(tmc) kakoli ghosh dastidar, who wore a mask during her speech in the lok sabha, called for a...

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A debate on Delhi’s alarming pollution level kicked off in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday on the second day of the Winter Session with Congress MP Manish Tewari suggesting a standing committee on pollu- tion and climate change. Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who wore a mask during her speech in the Lok Sabha, called for a Swachchh Hawa Mission. She said Delhi is staring at mass asphyxia. Many MPs reasoned that it is was unfair to blame only farmers for stubble burning, while keeping a blind eye to major polluters like industry, vehicles, civil constructions in Delhi. They criticised the Delhi Government for its failure to provide clean water. Initiating the debate, Tewari pointed out how Beijing recovered from the hazardous pollution by curbing industri- al and thermal wastes. He urged the Centre and the Delhi Government to resolve the issue with integrated actions. Tewari said stubble burn- ing is not a major pollutant in Delhi and adjoining areas, hence small farmers should not alone be blamed for the present situation in Delhi. Participating in a discus- sion on “pollution and climate change”, BJP MP from West Delhi Pravesh Verma slammed the AAP Government for pass- ing the buck to neighbouring States where stubble burning is an annual phenomenon around this time every year. The BJP MP alleged that the AAP Government had spent 70 crore on publicising the odd-even road rationing scheme but did not take steps to increase the number of pub- lic buses. People are using per- sonal vehicles due to inade- quate and poor public trans- port facilities in Delhi, he said. He alleged 600 crore was spent by the Delhi Government on advertisements but little was done to curb pollution. Earlier Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal used to cough, but now the entire city and members of Parliament are coughing, he said sarcastically. Verma claimed the pollu- tion level in Delhi has has reached a saturation point point and that is why many residents want to leave the city. He questioned the usefulness of the purchase of 50 lakh masks by the City Government. Verma alleged that by blaming villagers for pollu- tion, Kejriwal was only widen- ing the urban-rural divide. The Speaker reminded Verma not to take the name of Kejriwal, but he went on attack- ing the Delhi CM. Verma also called upon the MPs to donate 2 crore from their Members of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) fund for setting up pollution control towers in Delhi as they spend over 200 days of the year in the city. Pinaki Misra (BJD) too said stubble burning is not a major contributor to pollution in Delhi and the farmers should not be vilified. However, he suggested utilising stubble for bio gas to incentivise farm- ers against burning it. Misra urged for combined efforts of the Centre and States in curb- ing the rising pollution levels of water and air. Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Committee on air pollution in Delhi is sched- uled to meet on Wednesday after most of its members and senior officials were absent at its last meeting. Their absence from the meeting had triggered outrage and raised questions about their seriousness in fight- ing the menace. Panel’s head and BJP MP Jagdambika Pal had written to the Speaker over the matter, expressing his “displeasure” at the absence of Government officials who were scheduled to brief MPs on the pollution crisis, especially in Delhi. T he Delhi Police on Tuesday filed two FIRs against the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) for damaging public property, rioting and obstructing public servants from discharging their duty during the protest against the hostel fee hike. Police action came after the clash between police and students during the protest march by the protesters on Monday. However, the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU), on Tuesday demanded that no administrative or legal action should be taken against the students protesting against the hostel fee hike. JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh said they had a meeting with the Joint Secretary of the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry, GC Hosur, and requested him to ensure no administrative action was ini- tiated against the students for the protest. Hundreds of JNU students had swarmed the street on Monday, bringing several parts of the city to a halt. The stu- dents took out a protest march opposing the recent fee hike against which an agitation has been going on for over three weeks. Some 30 police personnel and 15 students were injured in the scuffle during the eight- hour agitation. Police said that one FIR has been registered at South West Delhi’s Kishangarh police station, and another at South Delhi’s Lodhi Colony police station. According to Atul Kumar Thakur, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), South District, a case under sections 186 (obstruct- ing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from dis- charge of his duty), 332 (vol- untarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the IPC has been registered at the Lodhi Colony police station. Continued on Page 4 T he ruling Congress on Tuesday secured control over 20 local government bod- ies out of the 49 where elections were held last week in Rajasthan, with the BJP reach- ing the majority mark in only six. The Congress won 965 out of the 2,105 wards in the urban local bodies, leaving the BJP trailing at 736, according to the results declared by the state election office. The Bahujan Samaj Party won 16 wards, the CPI(M) got three and the Nationalist Congress Party two in the elec- tions held on Saturday, the first municipal polls since the Congress came to power in the State last December. Altogether, 385 indepen- dents won in the polls con- ducted across 24 of Rajasthan’s 33 districts. The results translated into clear majority for the Congress in 20 of the 49 ULBs. The BJP crossed the halfway mark in six urban bodies and the inde- pendents form the majority in 23. Both the Congress and the BJP claimed they could muster support from independents to control nine or 10 other munic- ipalities, apart from the ones where they emerged as clear winners. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said the results were as expected. “It is a matter of hap- piness that people have given a mandate considering the per- formance of the Government,” he told reporters. Continued on Page 4 F ollowing criticism by some ex-Army officers and remarks of Opposition leaders, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday ordered a review of the new military-style uniform of mar- shals in the House. The uniform was restyled from traditional Indian attire comprising turbans to dark navy blue and olive green mil- itary-style outfits with caps. Naidu mentioned in the House that the Secretariat of the Rajya Sahba had come out with a new dress code for marshals. However, there have been sug- gestions and comments by politicians and well-meaning individuals on the same, he said. “I have decided to ask the Secretariat to revisit the same,” Naidu said. On Monday, when the marshals came wearing the new uniform together with aiguillette, some members commented if “marshal law was being imposed”. Customarily, the presid- ing officer of the House is flanked by two marshals who march ahead of the chairman to announce the commence- ment of proceedings and also assist the chair in organising the desk and bringing up order papers. Marshals earlier wore safari suits during summer and Indian bandgalas during the winter along with turbans. The turbans were viewed by some as colonial legacy, leading to review of the uni- form. On Monday, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had sought to raise a point on the marshals’ new uniform. “Sir, the marshals...,” he began only to be interrupted by Naidu. Ramesh, however, insisted that there has been “a very sig- nificant change” in their attire. “Okay. You always make sig- nificant point at an insignifi- cant time,” Naidu had remarked on Monday. Some former Army officers have also criticised the new uniforms for marshals, terming them illegal. Former Indian Army chief Ved Malik too objected to the new uniform of Rajya Sabha marshals, and called it “illegal and a security hazard”. Continued on Page 4 I n the last 50 years, sea level along the Indian coast has risen by 8.5 cm with the decade between 2003 and 2013 show- ing the annual average rise at a greater speed. On an average, the sea level along the Indian coast is considered to be rising at about 1.70 mm/year, but during the last decade (2003-2013) (till the time the reading was made) it experienced a rise at a rate of 6.1 mm/year, the Centre informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. Union Minister Babul Supriyo, however, said since no long-term data on land subsi- dence or emergence are avail- able the rate of increase of sea level due to climate change can- not be attributed with certain- ty. He was responding to a question on whether several cities will be submerged as temperatures are rising due to global warming. “However, the coastal areas that might get inundated due to the rising sea level need to be evaluated based on their ele- vation above mean sea level. Since no long-term data on land subsidence or emergence are available for these locations, the rate of increase of sea level due to climate change cannot be attributed with certainty,” he said. “For example, the higher rate of sea level increase at Diamond Harbour is also due to the larger land subsidence happening there. The same may apply to Kandla, Haldia and Port Blair as well,” Supriyo told the Rajya Sabha. The Minister further said that the rising sea levels can exacerbate the coastal inunda- tion along the low lying areas during extreme events such as tsunami, storm surge, coastal flooding and coastal erosion. The Government’s obser- vation comes close on the heels of statement from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres who has described climate change as the biggest threat to sustainability as he voiced deep concern over the rising level of oceans. “The most vulnerable areas are in Japan, China, Bangladesh and India,” Guterres said speak- ing to reporters in Bangkok after attending the ASEAN Summit. A report of the UN’s Inter- Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) too had warned that global sea lev- els are set to rise by at least 1m by 2100 if carbon emissions go unchecked, submerging hun- dreds of cities, including Mumbai and Kolkata, and in some cases entire countries. “Extreme sea level events that used to happen once a cen- tury will occur every year in many parts of the world by the middle of the century because of global warming”, the panel has warned. The IPCC also warned that glaciers will continue to decline around the world, losing more than a third of their mass by 2100 under worst case emis- sions scenarios, with some dis- appearing entirely. Such losses pose “unavoidable conse- quences for river runoff and local hazards”, and will cause problems for the billions who rely on the water for drinking supplies and irrigation. He cited a recent report by a research center that said the level of the oceans is rising much faster than what was forecasted because of climate change. The UN chief stressed that unless nations are able to reverse this trend, because cli- mate change for the moment is running faster than actions being taken by Governments, the research forecasted that 300 million people will be flooded by sea water in the world by 2050. “Dramatically, the most vulnerable areas are exactly in Southeast Asia, in Japan, China, Bangladesh and India,” he said adding that Thailand risks to have 10 per cent of its popula- tion in flooded areas by the sea. A fter a brief breather, air quality in Delhi deterio- rated again on Tuesday with overall Air Quality Index (AQI) at 249 μgm-3, mainly due to wind losing speed and resumption of farm fires in neighbouring States. The Ministry of Earth Sciences’ air quality monitor SAFAR said as stubble trans- port-level winds are favourable, stubble burning is expected to account for 14 per cent of Delhi’s pollution on Wednesday. It was 13 per cent on Tuesday. Kuldeep Srivastava, a senior scientist at the India Meteorological Department (IMD), said the maximum wind speed dropped from 18 kilometres per hour on Monday to 10 kmph on Tuesday. Calm winds and low ven- tilation index are predicted for the next two days and the con- dition is conducive for the sudden accumulation of pol- lutants in the Delhi region, SAFAR said. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) said on Tuesday that air quality will slip into very poor category from poor cat- egory. Particulate Matters (PM 2.5 and PM 10) were record- ed 179 and 111 respectively. Pollutant values will esca- late three folds, according to pollution monitoring agen- cies. PM 10 will exceed 400 and PM 2.5 will cross 250 by Wednesday. Delhi’s 13 hotspot areas are facing tough time in dealing with air pollution. Dwarka Sector 8 recorded 460 μgm-3, Greater Noida (272), and Noida (256). RK Puram, Punjabi Bagh, Anand Vihar, Mandir Marg, Mundka wit- nessed toxic air. The Supreme Court-man- dated anti-pollution authority, EPCA, asked Delhi-NCR to step up surveillance and enforcement to check local sources of pollution and crop burning in view of the pre- dicted dip in air quality. RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

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����� 2.��6.15!

Adebate on Delhi’s alarmingpollution level kicked off in

the Lok Sabha on Tuesday onthe second day of the WinterSession with Congress MPManish Tewari suggesting astanding committee on pollu-tion and climate change.

Trinamool Congress’(TMC) Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar,who wore a mask during herspeech in the Lok Sabha, calledfor a Swachchh Hawa Mission.She said Delhi is staring at massasphyxia.

Many MPs reasoned that itis was unfair to blame onlyfarmers for stubble burning,while keeping a blind eye tomajor polluters like industry,vehicles, civil constructions inDelhi. They criticised the DelhiGovernment for its failure toprovide clean water.

Initiating the debate,Tewari pointed out how Beijingrecovered from the hazardouspollution by curbing industri-al and thermal wastes. Heurged the Centre and the DelhiGovernment to resolve theissue with integrated actions.

Tewari said stubble burn-ing is not a major pollutant inDelhi and adjoining areas,hence small farmers should notalone be blamed for the presentsituation in Delhi.

Participating in a discus-sion on “pollution and climatechange”, BJP MP from WestDelhi Pravesh Verma slammedthe AAP Government for pass-

ing the buck to neighbouringStates where stubble burning isan annual phenomenonaround this time every year.

The BJP MP alleged thatthe AAP Government hadspent �70 crore on publicisingthe odd-even road rationingscheme but did not take stepsto increase the number of pub-lic buses. People are using per-sonal vehicles due to inade-quate and poor public trans-port facilities in Delhi, he said.

He alleged �600 crore wasspent by the Delhi Governmenton advertisements but littlewas done to curb pollution.

Earlier Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal used

to cough, but now the entirecity and members ofParliament are coughing, hesaid sarcastically.

Verma claimed the pollu-tion level in Delhi has hasreached a saturation pointpoint and that is why manyresidents want to leave the city.He questioned the usefulnessof the purchase of 50 lakhmasks by the CityGovernment.

Verma alleged that byblaming villagers for pollu-tion, Kejriwal was only widen-ing the urban-rural divide.

The Speaker remindedVerma not to take the name ofKejriwal, but he went on attack-

ing the Delhi CM. Verma also called upon the

MPs to donate �2 crore fromtheir Members of ParliamentLocal Area Development(MPLAD) fund for setting uppollution control towers inDelhi as they spend over 200days of the year in the city.

Pinaki Misra (BJD) toosaid stubble burning is not amajor contributor to pollutionin Delhi and the farmersshould not be vilified. However,he suggested utilising stubblefor bio gas to incentivise farm-ers against burning it. Misraurged for combined efforts ofthe Centre and States in curb-ing the rising pollution levels of

water and air.Meanwhile, the

Parliamentary Committee onair pollution in Delhi is sched-uled to meet on Wednesdayafter most of its members andsenior officials were absent atits last meeting. Their absencefrom the meeting had triggeredoutrage and raised questionsabout their seriousness in fight-ing the menace.

Panel’s head and BJP MPJagdambika Pal had written tothe Speaker over the matter,expressing his “displeasure” atthe absence of Governmentofficials who were scheduled tobrief MPs on the pollutioncrisis, especially in Delhi.

���������������� 2.��6.15!

The Delhi Police on Tuesdayfiled two FIRs against the

students of Jawaharlal NehruUniversity (JNU) for damagingpublic property, rioting andobstructing public servantsfrom discharging their dutyduring the protest against thehostel fee hike. Police actioncame after the clash betweenpolice and students during theprotest march by the protesterson Monday.

However, the JNUStudents’ Union (JNUSU), onTuesday demanded that noadministrative or legal actionshould be taken against thestudents protesting against thehostel fee hike.

JNUSU president AisheGhosh said they had a meetingwith the Joint Secretary of theHuman Resource Development(HRD) Ministry, GC Hosur,and requested him to ensure noadministrative action was ini-tiated against the students forthe protest.

Hundreds of JNU studentshad swarmed the street onMonday, bringing several partsof the city to a halt. The stu-dents took out a protest marchopposing the recent fee hike

against which an agitation hasbeen going on for over threeweeks.

Some 30 police personneland 15 students were injured inthe scuffle during the eight-hour agitation. Police said thatone FIR has been registered atSouth West Delhi’s Kishangarhpolice station, and another atSouth Delhi’s Lodhi Colonypolice station.

According to Atul KumarThakur, the DeputyCommissioner of Police

(DCP), South District, a caseunder sections 186 (obstruct-ing public servant in dischargeof public functions), 353(assault or criminal force todeter public servant from dis-charge of his duty), 332 (vol-untarily causing hurt to deterpublic servant from his duty),188 (disobedience to orderduly promulgated by publicservant) of the IPC has beenregistered at the Lodhi Colonypolice station.

Continued on Page 4

����� )�!*7-

The ruling Congress onTuesday secured control

over 20 local government bod-ies out of the 49 where electionswere held last week inRajasthan, with the BJP reach-ing the majority mark in onlysix.

The Congress won 965 outof the 2,105 wards in the urbanlocal bodies, leaving the BJPtrailing at 736, according to theresults declared by the stateelection office.

The Bahujan Samaj Partywon 16 wards, the CPI(M) gotthree and the NationalistCongress Party two in the elec-tions held on Saturday, thefirst municipal polls since theCongress came to power in theState last December.

Altogether, 385 indepen-dents won in the polls con-ducted across 24 of Rajasthan’s33 districts.

The results translated intoclear majority for the Congressin 20 of the 49 ULBs. The BJPcrossed the halfway mark in sixurban bodies and the inde-

pendents form the majority in23. Both the Congress and theBJP claimed they could mustersupport from independents tocontrol nine or 10 other munic-ipalities, apart from the oneswhere they emerged as clearwinners.

Chief Minister AshokGehlot said the results were asexpected. “It is a matter of hap-piness that people have given amandate considering the per-formance of the Government,”he told reporters.

Continued on Page 4

����� 2.��6.15!

Following criticism by someex-Army officers and

remarks of Opposition leaders,Rajya Sabha Chairman MVenkaiah Naidu on Tuesdayordered a review of the newmilitary-style uniform of mar-shals in the House.

The uniform was restyledfrom traditional Indian attirecomprising turbans to darknavy blue and olive green mil-itary-style outfits with caps.Naidu mentioned in the Housethat the Secretariat of the RajyaSahba had come out with a newdress code for marshals.However, there have been sug-gestions and comments bypoliticians and well-meaningindividuals on the same, hesaid.

“I have decided to ask theSecretariat to revisit the same,”Naidu said. On Monday, whenthe marshals came wearingthe new uniform together withaiguillette, some memberscommented if “marshal law wasbeing imposed”.

Customarily, the presid-ing officer of the House isflanked by two marshals whomarch ahead of the chairmanto announce the commence-

ment of proceedings and alsoassist the chair in organisingthe desk and bringing up orderpapers. Marshals earlier woresafari suits during summerand Indian bandgalas duringthe winter along with turbans.

The turbans were viewedby some as colonial legacy,leading to review of the uni-form. On Monday, Congressleader Jairam Ramesh hadsought to raise a point on themarshals’ new uniform. “Sir,the marshals...,” he began onlyto be interrupted by Naidu.

Ramesh, however, insistedthat there has been “a very sig-nificant change” in their attire.“Okay. You always make sig-nificant point at an insignifi-cant time,” Naidu hadremarked on Monday. Someformer Army officers have alsocriticised the new uniforms formarshals, terming them illegal.

Former Indian Army chiefVed Malik too objected to thenew uniform of Rajya Sabhamarshals, and called it “illegaland a security hazard”.

Continued on Page 4

����� 2.��6.15!

In the last 50 years, sea levelalong the Indian coast has

risen by 8.5 cm with the decadebetween 2003 and 2013 show-ing the annual average rise ata greater speed.

On an average, the sealevel along the Indian coast isconsidered to be rising at about1.70 mm/year, but during thelast decade (2003-2013) (till thetime the reading was made) itexperienced a rise at a rate of6.1 mm/year, the Centreinformed the Rajya Sabha onTuesday.

Union Minister BabulSupriyo, however, said since nolong-term data on land subsi-dence or emergence are avail-able the rate of increase of sealevel due to climate change can-not be attributed with certain-ty. He was responding to a

question on whether severalcities will be submerged astemperatures are rising due toglobal warming.

“However, the coastal areasthat might get inundated due tothe rising sea level need to beevaluated based on their ele-vation above mean sea level.Since no long-term data onland subsidence or emergenceare available for these locations,the rate of increase of sea leveldue to climate change cannotbe attributed with certainty,” hesaid.

“For example, the higherrate of sea level increase atDiamond Harbour is also dueto the larger land subsidencehappening there. The samemay apply to Kandla, Haldiaand Port Blair as well,” Supriyotold the Rajya Sabha.

The Minister further saidthat the rising sea levels can

exacerbate the coastal inunda-tion along the low lying areasduring extreme events such astsunami, storm surge, coastalflooding and coastal erosion.

The Government’s obser-vation comes close on the heelsof statement from UNSecretary General AntonioGuterres who has describedclimate change as the biggestthreat to sustainability as hevoiced deep concern over therising level of oceans.

“The most vulnerable areasare in Japan, China, Bangladeshand India,” Guterres said speak-ing to reporters in Bangkokafter attending the ASEANSummit.

A report of the UN’s Inter-Governmental Panel onClimate Change (IPCC) toohad warned that global sea lev-els are set to rise by at least 1mby 2100 if carbon emissions gounchecked, submerging hun-dreds of cities, includingMumbai and Kolkata, and insome cases entire countries.

“Extreme sea level eventsthat used to happen once a cen-tury will occur every year inmany parts of the world by themiddle of the century becauseof global warming”, the panelhas warned.

The IPCC also warned thatglaciers will continue to declinearound the world, losing morethan a third of their mass by2100 under worst case emis-sions scenarios, with some dis-appearing entirely. Such lossespose “unavoidable conse-quences for river runoff and

local hazards”, and will causeproblems for the billions whorely on the water for drinkingsupplies and irrigation.

He cited a recent report bya research center that said thelevel of the oceans is risingmuch faster than what wasforecasted because of climatechange. The UN chief stressedthat unless nations are able toreverse this trend, because cli-mate change for the moment isrunning faster than actionsbeing taken by Governments,the research forecasted that300 million people will beflooded by sea water in theworld by 2050.

“Dramatically, the mostvulnerable areas are exactly inSoutheast Asia, in Japan, China,Bangladesh and India,” he saidadding that Thailand risks tohave 10 per cent of its popula-tion in flooded areas by the sea.

�������������� �� ���������������� ��� ������������� ���������������� ���������� �������

������������� 2.��6.15!�

After a brief breather, airquality in Delhi deterio-

rated again on Tuesday withoverall Air Quality Index(AQI) at 249 μgm-3, mainlydue to wind losing speed andresumption of farm fires inneighbouring States.

The Ministry of EarthSciences’ air quality monitorSAFAR said as stubble trans-port-level winds arefavourable, stubble burning isexpected to account for 14 percent of Delhi’s pollution onWednesday. It was 13 per centon Tuesday. KuldeepSrivastava, a senior scientist atthe India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD), said themaximum wind speeddropped from 18 kilometresper hour on Monday to 10kmph on Tuesday.

Calm winds and low ven-tilation index are predicted forthe next two days and the con-dition is conducive for thesudden accumulation of pol-lutants in the Delhi region,SAFAR said. The CentralPollution Control Board(CPCB) said on Tuesday thatair quality will slip into verypoor category from poor cat-egory. Particulate Matters (PM

2.5 and PM 10) were record-ed 179 and 111 respectively.

Pollutant values will esca-late three folds, according topollution monitoring agen-cies. PM 10 will exceed 400and PM 2.5 will cross 250 byWednesday.

Delhi’s 13 hotspot areas arefacing tough time in dealingwith air pollution. DwarkaSector 8 recorded 460 μgm-3,Greater Noida (272), andNoida (256). RK Puram,Punjabi Bagh, Anand Vihar,Mandir Marg, Mundka wit-nessed toxic air.

The Supreme Court-man-dated anti-pollution authority,EPCA, asked Delhi-NCR tostep up surveillance andenforcement to check localsources of pollution and cropburning in view of the pre-dicted dip in air quality.

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The exercise for Governmentformation in Maharashtra

made no headway on Tuesdaywith the scheduled meetingbetween the leaders of theCongress and NCP to thrashout niggling issues called offdue to the former’s “pre-occu-pation with late former PrimeMinister Indira Gandhi’s birthanniversary events”.

But then, Congress chiefSonia Gandhi did chair a meet-ing with senior party leadersMallikarjun Kharge, AKAntony and Ahmed Patel, whohave been tasked to hold thediscussions with the likes ofPraful Patel, Sunil Tatkare, AjitPawar from the NCP.

Despite of several roundsof talks between leaders of thethree parties in Mumbai andDelhi, possibility of a Sena-ledGovernment still remains at anascent stage. NCP presidentSharad Pawar held a meetingwith Congress chief SoniaGandhi in Delhi on Mondaywho later said if the NCP-Congress have to take a view onGovernment formation, theyhave to first discuss it betweenthemselves.

In the meeting Congress

decided to hold another roundof talks with NCP in NewDelhi to finalise the draft com-mon minimum programme(CMP) while Kharge will leadthe talks along with PartyGeneral Secretary K CVenugopal and state leaders.

AICC sources said thatCongress leadership wasinformed that NCP is pushingfor the rotational arrangementfor the Chief Minister postbetween Sena and NCP. Thedeliberations on power sharingwill be finalised by the high-powered committee for thethree parties in this week andthe final stamp will be put bythe leaders of all the three par-ties.

As per the deal negotiatedtill the end of Sonia-Pawarmeeting, sources said Congresswill rest with Speaker’s post anda Deputy Chief Minister postin the Government while NCPwill get post of legislative coun-cil chairman. All three partiesare likely to get an equal sharein the Council of Ministers.

“The parties are negotiat-ing for portfolios and the grandold party is seeking Home andRevenue while NCP desires tosit over Finance andCooperatives. The Ministry ofCoperatives is Maharashtra is

perceived a important portfo-lio,” said a senior Congressleader closely monitoring theMaharashtra developmentsadding that Congress wantsfinalisation of the CMP before

moving forward to an officialannouncement.

The UPA alliance partnershave deputed leaders for hold-ing talks on a possible alliancewith the Shiv Sena, a party

closely associated with Hindutvaand anti-Congressism.

Amid cautious approach bythe NCP -Congress, Shiv Senatoo has called a meeting of allits MLAs and senior leaders on

Friday to be chaired by Senachief Uddhav Thackeray.

In the last month’s assemblypolls, the NCP and theCongress, pre-poll allies, won 54and 44 seats, respectively in the

288- member assembly wherethe majority mark is 145. Shiv

Sena has 56 seats in its bag BJPemerged largest at 106 seats.

����� 2.��6.15!

As long-time allies BJP andthe Shiv Sena remain

unrelenting on their stancewith the latter choosing tobreak the alliance, RSS chiefMohan Bhagwat on Tuesdayhad a word of caution andadvise for the two sides with-out naming them.

“Everyone knows that self-ishness is a bad thing but veryfew people give up their self-ishness. Everybody knows thatboth of them will face loss ifthey are going to fight over amatter,” he said.

The head of the RSS towhom both the BJP and theShiv Sena show their ideo-logical adherence to, warnedthem of the adverse impact offallout of their tug-of-war forpower in Maharashtra.

Bhagwat, without namingthe two former partners of the

previous alliance Governmentin Maharashtra, warned that“both will face loss” if theyfought over any matter.

“Everyone knows that self-ishness is a bad thing but veryfew people give up their self-ishness. Take the example ofthe country or of individuals,”Mr Bhagwat said at an event inNagpur on Tuesday, newsagency ANI quoted him as say-ing.

“Everybody knows thatboth of them will face loss ifthey are going to fight over amatter,” he said.

The Sena’s insistence ofsharing Chief Ministershipwith the BJP had led bothfalling apart on the issue ofGovernment formation inMaharashtra with formermaking friends with politicalrivals Nationalist CongressParty and the Congress in itsbid to wrest power in the State.

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����� 2.��6.15!

The CRPF has written toStates and Union

Territories about the new pro-tocols for Congress presidentSonia Gandhi and her familymembers’ security and willsoon seek Government nod forraising one more battalion forsecuring them.

But in the meantime, theCongress has given a notice tomove an adjournment motionin the Lok Sabha against thewithdrawal of SPG cover of theGandhi family. Describing themove as “arbitrary”, theCongress in the notice said thesecurity cover was withdrawnignoring the existing and prob-able threats to the Gandhifamily.

The Union HomeMinistry central Governmentearlier this month replaced theSpecial Protection Group(SPG) security cover given toSonia Gandhi, her son RahulGandhi and daughter PriyankaGandhi Vadra by the ‘Z-plus’

category security of theCentral Reserve Police Force(CRPF).

Officials said the paramil-itary force will seek sanctionfrom the government for pro-curement of specializedarmoured vehicles to secure thenew protectees including for-mer prime ministerManmohan Singh besides theGnadhi family.

Informing the States andthe UTs, the CRPF has articu-lated that the Gandhi familyhas been accorded an advancesecurity liaison (ASL) protocoland this will require the “sup-port” of their intelligence,police and administrativemachinery prior to any of thefive new protectees -- SoniaGandhi, Rahul, Priyanka,Manmohan Singh and his wifeGursharan Kaur -- reachingtheir jurisdictions on official orpersonal tours.

Former PMManmohan Singh’s SPG secu-rity cover was withdrawn bythe Centre in August.

As part of the ASL drill, aspecial CRPF team will travelat least 24 hours in advance tothe location to be visited bythese protectees and liaise withlocal authorities to sanitise thevenue and isolate the areas thatthe VVIPs will visit.

Through the official com-munication, the five protecteeswill need to be given all admin-istrative and police supportalong with route plans andtravel maps.

In the Lok Sabha, theCongress on Tuesday gave anotice to move an adjournmentmotion against the withdraw-al of Special Protection Group(SPG) cover of the Gandhifamily.

Describing the move as“arbitrary”, the Congress inthe notice said the securitycover was withdrawn ignoringthe existing and probablethreats to the Gandhi family.

An adjournment motion ismoved to stop the proceedingsof the House to take up theissue raised in the motion.

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The Union Home Ministryon Tuesday informed Lok

Sabha that security forces hadarrested 765 people in con-nection with stone pelting casesand incidents of stone peltinghas declined in J&K since theabrogation of Article 370.“Since August 5, 2019 toNovember 15, 2019, 765 peo-ple have been arrested in 190cases registered relating tostone pelting/law and order.

From January 1, 2019 to August4, 2019, 361 such cases wereregistered,” said Minister ofState for Home G KishanReddy, replying to a writtenquestion in the Lok Sabha.

“Investigation has revealedthat various separatist organi-sations and activists, whichare part of the Hurriyat, havebeen behind the incidents ofstonepelting in the Kashmirvalley. The NIA haschargesheeted 18 persons interror-funding cases so far,” hesaid.

Reddy said theGovernment had adoptedmulti-pronged policies to checkthe stonepelting menace andhad succeeded in curbing it tothe extent that a large numberof troublemakers, instigatorsand mob mobilisers were iden-tified and various preventivemeasures taken against them,

including detention under thestringent Public Safety Act(PSA) and preventive arrests.

Replying to another ques-tion, Reddy said the J&Kadministration had informedthat a total of 34,10,219 tourists,including 12,934 foreigners,visited J&K in the last sixmonths and an income of �25.12 crore was earned throughtourism during this period.The Minister said after theabrogation of Article 370, ini-tially, attendance of studentswas thin in the schools of J&K,which gradually picked up andat present, stood at 99.7 percent during the ongoing exam-ination.

On a question related touse of pellet guns since August5, the Minister said pellet gunswere used with abundant cau-tion, only to deal with severelaw-and-order problems to

avoid civilian casualties. Regarding Left Wing

Extremism, the Minister saidviolence dropped by 43 percent between May 2014 andApril 2019 compared to the fiveyears before that, the Centresaid on Tuesday, and disclosedthat only 10 districts account-ed for two-third of the inci-dents. Reddy said that thesteadfast implementation ofpolicy has resulted in consistentdecline in violence and in thegeographical spread shrink-ing.

“Only 10 districts accountfor 2/3rd of Left WingExtremism violence. The LWErelated incidents of violencebetween May-2014 to April-2019 have been 43 per centlesser while compared withthe preceding five years period,”he said in response to a writtenquestion.

����� 2.��6.15!

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birlaon Tuesday warned that he

will be forced to take actionagainst members protesting inthe Well as Congress and otherOpposition parties, includingDMK and TMC, indulged insloganeering.

The Speaker also took noteof Congress leader RahulGandhi’s absence from theHouse and said he had want-ed to give a chance to the for-mer Congress president duringQuestion Hour as the latter’sname being listed for a ques-tion on `PM Gram SadakYojna’ in Kerala.

From the word go, LokSabha again witnessed, for thesecond-day, scenes of slogan-shouting with Congress-led-opposition trooping in the wellof the house, shouting againstthe Modi-Government.

This followed Congress,

DMK and TMC seeking toraise their respective issuesduring the question hour butwere disallowed by the Speaker.Birla, however, did permittedthem to speak soon after thequestion hour which wasforced be undertaken in theloud din created by the oppo-sition MPs.

There were around 20MPs from the Congress whohad collected in the well of thehouse shouting “Tanashahinahin chalegi”.

Besides the Congress,members from the NationalConference were also in theWell.

Birla repeatedly requestedthe protesting members to goback to their seats as the ques-tions were about farmers’issues.

He asked Congress andDMK MPs to speak on thefarmers issue which was beingtaken up in the house.

As the protests continuedand seemed coming closer tohis chair, an indignant Speakerwarned that action would betaken against members andhe may even name them.

“There might have beenprecedents of protesting in theWell. From today onwards, no(member) will protest in theWell. If not, I will be forced totake action,” he said. At onepoint of time, the Speaker alsosaid that he would give achance for protesting membersto ask supplementaries if theygo back to their respectiveseats.

The members continuedwith their noisy protests until thecommencement of the zerohour when they spoke on theirrespective issues including policeaction against JNU students, andthereafter staged a walk-out.

Congress members soughtto raise various issues, includ-ing the withdrawal of SPG

security cover of party presi-dent Sonia Gandhi, her sonRahul Gandhi and her daugh-ter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

The Speaker took note ofCongress leader RahulGandhi’s absence from the LokSabha saying he had wanted togive a chance to the formerCongress president duringQuestion Hour.

“His (Rahul Gandhi’s)question was listed for theQuestion Hour and I wanted togive him a chance had he beenpresent,” Birla remarked whenK Suresh , Congress MP fromKerala, got up to speak duringZero Hour from Rahul’s seat.

The speaker asked Sureshto move to his designated seatand continue.As per the LokSabha schedule, question num-ber 28 was listed against thename of Rahul.

The question pertained toPradhan Mantri Gram SadakYojana for Kerala.

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����� 2.��6.15!

President Ram Nath Kovindon Tuesday exuded confi-

dence that the IITs and NITs,with their specialisations, will beable to find solutions to addressthe problem of air pollution aswell as create sensitivity amongstudents and researchers.

He was addressing theannual ‘visitor’s conference’ atthe Rashtrapati Bhawan,attended by directors of 23Indian Institutes of Technology(IITs), 31 National Institutes ofTechnology (NITs) and IndianInstitute of Engineering ScienceAnd Technology (IIEST),Shibpur.

“This is that time of theyear when the air quality of thenational capital as well as ofmany other cities worsensbeyond all norms. Many sci-entists and futurologists havepainted doomsday scenarios.On days of smog and poor vis-ibility in our cities, we fear thefuture might already be here,”Kovind said. “We are facing akind of challenge here that wehave never faced before.Hydrocarbon energy changed

the face of the world in the lastcouple of centuries, but now itis threatening our very exis-tence. The challenge is com-pounded for nations battling tobring substantial sections ofpopulations out of poverty.

Yet, we will have to find alter-natives,” President Kovind said.

He expressed confidencethat institutions like IITs, NITswith their various specialisa-tions, would take care to createa sensitivity and awareness

among students andresearchers towards our com-mon future,” Kovind said.”Iam sure that your institutes,with your various specialisa-tions, will find a solution andtake care to create a sensitivi-ty and awareness among stu-dents and researchers towardsour common future,” he added.

The conference was thepart of regular interactions ofthe President with such insti-tutions in his capacity as a vis-itor to 152 Central Universitiesand institutions of higher learn-ing.The president said thatafter the government’s efforts toimprove India’s ranking on theEase of Doing Business Index,the aim is now to improve theEase of Living for all citizens.

“How can we move for-ward in that direction, andmake life easier for all, espe-cially those on the margins ofsociety? Later this week,Governors of states will behere in Rashtrapati Bhavanand this will be one of themajor points of deliberation intheir conference. I am surethere are solutions in the areaof Governance,” he said.

����� 2.��6.15!

BJP Parliamentary Partymeeting on Tuesday

focused on Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s “successful”visits to several countries aswell as his participation inevents such as the UNGA andBRICS meetings, and India’srefusal to join RCEP in “nation-al interest”. Modi did notattend the meet.

Foreign Minister SJaishankar and Commerce andIndustry Minister Piyush Goyalbriefed BJP MPs on the issue inthe first meeting of the WinterSession of Parliament and whatit meant for India.

Interestingly, in the LokSabha BJD leader BhartruhariMahtab, during the day, soughtto know during the zero houras what were the gains for thecountry by joining BRICS vis-à-vis China who he said hasfavourable trade deficit and hademerged an economic power.

Jaishankar told MPs thatrefusal of India to join theRegional ComprehensiveEconomic Partnership (RCEP)had secured country’s interests.

He spoke in detail aboutModi’s participation in theUnited National GeneralAssembly meeting in the US inSeptember and the ‘HowdyModi’ rally, attended by thou-

sands of people of Indian ori-gin (PIO), which was attendedby US President DonaldTrump. The Prime Minister’sparticipation in the BRICS andASEAN meetings besides histrips to Russia, Saudi Arabia,Bahrain and Bhutan were alsospotlighted, with Jaishankartelling the ruling party’s law-makers that Modi brought the

issue of terrorism to the foreand found support from mostcountries. The ForeignMinister mentioned the deci-sion of Saudi Arabia andBahrain to accord their high-est civilian honour on Modi.

In his briefing on India’sdecision to keep out of t theRCEP, Goyal said it was innational interest as joining thegrouping would have widenedIndia’s trade deficits with somecountries and harmed itsdomestic industry, sources said.

Goyal said the UPA gov-ernment favoured joining theRCEP but the Modi govern-ment has stood for the country’sinterest by keeping out of it.

����� 2.��6.15!

Onion production in kharifand late-kharif seasons of

2019-20 is estimated to fall 26per cent to 52.06 lakh tonne,putting pressure on supply andprices, Food Minister RamVilas Paswan said on Tuesday.

The all-India averageretail price of onion stood at�60.38 per kg on November 15,compared with �22.84 per kgon the same date last year.

In a written reply to theLok Sabha, he said onion is aseasonal crop with harvestingperiod of rabi (March to June),kharif (October to December)and late-kharif (January-March). During July to

October, the supply in themarket comes from storedonions from rabi season.

“During 2019-20, therewas a 3-4 weeks delay in sow-ing as well as decline in sownarea of the kharif onion becauseof late arrival of monsoon.Further, untimely prolongedrains in the major growingStates of Karnataka,Maharashtra and MadhyaPradesh during the harvestingperiod caused damage to thestanding crops in theseregions,” Paswan said. As aresult, the Minister said theproduction of kharif crop wasaffected.

The rains duringSeptember-October also hit

transportation of crop fromthese producing regions toconsuming centres, he said.

“This led to limited avail-ability of kharif onions in themarket and has put pressure onits prices,” Paswan said.

During the current year,the production of kharif andlate-kharif is estimated to be52.06 lakh tonne, which isabout 26 per cent lower thanthe previous year's productionof 69.91 lakh tonne in thesame seasons, the Ministersaid.

Paswan said theGovernment has banned onionexports and imposed stocklimits to boost domestic supplyand check prices.

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RAIPUR | WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 20, 2019chhattisgarh 03

Chhattisgarh’s Chief Secretary RP Mandal addressing employees of state secretariat on Tuesday in Nava Raipur which isdescribed the first ever such interaction by any chief secretary of the state till date. Mandal advised the staff to be punctualand disciplined. Pioneer Photo

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel has once again

written a letter to PrimeMinister Narendra Modirequesting him for procure-ment of paddy inChhattisgarh at `2500 perquintal and inclusion of 32lakh metric tons of rice fromChhattisgarh into centralpool.

Chief Minister stated inhis letter that every year, alarge quantity of paddy isprocured under

Decentralized ProcurementScheme in Chhattisgarh statefor state's requirement andcentral pool.

“I have written letters toyou dated 05/07/2019,25/10/2019 and 30/10/2019,requesting hike in minimumsupport price of paddy to`2500 quintal andprocurement of 32 lakhmetric tons of rice fromChhattisgarh for centralpool,’’ the letter read.

The letter added, “thisyear also, the process ofpaddy procurement is aboutto begin, to financially

empower the farmers ofChhattisgarh. ButGovernment of India's FoodMinistry informed onOctober 24 that Governmentof India would not procurerice/paddy for central poolfrom the states that providebonus on minimum supportprice fixed by Government ofIndia. I would like to drawyour attention towards thefact that payment of propervalue of their yield hasresulted in prosperity andaccelerated development inrural areas. Chhattisgarhremained untouched by the

recession across the state inthe fields of construction,automobiles etc. This alsoindicates that hike inminimum support price haspositive effects on financialcondition of farmers and alsoboosts overall economy,’’.

Chief Minister men-tioned about the severalattempts made by him tomeet Prime Minister Modipersonally but he has notbeen provided anappointment till date.

Chief Minister stated thatfollowing the suggestionsreceived from PM office, he

met Union AgricultureMinister on November 14.

“Besides, I met UnionFood Minister again onNovember 14 and madeaforementioned request. Buttill date, Government of Indiahas not reconsidered itsdecision regardingprocurement’’ Baghel wasquoted in the official pressstatement.

Baghel stated in the letterthat Chhattisgarh is known as'rice bowl'. “Government ofIndia's decision may haveadverse effects onprocurement along with

other long-term negativeimpacts. In the context, I hada detailed discussion with allthe MPs, all the politicalparties and various farmers’organizations on November5. During the discussion,individuals, political partiesand farmers organizationshad unanimously supportedprocurement of paddy at`2500 per quintal. It is sadthat none of the representa-tives from Bharatiya JanataParty participated in thisdiscussion,’’.

Chief Minister further saidthat in this situation, I requestyou again to kindly issue nec-essary directive-instructionsfor procurement of paddy at`2500 per quintal inChhattisgarh and to accept 32lakh metric tons of paddy fromChhattisgarh for central pool.

“If under any circum-stances, Government of Indiadoes not increase the supportprice, then conditions ofpara-1 of Procurement MoUshould be slackened, as it wasdone in year 2017 and 2018,so that state government mayprovide proper value offarmers' yield at its ownexpense. I request you tokindly provide appointmentfor meeting as soon aspossible to address thisextremely important financialissue of national interest,stated’’ said Baghel in theletter.

Baghel seeks PM Modi’s help toprocure paddy at `2500 per quintal

STAFF REPORTER nBEMETARA

Chhattisgarh ChiefMinister Bhupesh

Baghel announced to set upan ethanol plant inBemetara district, upgradeNandghat sub tehsil totehsil and Bhimbhori as subtehsil along with dedicat-ing developmental works tothe tune of `98 crore inBemetara district onTuesday.

Addressing A publicgathering at Basic SchoolGround, Bemetara, ChiefMinister assured thefarmers that paddy will beprocured at `2500 perquintal and Centre has beenurged to procure paddy as

earlier.While speaking on the

occasion, Home ministerTamradhwaj Sahu said

systematic development ofBemetara district will be

done and a four-lane roadwill be constructed.

He also spoke on ashow state culture is beingconserved and promotedand assured people of pro-viding all assistance indeveloping tourists’ spots indistrict.

Agriculture ministerRavindra Choubey urgedpeople to harvest water torecharge ground water bybuilding structures onrivulets.

Chief Minister gaveaway different materialsbased on various schemesfor women and children,e-rickshaw, sewingmachines, battery runtri-cycle and others.

Ethanol plant to be set upin Bemetara district: Baghel

Three Naxals arrested in BijapurBIJAPUR: Three Naxals, including a woman, were arrestedfrom a field in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, a senior policeofficial said.

The three naxals identified as Podiyam Nagesh (26), KadtiChandaiyya (45) and Madvi Mase (22). The arrests were madeby a team of the CRPF and local police near Polampalli villageunder Basaguda police station limits.

"They were involved in Naxal incidents, includingloot and murder. They have confessed to being part of theoutlawed movement," a local senior police official informed.

STAFF REPORTER nAMBIKAPUR

State ElectionCommissioner Thakur

Ram Singh on Tuesday saidthat the election for urbanbodies in the state will be heldnext month.

Talking to media personshere, he said theCommission had alreadychalked out a schedule forthe same and the process forthe elections would beginthis month.

Singh was here in Surgujaheadquarters Ambikapur toreview the preparations for thepolls.

The meeting alsoreviewed the preparationsfor security arrangementsduring the upcoming urbanbodies elections.Followed by urban bodies’elections, polls for a three-tier panchayat bodieswould be held in January,informed Singh.

‘Urban bodies’ togo for polls in Dec’

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Making a major overhaul ofits web portal, Chhattisgarh

Real Estate Regulatory Authority(CGRERA) had made arrange-ments that from now onwardsanyone could be able to see thedetails furnished by promotersand builders for their particularprojects.

Official source informingabout the changes in RERA web-site said that the details furnishedby the builders related to sale,hypothecation and remaininghouses for sale could now be vis-ible to all.

The website would also havedetails of investment on projectsin all the big cities across thestate.

There would be quarterlyupdate in the records of the projectand authorized chartered account-

ant would make necessary timelyrevision on it, sources claimed.

RERA makes web portalmore transparent

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel on Tuesday laid a

foundation stone for roadprojects amounting `1983crore at a function in statecapital. Construction and

up-gradation of 479 kilome-ters of roads across the statewould be carried out withassistance of AsianDevelopment Bank.

Speaking on this occasion,Baghel termed excellent roadsan indicator of economic

development of any state.With construction of roadsunder the project the villagesand small towns would alsoget connectivity, he said.

The roads projects includerenovation work of Bilaspur-Korba road and an adminis-

trative sanction of `30 crorehas been made for thispurpose, he added.

Regarding pendinghighway projects the ChiefMinister informed that he hadheld talks with Union RoadTransport and HighwayMinister who had assured ofspeeding up the pending roadworks. Baghel further stressedon timely completion of proj-ects apart from maintainingquality in construction work.

PWD MinisterTamradhwaj Sahu speakingon this occasion stressed onthe need of strengtheninginfrastructure fordevelopment of state.

The road projects forwhich foundation were laidinclude Tikarapara Raipur-Sejbahar-Semra-Bhakhara-Dhamtari road worth `287.44crore and road constructionworth 148.76 crore inGariaband starting fromPanduka-Jatmai-Ghatarani-Gaidabri-Madeli-Mudagaonand a project worth `157.37crore in Rajnandgaon district.

Quality roads parametersof economic devpt: Baghel

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As the much looked-forKartarpur Corridor con-

tinued to witness low footfall ofpilgrims even after 10 days ofits opening, the political lead-ers in Punjab are seeking eas-ing of the process to visit thegurudwara at the other side ofthe border from both Indianand Pakistani Governments.

Punjab Cabinet Ministerand senior Congress leaderSukhjinder Singh Randhawaon Tuesday demanded thePrime Minister NarendraModi’s personal interventionurging him to ease the processfor visiting Sri Kartarpur Sahib.

At the same time, ShiromaniAkali Dal (SAD) presidentSukhbir Badal urged PakistanPrime Minister Imran Khan toimplement his “passport waiv-er announcement” besidesremoving the 20 dollars servicefee condition.

Randhawa said that the“complex” process to visitGurudwara Sri Kartarpur Sahibin Narowal district of WestPunjab in Pakistan is thebiggest impediment for theNanak Naam Leva Sangat, andit should be eased keeping inview their sentiments.

He appealed to the PrimeMinister to intervene person-ally in the matter and issue

orders for making the processsimplified to enable the sangatto visit Gurudwara SriKartarpur Sahib.

The Minister also demand-ed the waiving of conditionspertaining to the police verifi-cation and applying in advance.The condition of passport mustalso be lifted and the issueneeds to be taken up with thePakistan Government, headded.

“After the news of PakistanPrime Minister Imran Khantweeting regarding waiving thepassport condition got out, theconfusion has increased for thesangat as when they began tofill the online forms, they

encounter the column askingfor passport details,” he point-ed while appealing to the PrimeMinister to direct the UnionHome Ministry to do awaywith the passport details col-umn.

“If the condition is still inforce, then take up the issuewith Pakistani counterpart,”he said adding that most of thepilgrims belongs to theadvanced age groups who don’thave passports but they have adesire to visit Gurudwara SriKartarpur Sahib.

“The Home Ministry hasimposed unnecessary condi-tions such as verification etc onthe pilgrims applying for visit-

ing Gurudwara Sri KartarpurSahib, whereas the Indiansgoing to Pakistan via Wagahand other countries don’t haveto encounter such issues,” hepointed out.

SUKHBIR URGESIMRAN KHAN TO IMPLE-MENT PASSPORT WAIVERA N N O U N C E M E N T ,REMOVE $20 SERVICE FEECONDITION

SAD president SukhbirBadal on Tuesday askedPakistan Prime Minister ImranKhan to waive the requirementof passport identification toaccess the Kartarpur Corridorbesides asking him to do away

with the 20 dollar service feebeing levied on pilgrims.

“Though the PakistanPrime Minister had announcedthat a passport would not beneeded to gain access to theKartarpur Corridor by Indianpilgrims and that any valididentify would suffice, thePakistan army had clarifiedlater that entry would be givenon the basis of a passportbased identity only,” he said.

Sukhbir asked Khan toinstruct Pak Government offi-cials to accept any valid iden-tity except passports from thedevotees. “Majority of people inthe rural areas do not havepassports. Moreover, making a

passport for this visit aloneamounts to an additionalexpenditure of around Rs2,000. Most of the devoteesplan to travel in family groupsand this means an averagefamily would have to spend atleast Rs 8,000 on preparation ofpassports besides additionalexpenditure on reaching DeraBaba Nanak,” he said.

He added that if the 20 dol-lars service charge is also takeninto account, an average fam-ily of four would have to spendaround Rs 15,000 to visit SriKartarpur Sahib which isbeyond the reach of underprivileged sections of society.

Sukhbir said that even

presently, passport was notneeded except for identificationpurposes as no visa was beingissued for the visit to KartarpurSahib.He also urged the Pak PMto waive off 20 dollars service feebeing charged from pilgrimsgoing to Sri Kartarpur Sahibthrough the Corridor. “The ser-vice fee is unjustified as it isagainst the basic tenets ofSikhism which stipulated thatthere should not be any obsta-cle in the way of ‘darshan’ of‘Guru ka ghar’. Removal of thisfee would be in keeping with thespirit behind establishment ofthe Corridor to allow ‘khule dar-shan deedar’ of the last abode ofSri Guru Nanak Dev,” he said.

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Acceding to Punjab ChiefMinister Capt Amarinder

Singh’s demand, IT giantGoogle has removed the seces-sionist, “anti-India” mobileapplication ‘2020 SikhReferendum’ from its Play Storewith immediate effect.

“This app is not availableany more on Google Play Storefor mobile users in India,” saida spokesperson of the ChiefMinister’s office.

The Chief Minister, whohad also urged the CentralGovernment to persuadeGoogle in the matter, hadasked the state DirectorGeneral of Police (DGP) tocoordinate with central securityagencies to tackle the threatresulting from the launch of theapp, created by ‘ICETECH’.

The app had asked thegeneral public to register them-selves to vote in the ‘PunjabReferendum 2020 Khalistan’. Awebsite with the address of

www.yes2khalistan.org wasalso launched on the samelines for the same purpose.

During analysis of the saidapplication and the website inthe DITAC Lab, Punjab, it wasfound that the data of votersregistered through the app wasalso linked and stored in theweb server of the website,n a m e l ywww.yes2Khalistan.org, creat-ed and handled by ‘Sikhs ForJustice’ (SFJ), an Associationbanned by the IndianGovernment.

Based on these findings,the Cyber Crime Centre ofBureau of Investigation,Punjab, had moved to get theApp removed from the GooglePlay Store and the websiteblocked for usage in India.

Subsequently, onNovember 8, 2019, a noticeunder Section 79 (3) B ofInformation Technology Actwas sent to the Google LegalCell for immediate removal ofthe mobile application from the

Google Play Store.After obtaining approval

from the Additional ChiefSecretary (Home), a request let-ter was sent to Cyber LawDivision, Department ofElectronics and Informationand Technology, Governmentof India, for blocking themobile application fromGoogle Play Store and thewebsite, under Rule 9 (Blockingof Information in case ofEmergency) of Blocking Rule(IT Procedure and Safeguardsfor Blocking Access of infor-mation by public) Rules, 2009.

On November 9, 2019, IGPCrime Nageshwar Rao and in-charge State Cyber-cum-DITAC Lab raised the issuewith the Legal Cell of GoogleIndia, which was convincedthat the Google platform wasabused for committing illegaland anti-national activities bybanned association ‘Sikhs ForJustice’, followed by their deci-sion to remove the app fromtheir Play Store.

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The ruling BJP in Haryanaseems to be inclined to

favour Honeypreet Insan, anaccused in the Panchkula vio-lence case, to meet jailed DeraSacha Sauda chief GurmeetRam Rahim Singh, who wasconvicted in August 2017 forraping two of his disciples.

Haryana Home MinisterAnil Vij on Tuesday said that iflaw permits, Honeypreet canmeet Dera chief Ram Rahim.

While talking to the medi-apersons after reviewing thePolice Department functioningin his first meeting after assum-ing charge, Vij said that the gov-ernment has asked the police tore-examine the issue.

“The government is takinglegal opinion on the applicationof Honeypreet to meet RamRahim and if there is no issue,she can meet him,” Vij said,adding however, no decision hasbeen taken on the issue so far.

“If there is positive report,we will allow them to meet veryshortly,” the Home Ministeradded.

Honeypreet, whose original

name is Priyanka Taneja, wasreleased from Ambala jail onNovember 6 after she got bailfrom Panchkula court. Her bailcame days after the trial courtdropped sedition chargesagainst Honeypreet and 35other accused.

It is learnt that after beingreleased from the jail,Honeypreet reached Sirsa basedDera Sacha Sauda headquarters

and since then she has madeseveral attempts to meet her fos-ter father Gurmeet Ram Rahim.

Sources said that the meet-ing between Ram Rahim andHoneypreet could create lawand order problem in the state.

On the issue of law andorder situation, Anil Vij said,“All the aspects including lawand order are being lookedinto minutely. Law and order

situation will not be allowed todeteriorate at any cost. Everyperson has the equal right tomeet the convict and the lawcan’t stop anyone from meetingany person. The law will beapplied same for Honeypreet.”

Notably, the self-styled god-man Ram Rahim, who has ahuge following in this region,had earlier sought a parole of 42days for tending the sprawling

fields in his sect’s headquartersin Sirsa town, but was declinedowing to law and order problemwith his release.

A special CBI court inPanchkula had in January alsosentenced him and three othersto life imprisonment for themurder of a journalist over 16years ago. The 51-year-old iscurrently lodged in the high-security Sunaria jail in Rohtak.

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Athree-member team of theElection Commission of

India (ECI) on Tuesday visitedJamshedpur to conduct an ori-entation workshop at XISS audi-torium for block level officers onthe use of Booth App.

While addressing the blocklevel officials Deputy ElectionCommissioner Sudeep Jain saidthat a large share of the credit forsuccessfully conducting elec-tions in India goes to the BLOs.

“You have an importantrole of making voters aware andensuring that they cast theirvotes. There are polling boothsin India which have only onevoter in the list. This shows theimportance of every vote,” saidJain. Chief Electoral Officer,Jharkhand, Vinay KumarChoubey congratulated theBLOs for adding a large num-ber of women and young vot-ers to the electoral roll. He said

that the Booth App will be usedin 10 Assembly constituenciesspread acrossnine districtsduring the elec-tions here.Praising the voters’ awarenessjingle released by EastSinghbhum district adminis-tration, Choubey said that itwould be linked to the

Systematic Voters’ Educationand Electoral Participation

(SVEEP) pro-gram of the state.

Through theBooth App, vot-

ers will be able to get real-timestatus of their polling booth andtime their visit accordingly inorder to avoid waiting in queue.The BLOs will also be able to

use the App and know the real-time status of voter turnout ina particular polling station. TheApp was used in pilot projectsduring the Uttar Pradesh,Maharashtra and Haryana elec-tions.

Booth app will be used in49-Jamshedpur West and 48-Jamshedpur East AssemblyConstituencies in this district.

Meanwhile, officials fromthe Chief Electoral Officer’soffice in Ranchi on Tuesdaysaid that the polling process inat least 25 per cent of pollingstations in all the districts willbe webcasted. DeputySecretary in CEO’s office,Shabbir Ahmad said that allnecessary arrangements arebeing made for live streamingof voting related activitiesinside the polling stations. Onthe polling day, the office of theCEO and dedicated controlrooms in all the districts willmonitor live webcasting atpolling stations.

The control rooms, headded, will have a nodal officerand technical assistant. Timelyand quick fixes for any errorduring live monitoring of web-casting will be ensured by thecontrol rooms. For this, a policeofficer with a wireless set willalso be deployed in the controlroom.

The flow of live streamingwill be tested two days inadvance in order to ensure zerolapses in the process on the dayof polling. Elections for the 81assembly constituencies inJharkhand will begin onNovember 30 and end onDecember 20.

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From Page 1Malik, who was the Indian

Army chief during the Kargilconflict, took to social media toraise concerns over the newlook of the Rajya Sabha mar-shals.

Tagging Rajya Sabha chair-man M Venkaiah Naidu andDefence Minister RajnathSingh in his tweet, Malik saidhe hoped that the DefenceMinister would “take earlyaction [sic]”.

From Page 1Apart from 20 urban bod-

ies which went to the Congress,it claimed it is in a position toform the boards in about 10more with the help of inde-pendent candidates.

“This is a resounding vic-tory of the Congress in theurban local bodies election.Out of 49, the Congress willform boards in about 30municipalities,” Deputy ChiefMinister and Pradesh CongressCommittee president SachinPilot said.

“Our leaders and workersworked tirelessly for the lastseven months and its result isthat people have reposed theirfaith in the Congress,” he said.

He said BJP leader believedthat their party has strongroots in urban areas.”But nowthat myth has been broken,” headded.

BJP State president SatishPoonia said his party wouldcontrol nine ULBs in additionto the six where it scored amajority. “This is not a majorvictory of the Congress. We arein a position to form boards inabout 15 municipalities, includ-ing six where we have got aclear majority,” Poonia said.

In Jhunjhunu district’sPilani nagar palika, indepen-dent candidates won 30 of the35 wards. The 49 urban localbodies include three municipalcorporations, 18 nagarparishads and 28 nagar palikas.

Fourteen candidates werealready elected unopposed.Altogether 71.53 per cent of theregistered voters exercised theirfranchise. There were 7,942contestants, including 2,832women. Elections to the postsof chairmen and deputy chair-men of the local bodies will beheld next Tuesday andWednesday.

From Page 1“IPC sections 147 (pun-

ishment for rioting), 148(rioting, armed with deadlyweapon), 149 (every memberof unlawful assembly guilty ofoffence committed in prose-cution of common object),151 (knowingly joining orcontinuing in assembly offive or more persons after ithas been commanded to dis-perse), 34 (acts done by sev-eral persons in furtherance ofcommon intention) and sec-tion 3 of the Prevention ofDamage to Public PropertyAct were also added to theFIR,” said the DCP.

Opposition members inLok Sabha on Tuesdaydescribed as “suppression ofvoice” the alleged baton-charge by police on JNU stu-dents demanding total roll-back of hostel fee hike.

Raising the issue duringZero Hour, Saugata Roy(TMC), TN Prathapan(Cong) and Danish Ali (BSP)

accused the Government ofusing force to suppress thevoice of students.

Meanwhile, the JNUSU,which has been leading theagitation against massive hos-tel fee hike for three weeks,said the strike would not becalled off until their demandswere met.

The students’ unionalleged that the Registrar ofthe University refused to meetthe members of the HRDMinistry-appointed panel formediating between the agi-tating students and theadministration and recom-mending ways to restore thenormal functioning of theUniversity.

“We have got to know thatthe registrar refused to meetthe HRD Ministry-appointedpanel to mediate between usand the University. See theirhigh-handedness. When theycan refuse to entertainGovernment representatives,how can they be expected to

talk to us,” Ghosh said.Earlier on Monday morn-

ing, demanding complete roll-back of the proposed hostelfee hike, hundreds of studentsof Jawaharlal NehruUniversity (JNU) carryingplacards and chanting slo-gans, marched towardsParliament on the first day ofthe Winter Session.

Section-144 was imposedoutside the JNU campusahead of the protest. DelhiPolice personnel and CentralArmed Police Force (CAPF)stopped the students on theBaba Gangnath Marg, around600 metres from the Northgate of the University but thestudents jumped over the bar-ricades.

Initially on Monday after-noon, the barricades outsideJNU’s gates were removedand the students were allowedto march towards Parliamentbut were again stopped onroad outside the SafdarjangTomb near Jor Bagh. The

students sat on the roadwhich leads to long trafficsnarls on Aurobindo Margand it soon spread to otherarterial roads as the cascadingimpact was felt till C-hexagon,the Indian Gate roundabout.

The police detainedaround 100 protestors, includ-ing JNUSU president AisheGhosh, secretar y Sat ishChandra Yadav and formerJNUSU president N Sai Balaji.

The marching studentswere finally prevented frommoving further outside theSafdarjung Tomb, where, theyalleged, the police baton-charged them, an allegationwhich was denied lock stockand barrel for the Delhi Policetop brass.

Earlier, an FIR was regis-tered against unidentifiedpersons on Saturday last, overan incident of “defacement” ofthe JNU’s administrationblock and the same is beinginvestigated, said a policeofficer.

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Taking strong cognizanceof the allegations on med-

ical officer for dereliction ofduty in providing timely treat-ment to Jagmail Singh whosubsequently died atPGIMER, Chandigarh,Punjab Health Minister BalbirSingh Sidhu on Tuesdaydirected the PrincipalSecretary (Health) AnuragAggarwal to probe the matterand submit comprehensivereport in three days.

As per media reports,Jagmail Singh was initiallytaken to the government hos-pital and the medical officeron duty did not discharge hisduty properly and did not filethe MLR (medico-legalreport), said the officialspokesperson of the HealthDepartment. Spokespersonadded that the media reportshad levelled serious allegationon the part of medical officeron duty which became one of

the reasons for Jagmail Singh’sdeath.Sidhu, taking strongnotice of this case, asked thePrincipal Secretary (Health)to inquire the role of medicalofficer on duty and submitreport to him in three days.

National and state SC pan-els to conduct joint probe

Punjab State Commissionfor Scheduled Castes (PSCSC)on Tuesday formed a two-member team comprisingCommission members GianChand Diwali and PoonamKangra to enquire the killingof the dalit youth. They wouldprobe the issue jointly withthe National Commission forScheduled Castes and submitits report to the Commission.

PSCSC chairpersonTejinder Kaur said that theCommission had taken suo-motu of this serious issue onthe basis of news reports pub-lished on November 15 andsought a comprehensivereport from Sangrur SSP.

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The United States no longerbelieves that Israeli settle-

ments in the Palestinian terri-tories are illegal, Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo announcedon Monday, in the latest pro-Israel shift by Washington.

The statement puts theUnited States at odds with vir-tually all countries as well asUN Security Council resolu-tions and was hailed by IsraeliPrime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu, a close ally ofPresident Donald Trump whois days away from potentiallylosing office.

“After carefully studyingall sides of the legal debate,”Pompeo told reporters, theUnited States has concludedthat “the establishment ofIsraeli civilian settlements inthe West Bank is not, per se,inconsistent with internation-al law.”

“Calling the establishmentof civilian settlements incon-sistent with international law

hasn’t worked. It hasn’tadvanced the cause of peace,”Pompeo said.

Pompeo said that theUnited States was not neces-sarily considering the settle-ments legal either but insteadwould defer to the judgment ofIsraeli courts.

The Palestinian Authority— which has refused negotia-tions through the Trumpadministration, which it con-siders biased -- denounced thelatest decision.

Washington is “not qual-ified or authorized to cancelthe resolutions of interna-tional law, and has no right togrant legal ity to any Israeli settlement,” Palestinianpresidential spokesman NabilAbu Rudeinah said in a statement.

But Netanyahu said thatthe US shift “rights a historicalwrong” for the 600,000 Israelisettlers who live in the WestBank and east Jerusalemamong around 2.9 millionPalestinians.

Washington: US Chief JusticeJohn Roberts said that theSupreme Court has issued atemporary stay of a federalappeals court ruling that grant-ed a House Committee accessto eight years of PresidentDonald Trump’s financialrecords from his accountingfirm.

The ruling was set to gointo effect on Wednesday. Thesubpoena from the HouseOversight and ReformCommittee will be unenforce-able while the Supreme Courtdecides whether to take up thecase, reports Xinhua newsagnecy.

The House panel said onMonday in a letter to theSupreme Court that it wouldagree to the temporary stay toallow the justices to weigh in.

Trump’s legal team onNovember 15 had asked theSupreme Court to put a holdon the panel’s subpoena, argu-ing that if the lower court rul-ings are allowed to stand, anycommittee of Congress couldsubpoena any personal infor-mation it wants from aPresident. IANS

Washington: A slim majorityof Americans believe PresidentDonald Trump should beimpeached and removed fromoffice for his controversialUkraine actions, according tothe first poll after the launch ofpublic hearings in Congress.

Fifty-one per cent of thoseasked said they think Trumpshould be tried and convictedin the US Senate, while anoth-er six per cent favour impeach-ment but not removal, accord-ing to the ABC News-Ipsos pollreleased Monday.

That appeared to representan increase from before thehearings in the HouseIntelligence Committee beganWednesday. An average of pre-vious polls showed about 48per cent supported Trump’sremoval, according to the web-site FiveThirtyEight.

The ABC-Ipsos poll sug-gested as well a drop in thenumber of people opposingimpeachment, to 38 per cent,compared to theFiveThirtyEight average ofabout 46 per cent. But a quar-ter of all those polled did notthink Trump did anythingwrong. AFP

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China insisted on Tuesday italone held the authority to

rule on constitutional mattersin Hong Kong, as it con-demned a decision by the city’shigh court to overturn a ban on

face masks worn by pro-democracy protesters.

The statement raised hack-les among activists in Hong

Kong after months of violentprotests over concerns thatBeijing is chipping away at theautonomy of the financial hub.

Hong Kong: Arms covered incling film and torches in handas they drop into the sewers,clusters of pro-democracy pro-testers still inside a Hong Kongcampus are plotting increas-ingly ingenious — and des-perate — ways to escape apolice siege.

Among the detritus of ascorched and graffiti-sprayedconcourse at Hong KongPolytechnic University, sever-al plastic covers -- some withtorches placed above them --betray extraordinary under-ground escape plans.

Protesters have removedmetal manholes, some makingexploratory forays into thefetid tunnels, followingrumours of successful exfiltra-

tions from a campus ringed forthree days by baton-wieldingpolice determined to arrestthem.

Pockets of protesters, somewith thick bandages wrappedaround their knees in antici-pation of a long crawl to free-dom, knot the holes discussingan unlikely — and highly dan-gerous — breakout.

AFP reporters saw onegroup on their stomachs prac-tising crawling. Another grouphugged each other in consola-tion after apparently agreeingnot to take the route down intothe unknown.

“The people outside can’thelp us,” a protester told localtelevision as he prepared todescend into a sewer. “So what

can we do?” One protester, gasmask on, and cling filmwrapped around his arms, car-ried a torch as he descendedwith his backpack down themetal rungs into the subter-ranean gloom. AFP

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Asenior North Korean offi-cial has put forward new

conditions for talks with theUS, saying Washington shouldgive up its hostile policy beforecoming to the negotiation tablewith Pyongyang.

“The US always calls fornegotiation for denucleariza-tion, but there is no room to say

about the negotiation beforethe complete and irrevocablewithdrawal of its hostile poli-cy toward the DPRK, the rootcause of the nuclear issue of theKorean peninsula,” the state-run Korean Central NewsAgency reported on Tuesdayciting Kim Yong Chol, chair-man of the Korea Asia-PacificPeace Committee, as saying onMonday night.

Lahore: Ailing former PakistanPrime Minister Nawaz Sharif onTuesday left for London fromhere in an air ambulance for fur-ther treatment. He was accom-panied by his brother, PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharifand other personnel, includinghis personal physician AdnanKhan, reports Dawn news.

The air ambulance, whicharrived from Doha on Tuesdaymorning, is equipped with anintensive care unit and an oper-ation theatre, with a team of doc-tors on board. IANS

Colombo: Sri Lanka’s formerstrongman President MahindaRajapaksa has sought the resig-nation of Prime Minister RanilWickremesinghe after hisyounger brother GotabayaRajapaksa became the President,asserting that governance willimprove if the President and theCabinet are from the same party.

Addressing the media aftera religious ceremony organisedfor his 74th birthday on Monday,the Opposition Leader inParliament said it would bemore effective to have aGovernment where thePresident and the Cabinet arefrom one party . PTI

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Washington: The US is grave-ly concerned by the deepeningpolitical unrest and violence inHong Kong, Secretary of StateMike Pompeo has said, urgingthe city’s government toaddress public concerns andChina to honour its promises

of liberties.Pompeo’s remarks came

amid a dramatic escalation inunrest, with Hong Kong policethreatening to fire live bulletsif demonstrators did not stopusing weapons in the latestanti-government protests. PTI

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Gotabaya (Gota) Rajapaksa’s deci-sive victory in the presidentialelection was not entirely sur-prising though it has shockedthe liberals in Colombo,

becoming the most ethnically polarised ver-dict. Gota has shown that presidentialelections can be won without the ethnicminority vote. Ever since the MahindaRajapaksa regime was voted out of powerin 2015 and following the passage of the 19thAmendment, Gota’s choice was natural as19A had ruled out a third term for thePresident and raised the bar for age to 35years, thus rendering Mahinda and his sonNamal Rajapaksa ineligible for contestingthe presidential election.

For an Army Colonel, Gota’s decade asthe Defence Secretary to elder brother andformer President Mahinda Rajapaksa facil-itated the straightening of many wrinkles indefence and national security, though manyof his Army colleagues and friends hadturned adversaries. By the time Gotabecame a presidential hopeful, he wasaccused of corruption, human rights viola-tions during the war, “white van” disappear-ances, murder of the editor of a newspaperand linkages to a Buddhist extremist grouptargetting Muslims. But his image as a warhero endured.

Gota won exclusively on the plank ofnational security. The catastrophic EasterSunday bombings by radical Islamistslinked to Islamic State (IS) were the resultof infinite bungling by an incumbentGovernment already charged with lack-adaisical performance. The clamour forreturn of the Rajapaksas, who had usheredin a decade of peace, began to pick up. Gotasensed his moment. He blamed theGovernment for dismantling the intelligenceapparatus he had established across thecountry for surveillance and early warning.The bombings were a clear systemic failure.

As President, Commander-in-Chiefof the armed forces, Defence Minister orwhichever portfolio he assigns to himself,Gota’s first task will be to ginger up the intel-ligence network and reinstate the intelli-gence grid and to eliminate the residualsleeper cells of the IS linked to radicalisedMuslims in Sri Lanka. The reorganisationof higher defence management, whichhad become esoteric under his predecessor,is bound to be revamped. The post-EasterSunday appointments of the chief ofnational intelligence, Inspector General ofPolice and Defence Secretary, who reportdirectly to the President, will be reviewed.

Gen Shantha Kottegoda, whose term asArmy Commander was prematurely termi-nated in mid-2000 to accommodate GenSarath Fonseka, is current Defence Secretary.The extended term of Chief of Defence Staff,Admiral Ravi Wijegunaratne, a war herowho had to go to jail, ends next month andhe may get an extension. Army Chief, LtGen Shavendra Silva, another war hero

whose appointment in Augustattracted Western criticism onaccount of alleged human rightsviolations, will certainly get anextension beyond December.

As pledged, Gota will like-ly arrange the release from jailof military intelligence officialsunder trial. Similarly, he willend speculation over anydomestic or internationalinvestigation about alleged warexcesses and also close theUnited Nations Human RightsCouncil (UNHRC) resolutiondated January 30, 2015, co-sponsored with the US —which has already quit thecouncil — on post-war transi-tional justice and reconcilia-tion. Most of the military isjubilant about Gota’s return. Soexcited was the Army that itreportedly endorsed Gota’spresidential candidature in anewspaper advertisement.

Simultaneous with alter-ations in defence and securityarchitecture, Gota will use hisexecutive and persuasive pow-ers to change the Governmentand make Mahinda the PrimeMinister. This can happen intwo ways: First by PrimeMinister Ranil Wickremesingheand his Cabinet resigning in theaftermath of his party’s electoraldefeat. Ministers aligned withthe presidential loser SajithPremadasa have alreadyresigned and have urged

Wickremesinghe to quit, whosaid he will consider. A snapelection could follow.

Second, according to the19th Amendment, thePresident can dismiss theGovernment four-and-a-halfyears into its term, which issometime in February 2020 topave the way for a newParliament by August 2020.

Either way, Mahinda willnow certainly be the next PrimeMinister. And as he recently tolda Tamil newspaper: “PM is thereal power.” The last and onlytime two brothers have beenPresident and Prime Ministertogether was a decade ago inPoland with twins — theKaczynskis. By abolishing the19th Amendment with a two-thirds majority, the Rajapaksasand the Sri Lanka People’s Party(SLPP) may rule, preferably bytaking minorities along, tillkingdom come.

Gota must also attend tothe declining economy crippledby the IS-linked terroristattacks. Soon after the war, theeconomy was zipping at eightper cent growth. The centralbank bonds scam under theWickremesinghe Governmentwas the proverbial last strawthat broke the people’s confi-dence in the Government.

Multi-lateral financial agen-cies are uniformly predictingGDP slipping below the

International Monetary Fund’s(IMF) growth forecast of 3.5 percent for 2019.

The Governor of theCentral Bank of Sri Lanka haswarned of a Greece-like crisisunless deep structural reformsare implemented. Colombo’stotal indebtedness to Beijing isunknown but is estimated at 60per cent of all foreign borrow-ings. Mahinda had given verygenerous concessions to China,resulting in both Hambantotaand the Colombo Port Cityprojects being leased toChinese companies for 99years. China and Sri Lankadecided last month to establishan international financial centre — to rival India’splanned international financialcentre in Gandhinagar —halfway between Dubai andSingapore. Notwithstanding itsviability, the financial centrewill give China anotherfoothold in Sri Lanka.

Where does the landmarkregime change in Sri Lankaleave India given that it wasinstrumental in dislodgingMahinda in 2015? This timearound, India’s non-interfer-ence is impeccable. With theRajapaksa redux, it is easy topaint doomsday scenarios. TheRajapaksa’s indebtedness toBeijing started during the warwhen New Delhi rejected sev-eral requests from Colombo for

military hardware to fight theLiberation Tigers of TamilEelam (LTTE). It was Chinaand Pakistan, who bailed themout. Upon which India hadmocked Lanka for approachingthese countries when it waswilling to supply only non-lethal stores in deference todomestic political compulsionsin Tamil Nadu. The strategiccost of India’s hedging lingersthough that constraint is gone.Gota famously described NewDelhi’s non-interference in thewar as “management” of India.China’s ingress in Sri Lankapredates Rajapaksas.Hambantota was offered twiceto India. The rest is history.

It will be unwise to go bythe track record of a feistywartime defence secretary, whoas part of the famed troika withbrother Basil and Secretary toPresident Lalith Weeratunga,dealt with an intransigent India.Now President GotabayaRajapaksa, who has said he willbe “neutral but friendly” inforeign relations, must bejudged by his deeds not words.Like Nepal, geography and his-tory militate against Sri Lankabeing hostile to India.

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

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Dealing with a new Lanka”(November 19). In 2015, votersseemingly en masse voted todefeat a supposedly corruptRajapaksa regime, which wasblamed for many negatives,including nepotism of the high-est degree. This, with utter disre-gard to the fact that it was the verysame leader, who along with thedefence guidance of his ownbrother, had been responsible forthe defeat of the most feared ter-rorist organisation.

Five years on, people appar-ently sought the very people tosalvage the country from theabyss it is said to find itself in. SriLankans feel that GotabayaRajapaksa is their saviour and theypinned new hopes from the newPresident.

Jayatheertha SA Hyderabad

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Dealing with a new Lanka”(November 19). India’s relationswith neighbouring countries have

always remained wanting. Onecan understand the thorny histor-ical issues with those in the land-locked arc of the Northwest to theNortheast, the gateway of ourinvaders. There was no reason forthe recurrent indifferent ties withSri Lanka.

We were naive to be overinvolved in the Indian PeaceKeeping Force (IPKF) operation.This peace-keeping exercise notonly alienated our own Tamil sen-timent but also earned the dis-pleasure of the Sinhalese. FormerPrime Minister Rajiv Gandhi

paid the ultimate price.Things may look better today.

But in the election of GotabayaRajapaksa as the Sri LankanPresident, we have a proponent ofmajoritarianism, much like ourown present dispensation and,thus, they could vibe well.

That said, the dormantTamilian schism, both at homeand in Sri Lanka, may well findcause for resurgence. This iswhere we need to tread with carelest we repeat history.

R Narayanan Navi Mumbai

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Dealing with a new Lanka”(November 19). The election ofGotabaya Rajapaksa as the SriLankan President will have seriousrepercussions back home. It is thepolitical shift that is a cause ofworry. If Mahinda Rajapaksabecomes the Prime Minister, theTamil and Muslim populationsover there will suffer the most.

But it will be better for theRajapaksa brothers to focus onissues plaguing the country, mostimportantly the economy. India,too, needs to pay close attention tothe developments in the islandnation and protect the interests ofthe Tamil population there.

ShivanshVia email

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The London smog of November 1952 isconsidered to be the worst-ever suchcase of environmental hazard which led

to the death of a few thousand people.Winston Churchill, who was the PrimeMinister at that time, himself suffered abronchial attack due to the toxic air. Eventhough the Clean Air Act came up only in1956, stringent action had been initiated bythe local authorities well before that, bring-ing in a dramatic improvement in the stateof the environment in the city.

Back home, even though the NationalGreen Tribunal (NGT), in the case of GangaLalwani vs Union of India (2015), had madeburning of crop stubble a penal offence andadditionally, formulated a National Policy forManagement of Crop Residue, the result ofthe enforcement effort has been rather half-hearted and its dismal and disastrous resultsare being experienced by all of us in the formof a health emergency being declared in theDelhi-National Capital Region (NCR).According to medical experts, air pollution inDelhi-NCR is no longer just a health risk, it hasbecome a hazard. Everyone in Delhi, particu-larly asthma patients, infants, children and theelderly are affected by this pollution. It doesn’tmatter whether a person is a smoker or not, thetoxic air people are breathing in is equivalent tosmoking 15 to 20 cigarettes a day.

Except for the States of Odisha , AndhraPradesh and Tamil Nadu, where some seri-ousness has been shown in combatting air pol-lution, the enforcement of the NGT’s ordersand follow-up on the policy in some of theother States, particularly in Punjab and tosome extent in Haryana, has been very poor.

However, according to an affidavit filedby the Central Government in the SupremeCourt (SC), stubble burning has gone up byseven per cent in Punjab and gone down by17 per cent in Haryana. In order to addressthis problem, a new Central scheme,“Promotion of Agricultural Mechanisation forIn-Situ Management of Crop Residue in theStates of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh andNCT of Delhi,” was approved in 2018.

This provided for subsidising machin-ery required for in-situ management of thebiomass, for which a sum of �1,151.80 crorehas been allocated for the period of 2018-2023. Out of this provision, Punjab has gotthe largest share. The objective of the schemewas to procure agricultural machinery andequipment for in-situ management of cropresidue, create farm machinery banks andconduct multi-media awareness campaigns.

Delhi, leading the NCR with a combi-nation of adverse factors, has already bro-ken the world record for Air Quality Index(AQI), making the headlines bold and telling.But perhaps waking up will take some time.There is no dearth of authorities who are,and were aware of the impending environ-mental hazard, but instead of a well thoughtout long-term strategy or some short-termrelief our approach appears to be a classiccase of ad-hocism. For instance, it is nowknown that the burning of stubble is respon-

sible for about 37 per cent of the pollution,which is more or less of a seasonal nature.For the remaining, it is understood that two-wheelers, whose number in Delhi alone is88 lakh, happen to be the source of about33 per cent of the pollutants, while four-wheelers, whose number is about 35 lakh areresponsible for just about 15 per cent of it.

In these circumstances, forcing somefour-wheelers to be off the roads is boundto have just a marginal impact.

On the other hand, as is well known,the two-stroke two-wheelers and three-wheel-ers emit a far more hazardous mixture ofhydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides, some ofwhich like benzene are known to be car-cinogenic, but their numbers continue toincrease.

In respect of automobile emissions, com-plete combustion within the engine is essen-tial to reduce the extent of pollutants. Thefour-stroke engine is cleaner because it burnspure petrol; the two-stroke engine, on theother hand, burns a combination of lubri-cating oil and petrol and a fair amount ofthe oil is emitted as unburnt vapour.

Some 94 per cent of the two-and three-wheelers in India are powered by two-strokeengines that are simple and compact indesign, cheap and easy to maintain. But theconventionally-designed two-stroke enginesproduce high levels of hydrocarbons inexhaust emissions — 5,500 parts per million(ppm), compared to 850 ppm from four-stroke engines. According to a research atthe Indian Institute of Petroleum atDehradun, four-stroke engine-powered motorcycles have been observed to emit just one-sixth to one-tenth of the hydrocarbons emit-ted by two-stroke engines. In addition, theirfuel economy is better by 20 to 50 per cent.However, manufacturers prefer two-strokeengines because they are more powerful and

have greater pick-up. In the long run, elec-tricity-powered two-wheelers could be a suit-able alternative. The latest figures availablefor usage of public transport in Delhi indi-cate that the Delhi Transport Corporation(DTC) and Delhi Metro carry just 12 and10 per cent respectively of the entire com-muter traffic.

This is an extremely low proportion andobviously leading to a much greater usageof highly polluting two-wheelers. Obviously,we have to create conditions for encourag-ing greater ridership on public transport. Atthe same time we must ensure a larger num-ber of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fuelstations so as to reduce the waiting time,since mostly these cater to public transportvehicles or taxis.

Last year a group of industries had con-ducted a pilot project in two districts ofPunjab covering an area of 16,000 acres offarm land, where 25,000 tonnes of rice strawwere processed and converted into fibre-basedcellulosic products. The details of the pro-ject need to be analysed to enlarge its scope.

The apex court has pulled up theGovernment of India as well as the DelhiGovernment for “passing the buck” even asDelhi and nearby areas face a public healthemergency due to the severe air pollution.

Further, the Centre has been asked tocall environmental experts including thosefrom the Indian Institutes of Technology sothat their views on the current situationcould be taken into account for suitabledirectives. It can thus be easily observed thata rational public policy based on scientificinputs needs to be operationalised whileensuring its stringent implementation andmonitoring.

(The author is a former Governor and aSenior Advisor at the Pranab MukherjeeFoundation)

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Sri Lankan People’s Front candi-date Gotabaya Rajapaksa,younger brother of former

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, hasnow taken over as the country’sPresident. A retired Lieutenant-Colonel, who presided over the coun-try’s Defence Ministry for a decadeduring his brother’s tenure (2005-2014), Gotabaya swept the polls in theSinhala-majority districts, while hismain opponent RanasinghePremadasa, garnered most of thevotes from the Tamil-dominatednorth and east of the country.

Gotabaya’s victory would meanthe return of the powerful Rajapaksafamily as he is expected to appoint hisbrother Mahinda as the Prime

Minister, sooner than later. The new Sri Lankan President,

known as “terminator” for his role inwiping out the Liberation Tigers ofTamil Eelam (LTTE) a decade ago, hasfaced lawsuits in Sri Lanka and in theUnited States (US) over allegations ofstaged killings of Tamil separatists, crit-ics and journalists during the civil war.

In a fascinating interview withthis journalist in 2014, Gotabayarevealed many things, including howhe the then government finished offthe LTTE. Giving a graphic descrip-tion of what happened in the last daysof the LTTE War IV, (the name givento the fourth phase of the armed con-flict between the Sri Lankan militaryand the separatists), he pointed outthat the biggest advantage was that hisbrother had full trust in him and thethen Army chief Sarath Fonseka.Mahinda had the political will to neu-tralise the LTTE.

Second, the leadership agreedwith the defence assessment that alarge-scale expansion was neededwithin a very short period. “Webriefed the President. It was not aneasy thing to achieve. You need torecruit people, train them and also

equip them. But, wedid it,” he said. Givingmore details,Gotabaya said thatthe President also cre-ated a core group tocut down red tape.

“From our side itwas Basil Rajapaksa,Lalith ChandrakumarWeeratunga, who wasthe President’sPermanent Secretaryand me. From theIndian side it wastheir National Security Advisor MKNarayanan, Foreign SecretaryShivshankar Menon and DefenceSecretary VJ Singh, who were in theloop. We coordinated everything. Wewent to India and they came to SriLanka. And we discussed everything,even the operational plan and intelli-gence inputs.”

Gotabaya also exposed the dou-ble face of the then Tamil NaduChief Minister M Karunanidhi, whoput tremendous pressure on theManmohan Singh Government tostop the war on the LTTE, while theruling DMK adopted a strategy of run-

ning with the hareand hunting with thehound.

S h i v s h a n k a rMenon in his book,titled Choices: Insidethe making of India’sForeign Policy, con-firms that New Delhiwas in “intense” and“constant” touch withColombo.

“I vividlyremember the atmos-phere of the crisis

that built up during that period andrepeated visits from and to Colomboin the first five months of 2009,”Menon notes in his book, adding thatby mid-January 2009, the Sri LankanArmy and leadership were convincedthat they had the measure of the LTTEand the victory would be theirs. As astrategy, the Sri Lankan Army strong-ly occupied the north and the southso that the Tigers were kept away andwere stopped from procuring militarysupplies.

As for the last phase of theEelam War IV, Gotabaya noted, thateven at the last minute

Thiruvenkadam VelupillaiPrabhakaran, the founder and leaderof the LTTE, broke from the line andwent into the small island with hisbodyguards.

“Kandasamy Pathmanabha, aSri Lankan Tamil rebel, founder of theEelam People’s RevolutionaryLiberation Front and the LTTE’sfinancier, spoke to Prabhakaran inJanuary 2009 over the phone askinghim to escape. We intercepted the con-versation. Prabhakaran refused tohide at that time. Two weeks before thewar ended KP spoke to him again andasked him to escape. The LTTE Tigeragain refused,” he said.

Gotabaya pointed out that, “Doyou think that such a person will comeout holding his hands up and surren-der?”

The then Army chief SarathFonseka, in an interview to this jour-nalist also observed that the strategywas to take on the LTTE in the jun-gles. “By May 17, 2009 the troops cor-nered the LTTE within an area of400X400 metres. That night when theytried to escape they were preventedfrom doing so, by all three lines ofdefence put up by the Army.

“On the night of May 18, the topLTTE leadership divided itself intothree groups. They attacked theArmy’s forward defence line along theNandikadal lagoon and did manage tobreak through. Jeyam, Pottu Ammanand Soosai led these three groups.Prabhakaran and his closest guardsthought they would manage to escapebut in reality all these LTTE fighters(around 250) had got trapped betweenthe Army’s first and second line ofdefence. “After fierce fighting thatnight, almost the entire leadership ofthe LTTE was eliminated in thatarea. “We discovered Prabhakaran’sbody on the morning of May 19. I gotthe news of his death around 11 AM.I got a phone call from theCommander who gave me the infor-mation. Looking back, I was confident.I said I would finish the LTTE in threeyears and I did it in two years and ninemonths,” Fonseka said.

Those were different times buttoday it is a time for peace and asPresident how will Gotabaya deal withthe Tamil minorities in Lanka now?The fact that the Tamils did not votefor him reveals their apprehensions.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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Aday after Mamata Banerjeecharged the BJP and All

India Majlis-e-IttehadulMuslimeen for conspiring tolure the Hindu and Muslimpopulation of Bengal into polit-ical extremism, war of wordsintensified between two sideswith AIMIM chief AsaduddinOwaisi charging the ChiefMinister with playing a host tothe saffron outfit in the Statewhile the Trinamool Congresshitting back by insisting thatHyderabad party was a paidagent of the RSS.

Slamming Banerjee, theAIMIM chief and one of themost noticeable minority facesin the country tweeted, “ifDidi (read Mamata Banerjee) isworried about a bunch of usfrom Hyderabad then sheshould tell how BJP won 18/42seats from Bengal.”

By displacing the Left Frontas the main Opposition partyin Bengal the BJP wrested 18out of 42 seats in this year’s par-liamentary elections. The TMCwon 22 and the Congressbagged two seats. What wasmore in at least three otherseats the margin of victory forthe Trinamool was between fivethousand and fifty thousand.

Telling reporters thatBanerjee owed an explanationon the rise of the BJP in BengalOwaisi on Tuesday said, theChief Minister’s nervous comments on the presence ofAIMIM in her State was itselfan admission in favour of hisparty’s growing prowess herbackyard.

“By making allegationsagainst me you (Banerjee) are

giving the message to Muslimsof Bengal that AIMIM hasbecome a formidable force inthe State,” Owaisi added,“Mamata Banerjee is show-casing her fear and frustrationby making suchcomments.”

Addressing a meeting inNorth Bengal town ofCoochbehar bordering Assamthe Chief Minister had onMonday made veiled refer-ence to Owaisi and his partysaying that there was a partyfrom Hyderabad which was

hand-in-glove with the BJPand was in its payroll.

She said a trap was beinglaid down by some Hindu andminority parties (fromHyderabad) “who are takingmoney from the BJP to spreadextremist ideas in Bengal.”

She said, “there is a politicalparty which is trying to makeinroads in Bengal by fanning acommunal divide. Just like thereare some extremists in Hindus,same with minorities. They takemoney from BJP. They stay inHyderabad. They don’t stayhere. They come here and say I’llgive you protection. Don’t fallinto this trap of my minority brothers.”

Hitting back at Owaisi forhis “outrageous statementagainst Mamata didi who is likea mother of crores of people,”a senior Trinamool leader andMinister from South Kolkataon Tuesday said “those who arethinking of taking place ofMamata Banerjee in Bengal areliving in a fools’ paradise. Boththe Hindus and Muslims wor-ship her and a rank outsider,who is a filthy rich person nothaving broken bread with apoor man is dreaming to mak-ing inroads in this State. Thepeople will not let him crossDum Dum Airport.”

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The Madras High Court is allset to pronounce verdict on

the August 30 order issued bythe Tamil Nadu Government tofacilitate the sale and transferof missing lands owned by thetemples in the State adminis-tered by the Hindu Religiousand Charitable EndowmentDepartment.

A Bench consisting ofJustices M Sathyanarayananand N Seshasayee completedon Monday the hearing ofpetition filed by TR Ramesh,president, Temple WorshippersSociety, questioning the legal-ity of the order which empow-ers the Government to issuepattas to the encroachers of thetemple lands for a nominalamount.

More than 50,000 acres ofprime land valued at thousandsof crore rupees and owned bythe temples under the HRCEDepartment has been missingfor long. In February 2018,Justice R Mahadevan of theMadras High Court had asked

the HRCE Department to tracethe missing lands and updatethe details in the website of thedepartment.

But the Government andthe HRCE Departmentremained unperturbed by thecourt verdict and came outwith an order to bypass theFebruary 2018 verdict.

The lands were donated tothe temple for their upkeep andalso for ensuring the welfare ofthe devotees coming underthe jurisdiction of the

temples.The justices after hearing

both the sides expressed theirshock and asked how theHRCE could issue an orderwithout even carrying out amassive enumeration exercisewith respect to the extent oflands owned by around 38,000temples under the departmentand the extent of land that wasunder encroachment.

They also questioned theauthority of the HRCEDepartment to decide which of

the temple land couldbe sold to the govern-ment and which couldnot be when all templelands were actually pri-vate properties that hadbeen given away bytheir owners for thebenefit of temples andnow belong to thedeities of the templesconcerned.

“The HECEDepartment was creat-ed to protect the tem-ple lands and not to seelthem away,” said thejudges.

Ramesh said that the wholeepisode speaks about “criminaldereliction of duties andresponsibilities by the staff ofthe HRCE Department”. Thereexists a criminal axis betweenthe HRCE staff and encroach-ers which we could convincethe court”, said Ramesh. This isthe eagerly awaiting verdict bythe temple worshippers and isequal in importance to theRam Janmabhumi case, hesaid.

The Madras High Court is

hearing a number of petitionsrelated to the misappropriationof temple properties by indi-viduals in connivance with theofficials of the HRCE officials.Jebamani Mohanraj , a formerCBI official has filed a case inthe MHC in December 2018challenging the move by thetrustees of the centuries oldAgastheeswarar Temple atNungambakkam in Chennaito sell the entire temple prop-erty to a private group.

The famous KapaleeswararTemple in the city is also in acontroversy as the trustees aretrying to sell off the leased landof the temple to private indi-viduals. The Madras High Court is hearing thiscase too.

Ramesh told this newspa-per that if the observationsmade by the court in theGovernment Order case areany indication, chances arethat the officials of the HRCEDepartment are in for troublefor their failure in maintainingthe data associated with theproperties owned by the temple.

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December 5 bypolls to fif-teen constituencies in

Karnataka are a litmus test toChief Minister BS Yediyurappawho is heading a minorityGovernment in the State. Thiselection is also crucial forLeader of the Opposition of theCongress, Siddaramaiah who isfacing internal and externalrebellion.

Both the politicians arebetting high stake in proving apoint need no explanation. Forthe lingayat strongmanYediyurappa, he has to prove tothe high command that he isindispensable in Karnatakapolitics and also consolidatehimself to face political heatwithin the party. ForSiddaramaiah, who is leadingthe Congress, being an outsiderhas to consolidate himselfagainst the weakened highcommand.

Monday being the last dayfor filing of nominations, a totalof 248 candidates includingthose belonging to the

Congress, JD(S) and rulingBJP have filed their nomina-tions for December 5 bypolls to15 Assembly constituenciesAmong the total 248 candidateswho have filed nominations tillMonday, 56 are from Nationalparties, 17 from State parties,47 from registered unrecog-nised parties, and 128 are inde-pendents. While the highest-28 candidates have filed theirnomination from Shivajinagarconstituency, followed byHoskote with 27 candidates;Krishnarajpet has least- 8 can-didates have filed their nomi-nations.

Karnataka witnessed a highpolitical drama and the bypollswas necessitated after the res-ignation and absence of 17

Congress-JD(S) legislators,which led to the collapse of HD Kumaraswamy headed coali-tion government of JDs and theCongress and paved way forBJP to come to power.Seventeen legislators were sub-sequently disqualified by thethen Speaker K R RameshKumar, however the SupremeCourt that heard MLAs’ peti-tion challenging the disqualifi-cation, last week allowed themto contest the by-elections.

All of them have joinedthe saffron party and now 13 ofthem are contesting the bypolls setting the stage for theirre-entry into the poll fray .

Bypolls to 15 of 17 seatsrepresented by disqualifiedMLAs — 14 of the Congressand three belonging to theJDS— will be held onDecember five. Bypolls in theremaining two segments –Maski and R R Nagar — havenot been declared due to theongoing election-related casesin court. The strength of theassembly will be 222, post thebypolls.

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Bengaluru: Senior JD(S) leaderBasavaraj Horatti on Tuesdayreaffirmed that there are “allchances” that his party maysupport the BS Yediyurappa-led-BJP Government, if it fallsshort of numbers after theDecember 5 bypoll results.

The MLC who met theChief Minister felt that MLAsacross political parties do notwant mid-term polls.

“Kumaraswamy and DeveGowda have said they will notlet the Government collapse.

On the basis of their state-ment I have said in case the BJPfalls short of numbers there areall chances that JD (S) may sup-port until his three and halfyear term ends, I still stand byit,” Horatti said.

He said, no MLA from thethree political parties -- the BJP,the Congress and JDS -- areready to pull down the gov-ernment as no one wants mid-term polls.

“Let any government be inpower, our MLA post shouldremain for remaining three-

and-half years, is the feelingamong MLAs...” he added.

In what is being perceived asJD(S) softening of stand on theBJP, JD(S) patriarch H D DeveGowda -- not wanting mid-termpolls in Karnataka -- had said hewants the government to com-plete its term as it would givehim time to build his party. Hisson and former Chief MinisterH D Kumaraswamy too hadrecently said JD(S) would not tryto dislodge the government.

Fifteen out of 17 assemblyconstituencies represented bydisqualified Congress-JD(S) leg-islators, whose resignation andabsence from trust vote had ledto the collapse of theKumaraswamy-led coalitiongovernment and paved way forBJP to come to power in July,will go to bypolls on December5.

The BJP that has fieldeddisqualified MLAs as its can-didates in 13 constituencies,will need to win at least six ofthose 15 seats to remain inpower. PTI

Chennai: Superstar Rajinikanth onTuesday said he would join hands withactor-turned politician Kamal Haasan forthe welfare of people of Tamil Nadu ifsuch a situation arose.

Rajinikanth, who has announced hewould launch his political party to con-test the State Assembly elections due in2021, was responding to questions fromreporters on Haasan’s remarks earlier onTuesday that he (the latter) would joinhands with him for Tamil Nadu’s welfare.“If a situation arises wherein me andKamal have to join hands for the welfareof people of Tamil Nadu, we will surely come together,” Rajinikanth saidin a brief interaction with media at theairport here.

While backing Rajinikanth’s comments on Chief Minister KPalaniswami which have drawn the ire ofruling AIADMK, Haasan said he would“travel together” with his contemporaryfor Tamil Nadu’s welfare.

However, Haasan gave no indicationsof the two aligning politically. PTI

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AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday claimedthat the Supreme Court’s verdict on the Babri

Masjid-Ramjanmabhoomi land dispute was by nomeans “complete justice” that the powers under Article142 are required to be used for.

Article 142 of the Constitution deals with the apexcourt’s power to exercise its jurisdiction and pass orderas is necessary for doing complete justice in any causeor matter pending before it.

“The Supreme Court’s judgement in the BabriMasjid title suit is by no means the complete justice thatthe powers under Article 142 are required to be usedfor. It is at best incomplete justice or at worst completeinjustice, he tweeted.

Owaisi was responding to media reports on theAyodhya verdict and whether judicial discretion andthe resultant directions guarantee complete justice.

The SC, in its verdict in the Babri Masjid-RamJanmabhoomi title case on November 9, said the entire2.77 acres of disputed land should be handed over tothe deity Ram Lalla, who was one of the three litigants.

The five-judge Constitution bench also directed theCentre to allot a five-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Boardin Ayodhya to build a mosque.

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Kolkata: The West Bengal BJPunit has been asked by its Central leadership to refrainfrom getting into the frequentverbal spats between the StateGovernment and GovernorJagdeep Dhankhar, a seniorparty leader said.

There is a general percep-tion that the Governor and thesaffron party “complement”each other through their state-ments, he said.

A verbal directive in thisregard has been communicat-ed to the State leadership fromthe top echelons of theparty, the senior BJP leadersaid.

“We have been asked by ourCentral leadership to refrainfrom commenting on the war ofwords between the stateGovernment and the governor.Henceforth, none of our state

leaders will make any commenton the verbal spat,” he said.

According to party sources,the move is aimed to allaycharges that the BJP is using thegovernor to “pinprick” the stateGovernment.

“Whenever there has beena verbal spat between the stateGovernment and Raj Bhawan,for obvious reasons, we havespoken in favour of the gover-nor, be it the present governorJagdeep Dhankhar or his pre-decessor K N Tripathi,” he said.

The tussle betweenDhankhar and the TMCGovernment reachedParliament on Monday whenits Rajya Sabha MP SukhenduSekhar Roy raised the issue ofthe governor “exceeding hisbrief and trying to run a par-allel administration” in theState. PTI

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Imphal: Normal life was crippledin Manipur on Tuesday in an 18-hour shutdown called to protestagainst the proposed CitizenshipAmmendment Bill (CAB) which islikely to introduced in the ongoingwinter session of Parliament.

The shutdown was called joint-ly by Manipur People AgainstCitizenship Ammendment Bill(MANPAC) and North EastForum for Indigenous People(NEFIP) and there was no reportof any untoward incident duringthe strike, which ended at 6 pmTuesday, the police said.

Official sources said all busi-ness establishments, shops, ven-dors, hotels, motels, entertain-ment houses and oil depots wereclosed in response to the call for theshutdown. No educational institu-tions functioned during the bandh,the sources said.

Attendance in Governmentoffices was thin despite the strictorders of the State chief secretary

to Government employees andeducation institutions to carry outnormal duties or face action.

Inter-State and inter-districtbuses did not play. Taxis andautorickshaws too kept off theroad.

Manipur police arrestedMANPAC convenor YumnamchaDilipkumar along with three otherassociates from Manipur’s ImphalWest district during the bandh.

Police also arrested threewomen leaders of KhwairambanKeithel, the biggest women marketof the country which had remainedclosed during the day.

The North East has been onthe boil against the proposed CAB,which the people fear will create ahuge demographic imbalance asmillions of illegal immigrants fromBangladesh reside in the area.

The CAB was passed by theLok Sabha on January 8 this yearbut was not tabled in Rajya Sabhaand lapsed. PTI

Srinagar/Jammu: Jammu &Kashmir police chief DilbagSingh on Tuesday asserted thatPakistan is in no way a friendof the people of the Union ter-ritory and said the neighbour-ing country has only brought death and destruc-tion for them.

He also said Pakistan’sproxy war against India is notover yet and the police forcewill continue fighting theenemy to ensure the nation’ssafety.

Singh made the remarks inan official statement after a visitto Handwara town of Kupwaradistrict and Ganderbal dis-trict.

During his visit, the direc-tor general of police (DGP)reviewed the law and order sit-uation in different areas, inter-

acted with the respective juris-dictional officers and alsoaddressed ‘darbars’ of policepersonnel.

“Pakistan is in no way afriend of the people of Jammu& Kashmir as it has brought death and destruc-tion, and disrupted the peaceand order here,” Singh said.

The proxy war thatPakistan is waging against Indiais not over yet and “we will con-tinue our fight to defeat theenemy for the security andintegrity of our nation,” hesaid.

He also called on officersand jawans to foil the “wickedacts or designs” of elementsinimical to the peace and pros-perity of Jammu & Kashmir. PTI

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Around 32,000 devoteesoffered prayers at the Lord

Ayyappa temple at Sabarimalaon Tuesday, even as policeprevented a 12-year-old girlfrom Puducherry to proceed tothe hill shrine from Pamba.

While two women in thebarred age group of 10-50years were stopped by police onMonday from visiting theshrine, on Saturday, when thetemple opened, at least 10young women from AndhraPradesh were sent back.

Approximately 32,000devotees offered worship onTuesday, TravancoreDevaswom Board (TDB)sources said.

There was a dip in thearrival of pilgrims against theheavy rush seen sinceNovember 16 evening, whenthe shrine was opened.

There was heavy rain in theafternoon, causing difficultiesto the pilgrims.

Unmindful of the heavy

showers, policemen standingon the 18 holy steps, helped thedevotees climb and offerprayers.

A total of 9.6 lakh devoteeshave made virtual Q bookingfor darshan till 10 am thismorning, sources said.

The 12 year-old had comewith her father to offer prayersat the shrine.

The age of the girl, with“irrumudikettu” (offerings toLord Ayyappa) had beenshown as 10 in the virtual Qbooking.

When women police per-sonnel checked her Aadhaarcard it was found that she was12-years-old following whichthey did not allow her to pro-ceed further from Pamba to thetemple complex, policesaid.

After those accompanyingthe child were informed aboutthe current situation inSabarimala, her father andother relatives proceeded to thetemple.

Supporting the shrine’s tra-

dition, a nine-year-old Keralitegirl, who came to the templecomplex from Karnataka onMonday, had a placard aroundher neck inscribed with thewords “Ready to wait. Will visitthe shrine after attaining 50years.”

The Pamba base camp is at

the foothills of Sabarimala,about 5 km from the shrine.

The Ayyappa temple hadopened on November 16evening for the two-monthlong Mandala-Makaravillakkupuja.

A UDF delegation, whichvisited Pamba and Nilackal

base camps onTuesday to have afirst hand experi-ence of the facilitiesfor the pilgrims, saidthey were inade-quate.

The delegationled byT h i r u v a n c h o o rRadhakrishnan andP J Joseph said park-ing facilities werenot enough and theLDF governmenthad failed to provideenough facilities forpilgrims.

Radhakrishnansaid the arrival ofdevotees may beincrease, but facili-

ties like toilets and drinkingwater were lacking at the basecamps.

During the two-monthlong pilgrimage season, theKerala Water Authority hasdecided to provide 130 lakhlitres of water daily.

While at Pamba 60 lakh

litres would be distributed 70lakh litres would be supplied atSannidhanam, a KWA pressrelease said.

The state and templeprecincts had witnessedprotests by right wing outfitsand BJP workers last year afterthe LDF government decidedto implement the Supremecourt’s verdict of September 28,2018 allowing women of all agegroups to offer prayers at theshrine.

Though the apex court didnot stay its earlier order allow-ing entry of women in the LordAyyappa temple, the LDF gov-ernment in Kerala this timesaid the shrine is not a groundfor activism and made

it clear that it would notencourage women who want tovisit the temple forpublicity.

A five-judge bench of theSupreme Court had referred toa larger bench the matter relat-ed to entry of women into thehill temple and other issuesrelated to various faiths.

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Guwahati: Newly appointed NRCState Coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma,who is embroiled in a row over hisalleged social media posts criticisingthe updation work of the NationalRegister of Citizens, has not joinedoffice, official sources said onTuesday.

Sarma, an Assam Civil Serviceofficer, was appointed on November9 as the NRC State Coordinator inplace of Prateek Hajela who wasreleased from his duties two dayslater.

The office of the NRC Authorityis headless for more than a week.

“The new State Coordinatorhas not joined yet. We have notreceived any official communicationregarding his date of joining,” an offi-cial at the NRC Authority told PTI.

Sources said Sarma has notstepped into the office of the NRCAuthority here after his new appoint-ment. He had earlier served as itsexecutive director from 2013 to2016.

“We are clueless about when he

will join. We have come to knowfrom media reports that he is on amonth-long leave,” the officialsaid.

Repeated calls to theCommissioner of the PersonnelDepartment which is responsible forappointments of government offi-cials, remained unanswered.

At present, NRC AuthorityExecutive Director ChandanaMahanta is the in-charge of the NRCAuthority and looking after theday-to-day affairs since Hajela, theprevious State Coordinator, wasreleased.

Hajela, an IAS officer, was trans-ferred to his home state MadhyaPradesh following a direction fromthe Supreme Court which supervised the updation of the National Register of Citizens(NRC).

Published on August 31, theupdated final NRC, which validatesbonafide Indian citizens of Assam,has left out over 19 lakh applicants. PTI

Jammu: Drass emerged as thecoldest place in Jammu &Kashmir, and Ladakh, record-ing a low of minus 11.5 degreesCelsius, as the mercury dippedin most parts of the two UnionTerritories on Tuesday, aMeteorological (MeT)department spokesman said.

The weatherman has pre-dicted light to moderate rain orsnow in plains and moderatesnow over higher reaches of thetwo Union Territories onThursday and Friday with pos-sibility of temporary disruptionof traffic on Srinagar-Jammuand Srinagar-Leh highways.

Drass town, popularlyknown as ‘the gateway toLadakh’, recorded a minimumof minus 11.5 degrees Celsius,making it the coldest recordedplace in the region, thespokesman said.

He said Leh town ofLadakh continue to freeze at alow of minus 6.8 degreesCelsius, while Kargil townrecorded a night temperature ofminus 3.2 degreesCelsius. PTI

Mathura (UP): Sixteen farmers have beenarrested for allegedly burning stubble and twolekhpals suspended for dereliction of duty inUttar Pradesh’s Mathura district, officials saidon Tuesday.

District Magistrate Sarvagya Ram Mishrasaid a total fine of � 13.05 lakh is being real-ized from the guilty farmers through tahsil.

While 300 cases of stubble burning havebeen identified, two lekhapals (revenue offi-cer) have been suspended for failing to preventthe farmers from burning their crop residue,the DM told reporters.

He said the lekhpals were responsible forpreventing stubble burning but they failed intheir mission, resulting in punitive actionagainst them.

The district magistrate said farmers weregiven full opportunity for preventing stubbleburning.

Through ‘Kisan Pathashala’, they were notonly apprised of hazardous effects of stubbleburning, but also tutored on alternative use ofstubble, Mishra added.

He said, these ‘pathashalas’ have helpedreduce stubble burning cases.

While last year 1,046 cases of stubble burn-ing were identified using satellite images, thenumber has gone down to 459 so far this year,he said. PTI

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The Kerala Highcourt on Tuesday

made it clear thatvehicle parking shallnot be allowed on theroadside fromNilackal to Pambaduring the Sabarimalapilgrimage season asthe Government informed thatlight vehicles of 12-seatercapacity will ferry devotees tillPamba.

A division bench of JusticesC T Ravikumar and NNagaresh said the police cantake appropriate action againstunauthorised parking.

The State Governmentinformed the court that 12-seater capacity light vehiclescan take passengers till Pamba,which is five km from theshrine, and they have to returnto Nilackal for parking.

The court also permittedthe Kerala State RoadTransport Corporation toemploy 1386 drivers tem-porarily from the PublicService Commission list duringthe Sabarimala season.

The order was issued onan application filed by KSRTCseeking permission to appointexperienced drivers for 504buses during the season.

The court permittedKSRTC to employ drivers fromPSC list from November 16,2019 to January 31, 2020.

Patna: A special court here hasissued a production warrantagainst RJD chief Lalu Prasad,who is lodged in a jail inRanchi, in connection with adefamation case.

Special MP/MLA courtjudge Kumar Abhinav onMonday issued the productionwarrant against Prasad in thecase filed by Uday Kant Mishra,a member of Bihar StateDisaster ManagementAuthority, for making objec-tionable comments against him.

The court asked the author-

ities of Birsa Munda jail inRanchi to produce Prasadbefore it on December 2, 2019,which is the next date of hear-ing in the case, Mishra’s coun-sel V S Dubey told PTI.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD) supremo is in the highsecurity jail following his con-viction in several fodder scamcases.

The court on Mondayissued fresh production warrantagainst Prasad as he could notbe produced before it via videoconferencing, Dubey said.PTI

Srinagar: Several schoolsreopened here on Tuesday afterremaining closed for over threemonths due to the unan-nounced shutdown followingthe Centre’s decision to abro-gate Article 370 provisions,even as life was inching towardsnormalcy in Kashmir, officialssaid.

The move by several pri-vate schools to resume classescame as public transport hasstarted to ply in the Valley andlife was fast returning to nor-malcy, they said.

The managements have

decided to open the schoolsfrom 10 am to 1 pm and stu-dents have been asked to comewithout wearing the uniform,the officials said.

The city and most areaselsewhere in the valley saw asignificant improvement in themovement of public transporton Monday. The officials saidthe intra-district as well as theinter-district connectivity hasimproved significantly.

Auto-rickshaws and inter-district cabs have been plyingfor a while now, but in the lastfew days, the movement of

intra-district cabs across thevalley has also increased, theyadded.

The officials said the pri-vate transport was plyingunhindered.On Sunday, therail service from Srinagar toBanihal also resumed.

The train service in the val-ley was suspended due to secu-rity reasons on August 3 —days before the Centre abro-gated the Jammu & Kashmir’sspecial status under Article370 of the Constitution andbifurcated the State into twoUnion territories. PTI

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The telecom regulator willwait for operators to report

their new tariffs to the authori-ty before taking a view onwhether the revised pricing iswithin the regulatory frame-work, according to a Trai source.Confronted with intense com-petition and unprecedentedstatutory dues, Bharti Airteland Vodafone Idea on Mondayannounced a hike in mobilephone call and data chargesfrom December saying theincrease was warranted for via-bility of their business. The two,however, did not quantify theincrease in rates but said that thehike will be effective beginningnext month.

A senior Trai official toldPTI that the regulator will waitand watch to see the finer detailsof the announcement. “Let themreport the tariffs, and we will see.Also, the tariffs are under for-bearence,” the official said.Another official said that as

things stand now there is nomove to initiate any consultationon floor price. On Mondayevening, Vodafone Idea, in astatement, announced plans toraise tariffs for the first time in3 years only to be followed by asimilarly-worded statement min-utes later from Airtel. VodafoneIdea and Bharti Airtel, the twolarge telecom operators, lastweek had reported a combinedloss of �74,000 crore for the sec-ond quarter ended September2019, mainly on account ofstatutory dues arising from therecent Supreme Court order onadjusted gross revenue (AGR).

The apex court has upheldthe government’s position onincluding revenue from non-telecommunication businessesin calculating the annual AGRof telecom companies, a share ofwhich has to be paid as licenceand spectrum fee to the exche-quer. The ruling over statutoryliabilities had prompted a rushfor provisioning by telecomcompanies.

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Ambani’s Reliance Jio onTuesday said it will increasemobile phone call and datacharges in the next few weeksin compliance with rules, as itfollowed similar announce-ments by Bharti Airtel andVodafone Idea on tariff hike.

Jio, which had stormedthe telecom sector with freevoice calls and dirt cheap data,had for the first time lastmonth decided to chargephone calls by its users to rivalphone networks to compensatefor interconnect usage charges.

In a statement on Tuesday,Jio said that the telecom regu-lator TRAI is likely to initiateconsultation process for revi-sion in telecom tariffs.

The company underlinedits commitment to bringing the40 crore 2G customers to expe-rience and participate fully inthe Digital India eco-system,and pledged its full support toproviding the best quality andexperience to all its customers.

"Like other operators, wewill also work with theGovernment and comply with

the regulatory regime tostrengthen the industry to ben-efit Indian consumers and takemeasures including appropri-ate increase in tariffs in nextfew weeks in a manner thatdoes not adversely impact dataconsumption or growth in dig-ital adoption, and sustainsinvestments," Jio said.

The company did notdivulge the extent of price hikein the offing.

"Despite the staggeringgrowth in data-consumptionand 4G coverage across thecountry, there are still over 40crore Indian consumers whohave not benefitted from theadvent of the latest technolo-gies. We believe that the ambi-tious objectives of the ‘DigitalIndia' mission can be achievedonly if India is made ‘2G-mukt’ in the shortest time-

frame possible," Jio said.The Government and the

sector regulator TRAI shouldmandate this through policy, itadded.

"This requires continuedinvestment at an industry level.The whole industry needs tocome up the curve and raisestandards to meet the aspira-tions of Indian citizens and ful-fill the nation's digital agenda,"the statement added.

The operator - known forits aggressive stance on pricingsince it launched services in2016 - said it is committed tobringing the 40 crore 2G cus-tomers to experience and par-ticipate fully in the DigitalIndia eco-system.

The company said it willcontinuously innovate in thedigital eco-system to provideaffordable services and prod-ucts to Indian consumers.

"Jio is committed to alwaysbeing regulatory compliant,and work with the industry tokeep the telecom sector avibrant part of the Indian econ-omy and a vital engine for ourcountry's growth," it said. PTI

�����������..�����<�.������C���7�� New Delhi: The Government

on Tuesday categorically statedthat it does not intend to reviseits fiscal deficit target of 3.3 percent of gross domestic product(GDP) for the current financialyear notwithstanding slowdownin economic activities.

“No sir,” Minister of Statefor Finance Anurag Thakursaid in a written reply in theRajya Sabha to a query if theGovernment intends to revisefiscal deficit in view of the eco-nomic slowdown

The Minister further said

expenditure of variousMinistries and departments ofthe Government is as per theestimates approved byParliament.

In the first half of the finan-cial year, 53.4 per cent of BudgetEstimates was spent by variousministries and departments.

Thakur also listed out thesteps taken by the Governmentto boost economic activities.

The real GDP growthslowed to an over six-year lowof 5 per cent in the first quar-ter of the current financial year.

Replying to another ques-tion, Singh said non-perform-ing assets of banks, after reach-ing a peak of �10,36,187 croreas on March 31, 2018, havedeclined �97,996 crore to�9,38,191 crore as on June 30,2019.

Banks have also "effectedrecord recovery" of �4,27,115crore over the last four finan-cial years and the first quarterof the current financial year,including recovery of �1,56,702crore during the financial year2018-19. PTI

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London: Tata Steel has con-firmed cuts of up to 3,000 jobsacross its European operations aspart of a wider restructuring andcost-cutting strategy to counterstagnant steel demand in Europeand global overcapacity.

The Indian steel giant saidit plans to lower employmentcosts with the "estimated reduc-tion" in employee numbers,about two-thirds of which areexpected to be office-basedwhite-collar roles – a majorityexpected at its Netherlands unit.

"The information sharedwith the European WorksCouncil select committee laysout the case for change, explainsour transformation programmeand gives a first overview of theorganisational impact," a com-pany statement said.

"A transformation is need-ed to mitigate the current struc-

tural and cyclical headwinds andcreate the foundation for thecompany's future success.Stagnant EU steel demand andglobal overcapacity have beencompounded by trade conflictswhich have turned the Europeanmarket into a dumping groundfor the world's excess steel capac-ity," it noted.

Through its proposed trans-formation programme, Tata SteelEurope said it is initially target-ing a positive cash flow by theend of its financial year endingMarch 2021. It is also aiming foran EBITDA margin of around 10per cent throughout the marketcycle. "We intend to align on ourapproach and the process goingforward and engage with variousstakeholders to develop the pro-posed decisions and ensure com-pliance with all European andnational obligations. PTI

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New Delhi: Yes Bank onTuesday reported a lower netprofit of �1,084.03 crore for2018-19 compared to�1,720.28 crore announcedearlier due to higher non-per-forming assets assessed bythe Reserve Bank.

The divergence in netnon-performing assets (NPAs)of the bank — the differencein bad loans reported by thebank and the assessment doneby the RBI — stood at �2,299crore for 2018-19, Yes Banksaid in a regulatory filing.

The private sector lenderhad reported a net profit of�1,720.28 crore in 2018-19.

"The adjusted (notional)net profit after tax for the yearended March 31, 2019 aftertaking into account the diver-gence in provisioning was at�1,084.03 crore," it said.

The divergence in provi-sioning was at �978 crore.

Additionally, the bank saidthat it intends to convene ameeting of its board of direc-tors by the end of this monthto finalise its capital raise.

Market regulator Sebi has put in place tighter dis-closure norms, directing alllisted banks to disclose anydivergence in bad loan provi-sioning within 24 hours of receiving RBI's r isk assessment report, rather thanwaiting to publish the detailsin their annual financialstatements. PTI

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Mumbai: The rupee recoveredfrom initial losses to settlehigher by 13 paise at 71.71against the US currency onTuesday, propped up softeningcrude oil prices and gains indomestic equity markets.

Forex traders said the rupeeconsolidated in a narrow rangefollowing lack of cues on thedomestic as well as the globalfront. During the day, thedomestic unit f luctuatedbetween a high of 71.68 and alow of 72.

"The Indian rupee openedlower at 71.97 a dollar, tackingcues from most Asian curren-cies as a lack of progress in US-China trade talks had an impacton risk appetite. However, therupee recovered from day's lowamid stronger domestic equityand lower crude oil prices," saidVK Sharma, Head — PCG &Capital Market Strategy, HDFCsecurities. PTI

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In a candid admission that thePunjab & Maharashtra

Cooperative (PMC) Bank hadtaken it for a ride, the ReserveBank of India (RBI) on Tuesdayinformed the Bombay HighCourt that the PMC Bank hadsubmitted “fraudulently manip-ulated data” to it for samplechecks.

In a detailed affidavit filedbefore a HC bench of JusticesSatyranjan Dharmadhikari andRiyaz Chagla, the RBI stated:“Since transaction testing is notdone in the RBI inspection,and the bank submitted fraud-ulently manipulated data to RBIfor sample checks, the sample ofaccounts picked for inspectiondid not contain undisclosedHDIL related accounts. Thedisclosed HDIL related accountswere seen and majority of themwere assessed as NPAs”

In an affidavit filed beforethe high court, Rajlaxmi Sethi,Assistant General Manager,

Department of Co-operativeBank Supervision, RBI, stated:“Further, non-monitoring ofend use of funds despite instruc-tions to this effect contained inthe Master Circulars onAdvances and conflict of inter-est of Shri Waryam Singh asChairman of PMC bank and asa former director of HDIL groupwas also commented upon inthe report along with the attemptby the bank to show disclosedaccounts of HDIL group asstandard by sanction of newloans to close/regularise the oldNPA accounts in non-adherenceto RBI Master Circular (MC)dated July 1, 2015 on lRACnorms”.

“The bank had also sanc-tioned mortgage overdraft lim-its to a wholly owned groupcompany of HDIL while the pre-sent Chairman (then director) ofthe bank was one of theDirectors in the company. Thiswas a violation of para 5.1 of thethen RBI Master Circulars onBoard of Directors dated July 1,

2010 and July 2, 20l2,” the RBIstated, in its inspection reportthat has been made part of itsaffidavit filed before the highcourt.

“Waryam Singh chaired theBoard meeting to ratify theapproval of the mortgage over-draft, in which he was directlyinterested in non adherence topara 2.3 (b) (iii) of RBI MasterCircular on Board of Directors- UCBs, requiring non-partici-pation by the Directors con-cerned Board discussion, if aproposal in which they aredirectly' or indirectly interested,comes up for discussion/to dis-close their interest, well inadvance, to the Board of thebank,” the affidavit stated.

“The Inspection team hadalso established the relationshipbetween the Chairman of thebank and HDIL promoters,which might have acted as theprimary consideration for sanc-tion of credit facilities and result-ed in their utilisation to payoffone-time settlement dues with

other lenders,” the affidavit stat-ed.

The high court is hearing aPIL seeking the removal ofrestrictions on the withdrawalamount from PMC Bank cameup for hearing. The HC benchheard the matter and scheduledthe next hearing of the case forDecember 4.

The RBI’s affidavit beforethe high court should be seen inthe context of a finding duringthe ongoing investigations thatthe PMC Bank’s exposure to theHDIL group was nearly 73 percent of its total loan book size ofRs 8,880 crore as of September19, 2019.

The Economic OffenceWing (EOW) of the Mumbaipolice, which is investigating thecase, suspects a nexus betweensome of the accused and realtygroup HDIL, whose mammothloan defaults are said to havecaused a liquidity crisis at thebank, leading to appointment ofadministrator and restrictionson withdrawal of funds.

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Lionel Messi scored a latepenalty as Argentina drew

2-2 with Uruguay in a friend-ly held in Israel on Monday,with the Jewish state consid-ering the match a victory.

The game pitted Messiagainst his Barcelona team-mate Luis Suarez, and itlooked as though theUruguayan had gotten thebetter of him as he scored onegoal and set up another togive his team a 2-1 lead goinginto injury time.

But a ball into the boxwas handled by a Uruguayandefender, and Messi calmlyslotted the resulting penaltyhome to ensure an engagingfriendly ended all square.

The 32-year-old had ear-lier teed up Manchester Citystriker Sergio Aguero to makeit 1-1, after Edinson Cavani

had opened the scoring.Suarez scored a free-kick

from outside the box to givehis side the lead before Messi’slate intervention.

The game had beendubbed by organisers as animportant moment for Israel,following the cancellation ofanother Argentina match ayear earlier after pressurefrom pro-Palestinian cam-paigners.

On the pitch at times itfelt like the Messi show, withthe crowd chanting his nameand every mazy run greetedby vociferous cheering.

While not at his electricbest, he showed moments ofquality — slaloming pastdefenders and forcingUruguay goalkeeper Martin

Campana into a number ofsmart saves.

The match comes afterthe cancellation of a pre-World Cup friendly fixturebetween Argentina and Israelin June 2018 after boycottcalls.

That match had been dueto be played in Jerusalem,sparking Palestinian angerand criticism of Argentinaonline.

Israel considers Jerusalemits “indivisible” capital, whilePalestinians claim the easternpart of the city — occupied byIsrael in 1967 and laterannexed — as the capital oftheir future state.

Monday’s game was heldin the Israeli commercial cap-ital Tel Aviv.

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Denmark and Switzerlandsecured spots at Euro 2020 atthe expense of the Republic of

Ireland on Monday as RobertoMancini’s Italy completed a perfectqualifying campaign by scoring nine.

Ireland needed to beat Denmarkin Dublin to clinch qualification fornext year’s 24-team European

Championship finals, but MattDoherty’s late header was onlyenough to earn Mick McCarthy’smen a 1-1 draw at the AvivaStadium.

A closely-fought con-test, low on technicalquality, swung the vis-itors’ way when theunmarked Martin

Braithwaite stuckout a boot todivert aHenrik Dalsgaardcross into the neton 73 minutes.

However, Irelandscored a late equaliser to

draw 1-1 in Copenhagen in June andthey repeated the feat here asWolverhampton Wanderers right-back Doherty headed in an EndaStevens cross with five minutes left.

Needing to win, the home side

then threw everything at their oppo-nents in the dying moments, butDenmark held on to clinch secondplace in Group D behind Switzerland.

“We had opportunities but I amnot going to criticise the lads,”McCarthy told Sky Sports.

“They have been brilliant. We lostone game out of eight. I am very proudof them. We can beat anyone in theplay-offs.”

The Danes, European championsin 1992, can now look forward to play-ing at home during the finals, withCopenhagen one of the 12 host citieschosen for the tournament.

Switzerland secured topspot with a 6-1 away winagainst minnows Gibraltar asCedric Itten scored twice.Skipper and Arsenal outcastGranit Xhaka netted theirfinal goal.

Italy had alreadywrapped up qualification from GroupJ but they saved their best for last,making it 10 wins from 10 by ham-mering Armenia 9-1 in Palermo withseven different scorers.

Serie A top scorer Ciro Immobileand Nicolo Zaniolo both scoredbraces, while Nicolo Barella andAlessio Romagnoli found the netbefore Chelsea midfielder Jorginhoconverted a penalty.

Riccardo Orsolini came off thebench to score on his Italy debut andFederico Chiesa finished off the scor-ing after Edgar Babayan had pulledone back for Armenia.

It was an 11th straight win in allfor Mancini’s side, with Italy scoringnine times in a game for the first timesince beating the USA 9-0 at theLondon Olympics in 1948.

“We had the right approach to thegame and you don’t score nine goalsby chance,” Mancini purred.

“We need to improve variousaspects of the game but for me it willbe really difficult to leave some peo-ple at home when I select the squadfor the finals. They would all deserveto be there.”

Having wrapped up a historic firstqualification for a major tournamentthree days earlier, Finland lost 2-1 toGreece in Athens despite NorwichCity striker Teemu Pukki giving thema first-half lead with his 10th goal ineight international games.

Bosnia and Herzegovina finishfourth in the group despite a 3-0 winin Liechtenstein, but they will haveanother chance to qualify via the play-offs next March.

LAST GAME FOR MORENOMeanwhile, Group F winners

Spain rounded out their qualifyingcampaign with a 5-0 destruction ofRomania at a barely half-fullMetropolitano Stadium in Madrid.

Gerard Moreno scored twiceafter Napoli midfielder Fabian Ruizopened the scoring. Adrian Rus putthrough his own net in first-half stop-page time and Real Sociedad strikerMikel Oyarzabal wrapped up the winamid reports the match was RobertMoreno’s last as coach.

Having already qualified as run-ners-up in the same group, Swedendefeated the Faroe Islands 3-0, whileNorway, who go into the play-offs,won 2-1 in Malta.

The final automatic qualifyingberth will be decided after Wales hostHungary with the winner goingthrough from Group E, while a drawin Cardiff could allow Slovakia to pipboth of them by beating Azerbaijan.

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Luis Enrique will returnas coach of Spain and

replace Robert Morenoahead of Euro 2020, theSpanish FootballFederation (RFEF) con-firmed on Tuesday.

Moreno took chargein June after Luis Enriquehad resigned to take careof his daughter Xana, whodied in August of bonecancer.

“Today we can con-firm Luis Enrique returnsto his position of work,”RFEF president LuisRubiales said in a pressconference at the nation-al team’s training base inLas Rozas.

Rubiales said LuisEnrique has a contractuntil the 2022 World Cupin Qatar and that it will beup to him whetherMoreno is offered achance to resume his pre-vious role as assistantcoach.

The pair were closefriends and also workedtogether at Barcelona,Celta Vigo and Roma butMoreno appears upset atthe manner of his depar-ture.

“Luis Enrique steppeddown because of the worstpossible thing that canhappen to a father,”Rubiales said.

“He has always beenthe leader of our projectand he has a contractuntil (the) World Cup inQatar.”

Luis Enrique wasappointed Spain’s coachafter the 2018 World Cupand his readiness toreturn will be welcomed,after the death of his nine-year-old daughter threemonths ago.

But the RFEF’s han-dling of the change has

been clumsy, with reportsemerging before Spain’s 5-0 win over Romania onMonday that he wouldnot lead the team at nextyear’s finals.

Moreno did notappear for his post-matchpress conference andreportedly left the players’dressing room in tears.

Rubiales said Morenoalso chose not to show upfor a meeting with theRFEF on Tuesday.

“We had a meeting setup with Robert Moreno at10am this morning,”Rubiales said.

“But he did not come,only his two lawyers.”

Moreno said inSeptember he would be“the first and mostdelighted to step aside” ifLuis Enrique decided hewanted to come back buthe may have hoped formore transparencyaround the decision.

Rubiales rejectedaccusations of dishonesty,insisting he spoke to LuisEnrique in October andthen again on Monday,having learned he wasready to return throughMoreno.

“It was clear that assoon as Luis Enrique feltstrong enough to return,the door would be openfor him,” Rubiales said.

“I have been honestabout that. Nobody canfeel tricked.”

Rubiales added: “Wethank Robert Moreno forhis work, he did a verygood job, and we are veryhappy with what he did.

“But I repeat thatRobert Moreno told usthat he had spoken toLuis Enrique, who toldhim he wanted to return.We found out LuisEnrique wanted to comeback through Moreno.”

��/������� Pep Guardiola’s agent hasruled out a return to Bayern Munich atleast until the Spaniard’s contract expiresat Manchester City in 2021, according toreports.

The German champions are current-ly looking for a new head coach followingthe sacking of Niko Kovac after a 5-1thrashing at Eintracht Frankfurt at the startof the month.

Caretaker boss Hansi Flick will remainin charge at least until Christmas when theBundesliga goes into recess but theGermans are already on the lookout for apossible high profile replacement.

“Pep is content and very happy inManchester. His contract is until June2021,” Guardiola’s agent Josep MariaOrobitg told German daily Bild onWednesday, having also been quoted bywebsites SPOX and Goal.

“Guardiola always fulfils his con-tracts.

“I haven’t spoken with anyone inGermany about him — neither withintermediaries nor club bosses.

“Pep has good memories of Munichand still has friends there, but at themoment he has shown no interest inreturning to Germany as a coach.

“That is something that is just asimpossible at the moment as it was lastsummer with Juventus.

“I deny all rumours.”Guardiola won the German league and

cup double in his final season at Bayernin 2016 having lifted the Bundesliga titlein each of his three seasons at the Munichclub, who he joined in 2013.

Ajax coach Erik ten Hag and ParisSaint-Germain’s Thomas Tuchel havebeen linked to Bayern, but both have madeit clear they will not leave their respectiveclubs this season. AFP

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Newly-appointed Montreal Impact bossThierry Henry vowed to learn from the

mistakes of his disastrous reign at Monaco onMonday but called for patience as he attemptsto revive the fortunes of the struggling MajorLeague Soccer outfit.

Speaking at his first press conference sincehis appointment by Montreal last week, the42-year-old former France and Arsenal super-star insisted he is ready for the challengedespite his troubled tenure with Ligue 1 sideMonaco.

Henry was sacked by Monaco in Januaryafter only 100 days in charge as the team nose-dived into the relegation zone following hisappointment, with just five wins in 20 match-es.

“For me, the way I put it is always [either]you win or you learn, and I learned a lot there,”Henry said of his spell at Monaco.

“It’s about coming back, always. You haveto get up and be in front of what happens. Theonly mistake that you can make is not learn-ing from what happened.”

Henry, who was also an assistant coachto Belgium during the country’s 2018 WorldCup campaign, where they finished third, saidhis experiences were part of his evolution asa manager.

“You have to start somewhere,” he said ofhis time with Belgium and Monaco.

“I learned a lot about myself. It’s aboutfighting. This isn’t just my story but the storyof everyone in life. Everyone falls. It’s abouthow you get up.”

The Impact’s sporting director OlivierRenard said Henry beat out several candidatesunder consideration for the Montreal position.

After meeting Henry in mid-October, it

was decided then that he should take on thejob of rebuilding the foundering franchise, hesaid.

Henry, who spent four years in MLS withthe New York Red Bulls at the tailend of hisplaying career, meanwhile urged Montreal’sfans to be patient, saying success won’t comeovernight.

“We have a fresh start and we’re going tomove forward to rebuild the team,” Henry toldreporters.

“We know the direction we want to go, butyou can’t build a new team in two months, orthree months or even a year,” he said. “We havea lot of hard work ahead of us, and it willrequire patience.

“We also need to win back the support offans. I think this is very important because fansand the city, the community need to feel a con-nection to the team. It’s up to us to bring themback on our side.”

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Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublevhelped Russia open the inaugural

Davis Cup Finals with a 3-0 victory overdefending champions Croatia in Madridon Monday.

World number 17 Khachanovclinched the point for Russia by fightingback to beat Croatian number one BornaCoric 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-4, after Rublev hadearlier seen off Borna Gojo 6-3, 6-3.

“When you’re playing not only foryourself, but for your country, you have tofight harder,” said Khachanov.

Russia, who are without US Open run-ner-up Daniil Medvedev due to exhaus-tion, can wrap up a place in the quarter-finals with victory over Rafael Nadal’s Spainin their second Group B tie on Tuesday.

The 18 nations have been split into sixgroups of three at the Caja Magica, withthe pool winners and two best runners-upto play in the last eight of the first editionof the revamped tournament.

The teams face off in two best-of-three-set singles matches and one doublesrubber in each tie.

Khachanov and Rublev completed theclean sweep later on Monday with a 7-6(7/3), 6-4 doubles win over Ivan Dodig andNikola Mektic.

CANADA DOWN ITALYCanada claimed a 2-1 victory over

well-fancied Italy to strike first in GroupF.

World number 12 Fabio Fogninislumped to a 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 defeat by VasekPospisil, ranked 150th, before rising starDenis Shapovalov edged out MatteoBerrettini 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/5).

“I’m really happy to get the win

against a player like Matteo who has hadsuch a good season,” said Shapovalov.

“I always love representing my coun-try... It’s not often you get to play as a team,so it's amazing.”

Italy, who won their only Davis Cuptitle in 1976, were the favourites inGroup F with Fognini andBerrettini both having enjoyedexcellent seasons.

The 20-year-oldShapovalov saved threeset points beforesnatching the first setin a tie-break, onlyfor Berrettini to levelthe match in a second-set breaker.

A clash without a single break ofserve, was decided by another tie-break, with Shapovalov reeling off thelast three points to win after two hoursand 52 minutes on court.

Berrettini and Fognini boostedItaly’s hopes of making the quarters witha hard-fought doubles success overShapovalov and Pospisil, winning 6-2,3-6, 6-3.

Canada take on the United Stateson Tuesday, with Italy facing theAmericans the following day.

Belgium made a victorious start inGroup D with back-to-back singleswins against Colombia.

The South Americans are playingat the top level of Davis Cup tennis forthe first time, having never played in theold World Group.

Steve Darcis saw off SantiagoGiraldo 6-3, 6-2, before world num-ber 11 David Goffin had to battleback from a set down to avoid ashock against 194th-ranked

Daniel Elahi Galan Riveros,winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

But the worldnumber one doublespairing of Juan

Sebastian Cabaland RobertFarah grabbed ahistoric win forColombia bybattling pastSander Gilleand JoranVliegen 6-7(5/7), 6-4, 7-6(7/3).

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Dismissing Pakistan’s reviewappeal, the International Tennis

Federation (ITF) on Tuesdayannounced Kazakhstan’s capital Nur-Sultan as the neutral venue for theupcoming Davis Cup tie betweenIndia and Pakistan.

Pakistan Tennis Federation(PTF) had filed an appeal contestingthe ITF Davis Cup Committee’sNovember 4 decision to shift theNovember 29-30 tie to a neutralvenue.

PTF had argued that if Indian pil-grims can visit Pakistan without anysecurity threat, why can’t the Indianteam play matches in Islamabad, butthe Independent Tribunal of theworld governing body kept the gamesat a neutral venue.

“The Pakistan Tennis Federation(PTF) appealed the Davis CupCommittee decision to move the tiefrom Islamabad. The appeal wasdismissed by an independent tribunalon Monday 18 November,” ITF saidin a statement.

“Further to the decision of thePTF not to nominate a neutral venue,in accordance with Davis Cup regu-lations, the Davis Cup Committee hasvoted in favour of the tie being host-ed by the ITF on neutral ground atthe National Tennis Centre in Nur-Sultan (previously Astana),Kazakhstan on 29-30 November,” thestatement added.

The matches will be played onindoor courts since extreme cold con-ditions there won’t allow them to bestaged outside.

“Playing indoor suits our players.It will work in our favour, not that ourplayers can’t play on grass but they alot more comfortable on hard courts.The weather conditions are harsh andthough we are playing indoors, it stillaffects the body,” India coach ZeeshanAli said.

“The quality of tennis is betterplaying indoors because factors likesun and wind do not affect thematches.” The tie was scheduled to beheld in Islamabad in September butwas pushed to November 29-30 afterIndia expressed concerns about thesafety of their players due to diplo-matic tensions between the twonations.

����� �#72$���72,�27!

New Zealand and England will taketheir cricketing rivalry into the Test

arena on Thursday after finding them-selves evenly matched in recent limited-overs thrillers.

England have bragging rights afterwinning a rollercoaster World Cupfinal in July, then edging the Black Caps3-2 in a desperately close Twenty20series completed earlier this month.

Both the one-day decider and T20series needed tie-breakers to find a win-ner and there will be no shortage ofmutual respect when the rivals face offagain on Thursday in the First Test atMount Maunganui.

On paper, there again appears to belittle to separate the teams, with NewZealand second in the Test rankings andEngland third.

But England skipper Joe Root ispainfully aware that his team underper-formed when it lost a two-Test series inNew Zealand last year after underesti-mating the Black Caps’ bowlers on theirhome turf.

Pacemen Trent Boult and TimSouthee bundled the tourists out for 58in the first innings of the opening Testas England tried to play what Rootdescribed as “fast forward” cricket.

England’s skipper said his teamwould be taking a more measured

approach this time, with batsmen plac-ing an emphasis on protecting theirwickets.

“We have to be prepared to playsome attritional cricket at times,” he said.

“We have to try to bat longer... itwould be nice to get used to batting for120 overs more regularly, especially inthe first innings.”

The series will not count towards theWorld Test Championship, giving newEngland coach Chris Silverwood roomto experiment in his first Test series in

charge.He is expected to hand opening

batsman Dom Sibley his debut, partner-ing Rory Burns, with Root moving downto fourth in the order.

New Zealand will take the oppor-tunity to blood speedster LockieFerguson, who has already excelled inlimited overs internationals and wasdescribed as “an extreme talent” byshort-ball specialist Neil Wagner.

“I know he’s raring to go. If he getsthe opportunity he’ll make the most of

it,” Wagner said.New Zealand will also be bolstered

by the return of captain KaneWilliamson, who sat out the T20 serieswith a nagging hip injury.

It will be the first Test match everstaged at Mount Maunganui’s Bay Oval,which has been hosting limited-oversinternationals since 2014.

The beachside venue is Wagner’shome ground and he said the wicketcould take time to get used to.

“It’s been a pretty good wicket that’stended to be on the flatter side but there’salways pace and bounce that you canwork with,” he said.

“It’s also got it’s own unique chal-lenges with wind that swirls around abit.”

SQUADSNew Zealand: Kane Williamson (capt),Todd Astle, Tom Blundell, Trent Boult,Colin de Grandhomme, LockieFerguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham,Henry Nicholls, Jeet Raval, MitchellSantner, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, NeilWagner, BJ WatlingEngland: Joe Root (capt), Jofra Archer,Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, RoryBurns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, SamCurran, Joe Denly, Jack Leach, SaqibMahmood, Matthew Parkinson, OlliePope, Dominic Sibley, Ben Stokes, ChrisWoakes.

������ -!& �2.

With Pakistan set to chal-lenge Australia in a two-

Tests series starting Thursday,former Australia skipper RickyPonting believes that BabarAzam could be a threat for thehome team as the World Cup-winning skipper feels thatBabar is yet to play to potential.

“We haven’t seen the bestof him yet,” Ponting told crick-et.com.au. “Twenty-odd Testsfor an average of 35 — he’s bet-ter than that. He averages 54 inone-day cricket at a strike-rateof about 90. He’s a very, veryclassy player.

“He’s a really exciting tal-ent and probably the guy I’mlooking forward to seeing themost this summer. I’ve seen theAussies a lot and I’ve seen a lotof the Kiwis, but I’m reallyexcited to see him. He could beanything,” he added.

������ -!& �2.

Pakistan coach Misbah-ul-Haq said that pitching the

ball consistently on the blindspot or near the top of the offstump would be key to dismiss-ing Australian stalwart SteveSmith.

Smith returned to Testcricket by taking the Ashes bystorm earlier in the year. In thefive-match series that was heldacross August and September inEngland, Smith scored a whop-ping 774 runs at an average of110.57. He carried the goodform into the recently conclud-ed T20I series against Pakistanat home.

“As far as Steve Smith goes,there’s a blind spot for every topbatsman in the world; as abowler you’re always interestedin pitching the ball there,”Misbah is quoted assaying byESPNCricinfo.

“It’s importantthat we bowl withconsistency there.

Our bowlers are executing theplans very well right now, andhopefully we’ll be able to buildthat kind of a pressure, and staydisciplined especially early in theinnings. No matter how good abatsman is batting, it’s aboutconsistency and bowling themaximum balls in those areasthat build pressure and the bats-man respects you, and you force

him to make a mistake.”Pakistan are going into the

series with a pace attack thatconsists of Mohammad Abbas,Shaheen Afridi, MuhammadMusa and the 16-year-oldNaseem Shah.

“All the batsmen you talk to,any batsman in the world, that’sthe area where you have todefend a ball, and that is a six toeight metre spot where youhave to play the top of offstump,” he said. “That’s the areafrom where if it’s happening thenthat creates a great chance. Evenif it’s not happening, you haveless chances to do anythingwith the ball.

“So it’s about consistency,and top players in the world, ifyou miss those areas, that spe-cial length and line, then they are

good enough to just cash inon that. So you have to

be very, very disci-plined, just keep

the ball there, andif it’s happeningyou are already

in the game.”

����� 2.��6.15!�

At the floodlit Eden Gardens,wrist spinners landing thepink ball with scrambled

seam will be far more difficult topick than finger spinners, feelssenior off-spinner HarbhajanSingh.

India will be playing its much-awaited first Day/Night Test againstBangladesh at the Eden Gardensfrom Saturday and there is a lot ofcuriosity regarding how the pinkball would behave.

"Wrist spinners will have oneadvantage if you see because it'sgoing to be very difficult to pick theseam (with black stitches) of pinkball," Harbhajan told PTI during aninteraction.

India has a wrist spinner inKuldeep Yadav but Harbhajan did-n't want to talk on selection mat-ters.

"Well, that's the team manage-ment's call and I can't comment.But then Bangladesh need to playthe Indian pacers on the seamerfriendly track before spinners arefully operational," he said, referringto their performance against MohdShami and Co. In the first Test.

"And also between 3.30 and4.30 pm, the time of sunset inKolkata where seamers are knownto do maximum damage. But yeswe need to figure out more aboutspinners if we want to play moreD/N Tests in future."

He reminded how Kuldeepturned out to be lethal during the2016 Duleep Trophy, played withthe pink ball.

"If you remember DuleepTrophy, no one could effectivelyread Kuldeep from his wrists. Legspinners got lot of wickets duringthat edition," Harbhajan said.

He explained why wrist spin-ners are more effective.

"When a finger spinner bowls,the ball is released with seam sothat there is turn and bounce.When you are bowling the googly,the seam will be scrambled andvery difficult to pick," he explained.

However, someone like aMuttiah Muralitharan might just bevery effective.

"But there are exceptions likeMuttiah Muralitharan, who couldhave been a killer with the pink balldespite being a finger spinner

because unlike other finger spin-ners, both his off break and doos-ra were released with scrambledseam," said one of India's greatestspinners.

However, the pink SG in gen-eral will be a challenge for the spin-ners with the extra lacquer that willbe applied to keep its colour intactunder lights.

"More lacquer means that youwill not have a good grip on theball, especially finger spinners.And the ball starts skidding fromthe hand."

He then went on to explain thefundamental difference betweenbowling with white ball and pinkball when the dew sets in.

"A lot of people think that theball will be like a slippery soap baras it happens with white ball inD/N games. It's not the same. Thewhite ball becomes slipperybecause the white lacquer goes offthe skin of the ball gets wet.

"With extra lacquer, pink ball'sskin wont get wet but the stitcheswill be very soggy. And therein liesproblem with finger spinners.

Also the format of the gamemakes it difficult.

"In 50 overs or 20 over crick-et, whenever the ball gets wet, youcan just alter the length a bit andlet the batsmen play on backfootgetting those singles.

"But in a Test match, you willnot have a field setting like that.You have to pitch it up. Now land-ing six deliveries on one spotwhile trying to grip a wet seam canbe a challenge because trying theODI length will be easy meat forbatsmen."

For spinners to be more effec-tive, they have to play more gamesat the domestic level.

"If BCCI creates a window sothat all top national players areavailable for a couple of specificrounds in Ranji Trophy, then youcan learn more.

"Even Duleep can go back topink ball but only if stars play. Withno disrespect to any player, if topplayers dont play here, the purposeis lost and no advantage gainedwhile playing next pink Test," heconcluded.

����� 2.��6.15!

India speedster MohammedShami said altering length to

keep the batsmen guessing wouldbe key when India take onBangladesh in their maiden Pink-ball Test.

Shami, who has been in terrif-ic form, returned with the figuresof 3/27 and 4/31 in the first Test atIndore to achieve his career-bestranking, said he intends on keep-ing things simple for the historicTest.

“What one thing bowlersshould do is keep an eye on thewicket and how is it behaving, sowhat I do is as the pitch gets slow-er I keep pushing myself andwhen I notice that the batsman isuncomfortable I go over the top...So the length has to keep chang-ing,” Shami said on Nerolac CricketLive on Star Sports.

Meanwhile, former India cap-

tain Sunil Gavaskar cautionedMayank Agarwal, who scored adouble century in the Indore Test,saying opposition would be better-prepared to counter him in futurematches.

“He is enjoying Test cricket,this is his first year and hopefullyhe keeps scoring on the secondyear also because in the second sea-

son there is a lot more data avail-able of you to the opposition.

“But he has been batting beau-tifully, the way he balances himselfwithout falling on the offside as heplays so straight and his movementof the front and back foot has beenfantastic making him the man inform who is full of confidence,”Gavaskar said.

Former India opener GautamGambhir said the Men in Blue havea complete bowling unit withquality spinners and pacers in theirranks.

“If you see other oppositions,some teams have got quality fastbowling attacks, some have qual-ity spinners but if you look at thisIndian side, they’ve got two qual-ity spinners, three quality seamersplus Jasprit Bumrah andBhuvneshwar Kumar who are notin the playing 11.

“So they’ve got proper 5 seam-ers plus Kuldeep Yadav.”

������ -!& �2.

Australia coach Justin Langer has reck-oned opener David Warner will put his

bad form in the Ashes this year behind himin the upcoming Test series against Pakistan.Warner had a horrible outing during theAshes campaign this year as he managed just95 runs at an average of 9.5 from five games.

“I cannot wait to see him play well.

When he simplifies the game, stays still andwatches the ball, keeps his mind clear, weknow there’s no more destructive player inthe world, probably,” Langer was quoted sasaying by cricket.com.au.

“He loves batting in Australia, he lovesbatting, basically. We are looking forward tohim having a great summer. I know howimportant he is to our team, that’s why I hadno doubt after the Ashes that he’d be in thefirst Test of the summer,” he added.

When Pakistan last toured Australia,Warner averaged 71.20 across three Testmatches.

Earlier, Aussie spinner Nathan Lyon feltthat Warner would come out all guns blaz-ing in the two-Test series against Pakistan.

“Dave is a world-class player. I’m expect-ing him to come out here and play excep-tionally well,” Lyon had told reporters onSaturday.

“No doubt, he would have been downand disappointed about the Ashes that hehad. But he was still part of the side to goover there and retain the Ashes, which ispretty bloody special, if you ask me,” headded.

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