3.! ˘ 4 50 %

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F ormer Finance and Home Minister P Chidambaram will spend at least four days in the CBI custody. A Delhi court on Thursday allowed the CBI plea for custodial interrogation of Chidambaram in the INX Media corruption case till August 26. The agency had sought a five-day remand to unearth the larger conspiracy in the case. Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar asked the CBI to conduct medical examination on Chidambaram as per the rules. The court also allowed the family members and lawyers of Chidambaram to meet him for half an hour every day during his CBI custody. “Considering the facts and circumstances, I am of the view that police custody is justi- fied,” said the judge and remanded him in CBI’s custody till August 26. Even if Chidambaram’s CBI custody ends on August 26, it will not be the end of his woes. The court could either deny him regular bail and send him to judicial custody, or the Enforcement Directorate could seek his custodial interrogation. In both the cases, it will be a while before Chidambaram could earn his freedom. The CBI sources said cus- todial interrogation was required as the agency gathered inputs indicating prima facie involvement of Chidambaram in other approvals by Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in which the former Finance Minister had alleged- ly received bribes through his son Karti’s firms. A number of Letters Rogatory (judicial requests) is pending in certain countries, CBI sources said. Chidambaram’s advocates opposed the CBI plea on the ground that all the other accused, including his son Karti, have already been grant- ed bail in the case. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Chidambaram, argued that the first arrest in the case was of Bhaskar Raman, chartered accountant of Karti, who is presently out on bail. Besides that, Peter and Indrani Mukherjea, also accused in the case, are out on default bail as they are in jail in connection with another matter, Sibal said. Contending that grant of bail was a rule, he asserted that the issue before the court was of personal liberty. He also contested the demand for five- day custodial interrogation of Chidambaram. Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI, told the court that the agency was not extorting con- fession but it has the right to reach the root of the case. Besides Sibal, senior advo- cate Abhishek M Singhvi appeared for Chidambaram and opposed CBI’s plea saying that the former Union Minister was not a flight risk. Singhvi said that the entire CBI case was based on the statement of Indrani Mukherjea, who has turned approver in the case. Chidambaram cannot answer what the CBI wants to hear and added that the agency cannot seek remand on the ground of evasive replies. There was no allegation of tampering of evidence by the CBI, Singhvi asserted. Singhvi contended that police remand can only be granted in special circum- stances and this was a case where there was no new devel- opment. He said the agency was asking Chidambaram only old questions since his arrest on Wednesday night. Mehta countered the argu- ments put forth by Chidambaram’s lawyers stating that everybody was equal before the court. Mehta said certain facts about the case cannot be narrated in an open court and also opposed the plea that Chidambaram be allowed to argue for himself, saying he has able lawyers representing him. Mehta, during his initial arguments, said that Chidambaram entered into a criminal conspiracy with oth- ers in the scam. “He is not cooperating in the investigation,” Mehta said. Chidambaram has been evasive in replies and grave offence was committed, he fur- ther said, adding it is a serious and monumental case of money laundering. He also said Chidambaram’s custodial inter- rogation was necessary to unearth the “quid pro quo and larger conspiracy” and he is required to be confronted with documents. Opposing CBI’s arguments, Sibal contended that what the agency has said should not be taken as “gospel truth”. Sibal said Chidambaram was asked 12 questions and he had already answered six of them previ- ously. Investigators don’t know what to ask and they don’t have questions ready with them, Sibal told the court. After his arrest on Wednesday night, Chidambaram was interrogat- ed only on Thursday morning at 11 am, he said. During the arguments, Chidambaram said he has not slept for last 24 hours. Sibal further argued that CBI could have written a letter to Chidambaram for producing the documents alleged to be in his possession and the agency cannot say he was evasive dur- ing the investigation. Contending that what has been stated in the CBI case diary was not the truth, Sibal said it cannot be considered as evidence. Mehta, during his argu- ments, placed the Delhi High Court’s judgement dismissing Chidambaram’s anticipatory bail plea and also referred to the observations made in it. He said chargesheet has not been filed in the case yet and the case is at pre- chargesheet stage, therefore, “we need material which Chidambaram is holding”. “Effective investigation is possible only in custodial inter- rogation,” he argued. Mehta contended that seri- ous, active and informed role of the accused is made out and money trail is made out and has to be probed. I n a desperate move to stoke violence in Jammu & Kashmir after the abrogation of its special status under Article 370 and to internationalise the issue, Pakistan has started recruiting battle-hardened Afghan and Pashtun fighters to create trouble in the State. Nearly 100 of these fighters are now perched at launch pads to infiltrate into the State. At the same time, there is fear that terrorists might plan “spec- tacular strikes” within Kashmir and other major Indian cities. Besides this hard intelli- gence input, reports also indi- cate that Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has deployed a team of at least 12 terrorists to undertake cross-border raids and target security forces on the Line of Control (LoC). Pakistan’s Border Action Team (BAT), Afghan militants and highly trained Special Services Group (SSG) of the Pakistan Army may specially target Lipa Valley in North Kashmir. Giving details of these lat- est developments across the border after the revocation of Article 370 nearly three weeks back, officials in the security establishment said on Thursday the JeM also held a meeting presided over by Rauf Asghar, brother of JeM chief Masood Azhar, in Bahawalpur on August 19 to draw the strategy to engineer terrorist attacks. The meeting was also attended by launch comman- ders of JeM. They oversee infil- tration of terrorists after the Pakistan Army gives them cover fire. As regards to using Afghan fighters hailing from North- West Frontier Province (NWFP), officials said the ISI and the Pakistan Army resort- ed to it due to depleting strength of local Kashmiri terrorists. In this backdrop, Pakistan is determined to raise the vio- lence level by pushing in Afghan fighters, they said adding a recruitment drive to rope them in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK). Moreover, the proscribed JeM last week conducted a sort of refresher course in Mansera in Pakistan to motivate the ter- rorists to wage war against India, officials said. Moreover, the firing pattern as part of ceasefire violations in the last few days indicate that the infiltration push is likely to come in from Uri, Keran and Gurez (north of Pir Panjal) and Naushera in south of Pir Panjal, sources said. Cautioning that violence will be calibrated, officials said incidents will take place once restrictions on movement will be gradually removed in the Kashmir Valley. They admitted incidents will see backlash in the State and other parts of the country and security forces have to prepared to meet with the challenge. Meanwhile, on the efforts to take the issue to world forum, Pakistan has activated Kashmir cell in all its missions and their officials are address- ing the Pakistan Diaspora in several western countries. Moreover, Pakistan has hired lobbyists to further the so- called cause of Kashmir. If vio- lence takes place in the State, Pakistan will try to take the high moral ground claiming that situation is not under control and no longer an internal mat- ter of India thereby necessitat- ing international intervention, they said. I n yet another case of crimi- nal apathy, five sanitation workers who had entered into a sewer died after inhaling toxic gas in Nandgram locali- ty on Thursday. The police have registered a case of neg- ligence causing death and launched an investigation to fix responsibility. Authorities have been asked to submit a report within 15 days. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, while expressing condolence over the death of the workers, announced a compensation of 5 lakh to the kin of the deceased who were identified as Damodar (40), Horil (35), Sandip (30), Shiv Kumar (32) and Vijay Kumar (40), all res- idents of Samastipur in Bihar. They were working at a project, sanctioned by the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation, to connect domestic sewer lines with the main drainage system of the city, District Magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey said. They were employed by a private contractor, which was carrying out the project under Amrit Yojna of the civic body’s water department in Krishna Colony near Nandgram area under Sihani Gate police sta- tion limits, he said. Around 1 pm, one of the men went inside the sewer line but did not come out. Then one by one the other four men went inside to find the rest. When none of them came out, another man went inside and saw the five men lying in an unconscious state, the official said. The contractor did not provide safety kits to the work- ers, the DM added. The men were rushed to nearby Mariam Hospital, where doctors declared them brought dead, the DM said. “Bodies of sanitation workers were taken to hospital with help of locals. A worker went unconscious after inhaling poisonous gas, after which other sanitation workers jumped to save him, however, they also lost their lives in rescue attempt,” said a local resident of the area. A case has been lodged against the contractor, EMS Infracon, and three of its engi- neers after the civic body filed a police complaint alleging negligence. E quity markets saw a blood- bath on Thursday sinking by 587 points as the Government dashed any hope of a stimulus — something being talked about for a fort- night — to revive the sagging economy. The bears latched on to the news to go for aggressive selling, pushing the index to six-month low. The rupee also continued with its freefall, and ended at 71.81 to a dollar, hit- ting eight-month low. The market has been con- solidating in the range of 11900-11100 (Nifty) for the past fortnight in the hope that stimulus package was on the way. It is bizarre that all these days no Government official cared to deny media reports about possible stimulus such as withdrawal of surcharge on FIP investment and removal of minimum alternate tax (MAT) as well as a package for revival of the auto sector. Soon after Chief Economic Adviser Krishnamurthy Subramanian on Thursday said using taxpayers’ money to bail out companies going through a “sunset” phase will create moral hazards and such a step is an anathema to the market economy, the marked tanked, triggering another round of selling in banking, auto and metal stocks. O pposition parties, includ- ing the Congress, the TMC, the DMK, the RJD, the Samajwadi Party and the National Conference staged a protest in the national Capital on Thursday seeking immedi- ate release of political leaders put under detention in Jammu & Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370. Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI general secretary D Raja, SP leader Ramgopal Yadav, Loktantrik Janata Dal’s Sharad Yadav, RJD’s Manoj Jha and TMC’s Dinesh Trivedi were among those who took part in the protest. Congress leader P Chidambaram’s son Karti took the opportunity to join the protest after his father was arrested by CBI on Wednesday night in connection with a money-laundering case. Addressing the protest, Azad said, “There is something grave happening in the State and the Government is hiding it from us. He also slammed the role of the country’s media, saying, “It is being reported by foreign media but not our media.” Blaming the Modi Government for perpetrating excesses on the people of the State, Azad evoked the mem- ory of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, saying he was a thorough gentleman, a great parliamentarian and a democrat. “If Vajpayee was at the helm of affairs, this would not have happened,” he added. Yechury alleged that the Centre had manipulated the Constitution and the process had started months ago when the ruling BJP withdrew from the coalition Government, headed by Mehbooba Mufti, in Jammu & Kashmir. “All this is a part of a larger conspiracy. They want to make India a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ (Hindu nation) by abrogating the Constitution itself,” he said. In a resolution passed dur- ing the protest, the Opposition parties said as a consequence of abrogation of Article 370 without holding consultations with the people of Jammu & Kashmir or their representa- tives, an undeclared state of Emergency had come to force in the Valley. A day after Dalits organised a rally to protest the demo- lition of Sant Ravidas temple in Tughlakabad by the Delhi Development Authority on the Supreme Court order, the Delhi Assembly on Thursday passed a resolution to reconstruct the temple at the “same spot” and demanded that the Central Government to bring an ordi- nance to transfer the land right for Sant Ravidas temple. The Assembly demanded that the Centre should file a review petition before the Supreme Court. The resolution moved by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal stated, “The site was donated by the Afgan monarch Sikander Lodhi to Sant Ravidas, who is widely worshipped by the Dalit and other communities. This is a historically significant site which Sant Ravidas visited and lived for some time and forms a part of Dalit struggle for iden- tity and rights. Demolishing this temple not only crushes the religious sentiments but also the history of Dalit struggle.” C ountries like India, Iran, Russia and Turkey would have to fight against terrorists in Afghanistan at some point of time, President Donald Trump has said, ruing that the job against the extremists is being done only by the United States some 7,000 miles away. “Look, India is right there. They are not fighting it. We are fighting it. Pakistan is right next door. They are fighting it very little. Very, very little. It’s not fair. The United States is 7,000 miles away,” Trump said. The US President said on Wednesday that other nations currently are making very less efforts against the terrorists in Afghanistan. “At a certain point Russia, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey they are going to have to fight their battles too. We wiped out the caliphate 100 per cent. I did it in record time but at a certain point all of these other countries where ISIS is around they have been deci- mated by the way, badly deci- mated,” Trump told reporters at the White House while responding to a question on the reemergence of ISIS in Afghanistan. “All of these countries are going to have to fight them because do we want to stay there for another 19 years? I don’t think so. So, at a certain point other countries and that includes Russia and it includes Iran and Turkey and Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan and India,” he said. RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

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Former Finance and HomeMinister P Chidambaram

will spend at least four days inthe CBI custody. A Delhi courton Thursday allowed the CBIplea for custodial interrogationof Chidambaram in the INXMedia corruption case tillAugust 26. The agency hadsought a five-day remand tounearth the larger conspiracy inthe case.

Special Judge Ajay KumarKuhar asked the CBI to conductmedical examination onChidambaram as per the rules.The court also allowed thefamily members and lawyers ofChidambaram to meet him forhalf an hour every day duringhis CBI custody.

“Considering the facts andcircumstances, I am of the viewthat police custody is justi-fied,” said the judge andremanded him in CBI’s custodytill August 26.

Even if Chidambaram’s CBIcustody ends on August 26, itwill not be the end of his woes.The court could either denyhim regular bail and send himto judicial custody, or theEnforcement Directorate couldseek his custodial interrogation.In both the cases, it will be awhile before Chidambaramcould earn his freedom.

The CBI sources said cus-todial interrogation wasrequired as the agency gatheredinputs indicating prima facieinvolvement of Chidambaramin other approvals by ForeignInvestment Promotion Board(FIPB) in which the formerFinance Minister had alleged-ly received bribes through hisson Karti’s firms. A number ofLetters Rogatory (judicialrequests) is pending in certain

countries, CBI sources said.Chidambaram’s advocates

opposed the CBI plea on theground that all the otheraccused, including his sonKarti, have already been grant-ed bail in the case.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal,appearing for Chidambaram,argued that the first arrest in thecase was of Bhaskar Raman,chartered accountant of Karti,who is presently out on bail.Besides that, Peter and IndraniMukherjea, also accused in thecase, are out on default bail asthey are in jail in connectionwith another matter, Sibal said.

Contending that grant ofbail was a rule, he asserted thatthe issue before the court wasof personal liberty. He alsocontested the demand for five-day custodial interrogation ofChidambaram.

Solicitor General (SG)Tushar Mehta, representing theCBI, told the court that theagency was not extorting con-

fession but it has the right toreach the root of the case.

Besides Sibal, senior advo-cate Abhishek M Singhviappeared for Chidambaramand opposed CBI’s plea sayingthat the former Union Ministerwas not a flight risk. Singhvisaid that the entire CBI case wasbased on the statement ofIndrani Mukherjea, who hasturned approver in the case.

Chidambaram cannotanswer what the CBI wants tohear and added that the agencycannot seek remand on theground of evasive replies. Therewas no allegation of tamperingof evidence by the CBI, Singhviasserted.

Singhvi contended thatpolice remand can only begranted in special circum-stances and this was a casewhere there was no new devel-opment. He said the agency wasasking Chidambaram only oldquestions since his arrest onWednesday night.

Mehta countered the argu-ments put forth byChidambaram’s lawyers statingthat everybody was equal beforethe court. Mehta said certainfacts about the case cannot benarrated in an open court andalso opposed the plea thatChidambaram be allowed toargue for himself, saying he hasable lawyers representing him.

Mehta, during his initialarguments, said thatChidambaram entered into acriminal conspiracy with oth-ers in the scam.

“He is not cooperating inthe investigation,” Mehta said.

Chidambaram has beenevasive in replies and graveoffence was committed, he fur-ther said, adding it is a seriousand monumental case of moneylaundering.

He also saidChidambaram’s custodial inter-rogation was necessary tounearth the “quid pro quo andlarger conspiracy” and he is

required to be confronted withdocuments.

Opposing CBI’s arguments,Sibal contended that what theagency has said should not betaken as “gospel truth”. Sibalsaid Chidambaram was asked12 questions and he had alreadyanswered six of them previ-ously.

Investigators don’t knowwhat to ask and they don’t havequestions ready with them,Sibal told the court.

After his arrest onWednesday night,Chidambaram was interrogat-ed only on Thursday morningat 11 am, he said.

During the arguments,Chidambaram said he has notslept for last 24 hours.

Sibal further argued thatCBI could have written a letterto Chidambaram for producingthe documents alleged to be inhis possession and the agencycannot say he was evasive dur-ing the investigation.

Contending that what hasbeen stated in the CBI casediary was not the truth, Sibalsaid it cannot be considered asevidence.

Mehta, during his argu-ments, placed the Delhi HighCourt’s judgement dismissingChidambaram’s anticipatorybail plea and also referred to theobservations made in it.

He said chargesheet hasnot been filed in the case yetand the case is at pre-chargesheet stage, therefore,“we need material whichChidambaram is holding”.

“Effective investigation ispossible only in custodial inter-rogation,” he argued.

Mehta contended that seri-ous, active and informed role ofthe accused is made out andmoney trail is made out and hasto be probed.

�$�������� +�.�-�/0�

In a desperate move to stokeviolence in Jammu &

Kashmir after the abrogation ofits special status under Article370 and to internationalise theissue, Pakistan has startedrecruiting battle-hardenedAfghan and Pashtun fighters tocreate trouble in the State.

Nearly 100 of these fightersare now perched at launchpads to infiltrate into the State.At the same time, there is fearthat terrorists might plan “spec-tacular strikes” within Kashmirand other major Indian cities.

Besides this hard intelli-gence input, reports also indi-cate that Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM) has deployed a team of atleast 12 terrorists to undertakecross-border raids and targetsecurity forces on the Line ofControl (LoC). Pakistan’sBorder Action Team (BAT),Afghan militants and highlytrained Special Services Group(SSG) of the Pakistan Armymay specially target Lipa Valleyin North Kashmir.

Giving details of these lat-est developments across theborder after the revocation ofArticle 370 nearly three weeksback, officials in the securityestablishment said on Thursdaythe JeM also held a meetingpresided over by Rauf Asghar,brother of JeM chief MasoodAzhar, in Bahawalpur onAugust 19 to draw the strategy

to engineer terrorist attacks. The meeting was also

attended by launch comman-ders of JeM. They oversee infil-tration of terrorists after thePakistan Army gives themcover fire.

As regards to using Afghanfighters hailing from North-West Frontier Province(NWFP), officials said the ISIand the Pakistan Army resort-ed to it due to depleting strengthof local Kashmiri terrorists.

In this backdrop, Pakistanis determined to raise the vio-lence level by pushing inAfghan fighters, they saidadding a recruitment drive torope them in PakistanOccupied Kashmir (POK).Moreover, the proscribed JeMlast week conducted a sort ofrefresher course in Mansera inPakistan to motivate the ter-rorists to wage war againstIndia, officials said.

Moreover, the firing patternas part of ceasefire violations inthe last few days indicate thatthe infiltration push is likely tocome in from Uri, Keran and

Gurez (north of Pir Panjal) andNaushera in south of Pir Panjal,sources said.

Cautioning that violencewill be calibrated, officials saidincidents will take place oncerestrictions on movement willbe gradually removed in theKashmir Valley. They admittedincidents will see backlash inthe State and other parts of thecountry and security forceshave to prepared to meet withthe challenge.

Meanwhile, on the effortsto take the issue to worldforum, Pakistan has activatedKashmir cell in all its missionsand their officials are address-ing the Pakistan Diaspora inseveral western countries.Moreover, Pakistan has hiredlobbyists to further the so-called cause of Kashmir. If vio-lence takes place in the State,Pakistan will try to take the highmoral ground claiming thatsituation is not under controland no longer an internal mat-ter of India thereby necessitat-ing international intervention,they said.

��������������� 10"2�"3"-

In yet another case of crimi-nal apathy, five sanitation

workers who had entered intoa sewer died after inhalingtoxic gas in Nandgram locali-ty on Thursday. The policehave registered a case of neg-ligence causing death andlaunched an investigation to fixresponsibility. Authorities havebeen asked to submit a reportwithin 15 days.

Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath,while expressing condolenceover the death of the workers,announced a compensation of�5 lakh to the kin of thedeceased who were identifiedas Damodar (40), Horil (35),Sandip (30), Shiv Kumar (32)and Vijay Kumar (40), all res-idents of Samastipur in Bihar.

They were working at aproject, sanctioned by theGhaziabad MunicipalCorporation, to connectdomestic sewer lines with themain drainage system of the

city, District Magistrate AjayShankar Pandey said.

They were employed by aprivate contractor, which wascarrying out the project under

Amrit Yojna of the civic body’swater department in KrishnaColony near Nandgram areaunder Sihani Gate police sta-tion limits, he said.

Around 1 pm, one of themen went inside the sewerline but did not come out. Thenone by one the other four menwent inside to find the rest.When none of them came out,another man went inside andsaw the five men lying in anunconscious state, the officialsaid. The contractor did notprovide safety kits to the work-ers, the DM added.

The men were rushed tonearby Mariam Hospital, wheredoctors declared them broughtdead, the DM said. “Bodies ofsanitation workers were takento hospital with help of locals.A worker went unconsciousafter inhaling poisonous gas,after which other sanitationworkers jumped to save him,however, they also lost theirlives in rescue attempt,” said alocal resident of the area.

A case has been lodgedagainst the contractor, EMSInfracon, and three of its engi-neers after the civic body fileda police complaint allegingnegligence.

� ��� +�.�-�/0�

Equity markets saw a blood-bath on Thursday sinking

by 587 points as theGovernment dashed any hopeof a stimulus — somethingbeing talked about for a fort-night — to revive the saggingeconomy. The bears latched onto the news to go for aggressiveselling, pushing the index tosix-month low. The rupee alsocontinued with its freefall, andended at 71.81 to a dollar, hit-ting eight-month low.

The market has been con-solidating in the range of11900-11100 (Nifty) for thepast fortnight in the hope thatstimulus package was on theway. It is bizarre that all thesedays no Government officialcared to deny media reportsabout possible stimulus such aswithdrawal of surcharge on

FIP investment and removal ofminimum alternate tax (MAT)as well as a package for revivalof the auto sector.

Soon after Chief EconomicAdviser KrishnamurthySubramanian on Thursday saidusing taxpayers’ money to bailout companies going througha “sunset” phase will createmoral hazards and such a stepis an anathema to the marketeconomy, the marked tanked,triggering another round ofselling in banking, auto andmetal stocks.

� ��� +�.�-�/0�

Opposition parties, includ-ing the Congress, the

TMC, the DMK, the RJD, theSamajwadi Party and theNational Conference staged aprotest in the national Capitalon Thursday seeking immedi-ate release of political leadersput under detention in Jammu& Kashmir after the abrogationof Article 370.

Congress leader GhulamNabi Azad, CPI(M) generalsecretary Sitaram Yechury, CPIgeneral secretary D Raja, SPleader Ramgopal Yadav,Loktantrik Janata Dal’s SharadYadav, RJD’s Manoj Jha andTMC’s Dinesh Trivedi wereamong those who took part inthe protest. Congress leader PChidambaram’s son Karti took

the opportunity to join theprotest after his father wasarrested by CBI on Wednesdaynight in connection with amoney-laundering case.

Addressing the protest,

Azad said, “There is somethinggrave happening in the Stateand the Government is hidingit from us. He also slammedthe role of the country’s media,saying, “It is being reported by

foreign media but not ourmedia.”

Blaming the ModiGovernment for perpetratingexcesses on the people of theState, Azad evoked the mem-

ory of former Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee, saying hewas a thorough gentleman, agreat parliamentarian and ademocrat. “If Vajpayee was atthe helm of affairs, this wouldnot have happened,” he added.

Yechury alleged that theCentre had manipulated theConstitution and the processhad started months ago whenthe ruling BJP withdrew fromthe coalition Government,headed by Mehbooba Mufti, inJammu & Kashmir. “All this isa part of a larger conspiracy.They want to make India a‘Hindu Rashtra’ (Hindunation) by abrogating theConstitution itself,” he said.

In a resolution passed dur-ing the protest, the Oppositionparties said as a consequenceof abrogation of Article 370without holding consultationswith the people of Jammu &Kashmir or their representa-tives, an undeclared state ofEmergency had come to forcein the Valley.

�%�$���' �+�� ��� �$��+�.�-�/0��

Aday after Dalits organiseda rally to protest the demo-

lition of Sant Ravidas temple inTughlakabad by the DelhiDevelopment Authority on theSupreme Court order, the DelhiAssembly on Thursday passeda resolution to reconstruct thetemple at the “same spot” anddemanded that the CentralGovernment to bring an ordi-nance to transfer the land rightfor Sant Ravidas temple.

The Assembly demandedthat the Centre should file areview petition before theSupreme Court.

The resolution moved byChief Minister Arvind Kejriwal

stated, “The site was donated bythe Afgan monarch SikanderLodhi to Sant Ravidas, who iswidely worshipped by the Dalitand other communities. This isa historically significant sitewhich Sant Ravidas visited andlived for some time and formsa part of Dalit struggle for iden-tity and rights. Demolishingthis temple not only crushes thereligious sentiments but alsothe history of Dalit struggle.”

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

����� ."*0�+1�4+

Countries like India, Iran,Russia and Turkey would

have to fight against terroristsin Afghanistan at some point oftime, President Donald Trumphas said, ruing thatthe job against theextremists is beingdone only by theUnited States some7,000 miles away.“Look, India is rightthere. They are notfighting it. We arefighting it. Pakistanis right next door.They are fighting itvery little. Very, very little. It’snot fair. The United States is7,000 miles away,” Trump said.

The US President said onWednesday that other nationscurrently are making very lessefforts against the terrorists inAfghanistan. “At a certain pointRussia, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq,

Turkey they are going to haveto fight their battles too. Wewiped out the caliphate 100 percent. I did it in record time butat a certain point all of theseother countries where ISIS isaround they have been deci-

mated by theway, badly deci-mated,” Trumptold reporters atthe WhiteHouse whileresponding to aquestion on thereemergence ofISIS inAfghanistan.

“All of thesecountries are going to have tofight them because do we wantto stay there for another 19years? I don’t think so. So, at acertain point other countriesand that includes Russia and itincludes Iran and Turkey andIraq and Afghanistan andPakistan and India,” he said.

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At a time when the Congressis speaking with a forked

tongue on the Government’smove to abrogate the specialstatus to Jammu & Kashmirunder Article 370, there camea new one on Thursday assenior leader and former UnionMinister Jairam Ramesh soughthis party to introspect and seereason why Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s governancemodel was not a “complete neg-ative story”.

Not recognising his workand demonising him all thetime is not going to help, saidRamesh adding it is time werecognise Modi’s work andwhat he did between 2014 and2019 due to which he wasvoted back to power by over“30 per cent of the electorate”.

Crisis-hit Congress, whichremained headless for two anda half months following itspresident Rahul Gandhi’s res-ignation owning up for theparty’s Lok Sabha debacle, hasbeen speaking in different voic-es on the issue of Article 370with its young turks backingthe Modi Government’s move.In the Lok Sabha elections, theCongress had run a very per-sonalized campaign againstModi and sought to demolishhis model of administrationand governance.

“We talked about farmers’distress throughout our entirecampaign, people realise therewas farmers’ distress but theydid not hold Modi responsiblefor it. You saw what happenedin the elections result

thereafter. We have tounderstand what made himrespectable,” he said.

The BJP got 37.4 per centof votes in the 2019 Lok Sabhaelections and the NDA, as awhole, secured nearly 45 percent of votes.

“Let me tell you it is not a

completely negative story whenit comes to economics of thegovernance, the politics of thegovernance is completely dif-ferent,” he said, adding “thesocial relations that have beencreated out of his governancemodel is also completely dif-ferent”.

To prove his point, Rameshgave the example of the PradhanMantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUJ)and how successful it turned outfor Modi. “In 2019, all of us inthe political discourse madefun of one or two of his pro-

grammes, but it has turned outin all electoral studies that thePMUJ is one single programwhich has been able to connecthim with crores and crores ofwomen and given him the polit-ical traction which he didn’thave in 2014,” he pointed out.

“Now if we are going to runthis down and say this is allhocus pocus and say these arewrong numbers, we are notgoing to confront this guy,” hecautioned.

Ramesh made the remarkswhile launching a book,

“Malevolent Republic: A ShortHistory of the New India” writ-ten by Kapil Satish Komireddi,a political analyst.

“He (Modi) talks in a lan-guage that connects him withthe people. Unless we recognizethat he is doing things whichpeople recognise and whichhave not been done in the past,we are not going to be able toconfront this guy,” said theCongress leader.

“Also, if you are going todemonize him all the time, youare not going to be able to con-front him,” warned the formerUnion minister, who held theportfolios of RuralDevelopment, and DrinkingWater and Sanitation in theManmohan Singh government.

Ramesh, however, soughtto clarify that he is not askinganyone to praise or applaud theprime minister, but only wantsthe political class to at leastrecognise the traits he hasbrought to the governance --particularly the “economics ofgovernance”.

Stating that something hap-pened in the last decade, whichcatapulted Modi from a “non-entity in national politics” in the2009 general elections to some-one who won elections back toback, Ramesh said people of thecountry -- right or wrong -- arenot relating “current distress tohis presence”.

� ��� +�.�-�/0�

The Union EnvironmentMinistry has decided to

do away with the mandatorycharging of lease rent of�30,000 per MW from windpower projects, a move aimedto boost the sector as well asbring it at par with the solarand hydroelectric power pro-jects to attract investments.

In a review meeting heldhere on Thursday, UnionEnvironment Minister PrakashJavadekar said the move willboost the investment in windpower projects and will help in

providing wind power atcheaper rate.

Currently, to establish windpower project over forest land,the existing procedure requirespayment of mandatory chargesfor compensatory afforesta-tion and Net Present value(NPV). In addition to manda-tory charges, the wind powercompanies had to pay addi-tional lease rent of 30,000 perMW.

“The Government envis-ages to meet maximum ener-gy requirement by tappingrenewal energy resources and,to achieve the target of clean

energy in a time bound man-ner, various policies and regu-lations are being constantlyupdated,” the Minister added.

This additional cost is notmandatory for other renewalenergy projects such as solarpower and hydel-electric pro-jects. Additional cost for gen-eration of clean energythrough wind power, in turnescalate the per unit cost ofpower at consumer level,added a senior official fromthe Ministry.

The government has set anambitious target of having 175GW of clean energy capacity by

2022, including 100 GW solarand 60 GW of wind energy.

Also, “promotions of suchprojects also strengthen gov-ernment’s commitmentstowards international agree-ments, and one of the nation-al commitments pledged inParis in 2015 was to have 40 percent of the power from renew-able resources by 2030.

“It is noteworthy that cur-rently India has over achievedthe target and is well on trackto ensure that more than 50 percent of our installed capacitywill come from renewable by2030,” said the official.

����� +�.�-�/0�

The Babri Masjid was builtafter demolishing a Ram

temple at the disputed site inAyodhya and Hindus kept wor-shipping there without givingup its possession, a Hindu lit-igant Thursday told theSupreme Court, while seekingenforcement of right to worshipthere.

Devotee Gopal SinghVisharad, who filed the lawsuitin the lower court in 1950 seek-ing right to pray, died in 1986and is now represented by hisson Rajendra Singh.

The five judge Constitutionbench headed by Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi heard the argu-ments on the 10th day in the

decades-old politically sensitiveland dispute.

“The mosque was builtafter demolishing the Ramtemple, and despite that Hinduscontinued worshipping thereand did not give up posses-sion...Moreover, Muslims werenever in possession of the site,”senior advocate Ranjit Kumartold the bench which also com-prised Justices SA Bobde, DYChandrachud, Ashok Bhushanand SA Nazeer.

“I am making my submis-sions with reference toParasaran’s and Vaidyanathan’ssubmissions (both lawyers rep-resented the deity) that theplace is itself a divine site andthat I being the worshipper, myright to worship, which is a civilright, should not be curtailed,”he said.

Referring to records, thesenior lawyer said magistrateMarkandey Singh onDecember 29, 1949 had initi-ated proceedings to attach thedisputed structure under theCode of Criminal Procedure(CrPC) following communaldisturbances.

The magistrate had soughtresponses from Hindu andMuslim parties in support oftheir claim and counter claimover the property.

Twenty affidavits were filedin 1950 by persons from bothsides before the magistrate andthey are also part of the judi-cial records of the AllahabadHigh Court.

“Filing affidavits, per se, isnot enough to prove them. Thedeponents will have to appearto prove them... No court cansay that the facts of these affi-davits are proved,” the benchsaid.

These affidavits were filedin 1950 and the trial on lawsuitstook place “much much later”,the lawyer said.

The high court did notaccept the affidavits sayingthat the deponents were notavailable for cross examination,he said, adding that they arepart of the judicial recordsand be accepted by the apexcourt as the magistrate had ver-ified the statements and iden-tity of the deponents (makersof the affidavits).

����� +�.�-�/0�

Aplea was filed in theSupreme Court on

Thursday challenging the con-stitutional validity of theamendments to the UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act(UAPA) on the ground thatthese infringed upon the fun-damental rights of citizens.

The bill for amendments tothe UAPA was passed byParliament on August 2 and itreceived the President’s ascent

on August 9. The amended Actallows the Centre to designateindividuals as terrorists andseize their properties.

The Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Amendment Act,2019 also provides for puttinga travel ban on such individu-als once they are declared asterrorists. The petition hasbeen filed by the Associationfor Protection of Civil Rights(APCR), an NGO, which saidthe amendments infringedupon the fundamental right toreputation and dignity underArticle 21 of the Constitution,without substantive and pro-cedural due process.

� ��� +�.�-�/0�

The Regional EmpoweredCommittee (REC), formed

by the Environment Ministry,has granted approval to a roadwidening project from Pathankotto Kullu on the condition that itwill involve minimum felling oftrees. As per the project propo-nent, the road widening workinvolves felling of 1,537 trees.

The REC granted theStage-1 approval to the project,asking the State Public WorksDepartment (PWD), the pro-poser, to deposit with it the NetPresent Value of the forestland being diverted for non-forestry purpose. The projectrequires diversion of 7.67hectare of protected forest land,the panel noted.

“Legal status of the forestland will remain unchanged.Efforts should be made to fellminimum number of trees.The trees should be felledunder strict supervision of thestate forest department,” theREC said, adding that no dam-age should be done to the

adjoining forest land.Clearance under the Forest

Conservation (FC) Act, isgranted in two stages.

While in Stage-I, the pro-posal is agreed to in-principle inwhich usually compensatoryafforestation, funds for raisingcompensatory afforestationthereof, realisation of Net PresentValue (NPV) of forest are stipu-lated and after receipt of com-pliance report from the state gov-ernment in respect of the stipu-lated conditions, formal approvalunder the FC Act is issued.

The in-principle agree-ment and formal approvalunder the FC Act are com-

monly referred to as stage-I andstage-II approval under theFC Act respectively.

“The User Agency (PWD)shall raise strip plantation onboth sides and central verge ofthe road at the project cost withmaintenance of seven to tenyears,” the panel directed whileapproving the project.

The PWD, in its proposal,had submitted that the pro-posed alignment does not passthrough any national park orwildlife sanctuary and involvesfelling of 1,537 trees. It said thatcompensatory afforestation hasbeen proposed at 15.34 ha inPathankot.

����� +�.�-�/0�

The National HighwaysAuthority of India (NHAI)

told the Supreme CourtThursday that the Rs 10,000crore Salem-Chennai 8-lanegreen corridor road project isof “national importance” andthe Madras High Court haderred in quashing the landacquisition process.

The ambitious 277.3-kmgreenfield project connectingSalem and Chennai under thecentral government’s‘Bharatmala Pariyojana’ schemeaims to cut travel time betweenthe two cities by half, to abouttwo hours and 15 minutes.

The NHAI told a benchheaded by Justice N V Ramanathat the high court had held thatenvironmental clearance (EC)was mandatory for the project.

“The reasons given by thehigh court (in the judgement)are factually incorrect,” SolicitorGeneral Tushar Mehta, appear-ing for the NHAI, told thebench which also comprised

Justices M M Shantanagoudarand Ajay Rastogi.

Mehta said the high courterred in saying that grant ofprior environmental clearancewas necessary for the project.

“If we have to take envi-ronmental clearance first andthen go for land acquisitionthen it will be like putting thecart before the horse,” Mehtatold the bench.

He said there was no dis-pute on the fact that EC isrequired before commence-ment of construction work forthe project.

One of the advocates,appearing for the farmers whohad moved the high courtchallenging land acquisitionproceedings, told the benchthat initially the project was forconnecting Chennai andMadurai but later it waschanged to Salem-Chennai.

The bench told Mehta thathe should give a flow chart refer-ring to legal questions as well asthe factual matrix of the case.

� �+�� ������ +�.�-�/0�

The EnforcementDirectorate has attached

properties worth over �19 lakhof a man booked under theanti-money laundering law forallegedly duping people bypromising them secure admis-sion in an Uttarakhand medicalcollege.

Rohit Singh Chauhan isbeing probed for cheating peo-ple to the tune of �1.29 crore bydishonestly inducing them ingetting admission in post-grad-uation courses under the man-agement quota in HIHTMedical College, Dehradun,an official said.

The properties attachedunder the Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA) are a0.138-hectare plot valued at�4.83 lakh and a flat in NewDelhi worth �14.69 lakh.

The plot is in the name ofChauhan and his father and theplot, in addition to the two, isin the name of his mother, theofficial said.

The ED had initiated theprobe on the basis of an FIRand chargesheet filed byUttarakhand police againstChauhan and other accused inthe case.

Chauhan played an activerole in duping the com-plainants and collected fundsfrom them. He transferred themoney to his and his familymembers’ account and utilisedit for personal use, the officialsaid.

Chauhan and his associatesfraudulently collected �1.29crore from the complainants incash and through bankingchannels and credited theminto the account of a companyhe was a director of, he said.

� ��� +�.�-�/0�

The BJP on Thursdayattacked the Congress for

supporting P Chidambaram,arrested in the INX Mediacase, saying it has “united toprotect corruption” and that acourt’s decision to send him tofour-day CBI custody shows a“prima facie case of corruption”.

Senior BJP leader andUnion Minister PrakashJavadekar also rejected theCongress accusation that theaction against the formerfinance minister is “political

vendetta”. “In fact, justice ishappening,” he said.

“The CBI court’s decisionto send him in remand makesit clear that it is a corruptioncase. There is a prime facie caseand that is why the court hasremanded him to the probeagency’s custody. Therefore,the Congress accusation that itis political vendetta is wrong. Infact, justice is happening,”Javadekar told PTI.

With top Congress leaders,including Rahul and PriyankaGandhi, strongly defendingChidambaram and accusing

the Union government of polit-ical vendetta, Javadekar hitback at the opposition party.

The Congress has united toprotect corruption. It is synony-mous with corruption. When inpower, it looted the country leftright and centre,” he said, anddescribed the INX Media case asa “scam of massive corruption”.

He referred to several allegedscams, including those involvingcoal block allocations, 2G spec-trum and the CommonwealthGames, to say the Congress’ ruleduring 2004-14 was “synony-mous” with corruption. He also

spoke of “Jeeja ji scam”, anapparent reference to contro-versial land deals involvingCongress leader Rahul Gandhi’sbrother-in-law Robert Vadra.

Rejecting the Congress’allegation that the governmentwas behind the action of inves-tigation agencies, he said thematter should be left to inves-tigation agencies and courts.

Another BJP leader andUnion Minister MukhtarAbbas Naqvi said on Thursdaythat the opposition party wastrying to convert corruptioninto revolution.

� ��� +�.�-�/0�

The Medical Council ofIndia (MCI) has taken

exception to the alleged massragging at Saifai MedicalUniversity in Etawah asking itwhy it should not be fined anddeclared ineligible for newadmissions for a minimumperiod of one year.

“Why exemplary fine of Rs1 Lakh for each incident of rag-ging, that of 150X1 Lakh, thatis equal to Rs 150 Lakhs be notimposed upon the institute,”asked the Board of Governorsin Supersession of MedicalCouncil of India (MCI BoG).

Stating that the incidentbrings out the “complete failureof the College authorities inaddressing the menace of rag-ging,” the MCI has given theuniversity 24 hours to reply inthe matter .

It also asked why the senior

batches admitted to MBBScourse be not suspended fromattending classes for a mini-mum period of one month.

According to reports, sev-eral first-year students of theuniversity were made to paradeon the campus with their headstonsured. A purported videoclip on social media showed thestudents in white coats walkingin a single file, bowing theirtonsured heads and also mak-ing ‘salaam’ gestures. Anotherclip showed them in rows.

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Congress president SoniaGandhi on Thursday said

that former Prime Ministerlate Rajiv Gandhi also got amassive poll mandate in 1984but he did not use it to createan atmosphere of fear or tothreaten people, in an indirectattack on the ModiGovernment.

Addressing an event mark-ing Rajiv Gandhi’s 75th birthanniversary, Sonia said that herhusband gave the message thatunity can be maintained by cel-ebrating India’s diversity.

Sonia said the formerPrime Minister’s 75th birthanniversary is not a ritual beingmarked by the Congress, but anoccasion to reaffirm its resolveto uphold the values thatinspired him. Rajiv Gandhi’sbirth anniversary is an occasionto resolve to stand up and con-front forces determined todestroy the values that inspiredhim, she said in the presence offormer PM Manmohan Singh,senior party leaders includingRahul Gandhi.

“Rajiv Gandhi never poseda threat to democracy, he neversuppressed public opinion. Hisethics and honesty alwaysinspired him. The work done

by the late PM is somethingthat cannot be merely with slo-gans and pride rather it needshard work and strong will,”Sonia said.

Without naming any par-ticular party or name, she saidtoday there are those who arebusy inventing a new past forus, Rajiv was engaged in invent-ing in preparing for a newfuture. “To him, the past has tobe understood in all its com-plexities to build pride, not tostoke prejudice, to strengthensocial harmony, not fuel antag-onism and polarize our society,a society whose heritage hasbeen enriched by multiplestreams of faiths, beliefs andculture. He was proud of ourpast, but, at the same time he

held a firm conviction thatIndia has to be a modernNation,” said Sonia.

She recalled how a sectionaccused him of being elitist butit was he who crafted the neweducation policy in 1986through which he looked uponrural India especially childrenand got a chain of JawaharNavodaya Vidyalayas in everysingle district.

“His political adversariesaccused him of being out oftouch with reality with his fix-ation for computers. Yet it isthis magnificent obsession withtechnology and modernity thathas made millions of youth inour country ready to tackle thechallenges of the digital era. Ibelieve that his strategic reasonslaid the foundations for pros-perity of our country in thecoming century,” Sonia said.

On the occasion she alsoasserted that electoral ups anddowns are inevitable and chal-lenges facing the Congress areformidable, but it must con-tinue with its ideological strug-gle against divisive forces. Soniarecently took over as the party’sinterim President followingher son Rahul Gandhi steppingdown as party chief owningthe dismal performance in LokSabha this year.

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New Delhi: A book onPrime Minister NarendraModi, ‘The Modi Dynamic’,written by Sanju Verma, hasbeen released by Blue RosePublishers. The first part of thebook contains many interestingtopic like how demonetizationunearthed black money andhow it was a game changer. Thesecond part of the book expos-es the weaknesses of“Gathbandhan politics and fail-ure of “Raebareli-Amethi’model. PNS

New Delhi : ConservationistVivek Menon, head of Delhi-based Wildlife Trust of India(WTI) has been awarded theprestigious Clark R BavinWildlife Law EnforcementAward-2019 recently by IvonneHiguero, secretary general of theConvention on InternationalTrade in Endangered Species(CITES) at Geneva where theeighteenth meeting ofConference of Parties to CITESis currently being held. PNS

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Thursday referred toits larger bench the questionwhether it would be in publicinterest to restrict manufactureof life—saving drug, Oxytocin,for domestic use to a singlepublic sector undertaking.PTI

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Association (IMA) haswritten to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi seeking revo-cation of an order suspendingUttar Pradesh-based pediatri-cian Kafeel Khan, an allegedaccused in the death of infantsat the BRD Medical College inGorakhpur in 2017.

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Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel took part at an all-India-level programme to commemorate the 75th birth anniversary of latePrime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at Indira Gandhi Stadium, New Delhi on Thursday.

RAIPUR | FRIDAY | AUGUST 23, 2019chhattisgarh 03

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

An Assessment Centre has beenset up in the state under the

SCERT to standardize teachingpractices and assessments, and tomonitor learning outcome fromschool to state level.

The centre will be made theaxis of curriculum reform in a bidto improve the quality of educationacross the state in an equitablemanner.

The ministry of humanresources development hassanctioned `48 crore for the func-tioning of this centre.

This initiative is a first of itskind in the country and will helpthe government of Chhattisgarh todevelop its education map oflearning levels in the state and touse assessments as a diagnosticand pedagogy tool to improvelearning levels.

Normally no state conductsstudent assessments till grade VIIIas standardized or full cohortassessments. Centralized tests suchas this state-level assessment (SLA)will standardize evaluationprocess. The design for the SLAwas finalized in a workshop heldby the Department of SchoolEducation at SCERT from 10-11January this year. 200 people fromschools, DIETS, cluster, block,SCERT, Samgra Shishksha and 20partnering organisations andconsultants were present in thatworkshop.

The Assessment Centre waslaunched on August 19 with a4-day orientation workshopinvolving 100 stakeholders select-ed from the state by PrincipalSecretary Education GauravDwivedi, Mission DirectorSamagraha Shiksha P. Dayanandand Director SCERT, Shri Saurabh

Kumar, Joint Secretary Sunita Jain,Additional Director SCERT.

“Every child in the state shouldhave equal opportunities for learn-ing with access to the bestresources. These opportunitiesshould not be limited to schools inthe urban areas only but shouldreach rural and remote regionstoo. Although emphasis is beinggiven on learning outcomes byacademic institutions, but there isa gap between policy and practice,”Dwivedi said explaining the objec-tive of the centre.

“Therefore, till the time thisgap is not filled, the difference isnot overcome, students will missout on the right to quality educa-tion which supports learning withunderstanding and not rote learn-ing. In the coming days our assess-ment centre will develop commonstandards which will also alignteacher training material, study

material, classroom practice andassessments for better educationaloutcomes in the state,” he added.

The centre will standardizeteaching practice at a classroomlevel, including lesson plans,teaching strategies, competencybased learning outcomes frame-work, evaluation from formativeand summative assessments.

Question papers, trainingprogrammes will also be designedand delivered keeping in mind theclassroom need and challenges,report cards, assessment schedulesand research.

In this regard, a workshop wasorganised which was attended byparticipants who will manage anddrive activities of the centre.

Already under the SLA, 1.2crassessments papers of 30 lakhsstudents from 38000 schools wereanalyzed with analytics andtechnology tools.

Assessment Centre founded to provide equal learning opportunities

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Chhattisgarh has baggednational award for out-

standing work in nutritioncampaign. Union Ministry forWomen and ChildDevelopment will felicitate thestate with citation and cashreward at a function to be heldat convention hall atChanakyapuri in national cap-ital on Friday.

Official sources informedthat the Chhattisgarh state wasadjudged second nationwidein two of the categories. Thestate bagged award in group-AIntegrated Child DevelopmentScheme (ICDS) for regularmonitoring of Anganwadichildren through software.

Similarly, it got second

prize in contract educationprocess, skill development andcommunity activities, sourcesadded.

Besides, Durg district wasadjudged best district, Kartala(Korba),the best Block andBest Anganwadi Worker,

Mitanin, Supervisor and ANMteam award was given toBatauli (Surguja) and Patan(Durg), sources informed.

Sources further informedthat each of the team ofAnganwadi workers, Mitanins,supervisors, ANM team will be

rewarded with cash prize of`2.5 Lakh.

The state which has beenadjudged the second in timebound target work undergroup A will be rewarded witha cash prize of `50 Lakh,sources added.

Chhattisgarh bags national award foroutstanding work in nutrition campaign

Chhattisgarh state was adjudged second nationwidein two of the categories. The state bagged award ingroup-A Integrated Child Development Scheme(ICDS) for regular monitoring of Anganwadi childrenthrough software. Similarly, it got second prize incontract education process, skill development andcommunity activities

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Despite Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel had

instructed that his birthdaymust be celebrated withsimplicity, the Congress’ssecond-rung leaders areinstalling hoardings andcutouts with birthday wishesto the CM in almost all thesquares and busy roadsacross the capital city to showtheir loyalty towards theirleader.

Most of these enthusias-tic leaders are vying forlucrative posts in boards and

corporations. They areutilizing the opportunity toproject themselves as beingloyal to the chief minister and

so they are making all possi-ble efforts to draw attention.

Roads and major squaresof the capital city are filled up

with hoardings and cutoutscarrying images of Baghelput up by these “well wish-ers.” Not a single pillar orpost near CM’s official resi-dence and at party’s stateheadquarters Rajiv Bhawanwas spared from this show ofloyalty.

Already it has beenhinted that soon the namesof chairpersons of boardsand corporations would beannounced and so thesesecond rung leaders arecompeting with each other toshow their devotion towardsthe CM, hoping to be getrewarded for their loyalty.

STAFF REPORTER n DURG

Five persons including awoman were arrested in

connection with the abduc-tion of five-year-old MaulikSahu, who was kidnapped onAugust 20 while he was onhis way to school at Dhanora.

“One of the close familyfriends of victim’s father wasthe mastermind in the kid-napping episode. They havebeen sent to jail,”Superintendent of Police(SP) Durg Prakhar Pandeysaid.

The prime accused,identified as Rajkumar Sahu(31), who lived near the vic-tim’s house was a good friendof Chandrashekhar Sahu –victim’s father, police said.

“Few days backChandrasekhar had sold hisancestral land for about`1.20 crore. Rajkumar wasaware of the fact,” the SPsaid.

Rukendra Sinha ofSomna, his wife BabitaSinha, Hemu Sahu ofDhanora and Kundan ofRajnandgaon too have beenarrested in this connection,police said.

Rajkumar had hatchedthe plan about a month backand Hemu was constantlykeeping eye on Maulik’smovement, the SP revealed.

On August 20 RukendraSinha along with Rajkumarand Hemu snatched Maulikfrom the school van atDhanora. Kundan joined

them in between while theywere headed towardsRukendra’s house at Somna.

After Kundan joined theparty, Rajkumar, left thegroup and rushed back toDhanora. The boy was thendropped at Rukendra’s housewhere his wife Babita waswaiting to take care of theabducted child, policerevealed.

Chandrashekhar Sahuwithout knowing that his“friend” was the mastermindbehind the kidnapping calledRajkumar to inform aboutthe abduction of his son.Pretending innocentRajkumar even accompaniedChandrashekhar toPadmnabhpur police outpostto lodge complaint about the

abduction.Police said Rajkumar

went to the police outpost toavoid any suspicion and keeptab on the police’smovement.

However, due todeployment of securitypersonnel who sealed all theexit routes, the accuseddecided to release the childand they dropped him nearSomna police station around1.30 am, police said.

Rajkumar was arrestedbased on the evidences,CCTV footages and techni-cal inputs received duringthe course of investigation,police said. Duringinterrogation he spilled thebeans which led to the arrestof other accomplices.

Family friend mastermindof kidnapping 5-yr-old boy

Eyeing plump posts Congress leaderswoo CM with birthday posters, hoardings

Leaders who are vying for posts in boards andcorporations are competing to show their loyalty

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel on the eve of his

birthday has announced addi-tional hike in dearnessallowance for state govern-ment employees and pension-ers. The hike in DA will beeffective from January 1, 2019.

As per the order issued,employees and pensionerswill get 3 percent of DA for7th Pay Commission fromJanuary 1, 2019 while itwould be 6 percent DA forthe 6th Pay Commission.

At present the employeesof 7th Pay Commission weregetting 9 percent and 6th PayCommission were receiving148 percent dearnessallowance. Around 3.72 lakhemployees and around 1.13lakh pensioners will be bene-fitted by the latest hike.

CM’s ‘return birthday gift’ tostate employees, pensioners

CM to launch ‘SwadishtChana’ distributionscheme todayRAIPUR: ChhattisgarhChief Minister BhupeshBaghel on the occasion ofhis birthday on Friday willlaunch the ‘SwadishtChana’ (chickpea) distri-bution scheme to beimplemented in ScheduledAreas and Modified AreaDevelopment Agency(MADA) areas of the state.

The scheme will belaunched by the CM at11.00 am from his officialresidence in Civil Lines,Raipur.

Food and civilsupplies ministerAmarjeet Bhagat willpreside over the launchingceremony.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

State Congress has sharplyreacted to the attempt by

former Chief Minister RamanSingh to defend his sonAbhishek Singh against whommultiple FIRs were lodged andclarified that the action againstthe former MP was not apolitics of vengeance.

Multiple FIRs were regis-tered against the former MP,sitting Mayor MadhusudanYadav and others at four policestations in Rajnandgaondistrict on Thursday.

The FIRs were lodged inalleged involvement ofAbhishek and sitting MayorMadhusudan Yadav in a chitfund scam.

In a statement, Congress’s

state spokesperson DhananjaySingh Thakur said if FIRagainst Abhishek was a politicsof vengeance then what was itwhen Baghel was booked andjailed just for waving a CD(allegedly containing video ofa former minister in acompromising situation).

Earlier too FIR againstAbhishek and Yadav wereregistered in Surguja regionbut since there is a SupremeCourt order against taking anycoercive action, the arrest ofAbhishek has been kept onhold.

Now as fresh FIRs havebeen registered inRajnandgaon the accused haveto again apply for interim bailin local court once again.

FIRs against Abhishek notpolitics of vengeance: CongRajnandgaon police resisters multipleFIRs against Abhishek, sitting MayorMadhusudan Yadav and others

STAFF REPORTER nDANTEWADA/JAGDALPUR

Five Maoists, including ahardcore-ultra carrying a

cash reward of `5 lakh on hishead, gave up arms in therestive Dantewada, Jagdalpurand Narayanpur districts,police said on Thursday.

“Mehttar Korram aliasRonda a resident of Dhaudaipolice station underNarayanpur district handedover his 12-bore gun topolice. He was President ofMaoist Jantana Sarkar, activein Bayanar area committeeand carried a reward of `5lakh on his head,” a policeofficial from Narayanpurinformed.

Ronda was involved inover a dozen of encountersbetween Maoists and policeforce. He was also wanted inconnection with the murderof a villager at Kanhargaon in2016.

In a different incident,Manju Mandavi and SonaruPoyam who were members ofMaoist LOS active in Odishagave up arms before Bastarpolice.

According to police they

were involved in variousMaoist attacks in which 25police personnel were killedand 7 sustained seriousinjuries.

In Dantewada, twoMaoists carrying cash rewardof `1 lakh on their heads gaveup arms before the SPDantewada.

Sannu Kunjam was aMaoist Janmilita Commanderand Budhram Mandavi wasMaoist DAKMS(Dandkaranya Kisan AdivasiMajdor Sangh) member. Theywere active in Ganglur regionand were wanted inconnection with incidentslike attack on police party,planting IEDs and similarother subversive activities.

Five Maoists give uparms in Bastar region

Page 4: 3.! ˘ 4 50 %

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The water level receded fur-ther on Thursday and was

recorded below the dangermark. Residents, who shifted totemporary makeshift tents aftertheir houses flooded, startedreturning back.

According to report, thelevel of Yamuna water atRailway Bridge was 206.60metres at 10 am. It is expectedto recede further, a seniorGovernment official said.

The water level of Yamunareached the highest level of

206.60 metres on Wednesdaymorning. The river startedreceding from afternoon andflowed at 206.44 metres at 6pm. It had crossed the dangermark of 205.33 metres onMonday.

Around 23,000 affectedpeople have been evacuatedfrom the flood-plains to saferplaces. Over 18,000 of themwere accommodated in morethan 2700 relief tents set up bythe Delhi Government agencies.

Some tents remainedvacant as many residents at theYamuna Khadar didn’t vacate

their shanties. Earlier onWednesday, Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal metpeople affected by the floodand said the Government willensure that there is no shortageof relief materials.

The river flows through sixdistricts of Delhi whose low-lying areas are prone to flood-ing. The administration hasdeployed 30 boats to preventaccidental drowning. In 1978,the water in the river rose to itshighest-ever level of 207.49metres, causing a devastatingflood in the national Capital.

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Aday after protest overdemolition of Ravidas tem-

ple turned violent onWednesday, Tughlaqabad inSouth east Delhi on Thursdaylimped back to normalcy as theDelhi Police deployed a strongposse of armed police person-nel in Govindpuri, Alaknandaand Tughlaqabad to keep trou-blemakers at bay.

“Police keeping a tight vigilon each and every activity in thearea. Around 60 CRP person-nel along with police have beendeployed on the temple site.Further pickets have been alsoinstalled at various points as aprecautionary measure,” said

Chinmoy Biswal, the DeputyCommissioner of Police (DCP),South-East district.

Earlier, police had installeda board at the temple sitewhich says, “This land belongsto the Delhi DevelopmentAuthority (DDA) according toa Supreme Court order.Occupying it is a punishableoffence.”

However, a group of peo-ple, after being denied entry tothe temple site went on ram-page and clashed with resi-dents, passersby and DelhiPolice personnel onWednesday night.

RESIDENTS SPEAK“There has been a heavy

police deployment since

Wednesday morning as thetemple site is on walking dis-tance from here. At 6 pmpolice official came to us andasked us to close shops assoon as possible,” said KamalGupta, who is running a sweetshop in Tughlaqabad Extensionfor the last 10 years.

“We were pulling downshutters of our shops whensuddenly around 6.50 pm sev-eral people came and startedpelting stones at our shops andvehicles standing on roadside.Seeing the situation we alsolocked up ourselves includingfew customers in the shop till9 pm, They even broke theCCTV camera installed infront of my shop,” said Gupta.

“They had vandalised apolice bike in front of us andalso broke several car glasses.They were also using woodenbattens and whatever was com-ing in their way,” said Hari Om,a shopkeeper in the area addingthat the crowd dispersed in theresidential colonies after policeteam arrived here.

OKHLA ESTATE ROAD“After the group of protes-

tors entered the area we hadalready locked ourself insideour houses. The crowd herebroke several cars parked onmain road and in residentialarea,” said Atul Kashyap, a res-ident. “When the mob hadpassed away from the area wecame out of house and saw sev-eral vehicles were damaged bythe mob,” said Abdul, whoruns a briyani shop and is res-ident of the area.

“If they were protestingwhy did they vandalise somany vehicles. They couldhave raised their demand in apeaceful manner not by dis-turbing peace and people in thearea. Now we have a fear of thismob coming again,” saidTushar, a resident.

TIMELINEOn Wednesday, around 4

pm, a group of Dalit activists

who had gathered at theRamlila Maidan began march-ing towards Tughlaqabad.

“To maintain law and ordersituation in the area policehad already deployed heavyforce in the area but around4,000/5,000 agitators broke thebarricades. When police dis-suaded the protesters, they dis-persed but gathered again insmall numbers nearNizamuddin,” said a seniorpolice official.

“Police had set up barri-cades near Ashram Chowkand then at Maa Anand Mayi

Marg to stop them from reach-ing the site of the demolishedRavidas temple. However, theymixed among the locals toavoid being stopped by thepolice,” said the senior policeofficial.

Around 6 pm, the maindrama began when protestersbroke one layer of barricadeafter another when police triedto stop them from getting closeto the temple that was demol-ished 10 days ago.

The protesters approachedthe site, which had been cor-doned off by the Delhi Police.

However, several police officialswere also asked to call in theirteams and more than 600policemen covered the area inthe next one hour. A four layerbarricade was set up by thepolice, two of which were bro-ken by the protesters.

The protesters started pelt-ing stones at the police teamsas soon as police tried to stopthem. Around 7 pm, policestarted using tear gas shells butthe stone pelting continued.

The protesters smashedthe windshields and windowpanes of more than 20 cars

parked along the road. Seeingthe agitated crowd, the localsstarted to run haywire to savetheir lives. A few residentseven opened the gates of theirhouses for the locals.

“Around six Governmentvehicles were set on fire by themob. Several other vehicles onroads and residential areaswere also damaged by themob,” said a police official. Theprotesters were forced to recedeafter 29 rounds of tear gasshelling. Around 96 protesterswere arrested by the police.

��������������� +�.-�/0�

Terming the claim ofinstalling 2, 80,000 CCTV

cameras across the nationalCapital false, the Bharatiya

Janata Party (BJP) Delhi unitpresident Manoj Tiwari criti-cised Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal, saying theGovernment is misleadingpeople at the cost of the pub-lic exchequer.

“The amount being spenton advertisements is themoney recovered as taxes from

the people of Delhi. The real-ity is that CCTV cameras havenot been installed in entireDelhi. Nobody can find thesecameras in any area and wher-ever the cameras have beeninstalled, they are either out oforder or no arrangement hasbeen made for their propermaintenance,” he said.

��������������� +�.�-�/0�

Delhi’s Ambedkar Nagar MLA AjayDutt tore open his shirt outside

the Delhi Assembly on Thursday toprotest against the recent demolitionof a Ravidas temple. “If the BJP peo-ple don’t want to let us live then theyshould hit us with sticks”, the AAPMLA said.

The Ravidas temple was demol-ished by the DDA earlier this monthon the orders of the Supreme Court.

Dalit protesters, who had taken tothe streets to protest the demolition ofthe temple on Wednesday had broughttraffic movement in several parts ofDelhi to a standstill. The protestersasked the central government torebuild the temple. The protest hadturned violent on Wednesday night,leaving several people, includingpolicemen, injured.

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Justice Sunil Gaur, who pavedthe way for former finance

minister and senior Congressleader P Chidambaram’s arrestin the INX Media case by dis-missing his anticipatory bailplea, retired as a Delhi HighCourt judge on Thursday.

He had also passed anorder clearing the decks forprosecution of top Congressleaders, including Sonia andRahul Gandhi, in the NationalHerald case.

Justice Gaur was elevatedto the high court in April 2008.He was designated as a per-manent judge on April 11,2012. During his tenure, heheard several other high profilecases.

On Monday, he deniedanticipatory bail to business-man Ratul Puri, nephew ofsenior Congress leader andMadhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Kamal Nath, in theAgustaWestland chopper scam.

He had passed a judgementlast year asking AssociatedJournals Ltd, the publisher ofCongress mouth piece NationalHerald, to vacate its office atITO here.

The decision was upheld bya division bench of the high

court, but was put onhold by the SupremeCourt in April thisyear. The matter is stillpending in the apexcourt.

Justice Gaur alsodealt with some issuesarising out of corrup-tion cases, includingthe money launderingcase against contro-versial meat exporterMoin Qureshi.

Denying anticipa-tory bail toChidambaram in theINX Media case onTuesday, the 62-year-old judge haddescribed him as the“kingpin”.

The Congress leader, whowas arrested by the CentralBureau of Investigation onWednesday night, moved theSupreme Court against theorder.The apex court will hearChidambaram’s plea onFriday.

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Reacting to the statement ofDelhi Chief Minister

Arvind Kejriwal on SantRavidas Temple in theAssembly on Thursday, Leaderof Opposition Vijender Guptasaid the Chief Minister hastaken a irresponsible andimpractical stand by rejectinghis proposal to remove theland of temple from the forestcategory.

Gupta said Kejriwal wantsthe matter should remainentangled in the Courts for-ever. “The Chief Minister is

putting obstacles in the way tosolution. I was marshaled outof the Assembly along withMLA O P Sharma after sug-gesting the solution on thismatter after discussion withthe Union EnvironmentMinister Prakash Javadekar,”he said.

Addressing the House,Gupta suggested that the mostappropriate and simple solu-tion is to remove the templeland from the category of for-est land. “It is the responsi-bility of the Delhi Governmentto do so,” he said.

He said he had discussedthe matter with UnionEnvironment MinisterPrakash Javadekar. He assuredthat if the Delhi Governmentremoves forest tag from thetemple land, UnionGovernment will leave nostone unturned in making theplace as grand as envisioned bythe devotees of Sant Ravi Dass.The Delhi Government shouldtake initiative and the BJPGovernment will discharge itsresponsibility of constructinggrand memorial to the greatsaint.

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ADelhi court on Thursdaysent Chandrashekhar

Azad alias Ravan, the BhimArmy chief, along with 95other protesters, to judicialcustody after they were arrest-ed following charges of rioting,attempt to murder and unlaw-ful Assembly.

Azad and other protesterswere detained on Wednesdaynight from Tughlaqabad areaafter they had staged a violentprotest by Dalits against thedemolition of a Ravidas tem-ple turned violent, promptingpolice to resort to “mild lath-icharge” and use tear gas shellsto disperse the mob.

After the mob took a vio-lent turn around six police per-sonnel were injured while 15protestors also sustained minor

injuries. “Station House Officer

(SHO) of Jaitpur police station,Anand Prakash, HeadConstable Narendra and SubInspector Jitender sustainedsevere injuries after they wereattacked with a sharp edgedweapon. They were dischargedafter a treatment at the hospital,” said a senior policeofficial.

“Police have also recoveredseveral wooden sticks (lathis)and iron rods from the spot,where most of the rioters weredetained. Crime team alsoinspected the spot,” said thesenior police official.

“Police on Wednesdaynight registered a FirstInformation Report (FIR)under sections143/147/148/149/186/353/332/308/323/435/437/120B/34 ofIndian Penal Code (IPC) at

Govindpuri police station,”said Chinmoy Biswal, theDeputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP), South-East dis-trict.

“Police teams and CRPhave been deployed near thesite as a precautionary mea-sure,” the DCP added.

Meanwhile, condemningthe incident, an umbrella bodyof Dalit groups, which protest-ed the demolition of a Ravidastemple in Ramlila Maidan inCentral Delhi said that themarch to the disputed site inthe area on Wednesdayevening was a personal deci-sion of a few people.

Ahosk Bharti, the con-venor of the Akhil BhartiyaSant Shiromani Guru RavidasMandir Sanyukt SanrakshanSamiti said that those whomarched to the site of the tem-ple, had gone themselves.

“No directions were issuedby Samiti regarding the marchtowards site. People had goneon the site on their own will.We condemn the violence, butpeople should know it was thepolice that used force againstthe protesters first,” he claimed.

Bharti said the protestershad resolved to install a statue of Sant Ravidas at the site of the temple demol-ished by the DelhiDevelopment Authority onAugust 10 on the orders of theSupreme Court.

“We will do it sooner orlater, but in a peaceful manner.Some people become emo-tional Wednesday evening andthe protest took a violent turn.It was a one-day protest at theRamlila Maidan and people,who had come from variousstates, are now returning totheir homes,” said Bharti.

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The opposition Congress onThursday walked out from

the Himachal PradeshAssembly, protesting the arrestof former finance minister PChidambaram.

Congress MLAs led byLeader of Opposition MukeshAgnihotri raised slogans beforestaging the walkout.

Agnihotri rose from hisseat soon after the QuestionHour at noon and stated thatChidambaram's arrest was a"murder of democracy".

However, Speaker RajivBindal stopped him from rais-ing the issue, stating no noticefor discussion was given.

Soon after Congress MLAsstarted raising slogans “ModiSarkar Murdabad". Counteringthem, BJP MLAs raised sloganslike “Chor Machaye Shor.”

Subsequently CongressMLAs staged a walkout fromthe House.

Condemning the walkoutby the Congress, Chief MinisterJai Ram Thakur said the Centrehad nothing to do withChidambaram's arrest and thathe had been arrested afterrejection of his bail plea by thehigh court.

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British Prime Minister BorisJohnson heads to Paris on

Thursday for talks with FrenchPresident Emmanuel Macronwho is expected to rebuff hislast-ditch efforts to renegotiatethe UK’s withdrawal from theEuropean Union.

Macron, who has said pre-viously he is happy to be the“bad guy” on Brexit, roundlyrejected Johnson’s calls to scrapa key plank of a deal negotiat-ed between the EU and formerBritish premier Theresa May.

“Renegotiation on theterms currently proposed bythe British is not an option thatexists, and that has alwaysbeen made clear by (EU)President Tusk,” Macron toldreporters on Wednesdayevening.

At stake is the so-called“backstop”, an arrangementguaranteeing that borderchecks will not return betweenEU member Ireland andNorthern Ireland which is partof Britain.

Johnson considers thebackstop to be “anti-democra-tic” and an affront to Britishsovereignty because it willrequire London to keep itsregulations aligned with the EU

during a transition exit period.The EU argues this is nec-

essary to avoid the re-emer-gence of border checkpointswhich could lead to a return offighting on the divided islandwhere anti-British violence has claimed thou-sands of lives.

More evidence of deadlockon Thursday would raise thechances of a “no deal” Brexit,which France now sees as themost likely scenario despite theexpectation that it will wreakeconomic damage on Britainand the EU.

“The EU and member

states need to take the possi-bility of a ‘no deal’ outcomemuch more seriously thanbefore,” a senior EU official toldreporters in Brussels onThursday on condition ofanonymity.

The Paris visit is the secondleg of Johnson’s first foreign tripsince he became prime minis-ter a month ago.

On Wednesday, he toldGerman Chancellor AngelaMerkel in Berlin that the back-stop has “grave defects for asovereign, democratic countrylike the UK” and insisted theprovision “has to go”.

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President Donald Trump hasthreatened to end what he

called the “ridiculous” US pol-icy of birthright citizenship,which gives citizenship auto-matically to those born inAmerica, as he sought ways tocheck illegal immigration.

“We’re looking at that veryseriously, birthright citizen-ship. It’s frankly ridiculous,”Trump said Wednesday outsidethe White House whileresponding to a question on thebirthright citizenship, whichgrants automatic citizenshipto those born in the US.

His comments echoes hisadministration’s previous vowto unilaterally end the processby which babies born in thecountry automatically becomeUS citizens.

“Birthright citizenshipwhere you have a baby on ourland, you walk over the border,have a baby, congratulations,the baby is now a US citizen.We’re looking at it very, veryseriously,” Trump said.

During his 2016 presiden-tial campaign, Trump had saidthat he will end the birthrightcitizenship.

The 14th Amendment of

the US Constitution guaranteesbirthright citizenship andstates: “All persons born or nat-uralised in the United Statesand subject to the jurisdictionthereof, are citizens of theUnited States and of the Statewherein they reside.”

Indian-origin Presidentialcandidate Kamala Harris, aDemocratic senator fromCalifornia, mocked Trump’scomments on TwitterWednesday, stating thePresident “should ‘seriously’consider reading theConstitution.”

Trump’s statement cameas the administrationannounced a proposal to detainundocumented families togeth-er indefinitely, replacing theagreement that set a 20-daylimit for holding children, TheHill reported.

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German Chancellor AngelaMerkel said Thursday that

Britain could have until the dayof its scheduled EU departureto avoid a chaotic no-dealBrexit, clarifying that she hadnot set London a 30-day dead-line. Merkel had appeared tolay down the 30-day rule tosolve the vexed issue of theIrish border “backstop” whenshe met British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson in Berlin onWednesday.

“I said that what you wantto do in three or two years, you

can do in 30 days -- or rather,you would have to say: you cando it by October 31,” Merkelsaid at a press conference inThe Hague with Dutch pre-mier Mark Rutte.

“So it’s not about 30 days,but they were symbolic for thefact that you can do it in a shortperiod of time.”

Merkel said she was givingthe new date “because GreatBritain said they would like toleave the European Union on31 October.”

“And until then we have towork on it -- work on it if thewill exists on both sides.”

The German leader saidthe aim was to find a regimethat both respects the two-decade old peace agreement inthe British province ofNorthern Ireland “and at thesame time we can ensure theintegrity of the (EU’s) internalmarket.”

In Berlin on Wednesdaynight, Merkel had appeared togive London its biggest glim-mer of hope in weeks when shesaid that “we have said wewould probably find it in thenext two years, but maybe wecan do it in the next 30 days,why not?”

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Asenior Chinese officer saysthe country “will not sit

idly by” if the US proceeds witha sale of advanced F-16V fight-er jets to Taiwan, and warnedof other potential counter-measures in addition to pun-ishing foreign firms involved inthe deal.

Col. Chen Rongdi, chief ofthe Institute of War Studies atthe Academy of MilitarySciences, said at a defense

forum Thursday that Beijingconsidered the sale a violationof previous US commitments toChina regarding the island itconsiders its own territory to beannexed by force if necessary.

He did not elaborate onwhat additional measuresChina might take.

Beijing has repeatedly saidit will levy sanctions against UScompanies linked to a plannedUSD 8 billion sale anddemanded Washington cancelit immediately.

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Hong Kong university stu-dent leaders said on

Thursday they’ll call for a boy-cott of the start of classes topressure the government torespond to the protest move-ment gripping the city sinceJune.

Student union leaders from10 universities said they wantstudents to skip the first twoweeks of classes in September.

They vowed to escalatetheir action if the city’s Beijing-backed leader, Carrie Lam,fails to respond by Sept. 13.

Young people have been atthe forefront of the Chinesecity’s protest movement, whichwas sparked by calls for thewithdrawal of an unpopularextradition bill.

The bill, which would haveallowed suspects to be extra-dited to mainland China wherethe judiciary is not indepen-

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Iran’s President struck a mus-cular tone on dealings with

the US, saying Thursday that“talks are useless” as Tehran’snuclear deal with world pow-ers crumbles further. PresidentHassan Rouhani made thecomment in a speech in Tehranduring the unveiling of theBavar-373, a long-range sur-face-to-air missile system thathe described as an improve-ment to the Russian S-300.

“Now that our enemies donot accept logic, we cannotrespond with logic,” Rouhanisaid in the televised speech.

He added: “When theenemy launches a missileagainst us, we cannot give aspeech and say: ‘Mr. Rocket,please do not hit our countryand our innocent people.Rocket-launching sir, if you canplease hit a button and self-destroy the missile in the air.’”

On Wednesday, Iran’s stateTV reported that the Bavar-373is able to recognize up to 100 tar-gets at a same time and confrontthem with six different weapons.

Since 1992, Iran has devel-oped a homegrown defenseindustry that has producedlight and heavy weapons rang-ing from mortars and torpe-does to tanks and submarines.

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North Korea said Thursday ithas “no interest” in dialogue

unless Washington stops “esca-lating hostile military moves”, asa senior US envoy visited Seoulwith an eye on reviving nucleartalks with Pyongyang.

Talks between Pyongyangand Washington have stalledsince a second summit betweenUS President Donald Trumpand North Korean leader KimJong Un in Hanoi collapsedwithout an agreement.

The pair met again in June

in the Demilitarised Zone andagreed to restart working-leveldialogue. Meanwhile, NorthKorea has carried out severalshort-range missile tests inrecent weeks in protest againstannual US-South Korea jointmilitary drills that it sees as arehearsal for invasion.

Stephen Biegun, the USspecial envoy for North Koreawho leads the working-leveltalks, arrived in Seoul lateTuesday for a three-day trip,and said Washington was “pre-pared to engage” as soon as ithears from Pyongyang.

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Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan will host

his Russian and Iranian coun-terparts for a summit on Syriain Ankara on September 16, thepresidential spokesman said.

Despite being on opposingsides in the Syrian conflict,Syria regime backers Iran andRussia have worked closelywith rebel supporter Turkey to find a political solu-tion.

“The president will host athree-way summit with theparticipation of Russia andIran in Ankara,” spokesmanIbrahim Kalin said lateWednesday.

The announcement of themeeting between PresidentVladimir Putin, IranianPresident Hassan Rouhani andErdogan comes at a time whenSyrian forces have madeadvances into the last rebelstronghold of Idlib in Syria’snorthwest.

Rome: Italy’s President begana second day of talks Thursdayaimed at solving the politicalcrisis shaking the country afterthe disintegration of the pop-ulist Government.

President Sergio Mattarellawas set to meet all the mainparties, including the anti-establishment Five StarMovement (M5S) and far-rightLeague. Prime MinisterGiuseppe Conte resignedTuesday after months ofalliance sniping and a bid byLeague leader and InteriorMinister Matteo Salvini to forcea snap election, just 14 monthsafter coming to power. AFP

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India’s reputation as one of the world’smost corrupt bureaucracies is well-documented. On the CorruptionPerceptions Index, India ranks 78thand this outlook is with merit and

cause. What is surprising, however, is thatthe civil services examination and the postof a civil servant are still one that attractsgreat attention and fanfare. Any aspirant,who “cracks” the examination, is treated withgreat respect. This is, perhaps, why lakhs ofyoung aspirants spend days together, work-ing towards the goal of being part of theIndian bureaucracy.

A large number of these students arefrom prestigious institutes like the IndianInstitute of Technology and various NationalLaw Schools, among others. As a former civilservant, I find that this desire to join the civilservices, surprisingly, has not dwindled. Afew pessimists would say that these youngaspirants join the bureaucracy to extracttheir pound of flesh. As Theodore Rooseveltsaid, “A man who has never gone to schoolmay steal a freight car; but if he has a uni-versity education, he may steal the wholerailroad.” But levity aside, I think this isunduly harsh and frankly not true. In fact,as is true in most avenues of life, corruptionin the Indian bureaucracy, too, follows thePareto principle (also known as the 80/20rule) that is 80 per cent of all corruption inthe bureaucracy is carried out by 20 per centof the people. The problem is to identify andpunish this 20 per cent, which is bringingthe entire country and the service immenseshame and disrepute.

Corruption has no rigid definition, butthe most common academic connotation,which defines it as “the misuse of public officefor private gain”, seems to be the most appro-priate. While most times the media appearsto cover the “headline” scandals and/orinstances of corruption — ie, the kind ofscams that attract most eyeballs — rarely dowe realise just what the magnitude of every-day corruption is in our country.Transparency International estimates thatIndians end up paying bribes of over �21, 000crore (approx $3.5 billion) every year to accessGovernment services. Therefore, there are dif-ferent types of corruption, which differ fromservice to service. MR Venkatesh, a CharteredAccountant-turned lawyer, said it best in theselines, “IAS officers are after the rich people,IRS officers are after the middle class and IPSofficers are after the poor. This is the new var-nashrama created by the bureaucracy.” Whilethis looks like oversimplifying a complex issue,the crux of the problem does ring true.

So what are the causes of corruption?There are a number of people who have end-lessly theorised on the reasons why the Indianbureaucracy suffers from corruption. Onesuch reason is the country’s complex legal andregulatory framework. India remains anextremely difficult place to do business. To setup or operate any business here, an entrepre-neur or businessman has to jump through var-

ious hoops and then hope to gainfavour from the relevant bureau-crat even before starting his/herbusiness. It is, therefore, no coin-cidence that India’s low rankingon the Corruption PerceptionsIndex corresponds with its lowposition in the World Bank’s indi-cators for doing business.

Just to give an idea aboutthe ease of doing business inIndia, according to a WorldBank survey, the act of obtain-ing a single construction permitin India involves 27 discreteprocedures, takes 162 days andcosts 46 per cent of the totaloutlay to a construction firmbuilding a warehouse. The key-word here is “discretion.” Theminute it is brought in, the cor-rupt official gets an opportuni-ty to make a quick buck.

Another reason as to whycorruption persists in our coun-try is the lack of respect towardsentrepreneurs and businessmen.While we often get to hear prais-es about a Narayana Murthy oran Azim Premji, these examplesare an exception rather than thenorm. This because we, asIndians, have been encouraged totreat a business as an entity thatmakes money by stealing some-one else’s buck. This is why anynew business is looked at withsuspicion first and then withadmiration. While the conduct ofsome Indian promoters does

indicate that there is some truthto this perception, our lack ofopenness and admirationtowards entrepreneurs does thecountry more harm than good.

So what can be done? Weneed to change our attitudestowards businesses. There is nodenying the fact that there shouldbe a strict framework withinwhich all businesses flourish.However, a strict frameworkdoes not necessarily mean thatany new business ought to betreated with contempt. For exam-ple, it is important that everybusiness operates within therealm of the law and obtains allrelevant approvals. However,bureaucrats must not be givenany reason to place more hurdlesin helping them establish a busi-ness than those that are alreadypresent. It is evident that thisGovernment needs cash and,therefore, is on a tax collectionspree. However, in the long-run,it is impossible for anyGovernment to collect taxes if itcontinues to act in a targetted andadversarial manner. It is, there-fore, crucial for the Governmentto intimate and drive home thepoint to bureaucrats that theirrole is to facilitate the lives of hon-est citizens rather than acting asimpediments.

Another way to mitigate theeffects of corruption is toimprove information dissemina-

tion and use technology. Whilethe former is crucial and mustbe encouraged with zeal, the lat-ter must be approached withgreater care in a country likeIndia where technology is real-ly only to the benefit of a fewrather than most. The bestexample of how this can providebenefit is the recent change inthe law which allows drivers tocarry scanned copies of their dri-ving licences and RCs. Mostpeople, however, have not heardabout this change in the rules.

I have personally heard ofmany stories of traffic cops tak-ing bribes from unassuming dri-vers merely because they tellthem that they are required tocarry physical copies of their doc-uments. In such a case if peopleare informed about the change inrules and technology is usedmeaningfully, instances of bribeswill automatically be reduced.

While the problem of cor-ruption is huge, we can at leaststart adopting a differentapproach to tackle it. Bringingabout a change in mindset will beof great help. This should be cou-pled with other innovative solu-tions. With these changes, Ithink, we will find that the problem of corruption is not asinsurmountable as we think.

(The writer is former presi-dent of Jharkhand PradeshCongress Committee)

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Sir — It is a matter of concern thatthere has been a 83 per centincrease in forest fires in theAmazon rainforest area in Brazil.Conservationists have blamedBrazilian President Jair Bolsonarofor its plight, saying that heencouraged loggers and farmersto clear the land. Bolsonaro on theother hand has blamed non-gov-ernmental organisations, sayingthat they may have set the fires toembarrass his Government afterit’s decision to cut funding forthem. Ironically, Bolsonaro has noevidence to support his claim.

Spread across millions ofhectares in multiple countries, theAmazon basin not only hostsmassive sinks of carbon that helpsbring down the pace of globalwarming but is also home to threemillion species. The situationtoday is depressing. First and fore-most, the Brazilian Governmentmust realise the need to protect theforests. The international commu-nity must put diplomatic pressureon Brazil to convince it on the needto protect the forests and also helpit seek higher funds.

Tanisha ShrivastavaUjjain

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Chidambaram in a spot”(August 22). After a day-longdrama, P Chidambaram did

show up for a surprise Press con-ference at the Congress head-quarters, but by then, the dam-age had been done. During thePress conference, he claimedthat no formal chargesheet wasfiled against him in the INX

Media case and that there wasno question of him evading thelaw.

Had Chidambaram said thesame thing after the Delhi HighCourt rejected his bail plea, hewould have done much good not

only to himself but also to hisparty. The Congress leadership,too, had been crying hoarse,terming the action taken againstChidambaram a “political witchhunt” but the High Court hassound evidence against him.The case against him appears tobe water-tight. All eyes are nowon the courts. Only time willuncover the truth but certainly,the Congress has further lostcredibility among the masses.

Jai Prakash GuptaAmbala Cantt

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Upping deterrence ante?”(August 22) by Vivek Mishra. TheGovernment must come clear ifit is contemplating a change in its‘No First Use’ policy to checkmatePakistan or is this just anotherexercise to make the peoplebelieve that it can go to any extentto protect the nation’s interests?This issue demands wider debateand discussion.

KarthikVia email

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The small boat at Gujarat’s bustling PipavavPort bobs up and down as it waits to ferrypassengers to Shiyal Bet Island barely 600

metres away. It’s a rainy morning and the watersof the Arabian Sea are beginning to turn choppy.Fifty-year-old Dakuben jumps onto the boat withease, having undertaken the 12-minute journeyinnumerable times to visit her daughter in ShiyalBet. However, this time, her visit is mired in sor-row as she is going to mourn the death of her new-born granddaughter.

Gujarat’s Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is 30deaths per 1,000 live births and the state rankedtenth in the country according to the NITI Aayog’s2016 IMR report. According to statistics 69 percent of infant deaths in Gujarat were neonatal,higher than the national average of 67.60 per cent.

Anaemia is one of the major factors respon-sible for the rising neonatal, infant and maternalmortality in Gujarat, especially among ruralwomen. According to the fourth National FamilyHealth Survey (NFHS-4) conducted in 2014-15,54.9 per cent women in the age group of 14-49years are anaemic and 51.3 per cent of pregnantwomen have anaemia.

The NFHS-4 placed Gujarat among the top15 states with the highest incidence of anaemiaas the percentage of anaemic women there washigher than the national average of 53 per cent.

The survey revealed that lack of educationplayed a major role and anaemia was particular-ly high among illiterate women due to lack ofawareness about health-related issues.

At 31.2 per cent, Shiyal Bet’s literacy rates aremuch lower than the state’s 78.3 per cent (2011census). With the island’s female literacy rate beingjust 15.48 per cent, it’s no surprise that awarenessabout anaemia and other health issues is low.

In order to change this scenario, Vatsalya, aninitiative to improve the health and nutritional sta-tus of women, children, and adolescents wasundertaken in Shiyal Bet and 21 villages with sim-ilar poor health and development indicators inRajula Block in Amreli district. Launched in 2016by the Centre for Health Education, Training,Nutrition Awareness (CHETNA), a not for prof-it organisation, the three-year programme hasbeen able to bring down undernutrition, improveantenatal and postnatal care and ensure safe moth-erhood.

It has also been able to break myths relatedto early breastfeeding, promote healthy feedingpractices, timely immunization and increaseaccess to basic health services.

The intervention, supported by GujaratPipavav Port Limited (GPPL) APM Terminalsunder their corporate social responsibility initia-tive, used a multi-pronged strategy includinggames, Q&A sessions and street theatre to engagethe community. Sustained efforts, coupled withcommunity participation helped to bring downthe number of children suffering from undernu-trition from 30 per cent in 2016 to 14 per cent in2019. The number of children who attained nor-mal body mass index also rose.

The intervention marked up registration ofpregnancies by almost 42 per cent and increasedthe number of women receiving antenatal care,tetanus injections and folic acid tablets. A rise ininstitutional deliveries by 9.42 per cent was alsoseen at the end of the three years.

“We are committed to bringingchange in the lives of marginalised com-munities. Therefore, empowering themwith factual information and linkingthem to government schemes and pro-grammes was imperative. This interven-tion was more challenging because wehad to work in difficult-to-reach villageslike Shiyal Bet and with migrating pop-ulations and communities that were iso-lated and neglected. But we were able tomake a difference in their lives thanksto our dedicated field team, and our part-nership with the community, frontlinehealth workers and panchayat leaders,”said Pallavi Patel, Director, CHETNA.

A key to this success was the strat-egy to train women from the commu-nity as Vatsalya mitras (friends).This gavethe community a sense of ownership andled to increased participation. So whenShantuben Chauhan became a trainedVatsalya mitra, she used her influence asan anganwadi worker (AWW) to reachout to pregnant and lactating women.Chauhan, an AWW for the last 15 years,is a popular face in Shiyal Bet. With bothher marital and natal home being inShiyal Bet, Chauhan was able to mobilisethe community very effectively.

However, when the CHETNA teamfirst visited Shiyal Bet, they found thatalthough Chauhan was articulate andgood at her work as an AWW, she, likemost of the others, believed in manymyths related to reproductive and sex-ual health. One of the biggest miscon-ceptions she had was related to menstru-ation. Not only was it a taboo subject, butneither she nor her three daughters prac-ticed menstrual hygiene. Consideringthat only 54 per cent of rural women usea hygienic method of menstrual protec-tion (NFHS-4), this was not surprising.

The fact that women with at least 12 yearsof schooling were more than twice aslikely to be using a hygienic method (79per cent) as against women with noschooling (34 per cent) meant thatChauhan who is uneducated, didn’t getaccess to information which could helpher practice menstrual hygiene.

So the first step was to demystifymenstruation. The team knew thatonce they were able to get Chauhan onboard then she would get the others. “Iwas ashamed to discuss this issue. Thetraining helped me understand why Ishould not be ashamed and why men-strual hygiene is important. I used thescientific information to convince otherwomen and adolescents during Vatsalyasamwads (dialogue),” recalled Chauhan.

For Vatsalya mitra VandanabenGoswami, the training cured her of thebelief that she was ‘impure’ during herperiods and going to the temple orkitchen was wrong. “After I became bet-ter informed, I no longer forced mydaughters to follow these customs. I usedmy own example to convince otherwomen and girls,” contended Goswami.

The monthly Vatsalya samwadsproved to be a good move as they helpedbreak the ice on many ‘uncomfortable’issues like the tradition of early marriageand family planning in all 22 villages.Besides explaining the consequences ofearly marriage on the health of adoles-cents, the importance of antenatal careand postnatal care visits for pregnant andlactating women were discussed. Alsoaddressed were myths related to earlyand exclusive breastfeeding. Accordingto NFHS-4, just 50 per cent women inGujarat start breastfeeding in the firsthour of life as recommended by theWorld Health Organisation, thus depriv-

ing newborns of the highly nutritiousfirst milk, colostrums, and the antibod-ies it contains. In fact, about one in fivechildren who were ever breastfed weregiven something other than breast milkduring the first three days.

Raziben’s three children were amongthem. She had followed the custom offeeding her children goat’s milk or hotwater mixed with jaggery immediatelyafter birth. It was only after attending theVatsalya samwads that she understoodwhy this was not healthy for the newborn.This helped her initiate early breastfeed-ing for her fourth child born last year.Inspired by this, her friend and neighbourManjuben also breastfed her daughterwithin 24 hours of her birth in June thisyear. In fact, there was an 22 per centincrease in early breastfeeding by the endof the project.

A big factor in the improving healthand nutrition indicators was the partner-ship with local leaders and panchayats.Leaders like Gangabhai, the sarpanch ofKundaliya Village, played an active rolein mobilizing the community and pro-moting awareness.

“There has been a big change in myvillage after CHETNA began their work.The AWWs have become more informedand active. More women are attendingthe monthly Mamta Divas. Earlier only7-8 women had health cards, now 60 ofthem have cards. I also pay visits to sup-port and motivate them,” he said.

While the success has been encour-aging, challenges remain. Consideringthe entrenched patriarchy and caste bar-riers in Gujarat, sustaining behaviour-al change requires greater investment oftime and resources. Only then, will noone be left behind.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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) ��������������������������*

Maybe we can get through theclimate crisis without a glob-al catastrophe, although that

door is closing fast. And maybe we cancope with the huge loss of jobs causedby the revolution in robotics andArtificial Intelligence (AI) without asocial and political calamity. But canwe do both at the same time?

We should know how to deal withthe AI revolution because we havebeen down this road before. It’s a bitdifferent this time, of course, in thesense that the original industrial rev-olution in 1780-1850 created as manynew jobs (in manufacturing) as itdestroyed (in cottage industries andskilled trades).

The AI revolution, by contrast, is

not producing nearly enough replace-ment jobs but it is making us muchwealthier. The value of manufacturedgoods doubled in the United States(US) in the past 30 years even as thenumber of good industrial jobs fell bya third (eight million jobs gone).Maybe we could use that extra wealthto ease the transition to a job-scarcefuture. The climate emergency isunlike any challenge we have facedbefore. Surmounting it would requirean unprecedented level of globalcooperation and very big changes inhow people consume and behave, nei-ther of which human beings have his-torically been good at.

These two crises are already inter-acting. The erosion of middle-classjobs and the stagnation (or worse) ofreal wage levels generates resentmentand anger among the victims and isalready creating populist, authoritar-ian regimes throughout the world.These regimes despise internationalcooperation and often deny climatechange as well (Trump in the US,Bolsonaro in Brazil).

And there is a recession coming.Maybe not this year, although almost

all the storm signals are flying: Stockmarkets spooked, a rush into gold,nine major economies already inrecession or on the verge of one, an“inverted yield curve” on bonds andtrade wars spreading. Even USPresident Donald Trump is worried,which is why he postponed the harsh-er American trade tariffs againstChina, which were due next month.

Economists have predicted nineof the past five recessions as they sayin the trade, so I’m not calling the turnon this one. But a recession is overdueand a lot of the damage done by the

Great Recession of 2008 has still notbeen repaired. Interest rates are stillvery low, so the banks have little roomto cut rates and soften the next one.When it arrives, it could be a doozy.

So what can we do about all this?The first thing is to recognise that wecannot plot a course that takes usfrom here and now, through all thechanges and past all the unpleasantsurprises to ultimate safety, maybe 50years from now.

We can plan how to get throughthe next five years and we should bethinking hard about what will be need-

ed later on. But we can’t steer a safe andsteady course to the year 2070 anymore than intelligent decision-mak-ers in 1790 could have planned howto get through to 1840 without toomuch upheaval. They might have seensteam engines but they would havehad no idea what a railroad was.

We are in the same position asthose people with regard to both AIand the global environmental emer-gency (which extends far beyond“climate change”, although that is at itsheart). We know a good deal aboutboth issues but not enough to be con-fident about our choices — andbesides, they may well mutate andhead off in unforeseen directions asthe crises deepen.

But there are two big things wecan do right now. We need to stop theslide into populist and increasinglyauthoritarian Governments (becausewe are not going to stop the spread ofAI). And we have to win ourselvesmore time to get our greenhouse gasemissions under control (because weare certainly going to go through 450parts per million of carbon dioxideequivalent, which would give us +20C

higher average global temperature). The best bet for getting our pol-

itics back on track is a guaranteedminimum income, high enough tokeep everybody comfortable —whether they are working or not. Thatis well within the reach of any devel-oped country’s economy and has theadded benefit of putting enoughmoney into people’s pockets to saveeverybody’s business model.

And the best way to win moretime on the climate front is to startgeo-engineering (direct interventionin the atmosphere to hold the globaltemperature down) as soon as we getanywhere near +20C. To be ready then,we need to be doing open-air testingon a small scale now. There will behowls of protest from the right abouta guaranteed minimum income andfrom the greener parts of the left aboutgeo-engineering. However, both willprobably be indispensable if we wantto get through these huge changeswithout mass casualties or even civil-isational collapse.

(The writer’s new book is GrowingPains, the Future of Democracy and Work)

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Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee broke her

silence on Thursday linking thearrest of senior Congress leaderP Chidambaram to the “sag-ging democratic culture” andthe “suffocating the politicalclimate” in the country.

Speaking to reporters, theChief Minister said, “I will notsay much about the legality ofthe matter as I am not the rightperson to do that but I am cer-tainly concerned about theprocess of arresting such a seniorpolitician … the way he wasarrested,” reminding, “he was theformer Finance Minister andHome Minister of India and asenior parliamentarian” whodeserved a dignified treatment.

The high drama aroundChidambaram’s arrest was notworth it, the Chief Ministersaid, adding, “the way his mat-ter was handled was sad andbad. It was really very bad andmade me extremely sad.”

All the pillars of Indiandemocracy were under attackunder the present Government,Banerjee said reminding howthe “Indian democracy is in abad shape. It is literally cryingin the wilderness.”

Incidentally, a number ofTrinamool Congress leaders,including Ministers and MPs,were facing corruption chargesand were being investigated bythe central investigating agen-cies like the CBI and ED.

Condemning the way theformer Union Minister wasarrested, another Trinamoolleader and Minister FirhadHakim said “this Governmentwill not allow the Oppositionto thrive in India. They havedecided to put all the dissent-ing voices behind the bars.

Attacking the NarendraModi Government for takingthe entire Opposition hostage,Congress leader in Lok SabhaAdhir Ranjan Chowdhury said“there is a deep-rooted con-spiracy behind Chidambaram’s

arrest. He is the person who hasbeen challenging theGovernment’s policies at vari-ous forums including parlia-ment. He was exposing theGovernment through hiscolumns in various Indian andforeign journals which theyare finding difficult to counter,and so they have silenced himby putting him behind the bar.”

Chowdhury also said that“the country is heading towardspolitical insolvency and bigeconomic slowdown againstwhich thisGovernment has noanswer. In order to turn thepeople’s attention from theseburning issues they are creat-ing new political drama … butthe Congress will take the issueto the people of India and fightit tooth and nail.”

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Chennai: DMK president MKStalin on Thursday lashed out atCBI officials for scaling thewalls of Congress leader PChidambaram’s bungalow atDelhi on Wedesday to gainentry, saying he considered it asan “insult to India”.

Stalin, whose DMK is anally of the Congress, backedChidambaram, reiterating hischarge of "political vendetta"behind the former UnionMinister's arrest.

"I saw on TV, the CBI offi-cers scaling the walls (atChidambaram's Delhi resi-dence). I consider it as an insultto India. It is condemnable," hetold reporters here.

On Wednesday, a CBI teamhad first knocked at the gates ofChidambaram's Jor Bagh resi-dence to gain entry, but findingno response, had scaled thenearly five-ft high walls to getinside. Once three officersreached inside, they opened thegates to allow entry to otherteam members waiting outside.

Responding to a query onCBI's handling of the entireChidambaram episode, Stalinrecalled that he had already

dubbed it as "political vendetta"on Wednesday.

He said Chidambaram hadappeared before the agenciesconcerned earlier when sum-moned by them in connectionwith the case.

Stalin also pointed out thatthe Supreme Court has decidedto hear on Friday the Congressleader's petition, seeking a stayof the Delhi High Court orderthat had dismissed his anticipa-tory bail plea. "His arrest whichhas happened in the meantimehas an intention of politicalvendetta," Stalin added.

Referring to the protest inDelhi over the Kashmir issue onThursday, he said the struggle"led by the DMK" and attendedby various political parties,including Congress, TMC,CPI(M) and NC, was a "success."

Restoration of normalcy inJammu & Kashmir post abro-gation of Art 370 of theConstitution, resumption oftelecommunication services inthe Valley and immediate releaseof all political leaders detainedwere the key demands made atthe protest in the national cap-ital, Stalin said. PTI

Bengaluru: Having a tightropeto walk by pacifying disgruntledMLAs who missed out onCabinet berth, coupled withallocation of portfolios to newMinisters, Karnataka ChiefMinister BS Yediyurappa onThursday decided to consultBJP central leadership to dealwith the situation.

Some disqualified formerlegislators of the Congress andJD(S) who helped bring downthe coalition Government head-ed by HD Kumaraswamyreportedly are piling pressure onYediyurappa, seeking theirpound of flesh and plum port-folios.

"Today evening I will go toDelhi and meet our nationalPresident Amit Shah and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andwill come back tomorrowevening or the day after morn-ing," Yediyurappa said.

Asked whether the alloca-tion of portfolios would takeplace after his return from Delhi,Yediyurappa said: "Today we willdiscuss and take a decision."

More than three weeks afterhe was sworn in as the ChiefMinister, Yediyurappa expand-ed his cabinet last Tuesday,inducting 17 Ministers.

Though the expansionbrought an end to the nearlymonth long wait for the cabinet

to take shape, it led to someheartburn in a section of theparty as several MLAs contin-ued to make no secret of theirdispleasure after missing thebus.

With several MLAs openlyexpressing displeasure overbeing left out, Yediyurappa hasbeen making attempts to dousethe embers, by reaching out tothem.

The Chief Minister onThursday too tried to pacifymiffed legislators includingSullia MLA Angara S, even asthe Bunt community threatenedprotest citing lack of represen-tation in the ministry, and Bovicommunity members stagedprotest in front of his residenceseeking induction of a ministerfrom their community.

Even as attempts are on topacify sulking MLAs, a phoneconversation between eight timeHukkeri MLA Umesh Katti,around whom several disgrun-tled MLAs are reportedly rally-ing, with Congress legislatorparty leader Siddaramaiah led tospeculation about the former'snext political move.

Speaking to a news channelKatti confirmed his talk withSiddarmaiah last night, but ruledout joining the Congress andclarified that he was with BJP.

"He (Siddaramaiah) called

me last night and addressed meas minister, I told him I'm notminister to which he said he wasaware of it and hence called.

He is my good friend...Imay meet whenever we areboth are in Bengaluru. But, I'mnot joining Congress leavingBJP, I'm 100 per cent in BJP," headded.

Yediyurappa has kept 16ministerial posts vacant toaccommodate some more BJPmembers and from amongthose 17 disqualified former leg-islators who helped him cometo power.

However, the disqualifiedMLAs seeking plum portfoliosis said to be causing delay in theallocation of portfolios for thenew ministers, despite roomsbeing allotted to them atVidhana Soudha, the state sec-retariat.

Reflecting the situation bystating that this government toowas a coalition government ina way, Minister V Somanan inresponse to a question about SA Ramdas not being mademinister, in Mysuru said, "Now17 of us have become ministers,still 16 berths are remaining.

When filling those 16 posi-tions who all have to be con-sidered that our state andnational leaders will decide," headded. PTI

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Sivaganga (TN): A sense of dis-belief and outrage was palpableamong supporters of Congressleader P Chidambaram in andaround his native village ofKaraikudi in Sivaganga districtover his arrest, even as a sectionof people expressed indifferenceand some outrightly opposedhim.

The former FinanceMinister was arrested by theCBI on Wednesday night fromhis residence in Delhi in con-nection with INX media cor-ruption case.

In the sleepy hamlet ofKandanur, about 10 km fromKaraikudi, though life appearedto go on as usual, the arrest ofChidambaram set tongues wag-ging.

Expressing disbelief, VNelliyan told PTI "this is noth-ing but an act of politicalvendetta." Condemning thearrest, the young man, beforeproceeding to a protest demon-stration held by Congressagainst the Centre, said theonly hope was the judiciary."The vindictive action hasincensed the common man," heclaimed, adding that the courtswould render justice and theBJP-led government would be

exposed for targeting "an hon-est gentleman."

Similar was the responsefrom a couple of others, includ-ing Rajaratinam andAvudayappan, who also laudedthe senior leader for maintain-ing "poise and cool" despite thegovernment "perusing vindic-tive politics."

Congress functionary E MS Abhimanyu of nearbyTirupattur said this is a "brutalmurder of democracy," addingthe arrest was shocking.

'Ilakiya' Natarajan, a long-time associate of Chidambaramhere expressed disbelief andshock over the former minister'sarrest. "He is a respectedParliamentarian and a formerMinister. What is the tearingurgency to arrest him by scal-ing the walls of his house? I justcannot believe that this can hap-pen to him. I am shocked andoutraged," he said.

G Vimal, who runs a con-struction material retail outlet indowntown Karaikudi said"Chidambaram is not a residentof our place. He is usually eitherin Chennai or Delhi..Only someparty workers are agitated hereand not the general public."

The trader alleged that theformer Minister visitedKaraikudi or Sivaganga onlyduring elections.

A couple of men in theperiphery of the very quietManagiri, where the statelybungalow of Chidambaram islocated though eager to knowabout the INX case declinedto offer comments.

Sivaganga is the nativeconstituency whichChidambaram represented fordecades. His son Kartiemerged victorious in thesame segment in the recentLok Sabha elections. PTI

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Allahabad: Senior SamajwadiParty leader Azam Khan onThursday moved the AllahabadHigh Court for quashing of aspate of FIRs registered againsthim in a single week in aRampur police station forallegedly grabbing farmers'lands to build a universitythere.

As the matter came up forhearing, a bench of justicesPritinkar Diwakar and JusticeRaj Beer Singh adjourned thehearing on the petition forAugust 29 on the request ofKhan's counsel RK Jain.

As soon as the court began the hearing, advocateVijay Gautam, appearing for farmers on whose com-plaints a total of the 27 FIRshave been registered againstKhan in Rampur's Azeem

Nagar police station, objectedto the "maintainability" of thepetition.

Gautam argued that thepetition is not worth hearingand need to be dismissed at theoutset as it is not maintainablefor the petitioner has soughtquashing of all 27 FIRs in a sin-gle petition.

He should have filed onepetition each for quashing ofeach of the FIRs, he contend-ed, prompting Khan's counselJain to seek adjournment of thehearing for another day.

The farmers on whosecomplaints the FIRs were reg-istered had already filed acaveat in the court requestingit to give them an opportuni-ty to have their say if Khanmoved court for quashing ofthe FIRs. PTI

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Mumbai: The Anti TerrorismSqaud (ATS) of MaharashtraPolice has arrested a man fromAssam for allegedly threaten-ing to kill Indian cricket play-ers, an official said onThursday.

Braja Mohan Das (19),resident of Shantipur inMorigaon district, was arrest-ed by a team of ATS with thehelp of Assam police onTuesday, the official said.

Das allegedly sent an e-mail to the Board of Controlfor Cricket in India (BCCI) onAugust 16, threatening to killIndian cricket players, he said.

The Mumbai ATS startedprobe as the cricket body hasits headquarters in the city. TheATS registered a case underIPC section 506 (criminalintimidation).

The investigating agencytraced the IP address fromwhich the email had been sentto Das, and arrested him.

The ATS obtained his tran-sit remand after producinghim before a local court inAssam and brought him here.

Probe revealed that he hadsent the same threatening mailto cricket boards of some othercountries too.

The Mazgaon court heresent him in ATS custody tillMonday, the official said,adding that further probe wason. PTI

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Kolkata: Buoyed by its stupen-dous performance in the last LokSabha polls, the West Bengal BJPhas clocked a record member-ship of 77 lakhs in the State,party leaders claimed onThursday.

The Bengal BJP has sur-passed the target set by the cen-tral leadership to enroll 60 lakhsmembers when the countrywidemembership drive began onJuly 6, according to the partysources. "As per the latest data,the membership drive has beenimmensely successful in Bengal.The central leadership initiallyhad set a target of 50 lakhs forBengal, later it was increased to60 lakhs.

"But we have surpassed thattarget too and with the mem-bership drive closing on August20, we have now 77 lakhs mem-bers across the State. It is indeedan achievement," BJP nationalsecretary Rahul Sinha toldreporters.

It is a massive jump from themembership campaign that wasdone a few years back when theparty had managed to enroll 42lakh members in its fold, he said.

Sinha said although themembership drive has closed inother parts of the country, but ina few states such as West Bengal,which are priority states forBJP, the exercise will continue tillDecember this year. PTI

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MNS chief Raj Thackeraywas grilled for more than

eight hours by the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) officials abouthis financial involvement inM/s Kohinoor CTNL which isbeing investigated for allegedirregularities in the IL&FS’sloans-cum- investments case.

Raj, whose questioning bythe ED officials began around 12noon and continued till well past8 pm, emerged out of the EDoffice at around 8.15 pm.

Raj, who looked a bit tired,waved once at the crowd gath-ered there and stepped inside hiscar without interacting withanybody and drove to his“Krishna Kunj” residence locat-ed near Shivaji Park at Dadar innorth-central Mumbai.When

Raj returned to his residence ataround 9 pm, a huge crowd hadgathered there to greet him.

Given that he had also onlyco-operated but also spent quitesome time with the investigat-ing officials, official sources saidthat he would not be returningto ED office for further ques-tioning on Friday.

The MNS chief, who hadleft from his Shivaji Park resi-dence at 10.30 am along with hiswife Sharmila, daughter Urvashiand son Amit, appeared beforethe ED officials an hour later.

Raj was responding to sum-mons issued to him last week inconnection with the invest-ments that he had made in M/sKohinoor CTNL, a companyfunded by former MaharashtraCM Manohar Joshi’s sonUnmesh Joshi. The ED is inves-

tigating the alleged irregularitiesin the IL&FS’s loans and invest-ments worth over �860 crore inM/s Kohinoor CTNL.

M/s Kohinoor CTNL hasbeen under ED scanner forbeing a prominent defaulter ofIL&FS, amounting to an esti-mated �135 crore.

Unmesh along with sonalong with IL&FS and RajThackeray-owned MatoshreeConstruction had in 2005 joint-ly had made a bid and boughtfor the NTPC’s Kohinoor Mill’s4.8-acre property for �421 crore.

In 2008, the IL&FS renegedfrom the deal and surrenderedits shares for only �90 crore, asagainst an investment of �225crore made in M/s KohinoorCTNL. Following the IL &FS’sexit, Raj also exited from theventure after selling his shares.

Lucknow: The Bahujan SamajParty (BSP) on Thursday dis-tanced itself from the violentDalit protest in New Delhi'sTughlakabad area over thedemolition of a Ravidas temple,stressing that all its struggles arecarried out well within the ambitof law.

Taking to Twitter, BSP pres-

ident Mayawati said, "The inci-dents of vandalism that havetaken place in Delhi, especiallyin Tughlakabad, are unfair andthe BSP has nothing to do withit. The BSP always respects theConstitution and the law. Thestruggles of the party are carriedout well within the ambit of law."

In another related tweet,

Mayawati said,"The tradition ofBSP and its people not to takethe law in their hands is com-pletely intact even today, where-as it is common for other par-ties and organisations. Weshould not harm innocent peo-ple in the honour of our saints,gurus and great men."

She advised party workednot to violate Section 144 of theCrPC after any "unfortunateincident". "Do not not try toforcibly go to the incident site soas not to give the government anopportunity to take an autocraticand vindictive action," she tweet-ed. Tension prevailed in theTughlakabad area of South Delhion Wednesday following aprotest by Dalits against thedemolition of the Ravidas tem-ple by the authorities on an apexcourt order recently. PTI

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Mumbai: The Bombay HighCourt directed police to registerFIR against NCP leader AjitPawar and over 70 others in theMaharashtra State CooperativeBank scam on Thursday, observ-ing that they seemed to have"complete knowledge" that theiractions would cause a huge lossto the bank.

The court asked Mumbaipolice's Economic OffencesWing to register an FIR againstthe accused within five days.Prima facie there was "credibleevidence" against the accused, itadded. Pawar, PWP leaderJayant Patil and several formerdirectors of the bank areaccused of violating bankingand RBI regulations while dis-bursing loans to sugar mills atvery low rates and selling off

assets of defaulter businesses atthrow-away prices. Such sale ofassets, disbursement of cheaploans and a failure to ensurerepayment resulted in losses ofover Rs 1,000 crore to the bankbetween 2007 and 2011, it isalleged.

The accused also forgedrecords and fudged figures toshow the bank was makingprofits, it is alleged.

Pawar was a director of thebank during the relevant period.

Inquiries by the NationalBank for Agriculture and RuralDevelopment and a chargesheet filed by a quasi-judicialinquiry commission under theMaharashtra CooperativeSocieties Act had blamedPawar and other accused forthe bank's losses. PTI

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Bengaluru: The first picture ofMoon captured by India'sChandrayaan-2 satellite, cur-rently in the lunar orbit, wasreleased by space agency ISROon Thursday.

The picture of Moon wastaken by Chandrayaan-2's LI4Camera from an altitude ofabout 2,650 km from the lunarsurface on August 21, the city-headquarters Indian SpaceResearch Organisation said.

"Take a look at the firstMoon image captured by#Chandrayaan2 #VikramLandertaken at a height of about 2,650km from Lunar surface onAugust 21, 2019. Mare Orientalebasin and Apollo craters are

identified in the picture," ISROtweeted along with the picture.

The space agency had onAugust 4 released a first set ofimages of the earth captured byChandrayaan-2 satellite.

ISRO had on Wednesdayperformed second lunar boundorbit maneuver forChandrayaan-2 and said allspacecraft parameters are nor-mal. There will be three moreorbit manoeuvres before thelander's separation from theOrbiter on September 2 andeventual soft landing in thesouth polar region of the Moon,planned on September 7.

India's GeosynchronousSatellite Launch Vehicle, GSLV

MkIII-M1, had successfullylaunched the 3,840-kg

Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft intothe earth's orbit on July 22. PTI

Jammu: Convener of PanunKashmir, an organisationadvocating the cause of dis-placed Kashmiri Pandits,Agnishekhar released a mem-orandum on Thursday in sup-port of the abrogation of pro-visions of Article 370 and saidthat over 700 eminentKashmiri Pandits haveendorsed it.

He claimed that allKashmiri Pandits are on onepage in support of the Centrescrapping provisions of Article370 "to pave the way for a newdawn of free environment inJammu & Kashmir".

"Over 700 top KashmiriPandits, including Padma Shriawardees, vice-chancellors,academicians and doctors,across the world have signed amemorandum in support ofthe abrogation of provisions of

Article 370 and reorganisationof Jammu & Kashmir,"Agnishekhar told reportershere.

He said that PanunKashmir was batting stronglyfor a Union Territory for theKashmiri Pandits... And thedemand has been finally met.

"It was an outcome of thestruggle of Panun Kashmirfor last 30 years. We welcomethe decision of the Central gov-ernment," Agnishekhar said.

Panun Kashmir ChairmanAjay Chrungoo said that some Kashmiri Pandits, givingstatements opposing the deci-sion of the government ofIndia do not representKashmiri Pandits at all.

"We condemn them...They do not represent any ofKashmiri Pandit organisation,"he said. PTI

Srinagar: Restrictions wereeased in most areas of Kashmirwith barricades being liftedand the movement of peopleand traffic increasing gradual-ly, but markets remained shutand mobile and internet ser-vices suspended for the 18thday on Thursday.

Officials said the situationwas peaceful and no untowardincident was reported fromanywhere in the Kashmir Valleyon Wednesday.

In view of the improvingsituation, the movement ofpeople and traffic was slowlyincreasing in the city and otherdistrict headquarters of theValley, they said.

Public transport stayed offthe roads, but a few inter-dis-

trict cabs and auto-rickshawswere seen plying in some areas.

The attendance of teachersin schools up to middle class-level and employees in govern-ment offices was also improv-ing. However, most students

stayed away due to the prevail-ing situation, they added. TheGovernment ordered thereopening of primary schoolsacross the Valley from Mondayand middle schools fromWednesday.

The officials said restric-tions have been eased in sever-al areas of Kashmir, includingin most parts of Srinagar.

Barricades have beenremoved from uptown andcivil lines areas of the city as

well as from most areas inother districts. However, thedeployment of security forcescontinues to avoid any law andorder problems, they said.

The officials said marketswere shut in most places in theValley, as they have been sinceAugust 5 when the Centrerevoked Jammu & Kashmir'sspecial status under Article 370and bifurcated the state into twoUnion territories — Jammu &Kashmir, and Ladakh. Shopsand other business establish-ments remain shut though thereis no strike call by any separatistgroup or other organisation.

Mobile services and inter-net remain suspended, the offi-cials said, adding that landlinetelephone services have beenrestored at most places.However, they continue to besuspended in several areas,including in Srinagar's com-mercial hub of Lal Chowk andPress Enclave. PTI

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Aligarh (UP): An AligarhMuslim University student wasarrested after his Facebook pageshowed an objectionable posteron Prime Minister NarendraModi carried recently by anti-India protesters in London,police said.

Mohammad Zaid Rashid(20), admitted at the universi-ty's off-campus centre in Bihar'sKishanganj this year, was herewhen he downloaded a picturefrom the protests over the scrap-ping of the special status forJammu & Kashmir.

Some former AMU stu-dents complained online to thepolice after Rashid's post sur-faced on social media.

In their complaint onTuesday they alleged that theposter had been put up on theAMU campus here, but the localpolice and the AMU authoritiesfound that this was not correct.

They traced the localaddress of the youth, a residentof the city's Hamdard Nagar.

AMU spokesman ShafeyKidwai said the incident waswrongly linked to the campus inAligarh.

“We found that the youthhad just been admitted to theoff-campus centre in Bihar. Wepromptly traced him to his res-idence and filed an FIR,” he toldreporters.

"We will take further appro-priate action in this matter afterthe investigation is complete," hesaid. Senior Superintendent ofPolice Akash Kulhari said a caseunder the IT Act and for pro-moting social discord has beenfiled against Rashid. PTI

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Patna: Opposition parties inBihar on Thursday took a digat the Nitish KumarGovernment over the embar-rassing incident during formerChief Minister JagannathMishras funeral when gunscarried by police personnel forsalute failed to fire a single shot.

The spectacle took place onWednesday at Mishras ances-tral village Balua Bazar inSupaul district, where the ChiefMinister was himself present.

Video clips beamed bynews channels showed a seniorofficial frantically testing gunsof a couple of personnel beforegiving up helplessly.

The police headquartershere has, meanwhile, taken astrong note of the incident

and sought an explanationfrom the Supaul police.

However, the occasion pro-vided the opposition with freshammunition to train its guns atthe ruling dispensation, whichtakes pride in its claim of hav-ing brought rule of law to astate after over a decade ofalleged lawlessness.

When the guns of thepolice fail at a ceremonial func-tion where the Chief Ministeris in attendance, can these beexpected to be of any use whilechasing criminals. It is a testi-mony to the fact that NitishKumar has no control of lawand order, Rashtriya LokSamata Party chief UpendraKushwaha said in a statement.

Congress MLC- Prem

Chandra Mishra- echoed sim-ilar sentiments on twitter, say-ing when the Bihar police lacksthe capability to fire gunshotsduring a guard of honour,would it not boost the moraleof criminals. Not a single gun-shot was fired when thereshould have been 21. Whattype of honour did you accordto the late Jagannath Mishra@Nitish Kumar.

RJD Rajya Sabha memberand Lalu Prasads daughterMisa Bharti also sought tohave some fun as she shared anews clipping of the fiascothat has left the governmentheaded by her fathers archrival red-faced on her twitterhandle without adding anycomment. PTI

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Pune: An activist from Punehas blamed the MaharashtraGovernment for the recentdeluge in Kolhapur, allegingthat f lood lines of thePanchganga river there were"redefined" to provide benefitsto the construction sector.

Hundreds of villages inKolhapur and neighbouringSangli were flooded after heavyrains earlier this month. While55 people died in flood andrain-related incidents, lakhswere evacuated in these west-ern Maharashtra districts.

Environmentalist SarangYadwadkar, who claimed tohave accessed some documentsof the irrigation departmentthrough RTI, said around 500hectors land along thePanchganga river, whichshould have been in the flood-affected area (prohibited zone),was marked as residential zonein Kolhapur's developmentplan (DP) by "redefining" theflood lines.

There are two types offlood lines - blue for the floodlevel that occurs once in 25years and the red for that hap-pens once in 100 years, he said.

"The irrigation departmentissued a circular in 1989 tomark the flood lines for allrivers in Maharashtra, but itwas ignored. Instead of theflood lines, flood levels (generallevel of a particular flood)

were marked and these levelswere later superimposed on theDP maps of Kolhapur," heclaimed.

In one of the cases in 2015,the National Green Tribunal(NGT) issued directives to theirrigation department to markboth the flood lines over riversacross the state, the activistclaimed.

"The irrigation departmentstarted the survey work in2017 and by 2018 it identifiedthe flood lines (consideringwater flow at 2.14 lakh cusec forblue line and 3.22 lakh cusecfor red line) for the Panchgangariver and submitted it to theIndian Institute of TechnologyBombay," he said.

He said the IIT Bombayalso verified the report andstated that the flood lineswere correct.

But, when the Kolhapurchapter of the Confederationof Real Estate DevelopersAssociation of India(CREDAI) came to knowabout it, it found around 500hectors land going below theblue line and by defaultbecoming a 'no development'zone, Yadwadkar said.

The CREDAI, Kolhapur,in October 2018 wrote a let-ter to the chief minister, stat-ing that the work of demar-cation of flood lines is done bya private agency, Yadwadkar

said."It also stated that the 1989

flood-level is marked on theDP and as the flood that yearwas the largest, it was pointlessto mark new flood lines. It stat-ed that new flood lines will cre-ate confusion and unrestamong people," he said.

He said the CREDAI alsostated in its letter that coloniesand apartments were devel-oped on most of the portionfalling under the new floodlines.

"The chief minister, in hisremarks on the same letter,addressing the irrigationdepartment's secretary, wrote -'the flood line marked with DPshould be maintained',"Yadwadkar said. PTI

Jammu: Pakistani troops vio-lated ceasefire for the thirdconsecutive day on Thursdayand resorted to firing mortarsand small arms on forwardposts and villages along theLine of Control in Jammuand Kashmir's Rajouri dis-trict, inviting a befitting replyfrom the Indian Army.

"Pakistan initiated unpro-voked ceasefire violation byfiring of small arms andshelling with mortars in theSunderbani sector of Rajouridistrict at about 2045 hoursThursday," a defencespokesman said.

He said the Indian Armyis retaliating befittingly andthe exchange of fire betweenthe two sides was continuingwhen last reports werereceived.

On Wednesday, Pakistantroops fired mortars and smallarms on villages and forward

posts along LoC in theSunderbani sector.

Mohammad Addul Karimwas critically injured when amortar shell, fired by PakistanArmy, hit his house at villageDabraj in Mendhar sector lateTuesday night, officials said,adding he was immediatelyshifted to a nearby hospitalwhere he was declared dead.

Mendhar and KrishnaGhati sectors witnessed heavymortar shelling and firingfrom across the LoC onTuesday, resulting in the deathof Army soldier Naik RaviRanjam Kumar and injuries tofour other personnel.

Nearly half a dozen hous-es were also damaged in thePakistani firing, which hadforced closure of schools with-in the firing range in the twosectors. PTI

Surat: A case under the new lawwhich bans instant triple talaqwas registered in Surat onThursday against a Muslim manfor allegedly divorcing his wifeon phone.

This was first case underThe Muslim Women(Protection of Rights onMarriage) Act, 2019 filed inGujarat after the law was passedby Parliament, said DeputyCommissioner of Police PannaMomaya.

As per the complainantwoman, her husbandMohammad alias Vasim Pathanand his mother were ill-treatingher for the last one and halfyears.

In June, following a quarrel,Pathan took her to her parents'house and left her there, she said.

On the same night he calledher on phone and uttered talaqthrice, she alleged. She filed thecomplaint on Thursday. PTI

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Lucknow: As many as 19people lost their lives inrain-related incidents inUttar Pradesh where ragingwaters of major rivers havedisrupted normal life, offi-cials said on Thursday.

"As many as 15 personshave died due to rain relat-ed incidents in different dis-tricts of the state.

"The figure includedthree deaths in Amethi, twoeach in Raebareli, Sonbhadraand Mirzapur and one deatheach in Saharanpur,Hamirpur, Pratapgarh,Fathepur, Basti and,Ayodhya," the ReliefCommissioner's office said.

Besides the 15, fourmore persons have died inBallia and Bhadohi, accord-ing to reports. PTI

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Aday after considering cut-ting taxes to promote eco-

nomic growth, PresidentDonald Trump changed courseand said he would abandon theidea because the nation alreadyhad “a strong economy.”

Trump’s f lip-flop onWednesday came after recentmarket volatility and econom-ic uncertainty, and amid adebate about whether theUnited States was heading fora slowdown that would imper-il his reelection chances.

Trump earlier this weekacknowledged, for the firsttime, that his China trade poli-cies may mean economic painfor Americans, though heinsisted the tariffs are neededfor more important long-termbenefits. But his considerationof cutting payroll taxesappeared short-lived.

“I’m not looking at a tax cutnow,” he told reporters at theWhite House.

“We don’t need it. We havea strong economy.”

Trump also knocked downthe idea of indexing to the cap-

ital gains tax, which applieswhen investors sell assets, toinflation. He said he feared “itwill be perceived, if I do it, assomewhat elitist.”

Analysts have warned thata slowdown, if not full-blownrecession, could hit before nextyear’s election. Trump, howev-er, has largely praised the econ-omy’s performance and hishandling of it.

He has often blamed theFederal Reserve (andChairman Jerome Powell) andthe global slowdown for creat-ing dark clouds at home.

“Jay Powell and the FederalReserve have totally missed thecall. I was right and just abouteverybody admits that,” Trumpsaid Wednesday.

“He raised interest rates toofast, too furious, and we havea normalised rate. And now wehave to go the other direction.”

Some White House advis-ers fear Trump has undercutPowell’s credibility.

They worry that the pres-ident’s calls for rate cuts and hisdiscussion of indexing or a pay-roll tax cut could spook, ratherthan reassure markets.

Trump indicated he had nochoice but to impose the tradepenalties that have been a dragon US manufacturers, financialmarkets and, by some mea-

sures, American consumers.“Somebody had to do it. I

am the chosen one,” Trumpsaid on the White House lawn,looking skyward.

“Somebody had to do it.So, I’m taking on China. I’mtaking on China on trade.”

China, though, said tradewith the US has been “mutuallybeneficial” and appealed toWashington to “get along withus.”

A foreign ministryspokesman, Geng Shuang,expressed hope Washingtoncan “meet China halfway” insettling disagreements.

The US economy appears tobe showing vulnerabilities aftermore than 10 years of growth.Factory output has fallen andconsumer confidence haswaned as he has ramped up histrade fight with China. Trumprattled the stock and bond mar-kets this month when heannounced plans to put a 10 percent tax on $300 billion worthof Chinese imports.

The market reaction sug-gested a recession might be onthe horizon and led Trump todelay some of the tariffs thatwere scheduled to begin inSeptember, though 25 per centtariffs are already in place for$250 million in other Chinesegoods.

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The UAE will be the firstMiddle East country to

launch the RuPay Card duringPrime Minister NarendraModi’s visit to the Gulf nationon Friday, according to a mediareport.

The RuPay card is a first-of-its-kind Indian domesticDebit and Credit Card paymentnetwork, with acceptance atATMs, POS devices and e-commerce websites. It waslaunched in 2012.

“A Memorandum ofUnderstanding to establish atechnology interface betweenthe payment platforms in Indiaand UAE, would be exchangedbetween the National PaymentsCorporation of India andUAE’s Mercury PaymentsServices,” Navdeep Singh Suri,the Indian Ambassador to theUAE, told the UAE’s state-runWAM news agency.

“This will enable the RuPaycard to be used at point-of-saleterminals across the UAE,” hesaid.

“The UAE is the largest andmost vibrant business hub inthe region. It hosts the largestIndian community, receivesthe largest number of Indiantourists and has the largesttrade with India. By becomingthe first country in the regionto introduce the RuPay card, weexpect that each of these ele-

ments of tourism, trade and theIndian diaspora will benefit,”Suri said.

India has already launchedthe RuPay card in Singaporeand Bhutan.

Prime Minister Modi’sthird official visit to the UAEon August 23-24 is anotherimportant milestone in thebilateral comprehensive strate-gic partnership, the Indianenvoy said.

During the visit, Modi willreceive the ‘Order of Zayed’, thehighest civil decoration of thecountry for “giving a big boostto bilateral relations betweenthe two countries.”

Modi would also meet theCrown Prince of Abu Dhabi,Sheikh Mohammed bin ZayedAl Nahyan to discuss bilateral,regional and international mat-ters of mutual interest.

The India-UAE bilateraltrade touched almost $60billion last year with a fairlybalanced profile of about $30billion of exports and $30 bil-lion of imports, the envoysaid.

“On the investment side,we have already seen sizableinflows from India to the UAEin free zones like Jebel Ali,Hamriyah Free Zone Sharjahand Ras Al Khaimah EconomicZone and also in sectors rang-ing from manufacturing andreal estate to trade and ser-vices,” he said.

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Commerce and IndustryMinister Piyush Goyal on

Thursday made a case for wholis-tic and comprehensive reforms ofthe World Trade Organisation(WTO) without ignoring theground realities, especially thestark inequality among devel-oped and developing nations.

He said instead of going fora piecemeal reform, the mem-bers should take on boardissues of all countries of theWTO. “It is the time when allmembers of the WTO startlooking at some of thosereforms that have been pend-ing for long. When we look atreforming the WTO, (it shouldbe done) holistically and com-prehensively. It cannot be pickand choose,” Goyal said.

He was speaking at a pro-gramme of South-South andTriangular Cooperation here.

“I do hope that as we lookat reforming the WTO, a littlebit more relevance to today and21st century realities will comeinto play,” he added.

The statement comes at atime when the US has called forreforming the world tradebody. The US wants formula-tion of some guidelines regard-ing special and differentialtreatment (S&DT), which ismeant for developing nations.

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Mines tri-bunal, hear-

ing the a petitionfiled by NMDCchallenging theGovernment ofKarnataka orderwithdrawing theextension of min-ing lease ofDonimalai Iron Ore granted tothe former in 2018, has stayedthe Karnataka Government’sorder till next hearing. The tri-bunal on Wednesday in itsorder said that “accordingly theimpugned order dated August17, 2019 and any consequentaction thereon are stayed untilthe next date of hearing”

The said stay order wouldprohibit the Government ofKarnataka to take any furtheraction regarding mining leaseor initiate auction process ofDonimalai mine.

NMDC on August 19,2019 filed a Revision Petition

before the Mines Tribunal,challenging the Government ofKarnataka’s arbitrary order ofwithdrawing the extension ofmining lease of DonimalaiIron Ore Mine granted to it onNovember 2, 2018, accordingto a press note issued by theGovernment of India enter-prise.

The petition challengesthe Karnataka Government’sAugust 17 order that with-draws the extension of lease ofDonimalai Iron Ore Mine,granted earlier for a period of20 years till November 3,2038.

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Power and New &Renewable Energy Minister

R K Singh on Thursdayapproved a proposal to declareocean energy as renewableenergy.

The Ministry of New andRenewable Energy (MNRE)has clarified to all stakeholdersthat energy produced usingvarious forms of ocean energy,such as tidal, wave, ocean ther-mal energy conversion, shall beconsidered as renewable ener-

gy and shall be eligible formeeting non-solar renewablepurchase obligations (RPO), astatement by the MNRE said.

This step has been taken bythe MNRE after some renew-able energy developers soughtclarification in this regard,according to the statement.

Under the RPO, distribu-tion companies (discoms) arerequired to have certain pro-portion of clean energy sup-plies. The proportion is fixed bystate power regulators. Thediscoms can also buy renew-

able energy certificates in lieuof mandated clean energy sup-plies, from the developers orrenewable power generators.

Oceans cover 70 per cent ofthe earth’s surface and representan enormous amount of ener-gy in the form of wave, tidal,marine current and thermalgradient.

A variety of different tech-nologies are currently underdevelopment throughout theworld to harness this energy inall its forms.

Deployment is currently

limited but the sector has thepotential to grow, fuelling eco-nomic growth, reducing carbonfootprint and creating jobs notonly along the coasts but alsoinland along its supply chains.

As India steps up its effortto contemplate its renewableenergy and climate changeobjectives after 2022, it isopportune to explore all pos-sible avenues to stimulate inno-vation, create economic growthand new jobs as well as toreduce our carbon footprint,the statement said.

New Delhi: VakilSearch, alegal-tech company whichoffers online legal, tax andcompliance technology ser-vices has launched SwadeshiStartup Movement to encour-age citizens of India to becomeentrepreneurs. Inspired by theSwadeshi Movement thatensued during the freedomstruggle era, this campaign isbeing launched to commemo-rate the Make in India initia-tive, in-line with Startup Indiaspearheaded by theGovernment of India. PNS

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Goodyear India onThursday launched two

new products AssuranceDuraPlus 2 and Wrangler ATSilentTrac for the Indian mar-ket. While Assurance Duraplus2 is designed for small-to-mid-sized passenger cars,Wrangler AT SilentTrac is tai-lored for confident SUV driverswith a strong desire for adven-ture and the freedom to explorewith full control over thewheels.

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State-run power giant NTPCon Thursday it has got

shareholders’ approval to raiseup to �15,000 crore throughissuance of bonds and to raiseits borrowing limit to �2 lakhcrore.

The company got share-holders’ nod through a specialresolution to raise funds up to�15,000 crore through issue ofbonds/debentures on private

placement basis in the domes-tic market at its annual gener-al meeting (AGM) held onWednesday, it said in a BSE filing.

According to the AGMnotice, the funds raised will beused for capital expenditure,working capital and generalcorporate purposes.

NTPC has also got share-holders’ approval to increase itsborrowing limit from �1.5 lakhcrore to �2 lakh crore.

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New Delhi: Weddingz.in, a wedding company posted that it hasgrown 480% since the acquisition of OYO. A year after its acqui-sition by OYO Hotels & Homes, India's largest, world's 3rd largestand fastest-growing chain of leased and franchised hotels, homes,living and workspaces, Weddingz.in has witnessed 480% growthin revenue. Backed by OYO's operational capabilities, a uniqueoffering of providing hassle-free wedding experience and 1500+talented employees, Weddingz.in has become a household namefor a great wedding experience. Weddingz.in has witnessed 636%growth in bookings since August 2018 and enjoys high customerdelight. PNS

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If Lionel Messi listens to RealBetis and sits out anothermatch, Barcelona will likely

have to rely on Antoine Griezmannto finally get some points on theboard.

Betis, which visits the CampNou on Sunday, responded to atweet by Barcelona that Messi wasback to practicing with the team forthe first time since being injured inthe preseason by saying: “Don’trush, Leo. No need for you to forceit!” Barcelona couldn’t make up for

Messi’s absence last weekend whenits attack was held scoreless in a 1-0 loss at Athletic Bilbao.

That was the first time the two-time defending champions had losta Spanish league opener in adecade. And after both RealMadrid and Atlético Madrid won,the pressure is on.

Barcelona acquired Griezmannafter triggering the 120 million euro($133 million) buyout clause in hiscontract with rival Atlético. TheFrance forward was supposed to bethe fourth piece to an alreadyworld class attack featuring Messi,

Luis Suárez and OusmaneDembele. But Griezmann may beleft with all the scoring responsibil-ity in his competitive home debut.

Messi strained his right calf inthe team’s first practice of the sea-son on August 5 and hasn’t playedsince. Although it is possible he willbe back to face Betis, Suárez won’tbe after he injured a right leg mus-cle in the first half at Bilbao.Dembele has also been ruled outfor several weeks with a left thighinjury.

Philippe Coutinho, who couldhave helped out as an attacking

player, is no longer with the teamafter being loaned out to BayernMunich this week. Malcom, aBrazilian forward who played spar-ingly for Barcelona last season, wassold to Zenit St Petersburg.

Griezmann had a lacklustermatch at Bilbao. His only goodscoring chance at San MamesStadium came in the final minuteswith a header.

The Frenchman, however, isused to carrying a team on his back.

Griezmann was a consistentscorer for Atlético, tallying morethan 20 goals a season for five con-

secutive years despite the teamoften not having another attackingthreat to draw away some of theattention of opposing defenses.

The problem at Bilbao, hesaid, was simply “the ball didn’t goin.” The other player who couldmake the most of the opportunitycreated by the injuries is 21-year-old Carles Pérez, a member ofBarcelona's reserve team. Heimpressed in the preseason, evenscoring two goals in a 2-0 win overJapanese club Vissel Kobe, whereformer Barcelona great AndrésIniesta now plays.

Barcelona coach ErnestoValverde included Pérez inWednesday’s team practice. Betis

was the only team to beatBarcelona at its home stadi-um last season, outgunningthe hosts 4-3.

Since then it has changedcoaches, replacing the attack-minded Quique Setién withthe more conservative Joan“Rubi” Ferrer, who led Espanyolto a Europa League berth.

Barcelona also poached one ofits top players, left back JuniorFirpo. Betis lost its Spanish leagueopener, falling 2-1 to Valladolid athome. The last time Betis playedBarcelona was in Seville in March.Messi scored three goals andreceived a standing ovation fromthe Betis fans.

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Brazilian star midfielderPhilippe Coutinho will not

make his first Bundesliga startwhen Bayern Munich travel toSchalke on Saturday, said coachNiko Kovac on Thursday.

Coutinho, 27, has been thetalk of Germany since joiningBayern on a one-year loan dealfrom Barcelona earlier this week.

Yet at a press conference onThursday, Kovac confirmed theBrazilian would begin his firstgame as a Bayern player on thebench.

“He is not quite at the levelof fitness he needs to play for 90minutes,” said Kovac.

“He has said that himself,and we don’t want to take anyrisks. He has only been trainingfor the last two weeks, so heneeds to catch up,” he added, butconfirmed Coutinho would bein the matchday squad.

“I know a lot of people wantus to play him straight away, buteverything has to be right.”

Kovac said Bayern’s othernew attacking signing, Croatiawinger Ivan Perisic, could makethe starting eleven againstSchalke.

“Ivan is much further along,he started training at the sametime as we did, and played sev-eral games for Inter Milan inpre-season,” he said.

Bayern are under pressureto pick up three points againstDavid Wagner’s Schalke side,having been held to a draw intheir opening Bundesliga gameagainst Hertha Berlin last week.

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Neymar remains no closer to getting hisdesired move away from Paris Saint-

Germain amid reports on Thursday the Frenchclub have rejected an offer from Real Madrid of100 million euros ($111 million) plus players.

French sports daily L’Equipe said Real hadoffered cash plus Gareth Bale, James Rodriguezand goalkeeper Keylor Navas, but PSG turnedit down because “the overall value of the offerdid not match their expectations”.

Paris paid 222 million euros to sign Neymarfrom Barcelona two years ago and their sport-ing director Leonardo is understood to be deter-mined to only sell the forward for a deal con-sidered to be of the same value.

Real have spent the summer trying tooffload Bale, while James is unwanted afterreturning from a loan at Bayern Munich andNavas is no longer the club’s first-choice goal-keeper.

Meanwhile, Barcelona remain hopeful ofbringing Neymar back to the Camp Nou, butCatalan daily Sport claims an attempt to sign theplayer on loan with an obligation to buy for 160million euros at the end of the season has beenfirmly rejected in Paris.

Sport claims Barcelona feel “it is very clearthat PSG are trying to prevent the Brazilian from

returning to the Camp Nou inany scenario”.

PSG had previouslyreportedly turned down anoffer from Barcelona of 40million euros plus Philippe

Coutinho and Ivan Rakitic.Coutinho has since joined

Bayern on loan.Juventus are

also believed tohave stated aninterest in sign-

ing the 27-y e a r - o l d ,who has notfeatured inany ofP S G ’ sm a t c h e s

so far thisseason having

been frozen outamid the uncertain-ty over his future.

The transferwindow closes inFrance, Spain andItaly on September2, meaning time isfast running outfor a deal to bedone.

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France football legendThierry Henry is keen for

another chance to prove he canbe a successful manager despitehis unhappy brief tenure atLigue 1 side Monaco.

The 42-year-old —Arsenal’s record goalscorer —told the Daily Telegraph thatalthough his phone did not ringfor four months following hissacking, things have picked upsince then and he has receivedfive offers.

Henry’s dream return lastOctober to manage Monaco,the club where he establishedhis reputation as a top classstriker, turned into a nightmare.

Having been part ofBelgium manager RobertoMartinez’s backroom team atthe World Cup — where theyreached the semi-finals — helasted just over 100 days afteronly four league wins.

“Call me crazy if you want,but I love football and I believeI can be a successful coach,” hesaid.

“I’m not thinking about thepain, I’m not thinking aboutfailure. I don’t like easy.

“I like to lead and it’s on meto make it happen. The samewhen I joined Arsenal as a play-er, the same when I went toBelgium with Roberto. It’s an

evolution.”Henry, who was a member

of the France squads that wonboth the 1998 World Cup andthe Euro 2000 title, saidalthough he has been contact-ed over jobs, he has yet to findthe right fit. “My phone didn’tring for four months after I leftMonaco and then all of a sud-den I got five calls,” he said.

“Some were not what Iwas looking for and some wereas a number two.”

“I won’t do a number twojob because I want to be a num-ber one.”

Henry says it is frustratinghaving to wait around foranother opportunity but he isconvinced football coaching iswhere his future lies.

“I came out of it fully reas-sured that’s what I want to do,zero doubt about it,” he said.

All Henry asks is for trans-parency from his employers.

“Communication and hon-esty from the start is key,” hesaid.

“What’s the job? Is the jobto stay up, is the job to win theLeague or be in the ChampionsLeague?

“But how and what is suc-cess? Is success improving play-ers? Ultimately, results are themost important thing, but Iwant to improve players aswell.”

������7,�+

Cristiano Ronaldo admitted on Wednesdayhis long-time rivalry with Lionel Messi has

made him “a better player” and that he enjoysa “healthy” rivalry with the Argentine great.

However, Portuguese star Ronaldo, whoseinfluence at Real Madrid mirrored that ofMessi at Barcelona before he left for Juventus,admitted that the pair have never socialisedtogether.

“I really admire the career he has had andfrom his side, he has already talked of the dis-appointment when I left Spain because it wasa rivalry that he appreciated,” Ronaldo told TVIin Portugal.

“It’s a good rivalry but it’s not unique —Michael Jordan had rivalries in basketball,there was Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost inFormula 1. The thing they all had in commonis that they were healthy rivalries.”

Ronaldo and Messi have won the covetedBallon d’Or five times each, a factor that helpseach player flourish.

“I have no doubt that Messi has made mea better player and vice-versa. When I am win-

ning trophies it must sting him and it’s thesame for me when he wins,” he said.

“I have an excellent professional relation-ship because we have been sharing the samemoments for 15 years.

He added: “We’ve never had dinner togeth-er but I don’t see why we can’t in the future. Idon’t see a problem with that.”

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World number ones and defend-ing champions Novak Djokovic

and Naomi Osaka were named as topseeds for the US Open onWednesday.

Djokovic, who will be chasing a17th Grand Slam singles title inNew York next week, heads themen’s field with Spain’s Rafael Nadalseeded second.

Former world number one RogerFederer, seeking a 21st Grand Slamcrown, is seeded third for the tour-

nament.The draw for the men’s and

women’s singles takes place onThursday.

In the women’s draw, Osaka isranked number one while 2018 run-ner-up Serena Williams is seededeight.

Japanese ace Osaka won her firstGrand Slam title in a controversialfinal victory over Williams last yearand then followed it up with her sec-ond Slam at the Australian Open inJanuary.

The two other reigning Grand

Slam champions are seeded in the topfour, with Australia’s French Openchampion Ashleigh Barty seededsecond and Romania’s Wimbledonchampion Simona Halep seeded four.

Former world number oneKarolina Pliskova of the CzechRepublic is seeded third in thewomen’s draw.

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India’s B Sai Praneeth dished out asuperlative performance to stun

world No 8 Anthony SinisukaGinting and progress to the quarter-finals but H S Prannoy’s fight endedwith a narrow loss at the BWF WorldChampionships here on Thursday.

World No 19 Praneeth, who hadreached the finals at Swiss Open thisyear, took just 42 minutes to dispatchsixth seeded Anthony of Indonesia21-19, 21-13 to set up a likely clashwith another Indonesian JonatanChristie, seeded fourth and the reign-ing Asian Games champion.

Earlier, Prannoy showedglimpsed of brilliance, especially inthe opening game, but couldn’t stopWorld No 1 Kento Momota from reg-istering a 21-19, 21-12 win, his fifthvictory over the Indian in as manyencounters.

In the opening game, Praneethquickly erased a 0-3 deficit to moveto a 8-5 deficit. The Indian, who hashad success against Anthony at the2018 Asia Team championship and2017 World Championship, kept hisstrangehold to enter the break witha 11-8 advantage.

In the second game, Praneethzoomed to 6-2 but Anthony made his

way to manage a 11-8 lead at thebreather. After the break, the Indianreeled off six straight points to makeit 14-12. He kept marching ahead asAnthony crumbled.

Earlier, Momota dominated theproceedings initially against Prannoyas he moved from a 8-4 lead to graba 11-7 advantage at the break.

Prannoy started putting pres-sure on his rival after the breatherwith an attacking game to claw backat 12-12 and kept snapping atMomota’s heels.

At one stage, after the end of the57-shot rally, an exhausted Prannoywas left prostrated on the floor fol-lowing a perfect net return from theWorld No 1. The point gave Momotaa two-point cushio at 19-17.

But the Indian stuck to his gunsand a precise straight smash helpedhim to level at 19-19.

Momota, however, upped thepace to grab the game point with areturn on the backline and thensealed it with a powerful smash.

After the change of sides,Momota once again found his wayout of tricky situations to run up alead of 11-5 at the break. Prannoytried his best but Momota ensured hehad the last laugh as he convertedsoon after gaining nine match points.

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Lionel Messi gave Barcelona atimely boost on Wednesday by

returning to training with the restof the squad after a calf injury.

Messi trained alone in themorning before joining his team-mates in the afternoon, increas-ing hopes that Barca’s captaincould play a role against Real Betisin La Liga on Sunday.

He strained his calf on August5 in his first training session backfollowing the Copa America andsubsequently missed the club’spre-season.

It would be a surprise ifMessi started at Camp Nou, butBarcelona coach Ernesto Valverdewill be eager to have his star avail-able again, particularly after histeam suffered a surprise 1-0defeat by Athletic Bilbao in theiropening league game last week-end.

Messi’s absence has beencompounded by injuries to otherstrikers.

Luis Suarez is expected to beout for around a month after hob-bling off with a calf problemagainst Bilbao. OusmaneDembele injured his hamstringand will need five weeks to recov-er.

Antoine Griezmann, the 120

million summer signing fromAtletico Madrid, is the only fully-fit forward, with Rafinha and 21-year-old Carles Perez possibleoptions to play behind him.

The shortage up front hasintensified speculation that ParisSaint-Germain’s Neymar couldreturn to Barcelona before thetransfer window closes in Spainon September 2.

PSG sporting directorLeonardo admitted earlier thismonth that the club were in“advanced negotiations” to sellNeymar but a deal is yet to beagreed with Barca, who havealready spent around 250 mil-lion euros this summer.

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India’s top women’s singles playerAnkita Raina crashed out of the

women’s singles US Open qualifyingevent after a hard fought three-setloss to Czech Republic’s DenisaAllertova.

The world No 194 went down 7-6(5), 4-6, 2-6 to her Czech rival in amatch that lasted two hours and 17minutes, on Wednesday night.

Ankita won the first set in a tie-breaker but failed to keep hermomentum as Allertova broke theIndian to take the second set com-fortably.

In the decider, Ankita was bro-ken again as she conceded the match.

Sumit Nagal is the only Indianleft in the qualifiers. He is scheduledto play Peter Polansky of Canada inthe second round of the qualifiers.

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Skipper Dimuth Karunaratne helped SriLanka to 85 for two at stumps on a rain-

hit day one of the second Test against NewZealand in Colombo on Thursday.

Only 36.3 overs were possible after rainwashed out the first session and bad lightended play for the day with Karunaratneunbeaten on 49.

Karunaratne, fresh from a match-winningcentury in the first Test in Galle last week lastweek, hit six boundaries during his 100-ballstay in overcast conditions.

Former captain Angelo Mathews was giv-ing Karunaratne company in the middle toremain unbeaten on nought after facing 14

deliveries.New Zealand all-rounder Colin de

Grandhomme, who made the XI in place ofMitchell Santner, said the match was “even-ly poised”.

“There’s a bit of more bounce on this trackthan what we encountered in Galle and that’snice,” he said after play ended.

“If we can get a couple of early wicketson Friday morning that will be nice.”

Karunaratne batted with positive intentdespite losing opening partner LahiruThirimanne and Kusal Mendis either side oftea.

Thirimanne never looked comfortableand his 59-minute stay at the wicket producedjust two runs.

His misery ended when he pushed aWilliam Somerville delivery and was caughtat extra cover by skipper Kane Williamson.He had been earlier dropped by wicketkeep-er BJ Watling off Somerville.

Mendis looked good as he reached 32with four fours and put on 50 runs withKarunaratne to steady the batting.

De Grandhomme got Mendis caughtbehind on a seaming delivery outside the offstump and Watling gloved the catch.

The hosts only need a draw to clinch thetwo-match series.

The entire opening session and anotherhour was lost due to persistent rain and thetoss took place at 1:10 pm (0740 GMT). Theafternoon session went uninterrupted but playwas again delayed by 28 minutes after tea dueto rain.

After 7.3 overs in the evening session, playwas called off due to bad light.

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Former opener Vikram Rathour willbe replacing Sanjay Bangar as India’s

new batting coach while Bharath Arunand R Sridhar were expectedly retainedas bowling and fielding coaches respec-tively.

The senior national selection com-mittee headed by MSK Prasad has rec-ommended three names each for all thesupport staff positions and the topnames in each category will be appoint-ed after the formalities with regards toConflict of Interest declaration is com-plete.

The 50-year-old Rathour, has played6 Tests and 7 ODIs in 1996 withoutmuch success but was a domestic heavy-weight for Punjab. He till few years back(2016) was a senior national selectorunder Sandeep Patil’s chairmanship.

He had earlier applied for NCA bat-ting consultant and U-19 batting coach’sposition but his application was put onhold as his brother-in-law AshishKapoor is the chairman of U-19 selec-tion committee.

“Vikram Rathour has got enoughexperience and we are convinced withhis skill sets (as a coach). We will ask himto declare if he has any conflict,” BCCICEO Rahul Johri told reporters.

As per the recommendations of theselection committee, current incumbentSanjay Bangar came second while for-mer England batsman MarkRamprakash was third.

“The team management had theirown views but looking ahead, we feltthere should be some freshness in thesupport staff,” Johri said.

Former Mumbai Indians physioNitin Patel, who was part of the supportstaff during the 2011 campaign, is backwhile Englishman Luke Woodhouse wasappointed as the strength and condition-ing (trainer) coach.

The other notable candidate to losehis job was incumbent administrativemanager Sunil Subramaniam, who wasremoved for his alleged misbehaviourwith top diplomats of the Indian govern-ment during the ongoing tour of WestIndies. Subramaniam was replaced byGirish Dongre.

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Moments after Ravi Shastriwas re-appointed as the

head coach of the Indian teamtill 2021, Cricket AdvisoryCommittee (CAC) chief KapilDev had said ‘as all of you wereexpecting’ Shastri is the numberone candidate for the job. But ithas now come to the fore thatKiwi Mike Hesson had almosttoppled Shastri.

Speaking about it, a seniorBCCI functionary said that itwas a close call between Shastriand Hesson and New Zealand’strack record under the Kiwifrom 2012 till 2018 had almostsealed the deal for the formerKings XI Punjab coach.

“It was not a walk in thepark for Shastri as some of youseem to believe. Hesson wasreally close to getting the go-ahead. It is there for all to seehow the New Zealand team

improved by leaps and boundsunder him across all formats.

“From being the perennialsurprise package in big-ticketevents, they had become achampion side under him and

that is something that reallyimpressed the CAC.

“Under his coaching, theKiwis reached their first-everWorld Cup final in 2015. Whilehe did resign in 2018, the Kiwis

playing their second final on thetrot in 2019 also had a lot to dowith what Hesson brought tothe table.

His strategizing with thesenior members in the team

can’t be discounted,” the func-tionary explained.

Asked what then turnedthe table back in Shastri’s favour,considering that the CAC madeit clear that skipper Virat Kohliwasn’t consulted before takingthe call, the functionary said itwas Shastri’s experience as aplayer on the internationalstage.

“The CAC felt that Shastri’sproven record as a player wasone area that needed to be givedue recognition as one’s ownstature might become an area ofconcern when handling a teamwhich has big names.

“Hesson hadn’t playedenough cricket himself and aswe know started coaching in hisearly twenties. Shastri on theother hand played 80 Testmatches and 150 ODIs. That issomething that went againstthe for Kiwi coach,” the func-tionary said.

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Virat Kohli had a fan boy moment ahead ofthe first Test as he got an opportunity to

interview legendary cricketer Vivian Richards,whom the Indian skipper has always idol-wor-shipped.

Kohli quizzed Viv Richards on how he dealtwith the fastest of bowlers of his time withouteven wearing a helmet or a guard. He intro-duced the Caribbean master as “the greatestinspiration to all of us batsmen”.

“Whenever I have seen videos of you walk-ing out, you’re in a hat, no helmets back then.Even when there were, after a point you chosenot to. Because it was something that made youfeel like you had the belief and ‘you are chew-ing gum’.

“I know the pitches were not as preparedor as covered back then. What was it like? Whatwent through your head walking out knowingthat you don’t have a lot of protection. Thereis no restriction on bouncers and then you goout and dominate like that.

“What did you feel from the time you leftthe changing room till you got to the pitch.What was the mindset?” Kohli asked.

“I believed I am the man,” said Richards.“It may sound arrogant but I always felt that Iwas involved in a game that I knew. I wouldback myself every time.

“You have to back yourself to get hurt, totake the knocks. But the helmet — I tried, I amnot going to lie and tell you. But, it felt a littleuncomfortable. So I felt my cap, my marooncap which was given to me. I felt so proud withthat.

“My mindset was that if I am goodenough to be here, if I get hurt it’s God’s will.I will survive,” the 67-year-old replied.

Kohli also shared his experience of facingfast bowlers: “I feel like it’s better to get hit earlyon and get to know the feeling than always feel-ing like you might get hit.

“So, I prefer actually getting hit early on andreally hard so it motivates me even further notallow that to happen again, just that pain to gothrough your body and be like — okayenough, it’s not happening again.”

Richards further said that getting hit wasa part of cricket.

“Because to be fair while batting you aregoing to get hurt. It depends on how you comeback from this knocks. In the old days, beforethese little guards (chest guards) around yourribs, you take it there and that’s when you feelit. You take a count but then that’s part and par-cel of the sport,” Richards opined.

Kohli also quizzed him about the chal-lenges Richards faced that made him believein himself. The former Windies skipper said:“I always felt I was good enough to be com-peting and I wanted to express myself in thebest way that I can.”

“I see that little similarity in you and thatsame passion in you,” said Richards as Kohlihad his moment, “There are times when folkswould look at us and say, ‘Wow why are theyso angry?”

Richards, who retired from the sport in1991 had earlier hailed Kohli’s batting skills andhad said that the Indian skipper’s batting stylereminded him of his own days.

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Marcus Harris and Usman Khawajaboth fell cheaply before Australia

reached 54-2 at tea on Thursday’s rain-marred opening day of the third AshesTest against England at Headingley.

Only 18 overs in an original day’s allo-cation of 90 had been bowled when badlight forced an early tea, with DavidWarner 26 not out — his first double-fig-ure score in five innings this series — andMarnus Labuschagne seven not out.

Rain had previously stopped play at2.45 pm (1345 GMT) after delaying thescheduled start by more than an hour.

And there was further frustration forboth England and a crowd who had wait-ed patiently to watch cricket when, afterplay resumed, only 3.1 more overs werepossible before the umpires suspendedplay for bad light even though the flood-lights were on full blast.

After a grinning Warner andLabuschagne sprinted off the field,umpires Chris Gaffaney and Joel Wilsonwere booed as they returned to the pavil-ion.

Wilson was later seen having an ani-mated conversation on the dressing roombalcony with several England playersand backroom staff.

England, looking to level the five-match series at 1-1, had seen captain JoeRoot win the toss in the hope of makingthe most of overcast, bowler-friendlyconditions.

Australia had dropped openerCameron Bancroft, who had made just 44runs in four innings, and brought inHarris to partner Warner at the top of theorder after England had enjoyed the bet-

ter of a rain-affected draw in the secondTest at Lord's.

Both left-handed batsmen struggledagainst England’s new-ball attack of StuartBroad and Jofra Archer.

The experienced Warner was repeat-edly beaten by Broad jagging the ball offa length, while the express Archer, in hissecond Test, went past Harris's outsideedge.

Archer, bowling from around thewicket, squared him up with an 87.3 mphdelivery that saw Harris get a thin edgethrough to wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow— like Root appearing on his homeground.

Moments after Harris had fallen foreight, with Australia 12-1 off four overs,the umpires took the players off the fieldbecause of rain.

It took Warner 14 balls to get off the

mark as he continued to struggle, althoughBroad may have bowled a fraction tooshort with several deliveries beating theoutside edge without really challenging thebatsmen.

But he did take a wicket when UsmanKhawaja, the third left-hander inAustralia’s top three, made thin contactwith an intended leg glance and wascaught behind as he too fell for eight.

England, however, had to reviewNew Zealand official Gaffaney’s originalnot out decision before reducing Australiato 25-2.

For Australia, fast bowler JamesPattinson came in for paceman PeterSiddle.

England were unchanged after open-er Jason Roy was passed fit having beenhit on the head batting in the nets onTuesday.

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Opener KL Rahul put up a grit-ty fight with a circumspect

Ajinkya Rahane as India partiallyrecovered from a top-order col-lapse to reach 68 for 3 at lunch onthe opening day of the first WorldChampionship Test match againstthe West Indies.

Rahul, who had a wretched 18months in the red-ball format,before this Test match, was com-posed during his unbeaten 37after India were reduced to 25 for3 inside the first eight overs on atrack that offered bounce and lat-eral movement for new ballbowlers Kemar Roach (2/12 in 6overs) and Shannon Gabriel (1/26in 7 overs).

Mayank Agarwal (5), the ever-dependable Cheteshwar Pujara(2) and skipper Virat Kohli (9)were back in the pavilion in thefirst hour after Jason Holder putthe visitors in on a bouncy track.

Rahul (37 batting, 73 balls)and vice-captain Rahane (10 bat-ting, 43 balls) added 42 runs forthe unbroken fourth wicket andstemmed the rot going into thelunch break after 24 overs werebowled during the opening ses-sion.

Agarwal got one from Roach,which held its line and the open-er didn't fully commit forwardwith resultant nick being gobbledby Shai Hope behind the stumps.

The dogged Pujara didn't lastlong as he got a delivery fromRoach that moved a shade awayafter pitching with India's No. 3lunging forward. The edge wastaken low down by Hope.

Skipper Kohli relishes suchadverse situations and tough con-ditions but it wasn't his day despitea promising start that included adrive past point and another pastmid-on.

However, Gabriel's ball, one

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that climbed on him from short oflength, saw Kohli fend awkwardly,only to be caught at gully by debutantShamarh Brooks.

At 25 for 3, it could have beenworse but a determined Rahul put hishead down and left a lot of deliveriesoutside off-stump as Rahane also

defended dourly at the other end,waiting for Roach and Gabriel's firstspell to end.

It was only when back-up pacerMiguel Cummins came into operationthat Rahul collected three of his fourboundaries -- a cut and a couple of off-drives.

Not for once did Rahane lookcomfortable during the first sessionand both his boundaries were freakones. The first was a thickish outsideedge that bounced short of second slipbefore going for four runs. The sec-ond was a pull-shot and he wasn'tentirely in control. However, the bestpart was that he hung in there.

KEEMO PAUL RULED OUTAll-rounder Kemmo Paul has

been ruled out of the first Test againstIndia due to an ankle injury and pacerMiguel Cummins was named as hisreplacement by Cricket West Indies.

Paul was ruled out due to aninjury in his left ankle and willremain in Antigua to continue hisrehabilitation.

"With Keemo ruled out for thismatch, it's good to have someone withMiguel's quality back in the squad, ashe brings experience to the team,"Windies interim head coach FloydReifer said in a statement.

Cummins had made his Testdebut against India three years agoand took a career best 6 for 48 in thesecond innings of the second matchof the four-Test series.

"Watching him in the last A Teamseries against India A and the train-ing sessions his lengths haveimproved. He's a very hard worker anda wicket-taker. I'm sure, if given theopportunity to play, he will make avaluable contribution in our bid to winthis series," he added.

The first Test beginning onThursday marks the start of the ICCWorld Test Championship for bothteams. In this series, each team canearn 60 points for a win or 20 pointsfor a draw.

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