page 1: ˇ˘-.&/ ˜01˛1˜˛ 2 ,˜#-. $/ ˆ4 ˘ , %+˛˙# ’+ ’ ’ ˆ ......Zero Hour, Mishra said, “Only four of us (MLAs) are wearing dhoti. I have never seen the Speaker and the Chief

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Parliament on Wednesdayapproved the Motor

Vehicles (Amendment) Bill2019 that aims to infuse morediscipline on roads by tighten-ing rules and increasing penal-ties. The Bill passed in theRajya Sabha envisages a seachange in how Indian roadsand vehicular transportationare governed.

After the amendment,minimum penalty for violationof traffic rules goes up from�100 to �500. The maximumpenalty has been fixed at�10,000. As a novel step, theMotor Vehicles (Amendment)Bill provides for communityservice as punishment to vio-lators of road safety rules andregulations.

The Bill moved by RoadTransport Minister NitinGadkari was passed in theRajya Sabha after a long dis-cussion with a voice vote. TheBill will amend the provisionsof the Motor Vehicles Act of1988. The Lok Sabha firstpassed the amendment Billfirst in 2017, but it was notcleared in the Upper House andeventually lapsed with the dis-solution of the 16th Lok Sabha.

As per the new motor vehi-cles law, in case of driving avehicle without holding alicence, the penalty has beenincreased from �500 to �5,000.Not wearing a seat belt willinvite a penalty of �1,000. It was�100 only till now.

For drunken driving cases,the penalty is �10,000 — upfrom �2,000 under the existinglaw. For dangerous driving,the penalty is �5,000. Not giv-

ing pass to emergency vehicleswill attract �10,000 penalty.There was no such provision under the pre-vious law.

In cases of over-speeding,the driver will be penalised�1,000 for light motor vehiclessuch as cars and �2,000 forheavier vehicles. If foundengaged in racing, the driver will have to pay a penal-ty of �5,000.

��������� ������ ��������� �

The mystery over the where-abouts of Cafe Coffee Day

(CCD) owner VG Siddhartha— who went missing two daysago — ended on a sombre notewith the recovery of his bodyfrom the Netravati River inDakshina Kannada district onWednesday at 4.30 am.

The billionaire coffeetycoon, whose chain of cafeshelped make coffee a lifestylebeverage and brought in latte,cappuccino, Americano andespresso into the urban Indianlexicon, was 59 and was cre-mated on Wednesday at hisestate in his home district ofChikkamagaluru after hun-dreds of people paid a tearfuladieu to him.

He is survived by his wifeMalavika and two sons.

His son Amartya lit thefuneral pyre after the last riteswere performed according tothe traditions of the Vokkaligacommunity from which hehailed, in the presence of a largenumber of people.

Poignant scenes were wit-nessed as Amartya broke downseveral times while performingthe rituals.

87-year-old former ChiefMinister SM Krishna, father-in-law of Siddhartha, and hiswife Prema too fought hard tocontrol their emotions.

A police official said“everything” points to suicide,but nothing can be ruled out

until the investigation is over.The body of Siddhartha

was traced after 36 hours of anintensive search operation.After local fishermen fished itout, police rushed to the spot.

Mangalore MLA UTKhader said friends and rela-tives confirmed that the bodyis of Siddhartha.

Earlier, the officials con-firmed his identity and after thepost-mortem handed over thebody to the family members forlast rites.

Karnataka Chief MinisterBS Yediyurappa, who was pre-sent at the place of the last rites,

called Siddhartha “a simple man and a pioneer inpopularising Indian coffee inthe world.”

“I can’t even imagine whya person who would have beenunder the guidance of SMKrishna ends his life. I give mytributes to his family,” he said.

After identification, thebody was kept at WenlockHospital in Mangaluru, from where it was taken to Chettanahalli estate near Mudigere inChikkamagaluru district.

SM Krishna was seensupervising the arrangements

at the cremation place alongwith other family members.

Former Chief Minister HDKumaraswamy, Congressleader DK Shivakumar andhost of VIPs paid their respectsto Siddhartha.

Siddhartha went missingmysteriously on Monday nighten route to the coastal city ofMangaluru. Following whichthe police had launched a mas-sive search operation onTuesday with teams of NationalDisaster Response Force(NDRF), Coast Guard, HomeGuard, fire services and coastalpolice scouring the swollen

Nethravathi River.Sources said hours before

his disappearance, Siddharthahad phoned his personal staffat the CCD head office inBengaluru and asked them tomake the purported suicide hehad written to make public.

The letter referred to thetremendous pressure he wasunder from lenders and harass-ment from Income Tax offi-cials. He had said in the letterthat he was very sorry to letdown all the people that puttheir trust in him.

Meanwhile, Coffee DayEnterprises Ltd named formerchief secretary of Karnatakaand independent director of theCCD SV Ranganath as theinterim chairman of the com-pany. The board also appoint-ed Nitin Bagmane as an inter-

im chief operating officer(COO) of the company, CoffeeDay Enterprises, which runsIndia’s biggest coffee chainCCD, said in a regulatory filing.

CCD, India’s biggest coffeechain, is facing mounting debtswhich topped almost �4,500crore. Though the group hadraised debt from banks, mutu-al funds and NBFCs amongothers, Siddhartha’s letter to theboard made public on Tuesdayalso pointed to pressure froma private equity partner tobuy-back its holdings in CoffeeDay Enterprises. It said the pri-vate equity partner exertedpressure on him and his busi-nesses.

Congress leader ShashiTharoor on Wednesday react-ed to the death of Siddharthaand tagging a news report,tweeted, “‘Ease of DoingBusiness’ under BJP translatesinto ‘Ease of Ending Business’.The #VGSiddhartha tragedyreflects the worst of a broader,deeply worrying trend.”

Late coffee tycoon’s mobilephone has so far not beenrecovered by the authorities.His wallet which containedhis credit and debit cards andhis ID card have been found.

Fugitive liquor baron VijayMallya, who is facing extradi-tion proceedings in the UK, onWednesday, took to Twitter todraw parallels with the case ofCCD founder Siddhartha, whoin his suicide letter has alleged“harassment” by the IncomeTax Department officials.

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The CBI has booked UttarPradesh MLA Kuldeep

Singh Sengar and nine otherson murder charges in connec-tion with the truck-car collisionat Gurubakshganj area of RaeBareli that left the 19-year-oldUnnao rape victim and herlawyer critically injured andtwo of her relatives dead.

The CBI has alreadychargesheeted Sengar in therape allegation levelled by theUnnao girl. She was allegedlyraped in 2017 by the MLAwhen she was a minor.

Besides Sengar, thosenamed in the accident FIRinclude his brother ManojSingh Sengar, Arun Singh,Vinod Mishra, Hari Pal Singh,Navin Singh, Komal Singh,Gyanendra Singh, Rinku Singh,advocate Awadhesh Singh, and15-20 unidentified persons.

The accused have beencharged with IPC sectionsrelating to murder, attempt tomurder, criminal conspiracyand criminal intimidation.

The CBI has constituted ateam for “speedy and smoothinvestigation” of the case. Theprobe team reachedGurubakshganj on Wednesday.

“It was alleged that theaccused persons were conspir-ing, threatening and harassingthe family of the complainant.

It was further alleged that inthis matter, the accident thatoccurred on July 28, 2019, hasresulted in loss of two lives.Also the Unnao victim and thefamily lawyer (both passengersin a car) are still under treat-ment at a hospital in Lucknow,” the CBI spokesper-son said.

After collecting the casedocuments from the UP Police,the CBI team inspected thecrime scene and the truckwhich had hit the white MarutiSwift car. As part of the probe,the CBI sleuths also spoke topolice officers who were thefirst respondents after the acci-dent was reported.

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Congress Legislature PartyLeader Narasingha Mishra

on Wednesday alleged in theState Assembly that dhoti-cladleaders have always been for-gotten by the BJD Government.

Raising the issue during theZero Hour, Mishra said, “Onlyfour of us (MLAs) are wearingdhoti. I have never seen theSpeaker and the Chief Ministerin dhoti. Most of our memberseven don’t know how to wearit,” rued Mishra.

Stating that every Odiafeels proud of Odisha Rasagollagetting GI tag, Mishra wantedto know whether use of dhotior pyjama is Odias’ tradition.

“Utkalmani GopabandhuDas was wearing dhoti. Whenhis Bakulabana has been rav-aged by Cyclone Fani, nobodyfrom the Government has vis-ited it. While nine monthshave passed since the ChiefMinister laid foundation-stonefor the proposed OdiaUniversity at the Bakulabana,no step has been taken for con-structing it,” said Mishra.

Stating that Gopabandhuwould have been forgottenaltogether if ‘The Samaja’ news-paper was not there, Mishraurged the Speaker to direct theGovernment to expedite OdiaUniversity works and restorethe Bakulabana at the earliestand give respect to theUtkalmani.

Besides, Mishra reiteratedhis earlier demand of makingefforts for according BharatRatna to UtkalgauravMadhusudan Das.

“If Madhubabu was notthere, Odisha would not havebeen a special State. I havemany a time stated in thisHouse that the StateGovernment should place ademand with the UnionGovernment for accordingBharat Ratna to Madhubabu. Ihave also met the ChiefMinister over the matter. Butno step has been taken yet,” saidMishra.

Speaker Surjya NarayanPatro directed the Governmentto take note of Mishra’s views.

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Heavy rains are forecast inthe State in the next few

days as a low pressure area(LOPAR) is likely to form overthe northwest Bay of Bengal offthe West Bengal coast onAugust 2 and intensify into adepression the next day, saidthe Centre for Environmentand Climate (CEC) of SOAUniversity on Wednesday.

The system was expectedto intensify into a deep depres-sion on August 4 over thenorthwest Bay of Bengal and merge with anoth-er depression, now lying overthe South China Sea, whichwas likely to move towards theBay of Bengal, CEC director Sarat Chandra Sahu.

The depression over SouthChina Sea would initially movein a north-northwestwardlydirection and then southwest-wards towards northeast Bay ofBengal, he said.

This system is likely tomerge with the deep depressionformed over northwest Bay ofBengal on August 5 and movein a northwestwardly directionand cross the Odisha-West Bengal border near

Digha on the night of August5 or early morning of August6.

Under its influence, rainfallwould increase gradually fromAugust 2 in the districts ofBaleswar, Bhadrak, Jajpur,Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj,Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur,Khordha, Cuttack andDhenkanal, Sahu said.

Heavy to very heavy rain-fall might be experienced fromAugust 3 in the State’s coastalbelt as also in the districts of Mayurbhanj,Keonjhar, Angul, Dhenkanal,Nayagarh, Sambalpur,Sundargarh, Bargarh,Jharsuguda, Deogarh, Balangir,Sonepur, Boudh, Nuapada,Nabarangpur, Kalahandi andKandhamal. The rains mightcontinue till August 6 night, hesaid.

Under the influence of thesystem wind, speed reaching 60km per hour, might be experi-enced in coastal and adjoiningdistricts, Sahu said, addingthat the catchments of upperand lower Mahanadi,Brahmani, Baitarani,Budhabalanga andSubarnarekha rivers couldreceive heavy precipitationbetween August 3 and 6.

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The Orissa High Court onWednesday granted an

interim stay on the operation ofa recent State Governmentnotification pertaining torecruitments of both teachingand nonteaching staffs in dif-ferent universities of the State.

Citing violation of reser-vation guidelines, petitionersDhanajay Soren and othershave approached the HighCourt challenging the notifi-cation and a subsequent adver-tisement issued by theSambalpur University.

Admitting the petition forhearing, Justice Dr BR Sarangiearlier on July 11 had orderedthe Sambalpur University tocarry on with the recruitmentprocess but had restrained theuniversity from giving appoint-ments without the leave of theHC.

Posting the matter to beheard again on August 20, theHC on Wednesday stayed theoperation of the Governmentnotification. It also asked theGovernment counsel to obtaininstruction and file countersbefore the next date of hearing.

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The BJD’s support to various Bills in theParliament led to a flutter in the State

Assembly on Wednesday with Congress mem-ber Tara Prasad Bahinipati demanding that theChief Minister clarify if the BJD is part of theNDA Government now and a BJD-BJP allianceGovernment is running in the State.

Raising the issue during the Zero Hour,Bahinipati said the BJD issued a whip for its MPsto remain present in the Lok Sabha and supportthe Triple Talaq Bill of the Union Government.The regional party has also supported the BJPGovernment at the Centre on many other issues.

“While Chief Minister Naveen Patnaikused to say that the BJD is maintaining equidis-

tance from the Congress and the BJP, his party’ssupports to the BJP on various issues doesn’t cor-roborate his stand. Further, the BJP and the BJDwere talking against each other before elections.It indicates that the BJD is maintaining a dou-ble standard. The Chief Minister should makea clarification in the House if there is a BJD-BJPalliance Government running in the State also,”said Bahnipati.

Reacting to Bahinipati’s contention,Government Chief Whip Pramila Mallick saidthe BJD is supporting only people-centric Bills.“Where did Congress vote go during the lastelection held in Patkura and other constituen-cies? There is no problem in supporting Bills inthe interest of people,” added she.

BJD member Amar Prasad Satapathy saidthe BJD supported the Triple Talaq Bill forwomen empowerment and that was an issue-based support also. The matter (the BJD’s sup-port to the Bill) should not be politicised, he said.

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The State Assembly onWednesday passed an

Appropriation Bill of �146061,09,32,000 presented by FinanceMinister Niranjan Pujari for thefinancial year 2019-20 after amarathon discussion.

Initiating the debate,Leader of Opposition PradiptaKumar Naik said the StateGovernment is always makingfalse claims that the NDAGovernment at the Centre hasneglected Odisha.

“During the UPAGovernment’s 13th Finance

Commission, the State had gotCentral assistances of �69,316crore. But the assistances roseby 265 per cent to �1,84,000during the 14th FinanceCommission,” said Naik.

He said the State’s own rev-enue even doesn’t meet theexpenditure of salary and pen-sion now. He said the NDAGovernment provided �20,155crore for various railway pro-jects in the State during the lastfive years.

Even as funding for eightCentral projects were stopped,introduction of 80 new projectshave benefited Odisha much,claimed Naik.

However, BJD’s AmarPrasad Satpathy said Odishagot �26,000 crore less even asthe percentage of DivisionalPool increased from 32 per cent

to 42 per cent. Funds werediverted from the DivisionalPool as the Centre levied morecess and surcharge, he said.

He slammed the UnionGovernment for not providingspecial category status or spe-cial focus status to Odisha.

He claimed that Odisha hasnow become revenue surplusState due to efficient financialmanagement of the StateGovernment.

Among others, PrafullaSamal, Santosh Singh Saluja,Priti Ranjan Ghadai, DebiPrasad Mishra, DebeshAcharya, Ashwini KumarPatra, Suresh Kumar Routray,Pradeep Dishari, RajendraSahoo, Tara Prasad Bahinipatiand Anant Das participated inthe discussion.

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India is fast emerging as glob-al dumping ground for plas-

tic waste. More than 25 coun-tries, including neighbouringcountries like Pakistan andBangladesh, have dumped1,21,000 metric tonne of plas-tic rubbish here after recy-cling companies “slyly” import-ed the same. It has happenedeven as India is unable to tack-le its own plastic waste crisis,which prompted the ban on theimport of plastic waste.

According to PanditDeendayal Upadhyay SmritiManch (PDUSM), an NGOaffiliated with the UnionEnvironment Ministry, thequantity of plastic waste import

to Maharashtra was 19,375 met-ric tonnes, Gujarat 18,330 MTand Tamil Nadu 10,689 MT.

Based on a study conduct-ed between April 2018 andFebruary 2019, the report said55,000 metric tonne of plasticwaste was imported in Indiafrom Pakistan and Bangladeshfor recycling purposes. Morethan 25 countries, includingthose from the West Asia,Europe and the US, are involvedin the dumping the environ-mental hazard waste in India.

More than 19,517 metrictonne of plastic waste wasimported in Delhi, the secondhighest quantity of wasteimport after Uttar Pradeshwhich got 28,846 metric tonneof plastic waste.

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Aspate of loots in the last 24hours has now forced the

city residents to ponderwhether Bhubaneswar hasturned into the crime capital ofthe State and whether they cantrust the Commissioneratepolice to protect their lives andproperties.

Just hours after two lootsshocked the city on Tuesdaymorning, another robbery wasreported from the capital cityin the evening, where five bike-

borne masked miscreantsarmed with pistols and swordsattacked the owner of a usedcar showroom near the Puribypass road and snatched agold chain from him.

The owner managed tosave his life by hiding himselfin the office, but two cus-tomers, who had come to pur-chase a car, sustained grievousinjuries during the loot bid asthe anti-socials snatched �2lakh from them in the carshowroom by attacking themwith swords.

Later late night, two armedmiscreants attacked TruptiHotel owner Bulu Samantaraynear the Rasulgarh PalaMandap and snatched cashworth �50,000, a gold chain, a

bracelet by hacking him withswords when he was returninghome.

Hearing his screams somelocal youths of Rasulgarh vil-lage rushed to his rescue and

the attackers fled from thespot. Samantray was rushed toa private hospital with criticalinjuries.

Earlier in the day, panicgripped the Gadakona area inthe city after unidentified mis-creants looted cash, gold orna-ments and other valuables froma couple by brandishing gunsand other lethal weapons..

In another incident, aretired bank employee was tar-geted by miscreants while hewas out on a morning walk atAdimata Colony. The robberssnatched his gold ring at gunpoint.

Sources said as many as 10cases of loot and robbery havebeen reported in Bhubaneswar

in the last one month raisingconcerns about the deteriorat-ing law and order situation inthe city.

On Wednesday, protestingthe rising crimes in the city,especially the attack and lootincident from the owner ofTrupti Hotel, hundreds of localresidents staged a road block-ade at Rasulgarh Square dis-rupting vehicular movementon the Bhubaneswar-CuttackNational Highway.

Police CommissionerSatyajit Mohanty and DCPAnup Sahu rushed to the spotand assured the agitators thatthe culprits would be nabbedsoon, following which nor-malcy was restored.

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BHUBANESWAR: Out of54,298 Government schools inthe State, there are no toilets forgirls in 441 schools and no toi-lets for boys in 1,485 schools.

On behalf of School andMass Education Minister SamirRanjan Das, Planning andConvergence, Commerce andTransport MinisterPadmanabha Behera said thisin the State Assembly inresponse to a question of

Congress member Tara PrasadBahinipati and additional ques-tions of other members onWednesday.

As per the UDISE 2017-18data, toilets have been con-structed for girls in 53,763schools and for boys in 52,521schools out of total 54,298State-run schools.

While members expressedconcern over the matter, theMinister assured that toiletswould be constructed in allschools.

The public sector under-takings (PSUs) have been asked

to construct toilets for girls inthe 441 schools, he said.

The Minister furtherinformed that temporary toiletshave been constructed inschools lacking such facilities.He said the Panchayati Raj andDrinking Water Departmenthas been asked to construct toi-lets in schools with funds avail-able from the 14th FinanceCommission and the FourthFinance Commission of theState.

The Minister said toiletswould also be constructed in allGovernment-aided schools in

coming days.However, the Minister

informed all the Governmentschools have been provideddrinking water facilities.

“The State Government iscommitted to provide toiletsand drinking water facilities inall the schools,” said theMinister.

Among others, ArabindaDhali, Rajendra Sahoo, SantoshSingh Saluja, Srikant Sahoo,Mahidhar Rana, BhaskarMadehi and Sudhir RanjanSamal put additional ques-tions. PNS

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The Odisha Government haswon the prestigious

Technology Sabha Awards forits ‘Early WarningDissemination System’(EWDS).

The EWDS has been cho-sen under the UnifiedCommunications category forthe Technology Sabha Awardsinstituted by the Indian Expressgroup.

The awards function willbe held from August 8 to 10 at

Crowne Plaza, Jaipur,Rajasthan.

The EWDS is the first-of-its-kind automatic publicaddress system in the country.The system helps warn peopleresiding along the coast fromthe State headquarters throughloud sirens from towersinstalled at as many as 122 loca-tions in the event of occurrenceof natural disasters like cyclone.

The system has helped theState protect the lives of lakhsof people during Cyclone Faniin May this year.

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BHUBANESWAR:The StateGovernment has decided toreduce kerosene quota for theBPL families under the publicdistribution system (PDS).

Food Supplies andConsumer Welfare MinisterRanendra Pratap Swaininformed the State Assemblyon Wednesday that instead of2.5 litre of kerosene, a familywould now be provided with 2litre.

The reduced kerosenequota would be implementedfrom August this year, he said.

Till July 2019, the Centrewas providing 20,700 kilolitreof kerosene to Odisha permonth, but that has beenslashed to 16,384 kilolitre, theMinister said, citing the reasonwhy the per-family quota hasbeen reduced.

Earlier, 650 ml of keroseneper family per month was pro-vided under the PDS that waslater increased to 2.5 litre inJune 2018. PNS

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Atotal of 39 students havedropped out from

the IIT, Bhubaneswar, in last two years, a datarevealed.

According to a data sharedby the Ministry of Human Resource Developmentin the Parliament last week, asmany as 2,461 studentsdropped out of various IITsacross the country, of which IIT Bhubaneswar regis-ters 39 dropouts since 2017.

Out of total 39 dropouts,eight are from Scheduled Caste(SC), two from Scheduled Tribe(ST) and nine fromthe Other Backward Classes

(OBCs) at the country’s pre-mier institution inBhubaneswar.

Minister of HumanResource DevelopmentRamesh Pokhriyal Nishank attributed the rea-sons of increasing number ofdropouts to shifting to other colleges/institutions,personal reasons, medical reasons, placement during PG courses and pursu-ing higher education abroad.

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In order to highlight the issuesof farmers in Odisha, two

students of Kendrapada districthave covered more than 1,600km by bicycles to meetPresident Ram Nath Kovindand Prime Minister NarendraModi in New Delhi.

Krishnakant Sarangi, anengineering student, andSubhrajit Barik, a zoology stu-dent, have reached the nation-al capital by bicycles and now

want to meet the President andPrime Minister over the

Mahanadi river water dispute.They want to highlight the

plight of Odisha farmers whoare suffering due to the con-struction of barrages over theMahanadi in Chhattisgarh asthe constructions are affectingthe inflow of water in Odisha,thereby affecting the State’sfarmers.

Kendrapada MP AnubhavMohanty has requested thePresident and the PrimeMinister to meet the two stu-dents. “I request the Presidentand PM to spare some time andmeet this young duo fromOdisha as they have come withlots of hope and some inter-esting suggestions on resolvingthe water issue,” the MP said.

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Even as the CuttackCommissionerate police are

grilling detained Cuttack ‘psychokiller’ Narayan Sahu, his wifeGeetanjali has alleged that her hus-band has been framed up by policein the serial killing case.

She met the Nayagarh SP onWednesday and demanded justicefor her husband.

“My husband was living inNayagarh since July 22. For hisbusiness he took loans from manypeople and mortgaged our house

worth Rs 18 lakh for Rs 6 lakh. Somepeople assaulted him for unable torepay the loans. Following which hedeveloped mental illness and lefthome.

Later, he came to the village andstayed here for 24 days during thetime when the murders were com-mitted,” Gitanjali told the police.

According to the police, Naryanhad fled from Cuttack after brutal-ly killing three persons. The policeidentified him reportedly on thebasis of CCTV camera footage andforensic reports.

Narayan was arrested fromNayagarh district by theCommissionerate police on Monday.He hails from Odagaon in the dis-trict.

The Nayagarh SP has assuredGeetanjali that he would inform theCuttack DCP regarding her claims,sources said.

BHUBANESWAR: OdishaPolice Officers’ Association(OPA) president ACP SatyajitMishra was suspended onTuesday by DGP Dr RPSharma for violating the servicecode. Following the incident offormer Baliapal IIC PrabhuKalyan Mishra being chasedand thrashed by locals inBalasore district the over deathof a minor boy at a dhaba,

Mishra had held a Press con-ference and demanded protec-tion for police officers in theState.He said that police officerswere feeling unsafe followingfrequent attacks on them bypeople.

The association had alsosought formulation of a sepa-rate law for the protection ofpolice personnel like the doc-tors. He had also demandedfilling of all vacant posts andseparate police wings for main-taining law and order and forinvestigations. PNS

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MSME Additional Secretary and OSICMD Prasanna Kumar Jena address-

ing the 6th edition of MSME Summit hereon Wednesday, said, “The MSME sectoris struggling.” The event was organised bythe Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC)in collaboration with the State MSMEDepartment.

They are struggling for land to set uptheir establishment. Our State has landbank of industry which is under Idco butto get a piece of land from the land bankis still a distance dream for MSME unitsof the State, he told.

He also said though there is plenty oflabour available in the market, but skilledmanpower crisis still persists. The MSMEsare unable to find skilled manpower thatis actually necessary to run their businesssmoothly, he added.

Jena also told, “Financial institutions

like PSU and private banks are not keento give finance support to MSME units.Their loan approval process is very cum-bersome and needs lots of paperwork. Tofulfill the fund requirement of MSMEs,years back the Government of India set upState Finance Corporation in every State.But all are now sick. They are strugglingto survive. How can they help MSMEs.Time has come to revive these finance unitfor betterment of MSME sector.”

Vendor development trough vendorconnect and technology upgradation,availing suitable market linkages, MSMEcluster development, revival of sick unitswill empower MSMEs and make themcompetitive globally, opined other experts.

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In the first Pragati (Pro-ActiveGovernance and Timely

Implementation) meeting of the sec-ond term of NDA Government onWednesday, PM Narendra Modireviewed progress of different schemesand projects implemented in eightStates, including Odisha.

This was the 30th meeting of thePragati. In the last term of the NDAGovernment, 29 Pragati meetingswere held whose main motto was tocut the clutter within the administra-tion to deliver results.

Reviewing the Pradhan MantriAwaas Yojana (Urban), PM Modiinstructed the officials to ensure that

all houseless get houses by 2022. In theAyushman scheme, the PM was toldthat so far 35 lakh have got benefitsof the health scheme.

Modi stressed on inclusion ofmore people in the scheme and its bet-ter execution.

The PM also wanted to know ifthere has been any malpractice andmisuse of the schemes.

Similarly, the PM reviewing theSugamya Bharat Abhiyan, suggestedthe use of IT to get suggestions for bet-ter implementation of the schemewhose objective is providing access tothe Divyangs in public places andfacilities.

Modi emphasized on the value ofwater and underscored the need toconserve water in the ongoing mon-soon season. Besides, the PMreviewed infrastructural progress ineight projects concerning railway androad sectors.

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The Freethought Party of India (FPI) hashailed PM Modi and Union Law Minister

Ravi Shankar Prasad for the passage of the TripleTalaq Bill in both the Houses of Parliament.

“With this radical step, PM Modi hasbrought in “gender equality” and “human dig-nity” to all the Indian women. No woman wouldbe now treated as a sub-human being to her hus-

band,” stated a FPI Press release. The FPI alsosuggested that the NDA Government must strivehard to create a “national consensus” in the ear-liest on the issue having a uniform law on mar-riage, divorce, adoption and inheritance in accor-dance with Article 44 of the Constitution.

It also said that the Uniform Civil Code isof urgent necessity for Indians because such alaw would create the best social climate for‘priest-less love marriage.’

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The Health and Family WelfareDepartment, laying stress on the 5Ts

of the Government, has linked somehealth institutions with Facebook andTwitter for providing better health ser-vices to the people through social media.

The SCB Medical College Hospital,the Sishu Bhawan and the AcharyaHarihar Regional Cancer Centre inCuttack and the Capital Hospital and theState Blood Transfusion Council inBhubaneswar were linked through thesocial media on Wednesday.

People can lodge their complaints,inform about their grievances and sub-mit their proposals through the respec-tive social media handles. The handlesare @Scbmchctc, https://www.face-b o o k . c o m / S C B M C H C T C ,@CapitalHospita4, https://www.face-b o o k . c o m / c a p i t a l h o s p i t a l .bhubaneswar/, @OdishaSbtc,

https://www.facebook.com/odishablood-safety, @svppgip, https://www.face-b o o k . c o m / s i s h u b h a w a n c t c ,@AcharyaCancer, https://www.face-book.com/ahrcccuttack.

The VIMSAR at Burla and theMKCG Medical College Hospital havebeen directed to open their social mediaaccounts at the soonest.

The department through a releasesaid that steps would be taken immedi-ately on the complaints and proposalsmade by people through the accounts. Italso mentioned that other health insti-tutions have also been directed to openaccounts soon.

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Page 3: ˇ˘-.&/ ˜01˛1˜˛ 2 ,˜#-. $/ ˆ4 ˘ , %+˛˙# ’+ ’ ’ ˆ ......Zero Hour, Mishra said, “Only four of us (MLAs) are wearing dhoti. I have never seen the Speaker and the Chief

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Things are now getting bet-ter with Debanti Behera of

Sargimumda village ofNuapada district, after thealleged starvation death of hisbrother Goutam on July 8 washighlighted in media.

She was given shelter in arehabilitation center at Komna,a ration card under AntodayaAnna Yojana (AAY) and�60,000. She was also assuredof appropriate treatment for her

illness. "I am fine now" saysDebanti, but she is still toovercome the trauma, that sheand her brother underwentfor long years.

"My brother used to stayovernight in front of blockoffice at Boden to meet theconcerned block officials to getan AAY card, but we did notget that when he was alive,"lamented Debanti.

"This is how our adminis-tration responds to the griev-ance of people and tries to sup-

press the truth if somethingunwarranted happens," saidSanjaya Tiwari, a farmer leaderof Khariar.

He added that there shouldbe an audit of the monthlygrievance conducted by thedistrict Collectors across theState to assess how much of thegrievances are really addressedand accountability be fixed fornot addressing genuine con-cerns of the people.

"In the case of Goutam'sdeath what the administrationdid now, it could have doneearlier when he was alive.There are many provisions likeinclusion in AAY, issue of GRcard or shifting the destitute to

any rehabilitation shelter etc.The administration did notmake use of these provisionsand hurried to cover up its faultadopting dubious means," saidscribe Tapan Dash.

The first illegality done bythe officials was to deny apostmortem of the body incontravention of rules laiddown in the Odisha ReliefCode. The second was towithdraw the AAY and replac-ing that with another. It was toprove that the administrationhad issued the card and ricebefore the death of Goutam.

Third fault was to motivatethe relatives of Debanti tochange their statements on the

cause of death and how theylived, Dash told further.

"Accountability should befixed with those who adoptedsuch dubious strategies to savetheir skin after neglecting thebasic needs of the siblings forseveral months and exemplaryaction should be taken againstthem," added Dash.

The administration had

submitted a report as aresponse to a query by the CMOffice on the death of Goutamdenying all complaints of neg-ligence.

However, it is learnt thatthe CM Office, basing on thefactual report published in ThePioneer, sent a consultant for adetailed inquiry.

The report of the consul-tant was not made public butit is learnt from people withwhom he discussed during hisvisit to the district includingDebanti, that the consultanthad been appraised of the real-ity. Now all eyes are on whatsteps the CM Office will be tak-ing.

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The Vigilance police onWednesday caught Puri dis-

trict’s Nahantara Revenue CircleAssistant Revenue Inspector DillipKumar Jena red-handed fordemanding and accepting an illegalgratification of �4,000.

He was nabbed for taking thebribe from complainant Gaya Bhoiof Uhanga village in the district for

not conducting eviction on Bhoi’sland where he had done an illegalconstruction obstructing the road.

Earlier, people had complainedagainst Bhoi before the ARI todemolish the illegal construction.

But Jena taking the bribe hadnot conducted the eviction andrather gave favourable report in forof Bhoi. Vigilance Inspector SantoshPanigrahi and his team conductedthe raid.

BRAHMAPUR: Armed mis-creants on Wednesday attempt-ed to loot a gold financingcompany in the city. However,due to a stiff resistance put upby the employees they failed toloot any cash or valuables. Butthree employees of the com-

pany were left injured in theincident.

Sources said four to fivemasked miscreants barged intothe office of IIFL gold LoanCompany at EngineeringSchool Road here around 10.30am and threatened the officialsat gunpoint.They tried to lootgold and cash from the officebut after they failed they

attacked and injured threestaffs of the company and fledwith some mobile phones.

A complaint in the con-nection was lodged at the BNPur police station.

Cops have started investi-gation into the incident andefforts are on to identify andnab the looters on the basis ofthe CCTV footage. PNS

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Mystery shrouded the recovery of abody of a woman from a pond at

Talakani village under the Ranpur policestation in the district on Wednesday.

Family members of the deceased, iden-tified as Prabhashini Behera, alleged that shewas murdered and her body was dumpedin the pond.

Behera had gone to the pond early inthe morning for taking bath. Concerned

over her delay in returning home, her fam-ily members frantically searched for her andfound the body floating in the pond.

Her husband has lodged a complaintwith the Ranpur police alleging that his wifewas killed. On the other hand, the bodybore some injury marks which have raisedsuspicions over the death. Police have start-ed investigation into the incident.

Notably, the woman had a dispute withsome villagers and a case in the connectionis sub-judice.

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A car was found abandoned and torched

near Banipadar village underRaighar police limit onRaighar-Umarkote highway onSaturday. Police suspect the carwas set ablaze at about 3 amand left abandoned.

Officials said it appearedthe car was travailing towardsChhattisgarh.

Later on Sunday, one RabiSarma of Nadapur of Koraputdistrict calming to be the ownerof the car lodged an FIR inRaighar police station stating,he along with his friendJagarnath Khuntia was travail-ing to Raipur but on the waythey stopped and left for uri-

nation. Some villagers presentthere all of sudden shoutedabusive language at them andabruptly came to attack them.

Out of fear they fled the

spot. The nest morning, theyfound that their car was setablaze.

An investigation was on,said the Umarkote SDPO.

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The Oil Refinery ContactLabour Cooperative

Society Ltd chose its newoffice-bearers here onWednesday. Eminent tradeunion leader and BJD State sec-retary Santosh Kumar Pattnaik presided over themeeting.

Eastern India oil RefineryWorkers’ Union secretaryPadma Lochan Dash, in hiswelcome address, said how theleadership of Santosh KumarPattnaik, who heads severalorganisations, has improvedthe common poor people’sconditions through the OilRefinery Contract LabourCooperative Society Limited

(ORCLCSL). Society chairman Pattnaik

declared the names of the soci-ety’s new president and secre-tary; and all members wel-comed this enthusiastically.Abhiram Samal was nominat-ed as president and NiranjanSamal as secretary of theORCLCSL.

Paradip Port Land Losers’and Affected Farmers’Associations presidentChinmay Das, EIORWU work-ing present Dillip KumarBehera, assistant secretaryNiranjan Nayak, Mihir KantSahoo, Biswambar Tarai, andall other members were presenton the occasion.

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Adivision bench of the ChiefJustice of the Orissa High

Court adjudicating over twoPILs filed by the BharatiyaBikash Parishad directedSecretary, Railway Board, totake necessary action con-cerning various demands of theParishad.

The front demandedextension of the RajdhaniExpress, Samparka KrantiExpress and Lokamanya TilakExpress to Brahmapur, stop-

page of Pondicherry- HowrahExpress at Brahmapur andrunning of a new passengertrain from Brahmapur to Puriup and down daily.

In another PIL, theParishad demanded for settingup a new railway division officeat Brahmapur, citing the mer-its of the town.

Parishad presidentSurendra Panigrahi said the court asked the rail-ways to take action over thesedemands within three months.

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Demanding fulfilment ofvarious demands, the

AITUC-affiliated KeonjharMines and Forest Workers’Union held a demonstration atthe Jilling Mines of the Esselcompany under the JodaMining Circle of Keonjhar dis-trict on Wednesday.

Under the union generalsecretary Maheswar Rout’sleadership, about 3,000 work-ers of the Jilling Mines came ina rally and handed over amemorandum to the companyauthorities. The demandsincluded providing free med-ical services to workers andtheir families, making perma-

nent the workers who areengaged under contractors fora long period, giving morebonus than the last year, pro-viding water and electricity tothe workers' colony and mak-ing provision for increment tothe contract workers.

If demands are not fulfilled

within 15 days, the unionthreatened to go on an indefi-nite strike.

Union presidentRamakrishna Panda, generalsecretary Maheswar Rout, work-ing president BidyadharMahanta, Kahnu Samal, KapilaMohanty addressed the workers.

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Inaugurating the annualmeeting of the District

Journalists’ Association here aschief guest on Sunday, StateSteel, Mines and PWDMinister Prafulla Mallick saiddevelopment of the State will bepossible when elected repre-sentatives, officials and jour-nalists work in tandem.

Attending the ceremonyas chief speaker, Dhenkanal

MP Mahesh Sahu said jour-nalists should work withoutany prejudice and write for thedistressed.

Speaking on the occasionas guest of honour, DhenkanalMLA Sudhir Samal inspiredthe journalists to protest againstall sorts of injustice. HindolMLA Simarani Naik assured allcooperation from her side tothe scribes.

Among others, districtCollector Bhumesh ChandraBehera, SP Anupama Jamesand Project Director DRDANarottam Behera spoke.

Presiding over the func-tion, association president

Prasana Kumar Patel demand-ed financial protection, healthinsurance, free homestead land,

pension, besides interest freeloan for housing, vehicle andcamera to the working jour-

nalists.General secretary Pratap

Baral read annual report andsought MLA and MPLADfunds for extension of theDhenkanal SambadikBhawan.

Veteran journalistUmakant Pattnaik and theBhubanashree editor SurendraMishra were felicitated on theoccasion.

While Amarendra Dashoffered vote of thanks, AbaniMishra coordinated. GaneswarMishra Group recited openingsong. More than 100 scribesfrom all parts of the districtattended.

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ANGUL: The BJP leaders andworkers, who had halted pro-duction at the Talcher coal-fields, called off the stir onWednesday.

The move came after ameeting between the agitators,district administration offi-cials and the CMD ofMahanadi Coalfields Limited(MCL).

The district administra-tion reportedly agreed to fulfil

the demands of the BJP lead-ers and workers. Notably, theprotest was being held after astrata collapsed on July 23 atthe Bharatpur opencast miningproject in the Talcher coalfieldsof MCL, which claimed lives offour persons.

The BJP workers were car-rying out sit-in protests at thecoalfields demanding safetyaudit of all mines in the region,safety measures to preventsuch tragedies and adequatecompensation to the families ofthe deceased. PNS

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Rajya Sabha BJD memberNarendra Swain asked

Union Minister of TourismPrahlad Singh Patel if Centralaid of �3 crore was being con-sidered to be spent for holdingcultural functions like KonarkFestival, Mukteswar DanceFestival, Rajarani MusicFestival, Dhauli KalingaFestival, Bird Festival,Khandagiri Udayagiri Festivaletc in Odisha.

The Odisha Governmenthad requested for considerationof the same in the year 2018.Swain also wanted to knowwhether the Union CultureMinistry was considering ofRural Circuit and SpiritualCircuit under SwadeshDarshan Scheme as requestedby the Odisha Governmentearlier in 2015 and 2016.

Replying to Swain’s queries,Minister Patel said that as perthe Central Government’s pro-cedure, �50 lakh is allowed tothe States and �30 lakh to theUnion Territories in a financialyear for organizing theirregional festivals. Therefore,the Central financial assistance

as sought by the Governmentof Odisha is not admissible.

Patel also said that the hisMinistry has sanctioned a project under the CoastalCircuit to Odisha under theSwadesh Darshan Scheme cov-ering Gopalpur, Brakul,Satapada and Tampara withCentral financial assistance of�76.49 crore.

Swain further raised ques-tions to know from theMinistry of Mines whether it isa fact that the proposal of theOdisha Government for reser-vation of Thakurani Block Airon ore mines in favour of theIndustrial DevelopmentCorporation of Odisha Limited(IDCOL) has been pendingwith the Ministry since lastyear. Swain was categorical toknow if the Ministry will con-sider to accord necessaryapproval for reservation of theThakurani Block A mines infavour of IDCOL under section17(2) of the MMDR(Amendment) Act, 2015.

Answering the question,Minister of Mines PralhadJoshi said that the Ministry hasreceived a proposal from theOdisha Government for reser-

vation of Thakurani Block AMines in favour of IDCOL andthe same was under consider-ation. The proposal will beprocessed in accordance withthe provisions of MMDR Act,1957 and the rules framedthere under, he added.

Swain further raised ques-tions whether the Ministry ofMines is going to revise the ratefor major minerals, includingiron ore, as the same was duefor revision in September 2017.Odisha being a mining richState, it depends heavily on roy-alty on iron ore, Swain said andpointed out at the steady fall ofmining revenue due to periodicnon – revision of royalty onmajor minerals, including ironore. Minister Joshi said that theMines and Minerals(Development and Regulation)Act, 1957 stipulates that theCentral Government may, bynotification in the OfficialGazette amend the rates of roy-alty for major minerals pro-vided that the rate of royaltyshall not be enhanced morethan once during any period ofthree years. The Ministry ofMines, has constituted a studygroup to revise the rates of roy-alty and dead rent for miner-als (other than coal, lignite,sand for stowing and minorminerals), the Minister said.

BHUBANESWAR: The JajpurVyasanagar AutonomousCollege, the Odisha CommerceAssociation (OCA) and theInstitute of Cost Accountants ofIndia (ICAI), BhubaneswarChapter jointly organised“Jajpur Commerce Conclaveand Seminar On GST” at theVyasanagar College in JajpurRoad on Sunday.

Chief guest Korei MLAAshok Kumar Bal inauguratedthe programme and praised theinitiative taken by the

organisers for the betterment ofcommerce profession of theState.

ICAI BhubaneswarChairman Saktidhar Singh saidthat the joint initiative definitelywould give a new horizon to thecommerce profession andChapter PD CommitteeChairman Mukesh Chaubey highlighted about thecareer prospects in cost andmanagement accountancycourse.

SOA University Finance

Professor Dr Prafulla KumarSwain, Shiba Prasad Padhi,College Principal Major Dr SkAbu Taher, OCA President DrPrabadha Hota, Dr. ArunKumar Barik, Dr SudhansuSekhar Mishra, Dr SudhansuKumar Dash, Dr MalayaKumar Mohanty andBibekananda Mohanty werepresent. More than 150 com-merce students and faculties incommerce from differentColleges of Jajpur district par-ticipated. PNS

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JAJPUR/ JAGATSINGHPUR:Police seized about 65 kg ofganja from two different loca-tions in Jajpur district and theKujang area in Jagatsinghpurdistrict on Tuesday.

According to reports, twospecial squads were formed bythe order of Jajpur SP CharanSingh Meena to keep vigil onillegal supply of ganja in thedistrict.

Acting on a tip-off, a teamled by Jajpur Sadar Police IICDushmant Nayak raided the

house of Niranjan Sahoo atKolatha village and seized26.250 kg ganja, which waskept under the bed. In simul-taneous raid by another policeteam led by ASI Snehalata Giriat the same village, it seized39.100 kg ganja from pujaroom of a house owned bySrusingha Swain. The ganjaseized would be worth around�4 lakh.

The accused persons wereforwarded to the court afterregistering two separate cases,

informed Jajpur SDPORabindra Kumar Jena.

In another incident,Paradip Excise departmentarrested one Lili Pradhan inconnection with illegal ganjasupply in Jagatsinghpur district.

The Excise officials nabbedthe accused, a resident ofBadhanga area under Kujangpolice limits, while she wastravelling with a bag containing ganja around 750gram. PNS

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Page 4: ˇ˘-.&/ ˜01˛1˜˛ 2 ,˜#-. $/ ˆ4 ˘ , %+˛˙# ’+ ’ ’ ˆ ......Zero Hour, Mishra said, “Only four of us (MLAs) are wearing dhoti. I have never seen the Speaker and the Chief

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Leader of Opposition (LoP)Pradipta Kumar Naik on

Wednesday expressed concernin the Assembly over ‘norecruitment’ to Government jobs and urgedthat the Government regu-larise all NMR and contractual employees in theirrespective posts in variousdepartments at theearliest.

Raising the issue during theZero Hour, the Leader ofOpposition said as many as 384NMR employees, who hadworked in the OdishaWatershed DevelopmentMission (OWDM) from 2002 to 2013, have now

taken to the streets to get reinstated in their jobs.

“After working for 12 years,they have lost maximum agelimits. The Government hasinvited applications for 174posts of different categories. While the NMRemployees have high qualifi-cations and experience, they arenot getting opportunity toappear for the recruitmentexaminations due over age.The Government should regu-larise them soon,” demandedNaik.

He too slammed theGovernment for appointingretired employees in differentposts, breaking employmentsfor youths.

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The Court of Special Judge,Vigilance, Baripada, con-

victed former District LabourOfficer Laxman Kumar Beherain a bribery case and sen-tenced him to undergo rigor-ous imprisonment (RI) for aperiod of 5 years and pay fineof Rs 10,000.

Baleswar Vigilance had

registered a case against him in2012 under various sections ofthe Prevention of CorruptionAct, 1988 for demand andacceptance of illegal gratifica-tion of Rs 10,000 from com-plainant Keshab Lenka forissue of licence to depute work-ers to Tamilnadu.

Similarly, former head-master-cum-Secretary, SchoolEducation Committee, AdariNew Primary School,Kotogarh, Kandhmal, KanhuCharan Digal was convicted ofcharge of misappropriation of

money and sentenced to 10years RI and fined of Rs 6.45lakh.

Digal was facing trial in theCourt of Special Judge,Vigilance, Phulbani in aBrahmapur Vigilance case formisappropriation of Rs6,47,065 by forging the signa-ture of president, SchoolEducation Committee andusing forged documents asgenuine in connection withconstruction of new schoolbuilding of Adari New PrimarySchool.

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The National Career ServiceCentre for Differently

Abled (NCSCDA) under theUnion Ministry of Labour andEmployment organised a jobfair for the PwDs in the cam-pus of NCSCDA, Gandamundahere on July 30.

Pan Indian companies likeEureka Forbes Ltd, KarvyDigikonnect Ltd, Medplus,Garg Logistics, DeevineNursing Care Solutions Pvt.Ltd, TATWA Technologies,MB Hospitality Service PvtLtd, Landmark Group (MAX),Spledid Medical Didi partici-pated in the job fair.

There were more than 800job vacancies in area of sales,marketing, hospitality, retail,

BPO, logistics, pharmaceuticaland others. The pay packageoffered was from Rs 60,000 to

Rs 1,80,000 per annum for theeducational qualification rang-ing from class 5th to

Graduation including profes-sional qualification.

2,500 job seekers were

informed through electronicmode of communication toparticipate in job fair.

The participating compa-nies shortlisted 77 jobseekers.

Ministry of Labour andEmployment Welfare and CessCommissioner, Bhubaneswar,Manjulata Behera, Departmentof SSEPD Deputy SecretaryAmbika Prasad Patnaik andformer Regional Manager,ALIMCO, PR Das were thespecial guests, who interactedwith the employers and jobseekers.

Young Professional, MCC-NCSCDA J Padmanav Raocoordinated while AssistantD i re c t or ( E mp l oy m e nt ) ,NCSCDA, Ram Kishor Sharmaled. The dedicated team ofNCSCDA and DRF-GROWfacilitated the event.

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The Odisha DiplomaEngineers’ Service

Association (ODESA) on itsplatinum jubilee would hold a‘Sankalp Samabesh’ and felici-tation ceremony on August 4 inwhich more than 500 membersfrom 314 blocks, 46 organisa-tional district committees and11 committees would partici-pate.

On the occasion, ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik,Ministers Pratap Jena, Prafulla

Mallick, Arun Sahoo andRaghunandan Das, DhenkanalMP Mahesh Sahu,Bhubaneswar Central MLAAnanta Narayan Jena,Bhubaneswar North MLASushant Kumar Rout, BeguniaMLA Rajendra Sahu, SatyabadiMLA Umakant Samantray andJajpur MLA Pranab PrakashDas would be felicitated by theassociation.The members ofODESA would also take oathfor implementation of the 5Tsof the Government at the grass-roots-level properly.

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Happiness Curriculum ofthe Delhi Government

received a big thumbs up fromthe Chief Justice of India(CJI) Ranjan Gogoi onWednesday , after he proposedthe idea of introducing happi-ness classes across judicialacademies in the country onthe lines of the curriculumintroduced by the DelhiGovernment in its schools.The CJI was guest of honor atan event held at the TalkatoraStadium to mark the culmina-tion of the 15-day-long‘Happiness Utsav’ being cele-brated in Delhi Government-run schools.

“As the CJI, I was thinkingif we all were to remain happythere will be less disputes.People are so unhappy thatthere are a huge number of lit-igations pending which go onfor years leaving people furtherunhappy. If we can teach ouryouths to be happy and con-tent, there will be reduction inlitigations,” Gogoi said.

The Chief Justice wasaddressing an event organisedhere to celebrate the firstanniversary of the introductionof happiness classes in schoolsrun by the Delhi government.

“It was a brilliant conceptto have happiness classes. Wecan explore the same in our

judicial academies as well. I amyet to consult my colleagues,but I am sure we can introduceit across judicial academiesafter hearing students fromthe audience share their learn-ings,” he said.

“This is very importantconsidering India’s ranking onthe Happiness Index hasdropped to 140, while last yearit was at 133. Similar moduleshave been adopted in 12 othercountries,” he added.

Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal said that Happiness

not just another governmentprogram but it’s building India’sfuture. Delhi is ready to providewholehearted support to allstates.” It’s a feeling that 8 lakhstudents of Delhi governmentschools experience every singleday. Every parent is observingthis change,” said Kejriwal.

“I will not be here tomor-row. Perhaps even the CJI orthe L-G will not be here tomor-row. But it is from these lakhsof children that a future chiefminister of Delhi will emerge,the future CJI and the

Lieutenant Governor willemerge,” Kejriwal said further.“Perhaps, even the PrimeMinister will emerge fromamong these children. Thefuture of our nation is beingbuilt in our schools. This is truenation building. Today, thecountry’s judiciary is seatedinside this hall, the country’sexecutive is here, and so are leg-islators,” he added.

Deputy Chief Minister andEducation Minister ManishSisodia said that Delhi will starta Happiness Curriculum cer-

tificate course for those whowant to replicate model. “Wefeel the need for this becauseIndia’s position on the WorldHappiness Index has droppedfrom 118th to 140th. Ourdream is that India shouldreach Number one on thislist.” “I am very happy.. This isa great day, the first anniversaryof something big and unique. 1024 schools, 8 lakhstudents, 45 minutes every day, learning to be happy,” saidCJI Gogoi in his openingremarks.

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A22-year-old man was killedafter a speeding car

allegedly hit him on a flyoverin North Delhi’s Wazirabadarea. The incident occurred onMonday evening.

The deceased has beenidentified as Rishabh, a residentof Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh.According to a senior policeofficial, Rishabh and his friendKrishna Kant (22) were prepar-ing for the competitive examsand were staying together atWazirabad.

“On Monday evening, theyboth were sitting on a divideron Jagatpur Flyover after hav-ing dinner. Meanwhile, aspeeding black Maruti SuzukiSX4 car came there and hitRishabh,” said the senior policeofficial. “Rishabh was rushed toTrauma Centre Civil Lineswhere he was declared broughtdead,” said the senior policeofficial.

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Claiming that the reductionof fixed power charges as

a mere election gimmick in therun up to the upcoming DelhiAsssembly election, DelhiCongress has demandeda total roll back of the fixed

charges.Alleging the Aam Aadmi

Party (AAP) led DelhiGovernment for doing a“piecemeal job”, Congressworking presidents of Delhiunit Haroon Yusuf, DevenderYadav and Rajesh Lilothiademanded a total roll back ofthe fixed charges.

They also said that themove is nothing but an attemptto fool the people of Delhi afterlooting them in the name offixed charges and pension fundfor the past one and a halfyears.

Kejriwal Government hasreduced the fixed charges tar-iff is itself evidence that it islooting the people in the pastone and a half years by hikingthe fixed charges.

Yusuf said that the reduc-tion in the power tariffannounced by the KejriwalGovernment should be withretrospective effect when thefixed charges were increased bysix times last year. “The AAPGovernment had put anunnecessary burden on thecitizens of Delhi by increasingthe fixed charges and sur-charge in power bills to bene-fit the private discoms,” theysaid.

The party also demandedthat the hiked power chargesshould be rolled back and thecrores of rupees collected on

this head should either bereturned to the electricity con-sumers or adjusted in thepower bills for the next sixmonths.

A party delegation led bylate DPCC president SheilaDikshit had met Kejriwal at hisresidence on June 8 this year and submitted a memorandum, demanding thatthe power companies, whohave collected �7401 croresfrom the people on fixedcharges and pension fund,should either adjust the moneyagainst the bills or returned itto the people.

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The national Capital hasbecome the sole State in the

country to give a cheapest elec-tricity to the public, said theDelhi Government after revis-ing the electricity tariff rate inthe city. The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) Government onWednesday reduced the fixedrate charges of electricity.

Congratulating theDelhiites, the Finance MinisterMainsh Sisodia said, “Delhi isthe only state in the countrythat has not allowed electrici-ty bills to rise for five consec-utive years. Not just have priceshave not gone up, they haveactually gone down during the

last five years. In every other state in the

country, electricity prices con-tinually increase year-on-year.In Delhi, the electricity bill for200 units with 2 kW load in2010 was �539. In 2013, thiswent to �928. In 2018 the billwas �660, and after today’sorder the bill for 200 units willnow be �408.” The Ministerfurther claimed that there hasbeen reduction in the sub-stantial power cuts in the Delhifor the past five years sincetheAAP Government to power.“Power cuts were a regularfeature in Delhi only someyears ago. Now the generatorset, inverter industry has beenforced to shut down because of

regular and reliable power sup-ply in the city,” he added.

“A consumer using elec-tricity of up to 200 units permonth has to pay �408, but inGurugram and Noida, one hasto shell out Rs 910 and �1,310respectively. In Rajasthan, onehas to pay �1,588 every monthfor consuming electricity of upto 200 units, but in Mumbai, itis �1,400.Instead of a hike inpower rates, there has been areduction in Delhi, he said.

Meanwhile, the PowerMinister Satyendar Jain said topromote electric vehicles in thecity, the price of Low Tension(LT) consumers has been cutdown from �5.50/unit to�4.50/unit.

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Bhopal: State BJP vice presidentVrijesh Lunawat said thatShahbano case is not fresh, butsince 1986, the Congress was inpower with over 400 parlia-mentarians made all efforts toappease voters which madeMuslim women to face injustice.

Lunawat was talking tomedia persons here onWednesday. He stated that ifCongress had taken right deci-sion, Muslim women would befreed from injustice then only.

He further said that July 30,2019 was golden day as TripleTalaq bill was passed making the

Muslim women free from 1400year old malpractice and con-gratulated members of RajyaSabha, Lok Sabha and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

The issue of Triple Talaq isnot political or religious but it isa matter of proud and dignity ofwomen, he said, adding thatduring the first term of Modigovernment in 2016 issue ofTriple Talaq surfaced andSupreme Court decided infavour of women and govern-

ment imposed ban and in thesecond term of Modi govern-ment, the bill regarding TripleTalaq was passed.

After the passing of the billMuslim women could get justiceand social security. In the billarrest without warrant, impris-onment for three years, bail onthe consent of women, negoti-ation on the appeal of victimwomen, alimony and providingcustody of minor children towomen. SR

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Aday after the MuslimWomen (Protection of

Rights on Marriage) Bill, com-monly known as Triple TalaqBill, was passed by the RajyaSabha, the Opposition onWednesday charged theGovernment with not keepingits word to send some bills,including this legislation, to theSelect Committee as proposedby the Opposition. It furthersaid the UnlawfulActivities(Prevention) Bill,known as UAPA Bill, was alsoone of the bills proposed by theOpposition to the committeebut the Government did not doso.

Raising the issue, Leader ofOpposition Ghulam Nabi Azadsaid the government hadapproached them to ask whichbills they wanted to be sent toSelect Committees. Leaders ofall parties wanted that at leastsix bills be sent to committeesfor further scrutiny, he saidadding that various partieswere under the impression thatthe two bills will be referred tothe Select Committee.However, the triple talaq billwas not sent to the committee,he said adding it was unfair onpart of the government.

He said the governmenthad approached the oppositionthrough the ParliamentaryMinister and he wanted toknow which bills were to besent to Select Committees.There were 23 bills listed in theongoing session and the

Opposition wanted at least halfof them to be referred to theSelect Committee.

“We identified as many as6 bills as A-category to be sentto Select Committees, and twounder B-category and the listwas taken by the government,”Azad said.

The Congress leader saidthe bill discussed on Tuesdaywas the first bill which wassupposed to go to SelectCommittee. The Bill, which islisted as number 2, was alsoslated to go to SelectCommittee, which the oppo-sition had recommended. Healso said the triple talaq billwas listed at night and “wewere in the dark and we could

not inform our members ofParliament. The second bill,

which is being consideredtoday for passage, is also onthe priority list to be sent tothe Select Committee,” Azadsaid.

He was supported byDerek O’Brien (TMC) whoalleged the government waspushing through legislationswithout scrutiny. O’Brien saidtwo bills — the triple talaq billand the UAPA bill — were ontop priority of the oppositionfor sending them to the SelectCommittee for further scruti-ny.

“One got listed on Mondaynight and the second one waslisted today. We seek your pro-tection. Out of the 23 bills,even though we are not going

to go back to what has beenpassed the last time, the oppo-

sition together had a list of sixbills, four of which weremarked as A-plus.,” he said.

Ram Gopal Yadav (SP)also sought to know whether

the minister is denying that hehad told the opposition aboutbills being sent to select panels.

While Chairman MVenkaiah Naidu said he will

examine the issue, UnionMinister Prakash Javadekarcountered the Oppositioncharge. He said the chair hasalready said that eight out of 10

bills in last two years have beensent to the Select Committee.The minister said the UAPAbill was not sent to the select bythe UPA regime too.

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With the Elders expressing concernover lack of affordable medical facil-

ities to treat cancer patients, especiallypoor, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan saidon Wednesday in the Rajya Sabha theGovernment is giving attention to researchfor combating the menace through nation-al as well as international collaborationsand plans to establish 1.5 lakh health andwellness clinics in the country by 2022.

Giving this assurance while replyingto short duration discussion on the needto ensure basic facilities and affordabletreatment to cancer patients, he said atpresent there are 482 centres in thecountry for cancer treatment with 695teletherapy machines. The Elders in theirassertions demanded setting up of a can-cer unit in every districts with qualifieddoctors to treat poor patients. They alsomooted the idea of free treatment of thedisease as medicines and other associat-ed measured like chemotherapy wereexpensive. They also sought increase ingovernment spending on healthcare andreduction in cost of cancer treatment andmedicines.

The minister said the ‘National CancerGrid’ initiative for uniform treatment ofcancer patients was being closely moni-tored by the Prime Minister, with 177 insti-tutions, activists, patients and advocacy

groups associated with it. He shared thateight institutions have already been ded-icated towards this objective, while two arein the offing in Odisha and Bihar.

He underlined that India was one ofthe seven founding member countriesamong the 40 nations globally which haveestablished an international cancer genomeconsortium, and are engaged in extensivework in the area through the consortium.He observed that 60-70 per cent of thecommon cancers detected in India are pre-ventable and highlighted the significanceof early diagnosis.

Congress leader and former healthminister Ghulam Nabi Azad sought thestatus on various programmes of erstwhileUPA government for boosting infra-structure, human resources and awarenessin health care sector particularly killer dis-eases cancer, diabetics and hypertension.

He told the House that the UPA gov-ernment had given Rs 5 crore each to 640districts for early detection of killer diseasesand Rs 120 crore per hospital to states formaking those as centres for treating suchdiseases. He suggested the governmentprovide more funds for creating infra-structure, human resources and awarenessfor early detection of these diseases.

Jogen Chowdhury (TMC), PrasannaAcharya (BJD), Ram Nath Thakur(JD-U)who disclosed that his wife is under-going treatment for blood cancer for thelast 11years, Birendra PrasadBaishya(AGP), Binoy Viswam(CPI),Narendra Jadhav (Nominated) andRamdas Athawale(RPI (A) also spoke onthe issue and gave suggestions to improvefacilities for cancer treatment. The dis-cussion was initiated by VishambharPrasad(SP).

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The Lok Sabha onWednesday passed the

Inter-State River WaterDisputes (Amendment) Bill,2019 to expedite and streamlineresolution of inter-state waterdisputes. A key feature of theBill is the constitution of a sin-gle tribunal with differentbenches, and the setting up ofstrict timelines for adjudica-tion. The Bill was passed byvoice vote, though there werecontradictory argumentsbetween MPs from the Stateshaving water disputes likeTamil Nadu and Karnataka.

At one point, Speaker OmBirla reminded the MPs thatthe debate is in Lok Sabha andnot in their State Assemblies.Piloting the bill, Union Jal

Shakti Minister Gajendra SinghShekhawat said the existing tri-bunals constituted for resolu-tion of river water disputesamong states have failed toresolve the issues and a changein approach was needed. Hesaid there have been instanceswhen a tribunal could notresolve a dispute between statesfor 33 years.

While underlining theneed for strict and timelyimplementation of the awardsof tribunal, the Ministerobserved, “We have to focus onmanagement of water as nei-ther court nor tribunal can cre-

ate water.” On concerns expressed by

members regarding reliabilityof data, the Minister said thatgovernment will make all dataon water public with a view tomake everything transparent.During the debate, oppositionparties like the Congress andTrinamool Congress allegedthat the proposed legislationhas no provision for consulta-tion with states and was anassault on the federal structure.

In his reply, Shekhawat saidthe bill aims to address long-standing water disputes per-manently and urged all parties

to back it. He said all states wereconsulted way back in 2013 andthen the draft bill was sent to astanding committee. Its rec-ommendations were taken onboard before the bill wasfinalised, he added. The earli-er Bill lapsed when the term ofthe 16th Lok Sabha ended.

Under the proposed law, aretired Supreme Court judgewill head the tribunal. Therewill be benches formed as andwhen required. The benchesthough will be wound up oncea dispute is resolved.

The tribunal will be man-dated to deliver final award intwo years and it is proposed thatwhenever it gives order, the ver-dict gets notified automatically.

As per the current provi-sions of the 1956 Act, a tribunalcan be formed after a state gov-ernment approaches the Uniongovernment with such arequest and the Centre is con-vinced of the need to form thetribunal. At present, there arenine tribunals including thoseon Cauvery, Mahadayi, Raviand Beas, Vansadhara andKrishna rivers.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on

Wednesday questioned formerJammu and Kashmir ChiefMinister Farooq Abdullah inconnection with a money laun-dering case related to allegedfinancial irregularities in thecricket association of the State.

Abdullah appeared beforethe ED’s Chandigarh officeand his statement was record-ed under the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA).

The ED had filed themoney laundering case aftertaking cognisance of a CBI FIR.

The charge sheet was filedby CBI in July last year againstAbdullah and three others forallegedly misappropriating overRs 43 crore from grants givenby the Board of Control forCricket in India to the Jammuand Kashmir CricketAssociation (JKCA) for pro-

moting the sport in the Statebetween 2002 to 2011.

Besides Abdullah, the CBIhas charged three otheraccused persons -- the thenJKCA General Secretary MdSaleem Khan, the thenTreasurer Ahsan AhmadMirza, and J&K BankExecutive Bashir AhmadMisgar -- under sections of theRanbir Penal Code related to

criminal conspiracy and crim-inal breach of trust.

The CBI had taken over thecase from the State police in2015 following a directive fromthe Jammu and Kashmir HighCourt.

Abdullah and his sonOmar Abdullah have earlierdenied any wrongdoing.

Abdullah reiterated he had“done no wrong” and was opento scrutiny after being ques-tioned by the ED onWednesday. “I have done nowrong. I am open to investiga-tion,” Abdullah told an agency.

Abdullah, who is the LokSabha member from Srinagar,said it was not the job of thepresident of the JKCA to keepa track of how the fundsreceived from BCCI werespent.

“I have recorded my state-ment today. The matter is sub-judice and I have full faith inthe judiciary of the country,”Abdullah added.

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New Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed by voice votethe Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants)Amendment Bill, 2019, Bill which seeks to crackdown on unau-thorised occupants of government residential accommodations.Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri saidit was good time to push through the legislation as many MPswere waiting for their new accommodation. Of the total 15,416residential accommodation under the government quota, “cur-rently 3081 cases were under litigation,” which was a matter ofconcern, he told the House. PNS

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BJP’s total assets registered anincrease by 22 per cent in

the last one year even while thatof the Congress saw a declineof 15 per cent. Between 2016and 2017, the declared assets ofBJP totaled Rs 1213.13 croreand increased by 22.27 percentto Rs 1483.35 crore during2017-18.

However, the total assets ofthe TMC increased by 10.86per cent, from Rs 26.25 crore

during 2016-17 to Rs 29.10crore in 2017-18. The assets ofthe BSP also showed anincrease from Rs 680.63 crorein 2016-17 to Rs 716.72 crorein 2017-18, while the assets ofthe CPI-M were Rs 463.76crore in 2016-17 and it went upto Rs 482.1 crore in 2017-18.

The assets of the CPI alsorose from Rs 10.88 crore in2016-2017 to Rs 11.49 crore in2017-18. The assets includefixed assets, loans andadvances, deposits made and

investments, the report said. The total assets declared by

the seven parties -- BJP,Congress, NCP, BSP, CPI, CPI(M) and TMC - in 2017-18 wasRs 3,456.65 crore, up from Rs3,260.81 crore in 2016-17.

According to theAssociation of DemocraticReforms (ADR), the BJP wasamong the seven national par-ties whose assets, as declared bythem during 2017-18, was 6 percent more than their declara-tion in 2016-17. INC and NCP

are the only two national polit-ical parties to show a decreasein their annual declared assets.

The total assets of theCongress between 2016-17 and2017-18 decreased by 15.26 percent (from Rs 854.75 crore toRs 724.35 crore) while those ofthe NCP fell by 16.39 per cent(from Rs 11.41 crore to Rs 9.54crore) during the correspond-ing period.

According to the ADRreport, the total liabilities for2016-17 declared by these par-

ties, however, amouted to Rs514.99 crore (an average of Rs73.57 crore per party), whichdecreased by 27.26 per cent toRs 374.61 crore in 2017-18.

“For 2016-17, the Congressdeclared the highest liabilitiesof Rs 461.73 crore followed bythe BJP with Rs 20.03 crore.

“And for 2017-18, highestliabilities of Rs 324.2 crorewere declared by the Congressfollowed by the BJP with Rs21.38 crore and the TMC withRs 10.65 crore.”

New Delhi: The Centre onWednesday told the SupremeCourt that its decision to grant10 per cent reservation in jobsand education to economical-ly weaker section is intended touplift around 200 million peo-ple who are below the povertyline even after over 70 years ofindependence.

Justifying the Constitution(103 amendment) Act 2019,which grants 10 per cent reser-vation to EWS, the Centre tolda bench headed by Justice S ABobde that nobody can saysuch people should not be givena “helping hand” to uplift them.

Attorney General K KVenugopal, appearing for theCentre, told this to the benchwhich reserved its order on thelimited issue of whether to refera batch of petitions challengingthe Constitution (103 amend-ment) Act, 2019 to a Constitutionbench for adjudication.

During the arguments, the

bench, also comprising justicesR Subhash Reddy and B RGavai, observed that “poorpeople need the help of state,not the rich ones”.

The bench made it clearthat it would deal with the issueof interim relief of stay afterdeciding whether the matterwas required to be referred toa Constitution bench.

Venugopal said that argu-ments advanced by the peti-tioners that reservation cannotexceed 50 per cent is “falla-cious” as up to 68 per centquota was given in Tamil Naduand the state’s decision wasupheld by the high court.

He said that in Tamil Nadureservation matter, the apexcourt has not stayed the oper-ation of the high court’s order.

“After over 70 years, pover-ty is endemic and around 200million people are below thepoverty line,” he told the bench.

PTI

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The deficiency of southwestmonsoon reduced to 9 per-

cent on July 31, from 35 percentat the end of June 30. Of the 36meteorological subdivisions,12 had deficit rain and 24 nor-mal. As many as 302 districtsacross the country have lessrainfall so far. The all Indiarainfall was recorded to be410.5 mm against the normalof 452.2 mm, a deficiency of 9percent till July 31.

Meanwhile, flood situa-tion in Assam and Biharimproved further onWednesday with water level ofall the major rivers as well itstributaries showing a recedingtrend and no death reportedduring the last 24 hours.

According to the IndiaMeteorological Department, thecurrent vigorous phase of themonsoon will continue, withfavourable weather systemsdeveloping in different parts ofthe country. “The total rainfallin August would be about 99%of normal,” the IMD said.

“Rainfall has revived mostsignificantly in Central India, aregion defined by the IMD as the

area between the country’s mid-latitudes to include Gujarat,Odisha and Maharashtra, apartfrom Madhya Pradesh. Theregion’s seasonal rainfall is just 5percent below normal. Thedeficit is 11 percent in East andNorth East India; 8 percent inNorth-West India; 5 percent inCentral India and 19 percent inSouth Peninsula “ the IMD said.

In the eastern and north-eastern parts, rainfall has been11 percent below average. Butthe season’s normal rain is soheavy that even after this short-fall, the region has got muchmore than rest of the country.

According to latest datafrom the department of agri-culture, till July 26, kharif cropshave been sown in around68.87 million hectares, which is6.43 per cent lower than the areacovered during the same peri-od last year. This is also 7.29 percent less than the average areacovered in the last five kharifseasons. The rains entered Indiaon June 8, after a delay of morethan a week. Its progress acrosssouth, central and east India washampered by Cyclone Vayu inthe Arabian Sea which suckedout much of its strength.

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In India, where just 55 percent of babies are exclusive-

ly breastfed during 0-6 monthsand 41 per cent are able tobegin breastfeeding within anhour of birth, the total healthsystem cost of not breastfeed-ing is estimated to be around�732.43 crore, as per a WHOtracking tool.

This cost attributable to notbreastfeeding includes the costof avoidable health care treat-ment of type 2 diabetes mor-bidity in mothers i.e. Rs 30.01crore, cost of avoidable healthcare treatment of childhooddiarrhea i.e. Rs 513.09 crore,cost of avoidable health caretreatment of childhoodARI/pneumonia i.e. Rs 189.32crore, as estimated by the tool,“Cost of Not BreastfeedingTool .”

A first-of-its-kind tool aimsto help policy-makers and

advocates quantify the humanand economic costs of notbreastfeeding including lostlife, lost productivity, andincreased costs to health sys-tems at country, regional andglobal levels.

As the World BreastfeedingWeek begin from 1st to 7thAugust 2019, BreastfeedingPromotion Network of India(BPNI)’s central coordinator DrArun Gupta said: At themoment India lacks an officialpolicy and budgeted plan ofaction on breastfeeding/IYCF.

“Women still struggle forcorrect information and prac-tical support at health facilitiesand in communities.“Commercial influence of for-mula companies on health staffand parents still remains anissue even though a legalframework exists that bans thepromotion of baby food up to2 years. Our policymakers needto take immediate actions toimprove the current state of

affairs in this area” This year’s theme is

“Empower parents, enablebreastfeeding: Now and forthe future -Cost of InadequateBreastfeeding is Too High to beIgnored .”

To ensure optimal childhealth, survival, nutrition anddevelopment the WHO andUNICEF recommend initiatingbreastfeeding within one hourof birth, exclusive breastfeedingfor the first 6 months andcontinued breastfeeding for 2years or beyond along withadequate and appropriate com-plementary feeding after 6months of age and skin-to skincontact immediately at birth.

The World HealthAssembly has set a target toincrease global exclusive breast-feeding rate from 38% in 2012to 50% in 2025 globally. Indiahas to achieve a 65.7 per centexclusive breastfeeding rate by2025 as per the WHO trackingtool.

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The BJP on Wednesdayappointed its vice presi-

dent Avinash Rai Khanna aselection in-charge for theJammu and Kashmir assemblypolls, the schedule for whichhas not been announced yet butwhich is expected to be heldlater this year.

Making the announcement,BJP general secretary ArunSingh said the party will workto make members in everybooth, an indication that the saf-fron party will go all out to makeits presence felt in the Valley, aregion where it has been tradi-tionally an insignificant force.

Khanna is also the party’sin-charge for the state’s organ-isational affairs.

The appointment comes aday after the BJP working pres-ident JP Nadda chaired a meet-ing of the party’s Jammy andKashmir unit core group.

The Election Commissionis likely to announce the pollschedule after the AmarnathYatra is over, with officialsources indicating that theelections may be held inOctober-November.

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Page 6: ˇ˘-.&/ ˜01˛1˜˛ 2 ,˜#-. $/ ˆ4 ˘ , %+˛˙# ’+ ’ ’ ˆ ......Zero Hour, Mishra said, “Only four of us (MLAs) are wearing dhoti. I have never seen the Speaker and the Chief

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Lucknow: The condition of theUnnao rape victim who wascritically injured in a road crashshowed marginal improvementon Wednesday but she remainsunconscious and on ventilatorsupport, doctors said.

The 19-year-old womanand her lawyer were admitted tothe King George MedicalUniversity here after a truckrammed into their car in RaeBareli on Sunday, killing her twoaunts.

BJP MLA Kuldeep SinghSengar, already in jail afterbeing booked for allegedly rap-ing the woman in 2017, has alsobeen charged with murder afterthe truck-car collision.

“The rape survivor has sus-tained multiple fractures. Todaythere was very slight improve-ment in her condition, but thiscannot be termed as satisfacto-ry. She is still unconscious,” DrSandeep Tiwari, the in-charge ofthe hospital’s trauma centresaid.

Tiwari said a CT scan con-ducted on the woman onTuesday showed no head injury.

“However, a head injurycannot be ruled out as manyhead injuries are not detected inthe CT scan. The condition ofthe rape survivor is stable, anda team of doctors are monitor-ing her 24 hours. She is on ven-tilator,” he said.

The condition of the advo-cate is described as stable.

“The injured advocate wasremoved from the ventilator forsome time on Wednesday as

well, and during this period, hiscondition was stable. He waslater put on the ventilator.”

Asked whether there areplans to bring in other doctors,Tiwari said, “There is noshortage of specialist doctorsat the KGMU, and if needed,we can call doctors from otherhospitals in Lucknow - theSGPGI and the Ram ManoharLohia Hospital.” The CentralBureau of Investigation isprobing the road crash afterallegation that the collisionwas deliberate. PTI

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Unnao (UP): Unnao rape vic-tim’s uncle on Wednesdayblamed BJP legislator KuldeepSingh Sengar for the tragedybefallen on his family, andsaid he has all the evidenceagainst the political strong-man accused of raping hisniece at his residence in 2017.

Brought to the Ganga ghatfrom Rae Bareli jail to attendthe last rites of his wife, Pushpa,who died in a road accident onSunday, Mahesh Singh was notallowed by the district admin-istration to interact withreporters.

But as he was being takenback to the police vehicle afterthe cremation, he burst out:“My entire family has beeneliminated. I have been framedin fake cases.”

“Kuldeep Singh Sengar hasgot everything done. I have all

the evidence,” he said.Singh’s wife was among

the two people who died whenthe car they were travelling inwith the rape victim and herlawyer was hit by a truck. Theother person dead was therape victim’s another aunt. Allof them were on their way tomeet Singh in Rae Bareli jail.

Singh has been in jail inconnection with a nearly two-decade-old case for beatingSengar’s brother.

On Tuesday, the Lucknowbench of the Allahabad HighCourt granted a one-day paroleto him to attend his wife’s lastrites.

Sengar, a four-time MLA,has been accused by the now19-year-old woman of rapingher at his residence in 2017when she was a minor. Therape case was filed against theBangermau MLA after thewoman tried to immolate her-self outside Uttar PradeshChief Minister YogiAdityanath’s residence in Aprillast year.

Following an outcry afterthe road accident, the Uttar Pradesh Governmentrecommended for a CBI probe. The central agency tookover the case and has bookedSengar and 10 others in theaccident case. PTI

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—Victim’s uncle

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Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on

Wednesday launched ascathing attack on theNarendra Modi Governmentfor tormenting the industrycaptains and forcing some ofthem to leave the country andvictimising the Oppositionleaders who dared contradictits conduct.

Hours after the policerecovered the corpse of CafeCoffee Day chief VGSidhhartha who allegedly com-mitted suicide by jumping intothe Netravati River atMangalore, Banerjee said refer-ring to his suicide note how dif-ficult it had become to surviveunder the current regimewhich was tormenting theindustry captains and thosewho dared speak against them.

“I am deeply shocked bythe incident relating to VGSiddhartha, Cafe Coffee Dayfounder. It is indeed very sadand very unfortunate. Fromwhat he has expressed, itappears he was greatlydepressed due to harassmentand pressure from differentagencies for which he could notrun his business in a peacefulmanner. This he could notresist,” the Chief Minister said.

“It is a very sad that anindustrialist like him(Siddharth) had to commitsuicide due to the pressurefrom the (central) agencies,”Banerjee later told the media atState secretariat Nabannaattacking the centralGovernment for failing tomend its ways.

“They have once againstarted victimising the indus-trialists and Opposition likethey did in their earlier term,”Banerjee said. “Good that theyhave won the elections. Nowthey should work for the peo-ple. But instead of doing so theyare harassing them,” she said.“Instead of working for thepeople they have started horse-trading, threatening the

Opposition people who dare toquestion their ways. This is avery dangerous for the futureof the country,” she main-tained.

Alleging that many indus-trialists had left the country andmany others were planning toquit due to the agencies, shesaid, “I am told that MrSiddharth was being threatenedby the Income TaxDepartment,” appealing to theGovernment to allow busi-nessmen and the opposition towork without fear.

“My appeal to the govern-ment is that when you havebeen elected, you have to workin a peaceful manner so thatpeople are confident and thatpolitical vendetta and agenciesdon’t destroy the future of thecountry,” she maintained.

Strongly condemning herstatement the State BJP leaderssaid the Chief Minister was try-ing to politicize the death of theindustrialist. “She is trying to usehis death which is a sad incidentfor her own political gains,”Bengal BJP leader SayantanBasu said adding the agencieswere only focusing on the dis-honest people who have cheat-ed the people of the country.

Meanwhile, in an unrelat-ed incident TMC MP ShatabdiRoy has offered to return �25lakh that she had received as“fees” from a ponzi company.Roy a third time MP who wason several occasions quizzedby the central agencies hasoffered to return the money,sources said.

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Mumbai: The wife of a sessionscourt judge in Maharashtra haswritten to the chief justice of theBombay High Court complain-ing that her husband and in-lawswere “harassing” her.

After receiving the letter onJuly 29, Chief Justice PradeepNandrajog forwarded it to theregistry of the high court for pre-liminary inquiry, the woman’slawyer said on Wednesday.

In the letter, the 37-year-oldwoman has demanded aninquiry against her husband.

She said she married thejudge, presently posted atBaramati in Pune district, onMay 8, 2007.

“My husband and in-lawsstarted harassing me and myfamily for dowry soon after mymarriage. Even after giving them�5 lakh, furniture and bearing

the wedding expenses, my hus-band and his family later start-ed demanding a car and 30 acresof agricultural land,” the letterstated.

After her father’s death in2008, her husband and in-lawsstarted demanding that herfather’s land be transferred in thejudge’s name, she alleged.

When she refused, her hus-band and his parents assaultedher and threw her out of thehouse, the woman claimed inthe letter. She spent some timeat her mother’s house in Latur.After she moved into her hus-band’s house, when he was post-ed at Akola, she was againforced to leave, the womanalleged. On July 4, 2012, shelodged a complaint against herhusband and in-laws, appre-hending threat to her life. PTI

5��������������3�����4��������' ��������)��� ��8����� ������Ahmedabad: More than

28,000 doctors in Gujarat onWednesday joined the 24-hournationwide strike against thepassage of the National MedicalCommission (NMC) Bill 2019in Lok Sabha, which seeks toreplace the graft-taintedMedical Council of India(MCI).

The Indian MedicalAssociation (IMA) had given acall for a 24-hour withdrawal ofnon-essential services acrossthe country against the NMCbill, dubbing it “anti-poor, anti-student and anti-democratic”.

“We believe that more than28,000 doctors in Gujarat havejoined the strike on Wednesdaybeginning 6 am,” according tothe Gujarat chapter of IMA.

“This is not a full-fledgedstrike. We expect that 28,000doctors in Gujarat have joinedthe strike from today morningin solidarity with agitating doc-tors across the country,” said DrKamlesh Saini, state secretary,Gujarat Chapter, IMA.

While the Gujarat IMAclaimed majority of the regis-tered doctors joined the strike,officials at Ahmedabad civilhospital, the largest facility in thestate, said the strike did not haveany major impact on services.

“Civil hospital is function-ing as usual. Our doctors have

not joined the strike. It is up tothe doctors to join the strike ornot. Doctors associated withthe government-run hospitalshave not joined the strike,” saidcivil hospital superintendent MM Prabhakar.

The IMA, the largest bodyof doctors and students in thecountry with around threelakh members, had called fordemonstrations and hungerstrikes at its local branches andurged medical students to boy-cott classes and proclaim soli-darity with IMA.

It had warned in a state-ment it will intensify agitationif the government continues tobe “indifferent to their con-cerns”.

The IMA had said theNMC Bill would enable non-qualified persons to practicemedicine like qualified doctors.

“The Bill provides forlicensing of 3.5 lakh unquali-fied non-medical persons topractice modern medicine. Theterm ‘Community HealthProvider’ has been vaguelydefined to allow anyone con-

nected with modern medicineto get registered in NMC andbe licensed to practice modernmedicine.

This law legalises quack-ery,” it had stated.

The bill was passed by LokSabha on Monday as thousandsof doctors protested across thecountry against it. The bill pro-vides for setting up of a NationalMedical Commission in place ofMCI for development and regulation of all aspects of med-ical education, profession andinstitutions. PTI

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Tension prevailed along theLine of Control in North

Kashmir’s Tangdhar andNowshera sector of Rajouridistrict in Jammu region afterheavy exchange of artillery fireduring daytime in which atleast nine civilians receivedinjuries. Hitting back, inresponse to indiscriminate fir-ing by the Pakistan Army,Indian Army inflicted heavydamages across the Line ofControl.

Two intruders, attemptinginfiltration in Gurez sectorwere also neutralised by thealert jawans. Reports indicatedPakistan Army had providedcover fire to these heavilyarmed infiltrators.

Meanwhile, one woman,injured in the Pakistan firing inTangdhar succumbed to herinjuries on Wednesday. InJammu, last rites of martyredsoldier Naik Krishna Lal wasperformed with full militaryhonours in his native village ofGhagriyal in Khour area ofAkhnoor.

According to officialsources, “following heavy

artillery exchange between thetwo neighbouring armies dur-ing day time on Tuesday inter-mittent firing was reportedthrough out the night in theforward areas”. At least onedozen Indian posts were tar-geted by the Pakistan Army. InNowshera sector of Rajouri,Pakistan Army targeted civilianareas and forward Indian postspast midnight. The firing in thearea continued till wee hours ofwednesday.

In Jammu, after organising

a wreath laying ceremony withfull military honours at MilitaryStation, Akhnoor, mortalremains of Naik Krishan Lalwere dispatched to his nativevillage for performing last rites.

Local residents downedtheir shutters and chantedpatriotic slogans as decoratedmilitary vehicle, carrying mor-tal remains of the martyred sol-dier, passed through the area inhis native village. Close fami-ly members including, par-ents, wife and son of the mar-

tyr saluted his mortal remainsbefore bidding tearful farewellto their loved one.

Maj Gen R Dewan, GOCCrossed Swords Division andother senior army officers alsolaid wreath and paid tributes.

Wreaths were laid on behalf of the Chief of Army Staff, military authoritiesand representatives of civiladministration. A large gath-ering had assembled in hisvillage to pay their respects tothe brave heart.

Thrissur(Ker): A 44-year-oldCongress worker died after hewas brutally attacked by an 18-member gang at Punna inChavakkad, police said onWednesday.

The deceased identified asNaushad was a local congressleader who was very popular inthe area.

Naushad, who sufferedserious injuries on the neck andhands, died Wednesday morn-ing at a hospital.

Three others were alsoinjured in the attack.

Eyewitnesses said thearmed attackers with their facecovered, came in motorcyclesand attacked the four men ataround 6.30 pm Tuesday.

The attack is suspected tohave been carried out by work-ers of Social Democratic Partyof India (SDPI).

Leader of Opposition,Ramesh Chennithala said themurder was “painful” and theaccused should be brought tobook immediately.

Terming it as a “politicalmurder,” KPCC President,Mullapally Ramachandran saidthe police should ensure thatthe accused, however high andmighty they may be, should bebrought to book.

Naushad had worked asyouth congress secretary in thearea and was active as a localleader and his death was a bigloss for the party, he toldreporters inT h i r u v a n a n t h a p u r a m .Condemning the incident, AICCsecretary, Oommen Chandy, theattack was without any provo-cation. A group of people camewith the intention to killNaushad and SDPI workerswere behind the attack, Chandytold reporters at Delhi. PTI

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Mumbai: A day after his meet-ing with Maharashtra BJPpresident Chandrakant Patiltriggered speculations abouthim joining the ruling party,NCP MP Sunil Tatkare onWednesday asserted his“unflinching” loyalty to partychief Sharad Pawar.

Tatkare called on Patil,also Revenue Minister in thestate government, at his offi-cial residence here on Tuesday,the day three MLAs of theNCP resigned from theAssembly.

The trio and an MLAfrom the Congress joined theBJP on Wednesday morning.

In a video message,Tatkare said he met Patil andsome other ministers overpublic works to be carried outin his Raigad constituency.

He said it was “wrong” tomalign his image by spreadingsuch rumours of crossover.

During his meeting withPatil, Tatkare discussed aboutconstruction of roads in hisconstituency on a hybridannuity mode.

The NCP leader said heconveyed the demands ofKunbis from Dapoli in hisconstituency for a land forcommunity purpose to Patil.

“I met Chandrakant Patil,

Tourism Minister JaykumarRawal and also Minister ofState Dada Bhuse (of ShivSena). I met four principal sec-retaries and secretaries too. Imet these people in my bid tofulfil promises made to thepeople during Lok Sabhapolls,” Tatkare said.

“My unflinching loyaltyis with Pawar Saheb only. It iswrong to malign my image byspreading rumours,” he added.

He said the NCP will riseagain like a proverbial phoenixbird under Pawar’s watch inthe Maharashtra Assemblypolls, due in September-October this year. PTI

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."������� �����������%�������������������������!��� �������������������0Mumbai: The Met depart-ment has issued a warning of“extremely heavy rains” atisolated places in Palghar,Raigad, Pune, Kolhapur andSatara districts for August 4.

The department onWednesday predicted “heavyto very heavy” rainfall at fewplaces during the entire weekfor Konkan, and parts ofsouth Madhya Maharashtra.

Marathwada andVidarbha region wouldreceive light to moderate rainstill Sunday, the forecast stat-ed.

On Wednesday, Mumbai,Navi Mumbai and Thane havereceived intermittent showerssince morning.

Meanwhile, despite theincreased activity of the southwest monsoon overMaharashtra, 11 districts in

the state are still deficient oftheir normal rainfall at theend of July, according to IMD.

Maharashtra generallyreceives seasonal rainfallbetween June to Septemberand at times till mid-October.

The state has receivedgood showers in the last oneweek but the deficiency in theprecipitation created due tolate arrival of the south-westmonsoon has not yet met, anIMD official said.

When asked about theperformance of the monsoonin Maharashtra in the firsttwo months of the season, theIMD official said, “the dis-tr icts such as Solapur,Osmanabad, Beed, Latur,Nanded, Parbhani, Hingoli,Washim, Yeotmal, Bhandaraand Gondia are still deficientcompared to their actual aver-

age rainfall”.“Pune is the only district

where largely excess rainfallhas received so far in the state,as it received 98% excessshowers as against its normalprecipitation till July end,” theofficial said.

The districts that havereceived excess rainfall areNashik, Ahmednagar, Satara,Kolhapur, Ratnagiri, Raigad,Thane, Palghar, Mumbai cityand Mumbai suburban, wheremore than 20% of the actualrainfall was received.

The rest of the districts,which are mostly in northMaharashtra, and northerndistricts in Marathwada andfour districts of Vidarbha(Wardha, Nagpur,Chandrapur and Gadchiroli)have received normal rainfall,he said. PTI

Mumbai: Questioning theMaharashtra Government’sdelay in demolishing illegalprivate structures along thebeachfront at Alibaug inRaigad district, the BombayHigh Court asked the state onWednesday why it was hesitantto pull down such properties.

The observation cameafter the state informed abench of Chief Justice PradeepNandrajog and Justice N MJamdar it was yet to demolishmany such structures owing toseveral injunction orderspassed by the lower courts,protecting such properties.

The bench, however,noted that the state had madesimilar submissions on thelast date of hearing on June 4this year.

It also noted it had passedan order at that time, direct-ing the state to make applica-tions before the lower courtsasking that orders to maintain

status quo on such structuresbe vacated.

It had also sought, at thetime, details of the 111 suchorders that the state claimedhad been passed by variouslower courts protecting suchproperties.

According to the submis-sions made by the state onJune 4, a total of 159 proper-ties have been served demoli-tion notices by the Alibaugdistrict authorities as theyviolated construction andcoastal zone norms. Of these,24 structures have alreadybeen demolished, while 111properties have obtainedorders requiring status quo tobe maintained.

On Wednesday, the state’scounsel Manish Pable told thehigh court that some of itsapplications seeking that thestatus quo orders be vacatedhad been dismissed.

He also said that such

properties that did not haveany court orders protectingthem would be demolishedwithin the next eight weeks.

At this, the bench said,“Do you know that there existcase laws to prove ownershipof land and encroachment?Have you cited any such caselaws to get the status quoorders vacated?”

“Why do you hesitate touse the bulldozer (to demolishillegal structure) when youhave orders in your favour,” thebench asked the state.

Questioning how rampantillegal construction could bepermitted to continue, theHC said, “We live in a freenation, but free nation doesnot mean ‘muft ka’ nation (Acountry where everything isfree). This is like a loot here.”

The court directed thestate to begin demolishingsuch illegal properties that donot have any protective orders

in their favour. It also direct-ed the state to place on recordthe details of all status quoorders passed in favour of theillegal structures by the lowercourts.

The high court has beenhearing a Public InterestLitigation since 2009, allegingseveral “wealthy persons” haveconstructed bungalows andprivate structures along thebeaches in Alibaug in violationof the state’s and coastal zoneauthority’s norms.

The PIL, filed by activistSurendra Dhavale, had urgedthe court to direct the author-ities to demolish all unautho-rised constructions in severalvillages in Alibaug.

Such structures included abeach-side bungalow ownedby fugitive jeweller NiravModi. The bungalow wasdemolished by the localauthorities following the HC’sprevious orders. PTI

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Page 7: ˇ˘-.&/ ˜01˛1˜˛ 2 ,˜#-. $/ ˆ4 ˘ , %+˛˙# ’+ ’ ’ ˆ ......Zero Hour, Mishra said, “Only four of us (MLAs) are wearing dhoti. I have never seen the Speaker and the Chief

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Lucknow: SP leader AzamKhan's MLA son was detainedon Wednesday for allegedlyobstructing officials during araid at Mohammad Ali JauharUniversity in Rampur, trig-gering a protest by party work-ers.

Till now, 2,500 rare, stolenbooks have been recoveredfrom the university, foundedby Azam Khan, in the raidwhich began on Tuesday,police said.

SP MLA from SuarAssembly seat Abdullah Azamhas been detained for obstruct-ing the raids and creating hur-dles in government work,Rampur SP Ajaypal Sharmasaid.

Later, IG, Law and Order,Praveen Kumar said Abdullahis being released on personalbond.

"The raids which startedyesterday (Tuesday) contin-ued today. Rare books havebeen recovered there," DirectorGeneral of Police OP Singhtold PTI.

Presently 50 boxes of 2,500rare books with stamps have

been recovered, a senior offi-cial said, adding the probe inthe matter is on.

The recovered books areancient and valuable, he said.

Investigation in the casebegan on June 16 after ZubairKhan, principal of OrientalCollege in Rampur, earlierknown as Madarsa Aliya,lodged an FIR alleging over9,000 books were stolen andtaken to the library in JauharUniversity.

Madrasa Aliya is about250 years old.

Lucknow MP MohammadAzam Khan is the founder andchancellor of Mohammad AliJauhar University.

After news of Abdullah'sdetention reached the statecapital, SP leaders led by theirstate president Naresh Uttamgathered at the party officehere and marched towards RajBhavan to meet GovernorAnandiben Patel, hoping to gether to intervene in the matter.

They staged a dharna out-side the governor's official res-idence as they had not takenprior appointment.

Raising slogans against theYogi Adityanath government,the SP leaders including MLAsand MLCs alleged their partymen were being deliberatelyharassed and framed in fakecases.

"The BJP government isworking to settle politicalvendetta. SP workers are mur-dered and being framed in fakecases. We will continue tofight for the cause of the peo-ple," said Naresh Uttam.

The police, who used mildforce, removed the SP protes-tors and took them to PoliceLines.

"We removed them toensure smooth flow of traffic.None of them have beenarrested. They were taken toPolice Lines," said SP, East,Suresh Chandra Rawat.

On directives of party president Akhilesh Yadav, all SP leaders of Bareilly, Pilibhit,Sambhal, Amroha, Moradabadand Bijore have been asked to reach Rampur on Thursdaymorning to protest on behalf of Azam Khan, said a partyleader here. PTI

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The Maharashtra BJP onWednesday landed a biggest

catch in recent times, as nineprominent persons, includingfour sitting MLAs from theNCP and Congress, a formerState NCP president, party’s for-mer State women president anda retired IPS officer, joined theprincipal ruling party ahead ofthe State Assembly polls.

At a much-publicised func-tion held in the presence of ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavis,the BJP dwelt a severe blow to thetwo major Opposition parties, asit welcomed into its fold a hostof their elected representatives,including NCP’s three sittingMLAs Shivrajendra Bhosale(Satara), Vaibhav Pichad (Akolein Ahmednagar district) andSandeep Naik (Airoli in NaviMumbai) and Congress’ sittingMLA Kalidas Kolumbar (Wadalain south-central Mumbai).

Apart from four sittingOpposition MLAs, NCP’s formerstate NCP president and SharadPawar’s erstwhile confidantMadhukar Pichad, NaviMumbai’s former Mayor SagarNaik, NCP’s former NCPwomen president Chitra Wagh,

retired IAS officer Sahebrao Patiland social reformer MahatmaPhule’s descendant Neeta Holealso joined the BJP.

In addition, NCP’s 52 cor-porators from the Navi MumbaiMunicipal Corporation(NMMC) joined the BJP at thesame function. However, con-trary to earlier speculation,NCP’s former minister and Naikclan’s patriarch Ganesh Naik,whose sitting MLA son SandeepNaik and nephew Sagar Naikjoined the BJP along with 52party corporators, has chosen tostay back in the Sharad Pawar-led party. With its 52 corporatorshaving shifted the loyalties to theBJP, the NCP has lost power inthe NMMC. The strength of theBJP in the 111-member NMMChas gone up to 90. Before long,the BJP will stake claim forpower in the NMMC alongwith its ally Shiv Sena. Of thefour MLAs who joined the BJP,Shivrajendra Bhosale, who rep-resents Satara in westernMaharashtra, is a prize catch forthe BJP. He is the direct descen-dent of Chhatrapati Shivaji anda cousin of another Shiv Shivajiscion and NCP MP UdyanrajeBhosale. Both the Bhosalecousins are at logger heads.

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�;- �$�(,����)�-�7�� ������,����,��:�=%����>��Kolkata: About 12 kg of ele-phant tusk and five pieces oftiger tooth, valued at �1.14crore, have been recoveredhere, Directorate of RevenueIntelligence (DRI) officials said.

Three persons were arrest-ed in this connection, theagency said in a statement onTuesday.

"Acting on a tip-off, theDRI sleuths nabbed MuslimaBegum and her husbandHabibullah, suspected kingpinof the racket, at Sealdah RailwayStation on Sunday and recov-ered two elephant tusks weigh-ing 4.27 kg from Begum," itsaid.

DRI said that she hadbrought the items from Assam

and was poised to deliver theconsignment to her husband,before which both were nabbed.

"Habibullah was wanted inseveral cases booked by theagency's Kolkata, Siliguri andGuwahati units, where he hadattempted to smuggle around48.79 kg elephant tusks andivory statues with a total worthof �6.01 crore," a DRI officialsaid.

He was involved in smug-gling of elephant tusks, ivoryitems, tiger teeth and other ani-mal body parts to neighbour-ing countries of Bangladesh,Nepal and Myanmar, the offi-cial said.

Interrogation of the coupleled to the arrest of their son-in-

law Adil Hussain from a flat inPark Circus area on Monday.

A total of 31 pieces of ivoryitems and five pieces of tigertooth were recovered from theflat, the agency said.

DRI said they also foundtools and �1.48 lakh in cashfrom Habibullah's residence atKaraya Road.

While elephant tusks fetchlucrative prices in Nepal andBangladesh, tiger teeth are indemand in China andMyanmar, the DRI said.

Animal body parts are pro-hibited from export under theprovisions of Foreign TradePolicy, Customs Act, 1962 readwith Wildlife (Protection) Act,1972, it added. PTI

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Aman trapped under thedebris of a massive land-

slide, along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highwaynear Ramban, was miracu-lously saved by the CRPFjawans after a sniffer dog,accompanying bomb disposalsquad, alerted the jawans dur-ing routine patrolling duty inthe area. Reacting swiftly, thejawans started searching thearea and within few minutesthey found a man trapped inthe debris.

According to regular visi-tors in the area, a mentallyunsound man, who used toroam freely in the area, wasburied under the debris fol-lowing fresh landslides in thearea late Tuesday night.

According to a CRPF offi-cer, who supervised the rescueoperations in the area, "first ofall a well trained member ofthe CRPF dog squad, Ajaxi hadalerted the jawans on reachingmilestone 147 along the 300km long national highway".

In Jammu, Public RelationsOfficer, CRPF, Ashish KumarJha said, CRPF troops reactedimmediately and called forhelp from one of the nearbycamps of CRPF battalion.Company commander,Inspector NN Murmu, imme-

diately rushed to the spot alongwith his men and joined therescue operations to save pre-cious civilian life.

CRPF PRO, Ashish KumarJha said, "Army personnel alsojoined the rescue operationand retrieved him by clearingthe debris".

Mentally unsound manwas identified as PradeepKumar, a native of Ludhwal vil-lage. He was provided medicalhelp but was not in a conditionto speak, a CRPF officer said.

According to police, trafficon the National Highway wasdisrupted ahead of Ramban fol-lowing fresh landslides in thearea late Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, in view ofinclement weather conditions,shooting stones and landslidesparticularly in Jammu region,Amarnath yatra will remainsuspended till 4th August,2019. Till July 30, over 3.30 lakhpilgrims had performed dar-shan inside the holy cave shrineof Amarnath.

According to a statementreleased by the Raj Bhawan,"India MeteorologyDepartment has predictedheavy rainfall for next fewdays all over Jammu &Kashmir, which may causelandslides and shooting stoneson highway between Jammuand Srinagar.

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Kottayam (Ker): SeniorCongress MLA P T Thomason Wednesday accused thePinarayi Vijayan-led LDF gov-ernment of tapping phones ofpolitical leaders and media-persons in Kerala.

The Thrikkakkara MLAalleged a special cell has beenset up in the police for tappingthe phones of the politicalopponents of Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan and his owncolleagues in the CPI(M).

The government is tap-ping the phone calls of polit-ical leaders and mediaper-sons. Vijayan has set up a spe-cial cell in Poloce for tappingthe phones, Thomas told apress conference here.

He demanded a thoroughprobe into the alleged phonetapping.

There was no immediatereaction from the govern-ment on the MLAs allegations.

The Congress leaderalleged the Chief Ministerwas running away from thestate assembly and "not givingreply to the issues raised bythe Opposition." PTI

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Ahead of launching his party’scampaign for the State

Assembly polls through a 4,384km-long ‘Mahajanadesh Yatra’on Thursday, Maharashtra ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavissaid on Wednesday that the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance was “intact”and the two saffron partieswould re-capture power in theState with a resounding major-ity.

Addressing a news confer-ence after welcoming a host ofleaders from the NCP andCongress, including four sittingMLAs, into the BJP, Fadnavissaid: “As many NCP andCongress have of late joined ourparty, some vested interests are

to trying to create a wedgebetween the BJP and Shiv Sena.Let me tell you our alliance isintact. Together, we will recap-ture power in the State Assemblywith a resounding majority”.

Fadnavis said that the seatsharing arrangement for theState Assembly polls between theBJP and Shiv Sena would be for-malised within a fortnight.“During the next 15 days, we willhold discussions with the ShivSena leaders and formalise theseat-sharing tie-up. At best, wemay swap some seats betweenthe two parties. Otherwise,everything will be as plannedearlier”.

It may be recalled that onJune 2, senior BJP leader andnow State party president

Chandrakant Patil had gone totown saying that the BJP andShivSena would contest 135seats each in the State Assemblypolls, setting aside the remain-ing 18 seats for their allies.

Meanwhile, Fadnavis willkick off his yatra at Mozari inAmarvati district in easternMaharashtra on Thursday onthe occasion of the birthanniversary of socialreformerTukaram BhauraoSathe, popularly known asAnnabahu Sathe and deathanniversary of free fighter BalGangdhar Tilak. He will con-clude his campaign tour atNashik in north Maharashtra onAugust 31.

With the BJP having alreadygone to town that it — togeth-

er with its alliance partner ShivSena — will win more than 220out of 288 seats in the State,Fadnavis will go to people withtwin poll planks “Phir ek barShivshahi Sarkar” (Saffronalliance Government onceagain) and “Ab ki baar 220 kepar (We’ll cross 220 seat markthis time)".

The Yatra — during whichhe will reach out the BJP-ledState Government’s achieve-ments during the last five yearswill take him to all regions —Konkan (638 km), WesternMaharashtra (812 km),Vidarbha (1232 km), NorthMaharashtra (633 km),Marathwada (1069 km) — inthe state.

During his tour, the chief

minister will visit 150 out of thetotal 288 Assembly constituen-cies in the State.

Fadnavis will travel on a spe-cial rath (van) equipped with aspecial LED screen to highlightthe achievements of the BJP-ShivSena government during thepast five years.

During his tour of 15oAssembly constituencies, thechief minister will address 85 bigrallies, 75 small rallies and meetpeople in as many as 238 villagesen route. Fadnavis’ decision torestrict himself to touring 15o ofthe total 288 Assembly con-stituencies should be seen in thecontext of the fact that the rul-ing BJP will contest theAssembly polls in alliance withthe Shiv Sena. PTI

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One person was killed and 19others injured on

Wednesday, when the roof of abuilding housing Bank ofMaharashtra (BoM) branch col-lapsed at Karmala in Solapur dis-trict of western Maharashtra.

At least 23 others were res-cued from under the debris of ahuge slab of a hospital located onthe second floor of the buildingcrashed onto the ground floor-bank branch at around 11 am.There were at least 19 injuredamong those rescued fromunder the debris.

Among those who had beentrapped under the debris wereseveral customers, bank employ-ees and patients from the secondfloor hospital room. The inci-dent happened within half anhour after the bank branch hadopened. The police identified theperson killed in the mishap asone Prashant Bagal, a clerkworking with the bank.

Of the injured, eight personswere admitted to a hospital atSolapur while an injured womanand a boy have been taken to ahospital at nearby Akluj town.

“There were in all 30 per-sons inside the Bank branch

when the collapse took place.The people from various gov-ernment agencies and local cit-izens rescued those trappedunder the debris,” a districtpolice official said. The three-storey building, where the crashtook place at the BoM branchlocated on the ground floor, isowned by one Rajesh Joshi, aresident of Mahendra Nagar atKarmala. The police and localfire brigade are trying to estab-lish what contributed to the sud-den collapse of a slab from thefirst floor-hospital onto the bankbranch. Till the evening, therewere no reports of any arrest.

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Srinagar : NationalConference president FarooqAbdullah asserted he had"done no wrong" and wasopen to scrutiny after beingquestioned by theEnforcement Directorate onWednesday in a money laun-dering case related to allegedfinancial irregularities in theJammu & Kashmir CricketAssociation.

Abdullah, a former chiefminister, appeared before thecentral agency at itsChandigarh office and hisstatement was recorded underthe Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act.

"I have done no wrong. Iam open to investigation,"Abdullah told PTI over phoneafter his questioning by theED.

The ED had filed themoney laundering case aftertaking cognisance of a CBI FIRand charge sheet.

The charge sheet was filedin July last year against

Abdullah and three others forallegedly misappropriatingover �43 crore from grantsgiven by the Board of Controlfor Cricket in India (BCCI) tothe Jammu and KashmirCricket Association (JKCA)for promoting the sport in thestate between 2002-11.

Abdullah, the Lok Sabhamember from Srinagar, said itwas not the job of the presidentof the JKCA to keep a track ofhow the funds received fromBCCI were spent.

The CBI has chargedAbdullah and three others —then JKCA general secretaryMd Saleem Khan, then trea-surer Ahsan Ahmad Mirzaand J&K Bank executive BashirAhmad Misgar — under sec-tions of the Ranbir Penal Coderelated to criminal conspiracyand criminal breach of trust.

"I have recorded my state-ment today. The matter issub-judice and I have fullfaith in the judiciary of thecountry," Abdullah said. PTI

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Srinagar: The Amarnath yatrawill remain suspended tillAugust 4 as the IMD has fore-cast heavy rainfall in Jammu andKashmir over the next few days,Shri Amarnath Shrine Board(SASB) said on Wednesday.

"In view of inclementweather conditions, shootingof stones and landslides partic-ularly in Jammu region, theyatra will remain suspended tillAugust 4, 2019," an SASBspokesperson said.

He said the IndiaMeteorology Department haspredicted heavy rainfall for nextfew days all over Jammu andKashmir, which may cause land-slides and shooting of stones onthe Jammu and Srinagar nation-al highway, particularly in thestretch between Ramban andBanihal.

The spokesperson said thetrack from Baltal and Pahalgamhas become slippery due torecent heavy rainfall and the sit-uation is likely to aggravate inthe next couple of days. PTI

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Srinagar: Evading directresponse to a question onwhether the Centre had anyplans to revoke the constitu-tional provisions giving specialstatus to Jammu & Kashmir,BJP general secretary RamMadhav said on Wednesdaythe Narendra ModiGovernment would take nec-essary steps for the benefit ofthe State at an appropriatetime.

"The BJP's stand on it(repeal of Article 35A of theConstitution) is very clear butit is not the party which isgoing to decide (on the mat-ter). The decision will be takenby the prime minister and hisgovernment, but I can assureyou that whatever decisionthey will take, will be in theinterest of the state," Madhavtold reporters here.

He said the state's politicalparties were creating anatmosphere of fear in Kashmir

by linking the movement ofcentral armed paramilitaryforces with other issues tosave their political turf.

"Leaders of local regionalparties are creating fear psy-chosis for their political inter-ests. Moving forces in and outof Kashmir as per the require-ment of the security grid is anongoing process. Extra forcesare brought in for AmarnathYatra or elections, like there isgoing to be block level elec-tions for panchayat. But link-ing the movement of forceswith other issues is being donefor personal interests," he said.

Article 35A of theConstitution gives powers tothe state to define the state'spermanent residents.

Hitting out at PDP presi-dent Mehbooba Mufti, theBJP leader said she was tryingto save her "slipping politicalbase" by resorting to provoca-tive statements.

"There is an attempt tocreate an atmosphere of fear tosave the slipping political baseof regional parties. We aregoing ahead with our work inthe state, elections are com-ing...Let them go to the peo-ple and talk about elections.Their own leaders are notparticipating in their party'sFoundation Day...Then theytalk about bombs and explo-sives. As the noose aroundcorruption has been tight-ened, they are doing thisdrama to save themselves," hesaid.

Mehbooba, while reacting to speculations thatthe Centre might repealArticle 35-A, had on July 28said tinkering with the provision of the Constitutionproviding special residencyand job rights to natives ofJammu & Kashmir would beakin to burning hands withexplosives. PTI

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Page 8: ˇ˘-.&/ ˜01˛1˜˛ 2 ,˜#-. $/ ˆ4 ˘ , %+˛˙# ’+ ’ ’ ˆ ......Zero Hour, Mishra said, “Only four of us (MLAs) are wearing dhoti. I have never seen the Speaker and the Chief

On July 22, an amusing news itemcaught everybody’s attention. Thevisit by the Communist Party of

China leader and state President, XiJinping, to India in October depended pri-marily on the runway length of the Indianairport. “A runway big enough for the air-craft carrying Chinese President Xi Jinpingand his large high-powered delegation toland directly from Beijing is believed to beone of the key parameters when theIndian and Chinese sides jointly decide thevenue for the second informal summit inIndia between President Xi and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,” said the report.

Several points, therefore, emerge on therunway alone. First, if it becomes one of theprime issues regarding the visit and venueof the Sino-Indian bilateral, then it’s up tothe host nation, India, to take the callbecause once a sovereign nation hosts a topdignitary of another sovereign nation, it’sthe duty and responsibility of the formerto take care of and fulfil all parameters ofsafety, security, hospitality and protocolamong other things. Second, if the guestraises the airport runway length of the hostas an issue three months before the visit,then the bilateral looks more like a logis-tics-centric exercise than a serious diplo-matic discussion. Third, does the unusu-al “runway length” shift the focus on topoor airport infrastructure in India’s back-yard, which the Chinese guest would liketo see as a business opportunity for“upgradations?” Fourth, is it a Chinese ployto play with and point out the vulnerabil-ity and backwardness of the host? To showIndia in poor light in front of the world?Through wide media coverage?

If so, understandably the airport “run-way” has its ancillaries, too, under the scan-ner. Leave road, hotel, transport, commu-nication, media facility, security and hos-pitality aside. There is a need for ampleroom for VVIPs to move around and strollin solitude. There are expectations of aninformal, intimate and private set-up withspacious arena, beyond the gaze, or radar,of the “excessively inquisitive” media,being in tune with the philosophy and stan-dard set long ago by disciples of the Marx-Lenin duo.

Coming back to the Indian airport andChinese aircraft for the Sino-Indian bilat-eral, it may not be far-fetched to visualiseXi alighting from a four-engine US-madeBoeing 747 as there is nothing else in thevicinity, notwithstanding the existence ofthe sole four-engine Airbus 380 of Europe.

Assuming again that Airbus 380 couldbe one of the options for the flight of theChinese leader, as reportedly ChinaSouthern Airlines operates five such air-craft, in reality, it’s highly unlikely. Onlyfour Indian airports of Delhi, Mumbai,Bengaluru and Hyderabad have the facil-ity and capability to handle super-jumboAirbus 380, the maximum take-off weight

of which is between 510 and575 tonnes.

Hence, it’s almost certainthat only a fully-laden four-engine US Boeing 747 will bethe preferred aircraft with amaximum take-off weightbetween 362.875 tonnes and442.250 tonnes (depending onthe model and date of manu-facture). That takes us to thepossible Indian venue of themeet, which has to be thesame city for the foreign digni-tary. Thus, whereas there existsmore than 30 internationalairports in India’s map, han-dling aircraft of various size,shape and capacity for diversedestination, only the top 10longest airport runways couldbe considered for visitingChinese dignitary.

These 10 are New Delhi4,430 metres (14,534′);Hyderabad 4,260 metres(13,976′); Bengaluru 4,120metres (13,517′); Chennai3,662 metres (12,020′) and2,935 metres (9,629′); Kolkata3,627 metres (11,900′) and2,790 metres (9,150′);Ahmedabad 3,599 metres(11,807′); Mumbai 3,445metres (11,302′) and 2,990metres (9,760′); Kochi 3,400metres (11,154′); Amritsar3,289 metres (10,790′) andThiruvananthapuram at 3,400metres (11,154′).

We can now say with a rea-sonable degree of confidence

that the Boeing 747 of Xi willland at one of these 10 airports.Why? Because a fully-ladenBoeing 747 (a VVIP like Xiarriving in India cannot comein an aircraft without full loadowing to various obligatorysafety, security parameter andprotocol) takes anywherebetween 7,000′ and 8,000′length runway for landing andbetween 9,950′ and 10,600′ fortake-off. That said, every flightalso requires an additional2,000′ to 3,000′ length formanoeuvring, in case of anaborted take off or emergencylanding. And one simply can-not take any chance with high-profile visit of an importanthead of state.

So, once decided, onewould like to ask: Which air-port would be preferred for Xi’sOctober visit? Here, I daresuggest, if I was there, I wouldunhesitatingly suggest Kolkataas the venue for the IndianPrime Minister to welcomethe Chinese President for an“informal bilateral visit.”Absurd? Impossible?Hallucination? No. Not at all.It’s real. Practical. Art of turn-ing impossible into possible.

Too much political bicker-ing between Delhi and Kolkatais reaching an unacceptablyhigh decibel, thereby creatingan irreparable rift between theCentre and the whole of theEast and North-East. Perennial

neglect and snubbing of theEast and the North-East is cre-ating a cleavage with potentiallong-term damage. Hence, holdthe meeting in Kolkata toequalise its strategic value as agateway to our Look east pol-icy, China having already con-solidated its economic holdon Southeast Asia. The distancebetween the Kolkata airportand Raj Bhavan can be coveredthrough the aerial route. DumDum to Race Course, underEastern Army Command, issix-eight minute flying time,and Race Course helipad to RajBhawan would be a maximumthree-four minute drive forVVIP motorcade.

The river-front of Hooghly,from Eden Garden to PrincepGhat, could easily be sprucedup again under the EasternArmy Command. Hotels ofTaj Bengal and Oberoi Grandcould be had for the entireentourage. Those coming byroad from airport to hotelscould easily cover the distancethrough fly-overs in 30 min-utes, under controlled protocolof traffic guards.

Politically and diplomati-cally, it can very well be a win-win situation for all. Delhicould show political sagacity.Kolkata its traditional magna-nimity. And the Chinese guestcould have a reunion withthose Chinese who madeBengal their home almost 100

years ago when China (espe-cially Shanghai) was on fire,from May 4, 1919. There stillare Chinese, who do DurgaPuja in China Town and haveeven written slogans in Chineselanguage during the last parlia-mentary elections.

There, however, is oneknotty issue: The date of thevisit. If it’s Durga Puja/NavaRatri, it has to be betweenOctober 2 and 8. The onlything which, perhaps, needs tobe avoided is that it may not bebetween October 20 and 31.October 20 because India wasattacked by China on that dayin 1962. Hence, all 11 daysfrom October 20 to 31, whenIndia was being mauled by thePLA, may not give politicallythe right signals. October 1 willbe the 70th birth anniversary ofthe People’s Republic of China.We all compliment China on its70 years, but Beijing, too, needsto understand the sentiment ofIndians for mutual reciprocitypertaining to goodwill andharmony. Hence, to my mind,a visit between October 6(Ashtami) and October 8(Dussehra) could be ideal.Both diplomatically as well asinternally. It reminds me of thebook by General William Slim,Defeat into Victory.

(The writer, an alumnus ofNational Defence College ofIndia, is author of China inIndia. Views are personal.)

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “The teen cannot wait” (July31). The Unnao rape case is onewhere the Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister must ensure justice.The prime accused is an MLAfrom the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP), the party in power. ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath hasdone nothing to restore people’sfaith when it comes to maintain-ing law and order.

Civilised societies cannotallow the fathers of rape sur-vivors to die in mysterious cir-cumstances or have the sur-vivors meeting with a suspiciousaccident. Kuldeep Sengar is anembarrassment for the BJP.

Meghana ANew South Wales

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Tiger tales” (July 31). Whileit is a matter of pride that India’stiger population is nearly 3,000strong in the backdrop ofshrinking forests, we cannotafford to ignore reports of grow-ing man-animal conflict. The

“encounter” in Maharashtra lastyear with Avni the tigress andmore recently, two incidents, thefirst where a tigress and her cubswere poisoned at Chandrapur,Maharashtra and the secondwhere another tigress was beat-en to death by villagers inPilibhit, Uttar Pradesh, a fewdays ago, should set alarm bells

ringing.Steps must be taken to find

a solution to growing encroach-ments in wild habitats. Theimportance of wildlife protec-tion has to be inculcated fromprimary school level. TheGovernment must do its bit.

M PradyuThalikavu

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Sir — Kudos to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for passing theThe Muslim Women (Protectionof Rights on Marriage) Bill,2019. He has proved beyonddoubt that every woman has theright to protection no matter

what religion or community shebelongs to.This is the true spir-it of secularism. This is indeeda bold and right step by theCabinet, which will go a longway in protect the dignity ofMuslim women, who were untilnow often harassed, due to suchill practices.

Jubel D’CruzMumbai

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Of broken promises” (July 31)by Ashok K Mehta. The writerhad mentioned in his article thatthe Army’s strength was cut by50,000 soldiers to muster �500crore, which the Governmentnever added to the Army’s cap-ital outlay. The cut was done byGen Malik and not Bipin Rawat.

On another count, the writerhad mentioned, “Similarly, itwas overlooked by the ShekatkarCommittee”. The above linesshould read: “Similarly, theShekatkar Committee carriedout a cost-cutting exercise.” Theerror is regretted.

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Page 9: ˇ˘-.&/ ˜01˛1˜˛ 2 ,˜#-. $/ ˆ4 ˘ , %+˛˙# ’+ ’ ’ ˆ ......Zero Hour, Mishra said, “Only four of us (MLAs) are wearing dhoti. I have never seen the Speaker and the Chief

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The Government is planning a megarevamp of the regional rural banks (RRBs)and that includes consolidation for better

operational efficiencies. In the budget 2019-20,it allocated �236 crore towards the capitalisa-tion of RRBs. There are 56 operational RRBs andthe roadmap is to bring them down to 38 orbelow. There were 196 RRBs after the conceptwas originally introduced in 1975, to ensureaccess of affordable credit to the rural popula-tion.

RRBs were set up to eliminate other unor-ganised financial institutions like money lendersand supplement the efforts of co-operativebanks. Although RRBs have performed com-mendably, in recent years, they have lost sheenon account of their inability to preserve the low-cost model and raise capital. RRBs have not beenable to attract bright talent. Poor leadership hasretarded their mission and vision. Issues relat-ing to governance, suitability of design ofproducts and staff productivity continue to sti-fle their growth. At present, the CentralGovernment holds half the stake in RRBs.Sponsor banks own 35 per cent and the rest 15per cent is with the State Governments.

While the Government’s renewed ruralfocus is laudable, some important caveats mustbe in place. It is true that banks can play animportant role in the financial transformationof low-income communities, but sustainabilityshould never be overlooked. In their excitementto oblige their constituencies, politicians runfinancially amok and literally plunder banks forvote-banks. This was precisely the reason whyIndia’s post-nationalisation mass banking pro-grammes degenerated into populist agenda,which financially ruined the banks.

All these highlight how an unenlightenedpolitician can play havoc with the financial sys-tems. The entire execution lacked the soul of agenuine economic revolution because it was notconceived by grassroot agents but was assem-bled by starry-eyed mandarins, who had pickedup bits and pieces about financial inclusion frompompous new-fangled and half-baked ideas gen-erated at seminars and conferences. Cheap loans,followed with periodical waivers and write-offs,have been the hobby horse of eye-on-the-ballexperts and lazy policy-makers.

The original banking concept, based onsecurity-oriented lending, was broadened afterthe nationalisation of banks to a social bankingconcept based on purpose-oriented credit fordevelopment. This called for a shift from urbanto rural-oriented lending. Social banking wasconceptualised as “better the village, better thenation.” However, opening new branches in ruralareas without proper expansion, planning andsupervision of end use of credit, or creation ofbasic infrastructure facilities meant that branch-es remained mere flag-posts. It was a make-believe revolution that was to lead to a seriousfinancial crisis in the years to come.

The Integrated Rural DevelopmentProgramme (IRDP) is a grim reminder of howmechanically trying to meet targets can under-mine the integrity of a social revolution to suchan extent that a counter-revolution can be setinto motion. Arguably, India’s worst-ever devel-opment scheme, the Integrated Rural

Development Programme (IRDP), was intend-ed to provide income-generating assets to therural poor through the provision of cheap bankcredit. Little support was provided for skill-for-mation, access to inputs, markets and necessaryinfrastructure.

In the case of cattle loans, for example, amajority of cattle owners reported that eitherthey had sold off the animals bought with theloan or that those animals were dead. Cattleloans were financed without adequate attentionto other details involved in cattle care: Fodderavailability, veterinary infrastructure and mar-keting linkages for milk among others.

People erroneously came to believe that theState had all the answers to their problems.Governments, international financial institu-tions and non-governmental organisations(NGOs) threw vast amounts of money at credit-based solutions to rural poverty, particularly inthe wake of the World Bank’s 1990 initiative toput poverty reduction at the head of its develop-ment priorities. Yet, those responsible for suchtransfers, had — and in many cases continue tohave — only the haziest grasp of the uniquedemands and difficulties of rural banking.

Working for the poor does not mean indis-criminately thrusting money down their throats.Unfortunately, IRDP did precisely that. The pro-gramme did not attempt to ascertain whetherthe loan provided would lead to the creation ofa viable long-term asset. Nor did it attempt tocreate the necessary forward and backward link-ages to supply raw material or establish market-ing linkages for the produce. Little informationwas collected on the intended beneficiary. TheIRDP was principally an instrument for pow-erful local bosses to opportunistically distrib-ute political largesse. The abiding legacy of theprogramme for India’s poor has been that mil-lions have become bank defaulters through nofault of their own.

Today, the people so marked find it impos-sible to re-join the formal credit stream. Theentire notion of economic revitalisation becamea kind of code: It’s a formulation that isn’t takenliterally and one that worked wonderfully wellto bring all the anti-poverty players together ata time when the world’s energies were focussedon ending poverty. Juicy numbers are music tothe ears of bosses. Numbers have been a greatobsession with Indian planners in particular.Number of men and women sterilised, contra-ceptives circulated, wells dug, toilets construct-ed, villages screened for polio, TB or malaria,children enrolled in schools and saplings plant-ed… there is no accountability for fudged fig-ures. In fact, majority of the rewards are givento officers most adept at massaging figures. Thegame of numbers, without a concurrent focuson social performance and evaluation of qual-ity of assets created, has been the bane of mostcredit programmes for poverty reduction andself-employment.

There are two basic pre-requisites ofpoverty eradication programmes. First, reori-entation of agricultural relations so that theownership of land is shared by a larger sectionof the people. Second, programmes for alle-viating poverty cannot succeed in an econo-my plagued by corruption, inflation and inef-ficient bureaucracy.

A poverty eradication programme mustmop up the surplus with the elite classes. Thesetwo pre-requisites call for strong political willto implement the much-needed structuralreforms. Besides, the Government must aim ata strategy for the development of the social sec-tor — the key component should be populationcontrol, universal primary education, family wel-fare and job creation, especially in rural areas.These and other aspects of poverty alleviationhave not received any importance so far in ourplanning policy making.

During the massive banking expansionphase in the 1980s, opening a bank branch wasmade to look as casual as punching a flag post.It was impossible to locate a proper structure tohouse the bank. The existence of a toilet or amedical centre, a police post or a primary schoolin a village, as a precondition for a bank branch,was simply overlooked. In several cases wherethe expiry of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) licencefor the opening of the bank branch approachedwithout proper premises being identified, bankswere housed in a temple or a local communitycentre, marked by a small banner and a photo-graph screened as evidence of the launch of thebank’s operations.

Rural branch expansion during that periodmay have accounted for substantial povertyreduction, largely through an increase in non-agricultural activities, which experienced high-er returns than agriculture, and especiallythrough an increase in unregistered or informalmanufacturing activities. But there was a signif-icant downside; commercial banks incurredlarge losses on account of subsidised interestrates and high loan losses — indicating poten-tial longer-term damage to the credit culture.

Rural finance programmes should have sub-stantial inputs from rural sociology as part ofthe training kit for rural managers. RuralBanking requires greater insight into rural soci-ology than banking practices as far as financeis concerned. A basic knowledge is adequate tohandle these simple credit proposals. It is onlyin case of high-tech agriculture that technicalskills and expertise are required. With a few sim-ple tweaks, social banking can be made bothviable and result-oriented. We should not com-mit the mistake of throwing the baby out withthe bathwater.

(The writer is member, NITI Aayog’s NationalCommittee on Financial Literacy and Inclusionfor Women)

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Oceans of the world have so farwithstood the onslaught of cli-mate change but the increas-

ing vulnerability of fisheries to climatechange has put food security at risk.Millions of people in India andabroad depend on the high seas fortheir livelihood but over-fishing,habitat destruction in addition to pol-lution is now eating into the ecosys-tem of the once healthy oceans.These are now getting amplified,thanks to climate change, which iscontributing to the rise in surface tem-peratures of the seas.

Given the dwindling size of theaverage catch, the fishing communi-ty is increasingly finding itself in anunenviable position as mounting

debts and reducing income is not onlydriving away traditional fishing fam-ilies away from the occupation butalso increasing the migration of suchfamilies into urban spaces. Existingfisheries management needs to bereformed to take into account shiftsin fish population distributions,changing habitats and decreasingsizes of fish. Sustainable fisheries man-agement must be prioritised alongsidea reduction in fish discards.Encouraging consumption of non-traditional fish species and a transi-tion to sustainable aquaculture meth-ods are vital to alleviate the impactsof climate change.

However, concerted and adaptiveresponse to climate change can leadto more abundant marine resourcesand increased profits. TheGovernment must commission stud-ies that can eventually suggest howlong-term sustainability of fish pop-ulations can be ensured in order tomaintain healthy ecosystems andsafeguard marine biodiversity. Thiswill ultimately not only deliver a viableand sustainable seafood industrybesides ensuring prosperity for the

dependent population, but also ensurethe conservation of the delicateoceanic ecology.

Climate change is unequivocaland the impacts will have severerepercussions for the ocean in manyways. Higher temperatures causephysical modifications to the marineenvironment: Warmer surface tem-peratures affect how water circulatesat depth and disrupts complex foodwebs. Changing weather patternsbring more frequent and severestorms with implications for bothcoastal habitats and fisheries. In addi-tion, warmer seas hold less oxygen,affecting ecosystems and species pop-ulations. By absorbing more CO2from the atmosphere, the ocean’schemical composition is changing atan unprecedented rate, resulting in amore acidic ocean with negative con-sequences for many species. In anocean warming scenario of over1.5°C, global catch potential is expect-ed to decrease by over three milliontonnes for every additional degree ofwarming. However, if the same tem-peratures are controlled and limitedto 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels

and full adaptive were to be put inplace across the world, one canexpect spectacular gains in seafoodproductivity.

The conditions pertaining toseafood productivity are not exactlygood in other parts of the world aswell. In the North Sea, for example,scientists have found that overfishingis making fisheries increasingly vul-nerable to warming waters. Foodsecurity is a crucial challenge, espe-cially in countries such as India andPhilippines, as these places are warm-ing faster than the global average andface potential reductions in annualcatches of up to 50 per cent by 2050.As the global population looks set toreach nearly $10 billion by 2050 andrequires more resources than everbefore, it is unlikely that we will beable to rely on our marine resourcesas we did in the past — not nutrition-ally, economically, culturally, social-ly or recreationally.

Given the scientific advance-ments, India must pioneer docu-mentation of exploitation of marineresources, which is based on scientif-ic evidence. It must also invent systems

and technology that can enable man-agement of the fish population, har-vesting within safe biological limitsand allows stocks to remain at healthyand sustainable levels, otherwiseunderstood as maximum sustainableyield (MSY). Conservation referencepoints, such as MSY, should be estab-lished for all stocks, including unin-tended catch and bycatch species. Theabsence of scientific data can nolonger be a justification for failing toapply conservation and precautionarymanagement measures. When fishingmortality exceeds reference points,harvest control rules should be imple-mented to bring the affected stockback to sustainable levels.

Maintaining abundant marineresources and healthy marine ecosys-tems are the most effective mecha-nisms to increase ocean resilience andhelp augment the ocean’s capacity toadapt to climate change. Establishingecosystem conservation measuresincludes spatial and temporal protec-tion of habitats, important for differ-ent species’ life cycle phases.Ecosystem-based management plansare critical to support the recovery of

depleted marine stocks and the reha-bilitation of marine ecosystems, inparticular with sensitive and vulner-able species. With nearly 7,000 kmplus coastline, India stands to gainimmeasurably if these steps are imple-mented. In the face of the rapidlyaltering scenario in the wake of cli-mate change, India needs to composea calibrated response, starting with thesignificant and immediate reductionof greenhouse gas emissions. Climatechange adaptation must, in turn, befurther developed to protect andrestore our ocean’s health and to sup-port ocean resilience to the impactsof climate change that are alreadybeing observed.

India must also focus on build-ing and mobilising the capacity of oursocieties to better cope with theimpacts of a warming ocean — fromindividuals to communities to villagesand metropolises. Done effectively, itwill position us to eventually takeadvantage of the challenges andopportunities presented by climatechange.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

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Coffee Day Enterprises onWednesday named inde-

pendent director S VRanganath as the interimchairman of the company toreplace its founder VGSiddhartha, who has been con-firmed dead days after he wentmissing.

The company board,wherein Siddhartha’s wifeMalavika Hegde is also a direc-tor, met on Wednesday to putin place a working structure ofthe company.

The board appointed “S VRanganath as the interimchairman of the board” and“Nitin Bagmane as an interimchief operating officer (COO)of the company,” Coffee DayEnterprises, which runs India’sbiggest coffee chain CCD, saidin a regulatory filing.

It also constituted an exec-utive committee comprisingRanganath, COO NitinBagmane and CFO R RamMohan “to exercise the powerspreviously vested with theChief Executive Officer of thecompany and theAdministrative Committeeconstituted by the Board in2015,” it said.

“The board will, in duecourse, prepare a detailed char-ter of authorities vested in theExecutive Committee andapprove the same,” the filing said.

The Executive Committeewill explore opportunities todeleverage the Coffee DayGroup, it said.

The body of Siddhartha,who had been missing sinceMonday evening, was foundon Wednesday in the Netravatiriver in Dakshina Kannadadistrict of Karnataka after 36hours of intense search, offi-cials said. Siddhartha pur-portedly wrote a letter indi-cating he was anxious aboutpressure from banks, investorsand the tax authorities beforehe went missing.

“The board took cog-nizance of statements in thepurported letter from V GSiddhartha relating to financialtransactions outside theknowledge of the senior man-agement, auditors and theboard.

“While the authenticity ofthe letter is unverified and it isunclear whether these state-ments pertain to the companyor the personal holdings of V GSiddhartha, the board tookserious note of the same andresolved to thoroughly investi-gate this matter,” the filing said.

“The board also took noteof a message from MalavikaHegde expressing support andtrust in the company’s profes-sional team and the commoneffort to look after the interestof the employees and all otherstakeholders,” it said.

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Embattled liquor tycoonVijay Mallya has dubbed

the Indian government“vicious and unrelenting” inhis latest intervention onsocial media, as he spokeout in support of Cafe CoffeeDay founder V G Siddharthawho was found dead onWednesday amid financialtroubles.

The body of 59-year-oldSiddhartha, who went miss-ing two days ago, was foundby local f ishermen andpatrolling policemen on thebanks of the Netravathi rivernear Mangaluru.

The 63-year-old formerKingfisher Airlines boss, whois fighting extradition to Indiain relation to fraud and moneylaundering allegations, accusedthe government of not doingenough to support entrepre-neurs in debt. “I am indirect-ly related to VG Siddhartha.Excellent human and brilliantentrepreneur. I am devastatedwith the contents of his letter,”said Mallya on Twitter.

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The Government onWednesday hiked the sub-

sidy on a non-urea fertiliser,sulphur, a move that would costthe exchequer �22,875.50 crorein this fiscal.

A decision in this regardwas taken at the meeting ofCabinet Committee onEconomic Affairs (CCEA)headed by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

“The CCEA approves NBSrates for Phosphatic andPotassic (P&K) fertilizers forthe year 2019-20; expectedexpenditure during 2019-20to be �22,875.50 crore,”Information and BroadcastingMinister Prakash Javadekartold media after the meeting.

The subsidy for Nitrogenhas been fixed at �18.90 per kg,Phosphorous at �15.11 per kg,Potash at �11.12 per kg andSulphur at �3.56 per kg for thecurrent fiscal, he said.

This will help in promotingbalanced use of fertilisers, theminister added.

In 2010, the Governmenthad launched the nutrient-based subsidy (NBS) pro-gramme under which a fixedamount of subsidy, decidedon an annual basis, is provid-ed on each grade of subsidisedphosphatic and potassic (P&K)fertilizers, except for urea,based on the nutrient contentpresent in them.

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The Government’s fiscaldeficit touched �4.32 lakh

crore for the June quarter,which is 61.4 per cent of thebudget estimate for 2019-20 fis-cal. In absolute terms, the fis-cal deficit or gap betweenexpenditure and revenue was�4.32 lakh crore during atJune-end, as per the datareleased by the ControllerGeneral of Accounts (CGA) onWednesday.

The fiscal deficit was 68.7per cent of 2018-19 budgetestimate in the year-ago peri-od. The Government estimatesthe fiscal deficit to be at Rs 7.03lakh crore during 2019-20.

The Government aims torestrict the fiscal deficit at 3.4per cent of the GDP in the cur-rent fiscal, same as the lastfinancial year.

The CGA data showed thatrevenue receipts of the

Government during April-June, 2019-20 was 14.4 per centof the Budget Estimate (BE). Itwas 15.5 per cent of BE in theyear-ago period.

In absolute terms, revenuereceipts stood at �2.84 lakhcrore at June-end 2019. Duringthe entire year, the revenuereceipts has been pegged at Rs19.77 lakh crore. The capitalexpenditure was 18.8 per centof the BE. This compares with29 per cent in the year-agoperiod, the CGA said.

Total expenditure duringApril-June period stood at�7.21 lakh crore or 25.9 percent of BE. It was 29 per centof BE in the correspondingperiod last fiscal.

The CAG said the fiscaldeficit figure shown in month-ly accounts during a financialyear is not necessarily an indi-cator of fiscal deficit for the yearas it gets impacted by temporalmismatch between flow of not-debt receipts and expenditureup to that month on account ofvarious transitional factors bothon receipt and expenditure side.

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Benchmark indices shookoff their recent spell of

weakness to close modestlyhigher on Wednesday, pro-pelled by banking and autostocks, ahead of the US FederalReserve’s interest rate deci-sion.

After a choppy session,the 30-share BSE Sensex settled83.88 points or 0.22 per centhigher at 37,481.12. The broad-er NSE Nifty ended 32.60points or 0.29 per cent up at11,118.00.

Market sentimentimproved somewhat on expec-tations that the US Fed willreduce rates in its policy meet-ing for the first time in adecade, traders said.

Yes Bank was the biggestgainer in the Sensex pack,soaring 6.04 per cent, followedby IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel,Hero MotoCorp, Sun Pharma,Bajaj Auto, Power Grid, TataMotors, SBI and Kotak Bankthat gained up to 5.32 percent.

On the other hand, AxisBank emerged as the biggestloser, dropping 4.55 per cent,followed by Bharti Airtel,Reliance, NTPC, Maruti, TechMahindra, ONGC, HDFC andHDFC Bank.

“Market reversed after test-ing the psychological level of11,000 mark supported byshort covering in banks andauto after recent days of fall andprospects of dovish Fed policy.

“Investors’ appetite for midand small caps is yet to findconfidence despite consolida-tion as lackluster earnings and

high beta impacted the senti-ment. A decisive up move willdepend upon ease in liquiditycrunch and improvement infundamentals,” said VinodNair, Head of Research, GeojitFinancial Services.

Sectorally, BSE metalsurged the most at 2.43 percent, followed by auto (1.26 percent), oil and gas (1.06 percent), basic materials (1.40 percent), healthcare (0.95 percent), industrials (0.86 percent), capital goods (0.74 percent), power (0.63 per cent),information technology (0.60per cent), utilities (0.67 percent), FMCG (0.50 per cent),bankex (0.33) and finance (0.28

per cent).However, telecom, con-

sumer durables, energy andrealty lost up to 1.63 per cent.

Foreign investors soldequities worth �644.59 crore ona net basis on Tuesday, as perprovisional data with stockexchanges.

On the currency front, therupee was trading almost flat at68.84 against the US dollar.

Globally, markets awaitedthe outcome of the Fed’s poli-cy meeting, and also trackedthe US-China trade talks.

The US and Chinese offi-cials held their first meeting onWednesday since they agreedon a trade truce last month.

However, hopes for any reso-lution was dampened as USPresident Donald Trump tookto Twitter to accuse China ofgoing back on commitments.

“My team is negotiatingwith them now, but they alwayschange the deal in the end totheir benefit,” Trump tweeted.

Elsewhere in Asia,Shanghai Composite Index,Hang Seng, Kospi and Nikkeiended in the red.

Equities in Europe werealso trading lower in theirrespective early sessions.

Meanwhile, the global oilbenchmark Brent crude futuresrose 0.82 per cent to $65.25 perbarrel.

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The rupee recovered fromearly lows to settle higher

by 6 paise at 68.79 against theUS dollar on Wednesday amiduncertainty ahead of the out-ocme of US Federal Reservemeeting.

Forex traders said therupee is trading in a narrowrange as market participantsare awaiting cues from theoutcome of the Federal OpenMarket Committee (FOMC)meeting later on Wednesday.

At the interbank foreignexchange (forex), the domesticcurrency witnessed heavyvolatility. The local unit openedlower at 68.89 a dollar andtouched a low of 68.94 later.

The rupee made a recoverylater in line with gains in equi-ty markets and touched a day’shigh of 68.76 to US dollar.

The local unit finally closedat 68.79 against the Americancurrency, registering a rise of 6paise over its previous close of68.85. Traders said market par-ticipants were trading a cau-tious path as the US-Chinatrade talks ended without a

breakthrough.The 12th round of talks

between top trade officials of thetwo countries ended without abreakthrough in Shanghai afterUS President Donald Trump’stwitter tirade against Beijing.

“My team is negotiatingwith them now, but they alwayschange the deal in the end totheir benefit,” Trump tweeted.

The rupee has risen by 24paise or 0.34 per cent in July inits second month of gains.

“Rupee appreciated for sec-ond consecutive month amidstrong foreign fund flow indebt market, foreign directinvestment and stable crude oilprices,” said V K Sharma, HeadPCG & Capital MarketsStrategy, HDFC Securities.

According to Sharma,India’s bonds are headed fortheir best month since 2016,largely due to the probable ratecut by the RBI in the nextmeeting in August.

He further added thatBudget announcement of shift-ing some borrowing offshorehas been another reasonbehind rising bonds.

The 10-year Government

bond yield was at 6.37 per centon Wednesday.

The Reserve Bank of Indiaon Tuesday evening easedcurbs on overseas commercialborrowing for companies andnon-bank lenders. They will beallowed to raise foreign-cur-rency debt with an averagematurity of at least 10 years forworking capital requirement,Sharma said.

The dollar index, whichgauges the greenback’s strengthagainst a basket of six curren-cies, rose 0.03 per cent to98.08.

Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, rose0.63 per cent to trade at $65.13per barrel.

Foreign institutionalinvestors (FIIs) remained netsellers in the capital markets,pulling out Rs 1,497.07 crore onWednesday, according to theprovisional data.

Meanwhile, on the domes-tic market front, the 30-shareBSE Sensex settled 83.88 pointsor 0.22 per cent higher at37,481.12. The broader NSENifty ended 32.60 points or0.29 per cent up at 11,118.00.

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Petroleum MinisterDharmendra Pradhan on

Wednesday stressed theimportance of innovation, say-ing it is a key factor which willboost growth and help Indiabecome a $5 trillion economyby 2024-25.

Speaking at the launch ofNiti Aayog’s Atal CommunityInnovation Centre (ACIC)programme, Pradhan said thatIndia will become the largestconsumer of fossil fuel in thenext 15 years, so there is needto reduce India’s crude oilimport bill.

“India’s crude oil importbill is pegged at �6 lakh croreper annum and the countrywill become the largest con-sumer of oil in the next 15years.

“Can Atal CommunityInnovation Centres come upwith innovative methodswhich will help India in reduc-ing its fossil fuel import bill? ...India will not become $5 tril-lion economy without inno-

vation,” he said.In order to support the ini-

tiatives of Niti Aayog’s ACIC,the minister said he will directoil and steel public sectorundertakings (PSUs) to con-tribute their corporate socialresponsibility (CSR) moneyto the programme.

He said India producesapproximately 600MT of non-fossilised biomass throughfarm waste, which if convert-ed to energy can help usherprosperity in rural economy,and promote a sustainableenergy future.

Pradhan said ACIC willencourage students,researchers and other indi-viduals/group of individuals toideate and design novel solu-tions. The4 scheme will alsoconnect innovative thinkers toour market and mainstreameconomy.

Speaking at the sameevent, Niti Aayog vice chair-man Rajiv Kumar said theACIC programme will belaunched in 484 districts whichare unserved region of India.

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Indian IT companies con-tributed $57.2 billion to the

GDP of the US in 2017, India’stop diplomat in the US said onTuesday.

Addressing business lead-ers in Denver, Colorado,India’s Ambassador to the USHarsh Vardhan Shringla saidIndia-based global IT ser-vices companies employ morethan 175,000 workers in theUS accounting for 8.4 percent of employment in thecomputer systems design andrelated services industry.

In his address at the 2019State InternationalDevelopment Organisation(SIDO) Conference on “US-India Trade and Investment:Opportunities and BestPractices,” Shringla saidIndian IT companies in theUS are deeply embedded inthe roots of American societyand their contributions haveexceeded far beyond the econ-omy.

For instance, the TCSlaunching an education ini-tiative in 2017 called “MyFuture in School”, Infosyspartnering with TrinityCollege on Applied LearningInitiative in September 2018,WIPRO’s partnership withFirst Book to distribute over200,000 books by 2019-end,Mindtree’s $2 million grant to

Stanford University in July2018 are some of the examplesof Indian IT companies’ con-tributions beyond their busi-ness operations, he said.

Shringla said the two-wayinvestments between Indiaand the US reached about $60billion.

The US with $45 billioncumulative investment is thesixth source of foreign invest-ment in India, he said in hisaddress to State InternationalDevelopment Organizationannual (SIDO) convention’sIndia event organised in part-nership with US IndiaBusiness Council (USIBC).

SIDO is the onlyAmerican organisation that isfocused on state internation-al trade development.

“The US-India relation-ship is at a critical junctureand needs to evolve with thechanging landscape of USglobal trade relations. State-to-state ties help Indian com-panies investing in the US andUS companies who need sup-port at the ground level inIndia,” said USIBC presidentNisha Desai Biswal.

India under PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, hesaid is taking steps to ensurethat US investments into Indiais taken to new levels byensuring profitability as wellas protection of IntellectualProperty.

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The Cabinet on Wednesdayapproved a bill that seeks to

reduce the compliance burdenof the registered chit fundsindustry and protect the inter-est of subscribers, Union min-ister Prakash Javadekar here.

The Cabinet gave approvalfor the introduction of ChitFunds (Amendment) Bill,2019, in Parliament, theInformation and BroadcastingMinister told reporters after themeeting.

He said the bill is aimed atfulfilling the objectives ofreducing the regulatory orcompliance burden of the reg-istered chit funds industry aswell as protecting the interestof subscribers.

The Government had ear-lier in 2018 introduced a bill toregulate the chit fund industrybut it lapsed, the minister said.

The bill was introduced inthe Lok Sabha in March 2018and later referred to a standingcommittee on finance forscrutiny.

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Markets regulator Sebi onWednesday imposed a

fine of �1.30 crore on JLGSecurities and seven individu-als for fraudulent trading in thescrip of Regency Hospital.

The regulator conducted aprobe in the trading of sharesof Regency Hospital betweenApril 2011 and September2011 after it observed that“prima facie there appeared tobe creation of artificial volumein the scrip of the company andinfluence on price in the scripof the company.”

During the probe, Sebifound that the entities execut-ed synchronised trades, rever-

sal trades and self-tradesamong themselves resultingin artificial volumes.

“The noticees have alsoexecuted reversal trades result-ing in no change of beneficialownership and thus, createdartificial volume in the scripand gave false and misleadingappearance of trading in thescrip and thus, the self-tradesare seen in the context of therole played by thenoticees...Are being consid-ered as manipulative with per-verse intention,” Sebi said.

The trades of the entitieswere found to be in violationof Prohibition of Fraudulentand Unfair Trade Practicesnorms.

Consequently, Sebiimposed a fine of �25 lakh onJLG Securities Pvt Ltd and afine of �15 lakh each on ShreeGopal Gupta, Ashok KumarNigam, Hari Om Mishra, AjaySrivastava, Paramjeet Arora,Parul Kansal, K P Abraham.

In separate orders, Sebi

imposed a total fine of �38.2lakh on five entities forindulging in fraudulent tradein illiquid stock options seg-ment on the BSE.

Seema Holdings Pvt Ltd,Rockland Media andCommunication, ShreeGanesh Metaliks Ltd, NCLResearch and FinancialServices Ltd and Mi StockBroking Pvt Ltd are the fiveentities facing fines.

“The trades executed bythe noticee were not genuinetrades and being non-genuine,created an appearance of arti-ficial trading volumes inrespective contracts,” Sebi saidin similarly worded separateorders.

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Script Open High Low LTPRCOM 1.47 1.50 1.39 1.39YESBANK 86.50 92.30 84.85 91.30RBLBANK 396.00 410.10 380.00 403.15IBULHSGFIN 529.00 544.10 506.15 536.20AXISBANK 694.00 695.35 657.65 674.40INDUSINDBK 1324.00 1418.80 1313.85 1408.00IDEA 6.86 7.10 6.64 6.84RELIANCE 1177.95 1184.85 1163.00 1166.00SBIN 325.75 333.10 323.90 332.65ZEEL 381.50 391.65 357.55 361.45MARUTI 5543.00 5584.40 5447.00 5472.15APOLLOTYRE 148.90 158.25 145.30 157.60IBREALEST 86.30 89.65 79.30 88.60BAJFINANCE 3230.05 3265.35 3161.70 3250.90HDFCBANK 2250.00 2266.80 2234.10 2251.80DHFL 49.65 50.75 48.50 49.30RELINFRA 43.20 48.80 42.90 46.55VEDL 150.55 154.65 148.25 154.15ICICIBANK 423.00 430.25 421.40 424.50INFY* 792.00 799.45 781.75 794.00HDFC 2120.00 2131.00 2109.50 2124.05TATAMOTORS 134.45 136.30 132.50 135.60TATASTEEL 414.45 433.40 409.35 431.90BOMDYEING 76.00 76.55 65.55 71.15HEROMOTOCO 2266.10 2369.00 2228.25 2349.75DLF 177.00 179.10 169.85 177.20RELCAPITAL 49.65 52.90 48.80 52.10GRAPHITE 303.00 316.00 290.50 307.55CHOLAFIN 242.90 261.00 236.60 259.40HEG 979.80 1010.50 940.40 984.80IBVENTURES 233.80 247.70 217.45 238.60RPOWER 3.09 3.70 2.95 3.56BANKBARODA 102.70 107.40 101.75 106.65TECHM 628.50 639.35 607.90 636.55SPICEJET 143.45 143.90 140.55 141.60SUNPHARMA 413.00 428.40 409.95 426.75LT 1378.00 1397.95 1368.00 1387.15DMART 1450.00 1490.65 1440.50 1480.70ASHOKLEY 67.95 70.80 67.10 69.90L&TFH 97.00 99.40 94.15 99.05BEL 97.80 103.60 97.10 102.65TCS 2175.00 2210.95 2148.30 2205.40NATIONALUM 44.10 45.75 43.30 45.55IOC 132.00 140.30 132.00 139.30GUJGAS 183.00 192.40 170.20 171.45PNB 67.15 69.50 66.55 69.15INDIGO 1536.00 1563.25 1511.45 1558.15NBCC 41.50 44.10 39.70 42.80TITAN 1092.00 1092.00 1041.05 1056.15BHARTIARTL 342.50 353.40 333.00 336.40PEL 1799.00 1819.00 1760.30 1809.30PFC 109.00 111.00 106.55 109.80JINDALSTEL 129.50 135.75 128.40 135.10ITC 268.00 270.95 266.05 270.95ESCORTS 458.15 472.20 453.75 469.90JUSTDIAL 688.00 703.45 676.85 691.40SUZLON 4.40 4.44 4.03 4.23STRTECH 150.50 152.55 145.10 148.95HDFCLIFE 482.95 495.45 478.00 493.50TVSMOTOR 344.00 370.45 340.30 369.00TATAELXSI 618.85 640.30 609.45 637.80STAR 373.25 394.40 365.25 385.65HINDUNILVR 1720.00 1752.20 1701.50 1725.95QUESS 398.00 443.35 398.00 438.25DISHTV 27.35 30.10 26.10 27.40HDFCAMC 2138.00 2173.70 2094.40 2143.85BAJAJFINSV 7134.95 7134.95 6900.00 7100.90UPL 575.00 598.00 571.75 594.50KOTAKBANK 1475.00 1534.50 1475.00 1519.10BIOCON 234.25 234.50 224.50 226.70ADANIPOWER 60.00 62.10 59.70 61.00CANBK 236.00 237.55 223.85 235.10GRASIM 762.20 791.00 757.25 788.10IDFCFIRSTB 39.55 42.20 39.20 41.95BRITANNIA 2627.70 2629.20 2541.25 2604.00BANKINDIA 71.00 72.60 70.30 72.20JSWSTEEL 231.00 238.25 227.45 237.20ASIANPAINT 1508.00 1524.75 1496.10 1521.25PNBHOUSING 694.00 728.00 655.10 710.00HINDPETRO 256.00 267.30 250.00 266.05PCJEWELLER 34.20 35.10 33.30 34.45KAJARIACER 465.10 477.75 450.40 473.40SPARC 153.00 161.50 148.60 159.90EICHERMOT 16150.05 16449.90 15946.60 16369.90VOLTAS 561.00 585.00 557.20 582.15DELTACORP 142.00 156.50 116.05 152.60SRTRANSFIN 970.00 973.15 960.00 966.90FEDERALBNK 90.50 92.80 89.20 92.40MINDTREE 714.00 727.00 700.45 713.05POWERGRID 208.00 213.90 206.20 211.00COALINDIA 198.00 205.25 197.15 204.50AUROPHARMA 557.00 574.05 542.55 571.75M&M 549.00 553.80 541.65 550.25ULTRACEMCO 4300.00 4361.50 4210.70 4342.70NOCIL 83.70 90.10 82.20 89.65GRUH 258.65 258.65 241.30 245.25SAIL 41.10 42.95 40.75 42.75HINDALCO 187.05 191.25 184.75 190.80NCC 69.00 73.75 68.50 73.05ENGINERSIN 93.55 101.50 93.00 99.50BAJAJ-AUTO 2475.00 2535.00 2448.00 2506.35VIPIND 389.50 395.15 372.00 382.75ALBK 38.85 41.20 36.30 37.80GLENMARK 411.05 427.30 405.10 426.15GODREJPROP 933.55 959.85 930.00 950.00GODREJIND 446.45 507.65 421.60 470.00ICICIGI 1157.85 1222.90 1107.95 1201.15DIVISLAB 1646.00 1647.90 1567.35 1629.40

BHEL 57.40 59.05 57.10 58.90ADANIENT 125.20 129.20 124.20 128.75JUBILANT 449.50 452.20 435.15 439.05TEJASNET 82.75 90.75 81.60 90.75BANDHANBNK 478.50 484.40 465.10 476.25M&MFIN 296.05 306.20 291.80 305.55AMBUJACEM 200.70 202.80 198.00 201.40DRREDDY 2550.00 2590.00 2520.65 2574.60INDIANB 186.00 189.50 170.10 186.10ICICIPRULI 394.00 404.90 385.05 400.85UNIONBANK 66.80 68.20 66.15 67.65SUVEN 222.50 231.45 218.00 227.45WIPRO 263.25 266.25 260.60 265.35GSPL 205.10 215.25 203.80 211.85LEMONTREE 58.10 64.35 56.20 59.65LICHSGFIN 510.00 521.30 501.50 517.00LUPIN 757.00 772.00 749.55 764.70MANAPPURAM 110.00 114.90 107.25 113.95INDIACEM 85.40 88.25 83.25 87.95ZYDUSWELL 1369.25 1529.90 1339.05 1500.05BERGEPAINT 332.10 336.40 329.45 329.45DCBBANK 193.00 196.35 190.10 194.55MOTHERSUMI 103.00 108.25 103.00 106.70EDELWEISS 142.55 147.30 138.05 146.05FORCEMOT 1051.30 1111.25 1044.40 1082.45INDHOTEL 142.00 144.00 137.00 143.15TATAPOWER 58.50 60.80 57.90 60.55DCMSHRIRAM 407.80 407.80 390.75 399.25RCF 48.00 49.85 46.75 49.45UJJIVAN 253.70 264.75 253.15 263.55ADANIPORTS 373.85 381.60 369.00 377.55VINATIORGA 1939.00 1939.00 1778.40 1825.00BPCL 332.00 346.20 328.50 344.75JUBLFOOD 1214.00 1219.10 1184.15 1203.35IDBI 27.50 28.30 26.60 27.95DABUR 422.00 429.45 415.95 427.20TATAMTRDVR 64.95 66.00 64.05 65.10SBILIFE 789.65 799.90 776.30 795.50MEGH 48.60 51.00 47.40 49.55PHILIPCARB 115.50 121.20 114.35 120.40MGL 785.95 812.45 783.00 808.55PVR 1580.00 1580.00 1506.65 1514.90PETRONET 232.00 237.65 232.00 236.50ADANIGAS 160.35 161.60 148.75 153.45SUNTECK 403.00 403.00 379.95 387.00INFRATEL 248.00 249.80 238.70 243.90ONGC 138.00 139.65 136.30 138.90BATAINDIA 1295.95 1319.20 1264.10 1307.40PERSISTENT 501.20 525.30 494.15 522.70RECLTD 135.00 141.65 134.30 140.10CIPLA 518.10 522.05 506.40 518.00EQUITAS 107.05 112.75 106.20 112.40HAVELLS 648.45 649.00 623.50 646.30AMARAJABAT 647.20 680.65 647.20 675.60OIL 153.00 160.25 151.55 158.75CASTROLIND 123.80 123.90 119.85 121.35TATAGLOBAL 246.45 254.10 245.70 249.75WESTLIFE 263.00 276.10 257.20 270.00MRPL 54.45 62.65 53.20 59.00ACC 1540.10 1563.85 1517.25 1562.30AVANTI 308.00 314.75 300.30 309.10WELCORP 105.65 113.60 105.00 113.00CANFINHOME 389.80 391.90 378.60 386.95BEML 849.00 855.65 828.50 842.30HCLTECH 1001.00 1037.30 1001.00 1031.70CENTURYTEX 870.40 898.70 857.00 891.00NTPC 126.70 127.35 125.60 126.45ABFRL 189.00 189.55 182.00 188.00SADBHAV 157.80 157.80 138.00 140.70JAICORPLTD 75.25 77.75 72.50 75.45BBTC 806.00 820.00 790.10 820.00ABCAPITAL 81.40 82.25 79.95 82.00SOUTHBANK 12.40 12.42 12.14 12.28AUBANK 654.55 689.40 632.30 671.40FRETAIL 416.60 419.00 406.00 415.00RADICO 298.75 303.95 292.45 301.00MUTHOOTFIN 601.50 612.90 596.05 608.50GSFC 79.35 80.90 78.35 80.60KTKBANK 84.40 84.90 81.65 84.00BAJAJELEC 350.55 367.90 338.85 364.60REPCOHOME 320.00 329.00 318.20 327.55MCX 794.55 821.00 780.15 812.65ORIENTBANK 69.05 70.55 65.00 68.45

JISLJALEQS 20.20 21.15 18.60 20.45SRF 2675.30 2715.20 2619.30 2693.70GRANULES 90.50 92.90 89.65 90.90SUNTV 466.15 474.20 455.70 474.20GAIL 130.00 130.30 128.40 128.75COLPAL 1173.95 1194.70 1161.05 1188.80GODREJCP 600.00 607.20 590.00 599.15ADANITRANS 202.95 208.45 198.00 206.60MFSL 413.65 418.60 404.00 418.00WELSPUNIND 55.00 55.00 48.00 50.45IGL 297.00 306.70 297.00 304.00CROMPTON 230.25 233.90 226.50 230.10BHARATFORG 417.70 426.30 409.05 423.10RAJESHEXPO 708.00 708.00 685.00 685.15PIDILITIND 1229.40 1243.75 1216.90 1241.00WOCKPHARMA 313.00 315.60 309.10 311.60NMDC 105.00 109.70 105.00 108.90INTELLECT 225.00 229.60 220.80 225.75FCONSUMER 27.90 28.50 26.50 28.15GNFC 208.00 214.40 207.95 210.75JINDALSAW 68.40 69.00 65.00 67.70SOBHA 534.25 552.20 517.60 551.30LTTS 1466.00 1467.00 1420.05 1440.20LTI 1504.55 1515.00 1484.00 1511.50APOLLOHOSP 1326.00 1355.85 1320.00 1350.00TORNTPOWER 293.25 306.25 289.95 305.75SIEMENS 1131.10 1162.75 1131.10 1143.00VENKYS 1240.90 1260.00 1182.00 1232.60CONCOR 510.20 515.05 500.70 506.00EXIDEIND 181.80 185.90 178.20 183.20VGUARD 226.00 235.55 219.00 234.05BALKRISIND 699.95 707.00 691.80 702.00TORNTPHARM 1640.00 1679.65 1631.75 1669.25BIRLACORPN 537.00 589.95 528.10 585.60CADILAHC 219.00 228.50 216.30 228.40CARBORUNIV 316.10 332.50 299.95 329.80KRBL 218.80 225.05 217.65 220.75CYIENT 448.10 466.65 441.00 459.00JPASSOCIAT 2.44 2.44 2.14 2.17TATACOMM 480.55 482.70 465.45 466.85ORIENTCEM 95.90 96.70 93.50 95.80FSL 48.80 49.55 48.15 49.10KEI 454.30 454.30 434.60 440.85SYMPHONY 1222.50 1281.00 1186.45 1244.05HEIDELBERG 187.00 194.75 185.20 193.55PFIZER 3131.00 3131.60 2995.10 3034.60OMAXE 201.00 201.00 198.25 199.90MARICO 362.00 369.60 358.10 366.00EIDPARRY 140.00 144.95 135.40 143.10THOMASCOOK 184.00 190.00 179.50 185.85HFCL 18.85 19.75 17.75 19.60CEATLTD 828.00 834.65 731.00 816.10NIITTECH 1204.00 1220.50 1179.90 1203.00ADANIGREEN 46.10 47.80 45.50 46.70RAYMOND 635.35 659.90 625.45 657.95SONATSOFTW 318.10 324.40 307.45 324.40HEXAWARE 355.00 361.90 352.50 359.50PGHL 4661.50 4796.80 4650.10 4728.90JKTYRE 71.00 71.35 65.35 71.10MAGMA 73.40 81.55 70.50 81.55RALLIS 157.90 163.25 157.75 159.00TATACHEM 561.10 581.60 561.10 575.40PARAGMILK 222.00 231.70 216.00 229.50UBL 1375.00 1420.00 1374.10 1409.20RAIN 91.70 91.70 87.20 89.15CHENNPETRO 192.70 198.00 191.15 197.15KEC 307.70 313.85 305.10 308.00CHAMBLFERT 146.70 151.20 144.50 149.95RITES 300.05 305.00 298.20 303.50LAKSHVILAS 46.00 49.75 46.00 47.85IDFC 34.50 36.70 32.20 35.85ABB 1360.00 1372.50 1340.00 1362.55ITI 76.15 77.30 74.40 75.45GMRINFRA 14.60 15.07 14.47 14.98PAGEIND 18036.30 18424.15 17622.00 18191.20J&KBANK 35.60 35.75 34.00 35.00NESCO 534.30 565.00 531.00 565.00MOIL 136.90 136.90 132.85 134.90APLAPOLLO 1345.00 1402.30 1317.60 1398.00NAUKRI 2231.00 2255.00 2200.00 2246.00GODREJAGRO 436.00 439.35 427.60 439.35SYNDIBANK 33.50 33.50 31.60 32.20ASHOKA 118.90 121.90 111.60 120.35HINDZINC 213.00 217.50 211.40 216.80GPPL 77.25 79.40 76.50 78.00INFIBEAM 40.30 41.95 39.70 41.20CGPOWER 18.50 18.85 17.50 18.15IRB 92.50 94.20 92.00 93.05AJANTPHARM 865.30 890.45 840.00 890.00DBL 411.75 414.60 406.00 410.85GICRE 196.15 197.00 189.55 191.15FDC 155.15 167.45 154.05 155.00BAJAJHLDNG 3542.50 3542.95 3381.50 3398.50JKCEMENT 951.10 972.00 951.10 966.00AEGISLOG 190.10 190.10 184.00 187.05REDINGTON 103.20 109.00 102.85 109.00TATACOFFEE 74.50 75.90 72.10 75.00KALPATPOWR 464.70 482.95 463.25 482.95SUPREMEIND 1023.00 1064.90 990.00 1064.90AKZOINDIA 1694.30 1781.00 1694.30 1750.00FINOLEXIND 506.00 534.00 506.00 532.80EMAMILTD 321.05 326.00 318.10 319.80PRSMJOHNSN 92.00 92.30 88.00 91.75ANDHRABANK 20.95 21.40 18.65 19.85ISEC 226.00 226.00 217.00 217.00MHRIL 215.10 231.75 210.10 230.00DEEPAKFERT 84.00 87.50 80.00 86.45SHOPERSTOP 364.40 385.95 341.70 369.65MOTILALOFS 531.00 535.15 519.00 521.50

PTC 57.25 57.80 55.70 56.00SHANKARA 286.50 292.95 276.00 282.35GREAVESCOT 137.90 137.90 133.15 134.20INOXLEISUR 305.00 305.00 289.05 296.05ATUL 3652.50 3687.00 3622.75 3643.45ENDURANCE 839.00 929.50 836.00 924.00GET&D 162.10 162.10 154.00 155.05SHREECEM 20305.55 20349.00 19908.00 20200.00THERMAX 1072.60 1129.35 1072.45 1097.00CUB 193.00 194.95 190.70 193.10JYOTHYLAB 150.30 154.90 149.55 153.30WABAG 292.50 298.00 288.00 288.10NESTLEIND 11531.25 11729.75 11407.00 11671.70HSCL 82.00 82.05 80.15 80.80JSL 28.00 30.10 28.00 29.50JAMNAAUTO 41.45 41.70 40.15 41.30TRENT 412.00 412.00 393.20 396.05ALLCARGO 92.25 97.25 92.25 96.45IBULISL 109.80 112.75 109.70 110.30VBL 646.60 654.00 634.65 640.65ADVENZYMES 152.50 152.50 148.25 149.40KANSAINER 420.00 432.15 420.00 428.05BAJAJCON 268.80 268.80 250.00 258.95GUJALKALI 421.10 421.20 406.50 416.50TRITURBINE 83.80 102.50 83.70 102.50MPHASIS 939.40 951.10 926.35 932.00TIMKEN 645.20 690.00 640.00 690.00HUDCO 33.50 34.20 33.10 34.00TRIDENT 53.00 53.55 52.35 53.00HINDCOPPER 31.50 32.80 30.85 32.75OFSS 3285.25 3421.90 3277.00 3392.95RAMCOCEM 742.45 746.20 727.65 729.20LAXMIMACH 4086.60 4103.50 4005.10 4016.80THYROCARE 411.60 442.50 406.65 442.45ZENSARTECH 211.60 213.50 205.00 209.80CUMMINSIND 695.00 712.40 685.35 712.00BLISSGVS 150.30 154.50 142.70 146.25NAVINFLUOR 602.50 625.00 602.50 621.60MAHINDCIE 172.35 181.00 170.35 181.00PIIND 1087.50 1101.80 1065.25 1096.20FINCABLES 371.85 379.75 361.25 375.40COCHINSHIP 357.50 358.15 348.20 358.00CENTRUM 24.00 24.15 23.20 23.75SJVN 23.95 24.65 23.90 24.60BOSCHLTD 14289.00 14794.90 14250.00 14275.00AAVAS 1404.85 1509.75 1400.00 1472.30NIACL 111.40 115.50 110.60 113.05GICHSGFIN 238.70 245.50 238.70 243.50JSLHISAR 65.90 67.85 63.50 66.65CHOLAHLDNG 445.25 458.50 428.10 457.40HIMATSEIDE 134.65 134.65 128.60 133.00FORTIS 124.60 125.50 119.35 120.10APLLTD 505.25 533.50 502.80 529.50BASF 1061.50 1090.00 1015.00 1020.00JMFINANCIL 66.70 68.30 66.00 66.05SCHNEIDER 77.70 79.00 76.95 77.25SREINFRA 11.00 12.45 11.00 11.95GSKCONS 7341.75 7489.20 7297.90 7350.00HAL 666.00 671.90 655.85 662.15IRCON 364.00 369.00 357.60 358.10CENTURYPLY 123.05 127.90 121.80 125.60JETAIRWAYS 35.05 35.05 33.45 33.45MAHLOG 406.10 406.75 397.30 401.00CARERATING 740.00 760.40 736.85 752.00GODFRYPHLP 691.65 708.00 686.70 693.20NHPC 22.25 22.35 22.00 22.10MRF 53500.00 53643.90 52701.00 53536.05SWANENERGY 104.25 104.65 103.50 104.45INOXWIND 56.05 56.85 54.05 54.95SUDARSCHEM 324.80 329.50 318.95 329.50

MMTC 20.00 20.15 19.30 20.15ECLERX 590.00 602.00 555.80 596.50CAPPL 403.00 429.00 400.35 426.05HSIL 222.60 223.85 215.00 221.50ERIS 399.00 415.00 399.00 403.85IFBIND 590.00 602.00 572.00 602.00HERITGFOOD 338.00 350.00 329.30 335.20IPCALAB 952.00 958.80 947.05 952.10COFFEEDAY 123.25 123.25 123.25 123.25SYNGENE 307.60 309.00 301.00 301.00DEEPAKNI 273.00 280.00 270.00 278.50BLUESTARCO 676.10 692.25 675.45 679.75ASTRAL 1222.85 1249.15 1217.05 1246.10IFCI 7.30 7.36 7.10 7.21WHIRLPOOL 1532.90 1562.70 1522.00 1554.55MAHABANK 13.45 13.45 12.65 12.95GULFOILLUB 758.00 771.00 738.30 771.00SCI 28.80 28.95 28.30 28.65SHK 111.60 117.75 107.60 116.55ASTERDM 122.00 123.90 121.00 123.20OBEROIRLTY 546.70 550.90 540.80 548.20NILKAMAL 918.00 954.80 918.00 931.60

NATCOPHARM 516.25 518.70 510.50 518.65ITDCEM 73.20 83.35 71.35 77.60GLAXO 1187.50 1215.00 1182.00 1204.00SANOFI 6000.00 6179.95 5948.00 6067.00BALMLAWRIE 170.00 172.25 168.10 172.25TAKE 99.15 99.15 94.50 95.60BDL 292.05 297.75 290.10 292.10SKFINDIA 1790.15 1863.80 1790.15 1837.40DCAL 207.20 211.00 205.00 207.20GHCL 207.35 210.35 206.00 207.85COROMANDEL 361.10 375.00 361.00 371.50EIHOTEL 165.95 167.50 162.75 166.00LINDEINDIA 483.55 493.65 467.60 488.35MAHLIFE 363.50 377.55 361.10 373.00JSWENERGY 68.15 68.65 67.00 67.85VARROC 421.90 423.50 415.60 421.75ALKEM 1785.00 1785.00 1720.00 1738.00TTKPRESTIG 5223.00 5470.00 5046.65 5407.00GESHIP* 235.00 237.80 231.00 236.50MINDAIND 287.85 292.65 281.20 290.40PNCINFRA 183.00 184.85 178.15 181.00UFLEX 210.00 219.70 210.00 219.60SUNDRMFAST 434.85 443.90 430.50 443.90SOLARINDS 1124.85 1135.00 1100.00 1125.05JAGRAN 88.65 88.65 82.10 84.80NLCINDIA 57.10 58.40 57.00 58.05IEX 140.15 142.45 133.85 140.20PGHH 10549.00 11199.85 10536.40 10950.00TV18BRDCST 21.50 21.85 21.50 21.60ASTRAZEN 1950.00 1965.00 1906.00 1943.35PRESTIGE 256.00 256.35 252.85 256.20JKLAKSHMI 332.60 336.60 331.65 333.20KNRCON 266.95 268.40 265.95 267.40UNITEDBNK 9.75 9.97 9.75 9.81RELAXO 400.65 422.00 400.10 418.35MINDACORP 86.00 86.00 82.35 83.75GFLLIMITED 896.00 909.00 880.00 909.00ABBOTINDIA 8448.00 8448.00 8299.80 8335.05UCOBANK 16.50 16.70 16.45 16.60GMDCLTD 70.10 72.00 69.80 71.35TIINDIA 340.00 348.75 339.00 344.20CENTRALBK 17.70 17.70 17.35 17.55CERA 2623.00 2623.00 2540.00 2579.00TIMETECHNO 77.10 79.90 76.60 79.00MASFIN 610.95 611.00 573.00 586.45CREDITACC 531.80 532.00 516.90 522.90ORIENTELEC 151.40 154.00 148.10 152.35JBCHEPHARM 369.25 374.55 369.10 370.70FLFL 462.00 462.00 438.95 450.00LALPATHLAB 1070.55 1094.50 1068.10 1081.80CRISIL 1304.55 1309.05 1265.65 1294.00APARINDS 504.00 504.00 483.40 489.65SCHAEFFLER 4117.00 4339.65 4073.05 4275.00GDL 109.00 111.00 107.15 108.00MAHSCOOTER 3952.25 4089.90 3900.95 4064.90PHOENIXLTD 666.35 666.35 637.05 643.80NETWORK18 20.90 21.45 20.85 21.45JCHAC 1531.00 1679.00 1512.40 1673.00DBCORP 159.45 161.45 157.45 160.90BLUEDART 2400.00 2423.50 2370.00 2406.60IOB 11.03 11.21 11.00 11.21TATAINVEST 820.00 821.25 816.35 820.05GRINDWELL 541.00 550.00 528.20 550.00ITDC 183.80 190.00 180.70 181.75KPRMILL 565.75 580.70 546.75 573.20TVTODAY 276.00 276.95 267.25 271.25MONSANTO 2010.00 2010.00 1950.00 1971.20RNAM 227.85 227.85 227.35 227.35ESSELPRO 133.00 133.20 132.65 133.00TATAMETALI 525.35 529.45 525.35 527.90INDOSTAR 300.00 302.00 288.10 297.35ASAHIINDIA 195.00 200.00 193.30 197.20STARCEMENT 100.00 104.15 99.65 101.85GALAXYSURF 1190.00 1249.95 1185.00 1247.00LAURUSLABS 340.25 340.70 334.20 337.00SOMANYCERA 355.00 357.50 347.20 355.35EVEREADY 77.50 77.50 71.50 74.00AIAENG 1714.35 1717.75 1703.50 1707.25TVSSRICHAK 1582.00 1645.00 1559.90 1559.90SHRIRAMCIT 1399.55 1399.55 1355.20 1359.00LUXIND 1050.25 1093.15 1039.15 1086.953MINDIA 20791.00 21182.30 20700.00 21100.00BAYERCROP 3066.00 3080.10 3050.00 3050.00GEPIL 769.00 781.80 760.00 765.00CORPBANK 23.00 23.10 22.60 22.70TEAMLEASE 2689.55 2698.90 2644.75 2655.10NH 221.95 222.50 220.40 222.50TCNSBRANDS 714.30 730.05 713.00 726.70GILLETTE 7160.00 7190.00 7100.00 7120.05SFL 1226.05 1260.00 1226.05 1257.00DHANUKA 353.00 365.25 351.25 364.80HATHWAY 20.35 20.60 20.15 20.15TNPL 154.70 157.15 154.70 156.15MAHSEAMLES 414.00 416.00 411.20 415.30MAXINDIA 60.50 61.70 60.30 60.30WABCOINDIA 6100.95 6120.15 6065.55 6067.70NBVENTURES* 90.15 90.15 88.40 89.75LAOPALA 172.20 179.90 172.20 179.90ELGIEQUIP 245.00 251.05 243.05 250.00SUPRAJIT 189.60 190.20 188.45 188.80SHILPAMED 350.55 354.45 350.00 352.70SIS 847.75 847.80 825.55 825.55VTL 917.35 917.35 907.00 907.00HATSUN 686.00 691.75 680.00 691.75VMART 1858.90 1875.55 1842.80 1873.90FINEORG 1405.00 1405.00 1394.30 1401.00CCL 244.60 247.50 244.60 247.50HONAUT 23132.55 23308.40 22826.05 22826.05GAYAPROJ 142.10 142.90 141.85 142.10

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11034.05 11145.30 10999.40 11118.00 32.60INDUSINDBK 1317.65 1419.70 1312.00 1408.05 70.75TATASTEEL 413.00 433.60 409.50 433.00 17.95YESBANK 86.00 92.35 84.75 89.70 3.65IOC 132.00 140.40 132.00 138.75 5.25HEROMOTOCO2270.00 2369.90 2225.60 2346.80 88.00SUNPHARMA 410.00 428.80 409.00 426.05 15.70UPL 573.20 598.10 571.40 594.20 20.50JSWSTEEL 228.35 238.30 226.10 236.90 6.65BPCL 331.50 346.65 328.20 345.00 9.50GRASIM 760.00 791.70 756.50 784.00 21.45IBULHSGFIN 529.15 544.40 506.00 537.35 13.45COALINDIA 199.20 206.00 197.05 203.80 4.25VEDL 150.35 154.65 148.10 153.65 3.05POWERGRID 207.50 213.95 206.95 212.00 3.75TATAMOTORS 133.50 136.40 132.50 135.75 2.30BAJAJ-AUTO 2463.00 2536.00 2442.20 2505.60 41.75SBIN 325.10 333.20 323.90 332.50 4.95WIPRO 262.50 266.30 260.55 266.25 3.95KOTAKBANK 1490.10 1534.70 1480.75 1516.95 18.25ADANIPORTS 373.00 381.80 368.65 377.60 4.15HCLTECH 1022.50 1037.90 1002.95 1034.00 10.40TCS 2171.75 2211.70 2147.15 2201.00 21.85LT 1371.65 1397.95 1367.10 1389.00 12.65ASIANPAINT 1507.00 1525.00 1495.15 1522.00 13.25ITC 268.60 271.10 266.00 270.80 1.90EICHERMOT 16252.00 16451.70 15976.60 16240.00 76.45DRREDDY 2535.00 2590.00 2533.00 2568.30 8.30ULTRACEMCO 4296.90 4362.05 4211.00 4330.00 12.45INFY 790.85 799.80 781.60 795.00 2.30HINDALCO 188.00 191.25 184.80 190.60 0.50BAJAJFINSV 7088.00 7123.20 6895.00 7089.90 11.85ICICIBANK 423.90 430.20 421.20 425.85 0.50HINDUNILVR 1719.00 1753.05 1701.05 1721.90 2.00CIPLA 516.90 522.70 506.00 517.55 0.55BRITANNIA 2621.00 2632.00 2540.30 2620.00 2.95M&M 546.60 553.80 541.75 549.30 0.55BAJFINANCE 3233.05 3267.65 3160.10 3252.10 2.15HDFCBANK 2240.00 2267.00 2234.25 2249.60 -2.65HDFC 2110.25 2131.95 2107.70 2123.15 -4.10GAIL 129.15 130.35 128.30 128.85 -0.30ONGC 137.70 139.70 136.25 138.40 -0.35MARUTI 5525.80 5582.30 5446.05 5470.00 -37.15NTPC 126.20 127.35 125.50 126.35 -0.85TECHM 629.00 639.80 607.15 635.20 -5.05RELIANCE 1175.75 1185.00 1162.40 1165.20 -15.70INFRATEL 249.00 250.00 238.70 244.25 -5.30TITAN 1079.15 1079.15 1041.00 1054.40 -24.80BHARTIARTL 343.20 353.75 332.70 336.00 -9.75AXISBANK 694.00 694.90 657.80 674.80 -32.80ZEEL 382.50 391.90 357.45 361.10 -20.00

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 25748.25 26111.85 25490.05 26071.30 233.30IDEA 6.85 7.10 6.60 6.90 0.40ICICIGI 1150.00 1224.00 1106.50 1209.00 51.75MCDOWELL-N 568.80 597.35 563.10 593.00 24.20BANKBARODA 102.35 107.40 101.70 106.75 4.10CADILAHC 218.60 229.00 216.30 228.50 8.45MOTHERSUMI 103.60 108.25 103.00 106.70 3.10AUROPHARMA 556.00 574.25 542.00 568.20 16.25SAIL 41.00 42.95 40.80 42.70 1.10OFSS 3270.25 3419.40 3267.05 3392.00 85.15HINDPETRO 256.40 267.45 249.95 264.90 6.60HDFCLIFE 481.20 495.50 477.25 494.00 10.90PGHH 10630.00 11162.65 10500.00 10901.05 196.70COLPAL 1169.00 1195.00 1160.15 1190.00 21.25BHEL 57.25 59.05 57.05 58.80 1.05LUPIN 753.90 772.45 751.00 766.05 13.45ASHOKLEY 67.95 70.85 67.55 69.75 1.20DMART 1458.50 1490.00 1440.00 1483.90 24.20PEL 1798.00 1819.35 1759.60 1815.00 26.85NMDC 107.00 109.85 106.30 108.85 1.55L&TFH 96.50 99.40 94.10 99.00 1.35ACC 1540.90 1564.00 1516.50 1562.00 21.10HAVELLS 633.45 649.35 622.65 644.90 8.55HINDZINC 212.05 217.75 211.05 216.80 2.70MARICO 360.40 369.55 357.35 366.85 4.10PETRONET 230.65 237.70 230.65 235.80 2.60INDIGO 1534.00 1563.60 1510.30 1561.75 17.20UBL 1396.80 1422.00 1372.85 1414.65 14.40ICICIPRULI 397.00 405.00 385.05 401.80 3.80PIDILITIND 1232.95 1245.00 1215.85 1239.70 11.00ABB 1361.00 1374.00 1337.90 1370.00 11.70DABUR 422.95 429.60 415.70 426.50 3.55HDFCAMC 2121.00 2174.50 2094.05 2147.00 11.80PAGEIND 17989.00 18439.00 17710.00 18150.00 98.65GODREJCP 599.00 607.65 590.20 600.05 1.65CONCOR 510.00 515.70 500.65 513.00 -0.15BOSCHLTD 14250.00 14820.40 14214.90 14273.00 -8.00SBILIFE 783.00 800.00 775.00 796.80 -0.60DLF 177.80 179.35 169.75 177.45 -0.30SRTRANSFIN 967.85 975.45 959.00 966.50 -2.50AMBUJACEM 201.60 202.95 197.80 201.15 -0.95MRF 53801.00 53801.00 52636.55 53451.00 -327.50NHPC 22.20 22.35 22.00 22.10 -0.15BANDHANBNK 476.00 484.65 465.00 477.00 -3.70SIEMENS 1149.95 1163.05 1137.00 1143.70 -11.15DIVISLAB 1651.90 1651.90 1565.20 1633.00 -25.45NIACL 112.05 115.25 110.60 111.90 -2.10SHREECEM 20551.20 20673.55 19889.55 20150.00 -583.70BIOCON 233.00 233.60 224.35 226.50 -7.60GICRE 200.20 200.55 189.60 191.90 -7.15BAJAJHLDNG 3526.00 3559.95 3384.00 3395.00 -167.90

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The postal department saidit has decided to convert

the India Post Payments Bankinto a small finance bank,enabling it to offer small loansto customers.

Besides, the departmentlooks to open one croreaccounts for IPPB in 100 days.

The decisions were takenat the annual Heads of CirclesConference held at Srinagar inJammu and Kashmir from July29-31, 2019 to adopt a 100-dayaction plan and a five-yearvision to align the Departmentof Posts with the PrimeMinister's “New India” initia-tive, a statement from the

postal department said.The decision included

"Converting the India PostPayments Bank (IPPB) into aSmall Finance Bank (SFB) toprovide micro credit at thedoorsteps to individuals andSME's. Targeting the mile-stone of one crore accounts forIPPB in 100 days" among sev-eral other steps.

India Post will partnerwith Common Service Centreto provide a suite of citizencentric services such as bank-ing, remittance, insurance,DBT, bill and tax payments etcat post offices, the statementsaid.

The postal department hasdecided to develope infra-

structure to extend the reach ofthe e-commerce industry totier 2 and 3 town as well as torural areas by investing in 190parcel hubs, 80 Nodal DeliveryCenters and a Pan India RoadTransport Network.

Telecom Minister RaviShankar Prasad at the confer-ence urged the officers of theDepartment at all levels tothink to reform and perform inorder to transform.

"In particular, he askedthe Heads of Circles to lever-age technology to strengthenDigital India by adoptingArtificial intelligence, IOT andCloud computing for citizencentric services," the state-ment said.

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Shipments of premiumsmartphones priced at Rs

30,000 and above grew by 33per cent in the June quartercompared to the year-agoper iod, according toCounterpoint Research.

"This growth was main-ly driven by new flagshiplaunches from OnePlus interms of OnePlus 7 series,price cuts from Apple for itsiPhone XR and aggressivepromotions from Samsungfor Galaxy S10 series. Secondquarter was the first-everquarter when premium seg-ment had the highest numberof models, offering wide vari-ety of choice for consumers,"Counterpoint said in a state-ment.

As a result, the total ship-ment volumes in the premi-um segment reached an all-time high, it added.

Counterpoint, however,did not specify the number ofsmartphones shipped dur-ing the quarter.

"As more brands such asXiaomi, OPPO, vivo andHuawei enter this segment,this segment is going to behyper-competitive in the sec-ond half of 2019, great forconsumers," it said.

The combined share ofOnePlus, Samsung and Applewas 85 per cent during thesaid quarter, down from 88per cent a year ago, signalingthis trend, it added.

OnePlus captured itshighest ever shipment shareof 43 per cent in this seg-ment, followed by Samsung(22 per cent) and Apple (20per cent).

"As Indian smartphoneconsumers become moremature and are looking tobuy their second or thirdsmartphone, the premiumsegment is becoming a keybattle ground to acquirethese premium consumers.The new brands to watch outwhich could disrupt withpremium features with offer-ings lurking around Rs30,000 pr ice points areXiaomi, OPPO, Vivo andAsus lowering the barriersfor consumers with aggres-sive flagship-grade offerings,"Counterpoint said.

Vikas Agarwal, GeneralManager at OnePlus India,said that the company is"excited about growing thepremium smartphone seg-ment that is under-penetrat-ed for several years with lessthan 5 per cent share of thetotal smartphone segment".

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Reflecting sub-dued senti-

ments, India hasbeen ranked fourthglobally in terms ofbusiness optimism,as only 64 per centof corporates areoptimistic about thecountry's economicgrowth over thenext 12 months,says a survey.

Earlier, Indiastood at sixth posi-tion with 78 percent of the totalrespondents showing confi-dence in the economic growthfor the April-June 2018 period.

According to GrantThornton's InternationalBusiness Report (IBR) releasedon Tuesday, Philippines toppedthe chart with 73 per centrespondents being optimisticabout economic growth, fol-lowed by Vietnam (72 percent) and Indonesia (66 percent).

The IBR further noted thatglobal optimism has fallen to athree-year-low level and eco-nomic uncertainty remains ele-vated.

"In tandem with the sub-dued economic optimism,India Inc's dismal sentimentsreflect in its expectations for anincrease in revenue, sellingprices and profitability," Grant

Thornton said in a release.According to the IBR,

India had slipped to fifth posi-tion from fourth in the secondhalf of 2018 on revenue expec-tations. Moreover, on the sell-ing prices and profitabilityexpectation parameters, thecountry has slipped to eighthand fifth positions, from sixthand third, respectively.

Notwithstanding the eco-nomic uncertainties, India hadthe highest export expecta-tions with 65 per cent of therespondents expecting anincrease in exports in the next12 months.

While employment hasbeen a burning issue sincePrime Minister NarendraModi-led government cameinto power, the survey showsthat Indian businesses are

optimistic about a rise inemployment in the secondtenure of the government.

While there are highexpectations of increase inemployment in the country,Indian businesses continue tohighlight the lack of skilledworkforce as a concern forgrowth, the release said.

Further, the survey notedthat businesses cited regula-tions and red tape, and short-age of finance as key hurdles forbusiness growth as India ranksfirst and second, respectively, inquoting these concerns.

The IBR report gathersresponses biannually from5,000 business leaders in 35economies, including the G20members, and has a sample sizeof over 250 respondents inIndia.

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Dozens of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters

appeared in court Wednesdayafter being charged with rioting,setting the stage for furtherunrest in a weeks-long crisis thathas rocked the global financialhub.

The announcement onTuesday night that 44 people hadbeen charged with rioting -- anoffence that carries a jail term ofup to 10 years -- immediatelytriggered another round ofclashes between police and pro-testers.

Supporters continued tovoice their outrage as they stoodfor hours on Wednesday outsidecourt, braving heavy winds andrain, as the accused riotersappeared before a judge.

"Release the righteous... Norioters, only tyranny... ReclaimHong Kong, the revolution ofour times," the supporters chant-ed at various times throughoutthe day.

The protesters were gener-ally calm as they took turns toappear in front of the judge, whoformally read the charges andgranted them bail.

The range of their profes-sions reflected the wide supportacross Hong Kong society for thepro-democracy movement.

They included a teacher, anurse, an airline pilot, a barber,

a chef, an electrician, a con-struction worker and unem-ployed people, according totheir charge sheets.

Semi-autonomous HongKong has endured more thanseven weeks of unrest that beganwith a government bid to intro-duce a law that would haveallowed extraditions to main-land China.

The protests evolved into amovement for deeper democ-ratic reforms and an end toeroding freedoms, in the mostsignificant challenge to Beijing'srule since the city's handoverfrom Britain in 1997.

In the latest confrontation,police used pepper spray and

batons against hundreds of pro-testers who had gathered outsidea police station in solidarity withthose who had just beencharged.

Footage broadcast live ontelevision showed an officeraiming a shotgun at protesterswho were throwing objects athim.

The previous two week-ends had seen a surge in the levelof violence used by both pro-testers and police, who repeat-edly fired rubber bullets and teargas to disperse projectile-throw-ing crowds.

A mob of pro-governmentthugs also attacked protesters,putting 45 people in hospital.

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The ideological dividebetween Democratic pres-

idential hopefuls came intofocus Tuesday as leading pro-gressive candidates BernieSanders and Elizabeth Warrendefended their liberal policieson healthcare and immigrationagainst surprisingly energeticattacks from moderate rivals.

The fault lines emergedimmediately in the seconddebate of the 2020 Democraticprimary race, with lesser-known candidates taking sharpdigs and warning that forcingradical change could ensurePresident Donald Trump's re-election.

Warren demanded "big,structural change" and warnedthat political "spinelessness"over radical reforms will perpetuate a "rigged system that has helped thewealthy and well-connectedand kicked dirt in the faces ofeveryone else."

But she and Sanders faceddramatic pushback includingfrom ex-congressman JohnDelaney who delivered ascathing rebuke to their "fairytale economics" that risk bank-rupting the economy.

Sanders and Warren,

Delaney said in the most visi-ble moment of his candidacy,are peddling "bad policies likeMedicare for All, free every-thing, and impossible promis-es that will turn off indepen-dent voters and get Trump re-elected."

Tuesday marked the mostsustained assault yet by cen-trists on the progressives' big-idea platforms.

The debate features 20 can-didates over two nights inDetroit, Michigan, a battle-ground state Trump snatchedin 2016.

Frontrunner Joe Bidentakes the stage Wednesdaywith senators Kamala Harrisand Cory Booker, prominentAfrican-American candidateswho have strongly criticized theformer vice president on racialissues.

The stakes are sky-high.The debate is likely to winnowthe sprawling field by as muchas half, ahead of the next onein September.

Underperformers likeSenator Amy Klobuchar andColorado ex-governor JohnHickenlooper, both polling atbelow two percent, scrambledfor breakout moments to keeptheir struggling campaignsalive.

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Iran said Wednesday thatEuropean nations still

party to the 2015 nucleardeal are "obliged" to allowit to sell and ship oil, amida standoff with Britainover the seizure of tankers.

The deal over Iran'snuclear programme hasbegun to unravel sincePresident Donald Trumpannounced the United Stateswas withdrawing from theagreement last year and reim-posing sanctions.

Iran has been pushing theEuropean parties to the deal -- Britain, France and Germany— to adhere to their commit-ments under the agreementdespite US pressure.

British authorities seized atanker carrying Iranian oil offits territory Gibraltar on July 4,a move Spain's foreign minis-ter said was carried out at therequest of the United States.

"They (the European par-ties) have set out their com-mitments and announcedthem, they (include) the sale ofIran's oil, the transportation ofIran's oil, and the return ofIran's oil income," said IranianForeign Minister MohammadJavad Zarif.

"It is clear that today's ten-sions and problems are due toAmerica's economic terrorism

and Europe's inability to fulfilits commitments which meansgoing along with America'seconomic terrorism," he said,quoted by state media.

Zarif 's remarks come aftera meeting in Vienna on Sundayof the remaining parties to thenuclear deal — the threeEuropean nations plus Chinaand Russia.

In remarks broadcast onstate television, the top Iraniandiplomat described the talks as"challenging".

"We raised our stance andthe importance of the fulfilmentof the commitments of otherparties to the JCPOA, in par-ticular European countries," hesaid, referring to the deal by itsformal name, the JointComprehensive Plan of Action.

"We clearly explained tothem that these commitmentsthat have been raised have notbeen implemented and thatINSTEX... Still isn't fully oper-

ational," said Zarif. INS-TEX was a mechanismset up by Britain, Franceand Germany to facilitatetrade with Iran in theface of US sanctions.

"It should not be thecase that INSTEXbecomes a tool for imple-menting America'sorders," the foreign min-ister said.

"INSTEX must beconsidered as a European mea-sure.

"They (the Europeans)must have the courage to actaccording to their commit-ments and not according toAmerica's demands," he said.

One year after the US pull-out, Iran said in May it wouldbegin scaling back its commit-ments, and it has since startedincreasing its stockpile ofenriched uranium and the levelof enrichment beyond the deal'slimits.

Zarif said Iran was ready totake a third step to reduce itscommitments under the dealunless the remaining partiesfulfil theirs, as they reiterated inVienna. "Now we'll have to seehow they are going to act," hesaid. "But in the current cir-cumstances and as long as nec-essary measures are not taken,the Islamic Republic of Iran'sthird step will certainly beoperational."

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US and Chinese trade nego-tiators agreed to meet

again in the United States inSeptember after holding "frank,highly efficient and construc-tive" talks in Shanghai onWednesday, state media said.US Treasury Secretary StevenMnuchin and US TradeRepresentative RobertLighthizer met with VicePremier Liu He in the Chinesefinancial hub for the first face-to-face negotiations since atrade war truce was declaredlast month.

"The two sides conductedfrank, highly efficient and con-structive in-depth exchangeson major issues of commoninterest in the economic andtrade field," according to the

official Xinhua news agency.Negotiators also discussed

"the issue of China increasingits purchases of US agricultur-al products according to itsdomestic needs" and the UScreating "favourable conditionsfor these purchases", Xinhuasaid.

Shortly after the US nego-tiators arrived in Shanghai onTuesday, US President DonaldTrump lambasted China onTwitter, accusing Beijing ofnot buying agricultural prod-ucts as it was supposed to do.

Trump also warned Chinaagainst waiting until theNovember 2020 US presiden-tial election to make a dealbecause "if & when I win, thedeal that they get will be muchtougher than what we are nego-tiating now ... Or no deal at all".

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Over 50 Chinese nationalsworking on a hydroelectric

project in Pakistan-occupiedKashmir were evacuated afterskirmishes along the Line ofControl with India, Pakistaniauthorities said on Wednesday.

The Chinese men wereworking on a dam being con-structed in PoK along the con-fluence of the Neelam andJhelum rivers when the firingpushed authorities to move theworkers late on Tuesday, AkhtarAyub from the local disastermanagement authority was quot-ed as saying by the Dawn News.

The decision to evacuatethem was made after the Indiansecurity forces fired a volley of"indiscriminate fire that killedthree persons, including awoman and a child and wound-ed 31 others during the last 24hours", Raja Shahid Mahmood,a local official said.

Meanwhile, the PakistanArmy on Wednesday warnedthat it would respond to thealleged ceasefire violations of the

LoC by Indian forces and takemeasures to protect civilian lives.

"Increased Indian CeasefireViolations (CFVs) indicate theirfrustration due to failure inJammu and Kashmir," Armyspokesman Major General AsifGhafoor tweeted. "CFVs arebeing & shall always be effec-tively responded. Pak Armyshall take all measures to protectinnocent civilians along LOCfrom Indian firing deliberatelytargeting them," he tweeted.

Pakistan on Wednesdaysummoned India's Deputy HighCommissioner and condemnedthe alleged "unprovoked cease-fire violations" by Indian troopsacross the Line of Control whichresulted in the death of a man.

Director General (SouthAsia and SAARC) MohammadFaisal, who is also the foreignministry spokesman, summonedDeputy High CommissionerGaurav Ahluwalia and "con-demned the unprovoked cease-fire violations by the Indianforces along the Line of Control,"the Foreign Office (FO) said ina statement.

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UK's capital London hasbeen named as the world's

best city for students for the sec-ond consecutive year, beatinginternational cities like Tokyoand Melbourne that came sec-ond and third respectively on anew worldwide rankingsreleased on Wednesday.

The 'QS Best Student CitiesRanking' compiled by globaleducation consultancy QSQuacquarelli Symonds high-lights each city's performanceacross six categories – the num-ber of top-ranked universities;the proportion of a city's pop-ulation made up of students;

quality of life on offer; jobopportunities available aftergraduation; affordability; andthe feedback of the studentsthemselves.

According to the rankings,India's best student city isBangalore (81st), followed byMumbai (85th), Delhi at 113and Chennai at 115 out of a totalof 120 cities ranked in the list.

"The fact that London hasagain been ranked the best cityin the world in which to be astudent is fantastic news – andis no surprise given that Londonis home to world-leading high-er education institutions and avibrant cultural life," saidLondon's Pakistani-origin

Mayor Sadiq Khan, who hasbeen an outspoken campaign-er for better student visa offersfor students from around theworld.

"This is further evidencethat London is open to studentsand talent from around theworld," he said.

London beat internationalcities such as Tokyo in Japan(2nd) and Melbourne inAustralia (3rd) to grab the firstplace for the second consecutiveyear. Student numbers fromIndia coming to study inLondon registered a hike of 20per cent in 2017-18, marking anincrease from 4,545 in 2016-17to 5,455 in 2017-18.

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Aroadside bomb torethrough a bus in western

Afghanistan on Wednesday,killing at least 32 people,including women and children, a provincial officialsaid.

Mohibullah Mohib,spokesman for the police chiefin Farah province, said 15 oth-ers were wounded with most incritical condition, indicatingthe death toll could rise.

The bus was traveling on amain highway between thewestern city of Herat and thesouthern city of Kandahar.

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US Secretary of State MikePompeo said Wednesday

he's very hopeful for a quickresumption in nuclear talkswith North Korea despite theNorth's recent weapons tests thathave clouded already uncertainprospects for a return to thetable.

Pompeo told reportersaccompanying him to an Asiansecurity conference in Thailandthat some preliminary work ona new round of talks has beendone but no dates have been set.

He said he's waiting to seeif North Korea's foreign minis-ter comes to Bangkok for theAssociation of Southeast AsianNations Regional Forum and is

confident they will meet if hedoes.

The State Department saysthe lead U.S. Negotiator, StephenBiegun, will be in Bangkok forNorth Korea-related discussionsbut has not released his sched-ule.

"We think they'll be startedbefore too long," Pompeo said."I'm very hopeful."

Talks have been stalled sincePresident Donald Trump andNorth Korean leader Kim JongUn's summit in February inHanoi that broke up over dis-agreements about sanctionsrelief and what actions theNorth would have to take inexchange.

But they agreed to restartthe talks when they met at the

Demilitarized Zone separatingthe two Koreas in June. At thetime, U.S. Officials spoke of thenegotiations resuming in a mat-ter of a few weeks.

"It's taken a little bit longerthan that," Pompeo said. "There'sbeen a little bit of preliminarywork to be done. I never wantto set a date (but) I hope beforetoo long we will have SpecialRepresentative Biegun sittingwith what I think will be a newcounterpart from North Korea."

Since the latest Trump-Kimmeeting, however, and just in thepast week, the North has con-ducted two short-range ballisticmissile tests.

And, the two sides remainat odds on a definition of denu-clearization.

The U.S. Says sanctions can-not be removed until the processis complete, although it has saidsome concessions are possible inreturn for partial steps.

The annual ASEAN securi-ty meeting has been used in thepast as a venue for U.S.-NorthKorea talks and although theNorth has signaled that its topdiplomat may not attend thisyear, Pompeo was nonplussed.

"We don't anticipate that theNorth Koreans will be at theevent in Bangkok, but if they are,I'd look forward to the chanceto meet with Foreign Minister RiYong Ho," he said, saying sucha meeting "would be great."''We'll see if they are there, andif they are there, I am confidentwe'll meet."

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The nationalities might change but the onlyconstant for women are issues and chal-lenges related to their empowerment. Or so

discovered Ori Turkia Shelas, an Israeli lawyer whoworks in the field of labour and employment. Shewas in for a shock, as a discussion with 15 Indianwomen comprising lawyers, former judges, socialrights activists and heads of legal committees pro-gressed, as she was unaware that they have thesame road to cover as that of their Israeli coun-terparts.

A question that naturally sprung to her mindwas, “Is it the same everywhere?” which sheanswered herself, “It was very interesting to knowthis from different people coming from across var-ious disciplines. We came together to discuss crossborder issues like domestic violence, traditionalsociety and bias against women.” She seemed excit-ed about how this discussion made her see thingswith a wider perspective.

There are various ways open to ensure equalrights for women, one of which is legislation. But,when we talk about its applicability on the groundlevel it appears that a lot needs to be done on thisfront. Ori says, “Both countries have a lot of leg-islation for the benefit of women but we are stillfighting for equality because only this won’t help.We will have to figure out some creative ways totreat these challenges of inequality and look atevery problem in a holistic way and not individ-ually.” This will help us get to the root withoutputting on our gender glasses. Achieving changerequires policy and programme actions that willimprove women’s access to secure livelihoods andeconomic resources.

Safety has been a major concern for womenthat looms across every street. Women from allwalks of life have to fight for even basics like securetransport and workplaces. Ori said, “Since child-hood we educate girls to be careful and remainalert wherever they are. This restricts forwardmovement which is one of the core challenges.”So what can be done about this problem whichplagues the society? “I don’t know how to changeit because this inequality is everywhere, in everystrata and profession, be it the labour force or thefield of medicine or politics,” added she.

Comparing the situation of both the coun-tries she said, “The labour and employment sit-uation is better in Israel in some ways but a lotneeds to be done.” She then stressed upon fight-ing the challenges together rather than compar-ing the countries as she feels, the world would havebeen a better place to live in without borders.

Talking about the positives, she said, “A 100years ago, women were the property of their hus-bands or fathers but now this has changed in manycountries. We have progressed but there is still alot more to think and do.” Not only is there a need

to improve the quality of life for women but alsobroaden their horizons and bring significantopportunities for them across a range of sectors.“We need to educate them about feminism andallow them to go to work so that they become self-reliant,” she added. This would play a crucial partin empowering them and becoming agents ofchange.

Ori said, “Synchronising legislation, activismand education can make a big difference. We havemany legislations in Israel but nobody enforcesthem because it’s just written somewhere and that’sit. If it is coupled with activism, things would havemoved differently.”

She heads the social assistance department atWZO, an NGO in Israel which fights for women’srights, provides consultation about family andlabour laws and has been advocating equalrights for them since 1951. To make an impactthrough this NGO, she said, “We conduct groundlevel research and then take that data to legisla-tion to frame and change policies.” She trains peo-ple with similar mindsets in batches. “We com-bine our forces to teach Druzian women who aremuch more religious and engrossed in traditionsthan we are. A group of orthodox women have avery different perspective of leadership from ours.They have a much longer distance to travel thanwe do. she said. She believes that leadership pro-grammes for women need to be conducted in amanner in which those with similar mindsets canbe placed under one umbrella and treated.

However, in the current scenario she said,“We see a tremendous backlash of legislation.There are politicians and activists against us, try-ing to curb our voices. They say, ‘Stop, you havegone too far, now go back to the kitchen.”’

Coming back to the solution, she feels edu-cating women is the best possible way. Whenwe reverted by saying that we also need to edu-cate our men for the same, she couldn’t help butagree more.

While the youth’s attentionand interest has beenincreasingly shifting

towards content-driven web showsand films online, some TV showsand channels continue to be culteven today. One such is MTVSplitsvilla. The show, which is in its12th year, still commands a hugefollowing among Indian teenagers.The cult following is evident fromthe lengths that they go to be eli-gible to take part in it.

A show on dating is naturallybound to have some pick-up linesand over the years it has seen somewondrous ones. ‘I am a charmer.’‘My style is enough to make the firstimpression my best one.’ ‘I can fakeemotions like no one else.’ ‘I caneasily judge which girl would bebetter for me.’ ‘Not just anyone ismeant for me. I deserve the best.’And many more, the list is endless.

Since it is all set for its 12th sea-son, we ask actor and show hostRannvijay Singha what is it aboutthe show that keeps drawing theyouth back year after year? Helaughs and points out that the“amount and the variety of emo-tions” one finds here are immense.He says, “In a way, it’s a socialexperiment where one can findhis/her ideal matches. And this wasa first-of-its-kind and practicallyunseen show for the Indian audi-ence. They hadn’t imagined thatlove and relationships could havealso been looked at in this manner— on national TV. Our country hasnever been too liberal about loveand two strangers dating openly.But this show gave them this space.”

He adds that another factor forthe show’s popularity was relatabil-ity. “The stories of contestants,their relationship and emotionalproblems find a resonance with theaudience so that they connect withthe show easily. It allows themspace to explore their own side anddefinition of love. Also, we haveconstantly been updating andevolving the show’s elements witheach season in keeping with thechanging scenario. It’s not the sametoday as it was 12 years ago and theattempt is to make it more relatablewith each passing generation,” hesays.

Taking us back to what datingand relationships meant during

earlier times, he says that the dif-ference between old school datingand modern relationships has beenkept in mind while creating thisseason. He says, “Earlier, it wasmostly about two people who metaccidently, learnt new things abouteach other after meeting, found ourtheir likes and dislikes and as aresult connected and fell in love.Today, however, the process haschanged. A person already knowsthe likes and dislikes of the othereven before meeting through socialmedia. If you like someone on adating app, you can easily knowmore about their personal interestsby reading up their bios. It givesyou the option of exploring sever-al people at once and decidingwhether they would be compatiblewith you or not. Instagram helpsyou to learn more about their pastexperiences. You will know a lotabout the person through socialmedia before encountering them in

real life.”For the show, this time they

have blended both modern and tra-ditional elements. “In this season,we are making it seem like whathappens in the current time. Forexample, this time, the girl would-n’t be allowed to meet or see the guyinitially. We would describe himthrough pictures and captionsbefore making the duo meet andthen let them decide whom theywant to connect with. A lot ofthings with a contemporary reso-nance have been put in. And theywould meet each other too in thesame way as old school romance,which stays evergreen, to learnmore about each other through dif-ferent ways and tasks, of course. So,it’s a mixture of both,” saysRannvijay.

Oracle, an entity which studiesthe influence of science over loveand announces the ideal matches,was a part of the initial seasonsmakes a comeback this timearound. It creates pairs consistingof a girl and a boy possessing sim-ilar emotional and psychologicalcharacteristics. These are decidedon the basis of the personal detailsand answers given by contestantsduring the auditions. “However, it’snot always mandatory or possiblethat all the contestants do find amatch at the end as it also dependson how well two people connectwith each other. Oracle can onlyhelp in making matches but onlythe person can find a partner withwhom he/she will vibe. Eventually,the matches depend upon thatonly, right?” says he.

Talking about his take on mod-ern love and relationships, he says,“I believe love remains the same,only its expression changes withtime. The way our parents (fromthe 80s) had expressed love to eachother was very different from themanner it was done in 2000s. Andnow, it’s a class apart in 2019. Iremember my friends hiding fromtheir families and calling theirbeloveds on landlines which werecommon for everyone. Today, thereare dating apps and personal cell-phones to communicate. But thishasn’t really changed the idea oflove but its way of expression.”

(The show is set to release onAugust 16.)

As an Indian, one inherentlyconnects with a story thatrevolves around portraying

the whimsical desire of Indian fam-ilies, wanting a male child, even atthe cost of female infanticide. If thisgirl survives and grows up to be anadult, it is only then that she canbecome a stalwart who helps in cre-ating communities and inspiringdynamic thought processes. Ofcourse the society is evolving andthe benchmark set for women hasundergone a radical transforma-tion, creating progressive and moreresponsive individuals. All theseand more issues were discussedwhen Arttdinox by JSL Lifestylestrengthened their women-cen-tredness by associating with theinternationally acclaimed film —It’s a Girl, directed and produced byMehnaaz Nadiadwala. The eventwas important for another reasonfor it’s not very often that we see alifestyle brand standing up for asocial cause of believing in empow-ering women in divergent spheres.

Mehnaaz says, “The drivetowards women’s empowerment iswhat this brand upholds, which isa direct metaphor to what I per-ceive this film to depict.” The filmaims at spreading awareness aboutthe growing need to educate thesociety against the social evils thatcircumscribe a woman’s life span,right from the birth.

The story revolves around aboy who falls in love with a girl(Karen) from UK who has come toIndia to pursue her career in mod-eling, after the accidental demise ofher parents. As the story progress-es, it is established that this lovestory is actually a conversationbetween the mother (Karen) andher unborn baby. The mentality ofpressurising and hoping for a malechild among urban, high class andeducated people, is depicted. “Thechild doesn’t want to come into aworld which is mentally dement-ed. Karen is trying to convince herthat she would empower the childand stand by its side no matterwhat,” Mehnaaz tells us.

Often a debilitating loss pow-ers great artistes to create profoundart works. For Mehnaaz, it was thecolossal loss of losing her mother.We wonder if she had been alive,would the book or film have beenpossible? “She passed away on myfather’s birthday — April 13. It was2016. I can clearly recall that I wasin a hijab as I had just got back frommy spiritual trip. It was a huge losefor me. For the first three monthsI went silent. While mourning, Idisconnected from the world. Asthey say, the pen is mightier thanthe sword and I was struck with theidea of writing a book. When youpen your thoughts, you are actual-ly going through the process ofhealing. I felt the need to voice myviews on women and dedicated thisbook to my mother. I decided towork on a book, backed by researchand make it a manual for everywoman. If I wouldn’t have sunk inthe silence after she passed away,probably I wouldn’t have picked upthe pen and written the book,” shesays.

So does it mean that sufferingis imperative for everyone to excelin their creative fields? Well, notreally, she says and goes on to add,“Look at it in a positive way. WhenI am extremely happy, I start paint-ing. I am a painter too. It’s basical-ly about emotions which bring outthe best in you. It is when you areexperiencing the highs and lowsthat you do your best. Emotion is

imperative, not suffering.”The lady, who hails from the

Bollywood family of Nadiadwalas,says that it is necessary to spreadthe message of saving the girlchild. “It is insane that only malechildren were being born in 132 vil-lages in Uttarkashi district ofUttarakhand in three months thisyear. So I wrote the book on differ-ent atrocities of women, startingfrom female foeticide to incest,from stalking to rapes and how wecan empower them slowly. Itstheme song is sung by Rama Dukeand Tony Mercedes. I floated theidea to them that I wanted it to besung, recorded and edited inHollywood so that it becomes aglobal cause. And that is also the

reason for portraying a girl fromUK in the film as she doesn’tunderstand the concept of killingher child. She questions that. It wasimportant not to restrict the causeto India but to spread it to differ-ent countries so that everyoneunderstands that this is some-thing which has to be taken seri-ously. The film has relieved manyawards but it’s not about them.Rather, it’s about the recognitionof the cause. People from America,UK and Europe have started talk-ing about it. And the support fromthe media is so important tobring this further to light. Pehlebeti bachao fir hi toh beti pad-haoge,” she says.

Mehnaaz elaborates on the

reason why brands are associatingtheir promotional strategies withcampaigns and films based onwomen empowerment. Such cam-paigns have done the rounds overthe past few years now. “Becausewhen you associate yourself witha film, the message gets strongerand clearer. It’s not just about beingin the commercial film space butbecoming holistic where corpo-rates join hands with us. Itstrengthens the brand and also thecause. I feel more empoweredwhen corporates join me,” shesays.

Mandeep Singh, chief execu-tive officer of the brand, adds thata lot depends on the brand philos-ophy which can simply say that itcentres around lifestyle but therehas to be a softer side to it. Therehas to be a certain responsibilitytowards the society.

Films too have a responsibili-ty as they have the highest capac-ity to impact minds collectively.Does Mehnaaz believe in it? Yes,she says. “I do. Making a film is aresponsibility in itself. It has to bethought-provoking.” Citing anexample from Rohit Shetty’sSimmba, she says, “I loved how itcame back to the girl child after thewhole action, fun and violence.People should be conscious andknow how to give back to the soci-ety. Like you see Aamir Khan’s film,they are so profound and meaning-ful. The common thing betweenfilms and a brand is that they con-nect with the masses.”

How far, does she think, wehave come? “Places like Haryanahave a long way to go. If we wouldhave done a press conference thereit would have been better and dif-ferent. Mandeep says, “We have along way to go, these are just foot-prints on sand, Manzil abhi doorhai lekin raasta humne sahi chunahai (The destination is far but wehave chosen the right path). I canremember Robert Frost’s words,‘The woods are lovely, dark anddeep but I have promises to keepand miles to go before I sleep.’”

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After the 12th edition of the CentralTeachers Eligibility Test (CTET)

was conducted on July 7 in 104 citiesat 2,942 centres across the country, itsresults were declared on Tuesday.

Out of the 23.77 lakh candidateswho appeared for it, 29.22 lakh wereregistered for the examination. As perthe results, 3.52 lakh candidates have

got qualified, out of which 2.15 lakh arefrom paper-I (primary school) and 1.37lakh are from paper-II (junior highschool).

The marksheet of candidates whoappeared in the examination will beavailable in the DigiLocker. The qual-ifying certificate will be uploaded onthe same and the candidates will be

provided their login details on theirregistered mobile number. Candidatescan check the result at CTET and CBSEwebsite.

For a smooth and fair conduct ofthe examination, around 114 city coor-dinators, 2,942 centre superintendents,4,335 observers and 827 CBSE officialswere deputed.

The Tourism Authority ofThailand (TAT) organised its

annual “Amazing Thailand RoadShow to India” in the capital andAmritsar on Friday and Mondayrespectively.

Thirty five sellers, includingrepresentatives of hotels, resorts,attractions, DMCs and airlinesfrom Thailand participated in theroadshow to showcase and pro-mote their products to the traveltrade in both cities. Apart fromtravel agents and tour operators,the roadshow was also attended by

travel media publications and localnewspapers.

The evening started with a B-to-B session between the sellersfrom Thailand and the buyers fromIndia that included travel agents,tour operators and wedding plan-ners from Delhi and Amritsar. Thesession was followed by a presen-tation by Isra Stapanaseth, direc-tor of TAT, which focussed on pro-moting new destinations, productsand experiences in Thailand forIndian travellers.

The delegation from Thailand

was led by Charun Ohnmee,deputy governor for Policy andPlanning, TAT. Talking about theroadshow, Ohnmee said, “We aredelighted to organise the AmazingThailand Roadshow to India 2019.Thailand has welcomed around978,751 Indians to Thailandbetween January to June 2019,showing a remarkable increase of24 per cent. With support of theIndian travel trade and media, weare confident of reaching our tar-get of two million Indian touriststo Thailand by end of this year.”

The national capital region hasbecome highly populated withfast shrinking green cover and

increasing levels of air pollution.More than 200 volunteers from theMata Amritanandamayi Devi Math(AYUDH), concerned with the alarm-ing situation, conducted a massiveseed-ball plantation drive, dispersingmore than one lakh seed balls in thecity’s forest areas.

People from different back-grounds and age groups, from schoolstudents to elders, came togetherfrom Delhi, Gurugram and Faridabad.They spread out in various groups andspent more than six hours plantingone lakh seed balls in the challengingterrain and wilderness of the Rajokriand Ghitorni forest areas.

The volunteers organised seed ball

workshops across various schoolsand organisations in Delhi-NCR overthe past one month, including AirIndia, Amrita Vidyalayam School,Deep Public School, Alpine ConventSchool and Ankur School. The seedballs were made over the past manyweeks by various volunteer groups.

Each group had taken the challengeof preparing a specified number ofseed balls to contribute to the missionof creating a green and clean Delhi.

Said Brahmachari NijamritaChaitanya of AYUDH, “Seed balls area mixture of soil, compost and plantseeds. They are an easy and sustain-

able way to cultivate plants and a steptowards conserving the naturalecosystem. With the monsoon settingin, these planted seed balls ultimate-ly mature into trees, resulting in anincreased green cover, providing oxy-gen, improving air quality and climate,conserving water, preserving soil andsupporting wildlife. This massiveplantation drive organised by the fol-lowers of Mata AmritanandamayiDevi has also created awarenessamong the residents of the city aboutthe importance of forests and thevalue of preserving and plantingtrees.”

As a member organisation of theUnited Nations’ Trillion TreesCampaign, AYUDH has organised theplanting of more than a million treesglobally and has been recognised asan NGO with special consultative sta-tus to the UN ECOSOC (Economicand Social Council). It now conductsa significant portion of the UN’s workin India. AYUDH is also workinginternationally to meet the SDGsput forth by the UN.

Mata Amritanandamayi Devi(also known as Amma) has beenemphasising on the need of protect-ing our mother nature. Amma’s cen-tres are working to become local mod-els of sustainable living.

As the world marks the105th anniversary of the

World War I (1914) andremembers the beginning ofthe war, we recall how it led toan implosion of great empires— Russian, German, Ottomanand Austro-Hungarian — dev-astated the European conti-nent, drastically reshaped theerstwhile global order and ush-ered in a period of instability,which finally resulted in theoutbreak of the second WorldWar in 1939.

Russia, during the time,was not prepared to enter thewar. Nevertheless, when SaintPetersburg’s sincere diplomat-ic efforts to prevent the conflictfailed, Russia completely car-ried out its commitments to theallies — Serbia, France andGreat Britain.

On August 1, 1914,Germany had declared war onRussia. Within the next fewdays, France and Great Britainwere drawn into the warfare. Inno time, the Reichswehr wasbeating against the gates ofParis. St Petersburg took up theally’s call to attack the oppo-nents immediately and thusbegan the fateful offensive inPrussia. The subsequent crushof the advancing army, led byGeneral Samsonov, was theprice that Russia had paid forsaving the French capital — thesacrifice that Supreme AlliedCommander, Ferdinand Fochhimself had admitted.

That was indeed the firstbut not the last instance whenRussia had come to the allies’rescue. In 1916, after sufferinga number of setbacks, itlaunched a large-scale assault,led by General Aleksei Brusilov,supporting French efforts.Soon Russia had reacted to arequest from the French for

help by sending in 45,000troops to the Western front,where they stood against theGermans alongside with theIndian Cavalry Corps.

Overall, the Russian entryinto the war prevented theearly rout of the Western allies,thus forcing Germany andAustro-Hungary into a warfarethey were doomed to loose.

In 1914, German, Austro-Hungarian and Turkish armieslost more than 10 lakh troopsat the Russian front while lost9.8 lakh at the Western andSerbian fronts. In the course ofthe war, the Germans and theAustrians deployed almost halfof their troops against Russia.

After the break out of hos-tilities, St Petersburg concen-trated on strengthening thebonds within the Entente, iso-lating the Triple Alliance,searched for new allies, workedon future settlements, but wasunable to reap any of the ben-efits. A war period of two anda half years led to an overstrainof Russia’s economy, break-down of its army, a series ofpolitical turmoils, collapse of itsmonarchy, the 1917 OctoberRevolution and the civil war.

The history of the WorldWar I teaches many universallessons, which are relevanteven today. One of the mostimportant is that of inadmissi-bility of imposing one’s ownsense of exceptionalism uponothers with blind use of force.It reminds us of tragic conse-quences of excessive ambi-tions of political leaders as wellas of importance to firmlyuphold the hard-won princi-ples of sovereign equality ofstates, non-interference in theirinternal affairs and collectivemethods for settling crises bypolitical and diplomatic means.

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Underlining its aim toempower orphaned and

vulnerable children to reachtheir full potential, MiracleFoundation, India, conductedtheir first-ever Children’s YouthAmbassador’s Workshop,Meeting of the Champions. Theinitiative took place from July27 to 29 at Mumbai’s RambhauMhalgi Prabodhini Centre. Thefoundation had received a totalof 78 applications from childrenliving across 17 childcare insti-tutions, of which twelve wereselected. These youth ambas-sadors, between the age of 13 to21 and from different regionaldiversities, will be the voices ofmillions of children like them.

The ambassadors wereassessed on parameters likepassion, communication, pres-ence, engagement and attitudethrough written and videoapplications. The selectionpanel comprised of representa-tives from the foundation andchildren from associated child-care homes with prior experi-ence in media interactions,leadership and public speaking.Expressing her excitement,Saloni (one of the youth ambas-sadors) said, “As a youth

ambassador, I want to developmy strengths and abilities. Iwant to improve my knowledgeon child rights and skills incommunications, leadership,and understanding.”

The three-day workshopfocussed on training theseyoung, emerging leaders toraise awareness on child rightsthrough various skill-buildingsessions of storytelling, media-training, and communicationskills. The ambassadors havethe opportunity to learn, createand participate in differenttypes of media — from print to

online, interviews to bloggingand social media — to sharetheir perspectives as one of themillions of children living with-out families around the world.

Speaking on the pro-gramme, Nivedita Dasgupta,India country head, MiracleFoundation, India, said, “Atthe Miracle Foundation, webelieve in doing all that we canto empower and facilitate chil-dren in need of care and pro-tection to realise their truepotential. Over the years, wehave been working towardsimproving the standards of

care across CCIs (childcareinstitutions) in India. So whatbetter way to do this than to getour children to lead the change?We have always believed andadvocated that every child hasa right to be heard and partic-ipate. With this in mind, wehave created the programmewith a focus on raising aware-ness on bringing positivechange to the childcare systemin the country. Through this,we, along with our youthambassadors, can reach out tothe right stakeholders andchange-makers to facilitate thismovement and be the voice ofmillions of other children thatare living the very same expe-rience.”

As youth ambassadors,children actively participatedand got featured in social andgeneral media to reform thechildcare system. As part of thelarger child participation andyouth advocacy initiative atthe foundation, the goal of theyouth ambassador programmeis to ensure that children havetheir voices heard and areactively engaged in the child-care system and family-basedcare space that serves them.

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As a part of the third edition of Dikshaseries, Indira Gandhi National Centre

for Arts (IGNCA), in a two-day pro-gramme, celebrated musicologist and san-skritist Acharya Brihaspati, rememberinghis life and various contributions. The firstand second edition of the series were pre-sented for Ustad Amjad Ali Khan andHariprasad Chaurasia on Tuesday andWednesday.

The first day of the event included twobook launches — Acharya Brihaspati: 24Raga, 124 Bandish with pendrives of 36

hours of recordings of the bandishes andNatyashastra, Chapter 28. It further con-ducted a lecture on ‘Acharya’s contributionto music’ by professor Bharat Gupta fol-

lowed by Urdu Khayal sung by SaritaPathak Yajurvedi. The session concludedwith a qawwali by Ustad Yousuf KhanNizami.

The second day began with a talk ses-sion by Dr Haricharan Varma on the con-tribution of Brihaspati in All India Radio(AIR). The afternoon session included adiscussion on the ‘poetic beauty of ParvatiLasyam’, a Sanskrit kavya by Brihaspati.The session concluded with a bharat-natyam dance performance titled ParvatiLasyam, choreographed by Dr Vidya Rao.

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Star Indian shuttler SainaNehwal returned to thecourt in style, registering a

straight-game win over localhope Phittayaporn Chaiwan, tosail into the women’s singles sec-ond round of the Thailand Openhere on Wednesday.

Returning to action afternearly two months, Saina, whomade last-minute withdrawalsfrom Indonesia Open and lastweek’s Japan Open because ofinjuries, got past Chaiwan 21-17,21-19 in her opening roundcontest.

The seventh seeded Indianwill play against SayakaTakahashi of Japan in the secondround today.

It was good news for Indiansin the men’s singles event as wellas the likes of Kidambi Srikanth,H S Prannoy, Parupalli Kashyap,B Sai Praneeth and ShubhankerDey all progressed to the nextround by overcoming theirrespective rivals.

Fifth seed Srikanth wasmade to toil hard for one hourand seven minutes by Chinesequalifier Ren Peng Bo before theIndian came out victorious 21-13, 17-21, 21-19. Srikanth will beup against Thailand’s KhositPhetpradab in the second round.

Later in the day, Prannoydefeated Hong Kong’s WongWing Ki Vincent of 21-16, 22-20,

while Kashyap came from agame down to beat Israel’s MishaZilberman 18-21, 21-8, 21-14.

Lady luck smiled onSubhankar Dey as hewas handed awalkover by top seedand world number 1Kento Momota ofJapan in his opening roundcontest.

In the second round,Subhankar faces compatriot SaiPraneeth who came back froma game down to beat Kantaphon

Wangcharoen of Thailand 17-21,21-17, 21-15 in his first roundmatch.

However, it was curtainsfor Verma brothers, Sourabh andSameer as both lost their respec-tive first round matches.Sourabh fought hard for 64minutes against seventh seedKanta Tsuneyama of Japanbefore going down 21-23, 21-19,5-21 in his opening match.

Sameer squandered a firstgame advantage to lose 23-21,11-21, 5-21 at the hands of LeeZii Jia of Malaysia and crash outof the tournament.

Earlier in the day, the mixeddoubles pair of SatwiksairajRankireddy and AshwiniPonnappa recorded one of thebiggest wins of their career,stunning Olympic Silver medal-lists Chan Peng Soon and GohLiu Ying in the first round.

The unseeded Indian pairbattled for one hour and twominutes to get past the fifth seed-ed Malaysian duo of Soon andYing 21-18, 18-21, 21-17.

Ponnappa and Rankireddywill play Indonesia’s Alfian EkoPrasetya and Marsheilla GischaIslami in the second round.

The other Indian mixeddoubles pair of PranaavJerry Chopra and NSikki Reddy eased pastJapanese duo of KoheiGondo and Ayane

Kurihara 21-16, 21-13.In another women’s singles

match, India’s Sai Uttejitha RaoChukka was no match forChina’s Chen Xiao Xin, losing17-21, 7-21 in the first round.

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Bethanie Mattek-Sands,playing her first WTA

singles match since theAustralian Open, rallied tobeat Venus Williams 6-7 (4/7),6-3, 6-1 in the hardcourt ten-nis tournament in San Jose,California.

Mattek-Sands, 34,notched her first singlesmatch win in more than ayear — since a first-round vic-tory at the 2018 French Open.

She dropped her serve toopen the third set on Tuesday,

but won the final six games toset up a second-round clashwith Spain’s eighth-seededCarla Suarez Navarro.

“I’m in for another match,so I’m pumped,” said Mattek-Sands, who like seven-timeGrand Slam championWilliams received a wild cardinto the draw.

Mattek-Sands was side-lined for more than a yearafter suffering a rupturedPatella tendon and dislocatedkneecap at Wimbledon in2017.

She returned to win the

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France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated his firsttop-10 rival in nearly two years, ousting

Russian second seed Karen Khachanov 6-4,2-6, 7-5 at the ATP Washington Open.

The 34-year-old Frenchman, ranked 70thin the world, on Tuesday outlasted eighth-ranked Khachanov after one hour and 58 min-utes, turning back the clock to reach the thirdround of the US Open hardcourt tuneupevent.

“I played very good tennis,” Tsonga said.“Everything went OK. Just very happy to

go through. It’s good to see some results forall the hard work.”

Tsonga, who lost his only Grand Slamfinal to Novak Djokovic at the 2008 AustralianOpen, had dropped six matches in a rowagainst top-10 rivals since beating fifth-ranked German Alexander Zverev in October2017 in a Vienna quarter-final.

There’s a revitalized spark in Tsonga,who won his 17th ATP title in February atMontpellier as a 210th-rated wildcard. Hefired 13 aces and won 80 percent of hisfirst-serve points.

Tsonga advanced to a third-roundmatch against British 13th seed KyleEdmund, who defeated South Africa'sLloyd Harris 6-1, 6-4.

Russian third seed DaniilMedvedev reached the third roundby ousting US wildcard BjornFratangelo 6-3, 6-4.

The world number 10 mightface an injured rival in the thirdround as 40th-ranked hometownfavorite Frances Tiafoe beat Kazakhstan’sAlexander Bublik 6-1, 7-6 (7/5) then quick-ly departed with a foot injury.

“I’m very happy to return home with awin,” 16th seed Tiafoe said in a statement.

“Unfortunately at the end of my match Ifelt a tweak in my foot. In the interest of mak-ing sure I can play my next match to thefullest, I will be getting my foot checked out.”

Australia’s Bernard Tomic wasn’t so lucky,withdrawing from his first-round match witha finger injury. German lucky loser PeterGojowczyk replaced him and outlastedRussian Andrey Rublev 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 7-6(7/2).

Khachanov, who earlier this monthbecame the first Russian in the top 10 sinceMikhail Youzhny in 2011, is coached byVedran Martic but has worked the past cou-ple weeks with former world number three

Nikolay Davydenko.“We started to train in Moscow, so that’s

the preparation I’ve had with him, for 10-11days, and then I asked him to come here aswell,” Khachanov said.

“We just started with him. I don’t want tomake any official announcement yet. But hestarted to help me two weeks ago. Hopefullyhe can join the team.”

Together with Medvedev, Khachanov hassignaled a new rise in Russian tennis.

“It’s great for the country and great for usto be higher, slowly reaching new goals,”Khachanov said.

“Hopefully we’re moving up slowly a longways.”

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Coco Gauff, the Americanteen who electrified

Wimbledon with a last-16run, and US top seed SloaneStephens crashed out Tuesdayin round one of the WTAWashington Open.

Eighth-ranked Stephens,the 2017 US Open champion,lost to Sweden’s RebeccaPeterson 6-2, 7-5 while 15-year-old qualifier Gauff fell toKazakhstan’s 84th-rankedZarina Diyas 6-4, 6-2.

“Every loss is somethingI learn from,” Gauff said.“Overall it was a good expe-rience.”

The US Open women’shardcourt tuneup event lostits only top-10 entrant inStephens and its star attrac-tion in 146th-ranked Gauff,whose loss came in her firstmain-draw match since shefell to eventual championSimona Halep at Wimbledon.

“I’m looking forward tothe US Open and hope I canmake a good result there,”Gauff said. “I’m going towork on being more aggres-

sive and trusting myself a lit-tle more on the court.”

Gauff has been shockedat the whirlwind speed atwhich her life has changedand that crowds still packevery seat to watch her.

“I’m happy for all thesupport,” said Gauff. “Ithought it would settle backafter a couple weeks but Iguess people are still excited.

“All this has changed soquickly so it’s hard sometimesbut having the experience isdefinitely going to help me forthe US Open.”

Stephens, whose firstWTA title came atWashington in 2015, exitedwith one win or less for theeighth time in 10 non-GrandSlam starts this year.

“I could have played bet-ter,” said Stephens. “It was hot.Tough conditions. But youknow from here only thingyou can do is improve.”

Peterson collected herfirst victory in nine triesagainst a top-10 rival.

“Fought for every pointthat was out there,” Petersonsaid. “I stayed in the

moment.”Diyas dispatched the

crowd favorite before apacked second stadium.

“I knew there was goingto be a big crowd and theywere going to support her soI was ready for it. I was moreaggressive. I served better.

“She’s so young but she’sreally good. She’s so strongand she has a big serve. She’smoving well. I think she’sgoing to be very big in thefuture.”

US second seed MadisonKeys — ousted by US wild-card Hailey Baptiste 7-6 (7/4),6-2 — was impressed atGauff ’s poise in Wimbledon’sintense atmosphere.

“How she has handled itand how mature she is — she’sso wise beyond her years,”Keys said. “I was just reallyimpressed with how well shehandled herself on court. I’mnot sure that many of uscould have done so well.

“Everyone knew she wasa great player and that shecould do a lot. The fact shedid it right off the bat waspretty impressive.”

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Prithvi Shaw is a “fighter” andwill come out of his eight-

month doping suspension stronger,says Santosh Pingutkar, who taughthim the ABC of cricket long beforehe became his most famous ward.

The BCCI on Tuesday bannedthe talented 19-year-old openerfrom all forms of cricket for failinga dope test.

A release from the Board saidShaw had “inadvertently ingesteda prohibited substance, which canbe commonly found in coughsyrups”.

He childhood coach Pingutkarcalled it a setback.

“He (Prithvi) is a fighter andwill definitely come out of it. He hasworked hard (to reach the top),”said Pingutkar, who first impartedlessons to a young Shaw atVirar, a suburb around 60kilometers from Mumbai.

It was under Pingutkarthat Shaw, who had ledIndia to U-19 World Cupvictory in New Zealandand also made a hundredon Test debut against WestIndies, learned the basicsof the game.

Shaw’s father Pankajhad taken him to the coach,who runs an academy.

“Definitely thesetback is huge,but I have theconfidencethat he(Shaw) willcome outof it ,”

added Pingutkar.Shaw’s suspension is retro-

spective in nature, starting fromMarch 16 and ending on November15, which rules him out for India’shome series against South Africaand Bangladesh.

Senior columnist MakranadWaingankar, who has played a for-midable role in shaping Prithvi’scareer, said that there was nothingto worry and everyone makes mis-takes in life.

“Cough syrups are dangerous.Prithvi Shaw should have known itbecause all players are given list ofDo’s & Don’ts by BCCI's anti dop-ing committee. He will come out ofit. Everyone makes a mistake.Nothing to worry,” tweetedWaingankar, who was also a crick-et administrator.

Meanwhile, sources in theknow said that Shaw, while he

was with the Mumbaiteam, had notinformed anyoneabout the medicinethat he took to curecough.

Shaw had alsoaccepted his fate andsaid the news abouthis suspension had

shaken him.

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With his "hand onheart", England's

World Cup hero BenStokes says he never askedthe umpires to cancel thefour runs off an overthrowduring the epic finalagainst New Zealand.

One of the biggestturning points of the July14 final was the overthrowon the fourth ball of thefinal over bowled by TrentBoult.

In a bid to completehis second run, a divingStokes, his bat out-stretched, accidentallydeflected the ball comingfrom the deep mid-wicketregion to the third manboundary.

"I saw all of that. I wasthinking to myself, did Isay that? But hand onheart, I did not go up to theumpires and say some-thing like that to theumpires," Stokes said in thelatest episode of BBC pod-cast 'Tuffers and Vaughan'.

Stokes, who remainednot out on 84 at the end ofregulation play beforeswinging his bat again inthe Super Over, said heapologised to New Zealandskipper Kane Williamsonand wicketkeeper TomLatham as the ball rolledpast the boundary.

"I went straight to TomLatham and said 'Mate, Iam so sorry', looked overto Kane (Williamson) andsaid 'I'm sorry'," he said.

Stokes' England team-mate James Anderson hadearlier claimed that theall-rounder had asked forthe four overthrow runs tobe cancelled. Stokes said hehas seen the 50th over ofthe England inning multi-ple times since the July 14evening at Lord's and saidit was "nerve-wracking towatch" despite the fact thathis team is already a WorldCup winner.

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Liverpool coach Jurgen Kloppand three players —

Mohamed Salah, Sadio Maneand Virgil van Dijk — headednominations released onWednesday for the FIFA Bestawards that will be presented inMilan on September 23.

Klopp led Liverpool, andthat vital trio of players, to theChampions League trophy andalso second place to ManchesterCity in the Premier League.

Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldoand Barcelona's Lionel Messialso make the shortlist for themen’s award along with PSG’sKylian Mbappe, Tottenham’sHarry Kane, Belgian EdenHazard and Dutch duo Frenkiede Jong and Matthijs de Ligt.

American Alex Morgan andcoach Jill Ellis will be favouritesfor the female player andwomen’s coach awards afterspearheading the USA to the thewomen’s World Cup title inFrance last month.

The Best FIFA Men’s PlayerCristiano Ronaldo(Portugal/Juventus); Frenkie deJong (Netherlands/Ajax); Matthijsde Ligt (Netherlands/Ajax); EdenHazard (Belgium/Chelsea); HarryKane (England/Tottenham);Sadio Mane (Senegal/Liverpool);Kylian Mbappe (France/ParisSaint-Germain); Lionel Messi( A r g e n t i n a / B a r c e l o n a ) ;

Mohamed Salah(Egypt/Liverpool); Virgil vanDijk (Netherlands/Liverpool)

The Best FIFA Women’s PlayerLucy Bronze (England/Lyon);Julie Ertz (USA/Chicago RedStars); Caroline Graham Hansen(Norway/Wolfsburg); AdaHegerberg (Norway/Lyon);Amandine Henry (France/Lyon);Sam Kerr (Australia/Chicago RedStars/Perth Glory); Rose Lavelle(USA/Washington Spirit);Vivianne Miedema (Arsenal);Alex Morgan (USA/OrlandoPride); Megan Rapinoe(USA/Reign FC); Wendie Renard(France/Lyon); Ellen White(England/Birmingham City)

The Best FIFA Men’s CoachDjamel Belmadi (Algeria); DidierDeschamps (France); MarceloGallardo (River Plate); RicardoGareca (Peru); Pep Guardiola(Manchester City); Jurgen Klopp(Liverpool); Mauricio Pochettino(Tottenham); Fernando Santos(Portugal); Erik ten Hag (Ajax);Tite (Brazil)

The Best FIFA Women's CoachMilena Bertolini (Italy), Jill Ellis(USA), Peter Gerhardsson(Sweden), Futoshi Ikeda (JapanU-20); Antonia ‘Tona’ Is (SpainU-17), Joe Montemurro(Arsenal), Phil Neville (England),Reynald Pedros (Lyon), PaulRiley (North Carolina Courage),Sarina Wiegman (Netherlands)

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Star Indian shuttlers P VSindhu and Saina Nehwal

were static at fifth and eighthspots respectively in the recent-ly released Badminton WorldFederation (BWF) rankings.

While both Sindhu andSaina held on to their places inthe women’s singles rankings,Mugdha Agrey and RituparnaDas climbed up six and onespot, respectively, to be placedat 62nd and 65th positions.

Among the men’s singlesshuttlers, Kidambi Srikanth andSameer Verma managed to holdon to their 10th and 13th spotsin the latest rankings issued onTuesday.

B Sai Praneeth, who lost toWorld No 1 Kento Momota inlast week’s Japan Open semifi-nals, moved up four places tothe 20th position.

H S Prannoy (31st),Parupalli Kashyap (35th),Shubhankar Dey (41st),Sourabh and Verma (44th) allmoved up the in the men’s sin-gles chart.

Among other Indians inmen’s singles chart, Ajay Jayramis placed 67th while LakshaySen is at 69th spot.

The men’s doubles pair ofSatwiksairaj Rankireddy andChirag Shetty climbed up twoplaces to 16th spot, while thecombination of Manu Attri andB Sumeeth Reddy is static at 25.

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“It’s been a tough coupleof years,” she said.

“I’ve had a few surgeries— I feel like I’ve had 12 surg-eries — but I’m feeling reallygood.”

Unable to capitalize inthe first-set tiebreaker afterclawing back from 4-2 down,she dominated the next twosets.

“I think I neutralisedVenus’s serve a little bit,”

Mattek-Sands said.“A lot of times she can get

some free points on that firstserve, so I stood back a littlebit.”

In other first-roundaction, former world numberone Victoria Azarenka ofBelarus overpowered Frenchqualifier Harmony Tan 6-2, 6-4.

Azarenka converted sevenof her 12 break point chancesto line up a meeting with fifth-seeded Donna Vekic ofCroatia, a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 winnerover Japan’s Misaki Doi.

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Page 16: ˇ˘-.&/ ˜01˛1˜˛ 2 ,˜#-. $/ ˆ4 ˘ , %+˛˙# ’+ ’ ’ ˆ ......Zero Hour, Mishra said, “Only four of us (MLAs) are wearing dhoti. I have never seen the Speaker and the Chief

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England return to ‘FortressEdgbaston’ for the first Testagainst Australia today

looking to round off an alreadymemorable season by complet-ing a World Cup and Ashes dou-ble.

If the World Cup remainsthe pinnacle of the 50-over game,for England and Australia there’snothing quite like a renewal ofTest cricket’s oldest rivalry.

But now there’s arguablymore at stake for both sides thanthe series result.

For England, a home seasonbilled as the most important ina generation started brilliantlywith their impressive run to afirst men’s World Cup title.

For Australia, an Ashes serieswin under the dignified leader-ship of Tim Paine would helpdraw a line under the ball-tam-pering scandal in South Africathat led to long bans for formercaptain Steve Smith, DavidWarner and Cameron Bancroft.

All three batsmen are likelyto feature at Edgbaston, withBancroft set to hear the samebooing that greeted Smith andWarner during the World Cup.

Australia have not won anAshes in England for 19 years,with their batsmen strugglingagainst the heavily stitchedDukes ball on pitches that offerseam movement.

Yet the first Test will beAustralia’s opening first-classmatch of the tour, although thelikes of Bancroft, who has beencaptaining English county sideDurham, have recent experi-ence of local conditions.

The way an England sidefeaturing several World Cupstars were dismissed for just 85by Ireland at Lord’s last weekbefore winning the first Testbetween the countries tells itsown story of ongoing top-orderwoes.

England captain Joe Rootplans to move back to numberthree to help shore up a toporder featuring novice Surreyopeners Rory Burns and JasonRoy.

James Anderson, England’sall-time leading Test wicket-taker, returns from a calf injuryto lead an attack along withChris Woakes and Stuart Broad.

Australia, meanwhile, arepoised to put their faith in arapid four-man attack featuringJames Pattinson and PatCummins.

Several of England’s WorldCup winners appeared jadedagainst Ireland but Anderson,who no longer plays one-dayinternationals and so was notinvolved in that success, hopeshe can revive any flagging spir-its.

“For some of us this is thestart of our international sum-mer and it’s our job to keep theenergy going as a team,” saidAnderson, 37 on Tuesday.

With runs expected to be atpremium while the bowlers holdsway, England will hope all-rounders such as Ben Stokes,restored to the vice-captaincy,can again make valuable contri-butions with the bat.

Australia have not won atEdgbaston in any format since2001, a run that includes their

recent World Cup semi-finalloss to England, when Roy madea sparkling 85. England, by con-trast, have won their last 11internationals at the raucousBirmingham ground.

But a congested schedule,the result of officials crammingan Ashes into the same seasonas a lengthy World Cup, couldhave a bigger bearing on theseries, the first in the ICC’s newWorld Test Championship.

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Former India captain SouravGanguly on Wednesday said

as the leader of the team ViratKohli has got every right tovoice his opinion in the coachselection process.

In his first media interactionafter India’s World Cup semifi-nal exit, Kohli backed RaviShastri to continue as Indiahead coach after his extendedtenure ends with the tour of theWest Indies beginning later thisweek.

“He is the captain. He hasgot every right to say,” Gangulysaid referring Kohli’s commentat the pre-departure mediainteraction in Mumbai onMonday.

Ganguly was part of theCricket Advisory Committee(CAC) which picked Shastri asthe head coach in 2017. Theother members were SachinTendulkar and VVS Laxman.

This time the CAC compris-ing Kapil Dev, AnushumanGaekwad and ShanthaRangaswamy will pick thecoach. The application deadlineended on Tuesday and incum-bent Shastri gets an automaticentry in the selection process.

The Kapil-led committeehad also picked the Indianwomen’s coach, W V Raman, inDecember.

Gaekwad had earlier in theday however said they wouldnot be prejudiced in appointingthe new coach.

“There’s no question of what

Kohli says or anybody says,”Gaekwad said, pointing out thatthe same committee did notconsult anyone while appointingWV Raman as India women’scoach last year despite a lot ofcontroversy.

“If you remember theappointment of women’s coach,

there was a lot of controversy.But we didn’t take anyone’sopinion,” the former India bats-man and coach said.

“See, whatever (Virat) Kohlior (Ravi) Shastri may say, wehave to adhere to BCCI. He wasasked about his preference (atthe press conference) and Kohli

gave his preference for RaviShastri. We have nothing to dowith that. We are neutral and wewould go with an open mind,”the 66-year-old said.

Ganguly however refused tocomment on Gaekwad’s state-ments: “Every individual is dif-ferent so I cannot comment.”

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Australia captain Tim Paine says he has no fears aboutlosing his place as he prepares to lead his team in

the first Ashes Test today.The wicketkeeper found himself unexpectedly

thrust into a leadership position in the fall-out from lastyear’s ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.

Then-captain Steve Smith and David Warner, hisdeputy, were stripped of their positions by CricketAustralia after the incident and both were banned frominternational cricket for 12 months.

Australia’ssquad for theAshes includesanother wicket-keeper inMatthew Wade,who has alreadyplayed 22 Tests.

Wade hasbeen in fine formwith the bat dur-ing the recentAustralia A tourof England, scor-ing three hun-dreds.

By contrast,Paine has man-aged just onefirst-class centu-ry in his entirecareer. Askedduring a pre-match press con-ference atEdgbaston onWednesday if hefelt under pres-sure to justify hisplace, Painereplied: “No, I donot at all. I’m 34years old, I don’treally care aboutmy place in theside any more.I’m here to do ajob.

“I’ve beenput in this team tocaptain and wick-et-keep to the best of my ability and I’ve said before, at34 years of age, if you are looking further ahead thanthe next Test match you are kidding yourself.

“I’m not going to waste time looking over my shoul-der. I’m enjoying the job that I’m doing.”

With Cameron Bancroft, the man who applied sand-paper to the ball during that fateful Test in Cape Town,also set to be included in Australia’s team for the Ashesopener alongside Smith and Warner, there will be arenewed focus on the tourists’ on-field conduct.

But the side, under the leadership of Australia one-day captain Aaron Finch, conducted themselves in exem-plary fashion during the recent World Cup in Englandand Wales.

Paine said they were taking their cue from WinstonChurchill although there is doubt over whether Britain’sprime minister during World War II ever said the wordsascribed to him by the Australians.

“We are going to play competitive Test match crick-et like every other nation does,” he said.

“Our guys understand what’s expected of them andwe are role models,” added Paine, with Australia look-ing to win their first Ashes series in England since 2001.

“There’s been a quote going around our changingrooms this week from Winston Churchill and that is‘behaviour doesn’t lie’.

“We can talk all we like about how we are going toplay and ultimately you guys will see how we play andjudge for yourselves,” added Paine, who said thetourists had been made aware of the quote by assistantcoach Brad Haddin, the former Australia wicketkeep-er who was renowned for ‘sledging’ or verbally abusingopponents during his playing days.

Meanwhile Paine was glad of the strength in depthof an Australia fast-bowling unit where Pat Cummins,Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson, Josh Hazlewood andPeter Siddle are all vying for a place in the side.

“We are in a really good situation at the momentwhere we have a number of quality fast bowlers in par-ticular,” Paine said.

“We are lucky that we feel we have a lot of bases cov-ered,” added the skipper who said Australia would nametheir team at the toss, unlike England, who confirmedtheir side on Wednesday. “It’s up to us to come up withthe best combinations to take 20 wickets.

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Skipper Deepak Hooda led from the frontas Jaipur Pink Panthers defeated Haryana

Steelers 37-21 in their Pro Kabaddi Leaguematch played here on Wednesday.

This was Jaipur’s third win in as manymatches and the side took control of thegame in the second half by inflicting two ‘all-outs’ on the opposition.

Hooda (14 points) was the star per-former, while Sandeep Dhull (6 points) andVishal (4 points) complemented the skipperwell.

Jaipur opened their account by success-fully tackling Haryana raider Naveen. ButHaryana tackled Hooda to make it2 -1.

Jaipur surged ahead 5-2, cour-tesy a successful raid by Deepak. Butsome good work by Haryana helpedthem reduce the deficit to 5-6 in aclosely-fought game.

Jaipur, with successful tackles and raids,were inching ahead. However, with theirdefenders up to the mark, Haryana were clos-ing in on the gap.

But Jaipur defenders successfully tack-led Naveen to take them 10-8 ahead.

Deepak, then with three minutes to gofor the first half, grabbed two points to takeJaipur 12-8 ahead.

Haryana’s K Selvamani was successful-ly tackled by Jaipur in the dying minutes ofthe first half as they went 13 -8 ahead intothe break.

After the break, Jaipur inflictedan all-out to surge 17-8 ahead.

And then there was no lookingback for the outfit as they continuedtheir dominance maintaining a 10-

point lead with nine minutes left for the gameto end over Haryana.

Jaipur inflicted the second all out in the36th minute of the match to move 34-16 andtheir win just remained a formality.

Finally, Jaipur won 37-21 and continuedtheir winning run.

In the second match of the day, UMumba suffered a 23 -27 loss to U P Yoddha,with Monu Goyat (6 points) and Sumit (6points) starring for the side from the north.

The match went down the wire and UPYoddha held their nerves in the dying min-utes of the game to come out triumphant.

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The Ashes is named after asatirical obituary published

in a British newspaper, TheSporting Times, in 1882 after amatch at The Oval in whichAustralia beat England on anEnglish ground for the firsttime. The obituary statedthat English cricket haddied, and the body will becremated and the ashestaken to Australia. TheEnglish media dubbed thenext English tour toAustralia (1882–83) as thequest to regain The Ashes.

During that tour asmall terracotta urn waspresented to Englandcaptain Ivo Bligh by agroup of Melbournewomen. The contents of the urnare reputed to be the ashes of anitem of cricket equipment, pos-sibly a bail, ball or stump. TheDowager Countess of Darnleyclaimed recently that her moth-er-in-law, Bligh’s wife Florence

Morphy, said that they were theremains of a lady’s veil.

The urn is erroneouslybelieved by some to be the tro-phy of the Ashes series, but ithas never been formally adopt-

ed as such and Bligh alwaysconsidered it to be a per-sonal gift. Replicas of theurn are often held aloft byvictorious teams as a sym-bol of their victory in anAshes series, but the actualurn has never been pre-

sented or displayed as a tro-phy in this way. Whichever

side holds the Ashes, theurn normally remains inthe Marylebone CricketClub Museum at Lord’ssince being presented to

the MCC by Bligh’s widow uponhis death.

The first Ashes series wasplayed in 1882-82 in Australia.England and Australia playednine Test matches before Ashesstarted. PNS

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WARNER vs ROY

Both England and Australiahave batsmen at the top of

the order with the ability to dic-tate the pace of an innings andwith something to prove.

Australia’s David Warner,who had an impressive WorldCup campaign, is resuminghis Test career after serving aban for his part in last year’sball-tampering scandal inSouth Africa.

Warner, who has scored 21Test centuries, has the knack of

quickly taking the game awayfrom the opposition andEngland will be desperate to gethim early.

Jason Roy, has played a sin-gle Test, against Ireland lastweek, after 84 ODIs and will bekeen to show he can bring hisswashbuckling style into theTest arena.

SMITH vs ROOT

When Australia andEngland last met, in

Australia in 2017-18, SteveSmith and Joe Root were theopposing skippers.

Since then, Smith has beenstripped of the captaincy and heis preparing for his first Testouting since being banned overball-tampering incident.

Averaging an eye-catching61.37 in 64 Tests, with 23 cen-turies, Smith is still the mainman for Australia and hescored a total of 687 runs whenthe teams last met, hittingthree centuries in five Tests.

Root’s Test average hasdipped below 50 but heremains one of most fearedplayers in the game andEngland’s finest batsmen, with16 Test centuries under his belt.The Yorkshireman is movingback up to number three toboost England’s struggling toporder.

Since Root dropped a placeduring the India series last year,several options have been tried,including Moeen Ali, JonnyBairstow and Joe Denly.

But none has settled thedebate and now Root is readyto return to a position fromwhich he scored his Test-best254 against Pakistan in 2016.

ENGLISH GUILE vs AUS PACE

England have a new weaponin Jofra Archer but the key

to their Ashes bowling attackwill be veteran openingbowlers James Anderson andStuart Broad.

Anderson and Broad, withmore than 1,000 Test wicketsbetween them, lack the sheerpace to frighten batsmen butare masters of exploitingEnglish conditions with swing.

Australia, on the otherhand, have a battery of fastbowlers who could inflict realdamage on England’s fragiletop-order.

“Australia have bowlerswho can blast you away — PatCummins, Mitchell Starc,James Pattinson and JoshHazlewood,” said formerEngland paceman SteveHarmison.

“But if they don’t get itquite right they can go at six anover. Broad and Anderson willvery rarely go at six an over.

“They’ll be down on pacecompared to the opposition,but they’ll have total control ofwhat they’re doing.”

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