7 18 1! 89 : 6 1 & & () *+’ - dailypioneer.com hair clip, and footwears before meeting ......

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I n a daring cross-border raid, a compact team of the Indian Army attacked a Pakistani Army post and killed three Pakistani soldiers in Rawlakot sector in Poonch on Monday. The “limited action” lasting not more than 10 to 15 minutes is seen as a retaliatory strike. The Border Action Team (BAT) of the Pakistan Army had killed four Indian Armymen, includ- ing an officer and three soldiers at the Line of Control (LoC) on Saturday last. Terming it as a “local tac- tical level action authorised by a Brigadier rank officer”, offi- cials said on Tuesday the raid by the Indian troops was carried out at 6 am. The team of four to five commandos known as “Ghataks (deadly)” slipped into Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) territory 200 to 300 metres inside and attacked a temporary post of the Pakistan Army near the LoC and killed three Pakistanis. One more Pakistani soldier was reported- ly injured in the attack. The attacks should send a clear message to Pakistan that if it continued to target Indian sol- diers there will be a definite and firm response, officials said. Explaining the rationale of sending small teams, officials said element of surprise and speed is the key factor. If the attack party is big, there is fear of the enemy coming to know of the raid, they said. The retaliatory attack by the Indian Army came after a BAT of Pakistan Army com- mandos and terrorists infil- trated at least 400 metres inside India in Keri sector in Rajouri on Saturday and killed four Indians, including one officer and three soldiers. The Pakistani raiding team ambushed and killed the Indians. Reports also hinted that the bodies of Indian sol- diers were mutilated but the Army strongly rebutted them and said splinters from blast and cross border firing led to the death of its soldiers. Major Moharkar Prafulla Ambadas, Lance Naik Gurmail Singh, Sepoy Gurmeet Singh and Sepoy Pargat Singh were from 2 Sikh Regiment and carrying out area domination patrol when they were ambushed. Officials said the 25 Division of Poonch Brigade was responsible for the Monday action, adding these local level incidents keep happening. “Indian Army continues to exploit the fleeting opportuni- ties,” they said. The targeted post was of 59 Baloch regiment under 2 PoK Brigade of the Pakistan Army. There were at least three con- firmed casualties and one injured. However, Intelligence sources suggest there could be more casualties. After the Indian raid, there was heavy fir- ing on both sides and inter- mittent firing is still continuing. The raid commenced with one team of Indian soldiers triggering an explosion near the Pakistani post leading to chaos among the enemy. Taking advantage of this factor, the other team of the Ghatak commandos sneaked in about 300 metres and fired at the Pakistani soldiers. Sources said the blast could have also killed some soldiers. Media reports from Islamabad on Monday also said three Pakistani soldiers were killed and one injured in cross-border shelling by Indian security forces along the LoC. "The shelling occurred at Rukh Chakri sector in Rawlakot and received a strong response from Pakistani forces,” the DawnNews reported, quoting Pakistani military’s media wing the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR). Continued on Page 4 T he security forces in Kashmir dealt a major jolt to banned Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) outfit by killing its “divisional commander" for South Kashmir Noor Mohammad Tantry who spent a decade in jails before recycling to revive the Jaish outfit. Tantray, alias Noor Trali, was dwarf, about 4 feet in height, but highly articulate with organisational skills. He was described by the security agencies as "new security headache". Sources said the security forces cordoned-off Samboora area of Pampore in South Kashmir late on Monday night after specific input on presence of a group of terrorists in a residential area. The contact with the holed up terrorists was established soon after but there was lull afterwards throughout the night. The encounter began on early Tuesday morning. Continued on Page 4 A day after Pakistan tried to grab global attention from the meeting between Kulbhushan Jadhav, his moth- er Avantika and wife Chetana in Islamabad, the Indian Government gave harrowing details of the mental torture and humiliation that the two women faced in Islamabad. Jadhav's mother and wife were forced to change clothes, remove their ornaments, bindi, mangalsutra, hair clip, and footwears before meeting Jadhav in a glass cage. Interestingly, the Pakistan Foreign Office never returned Chetana's footwear after the meeting and she had to walk back barefoot to the car. "Under the pretext of secu- rity precautions, the cultural and religious sensibilities of family members were disre- garded. This included removal of mangalsutra, bangles and bindi, as well as a change in attire that was not warranted by security. For some inexplicable reason, despite her repeated requests, the shoes of the wife of Jadhav were not returned to her after the meeting. We would caution against any mis- chievous intent in this regard," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said on Tuesday after Avantika and Chetana returned India along with Indian diplomat JP Singh who had accompanied them to meet Jadhav. India has raised strong objections and expressed dis- appointment over the manner in which Pakistan conducted the meeting between Commander Jadhav and his family. The meeting that took place after requests by India for family access saw Jadhav under duress, and making tutored statements instead of engaging in a conversation. His face was swollen and his left ear carried marks of stitches. Jadhav's mother told External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday upon arrival from Islamabad that her son "was not himself " and appeared to be a different man as not only he looked different but also behaved strangely. This exposed Jadhav's medical report as a brazen lie. The medical report put out by Pakistan declared him healthy, whereas his mother claimed he had marks of injuries on his face and ears. Avantika said that Jadhav kept on making 'tutored' state- ment when she inquired him about the injuries. With simi- lar 'tutored' statement, he stonewalled her queries on why he falsely claimed to be a RAW agent, how he landed in Pakistan from Iran where he had gone for business. Continued on Page 4 B odies of two teenage sisters were found hanging from a tree outside their house in Barola village, police said on Tuesday. Superintendent of Police (SP) City, Arun Kumar Singh said the girls were iden- tified as Laxmi (18) and Nisha (14). Their father hailed from Bulandshahr and the family was living in a rented house here in Sector 49. The bodies of Laxmi and her sister Nisha were spotted by a local in Barola village when he went to relieve himself at a drain near the tree, police said. “Prima facie, it appears to be a suicide case but the family is claiming both the sisters were murdered and hanged from the tree,” a police officer said. “No suicide note was found from the spot. We are investigating the case with all possible angles includ- ing homicide and suicide. “The family members are also suspecting the involve- ment of their relatives, Rishi, Billoo, Ravi and Rohit in the crime as they often used to tor- ture the girls,” the SP City added. The police received infor- mation about the sisters this morning following which a team reached their house. They pulled down the bodies and sent them for post-mortem, he said. While Nisha was studying in a school, Laxmi was work- ing with a private company. The police detained Kulbhusan for questioning who claimed that his elder daughter was in love with a youth, Prem, and she had eloped with him 10 days ago. However, she returned home a few days ago following which he had scolded her. It appears that the girls had bolted the room, while their par- ents were sleeping, from outside on Monday night and commit- ted suicide by hanging them- selves with stoles, the SP said. The official said the matter was being investigated from all possible angles, including mur- der and honour killing. The bodies have been sent for post-mortem to examine whether they were sexually assaulted, he added. T he Delhi Jal Board (DJB) on Tuesday approved a com- bined 20 per cent hike in water and sewer charges in the nation- al Capital for consumption above 20,000 litres a month. However, the DJB will not charge households consuming up to 20,000 litres a month, in line with the subsidy scheme of the Arvind Kejriwal Government, which was a key poll promise of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), an official said. The new rates will come into force in February, 2018. In 2015, days after com- ing to power, the AAP Government had hiked water tariff by 10 per cent for consumers falling in the same category, keeping with an annual automatic 10 per cent rate hike mechanism put in place by then Sheila Dikshit Government in 2009. However, in 2016, the Government decided against following the auto mechanism and put another hike on hold. The current hike comes three months after Kejriwal took over the ministerial port- folio of water after the removal of Kapil Mishra. It will effec- tively lead to a rise of Rs 28 per month for consumers crossing the 20,000 litres limit, DJB vice chairman Dinesh Mohaniya, the AAP MLA from Sangam Vihar, said. Continued on Page 4 New Delhi/Mumbai: Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications (RCom) on Tuesday has finalised a new resolution plan to reduce its huge debt by up to 39,000 crore through prepayment. The company said it will form a new RCom with debt levels under 6,000 crore. The resolution plan, how- ever, involves exiting strategic debt restructuring (SDR) and monetising some of the com- pany’s assets, including transfer of spectrum liabilities by March 2018. With the announcement of its debt revival plan, shares of RCom zoomed nearly 32 per cent. The stock rose sharply by 30.78 per cent to settle at Rs 21.33 on BSE. PNS Detailed report on P10 T hose hooked to MCDonald’s juicy burgers, wraps, and fries may be soon forced to explore other avenues. The ongoing spat between the American company and McDonald’s estranged JV part- ner, Connaught Plaza Restaurants Ltd (CPRL), has parlaysed the supply chain and forced closure of several McDonald outlets. Vikram Bakshi, who heads the CRPL, has said nearly all outlets of the fast food chain in East India have been shut and several others in the North are on the brink of closure due to discontinuation of supplies by its logistics partner. All in all, there are 80 out- lets that have been hit by this cut-off in supplies by Radhakrishna Foodland, a move which is seen as a fallout of the ongoing spat between the fast food major and Bakshi. “Almost all the outlets in East India have been shut because of the move by the logistics partner, and others (in North India) are also under pressure due to the supply crunch,” Bakshi told PTI, adding a total of over 80 outlets are suffering, considering the limited stock each outlet has. In a letter dated December 20, Radhakrishna Foodland Pvt Ltd wrote to CPRL, the 50:50 JV between Bakshi and McDonald’s India, saying it is discontinuing the supply chain services due to reduction in volume and uncertainty of future, among others, as also non-payment of a certain addi- tional amount. The otherwise massive busi- ness in the festive season for McDonald’s is set to hit a bump, which will affect the food chain’s revenue. “Our long-standing logistics vendor Radhakrishna Foodland allegedly in collusion with McDonald’s Corporation and their wholly owned sub- sidiary McDonald’s India Pvt Ltd... has decided to hold back stock paid for approximately Rs 10 crore by us,” Bakshi said in a letter to landlords and develop- ers of his outlets. He further wrote, “While the American company and its subsidiary, MIPL, may have with their usual mala fide and malicious actions managed to give CPRL a temporary busi- ness setback at the end of the year and during this high sale festive season, yet we have made and are making alterna- tive arrangements and shall be back to serve our customers very soon.” Bakshi has been at logger- heads with the fast food chain over the management of CPRL after he was ousted from the post of MD of the McDonald’s franchisee in August 2013. McDonald’s India in August terminated the franchise agree- ment and had asked CPRL not to use its brand system, trademark, designs and its associated intellectual proper- ty, among others. Bakshi had moved the NCLT following termination of the licence by McDonald’s India Pvt Ltd (MIPL).

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Page 1: 7 18 1! 89 : 6 1 & & () *+’ - dailypioneer.com hair clip, and footwears before meeting ... It appears that the girls had bolted the room, while their par-ents were sleeping, from

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In a daring cross-border raid,a compact team of the Indian

Army attacked a PakistaniArmy post and killed threePakistani soldiers in Rawlakotsector in Poonch on Monday.The “limited action” lastingnot more than 10 to 15 minutesis seen as a retaliatory strike.The Border Action Team (BAT)of the Pakistan Army had killedfour Indian Armymen, includ-ing an officer and three soldiersat the Line of Control (LoC) onSaturday last.

Terming it as a “local tac-tical level action authorised bya Brigadier rank officer”, offi-cials said on Tuesday the raid bythe Indian troops was carriedout at 6 am. The team of fourto five commandos known as“Ghataks (deadly)” slipped intoPakistan Occupied Kashmir(POK) territory 200 to 300metres inside and attacked atemporary post of the PakistanArmy near the LoC and killedthree Pakistanis. One morePakistani soldier was reported-ly injured in the attack.

The attacks should send aclear message to Pakistan that ifit continued to target Indian sol-diers there will be a definite andfirm response, officials said.

Explaining the rationaleof sending small teams, officialssaid element of surprise andspeed is the key factor. If theattack party is big, there is fearof the enemy coming to knowof the raid, they said.

The retaliatory attack bythe Indian Army came after aBAT of Pakistan Army com-mandos and terrorists infil-trated at least 400 metres insideIndia in Keri sector in Rajourion Saturday and killed fourIndians, including one officerand three soldiers. ThePakistani raiding teamambushed and killed theIndians. Reports also hintedthat the bodies of Indian sol-diers were mutilated but theArmy strongly rebutted themand said splinters from blastand cross border firing led tothe death of its soldiers.

Major Moharkar PrafullaAmbadas, Lance Naik GurmailSingh, Sepoy Gurmeet Singhand Sepoy Pargat Singh werefrom 2 Sikh Regiment andcarrying out area dominationpatrol when they wereambushed.

Officials said the 25Division of Poonch Brigadewas responsible for the Mondayaction, adding these local levelincidents keep happening.“Indian Army continues toexploit the fleeting opportuni-ties,” they said.

The targeted post was of 59Baloch regiment under 2 PoKBrigade of the Pakistan Army.There were at least three con-firmed casualties and oneinjured. However, Intelligencesources suggest there could be

more casualties. After theIndian raid, there was heavy fir-ing on both sides and inter-mittent firing is still continuing.

The raid commenced withone team of Indian soldierstriggering an explosion nearthe Pakistani post leading tochaos among the enemy.Taking advantage of this factor,the other team of the Ghatakcommandos sneaked in about300 metres and fired at thePakistani soldiers. Sources saidthe blast could have also killedsome soldiers.

Media reports fromIslamabad on Monday alsosaid three Pakistani soldierswere killed and one injured incross-border shelling by Indiansecurity forces along the LoC."The shelling occurred at RukhChakri sector in Rawlakot andreceived a strong response

from Pakistani forces,” theDawnNews reported, quotingPakistani military’s media wing

the Inter-Services PublicRelations (ISPR).

Continued on Page 4

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The security forces inKashmir dealt a major jolt

to banned Jaish-e-Muhammad(JeM) outfit by killing its“divisional commander"for South Kashmir NoorMohammad Tantrywho spent a decade injails before recycling torevive the Jaish outfit.Tantray, alias Noor Trali,was dwarf, about 4 feet inheight, but highly articulatewith organisational skills. Hewas described by the security

agencies as "new securityheadache".

Sources said the securityforces cordoned-off Sambooraarea of Pampore in South

Kashmir late on Mondaynight after specific inputon presence of a group ofterrorists in a residentialarea. The contact with theholed up terrorists wasestablished soon after butthere was lull afterwards

throughout the night. Theencounter began on earlyTuesday morning.

Continued on Page 4

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Aday after Pakistan tried tograb global attention from

the meeting betweenKulbhushan Jadhav, his moth-er Avantika and wife Chetanain Islamabad, the IndianGovernment gave harrowingdetails of the mental tortureand humiliation that the twowomen faced in Islamabad.Jadhav's mother and wife wereforced to change clothes,remove their ornaments, bindi,mangalsutra, hair clip, andfootwears before meetingJadhav in a glass cage.

Interestingly, the PakistanForeign Office never returnedChetana's footwear after themeeting and she had to walkback barefoot to the car.

"Under the pretext of secu-rity precautions, the culturaland religious sensibilities offamily members were disre-garded. This included removalof mangalsutra, bangles andbindi, as well as a change inattire that was not warranted bysecurity. For some inexplicablereason, despite her repeatedrequests, the shoes of the wifeof Jadhav were not returned toher after the meeting. Wewould caution against any mis-chievous intent in this regard,"Ministry of External Affairsspokesperson Raveesh Kumarsaid on Tuesday after Avantikaand Chetana returned Indiaalong with Indian diplomat JPSingh who had accompaniedthem to meet Jadhav.

India has raised strongobjections and expressed dis-appointment over the mannerin which Pakistan conductedthe meeting betweenCommander Jadhav and hisfamily. The meeting that tookplace after requests by India forfamily access saw Jadhav underduress, and making tutoredstatements instead of engaging

in a conversation. His face wasswollen and his left ear carriedmarks of stitches.

Jadhav's mother toldExternal Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj on Tuesdayupon arrival from Islamabadthat her son "was not himself "and appeared to be a different man as not only helooked different but alsobehaved strangely.

This exposed Jadhav'smedical report as a brazen lie.The medical report put out by

Pakistan declared him healthy,whereas his mother claimed hehad marks of injuries on hisface and ears.

Avantika said that Jadhavkept on making 'tutored' state-ment when she inquired himabout the injuries. With simi-lar 'tutored' statement, hestonewalled her queries onwhy he falsely claimed to be aRAW agent, how he landed inPakistan from Iran where hehad gone for business.

Continued on Page 4

�������������� ����

Bodies of two teenage sisterswere found hanging from a

tree outside their house inBarola village, police said onTuesday. Superintendent ofPolice (SP) City, Arun KumarSingh said the girls were iden-tified as Laxmi (18) and Nisha(14). Their father hailed fromBulandshahr and the familywas living in a rented househere in Sector 49.

The bodies of Laxmi andher sister Nisha were spotted bya local in Barola village when hewent to relieve himself at a drainnear the tree, police said. “Primafacie, it appears to be a suicidecase but the family is claimingboth the sisters were murderedand hanged from the tree,” apolice officer said. “No suicidenote was found from the spot.We are investigating the casewith all possible angles includ-ing homicide and suicide.

“The family members arealso suspecting the involve-ment of their relatives, Rishi,Billoo, Ravi and Rohit in thecrime as they often used to tor-

ture the girls,” the SP Cityadded.

The police received infor-mation about the sisters thismorning following which ateam reached their house. Theypulled down the bodies and sentthem for post-mortem, he said.

While Nisha was studyingin a school, Laxmi was work-ing with a private company.

The police detainedKulbhusan for questioning whoclaimed that his elder daughterwas in love with a youth, Prem,and she had eloped with him 10days ago. However, she returnedhome a few days ago followingwhich he had scolded her.

It appears that the girls hadbolted the room, while their par-ents were sleeping, from outsideon Monday night and commit-ted suicide by hanging them-selves with stoles, the SP said.

The official said the matterwas being investigated from allpossible angles, including mur-der and honour killing. The bodies have been sent forpost-mortem to examinewhether they were sexuallyassaulted, he added.

�������������� ��������

The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) onTuesday approved a com-

bined 20 per cent hike in waterand sewer charges in the nation-al Capital for consumptionabove 20,000 litres a month.

However, the DJB will notcharge households consumingup to 20,000 litres a month, inline with the subsidy scheme ofthe Arvind KejriwalGovernment, which was a keypoll promise of the Aam AadmiParty (AAP), an official said.

The new rates will comeinto force in February, 2018.

In 2015, days after com-ing to power, the AAPGovernment had hikedwater tariff by 10 percent for consumersfalling in the samecategory, keeping withan annual automatic 10

per cent rate hike mechanismput in place by then SheilaDikshit Government in 2009.

However, in 2016, theGovernment decided againstfollowing the auto mechanismand put another hike on hold.

The current hike comesthree months after Kejriwaltook over the ministerial port-folio of water after the removalof Kapil Mishra. It will effec-tively lead to a rise of Rs 28 permonth for consumers crossingthe 20,000 litres limit, DJBvice chairman DineshMohaniya, the AAP MLAfrom Sangam Vihar, said.

Continued on Page 4

New Delhi/Mumbai: AnilAmbani-led RelianceCommunications (RCom) onTuesday has finalised a newresolution plan to reduce itshuge debt by up to �39,000crore through prepayment. Thecompany said it will form anew RCom with debt levelsunder �6,000 crore.

The resolution plan, how-ever, involves exiting strategicdebt restructuring (SDR) andmonetising some of the com-pany’s assets, including transferof spectrum liabilities by March2018. With the announcementof its debt revival plan, sharesof RCom zoomed nearly 32 percent. The stock rose sharply by30.78 per cent to settle at Rs21.33 on BSE. PNS

Detailed report on P10

����� ���������

Those hooked toMCDonald’s juicy burgers,

wraps, and fries may be soonforced to explore other avenues.The ongoing spat between theAmerican company andMcDonald’s estranged JV part-ner, Connaught PlazaRestaurants Ltd (CPRL), hasparlaysed the supply chain andforced closure of severalMcDonald outlets.

Vikram Bakshi, who headsthe CRPL, has said nearly alloutlets of the fast food chain inEast India have been shut andseveral others in the North areon the brink of closure due to

discontinuation of supplies byits logistics partner.

All in all, there are 80 out-lets that have been hit by thiscut-off in supplies byRadhakrishna Foodland, amove which is seen as a falloutof the ongoing spat between thefast food major and Bakshi.

“Almost all the outlets inEast India have been shutbecause of the move by thelogistics partner, and others(in North India) are also underpressure due to the supplycrunch,” Bakshi told PTI,adding a total of over 80 outletsare suffering, considering thelimited stock each outlet has.

In a letter dated December20, Radhakrishna FoodlandPvt Ltd wrote to CPRL, the50:50 JV between Bakshi andMcDonald’s India, saying it isdiscontinuing the supply chain

services due to reduction involume and uncertainty offuture, among others, as alsonon-payment of a certain addi-tional amount.

The otherwise massive busi-ness in the festive season forMcDonald’s is set to hit a bump,which will affect the food chain’srevenue. “Our long-standinglogistics vendor RadhakrishnaFoodland allegedly in collusionwith McDonald’s Corporationand their wholly owned sub-sidiary McDonald’s India PvtLtd... has decided to hold backstock paid for approximately Rs10 crore by us,” Bakshi said in aletter to landlords and develop-ers of his outlets.

He further wrote, “Whilethe American company and itssubsidiary, MIPL, may havewith their usual mala fide andmalicious actions managed to

give CPRL a temporary busi-ness setback at the end of theyear and during this high salefestive season, yet we havemade and are making alterna-tive arrangements and shall beback to serve our customersvery soon.”

Bakshi has been at logger-heads with the fast food chainover the management of CPRLafter he was ousted from thepost of MD of the McDonald’sfranchisee in August 2013.McDonald’s India in Augustterminated the franchise agree-ment and had asked CPRL notto use its brand system, trademark, designs and itsassociated intellectual proper-ty, among others.

Bakshi had moved theNCLT following termination ofthe licence by McDonald’sIndia Pvt Ltd (MIPL).

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Garhwal CommissionerDilip Javalkar stressed on

protecting the temples andother structures having impor-tance from the archaeologicalpoint of view while inspectingsuch sites located in SrinagarTehsil of Pauri district. Heasked the officers of theArchaeological department toclean the shilalekh (inscription)carved on the temples situatedat Devalgarh and also to trans-late the content of such inscrip-tions in Hindi.

Besides, the documents witharchaeological importance

should be given to the researchscholars for further elucidation,he said, adding that the peopleand even the officers having noknowledge of these inscriptionsand other materials which areparts of the State’s pricelessheritage is sad.

The commissioner asked theofficers concerned to repair

the temples now lying in dilap-idation and also the cave

inscription now decaying forwant of proper care with assis-tance from the experts andreport to him about theprogress of such works in afortnight.

Pandit Vinod PrasadBahuguna of Laxminarayan

temple said that the templededicated to Gauri had comeup in Devalgarh at the initia-tive of Adi Shankaracharya.“What happened is that whenthe Shankaracharya failed tolocate a place for founding aGauri temple in Kedarnath

and its adjoining areas hefounded it at Devalgarh. Theinitiative taken by the com-missioner is a laudable one. Ifexecuted, it would help pre-serve the ancient monumentsthe place is rich with,” hesaid.

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On the concluding day ofthe three- day national

sports meet held in DAVCentenary Public School inJagjeetpur, the DistrictMagistrate Haridwar DeepakRawat won the heart of the stu-dents as he unlocked his heartbefore them while sharing hisexperiences culled from his lifesince his school days. “I amhappy being called ‘chhuttiwaley uncle’ by the studentswhile saying that the studentscall him up when it rains,requesting him to declare hol-

iday. He stressed on the stu-dents living a value-based lifeand taking things that lifethrow, the blows and buffets,sportingly.

“The biggest tournamentof life is life itself. The sportscontests help one learn the artof taking challenges in theirstride,” he said, while dwellingon his childhood reminiscent-

ly. He was cheered by the stu-dents who came from acrossthe country along with theirteachers.

DM said that sports shouldgo hand in hand with studies.“It is unfortunate that in mostof the Indian schools, studentswho are good in academics areadored at the expense of thosewho excel in sports,” he said.

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The 7th meeting of theUttarakhand Film

Development Board (UFDB)was held at the auditorium ofthe Information department atRing road here on Tuesday. TheChief Executive Officer (CEO)of the board and DirectorGeneral (DG) information, DrPankaj Kumar Pandey saidthat an environment conducivefor film making and shootingis being prepared in the State.He said that necessary amend-ments in the Film Policy -2015would be made to providemore opportunities to the filmindustry in the State. Pandeyalso invited suggestions fromthe fraternity for improvementin film policy.

The Vice President ofUFDB and noted bollywoodactor, Hemant Pandey saidthat impetus would be provid-ed to the work of the board andcooperation from board mem-bers is needed for it. He saidthat felicitation ceremony of the

UFDB would be held in themonth of January, 2018 and

necessary arrangements for itshould be made.

The Vice President ofUFVB, Jai Shree KrishnaNautiyal suggested that thefinal touches to the directorybeing compiled by the board on

people involved in the profes-sion so that it can be published.

He said that the membersshould submit their suggestionsfor amendment in the film pol-icy of the state.

The additional CEO of theboard, Anil Kumar Chandolasaid that amendment on the

suggestions made by the boardwould soon be made. He saidthat the stipulated amount ofRs 10000 per day for filmshooting would be reduced.Chandola added that enter-tainment tax was abolished bythe state on regional films andnecessary changes in wake ofGST regime would soon bebrought before the Stateadministration. A proposal toabolish shooting fee levied bythe forest department wouldalso be made to the stateadministration. Chandola saidthat the approval issued by theBoard would only be applica-ble for film production. He saidthat suggestions from membersand those associated with filmproduction have been invitedfor amendments in the filmpolicy.

The additional secretaryfinance Arjun Singh, Membersof the board Shiv Painyuli,Sudarshan Shah, Heera SinghRana, Manoj Pangti, C DTiwari, SPS Negi and otherswere present on the occasion.

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Athletics being the motherof all sports, a person

should be a good athlete to per-form well in any other kind ofsport, said Governor K K Paulafter inaugurating the 66th allIndia police athletics champi-onship at police lines inDehradun on Tuesday. Sportshelps develop patience, courageand discipline, he added.

Governor said that all Indiasports board had been consti-tuted to encourage police per-sonnel to practise sports.Policing is a difficult and a chal-lenging job and the police per-sonnel have hardly time toengage in sports in their day-to- day life, he said, adding thatthe police personnel should bemotivated to opt for sports

which would help themenhance their leadership qual-ity, boost their stamina andhandle pressure effectively.

He further said that thereare instances galore of athletesfrom the central and statepolice forces making the coun-try proud by their sterlingachievements. He hailedUttarakhand police for organ-ising the championship, themaiden one, in the state.

He invoked the worldpolice games to stress on theimportance of sports in thepolice forces. In 2017, the

world police games were heldin Los Angeles where Indiaperformed well. Uttarakhandpolice had also won somemedals in the internationalcompetition this year, he said,adding that the police force hadover the years gifted the coun-try with ace footballers, ath-letes and hockey playersamong others. “More than win-ning, participation is importantin sports. He said he was con-fident that the event would besuccessful and those who havecome from outside wouldtake back good memories with

them.State DGP Anil Raturi said

that the players should play inthe spirit of sportsmanship.ADGP and organizing secre-tary of the games AshokKumar said that 1119sportspersons from 32 teams ofstate and central police unitsare participating out of which275 are female sportspersons.Among others present on theoccasion were the cabinet min-ister Prakash Pant and MLAKhajan Das aside from a hostof senior police officers.

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In a crime that has given scareto the residents of Dehradun

when they are in the thick offestivities, a Manager of a pri-vate company was robbed of �20 lakh by some unidentifiedpersons who snatched away thebag containing the money afterthrowing chilli power in hiseyes at a place on Kalidas Roadon Tuesday.

The incident has left thepolice red-faced in the wake ofits brag to have ensured fool-proof security for the people inview of the festive season. “Weare really scared as we canhardly look up to police forsecurity against such desperatecriminals,” said a senior citizenliving near the place where theincident happened.

It is learnt from cops thatAashutosh Gupta was going toa pvt. Bank on Hathibarkalawhile riding his two-wheeler todeposit the money he had col-lected from agents. As he

reached Kalidas Road hestopped to respond to nature’scall. Another bike stopped nearhim from which two personsdismounted, threw chilli pow-der in his eye and escaped withthe bag containing �20L. AsGupta screamed for help thelocals gathered and took him toa local hospital.

Sr police officers, includingGarhwal Range DIG Pushpak

Jyoti, SP City PK Rai and COJaya Baloni rushed to the spotsoon on being informed andinspected the area. Sealing thearea, police launched a manhunt, but to no avail.

Circle officer ChandraMohan said that after receivinga complaint, a case has beenregistered in Kotwali policestation and a team has beenformed to nab the accused.

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Kerala Police won two gold medals on the first day of All IndiaPolice Athletics Championship being held at Maharana Pratap

Sports College in Derhadun on Tuesday. In the men’s triple jump,Abin B of Kerala Police came out first followed by HaramritpalSingh of BSF while Ravinder Singh of Punjab Police finishedthird. In all, 27 players from various states and central policeforces had participated in this event. In the women 4 kg ham-mer throw, Nidhi of BSF came first while Sarabjit Kaur of PunjabPolice and Minakashi of CISF finished second and third respec-tively. The number of participants was 18 in this event.

In women’s 1500 metres, S Thabaton Channu of CRPF cameout top followed by Shiva of BSF while Shridevi Mhetre of

Maharashtra finished third. In all, 22 police personnel partici-pated in this event. In the women’s triple jump, Jenimol Joy ofKerala secured the first position followed by Shilpa Chacko ofthe same state while Vinija Vijayan of CRPF secured the thirdposition. Twenty police personnel took part in this event. In themen’s 10000 metres run, Makhan Singh of Punjab came at thetop followed by Gova Ram of BSF while Rakesh Kumar ofRajasthan finished third. Twenty five police personnel tried theirluck in the event.

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The second day of MussoorieWinterline Carnival on

Tuesday saw large participationof youngsters in Tom AlterMemorial 21 km half marathonand cross country race (menand women) held at GahwalTerrace, Mussoorie.

Much before the halfmarathon started at 7 am, the

youngsters gathered there,brimming with excitement toparticipate in the event hostedin the memory of an actor whomade the valley proud by hismyriad accomplishments. It isworth mentioning here thatyoungsters showed a lot ofenthusiasm in making theirpresence felt.

In 21 km run male catego-ry, Rajeev Namburi came firstwhile Kamal Shah was therunner up and Surjeet Sharmafinished third.

In female category, ShobhaRana was the winner whileRubi Kashyap finished second.In six km run male category,Praveen stood first positionfollowed by Saurabh whileNakul finished third.

In female category, ShilaRawat came out first followedby Harshi while Ravina fin-ished third. In three km runmale category, Vikki Kumarcame out first followed byAman Negi while MohitChauhan finished third. Infemale category, Priya Negiwas the first while Astha Negifinished second and Nainastood third. Later, Eco activi-ties and nature walk were heldfollowed by a string of otherevents like judo karate, rockclimbing by ITBP and exhibi-tion on the pictorial history ofMussoorie by Gopal Bhardwajand musical events on MallRoad.

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The Additional ChiefSecretary Ranvir Singh

chaired a meeting to reviewimplementation of theUttarakhand Forest ResourceManagement Project (UFRMP)by the State forest departmentwith financial support fromJapan International

Cooperation Agency (JICA).The chief project director

Anup Malik shared details ofthe progress made under thevarious components of theproject over the last two years.He said that about 3440 ponds(Chal/Khal) have been con-structed across 400 VanPanchayats in Garhwal andKumaon this year. The total

capacity of these structures isto harvest approximately 722lakh litres.

Under the ongoing works,conservation and harvesting ofadditional 1260 lakh litres ofwater will be augmented underthe project by June 2018.

Based on emphasis laid bythe Chief Minister, UFRMP hasalso made provisions to create

one pond with 70,000 to onelakh litre capacity in each of the750 Van Panchayats by June2018. The project is also creat-ing one model water conser-vation scheme in each of thedivisions. It is expected thateach of these model schemewould improve water avail-ability to 4-5 Van Panchayatsover the next three years.

Progress of eco-restorationand nursery production workswas also reviewed. A total of37500 hectares of degradedforest area would be restoredunder the project. A total of 130lakh seedlings would be raisedand planted under the project,of which 33.95 lakh seedlingshave already been planted. Itwas stated that at present about

44.64 lakh seedlings are avail-able in different nurseries. Atotal of about 66800 mandays

of work had been generatedacross 400 Van Panchayatsunder the project till November

2017. According to officials,

UFRMP has an outlay of Rs 807crore and the project activitieswould be taken up in 750 VanPanchayats across 13 forest divi-sions of the state. The conserva-tors and divisional forest officersof all project forest divisions alsoparticipated in the review meet-ing through video conferencing.

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Security being a prime factorfor determining the number

of the footfalls of tourists,Uttarakhand is now well-placed, adjudged as the secondbest State next to Nagaland ofthe country by the NationalCrime Record Bureau (NCRB).Now, winter in its thick, theState- lauded as the abode ofthe gods- hemmed in by theserene, majestic Himalayas andthe dense wilds, is beckoningtourists/pilgrims from acrossthe country and abroad.Haridwar and Rishikesh-two ofthe most famed centres of pil-grimage the State is endowedwith-are no exception. Theupcoming International YogaFestival is expected to see a con-gregation of yoga enthusiastsfrom across the world. Lastyear, it saw over 1000 partici-pants from 88 countries and this

time the figure might furthermove up.

Visitors throng these twinplaces, particularly Haridwar,as nearly every month, twomajor snans (holy dips) onSomavati Amavasya andEkadeshis are held which seethousands of people flocking tothe fabled Har Ki Pauri (gate-way to Lord Vishnu, the pre-server of the cosmos).

Besides, jungles abound inthe state which fascinates thejungle lovers from across theworld. Their association with

the legendary Jim Corbett addsto the charm. The director of

Rajaji National Park and TigerReserve Sanatan Sonekar saidthat Haridwar being a safe placefor the tourists, they expect afurther surge in the number oftourists coming here to enjoythe beauty of the wilds. “Ofcourse, the NCRB rating wouldresult in increased footfalls thiswinter. Chilla range of RTR hasalready seen a good number oftourists since it reopened onNovember 15,” he said.

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The Government officialsare not able to convince the

complainants in the JanataMilan programmes, saidAgriculture minister SubodhUniyal at state party office onTuesday. Addressing the mediapersons during his JanataMilan programme, theMinister said that the officialsconcerned should convince the

complaints in a better way.Uniyal said that the StateGovernment would soon bringan Organic Farming Act topromote organic farming in thestate. He said that the govern-ment wants to promote con-tract farming in the areas wherethe people have stopped culti-vating their land. The ministerlistened to the grievances ofabout 100 persons on the occa-sion.

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The employees of the powercorporations of the State

who had called off their indef-inite strike over pay anomaliesslated to start on January 5 fol-lowing assurance from thesenior power department offi-cials have welcomed theGovernment order (GO) issuedon Tuesday which sealsapproval on providing revisedsalaries and allowances to themas per the seventh pay com-mission recommendation withretrospective effect fromJanuary 1, 2016.

Earlier, as the employees ofState power corporations hadbeen adamant on launching anindefinite strike from January 5which could have crippled thepower distribution among theconsumers the StateGovernment had enforced

Essential Services MaintenanceAct (ESMA) to clamp down onthe agitating employees.However, things had thawedafter the representatives of theVidyut Sangharsh Samiti, a col-lective forum of the employeesand officers of UttarakhandPower Corporation Limited(UPCL), Uttarakhand Jal VidyutNigam Limited (UJVNL) andPower TransmissionCorporation of UttarakhandLimited (PTCUL), had hadmarathon meetings with thetop officials of power depart-ment with the power secretaryRadhika Jha in the chair onDecember 22 following whichthe proposed strike was calledoff.

The members of the agitatingunion had claimed that theirmajor demand of pay protectionin the VII pay commission wasaccepted in principle. Based on the outcome of Dec 22 meeting, GO has been released on Tuesday.

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As per GO, the salary of those employees who were receiv-ing the salary in the grade pay of 2200 would receive 2400

grade pay in the revised seventh pay matrix. The salary of thoseemployees who were receiving the salary in the grade pay of 2600would receive 2800 grade pay in the revised seventh pay matrix.The salary of those employees who were receiving the salary inthe grade pay of 3000 would receive 2800 grade pay in the revisedseventh pay matrix. The salary of those employees who werereceiving the salary in the grade pay of 4200 would receive 4200grade pay in the revised seventh pay matrix. The salary of thoseemployees who were receiving the salary in the grade pay of 4400would receive 4600 grade pay in the revised seventh pay matrix.The salary of those employees who were receiving the salary inthe grade pay of 6600 (9300-34800) would receive 5400 (9300-34800) grade pay in the revised seventh pay matrix. The salaryof those employees who were receiving the salary in the gradepay of 11000 and 11500 would receive 10000 grade pay in therevised seventh pay matrix.

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����� ����Though things are generally congenial on the lawand order front in the State the crime rate in Haridwar is abit disturbing. As per the statistics given by police them-selves, all kinds of crimes have been seeing a spike in the dis-trict for some years. Observers say that things need to beimproved as people come in their thousands to take holy dipin the deified Ganga. “This is particularly so as theMahakumbh is approaching when it would see a sea ofhumanity coming here in quest of spiritual enlightenment,”says an observer. PNS

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Education department isworking on a two pronged

strategy to provide relief to spe-cial Basic Teacher Certificate(BTC) qualified primary teach-ers. Under pressure from theteacher organisations, thedepartment has embarked ona plan to persuade the NationalCouncil of Teacher Education(NCTE) to grant recognition tothe Special BTC courses whichthe District Institutes ofEducation and Training (DIET)had conducted during the peri-od 2001 to 2016. The depart-ment is also planning to takethe issue to the High Court asit feels that the NCTE too is atfault on the issue as it paid noheed on repeated requests ofthe education department togrant recognition. “We arekeeping both the options open.In this matter the NCTE tooshowed compliancy as it failedto respond to the communica-tion the state education depart-ment did with it. The depart-ment is requesting the NCTEto grant similar concession itgranted to the teachers of UttarPradesh. We are also seekinglegal opinion to take the guid-

ance from the court,’’ said onesenior officer of educationdepartment.

The jobs of more than13000 Special BTC qualifiedteachers in Uttarakhand are atstake due to an order by theUnion Human ResourceDevelopment (HRD) ministrywhich has made it clear that byyear 2019 all untrained prima-ry teachers should compulso-rily complete the Diploma inElementary Education (DElEd)course (earlier termed BTC).To the chagrin of these teach-ers it was learnt that due to tar-diness of the educationdepartment officers the SpecialBTC course conducted byDIETs, are not recognized bythe National Council ofTeacher Education (NCTE).

The apex body of teachereducation has told the educa-tion department ofUttarakhand in no uncertainterms that it cannot grantrecognition in retrospection .

As a way out these teacherswere offered by the State edu-cation department that theyshould undergo, a six monthbridge course offered by theNational Institute of OpenSchooling (NIOS).

However under pressure

from the agitated association ofPrimary teachers, the PrathemikShikshak Sangh (PSS) most ofthese teachers have not regis-

tered for the bridge course, thelast date of which after twoextensions is ending onDecember 31. The NIOS on itspart has made it clear that thebridge course is one time affairand it would not extend the reg-istration date further.

However the teachers arepinning their hopes on the stateeducation minister ArvindPandey who had repeatedlyassured them that a way out ofthe tangle would soon be found.The association of the teachersis also meeting the Member ofParliament from the state andputting the issue before them fortaking up the matter with theUnion Government.

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Accusing the police of tak-ing one-sided action

against Congress members, adelegation of the PradeshCongress Committee met thedirector general of police AnilRaturi, seeking a fair probe intothe case pertaining to the landof the Uttar Pradesh irrigationdepartment in Kichha, UdhamSingh Nagar district.

The Congress delegationled by the Pradesh CongressCommittee president PritamSingh met the DGP and sub-mitted a letter to him. In theletter, the PCC chief informedthat presently the state trans-port corporation’s roadwaysfacility is functioning from asite in Kichha which belongs tothe Uttar Pradesh irrigationdepartment. Local Congressworkers came to know thatsome people were trying to dis-pose of this land. Against this,the party workers announcedthat they would stage protestunder the leadership of HarishPaneru on December 25. Theyhad also demanded that theadministration undertake thebeautification of the land inquestion. On December 25, theparty workers were using arickshaw for announcing theprotest. The local MLA object-

ed to this and lodged a reportat the Kichha police stationagainst the rickshaw driverand Paneru. The PCC presi-dent further alleged that thelocal police immediately tookone-sided action againstPaneru who was later releasedon bond. At the same time,Paneru too had filed a com-plaint against the local MLAwith the police but so far noaction has been taken by thepolice in this regard.

The PCC president saidthat the freedom to express and

freedom to protest are consti-tutional rights in a democracyand any political party has theright to protest against ques-tionable incidents. The one-sided action taken by the localpolice is unfair. The police arebeing used as a tool for carry-ing out political vendettaagainst Congress workers whoare being harassed consistent-ly. The state of law and order inUttarakhand has deterioratedwhile even the MLAs andworkers of the ruling party arethemselves disrupting law and

order, alleged Singh.Addressing the DGP, the PCCchief demanded that all aspectsof the Kiccha case should beprobed into without bias andnecessary action should beensured against those who arefound to be guilty in the case.

Former state ministerMantri Prasad Naithani, formerMLA Vijaypal Rawat, PCCvice president SuryakantDhasmana, chief programmecoordinator Rajendra Shah andother party members were alsopart of the delegation.

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On the directions of the Pradesh Congress Committee pres-ident Pritam Singh, workers of the Mahanagar Congress

burnt the State Government in effigy to protest against the StateGovernment’s decision to expand area under urban local bod-ies.

Led by former cabinet minister Mantri Prasad Naithani, theparty workers burnt the effigy at Astley Hall while raising slo-gans against the State Government. Speaking on the occasion,Naithani said that the state government had issued an arbitraryorder. He said, “Panchayat representatives still have one and halfyear tenure left in office while the government is directing expan-sion of urban local body areas without taking any public repre-sentative into confidence.”

The Mahanagar Congress chief Prithviraj Chauhan said thatsuch delimitation will worsen the condition of urban areas. InDehradun, the municipal corporation is unable to handle 60 wardshit by deteriorating level of civic sanitation and other problems.At a time when the city areas are facing basic problems, the gov-ernment intends to deteriorate the situation further by bring-ing more rural areas under the municipal corporation, he added.

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In a gruesome broad- daylight crime, a 63- year- old

retired railway employee wasmurdered and robbed of �3lakh in Laksar area on Tuesdaywhile he was returning from abank with the cash which hefailed to deposit there for somereasons. Police said that thedeceased has been identified asRadhe Shyam. “He went to abank to deposit the money. Buthe could not do so. While

coming back he was murderedand robbed,” said a police offi-cer investigating the crime.SSP Krishna Kumar V K saidthat prima facie it seems that aperson or persons known to thedeceased have robbed andmurdered him.

His body was sent forpost- mortem, he added. Itseems that someone hadtipped off the goons regardingthe movement of the old manand then the crime was exe-cuted.

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For better management andusage of funds available

under the Corporate SocialResponsibility (CSR) pro-grammes of industrial housesand public sector undertakings,the State Government has con-stituted a State level steeringcommittee. This committeewould be headed by the ChiefSecretary and would haveeleven members.

In an order, the Chief

Secretary Utpal Kumar Singhsaid that this committee wouldgive clearances to the propos-als under the CSR of industri-al houses. This committeewould compulsorily meet oncein two months. For effectiveimplementation of the pro-jects approved by this highpowered committee, the ChiefSecretary has also constituteda State Level SteeringCommittee headed bySecretary to the Chief Minister.

The Principal Secretaries/

secretaries of education, health,skill development, agriculture,horticulture, drinking water,information technology, indus-trial development, urban devel-opment and secretary ChiefMinister would be the mem-bers of the state level steeringcommittee. The monitoringcommittee headed by Secretaryto the CM would haveManaging Director (MD), StateInfrastructure and IndustrialDevelopment Corporation ofUttarakhand limited (SIID-

CUL), additional secretary/Director General (DG) schooleducation, additional secre-tary health and Skill develop-ment, Additional secretary/Directors of horticulture, ITDAand agriculture and Presidentsof Confederation of IndianIndustries (CII) and IndustriesAssociation of Uttarakhand(IAU) as members. The addi-tional secretary to the ChiefMinister would be the membersecretary of the state levelmonitoring committee.

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The Bharat Jagran Yatrabeing undertaken by the

Tibetan Youth Congressarrived in Dehradun onTuesday. Addressing the mediaat the Press Club here, theTibetan Youth Congress culturesecretary Tashi Dhondup saidthat said that the nationwidegrassroots level campaign hasbeen launched on the culturaland historical bond betweenTibet and India and the strate-gic importance and relation ofTibetan independence withthe security interests of India.The month long campaignstarted from three cities-Mcleodganj in HimachalPradesh, Salaugara in West

Bengal and Chennai in TamilNadu on December 10. Thecampaign is to cover over 150towns across the nation. Hesaid, “Our team which startedfrom Mcleodganj has been toHaryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradeshand Uttarakhand. We havereceived a very positive responsefrom the public during our cam-paign. The Bharat Jagran Yatracampaign aims to raise awarenesson the Tibet issue and garner sup-port of the Indian people and gov-ernment leaders to recognise thatTibet was historically an inde-pendent country and is currentlya nation occupied by the com-munist government of China.” Aspart of the campaign the TYC alsoappealed the Indians to urge theirMLAs to take up the issue of Tibet.

PNS/DehradunThe additional chief secre-

tary Ranvir Singh chaired ameeting to review implemen-tation of the UttarakhandForest Resource ManagementProject (UFRMP) by the stateforest department with finan-cial support from JapanInternational CooperationAgency (JICA).

The chief project directorAnup Malik shared details ofthe progress made under thevarious components of theproject over the last two years.He said that about 3440 ponds(Chal/Khal) have been con-structed across 400 VanPanchayats in Garhwal andKumaon this year. The totalcapacity of these structures isto harvest approximately 722

lakh litres. Under the ongoingworks, conservation and har-vesting of additional 1260 lakhlitres of water will be aug-mented under the project byJune 2018.

Based on emphasis laid bythe Chief Minister, UFRMP hasalso made provisions to createone pond with 70,000 to onelakh litre capacity in each of the750 Van Panchayats by June2018. The project is also creat-ing one model water conser-vation scheme in each of thedivisions. It is expected thateach of these model schemewould improve water avail-ability to 4-5 Van Panchayatsover the next three years.

Progress of eco-restorationand nursery production workswas also reviewed. A total of37500 hectares of degraded

forest area would be restoredunder the project. A total of 130lakh seedlings would be raisedand planted under the project,of which 33.95 lakh seedlingshave already been planted. Itwas stated that at present about44.64 lakh seedlings are avail-able in different nurseries. Atotal of about 66800 mandaysof work had been generatedacross 400 Van Panchayatsunder the project till November2017. According to officials,UFRMP has an outlay of Rs807 crore and the project activ-ities would be taken up in 750Van Panchayats across 13 for-est divisions of the state. Theconservators and divisionalforest officers of all project for-est divisions also participated inthe review meeting throughvideo conferencing.

From page 1Police said Noor Trali was

one of the "chief architects" ofattack on Border Security Force(BSF) camp near Srinagar air-port earlier this year.

"In a significant break-through, Awantipora Police,Army and CRPF acting on aspecific input cordoned a clus-ter of houses at Samboorawhich resulted in a fierce gunbattle leading to elimination of

top JeM commander NoorMohammed Tantray," said apolice spokesman. He saidTrali was convicted in a caseregistered in 2003 in Delhi andwas serving his sentence atCentral Jail Srinagar until hewas out on parole in the year2015.

"Consequently, heremained in Tral and becamea major over ground worker ofJeM in the belt," said the

spokesman.Sources said Tantray, a

resident of Dar Ganaigundvillage in Tral sub-districtjoined terrorist ranks in Julythis year after he was sum-moned by local security campsfor his alleged role in organis-ing protests. He was instru-mental in public mobilisationin the aftermath of killing ofthree JeM terrorists in thearea.

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Even as the traditional polit-ical parties, including the

Congress, SAD, and AamAadmi Party (AAP), resolvedagainst organising politicalconferences during the ongo-ing Shaheedi Jor Mela atFatehgarh Sahib, the SAD(Amritsar) on Tuesday organ-ised Miri Piri Saheedi confer-ence and attracted large crowd.

The political parties,respecting the devotees’ senti-ments, decided not to holdconferences in a religious eventwherein political mudslinginghas reached a new high. Whilemany campaigns werelaunched by the social activists,the Akal Takhat too appealedto all the political parties tomaintain the sanctity of thesacred occasion.

Punjab Chief Minister

Capt Amarinder Singh onTuesday paid obeisance at theGurudwara as a commoner,while SAD (A), led by its pres-ident Simranjeet Singh Mann,refusing to abide by the AkalTakht appeal by organising theconference.

Lashing out at the rulingCongress, SAD (Badal), variousSikh organisations and AkalTakht Jathedar (head priest)Giani Gurbachan Singh, Mannsaid that present rulers arecommitting atrocities on Sikhsas the Mughal emperors did onSahibzadas.

“Guru has given us theprinciple of ‘Miri and Piri’,which means our religion andpolitics run together and SAD(A) will stand by it,” said Mann,in an attempt to defend hisparty’s call on organising polit-ical conference at a religiousfunction.

Mann alleged that JathedarGiani Gurbachan Singhannounced to ban politicalconference at Saheedi Jor Melaunder pressure so that SAD (A)could not be politically strong.

“Sikhs hate Congress forOperation Blue Star and theBadals for desecration of GuruGranth Sahib during theirregime. So, the SAD (A) is theonly choice and both connivedto ban political conferences,” headded.

Mann also lashed out atpanthic committee, SikhStudent Federation, AkhandKirtani Jatha, Damdami Taksal,Sikh for Justice, SSF Gill,Dhadhis, Ragis and other Sikhorganisations for not voting infavour of SAD (A) candidates,who had been struggling withthe motive for separate Sikhstate, so that it may not becomepolitically powerful.

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Alarmed at the depletingwater levels in the State,

Haryana Government has noti-fied draft bill for setting upPond Development, Protectionand Conservation, Pond Waterand STP Treated AffluentUtilization Authority whichwould manage all ponds locat-ed outside notified forest areasin the State, excluding thosehaving an area of less than 0.5acre.

A network of effectivelymanaged ponds all over theState is expected to helprecharge the ground water.

For the draft bill, the stategovernment has invited objec-tions and suggestions from thepeople.

An official spokesman onTuesday said the Authoritywould consist of the ChiefMinister or Minister forIrrigation and Water Resourcesas Chairperson, and ChiefSecretary as Vice-Chairperson.

Additional ChiefSecretaries, PrincipalSecretaries or Secretaries ofFinance Department, Irrigationand Water ResourcesDepartment, Panchayati RajDepartment, RuralDevelopment Department,Urban DevelopmentDepartment, FisheriesDepartment, Engineer-in-Chief, Irrigation and WaterResources Department,

Engineer-in-Chief, PublicHealth EngineeringDepartment, Director General,Agriculture Department andPrincipal Chief Conservatorof Forests, would be membersof the Authority.

Besides, it would have fournon-official members fromamong experts or social work-ers in the field of environmentand ecology or pond develop-ment and conservation, includ-ing at least one woman and oneperson belonging to theScheduled Castes or ScheduledTribes. The Chief ExecutiveOfficer would be MemberSecretary (Ex. Officio, ChiefExecutive Officer) of theAuthority.

The spokesman said func-tions of the Authority wouldinclude survey and study, reg-ulations, control, protection,conservation, reclamation,regeneration, restoration, con-

struction, environmentalimpact assessment and plan-ning, evolving integrated planfor development of ponds,removal of encroachment ofponds, use of pond water forcattle, fire fighting, educationor tourism and utilization ofpond water and treatmentthereof wherever required.

It will also look at utiliza-tion of affluent of sewage treat-ment plants for the purpose ofirrigation by developing infra-structure such as pumpingmachinery, channels and pipesystem. Certain functions relat-ing to notified wetland mayalso be carried out by theAuthority. Any other use can beprescribed under the rules.

The bill also prohibitsactivities such as dumpingdebris, municipal or industri-al solid wastes, mud or earthsoil into and around pond byusing vehicle or otherwise, dis-

charge industrial effluent intothe pond directly or indirect-ly, construct roads, bridgesand likewise other structureswithin the pond area, includ-ing the pond bund, withoutpermission of the Authority.

The spokesman said own-ership of land of ponds of var-ious departments of the stategovernment would vest in theAuthority. But if and where theland of the pond is in the nameof the Gram Panchayat, it willcontinue to be in the name ofthe Gram Panchayat.

Every town planningauthority would consult theAuthority before preparingspatial or development plan ofany area comprising a pondand no spatial or developmentplan in respect of an area com-prising a pond would beapproved or enforced withoutprior approval of the Authority.

There would be penalty forcausing obstruction to an offi-cer, for failure to report unlaw-ful occupation of pond, forcontravention of certain pro-visions of the proposed law.

The spokesman said anypolice officer or designatedofficer or empowered officermay without orders from amagistrate and without a war-rant, arrest any person reason-ably suspected of having com-mitted any offence under theproposed law punishable withimprisonment of up to sixmonths.

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The police on Tuesdayclaimed to have busted an

inter-state gang of cattle thievescum drug peddlers by arrestingits three members.

According to Phagwara SPParminder Singh Bhandal, 855gram of powdery intoxicantsand a four wheeler were seizedfrom the three accused arrest-ed a day before.

The accused have con-fessed to their involvement instealing over 60 buffaloes fromPhagwara, Gurdaspur, Batalaand Pathankot areas of Punjaband from neighbouringHimachal Pradesh, the officersaid.

According to him, thethree accused have been iden-tified as Lyaqat Ali and Aslam,both residents of Nagri inKathua district in Jammu andKashmir and Prabhjasan ofGadarzada in Amritsar dis-trict.

Their another accompliceSipahia of Gurdaspur districtwas still at large, Bhandalsaid.

He said the arrestedaccused were produced beforea court here which sent themto four days in police remand.

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Haryana Chief Minister,Manohar Lal on Tuesday

claimed that by following theresolution of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on zero toler-ance, corruption has been con-siderably reduced in Haryanaduring the tenure of the presentstate government.

Referring to a survey pub-lished in a magazine, he saidearlier the corruption level was51 per cent in Haryana whichhad now decreased to 20 percent.

"Efforts would be made toeliminate this 20 per cent alsofor which a ‘carrot and stick’policy would be adopted," hesaid.

He was speaking afterinaugurating the newly con-structed PWD Rest House inGurugram. He also laid foun-dation stone of office buildingof the Excise and TaxationDepartment which would beset up over 1.5 acres, the firstphase of which will be con-structed at a cost of about �20crore in Sector 32.

The Chief Minister saidthis PWD rest house, havingcapacity of 100 rooms, was esti-mated to cost about �40.80crore, but its construction hadbeen completed at the cost ofjust �35 crore, thus saving �6crore. Now, the scenario haschanged in Haryana as maxi-mum number of developmentworks are being completed atless than expected expenditure.

He said recently the mini-secretariat building inPanchkula was completed atthe cost of �26 crore instead ofthe estimated cost of �41 crore,saving �15 crore. Similarly, �9crore was saved in the con-struction of a bus-stand atJhajjar. The funds saved onthese development workswould be utilised in otherworks, he added.

Describing Gurugram asthe icon of the State, ManoharLal said after Delhi, Gurugramwas the most popular place.The present Government hasalso got completed the worksleft pending by the previous

Governments.Referring to the demands

put forth by the Public Works(Buildings and Roads)Minister, Rao Narbir Singh, theChief Minister said land hadbeen transferred to theNational Highway Authority ofIndia for shifting Kherki Daulatoll plaza, and soon the processwould be initiated to shift thetoll plaza from Kherki Daula toSehravan. Now the ball is inNHAI’s court.

He said construction workon university in the village ofKankrola-Bhangrola would betaken up before 31st March,2018 and also announced

opening of a college inFarukhnagar block. Apart fromthis, he announced setting upof a multi-level parking atSadar Bazar in Gurugram.

On the demand of RaoNarbir Singh for establishing amulti- specialty civil hospital,Manohar Lal gave the assur-ance that health services wouldbe improved in Gurugram andsaid he would speak to theHealth Minister, Anil Vij, onthis issue.

Giving an assurance onextending the metro facility, hesaid it would be extended up toManesar, Bawal and GurugramOld City. Apart from this, the

project to connect Gurugramwith Faridabad is also underconsideration. A global citywould be established over 1,000acres in Gurugram with worldclass facilities, he added.

Laying the foundationstone of office building of theExcise and TaxationDepartment, the Chief Ministersaid Gurugram, contributingabout 25 per cent to the staterevenue, was the economicCapital of the State. Afterimplementation of GST, about35,000 traders and business-men in Gurugram have gotthemselves registered. So far,the office of Excise andTaxation Department was run-ning from a rented premisescosting about �2 crore annually.

Speaking on the occasion,Rao Narbir Singh said the resthouse inaugurated should havebeen established 20-25 yearsago. Gurugram remainedneglected during the tenure ofprevious State Governments.

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Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on

Tuesday made majorannouncements for FatehgarhSahib including developing thedistrict under special tourismplan, preserving Aam KhaasBagh and other old buildingsand monuments as per itsancient appearance, construct-ing a new bus stand at Sirhind,among others.

Capt Amarinder, who vis-ited Gurudwara FatehgarhSahib to pay obeisance to theyounger sahibzadas of GuruGobind Singh who werebricked alive at the historicalGurudwara, refused to answerany political query by themedia saying that he has cometo pay obeisance to sahibzadas.

Briefing the media, CaptAmarinder said that five majorinitiatives will be taken by theCongress government in viewof the importance andgrandeur of Fatehgarh Sahib.

“Fatehgarh Sahib would bedeveloped under the specialtourism plan for which newplans are being prepared,” saidCapt Amarinder, adding thatalong with the Aam KhaasBagh, other old buildings andmonuments will also be pre-served as per its ancient appear-ance.

Capt Amarinder alsoannounced a new bus stand forSirhind which will be con-structed by Pepsu RoadTransport Corporation(PRTC). He also announcedthe creation of a new sub-tehsilat Chanarthal village compris-ing 55 villages of FatehgarhSahib sub-division.

He also announced �5.71crore to develop Sirhind Choefrom Fatehgarh Sahib toSirhind. “The government hasresolved minor issue with theMinistry of Railways to set theimplementation process inmotion,” he added.

“Besides this, a new nation-al highway will be constructedfrom Patiala to Panyali viaSirhind, Fatehgarh Sahib, BassiPathana, and Morinda. We haveproposed to name this new

National Highway as Mata GujriMarg, and the proposal hadalready been submitted to theNational Highway Authority ofIndia (NHAI),” he said.

In response to a queryregarding naming FatehgarhSahib as Sri Fatehgarh Sahib, CaptAmarinder said that the StateGovernment could take thisdecision even today, “but, youshould first ask this from theShiromani GurdwaraParbandhak Committee (SGP).

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���������������������000�From page 1Not able to face such

searching questions, Jadhavgot restless and got up from hisseat. Jadhav's wife largely keptquiet all along.

"From the feedback wehave received of the meeting, itappears that Jadhav was underconsiderable stress and speak-ing in an atmosphere of coer-cion. Most of his remarks were

clearly tutored and designed toperpetuate the false narrative ofhis alleged activities inPakistan.

His appearance also raisesquestions of his health and wellbeing. We also regret that con-trary to assurances, the overallatmosphere of the meeting wasintimidating so far as familymembers were concerned.Family members, however,

handled the situation withgreat courage and fortitude,"Raveesh said.

It was further revealed thatJadhav and his family were notallowed to speak in Marathi."The mother of Jadhav was pre-vented from talking in theirmother tongue, although thiswas clearly the natural mediumof communication. She wasrepeatedly interrupted while

doing so and eventually pre-vented from proceeding furtherin this regard," Raveesh added.

It is learnt that the Pakistanofficial present in the room,Fareha Bugti, regulated the con-versation and repeatedly stitchedoff the speaker whenever theytried to speak in Marathi whileordering them to speak in Hindior English.

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The Home Ministry hasreleased �167 crore to nine

States with international borderfor the development of infra-structure in forward areas. TheStates which will benefit includeRajasthan, Punjab, both havinginternational border withPakistan, and West Bengal andAssam, which share boundarywith Bangladesh.

An amount of �167 crorewas recently released by theHome Ministry to Meghalaya,Punjab, Rajasthan, Bihar,Sikkim, Tripura, Assam,Himachal Pradesh and WestBengal under the Border AreaDevelopment Programme(BADP), an official said.

The fully centrally fundedBADP programme covers all vil-lages which are located within 0-10 km of the InternationalBorder in 17 States.

However, priority is given tothose villages which are identi-fied by border guarding forcesfor speedy development of infra-structure.

The schemes permissibleunder the BADP include activ-

ities relating to the cleanlinessmission, skill development pro-grammes, promotion of sportsactivities, promotion of ruraltourism, border tourism andprotection of heritage sites.

Construction of helipads inremote and inaccessible hillyareas which do not have roadconnectivity, skill development

training to farmers for the useof modern and scientific tech-nique in farming, organic farm-ing are other areas which comeunder the BADP.

While Rajasthan andPunjab share border withPakistan, West Bengal, Assam,Tripura and Meghalaya shareboundary with Bangladesh.

Bihar shares border withNepal, Sikkim shares borderwith Nepal and Bhutan andHimachal Pradesh share borderwith China. Earlier, the HomeMinistry had released �174crore to six States having inter-national border under the sameprogramme.

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Moving on to the next majorpoll battle, the BJP has

intensified its campaign inKarnataka with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi set to address apublic rally in the State onJanuary 28 on the culmination ofthe party’s two-and-half-month‘Parivartan Yatra’ in the State.

Set to throw a ‘serious chal-lenge’ at the ruling Congress inKarnataka, the BJP is currentlyrunning a 75-day campaignacross the State. The campaignwill culminate with Modiaddressing a public rally onJanuary 28.

In line with the ‘campaignYatras’ in other States, the partyis conducting ‘Nav KarnatakaParivartan Rally’ in 234 con-stituencies in the State.

BJP’s election-in-charge ofKarnataka and Union HRDMinister Prakash Javadekar lastweek visited the State to oversee the success of campaign

in the State.The party has over the last

three years found ways to gal-vanise voters in the poll-boundStates through ‘Yatras’ dottedwith rallies. The party has vary-ing themes for States, suiting theissues and electoral mood in aparticular State. If it was ‘GauravYatra’ in Gujarat, then the‘Parivartan Yatras’ in UttarPradesh and Uttarakhand creat-ed a favourable poll atmospherefor the party. In Kerala, where theparty is digging in its heels , BJPpresident Amit Shah had led the ‘Jansuraksha yatra’ to cre-ate public opinion against theruling CPM.

In continuation of the pro-longed election rallies and ‘Yatras’,BJP is carrying out the ‘NavKarnataka Parivartan rally’,which commenced onNovember 2 at Bangalore in thepresence of Shah.

Leader of Opposition inlegislative council KSEshwarappa and former Chief

Minister BS Yeddyurappa weretogether on the stage onNovember 2, to send out a mes-sage that both warring leadershave reconciled with each other.

Eshwarappa, an influentialKurba (shepherd community)leader, who has been deputy-chief minister in Jagdish Shettar-led BJP government from 2012 to 2013 had earlier pickedup a fight with Yeddyurappa onthe issue of appointments to dis-trict units.

BJP, which had come topower in Karnataka on its ownin 2008 but lost to the Congressin 2013, is hopeful that it couldmake a comeback withYeddyurappa’s hold over numer-ically strong Lingayat caste andthe anti-incumbency factoragainst the CongressGovernment,

Congress has accused thatthe BJP is running its campaignon religious polarisation byattacking the legacy of TipuSultan and raising the issue of

‘Islamic radicalisation’ in parts ofKarnataka.

The BJP, which has deployeda number of its central ministersfrom Karnataka includingAnanth Kumar, SadanandGowda and Anant KumarHedge for poll campaign, ishighlighting issues such as cor-ruption, farmers’ plight , urban mismanagement and

lawlessness. The party strategists have

drawn elaborate plans, like onthe pattern of Gujarat, to micro-manage 55,000 boothsin the State .

Besides, the two main rivalsCongress and the BJP, the JantaDal (S) of former Prime MinisterHD Deve Gowda and his sonKumaraswamy is also expectedto be in the reckoning and mayplay a decisive role in tilting theelection balance. In 2013, the JD(S) had won as many as 40Assembly seats equal to that ofthe BJP’s while the Congress gota clear majority with 122 seats.

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The Congress on Tuesday condemnedthe statement of BJP leader and

Union Minister Anant Kumar Hegdeabout changing the Constitution. Theparty said that the remarks by a CentralMinister have exposed the sole agenda ofthe ruling party, which was to change thebasic structure of the Constitution. TheCongress mentioned that such remarksare against the idea and ideals of India.

The Congress said that it would resistany attempt to change the basic nature ofthe Constitution and fight the BJP toothand nail. AICC spokesperson GauravGogoi said the statements made by thevarious Union Ministers of ModiGovernment thoroughly vindicate themalicious and sinister attempts to alter theethos of the Constitution.

“It is not a secret that the RSS and theBJP’s sole agenda is to change and mod-ify the basic nature and structure of the

Constitution and to impose their hate-filled, bigoted and prejudiced ideology onIndia and its people.

Congress strongly condemns anddeprecates such regressive remarks, whichare against the idea and ideals of India,”Gogoi said at AICC Press briefing.

“Will the Prime Minister break hissilence on the remarks by his Minister.The BJP-RSS school of thought isengrained in bigotry, hate, divisivenessand prejudices, that envision a monolithicculture. Its diametrically opposite to theliberal and inclusive traditions of Indiaand the progressive thoughts of theBabasaheb Ambedkar and the Makers ofModern India. Therefore we take strongexception of this remark,” said theCongress.

Gogoi, Lok Sabha MP from Assam,said in the past BJP and its leaders havesystematically insulted professionals andcommunities. “Be it the Prime Minister,Narendra Modi calling the CharteredAccountant community as “Chor”(thieves) or him calling the media fra-ternity as “Bazaroo” or be it his Ministerscalling farmers as “Cowards”- There is adefinite pattern by which BJP and its lead-ership has flouted all unwritten norms ofcivility and attacked groups, communi-ties, professionals and alike,” Gogoi said.

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Aday after Christmas celebrations,the Opposition Congress and a

partner in the ruling coalition used‘Santa Claus’ to hit out at theirrespective targets — Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and Goa ChiefMinister Manohar Parrikar.

While the Congress took pot-shots at Modi saying he is like the cin-ematic “Bad Santa” for gifting ‘noteban’ to the country and introductionof GST, BJP’s ally in the NDA, theShiv Sena termed Goa Chief MinisterManohar Parrikar a “Bad SantaClaus”.

Senior Congress spokesmanManish Tewari tweeted to say that inthe rest of the world “an old man witha white beard” — Santa Claus —stuffed stockings with gifts andmoney. But in India, a similar look-ing “old man with a white beard” didquite the opposite, that is, relievedpeople of their money and left themonly with their socks. And instead ofcoming down the chimney, heentered homes through the TV.

This is not the first instance thatTewari has taken a stinging jibe at

Modi. Earlier, Tewari had courtedcontroversy after posting a profani-ty-laced tweet against PM Modi.Tewari had posted on Twitter abouta gaffe committed by PM Modiabroad when he had started walkingeven as the national anthem wasbeing played during a ceremonialguard of honour.

The Shiv Sena wrote to thePrime Minister asking his interven-tion to stop the Goa CM from tak-ing the step of allowing Karnataka todivert the waters of the Mahadeyiriver. The party termed the move byParrikar on Christmas as that ofbeing a “Bad Santa Claus” who issnatching the future of our children,which is river Mahadeyi.

“Santa Claus distributes gifts tobring smiles on the faces of childrenbut our Parrikar, who is a “bad SantaClaus”, has instead snatched thefuture of our children by agreeing todivert the water of River Mahadeyi,”the letter States. The Sena’s letter isin response to the letter written byParrikar recently to BJP’s Karnatakapresident BS Yeddyurappa softeningthe former’s stand on the water shar-ing issue.

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Gujarat has constructed themost number of houses for

the urban poor under theCentre’s flagship housing scheme‘Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana(PMAY) (Urban), followed byTamil Nadu, Karnataka,Jharkhand and West Bengal.Interestingly, Sikkim had just onehouse constructed under thescheme so far while ArunachalPradesh, Chandigarh, Damanand Diu, Goa, Meghalaya andPuducherry are among thoseStates which had constructed lessthan 100 houses till date. Delhiconstructed 1,262 houses forurban poor.

Out of the 36 States andUnion Territories, only ninehave seen more than 10,000houses constructed, whereas 16of them have seen constructionof less than 1,000 houses overthe four-year period.

As per the Ministry ofHousing and Urban Affairs’data, a total 2,91, 291 houses con-structed under the scheme in thecountry. The Ministry hasreleased �11,897 crore to Statessince inception of this scheme in2014-15. Currently, the shortage

of houses is pegged at 1.2 crore.The Modi Government has setto construct 1.2 crore affordablehouses for urban poor across thecountry by 2022.

In Gujarat, as many as54,474 houses have been con-structed while it has receivedcentral assistance of �1355crore for construction of thesehouses. Tamil Nadu has con-structed 32,730 houses and ithas received central assistanceof �1,646 crore for constructionof these house. Gujarat was fol-lowed by Karnataka with theconstruction of about 33,450houses since 2014-15.

Similarly, Madhya Pradeshhas constructed 27,862 housesand it has obtained �960 croreas central assistance for hous-ing purposes. Jharkhand hasconstructed 27,308 houses fol-lowed by West Bengal (24,166),Maharashtra (22,699), AndraPradesh (21,794) and Rajasthan(12,274).

A surprise entry in the list oftop-10 states in terms of housesconstructed under PMAY(U)over the last four years is Tripurawhich occupies the 10th spotwith construction of 7,440 hous-es, more than those developed in

Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. UttarPradesh has constructed 7231houses while Bihar, Chhattisgarh,Haryana, Kerala, Orissa, Punjab,Telangana and Uttarakhand con-structed between 1,000 and5,000 houses. As per data,Meghalaya has constructed only45 houses in the last four years,followed by Puducherry (33),Arunachal Pradesh (15),Chandigarh (34), Daman andDiu (36) and Goa (54).

The Centre has sanctioneda total of 30.76 lakhs housesacross all verticals. Furtherafter subsuming projects ofRAY scheme the total numberof houses being funded underPMAY(Urban) would be about32 lakh (31,94,676)houses.Currently, 15.65 lakhhouses have been groundedand are at various stages of con-struction and about 4.13 lakhhouses have been constructedsince the launch of the mission.

Earlier, in November, theCentre had approved enhance-ment of the carpet area of hous-es for the middle-income group(MIG) category under thePMAY (Urban). Under theMIG-I category, the carpet areaof the houses was enhanced

from 90 square metre to 120square metre, while under theMIG-II segment, it had beenincreased to 150 square metrefrom 110 square metre. Underthe MIG-I category, a four percent interest subsidy is providedto the beneficiaries, whose annu-al income is between �6 lakh and�12 lakh, on a loan of up to �9lakh. The scheme launched onJune 25, 2015.

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At a time when the privatehealthcare sector is under

the scanner for over-treatingand overcharging patients, theComptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG) has foundseveral loopholes in the taxsystem that has helped theentities including private hos-pitals, diagnostic clinics andnursing homes to evade taxes.

“Despite private healthcareexpenditure having touchedabout �40,000 crore, tax col-lection from this sector has beendisappointing,” the top auditorsaid in its audit report tabled inParliament a few months ago.

The private healthcareexpenditure as a percentage ofGDP has shown an increasingtrend during 2011-12 to

2013-14 but the increase in taxbase was not commensuratewith growth in private healthcare sector, the CAG noted inits report “Assessment ofPrivate Hospitals, NursingHomes/Medical Clinics,Medical Colleges/ResearchInstitutes, Diagnostic Centres, Pathological labs andother Medical supplies agen-cies/stores.”

It said that despite thisremarkable expansion, thenumber of corporate assesseesin the categories — medical,professionals, nursing homesand specialty hospitals hadactually declined in 2012-13and then increased marginal-ly in 2013-14.

Though there havebeen several systemsand other tools for

analysing data collected fromexternal sources for wideningof tax base, these have not beeneffectively utilised for strength-ening the tax base in privatehealthcare sector, it said as itsuggested a string of measuresto plug the gaps.

Citing several instances,the national auditor said thatsystems such as Income TaxPayer Data ManagementSystem (ITDMS), Non-fliersMonitoring System (NMS) andProject Insight have not beenimplemented for identifyingthe stop-filers and non-filers.

There have been instances

where the provisions relatingto depreciation on machineryand plants as well as depreci-ation on other assets andamortisation of preliminaryexpenses were allowed erro-neously. The Income Taxdepartment has not under-taken any impact analysis toassess the outcome of reliefprovided to assessees engagedin the private healthcare sec-tor, the CAG report has said.

The CAG has recom-mended to the Central Boardfor Direct Tax (CBDT) toconsider registering agenciesthrough their administrativeMinistries for introducingprovision of mandatory quot-ing of PAN details as a per-condition while registeringprivate hospitals, nursinghomes, labs and others.

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� The existing tools could notbe used to cross-verify whethermedical professionals and med-ical companies/healthcare facil-ities registered with other regis-tering agencies were effectivelycovered in the income-tax net.Absence of any system of suchcross-verification points to thepossibility of potential assesseesremaining outside the tax net.

� Businesses under healthcaresector like medical clinics, diag-nostic centres, pathological labsand other medical suppliesagencies/stores under the exist-ing allocation of codes based onthe nature of business withrespect to healthcare assesseeswere not codified. This nega-

tively impacts monitoring andvigilance of the healthcare sec-tor as well as collection andsharing of relevant informationon sector-specific issues.

�There was no mechanism inexistence for the identificationof non-filers through NMS inDelhi, Kerala, Rajasthan, TamilNadu states. NMS module alsodid not have any provision forgenerating reports based onthe nature of business.

� Surveys, though an effectivetool for strengthening tax base aswell as deterrence against evasion,were not utilised at all in somestates during 2012-13 to 2015-16by Income Tax Department.

� The Income Tax Act doesnot prescribe any measurableparameters to assess the extentof charitable activities beingundertaken by any hospitaltrust availing the benefit ofexemptions under the Act. Thisgives rise to a possibility ofassessees availing exemptionwithout actually performingany charitable function.

�The provision under Section35AD of the Act does not specify the allowability ofdeduction on capital investments in cases where thevalue of land and building werenot separable, resulting inallowance of excess deductionand loss of revenue.

� Audit noticed instanceswhere the provisions relating todepreciation on machinery andplants as well as depreciation onother assets and amortisation ofpreliminary expenses wereallowed erroneously.

� The “referral fees” paid to the doctors by the private hospitals, nursing homes, diagnostic centres etc. for refer-ring patients and paymentsmade on account of “advertise-ment expenses” by the medicalpractitioners were allowed,although such expenditure hasbeen held as disallowable and“unethical” as per CBDT’s direc-tives and laws of regulatorybodies.

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��1���������.��.�����.��#��.���7�����������.� ����8New Delhi: The Government isexpected to table the triple talaqBill on Lok Sabha on Thursday.The Muslim Women (Protectionof Rights on Marriage) Bill is list-ed for introduction in the LokSabha by Law Minister RaviShankar Prasad on December 28,according to the list of businessin the Lower House.

The Bill, prepared by aninter-ministerial group headedby Home Minister RajnathSingh, makes instant triple talaqor talaq-e-biddat in any form —spoken, in writing or by elec-tronic means such as email,SMS and WhatsApp — “illegaland void” and provides for a jailterm of three years for the husband.

As per the Bill, the husbandcould also be fined and thequantum of fine would be decid-ed by the Magistrate hearing thecase. The Bill is being introducedas the practice still continued

despite the Supreme Court strik-ing down ‘talaq-e-biddat’.

The proposed law wouldonly be applicable to instanttriple talaq and it would givepower to the victim to approacha Magistrate seeking “subsis-tence allowance” for herselfand minor children. Thewoman can also seek the cus-tody of her minor childrenfrom the Magistrate who willtake a final call on the issue.

There has been dissentingvoices though. The All IndiaMulsim Personal Law Board(AIMPLB) urged Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to withdraw thebill terming it anti-women andmaintaining the legislation hadcontradictory provisions.

The AIMPLB has confront-ed the very imprisonment pro-vision in the Bill. It questionedhow the dependents would gettheir dues including the mone-tary provisions sanctioned once

the violator is imprisoned. The Board’s president

Maulana Rabey Hasani Nadwiwrote in a four-page letter to thePrime Minister that the bill wasagainst Sharia or Islamic law andinfringes constitutional rightsguaranteed to religious minori-ties. It said no procedure was fol-lowed in drafting the Bill, neitherany stakeholder was consulted

But there has been supportpouring in for the legislation fromthe Muslim community itself.Backing the early passage of the Bill, many women groupshave started meeting the leadersand MPs from Congress, NCP,TMC and Left parties, whichhave not yet spelt their stand onthis legislation.

After the Supreme Courtdeclared the practice of instantdivorce ‘void, illegal and uncon-stitutional’, the Narendra Modi-led Cabinet on December 15approved the Bill. PNS

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Superstar Rajinikanth hasgiven jitters to political pan-

dits in Tamil Nadu with hisannouncement on Tuesday thathe would make his plansknown on New Year’s Eve.Addressing his fans from var-ious parts of the State who hadassembled in Chennai, the 67-year-old popular actor said hewas not stranger to politics ashe was in politics since 1996.

The next four days will seeRajinikanth spending his dayswith fans for photo-ops anddiscussions.

Tamil Nadu has been wait-ing with bated breaths for theannouncement aboutRajinikanth’s political entry.

The actor who enjoys goodrelations with a host of politi-cal leaders ranging from PrimeMinister Narendra Modi toDMK working president M KStalin is being seen by politicalcommentators as the leader forwhom the people of TamilNadu are waiting for. With thedemise of AIADMK supremoJ Jayalalithaa on December 5,2016 and the exit of DMKpatriarch M Karunanidhi (94)from the centre stage, TamilNadu is undergoing a severeleadership vacuum and a polit-ical crisis.

In true filmi style, the actorpreferred to keep his fans and

well wishers under suspense tillDecember 31. “I have been inpolitics since 1996. I know theproblems that come up withpolitics and that is the reasonwhy I tread carefully,”Rajinikanth told his followers.

“We will see when the warcomes. The war, as you knowis nothing but election. One hasto win a war but we need bothbravery and strategy to win it,”said Rajinikanth, whom fansaddress as Thalaiva (leader).

The actor, who has a down-to-earth image because of hissimplicity and humblenessbowled over the hundreds offans with a small but emotion-al speech which he deliveredextempore.

“Only negative things arebeing propagated in the society.You switch on TV news oropen the newspapers. Whatyou see is only negative andchilling news. Son murders

mother, youths kill their sweet-hearts or those who spurntheir love proposals, fatherkilling son and host of dread-ed news is what we comeacross. My request to you all isto love your family, take care of your aged parents andgrand patents, take care ofyour children.

“Then only this worldwould become a nice place tolive. Never get carried away bynegative news. Our focusshould be on positivethoughts,” said Rajinikanth.

B S Gnanadesikan, a long-time friend of the actor andwho is also a former Tamil Nadu CongressCommittee President, said thatRajinikanth was serious abouthis political plans.

“The speech he deliveredtoday indicates his seriousnessabout a political innings. Thespeech has been well receivedby families, especially thewomen folk. Usually one doesnot come across such speech-es by aspiring politicians,” saidGnanadesikan, a two-timeRajya Sabha member.

The Pioneer had reportedlast week that Rajinikanth is allset to announce his politicalplans by the year-end.Tamilaruvi Manian, a closeadvisor to the star had told thisnewspaper that Rajinikanthwould be an instant success inTamil Nadu politics.

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It was an emotional momentwhen the surrendered Maoist

leader Jinugu NarasimhaReddy, alias Jampanna, met hisoctogenarian mother Yashodhaat an Old Age Home in Kazipettown of Warangal district aftermore than three decades.

During the interactionwith his mother Jampanna saidthat he had surrendered withthe permission of the party(CPI Maoist) and there was nothreat to him either from theparty or the police. Whenmother asked whether thepolice will not take any actionagainst him, he assured her, “Ihave surrendered to the police.Nobody will take any actionagainst me”.

On seeing his son for thefirst time since he went underground in 1983, Yashodhastarted crying. With tearsrolling down her sunkencheeks, the elderly lady said ina feeble voice, “all these yearsI lived only with the hope ofseeing you someday. Even if Idie now there is no problem”.

When mother asked himwhether he will again go backto the forest, Jampanna saidthat he will live with her. “NowI will stay with you, with thepeople. I went to forest for thesake of the people. Now real-izing that I can serve them bet-ter here, I have come back”.

Jamapanna said thankedthe CPI Maoist for giving hima lot of importance and makinghim a lead. “Party gave me somuch importance. That is whyI became leader and I am in thehearts of the people”, he said.

Yashodha asked Jampannawhether he remembered her.“Yes I missed you a lot. Butwhile in the party you can notshow your emotions. I sufferedinside”, he said. When askedwhether he used to get foodregularly in the forest,Jampanna said, “In forest wedidn’t think about food.Whenever we got something,we used to eat”. Later the moth-er and the son shared the foodhe had brought with him.

Earlier in an interactionwith the media after surren-dering to the DGP MMahender Reddy inHyderabad Jampanna, the for-

mer member of CentralCommittee of CPIM soundedcritical of the organisation andits strategy.

Jampanna who was accom-panied by his wife HingeAnitha, said that the long termstrategy of Maoists had failedto take in to account thechanges in the society over thelast ten fifteen years. “Thestrategy in the 1980 and 1990swas correct when People’s WarGroup was working”, he added.“In the present circumstancesthe party should go to the stu-dents, farmers, and workersand work with them in theinterest of the public at large”.

While the police said thathe surrendered because of illhealth, he said that he decidedto quit because of the differ-ences with the organization. “Ihave sent a detailed letter to theparty leadership on the issues.It was my personal decision toquit the party to lead a normallife. Now I will fight for thepeople’s problems in a democ-ratic manner”.

Jampanna, who had joinedthe PWG in 1983 grew fromthe lower cadre to the toppositions of Central Committeemember, ember of CentralRegional Bureau, and Memberof Central MilitaryCommission in charge ofOdisha state committee. Hecarried a reward of �20 lakhover his head.

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After the conviction of RJDboss Lalu Prasad who was

lodged in Birsa Munda jail inRanchi on Saturday hisyounger son Tejashwi PrasadYadav returned here and hourslater held an emergency meet-ing on Tuesday with all seniorleaders of the party, MPs andlegislators where he told themthe message of the party supre-mo. Lalu has asked the partymen to remain united andonly intensify the struggle forwhich the plan would be chart-ed out by Tejashwi.

From the jail, where theformer CM is being treated asan ordinary prisoner anddenied any privilege, Lalu sentout a message to the party’srank and file through a few vis-itors who were allowed to meethim on Monday. He sent themessage, “Gaon ghar ja log.Party ke barhao. Eehan sab

theek ba” (You go to villagesand peoples’ homes. Work forextension of the party. Here (injail) everything is fine.) As perthe jail manual Lalu couldmeet only three visitors inweekdays.

Senior leader RaghubanshPrasad Singh said after themeeting, “2018 will be the yearof our struggle and fight againstinjustice to the poor and down-trodden. We will root out BJP.”The next meeting will be heldon January 6, three days afterthe announcement of the quan-

tum of punishment to Lalu bythe special CBI court. Themeeting would be chaired byformer CM Rabri Devi.

In political circles the moveto convene meeting on Tuesdayis seen as the attempt by theformer Deputy CM to tightenhis grip over the party and runthe party as defacto supremo inabsence of Lalu. The Tuesdaymeeting is also viewed as amove to allay any suspicion inthe party and outside about theauthority of Tejashwi who wasdeclared as Lalu’s heir at the

party’s national convention.Later Tejashwi told media

that there was absolutely nosuspense or question mark onhis leadership. “Everybody iswith us. Nobody ever raisedquestion (on my leadership).The proposal to make me heirof Lalu Prasad was brought bysenior most leader JagdanandSingh at the national conven-tion. Some outsiders arespreading rumours against meTejashwi told party rank andfile that party would furtherstrengthen after the new devel-opments. “Lalu is the name ofan ideology.

Even if he is in jail he willcontinue guiding us and lead-ing the struggle. We will not bedemoralized and continuemoving forward on the thornypath of truth,” he said.

In the backdrop of Lalu’sclaim that he was following thelines of Martin Luther King andNelson Mandela, his son said,

“If Lalu gets weak nobody willbe left to safeguard the consti-tution.”

Tejashwi blamed BJP aswell as Chief Minister NitishKumar for hatching conspira-cy against Lalu and his family.“A dirty politics has beenplayed against us but we havefull faith in the judiciary andconfident to get justice. TheGovernment is misusing thecentral agencies against us.This is very dangerous prece-dence. What will happen whena non-BJP Government willcome and start action againstNDA leaders,” he alleged.

He also claimed that entirenation was feeling that injusticehas been meted out to RJDchief and people across thecountry see to Lalu with thehope that he would take for-ward battle against RSS and BJPbecause he is the one leaderwho is speaking against the fas-cist forces.

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Kerala’s Marxist ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan

has thanked Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and hisGovernment for the supportthey had extended to theState in the aftermath ofCyclone Ockhi even as aCentral team on Tuesdaystarted assessing the damagecaused by the cyclone and theState Government decidedto continue the search in thesea for the fishermen who hadgone missing in the storm.

The Chief Minister con-veyed special thanks to Modifor visiting the cyclone-affect-ed areas. Modi had visitedPoonthura fishing hamlet inThiruvananthapuram andheld talks with the ChiefMinister on December 19.The letter said the State hadgot immense support fromthe Centre in its efforts forrescuing those who weretrapped in the sea.

Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh’s words ofappreciation for the timelyand effective intervention bythe State Government fortackling the situation in theaftermath of cyclone Ockhihad worked as an encourage-ment for it in taking forwardthe rescue and relief efforts,the Chief Minister said.

Pinarayi also said thatthe Prime Minister’s offer toconsider the rehabilitationand reconstruction packagethe State had submitted to theCentre for meeting the emer-gencies brought about by thecyclone had given immensehope for Kerala in the presentcircumstances. The State hassought a Rs 7,342-crore pack-age from the Centre.

Meanwhile, the KeralaGovernment decided to con-tinue the search for the fish-ermen who had gone to seabefore the November 30cyclone “till the last man isfound”. The decision came inthe context of the failure tofulfill the promise made ear-lier by Fisheries Minister JMercykutty Amma that allthe missing fishermen wouldbe brought ashore byChristmas.

The Government wouldwrite to the Chief Secretariesof other coastal states request-ing their cooperation in the

search for the missing fisher-men. They would be asked toinform the KeralaGovernment if any fishermenor boats were found. TheGovernment also decided toconduct searches for debris ofboats in the sea.

According to official esti-mates, 207 fishermen – mostof them from the fishinghamlets ofThiruvananthapuram – whohad been trapped in the sea inCyclone Ockhi are yet to befound. However, the LatinCatholic Church, to which alarge number of the fisher-men belong, says that a min-imum of 315 fishermentrapped in the sea are yet tobe found.

Majority of the fisher-men who are still to be foundhad gone for fishing in smallboats and anxiety amongtheir relatives and friends isrising by the day about thefate. The Government hasput the death toll in thecyclone at 74 but it could goup to shocking levels once themissing persons are includedin the list of dead.

At the same time, a teamof top Central officials arrivedin the State on Tuesday toassess the damage caused byCyclone Ockhi. The team, tobe split into three, wouldassess the cyclone-causedlosses in the coastal districtsof Thiruvananthapuram,Kollam, Alappuzha,Ernakulam, Thrissur,Malappuram and Kozhikode.

One team headed byBipin Mallick, AdditionalSecretary in the DisasterManagement Division of theUnion Home Department,visited Poonthura fishinghamlet and held discussionswith fishermen and repre-sentatives of the LatinCatholic Church.

They also met ChiefMinister Pinarayi and topState Government officials.

The team will tour theOckhi-hit districts for thenext two days and hold dis-cussions with the StateGovernment on Friday beforeleaving for Delhi where it willsubmit its report to theCentre. The Central decisionon the cyclone rehabilitationpackage the State has soughtfrom it would depend on thedelegation’s report.

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The unexpected win of inde-pendent candidate TTV

Dhinakaran, nephew of jailedVK Sasikala, the former generalsecretary of the AIADMK, inthe RK Nagar by-election hasbrought in a wave of politicalinstability and confusion inTamil Nadu. The signals com-ing out of the AIADMK andDMK camps are contradictoryin nature.

MK Stalin, the workingpresident of the DMK, who hadclaimed that the RK Nagar by-election in which the candidateof his party had to forfeit thesecurity was a Himalayandefeat for the ElectionCommission for its failure therestrict the money and musclepower of the AIADMKchanged his stance within 24hours and accepted that theresult was a temporary set-backfor his party. “But we have apermanent victory to boast of;the 2G Spectrum verdict,”Stalin said in a communique toparty cadre on Tuesday.

Stalin’s volte-face cameimmediately after theannouncement made by TKSElangovan MP and partyspokesman that the defeat ofthe DMK candidate at R KNagar was a blow to the DMK.“We need to plug loopholes in

our strategy,” Elangovan hadsaid while speaking to reportersafter the declaration of theresult. His announcement wasin the backdrop of report thatthe DMK had engaged in large-scale transfer of votes toDinakaran to sow seeds ofconfusion in the AIADMK.

Things are no different inthe AIADMK factions also.Thanga Tamil Selvan, one ofthe 18 AIADMK MLAs dis-qualified by the Speaker forrevolting against chief ministerEdappadi Palaniswamy toldThe Pioneer on Tuesday that aclear picture would emergeonly after the Madras HighCourt pronounces its verdict inthe batch of petitions filed bythe rebels challenging theaction of the Speaker. “Weprefer to go back to the peopleand come back with renewedvigour to establish the Ammarule in Tamil Nadu,” saidTamilselvan, a key strategist inthe Dinakaran camp. He saidmany MLAs from theEdappadi Planiswamy campwere in touch with them.

K Pugazhendi, theKarnataka secretary of theAIADMK who was eased out of the position on Mondayby Palaniswamy andPanneerselvam duo said atCoimbatore that 20 MLAsfrom the rival camp has alreadyspoken to Dinakaran.

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Mukul effect seems to havestarted telling on the

Trinamool Congress’ perfor-mance in Bengal, party insid-ers feel. Though the State rul-ing outfit has maintained itswinning streak with a 15 per-cent surplus vote share in thejust concluded SabangAssembly by-elections the star-tling increase in BJP’s vote innear-geometrical proportions—in this Midnapore seat—have left the Trinamool boss-es startled, party sources say inKolkata.

As the TMC high com-mand see a Mukul Roy hand inthe BJP’s good show an appar-ently fidgety Mamata BanerjeeGovernment has immediatelyresponded by shifting outMidanpore SP Bharati Ghoshreportedly close to the formerRailway Minister to a relative-ly less important post in thePolice Lines at Barrackpore.

After Sabang more headsare likely to fall in theTrinamool Congress for theirproximity to Roy once numbertwo in the Trinamool hierarchybefore he left that party to jointhe saffron bandwagon, sourcessay adding the Chief Ministerhas asked the respective lead-ers to keep a close tab on theactivities of the block and dis-trict level office bearers beforethe panchayat elections.

Normally BJP’s upwardgraph is interpreted as a resultof steady flow of the Left votesto the saffron side. But this timeround a booth-wise report saysit is not the Left but theTrinamool which has shedmore votes to the BJP.

“Though the Left has suf-fered a loss of 22,000 votes fromwhat it polled in 2014 it isbecause of the better ‘election

day man management’ (readrampant rigging) it is theTrinamool which has shedvotes in real terms to the BJP,”said a local Trinamool leader.

Booths after booths theBJP has witnessed an upwardswing in vote share. Forinstance, at Sabang 1,2, 8, 9regions (where TMC rule theroost) the party has doneexceptionally well, sources saidadding in some booths atMahar — a strong TMC denwhere even the men in uniformtread with caution — the BJPhas taken lead giving “stronghints of betrayal,” a TMC leaderfrom neighoubring Belda sayadding the “Chief Minister isvery angry about this.”

Surprisingly at Sabang 1where the BJP polled 19, 35, 15,25 votes respectively at somebooths in 2016 it has got 173,276, 170 and 245 votes in thesame booths this time round,giving indications that some-thing is genuinely wrong with“loyalty issues” leaders at

Trinamool Bhavan saidadding the party would soon sitwith the local leaders and sortout issues.

No wonder why BengalBJP president Dilip Ghosh on

Tuesday told a huge rally atBankura: “The trident ofMukul Roy, Rahul Sinha andmyself will pierce theTrinamool in the panchayatelections.”

On why the Chief Ministeris “very angry” on her Sabangteam despite the TrinamoolCongress increasing its sharefrom 92,000 to 106,000 votesthe leader from Belda who isknown to have played an activerole in driving away theMarxists from his region say“luckily the shortfall has beenneutralized by the vote wemanaged from the CPI(M)and the Congress. They joint-ly lost about 45,000 votes to us.”

CPI(M) candidate RitaMandal tended to second theview saying, “in more than 200booths our voters were notallowed to reach the polling sta-tions. They were told to keepaway from the booths or elsetheir women, livestock andpaddy would be burnt.”

In Kolkata CPI(M)’s SujanChakrabarty says “nowMamata Banerjee is meetingher match. They have beenlooting votes from us now thesame looters have suddenlygone against them.”

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An uneasy calm was pre-vailing on the campus of

Satavahana University inKarimnagar of Telanganawhich was rocked by the clash-es between Dalit students andthe members of BJP affiliatestudents organisation ABVP onMonday.

Armed policemen werekeeping a close vigil and theauthorities had closed the uni-versity and the hostels followingthe clashes over the ABVP’s alle-gations that the Dalit studentshad burnt the image of “BharatMata”. Administration had alsopostponed the examinations.However the Dalit studentsorganisations, includingTelangana VidhyarthyVibhagam denied the allegation.

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With an eye to 2019 LokSabha elections, the

Samajwadi Party has steppedup campaign against the use ofElectronic Voting Machines(EVM).

The party has decided toconvene a meeting of all oppo-sition parties next year in thesecond week of January tochalk out a strategy in this con-nection. SP president AkhileshYadav has taken the initiativefor mobilising opposition par-ties for the use of ballots in nextLok Sabha poll.

Akhilesh said in Lucknowon Tuesday that his partyfavoured the use of ballotpapers in the by -election toGorakhpur and KaushambiLok Sabha seats due in March

next year.The seats were vacat-ed due to the resignation by sit-ting MP Yogi Adityanath fromGorakhpur and Keshav PrasadMaurya from Kaushambi.

“The opposition must joinhands and demand the use ofballot papers instead of EVMsas a particular party intends tomonopolise political space inthe entire country and this hasdangerous portents for democ-racy. The use of ballots insteadof EVMs can no longer beavoided for free and fair poll inthe country,’’said the SP presi-dent.

Demanding that ballotpapers be used in 2019 LokSabha elections, Akhilesh said,“Several parties have raiseddoubts over the credibility ofEVMs in different states duringdifferent elections. But ques-

tions over EVMs remain unan-swered by the ElectionCommission of India. The pollprocess can be considered freeand transparent only if itretains the trust of the people.’’

The SP chief said thatreports of malfunctioning ofEVMs during elections andcomplaints by candidates havebecome the order of the day. Hesaid that it has also been foundthat there was differencebetween the number of votescast and total number of vot-ers in a particular pollingbooth.

Meanwhile, the SPslammed the BJP and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi forthe inauguration of MegentaLine of Delhi Metro linkingNOIDA with South Delhi onMonday.

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Andhra Pradesh is addinganother feather in its

crown in technology. One ofthe prestigious projects of theChief Minister, Chandra BabuNaidu, AP Fibergrid Project,would be inaugurated by thePresident of India, Ram NathKovind, on Wednesday. Hewill also visit the Real TimeGovernance State Centrerecently inaugurated inSecretariat.

As the Techno savy ChiefMinister is promoting newtechnologies coming upacross the world, AndhraPradesh is at the forefront ofleveraging latest technologiesfor promoting developmentand people’s welfare. In thisregard, Andhra Pradesh Fibergrid initiated by the ChiefMinister is an ambitious pro-ject to give high speed inter-net to over 1.45 Crore house-holds, 12198 Panchayats,60000 schools, 10000 gov-ernment offices, 670 mandalOffices, 96 municipalities, 14corporations and 6000 PublicHealth Centres in the state at

as low as 149 rupees permonth, State’s PrincipleSecretary, Ajay Jain, claimed.

Also in order to provideseamless and frictionless realtime governance in the state,Real Time Governance (RTG)State Centre, a first such centerin India is established in AndhraPradesh Secretariat inAmaravati. The RTG centerwhich directly reports to theChief Minister is helping toimplement real time governanceto handle all the importantevents and natural calamities etc.on a real time basis, leveraginge-Governance, technology andelectronic communication. It ishelping the government takedata-driven decisions impactingthe lives of citizens with themotto of ‘People First’.

Considering the impor-tance of these two events andthe Chief Minister’s efforts toleverage technology for thedevelopment of the state andpeople’s welfare, recently, thefounder of Microsoft, BillGates, has come forward towork with the State inAgriculture and RuralDevelopment sectors throughhis Foundation.

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Vijay Rupani’s 20-memberCouncil of Ministers took

oath of office and secrecy at theState Secretariat complex inGandhinagar on Tuesday in thepresence of nearly 10,000 invi-tees including Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, BJP’s nation-al president Amit Shah andChief Ministers of BJP and itsallies-ruled States.

As anticipated BJP’s think-tank gave weightage to Patidarsas well as OBCs in the RupaniMinistry and allotted six berthseach to both the communities.In fact, Patidars got biggershare in the pie as out of 10Cabinet rank Ministers includ-ing Chief Minister VijayRupani, five Ministers are frompowerful Patidar community.Apart from Deputy CM NitinPatel four other Patidars–for-mer Gujarat BJP president RCFaladu, Kaushik Patel, SaurabhPatel and Jayesh Radadia gotCabinet ranks. Another PatidarKishor Kanani, first time MLAfrom Varachha constituency ofSurat city was made Minister ofState (MoS).

In Gujarat’s total popula-tion, Patidars are nearly 12 to15 per cent while OBC formsover 60 per cent– representingmore than 140 communities.OBC MLA Dilip Thakore wasgiven cabinet berth and five

other OBC legislatures weremade MoS. In a balancing act,three ministerial berths givento tribal community includingone cabinet ranked in form ofGanapat Vasava, who wasForest Minister in the previousGovernment.

The sole Dalit face of theRupani Government isIshwarbhai Parmar who gotCabinet rank. VibhavaribenDave is the only woman in theministry as MoS. She is also thelone Brahmin. Two Kshtriyaleaders BhupendrasinhChudasama and PradeepsinhJadeja too repeated. Rupanihimself belongs to Jain Baniacommunity. Biggest region ofState – Saurashtra-Kutch which

sends 54 MLAs in the GujaratLegislative Assembly got max-imum representation in theRupani’s council of Ministerswith seven berths out of total20. South Gujarat and NorthGujarat got equal weightagewith five berths each whileCentral Gujarat got only three.Of the 33 districts of the State,13 districts got representationin the new council of Ministers.

Meanwhile Governor O PKohli administered the oaths ofoffice to Nitin Patel as deputyChief Minister. The oath-tak-ing ceremony was conductedby Gujarat’s chief secretary JNSingh. As Rupani became thesecond-time Chief Minister,former Chief Minister

Anandiben Patel, ShankersinhVaghela and Keshubhai Patelshared the stage together.Besides former deputy PrimeMinister Lal Krishna Advani,Maharashtra CM Devendra

Fadnavis, Bihar CM NitishKumar, Uttar Pradesh CM YogiAdityanath, Madhya PradeshCM Shivrajsinh Chauhan wereamong the BJP and its alliesruled state CMs.

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The pillars of BJP in GujaratKeshubhai Patel,

Shankersinh Vaghela andNarendra Modi were seentogether in public almost aftertwo decades during swearing-in ceremony of RupaniGovernment on Tuesday. “It’sfull circle now. The trinity

made it possible to bring BJPin power in 1995. They weretogether at that time whenfirst BJP government wasformed under the leadership ofKeshubhai 22 years ago. Nowequations have changed, againthey seemed united!” said a vet-eran BJP leader who was alsopresent during the oath taking ceremony.

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Kerala Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan, a senior

CPI(M) Politbureau member, onTuesday reiterated that hisparty’s chief enemy was theBJP-RSS but said the Congresscould not be made an associateof a democratic-secular alliancein the fight against the SanghPariwar.

Inaugurating the delegates’session of the three-day districtCPI(M) conference in Thrissur,being held in preparation for the22nd party congress to be heldin Hyderabad in April, Pinarayialleged that the Sangh Pariwar’sagenda was to destroy the diver-sity existing in the country.“The BJP’s bid is to destroy theprinciple of unity in diversity,” hesaid.

Unleashing a scathing attackagainst the Sangh Pariwar and thepolicies being pursued by the BJP-led NDA Government in theCentre, Pinarayi alleged that the

agenda of the RSS was to central-ize power around itself. The BJP-led Government had embarked onan exercise to stifle the federalismexisting in the country, he said.

“On the one side we areexperiencing the perils ofdemonetization and introduc-tion of GST and on the other weare seeing conflicts and the(Sangh Pariwar’s) hunt on theminorities. The country is fac-ing a grave danger… The peo-ple, including the farmers, arefacing a plethora of problemslike price rise and debt trap,”Pinarayi said.

However, the CPI(M) leadersaid the Congress, a proponentof the policies of globalizationand liberalization, could not beincluded in an alliance againstthe BJP which was pursuing thesame policies. “An alliance ispossible only with those politi-cal parties which were con-cerned about secularism andwhose policies carried clarity,” heopined.

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The farmers from NorthKarnataka districts who are

agitating for the past four daysin front of BJP office inBengaluru asking for a solutionfor contentious issue of watersharing of river Mahadayibetween Karnataka and Goa fordrinking purpose have decidedto intensify their agitation fol-lowing the failure of talksbetween State BJP president BSYeddyurappa and the farmers.

According to sources, BJPparty national president AmitShah has asked Yeddyurappa tomeet the agitating farmers inBengaluru which madeYeddyurappa leaving his rathy-atra to come to city onWednesday to meet the farm-ers who wanted an assurance inwriting about resolving theissue with Goa Chief MinisterManohar Parikkar.

Yeddyurappa who hadreceived a letter from GoaChief Minister assuring him ofconsidering the issue sympa-thetically as it was for drinkingpurpose has assured the farm-ers to resolve the issue withinDecember 15.

In a letter to his Goa coun-terpart, Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah said, “... themedia in Karnataka has beenreporting a personal letteraddressed by you to MrYeddyurappa....I only wish youhad replied to my letter sinceI took the initiative for thenegotiated settlement, non onlyon my own but also on the sug-gestion made by the hon-ourable judges of the MahadayiWater Disputes Tribunal.”Siddaramaiah went on to saythat he was once again askingfor a meeting with the chiefministers of Goa andMaharashtra.

Meanwhile Kalasa-BanduriNala Horata Samiti leaderVeeresh Sobarad Matt said thetalks with BJP State president BS Yeddyurappa has failed andthey would decide the nextcourse of action.

He said Yeddyurappa hasfailed to keep up his assuranceto render justice to the agitat-ing farmers before December15 and even today blamed theCongress for scuttling hisparty's efforts in solving thethree decade old dispute.

The agitators who are sit-

ting in front of the BJP officefor the last four days expressedtheir disappointment overYeddyurappa’s comments anddecided to continue theirprotest. Earlier in the dayKarnataka Water ResourcesMinister M B Patil spoke to theagitators and narrated the stepstaken by his Government tofind an amicable solution. Heaccused the Goa Chief Ministernot communicating to hisKarnataka counterpart on theissue and chose to address toYeddyurappa.

In a press conference laterin the evening Yeddyurappaaccused the Congress led bychief minister Siddaramaiah ofpoliticising instead of resolvingthe issue with the GoaGovernment. He alleged for-mer AICC President SoniaGandhi, present PresidentRahul Gandhi and ChiefMinister Siddaramaiah havecheated the people on the issue.

Yeddyurappa said that itwas on the behest of the thenChief Minister PratapsinghRane that the Tribunal was setup when Manmohan Singhwas the Prime Minister.Former Prime Minister Atal

Behar Vajpayee had directed torelease 7.56 tmc of water toKarnataka as per the directionsof the Central WaterCommission.

The north Karnataka farm-ers are demanding implemen-tation of the Kalasa-Banduriproject. This project wouldinvolve diverting water of theMahadayi River from its twotributaries, Kalasa and Banduriin some of the northern dis-tricts of the State. Goa hadraised objections to this projectsaying that it would affect theirwater supply from the river.

In another developmentFarmers agitating over sharingof Mahadayi river water havegiven for a day-long NorthKarnataka Bandh onWednesday demanding tak-ing up construction of Kalasa-Banduri Nala project.

The Core Committee ofthe BJP which was to have metat the Party State headquartershere had to change the venueto Yeddyurappa’s residence dueto ongoing agitation. Morethan 100 Farmers and pro-Kannada organisations haveextended support to the Bandhcall.

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Nearly six years after it wasreadied and that too in his

life time, a life-size wax sculp-ture of late Shiv Sena chief BalThackeray has been finally putup on display at a celebrity waxmuseum at the hill stationtown of Lonavla near Pune.

After Sena’s youth viewedthe sitting statue of his grand-father and approved it, lateThackeray’s wax model was puton display at the Sunil'sCelebrity Wax Museum(SCWM) at Lonavla.

In the wax exhibit, lateThackeray is seen in his famil-iar pose – donning a saffroncoloured shining silk kurtawith golden buttons and alungi, sporting a pair of darkglasses with two “rudraksh-mala” around his neck, histrade-mark white sandals

Thackeray is shown seatedon a large elaborately carved,silver-coloured ‘Sinhasan’(throne), with two lions for thehand-rest and the party’ logo,a bare-fanged tiger lookingdown from the top of thebackrest.

With his forefinger point-ed to someone, he is seen in acommanding posture.

“I had readied Balasaheb’ssculpture in early 2012 when hewas alive, I could not display itin my museum as I had no per-mission from Thackeray’s fam-ily to do so.

I had been lying in my stu-dio since then. During a visit toLonavla, Adityas Thackerayvisited my studio and viewedhis grandfather’s sculpture.

He was impressed by theimage. He gave me a go aheadto display the life-size model inmy museum,” wax sculptorand SCWM’s ManagingDirector Sunil Kandalloor told“The Pioneer” on Tuesdayevening.

“Adityaji assured me thathe would also help me set abranch of my museum inMumbai. Currently, my muse-um has branches in Kochi andDevgad,” Kandalloor said.

Currently, Kandalloor’smuseum has nearly 100 waxfigures of various prominentnational and international per-sonalities from different fieldsincluding politics, arts, socialfields, Hollywood and

Bollywood personalities,sportspersons, etc on display.Hundreds of tourists visit hisgallery during weekends andalso on weekdays.

Prominent among the waxsculptures that adorn SCWMinclude that of MahatmaGandhi, Subhash ChandraBose, Prime Minister NarendraModi, Albert Einstien,Abraham Lincoln, Sir CharlieChaplin, Bruce Lee, St. MotherTeresa, Mohammed Rafi, MFHussain, Micheal Jackson,James Bond, Queen ElizabethII, Dalai Lama, RowanAtkinson, Atal Bihari Vajpayee,Anna Hazare, AR Rahman,Kapil Dev, Rajnikanth andRamdev Baba in a yogic pose.

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Nearly five months after hewas divested of the post

pending an inquiry into seriousallegations of corruption,senior IAS officerRadheyshyam Mopalwar wason Tuesday reinstated andreappointed by theMaharashtra Government asManaging director of the state-run Maharashtra State RoadDevelopment Corporation(MSRDC).

Mopalwar’s reinstatementcame amidst speculation thathe has been given a “clean chit”by a three-member committeethat went into the authenticityor otherwise of a leaked audioclip in which he is heardallegedly discussing a bribewith a middleman.

However, there was noofficial word from the stategovernment about the findingsof the three-member commit-tee appointed by Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis to lookinto allegations of corruptionagainst Mopalwar.

On August 3, Fadnavis haddivested Mopalwar, a 1995-batch IAS officer, of his post asthe vice chairman and manag-ing director of cash-richMSRDC and sent him on forcedleave, pending an inquiry into

the serious allegations of corrup-tion that the latter faced.

Through a notificationissued on Tuesday, theMaharashtra Government for-mally announced the reinstate-ment of Mopalwar. Thoughchief minister DevendraFadnavis had — under mount-ing pressure from theOpposition parties – divestedMopalwar of his post in thewake of serious allegationsagainst him, the notificationissued by the State Governmentclaimed that the senior IAS offi-cer had resumed duty as the vicechairman and MD of MSRDCafter availing privilege leave for145 days between August 3and December 25, 2017.

Official sources claimedthat the three-member com-mittee, comprising formerChief Secretary Johnny Joseph,Additional Commissioner ofPolice R D Shinde and DeputyCommissioner of Police ParagManere had given a “cleanchit” to Mopalwar on the basisof its finding that the leakedtape was “doctored”.

It may be recalled thatFadnavis had ordered aninquiry on August 3, after theOpposition displayed in theState Assembly a letter writtenby the Ministry of Personnel,Public Grievances and

Pensions, to the State ChiefSecretary seeking a report onthe allegations that Mopalwarpossessed disproportionateassets amounting to more than�800 crore.

Apart from a complaint ofdisproportionate assetsamounting to �800 crore madeagainst him by BJP MLA AnilGote, Mopalwar had comeunder a cloud over the 36taped conversations that havesurfaced. The tapes, purported-ly containing the voice ofMopalwar, showed him strik-ing deals for money.

In one of the purportedtelephonic conversationsbetween him and a business-man. Mopalwar allegedly seeksa bribe for regularising 15,000sq ft land at Borivali in northMumbai. While displaying theCD of the conversation, formerdeputy Chief Minister andsenior NCP leader Ajit Pawarhad said in the State Assemblyon August 3: “There are 36such tapes in which Mopalwaris heard making deals”.

While divesting Mopalwarof his crucial post as the vicechairman and ManagingDirector of MSRDC, Fadnavishad said in the State Assembly:“Mopalwar is being divestedfrom his post till such time theinquiry against him is not over.

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NOTICE INVITING e TENDER

On behalf of the President of India, Dy Inspector General, SHQ. Delhi ITB Police, P.O. Madangir,Tigri Camp, New Delhi-110062 invites on line bids for supply of Liquor up to 05-01-18 at 1800 Hrs.

S. Description Of Approx Earnest Money Cost of e- TenderNo. Stores Qtly In. (Refundable) (Non Refundable) F.O.R

in Rupees in Rupees01 RUM 119724 1,00,000/- 500/- 22nd Bn,02 WHISKY 104004 ITBP, Tigri03 BRANDY/WINE 17448 Camp,04 BEER 97848 Madangir, Delhi

Note- quantity proposed above may be increased or decreased as per requirement.

S/N Details of Key Dates Date Time01 Date of online publication 14-12-17 1500 hrs02 Documents download Start date 14-12-17 1510 hrs03 Bid Submission Start Date 14-12-17 1530 hrs04 Bid Submission End Date 05-01-17 1400 hrs05 Physical submission of Earnest money Deposit/Bid Money

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davp 19112/11/0255/1718 SHQ. (DELHI) ITB POLICE

NO.)/ITBP/SHQ (DELHI)/PROV/LIQUOR TENDER)/2017/- 866OFFICE OF THE DY INSPECTOR GENERAL

SHQ. DELHI ITB POLICE (MHA)GOVT. OF INDIA, P.O. MADANGIR, TIGRI CAMP

NEW DELHI-110062DATE: 21-12-17

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Five hundred years hence”, wrote thephilosopher historian AnandaCoomaraswamy in one of his mostcelebrated expressions of deeperthought, “it will matter little to

humanity whether a few Indians, more or less,have held official posts in, or a few millionbales of cloth been manufactured in Bombayor Lancashire factories; but it will mattermuch whether the great ideals of Indian cul-ture have been carried forward or allowed todie. It is with these that Indian nationalismis essentially concerned, upon these that thefate of India as a nation depends…”

The essential struggle thus in India todayis that of trying to discover and carrying for-ward the ideals of Indian culture. The strug-gle is between the idea of a civilisational Indiaand that of a fragmented India; between theidea of an India that is transitory and not eter-nal; an India that is a caricature and devoidof uniqueness shorn of any exceptionalism.The struggle is between a civilisational Indiathat seeks to re-express or even re-assert itselfand an expression of India that argues thatthere never was an India or Bharat and thatthese are clear imaginations.

This struggle is building up in ideation-al dimensions and its expressions are visibleon the physical plane too. The academic, thepolitical and the social are the realms wherethis struggle is being played out. The adher-ents of cultural and civilisational India,hitherto underdogs in independent India,who have faced repeated castigation and havebeen constantly told that their past was onegreat wasteland, whose ideals where notworth re-discovery and re-statement oremulation, are now finding their voice to talkback. The Padmavati episode, whatever maybe its merits and demerits, is a manifestationof that talking back; of that urge to resistefforts to falsify and misrepresent selective-ly those episodes in our civilisational marchthat has greatly impacted the collectiveHindu psyche over ages and formed an inte-gral part of our mind space.

This talking back is naturally being resist-ed by the high-priests of the narrative of the‘Idea of India’. High priests, who controlled,directed, patronised and promoted a narra-tive of India, in which Bharat had no speak-er or taker, in which civilisational and cul-tural India ceased to exist and was replacedby a field full of conflicts of class and of com-munities. In their control of the discourse,these high-priests suppressed truth and dis-coveries that went to counter their intellec-tual and political propaganda and pushedinstead those, which even if weak on facts andoften devoid of truth, seemed to substanti-ate their false discourse.

In the realm of thought, victims of thissuppression have been many and haveretarded our quest for many-sided collec-tive self-discovery. Swami Vivekananda, SriAurobindo, Ananda Coomaraswamy him-

self, BR Ambedkar — Ambedkar hasfaced a selective approach, with a substan-tial part of his radical thoughts being sup-pressed or kept out of mainstream discus-sion for the sake of political convenienceand ideological expediency — Dharampal,Sister Nivedita, Tilak and Savarkar and somany others, like Pandit DeendayalUpadhyaya and Syama Prasad Mookerjee,Ram Manohar Lohia, RamanandaChatterjee of Modern Review and Prabasi.Their thoughts and articulations could havehelped to shape and firm up the contoursof our national thinking and could haveinstilled a certain deep rootedness in ourcivilisational foundations while also grad-ually preparing us to situate and navigateourselves through the currents of thewider world.

I was surprised to see the other day,while addressing a group of academics ata certain refresher course in the Universityof Delhi, many of these teachers of histo-ry, who have and are making a career outof exclusion studies, had not heard of thesocial philosopher, historian andGandhian Dharampal and had not read atleast a part of the substantial corpus of hiswork. They had not read Dharampal’sopus, The Beautiful Tree: IndigenousIndian Education in the EighteenthCentury, that gave a different perspectiveon the understanding of the Indian soci-ety and particularly on the indigenousframework of its educational outreach andcomposition and how it did not discrim-inate among sections. That they were notexposed to Dharampal was through delib-

erate design, because his work, throughsolid empirical research, challenged theirpropagated theories and impeded the fur-thering of its political objectives.

The prime objective of the peddlers ofthis narrative was to give rise to a sense ofself-deprecation when it came to civilisation-al India and to a sense of a perpetual stateof conflict and siege. The Congress has beenthe primary pusher of this narrative, butsince it did not have the interest or capaci-ty to see it through; it outsourced such a mis-sion to the communist parties and its intel-lectuals and ideologues. Interestingly, whilethrough their machinations, patriotismbecame a dirty word in intellectual and aca-demic circles in India, the Indian commu-nists lauded the efforts for example, ofPresident Jiang Zemin’s “patriotic educationcampaign” in 1991, which sought to re-examine and re-state Chinese history, instilla sense of patriotism among young minds.Indian communists passed off patriotism asthe first manifestation of fascism by Indiancommunists, a pejorative term that was tobe deplored and denigrated.

The result of this deprecatory approachtowards civilisational India, towards ourHindu past and towards its huge output —philosophical, cultural, aesthetic and sci-entific — is that it created a climate, whichsaw the strengthening of, in the words ofSita Ram Goel, “every factor and forcewhich was out to disintegrate this coun-try, uproot its people and destroy its cul-ture heritage.”

Such a climate gradually gave rise toa situation where, to cite Goel again,

“Hindu scholarship which [dealt] withHindu themes sympathetically and knowl-edgeably [remained] a private preservemost of the time. Once in a while, thisscholarship [was] praised in public cere-monies held primarily for the benefit ofsome politician in power. Occasionally, it[was] also honoured with awards andprizes. But, all the same, it [failed] to makean impact on public opinion, and [was]almost always eclipsed by the howls raisedby Hindu-baiters. On the other hand, hackswho [hawked] half-truths or plain liesabout Hindu history and heritage, [won]instant and wide spread recognition and[sold] as know-alls.”

An initial reversal of this state ofthings is now distinctly visible. Such a schol-arship is now emerging out from the pri-vate realm, it has ceased to be hesitant, ithas begun asserting itself, is rich in intel-lectual riposte and content and is beinggrudgingly accepted by the so-called main-stream in the media and among publishers.Nearly three decades of preparing theground by a legion of thinkers and schol-ars who strove against great adversity is nowbearing fruit. The political and intellectu-al struggle for the new India narrative nowderives mutual strength and subsistence, thismutuality poses a formidable challenge tothose who wish to thwart the carrying for-ward of the ‘great ideals of Indian culture’with which Coomaraswamy was so con-cerned. It disconcerts them and makes themmore aggressive, wild and scheming…

(The writer is director, Dr Syama PrasadMookerjee, Research Foundation, New Delhi) 1

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Justice upheld” (December 25). Asper ruling of a special CBI court inRanchi, RJD chief Lalu Prasad isguilty of complicity in fodder scam.It is really shameful and disgracefulthat a former Chief minister, whowas regarded as the leader of theState looted and plundered publicexchequer for self interest.

Further, by comparing his jailterm with Nelson Mandela, MartinLuther King Jr and BR Ambedkar,who had been jailed for preservingnational interest and for largercause of the masses, Lalu Prasad hasbecome a laughing stock. No doubt,this sort of evil design and corruptpractice are tantamount to irre-versible erosion of his personalityand credibility. Lalu Prasad is nomore a trustworthy leader of Bihar.

Nimai Charan SwainBhubaneswar

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Thunder in Chennai” (December26). The results of the RK Nagar by-election in Tamil Nadu have takeneveryone by surprise. The surge infavour of Sasikala Natarajan’snephew TTV Dhinakaran, whocontested as an independent candi-date, was palpable, but few couldpredict that he would topple the twoestablished Kazhagams of Tamilpolitics: The All India Anna DravidaMunnetra Kazhagam and theDravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

Even though the RK Nagar vot-ers have bestowed a kind of legiti-macy on the Sasikala faction, it issomehow unacceptable that some-

one should get to call the shots justbecause he/his aunt were once partof Jayalalithaa’s household. TamilNadu is an advanced, industrial Stateand deserves enlightened leadership,not the overlordship of the courtiers,attendants and orderlies.Dhinakaran’s victory underlines thefact that the ‘revolving door’ electoralpolitics of Tamil Nadu is far frombeing over.

Meghna ANew South Wales

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Justice upheld” (December 25).The second conviction ofRashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)chief Lalu Prasad in the Deoghartreasury case might carriesimmense weight and is likely toinfluence how the RJD positionsitself in the alliance arithmetic in2018 and 2019 elections.

Now, with Lalu Yadav’s con-viction, the taint of corruptionmight upset the game forCongress. The grand old party hasfreshly emerged ‘clean’ in thewake of the shocking 2G verdict,which held no one guilty, and par-ticularly gave a clean chit to for-mer Prime Minister ManmohanSingh. However, the guilty verdictfor Lalu Yadav restores faith in theIndian institution as the series ofacquittals in landmark cases thathad shaped the corruption narra-tive in the past few years had chal-lenged the very idea of institution-al accountability.

KS Padmanabhan Chennai

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Page 9: 7 18 1! 89 : 6 1 & & () *+’ - dailypioneer.com hair clip, and footwears before meeting ... It appears that the girls had bolted the room, while their par-ents were sleeping, from

Tamil Nadu is back in focus.This time due to the surpris-ing RK Nagar by-election

result, which has raised a pertinentquestion as to whether corruptionis an issue at all in this country ornot. The by-election results say no.Who would have ever thought thatthe people of RK Nagar constituen-cy, which was earlier represented byJ Jayalalithaa, would elect a manwith a perceived corrupt image?

With the return of TTVDhinakaran, nephew of Sasikalaand Jayalalithaa’s companion, theMannargudi clan is back in thereckoning. Dhinakaran fought as anindependent candidate because theruling All India Anna DravidaMunnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK),

led by E Palaniswami and OPanneerselvam, had expelled himand his aunt from the party.

The surprising result of RKNagar bypoll result seems to haveupset many stakeholders and thereis bound to be a realignment ofpolitical forces in the State. The firstto be hit was the ruling EPS-OPScombine, which was hoping toclaim the legacy of Jayalalithaa.

With such a handsome margin,surpassing even that of Jayalalithaa,Dhinakaran and Sasikala will not letthem claim her legacy, asserting thatthey are the real AIADMK even ifthe Election Commission of India recognised the unitedAIADMK as the real party and hadalso allotted the two leaves symbolto the Panneerselvam-Palaniswamicombine.

The AIADMK had all the ben-efits. It has the Government, agood candidate in Madhusudanan,money and MLAs. Dhinakaran hasalready claimed that the AIADMKGovernment will fall in threemonths. Read this as a warning that

he is planning to destabilise theGovernment and would also like tobecome the Chief Minister at theearliest by devising all methods,including horse-trading. The onlysaving grace for the EPS-OPS com-bine will be if the legislators do notwant to face an election at all. Theystill have another three and a half years to go.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(DMK) working President MKStalin is another man who is disappointed with the electionresult because he was hoping toestablish his leadership and had alsobeen going round the State, enthus-ing the cadres. This was the firstacid test for him after he took overthe reins of the party as the working president. The by electionresult will surely dent his image toa certain extent.

The DMK too had many advantages. It had the support ofcommitted voters, good cadre andother parties like the Congress, theLeft and the ViduthalaiChiruthaigal Katchi.

On the other hand, theAIADMK votes had a three-waysplit. The BJP tried hard to comecloser to the DMK. In a friendlygesture, Prime Minister NarendraModi had visited ai l ing MKarunanidhi in his Gopalapuramresidence and he had also invitedhim to come and take rest at hisDelhi residence.

Added to that was the relief theDMK got when former TelecomMinister A Raja, DMK MPKanimozhi and all other accused inthe 2G scam case were acquitted onthe day of the polling.

Meanwhile, the AIADMKGovernment was going nowhere.There were no development workundertaken by them. Despite allthese, the DMK came third and alsolost its deposit.

As for the Congress and othersmaller parties, like the PattaliMakkal Katchi, MarumalarchiDravida Munnetra Kazhagam andthe Desiya Murpokku DravidaKazhagam, they did not have muchat stake.

The BJP came last and even thenumber of None Of The Abovevotes were double than what its can-didate secured. This must havebeen a big disappointment for aparty which has been trying hard tofind its feet in the south and moreso in Tamil Nadu, where it does nothave a single MLA.

The BJP was trying to ride pig-gyback first with Panneerselvamafter Jayalalithaa’s death when hewas the Chief Minister of the Stateand then when the EPS-OPS factionunited and formed the AIADMKGovernment.

When this strategy did notwork, the BJP tried making analliance with the DMK. Now, theresults have apparently made itclear that it seems to have been bak-ing all the wrong horses. So, it iskeeping all its options open for the2019 Lok Sabha poll.

Though Dhinakaran is a winnernow, he has to cross a hurdle race.There are several pending casesagainst him. It is a big if whether hecan get the AIADMK legislators to

join him and if he can become theChief Minister of the State. It is notclear what stand the BJP will takeagainst him as the party at theCentre has been cold to bothDhinakaran and Sasikala.

One thing is certain. Instabilityin the State, which has been knownfor its progress, will continue. Afterthe demise of Jayalalithaa and thedeteriorating health ofKarunanidhi, there has been a vac-uum. Younger leaders are not of thesame stature — be it Stalin orAnbumani Ramadoss orVijayakanth or any other Congressleader like Su Thirunavukkarasar.

Even aspiring film heroes likeRajinikanth and Kamal Haasanwill not come up to their level. Howcan a leaderless State go forward?This is what is ailing Tamil Nadu.Instability in all parties may contin-ue until some strong leader emergesto fill up the vacuum. Dhinakaranis certainly not that leader.

(The writer is a senior politicalcommentator and syndicated colum-nist)

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We all love stories ofyoung entrepreneurs,from MarkZuckerberg, whochanged the way we

communicate with the world to ourvery own Ritesh Aggarwal, who isknown to be one of the youngest ChiefExecutive Officers in the Indian hotelindustry, besides being the first resi-dent Indian to be awarded with ThielFellowship. With the advent of boom-ing techpreneurs around the world,youth has become synonymous toentrepreneurial success.

Does that mean that youth andinexperience are better than experi-ence in both life and industry? Notreally, as was found by a study byKauffman Foundation, which statesthat the average age of successful start-up founders was 40, with at least sixto 10 years of industry experience.And high-growth start-ups are almosttwice as likely to be launched by peo-ple over 55 as by people 20 to 34,thereby busting all myths linkingyouth and entrepreneurship.Additionally, according to a recentsurvey by First Round, a seed stageventure capital fund, almost one-third of startup founders are over 40.

In entrepreneurship, informationnetworks are inefficient, which provideopportunities to the founders to usetheir unique prior knowledge to fill theexisting gaps; and experience plays avital role in it, becoming the most com-mon factor as to why people start busi-ness later in life, in addition to reason-able financial stability. Often theseunique opportunities reveal themselveswith time, learning and exposure to avariety of challenges to make a productbetter or a service more efficient, pro-viding compelling value proposition andthe basis of a successful company.Experience also helps the founders havedeeper networks, team managing capa-bilities and better business savvy andskills to deliver on their vision.

There are numerous entrepre-neurs for whom age is just a numberand one can find these examples in allindustries. One would imagine thatLinkedin, the world’s largest profes-sional networking website, was found-ed by a 20-something. However, ReidHoffman co-founded Linkedin at theage of 35 and went public at the ageof 43, after failing at his first network-ing site, Socialnet and working forPayPal before leaving his position atthe company in 2002.

Colonel Harland Sanders, theman behind the world famous KFC’schicken recipe, is far from being anideal entrepreneur. Having troubledearly years, he lost several jobs due tohis quarrelsome nature, even losing hisjob as a lawyer after a courtroombrawl with his own client!

Sanders slowly gained popular-

ity for his delicious chicken recipewhile working at a local service sta-tion in Kentucky. In 1952, at the ageof 62, Sanders franchised his‘Kentucky Fried Chicken’ for the firsttime. Today, KFC has over 18,800outlets in 118 different countries andterritories. One of the pioneers ofmicrochip industry, Robert Noyce,founded Intel at the age of 41, wherehe oversaw the invention of themicroprocessor, an innovation thatrevolutionised computer technologyand forms the foundation of themachines we still use today. Hisexperience in several companies,like Beckman Instruments andFairchild SemiconductorCorporation, helped him immense-ly in his technological journey.

McDonald’s which is hugely pop-ular in India as well as around theworld as one of the leading fast foodoutlets, was popularised by Ray Krocusing the franchise model, who final-ly ended up buying the company fromthe McDonald family for $2.7 millionat the age of 52. He wanted to createa brand where repeat business wasbased on the name as opposed to onestore’s reputation.

There are several reasons whyentrepreneurs who start businesseslater in life have a better chance ofreaching success. The first reason isexperience, which is the most obviousand undeniable benefit of starting abusiness later in life. As one growsolder, the level of business acumen andhands-on experience along withpatience can give a business the bestchance it has at success.

Over the years, there has been an

economic shift from industrial toknowledge-based, where age makesentrepreneurs more valuable as pro-fessionals because it brings moreskills and knowledge to the table. Thiseconomic shift will support olderentrepreneurs who decide to make ago of it later in life because one cantransform experience into a highlysought-after commodity.

Second, a large and diverse net-work of peers and colleagues provideinvaluable connections to drive abusiness. This depth of a thriving net-work often takes years to build, so ageis certainly an asset in this situation.

Third, goal-setting is an integralpart of starting and running a busi-ness and is necessary on a consistentbasis during the life of the business.Experience makes an entrepreneur aseasoned goal-setter and the processof outlining a desired outcome, as wellas the actions needed to make out-come a reality becomes a secondnature and helps the founder to moveforward in a more efficient, cost-effec-tive and productive way.

An entrepreneur who has ‘beenthere, done that’ has a better chanceof being backed by investors who arelooking for older, seasoned and expe-rienced owners, who have alreadymade mistakes and are able to makesmarter investments.

According to Richard Branson,passion is one of the most effectivemotivators when it comes to launch-ing a business and older entrepre-neurs are aware of their passion, theyknow what they enjoy doing andwhat they don’t; and can tailor a newbusiness to fit that.

Fourth, as a financially secure,seasoned professional, older entre-preneurs have more options when itcomes to the path to entrepreneur-ship, like buying into a franchise,leveraging the power of an alreadysuccessful brand and making it theirown legacy, forming a partnershipwith a fellow entrepreneur and split-ing the costs, workload and profitsor becoming an investor, moving tothe other side of the table by provid-ing capital for someone else’s busi-ness idea, in return for a percentageof the business, leaving the work forthe younger lot to handle.

An older person has seen his/hershare of failures and this is veryimperative for an entrepreneur fortwo reasons. First, the most valuablepart of each failure is the lessons onelearns in the process. Each failureteaches the importance of being pre-pared, hard work and the need for acontingency plan. Second, the fear offailure is a lot less significant at thisage than it was in the youth. Sincebeing afraid to fail can result in inabil-ity to make a decision, lack of confi-dence and inaction, having less to fearcan be a powerful reason why olderentrepreneurs have an easier start.

Running a business isn’t easy —it takes hard work and discipline toreach success. As a result, it shouldbe unsurprising that many times, it’sthe older and wiser among us whoare better at navigating that road. Sodon’t count yourself out, no matterwhat your age. Success can come toanyone at any time.

(The writer is Assistant Professor,Amity University)

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Anil Ambani-led RelianceCommunications (RCom) onTuesday has finalised a new reso-

lution plan to reduce its huge debt by upto �39,000 crore through prepayment. Thecompany said it would form a newRCom with debt levels under �6,000 crore.

The resolution plan, however, involvesexiting strategic debt restructuring (SDR)and monetising some of the company'sassets, including transfer of spectrum lia-bilities by March 2018.

Crippled with total debt of �45,000crore as till October this year the compa-ny claimed a full debt resolution by Marchnext year, but without involving any con-version of debt into equity and exiting theSDR framework, apart from coming on-board of a strategic investor. However, the

company did not mention any particularname the new investor(s), but sources closeto the development said that there wouldbe 50 per cent foreign investors and rest50 per cent from India.

With the announcement of its debtrevival plan, shares of RCom zoomednearly 32 per cent.

The embattled mobile carrier had totaldebt of �45,000 crore as of October endthis year and aims to reduce that to �6,000crore, Ambani said at a briefing inMumbai on Tuesday.

“RCom plans to settle on buyers for

assets including its telecom spectrum, tow-ers, optical fibre network and real estate,with all transactions to close betweenJanuary and March,” the company state-ment said.

Announcing the resolution plan,Anil Ambani said that the new plan hasthe support of a Chinese lender that haddragged it to the NCLT for dues runninginto $1.8 billion, and would see RCombringing down its mountain of debt by�25,000 crore.

“As far debt resolution is concerned,it involves RCom exiting SDR framework

with no conversion of debt into equity andzero write-off by lenders,” Ambani said,adding the company expects full closureby March 2018.

He further said that the deal involvedan eight-stage asset monetisation processunder an oversight committee headed byformer RBI Deputy Governor SS Mundrawith members from telecom regulatorTRAI and the whole process will be com-pleted in 40 days flat.

The proceeds from asset monetisationwill be used only to pay back the lenders,including China Development Bank withwhom the company sealed an out-of courtsettlement last evening in Beijing.

“On the no hair-cut for lenders, he saidthe new plan involves zero equity conver-sion for lenders and bond holders. The debtresolution also involves part transfer ofspectrum installments,” Ambani added.

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Stocks on Tuesday went into the unexploredterritory as benchmarks Sensex and Nifty

closed at life highs, mainly because of some fag-end buying by participants.

The 30-share Sensex was up for the secondstraight session, hitting 34,010.61, a fresh clos-ing high — with a gain of 70.31 points, or 0.21per cent. This was its highest close sinceFriday's 33,940.30. It had risen 184.10 points inthe previous session on Friday.

For the 50-share Nifty, the close was a freshpeak at 10,531.50, up 38.50 points, or 0.37 percent, dismantling its previous record of 10,493reached on Friday.

It was all-time intra-day high for both thebenchmarks too. Mid-cap and small-cap indicescontinued to be on investors' radar.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) boughtshares worth a net �107.87 crore while the buy-ing tally for domestic institutional investors(DIIs) was �371.53 crore on Friday, provision-al data showed.

“Market started off range bound asinvestors' participation remained low due toholiday season while stock specific action intelecom, pharma and metal towards the closeraised the indices to a new high. Mid and smallcap outperformed on expectation of improve-ment in rural demand supported by contin-ued government reforms,” said Vinod Nair,Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

There were also signs of speculators rush-ing to cover their short positions ahead of this

year's last expiry in the derivatives segment onThursday. Blue chips such as Bharti Airtel, SunPharma and Yes Bank, climbed up to 2.59 percent. Reliance Communications made waveswith a sharp rise of 30.78 per cent after thecompany announced yet another debt revivalplan claiming full debt resolution by March.

Reliance Industries rose 1.03 per cent,Reliance Capital 7.02 per cent and ReliancePower 3.85 per cent. Telecom, realty, metal andhealthcare made gains of up to 2.28 per cent.

Broader markets stood out as the mid-cap index rose for the eighth straight ses-sion, this time 0.76 per cent, ending at arecord. The small-cap index too ruled highfor the seventh session, beating the Sensexwith a gain of 0.64 per cent.

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Keeping out wilful defaultersfrom bidding for stressed

assets is not a “moral issue”, buta choice between certainty anduncertainty, IBBI ChairpersonMS Sahoo has said.

His comments comeagainst the backdrop of the gov-ernment, through an ordinancelast month, barringwilful defaultersfrom bidding forstressed assets underthe Insolvency andBankruptcy Code(IBC).

The governmentwill be introducing aBill to replace theordinance this weekin Parliament.

Asked whether barring wil-ful defaulters would narrow theuniverse of bidders for thestressed assets, the IBBI chiefreplied in the negative. “If wekeep undeserving people out ofthe system, it is not a moralissue," said Sahoo.

The Insolvency andBankruptcy Board of India(IBBI) is implementing theCode, which came into force latelast year.

Noting that such a movedoes not narrow the uni-verse of bidders, Sahoo saidthe issue of wilful defaultersis an economic issue, “which

we call moral hazard”.“The choice is between cer-

tainty and uncertainty. Do we gowith a person who has a credi-ble record and is likely to deliv-er or go with a person who doesnot have a credible record and isunlikely to deliver?” he said.

The ordinance aims atputting in place safeguards toprevent unscrupulous people

from misusing orvitiating the provi-sions of the IBC, thegovernment hadsaid in a statementlast month.

“The amend-ments aim to keepout such personswho have wilfullydefaulted, are

associated withnon-performing assets, orare habitually non-compliantand, therefore, are likely to bea risk to successful resolutionof insolvency of a company,”it had said.

The ordinance to amendthe Code was issued amidconcerns that a defaulting pro-moter could wrest back controlof the company that is underinsolvency even as banks takea hit on the loans.

Nearly 500 corporates havebeen admitted for resolutionand about 100 companies havecommenced voluntary liqui-dation under the Code.

NEW DELHI: Mobile handsetcompanies, under the aegis ofIndian Cellular Association,have sought additional sixmonths to liquidate pre-GSTperiod devices so that they canavail input tax credit.

The deadline to avail inputtax credit by mobile firms onhandsets manufactured beforeJuly 1 is December 31, 2017.

“Our feedback is that thesix-month July-December 2017period is insufficient to liquidatethe old stock. At least 20-30 percent stock is still in pipeline inthe vast supply chain under 35GST jurisdictions,” ICANational President PankajMohindroo said in a letter toFinance Minister Arun Jaitleyon December 23.

The ICA has sought exten-sion of time period by at least 6months, saying by that time thestock will be exhausted.

Mohindroo said there willbe no revenue loss as suchsince duty has already been paidon the products and facility toavail input tax credit for unlim-ited duration is available in theGST regime.

“There is no reason why thetrade should be denied similarcarry forward in the cases ofunrebated taxes suffered in thepre-GST regime,” he said.

The Indian mobile device

industry size in the currentyear is estimated at �1.5 lakhcrore and the number of trans-actions in the industry will beat least 4-5 times of this value,since the same item changeshands several times in the sup-ply chain from raw material tofinished goods and then to thewholesalers, distributors, retail-ers and consumers, the ICA let-ter said.

“There is a lot of resentmentin the trade on this and weunderstand that some parties

have gone to the High Courtand have secured interim relief.Others too may have gone tocourt to have the judgementextended to them also. Petitionson the same lines are being filedbefore the High Court in theother GST jurisdictions. Eventhe Supreme Court may beseized of the matter,” he said.

Mohindroo said that exten-sion of deadline till June 30, 2018will ease the transition to GSTand give relief without hurtingindustry and trade. PTI

NEW DELHI: The GST collec-tions slipped to their lowest inNovember as rates were cut ondozens of goods to make the newnational sales tax regime moreacceptable.

Total collections under theGoods and Services Tax (GST)— which is the amalgamation ofthe excise duty, service tax, VATand several other indirect taxes— in November slipped for thesecond straight month to �80,808crore, down from over �83,000crore in the previous month, aFinance Ministry statement said.

As many as 53.06 lakh taxreturns had been filed tillDecember 25, it said.

In the biggest GST rejig yet,tax rates on over 200 items,ranging from chewing gum tochocolates to beauty products,wigs and wrist watches, were cutin early November to providerelief to consumers and busi-nesses amid economic slow-down.

As many as 178 items of dailyuse were shifted from the top taxbracket of 28 per cent to 18 percent, while a uniform 5 per centtax was prescribed for all restau-rants, both air- conditioned andnon-AC.

The rate cuts came on theback of GST Council — the high-est decision making body of thenew indirect tax regime — in

October deciding to reduce taxrates on 27 products.

Of the �80,808 crore col-lected in November, �7,798 crorehas been garnered as compen-sation cess in November — thefifth month of GST rollout.

Besides, �13,089 crore havebeen collected as Central GST,�18,650 crore as State GST,�41,270 crore as IntegratedGoods and Services Tax.

Further, �10,348 crore isbeing transferred from IGST toCGST account and �14,488 croreis being transferred from IGST toSGST account by way of settle-ment of funds on account of crossutilisation of IGST credit for pay-ment of CGST and SGST, respec-tively or due to inter-state busi-ness to consumer transactions.

Thus, a total amount of�24,836 crore is being transferredfrom IGST to CGST/SGSTaccount by way of settlement, thestatement added. PNS

NEW DELHI: Tata Sons Chairman NChandrasekaran on Tuesday askedemployees of the group to focus on sim-plification, synergy and scale in order tocash in on opportunities emanating froman expected 4 per cent growth of the glob-al economy next year.

In his new year address to over 6.95lakh employees of the salt-to-software con-glomerate, he said globally it is a “time ofdeep transformation, with many excitingnew developments, coupled with a height-ened sense of uncertainty”.

“On balance, I am firmly optimistic.The global economy is set to grow at 4 percent year-on-year in 2018 — the fastestpace since 2011. Global expansion in thiscoming phase of the cycle will rotateincreasingly towards developing markets— especially India,” he said.

Chandrasekaran, who took over asthe chief of the Tata group in February

this year after the unceremonious ousterof Cyrus Mistry last year, said he was“more convinced than ever before aboutthe future power and potential of theTata businesses”.

The House of Tata remains a corner-stone of India's growth story, and will con-tinue to play an influential role on theglobal stage, he said.

“With our diversified global footprintand our presence in the lives of almost abillion consumers, we are uniquely posi-tioned. In order to achieve peak perfor-mance, we must focus on three things —Simplification, Synergy and Scale,”Chandrasekaran said.

After taking charge at the helm of theover $100 billion group, he has been focus-ing on reducing cross holding amonggroup companies, while also working toexit from businesses where group entitiesare not significant players.

Reiterating the stand, Chandrasekaransaid, “To thrive in a world of rapidchange, we need to reduce complexityacross businesses and simplify. This willhelp us respond and react faster.”

It will also bring agility and spur fasterdecision-making across the group, he said,adding, “We must make our managementand organisation structures simpler andimpactful”.

Exhorting for synergies among groupcompanies, he stressed on the need for a'One TATA' approach, leveraging collab-oration between Group companies andassociates, to be a force multiplier.

“To my mind ‘One Tata’ is a mindsetthat brings the best of the group togeth-er for every opportunity. It is a journeythat will allow us to discover the art of thepossible when we work together,”Chandrasekaran added.

“To grow and innovate consistent-

ly, we must anticipate synchronicity,” headded.

With digital revolution “putting tech-nology at the heart of all industry to deliv-er real time value to an interconnectednetwork of users”, he said Tatas “can dis-tinguish ourselves in this networkedworld — first by being bold, enthusiasticand early adopters; and second by culti-vating an obsessive focus on customerexperience”.

“Unlocking the hidden productivity ofthe Tata ecosystem can catapult us to anew level of sustainability and perfor-mance,” he said.

Reminding the employees that theTata group has presence in many sectorswhich have potential to scale, he said,“Each of them presents significant oppor-tunity of growth. We need to scalethrough growth, consolidation and col-laboration.” PTI

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NEW DELHI: Markets regu-lator Sebi is mulling easingaccess norms for investmentby foreign portfolio investors(FPIs) and bringing a newframework to strengthen thegovernance structure formutual funds, senior officialshave said.

Also, the Securities andExchange Board of India(Sebi) has plans to review theframework for credit ratingagencies (CRA) as it seeks tocheck the menace of 'ratingshopping' and 'pick-and-choose' approach in theiractions.

Further, the regulator islooking at providing an addi-tional method for listed entitiesto achieve the minimum pub-lic shareholding requirements.

These issues would betaken up at the Sebi boardmeeting scheduled forThursday, senior officials said.

With regard to FPIs, themarkets watchdog may con-sider simplifying regulatoryrequirements pertaining toaccess norms, with a view toeasing direct registration foroverseas investors.

The regulator will reviewthe norms for CRA on thebasis of public comments. Ithad come out with a consul-tation paper in this regard inSeptember. PNS

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Naveen Jindal-led JindalSteel and Power Ltd

(JSPL) on Tuesday said itsproduction capacity hasreached 11.6 million tonnesper annum (MTPA) after thecompletion of a 3 MTPA basicoxygen furnace at the compa-ny’s Angul steel plant inOdisha.

The installation of 3MTPA basic oxygen furnace(BOF) follows the commis-sioning of the company’s 4MTPA blast furnace at Angulin August 2017.

“The completion of 3MTPA (BOF) at JSPL's 6 mil-lion tonne per annum (MTPA)integrated steel plant at Angul,Odisha has taken the compa-ny's overall steel-making capac-ity to 11.6 MTPA,” JSPL said ina statement. The integratedplant, which comprises a 4MTPA blast furnace and a 2MTPA DRI (directly reducediron) plant, is JSPL's singlelargest investment, it said.

“With the successful com-pletion of the BOF today, theAngul steel complex will nowachieve optimal efficiencies in

terms of costs and operations,”JSPL Chairman Naveen Jindalsaid. The basic oxygen furnace,a 250 tonne ladle furnace, iscapable of producing addition-al 3 MTPA.

“The plant which has comeup at an investment of over�33,000 crore and also com-prises a 1.5 MTPA Bar Mill, a

1.2 MTPA plate mill and a 810MW captive power plant. Theplant has been commissionedwithout taking an additionaldebt since January 2016.

“The company aims todeliver a substantial rise infinancial performance as fullcapacity at Angul plant goes on-stream, and targets to double itscurrent EBIDTA levels,” JSPLsaid. Earlier the company wassaid to be targeting an EBIDTAupwards of �10,000 crore. Thecompany also said that for thefirst time in India, JSPL hasdeployed the dry gas cleaningsystem, which is significantlyhigher in environment friend-liness as compared to the wetgas cleaning plant used in thesteel-making process.

“Adoption of dry gascleaning system reiteratesJSPL’s commitment to greentechnology,’ Dinesh K Saraogi,Executive Director and PlantHead, JSPL Angul, said. TheBOF has been using cutting-edge technology from globalsteel technology major SMSGroup”, the company added.

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The much-anticipated deamproject of the Union

Transport Minister NitinGadkari’s first pod taxi schemehas moved a step closer to real-ity after a high-level panel rec-ommended inviting fresh bidsfor the same conforming to thestrictest safety standards on thelines of those prescribed by anAmerican body.

The projected �4,000-crorepod taxi scheme -- also knownas Personal Rapid Transit(PRT) -- is a dream project ofRoad Transport and HighwaysMinister Nitin Gadkari, andthe NHAI has been mandatedto execute it on Delhi-Gurgaonpilot corridor (12.30 km) fromDelhi-Haryana border to RajivChowk in Gurgaon on a PPP(public-private partnership)basis.

“The committee recom-mends issuance of a fresh EOI(expression of interest) incor-porating (automated peoplemovers) APM standards andspecifications, along with othergeneral safety parameters with

Niti Aayog recommendations,”the five-member committeeset up for technical and safetystandards of PRT, headed bytransport expert SKDhramadhikari, said.

The ambitious project hasbeen plagued by delays asGovernment think-tank NitiAayog raised some red flags,asking the highways ministry todirect initial bidders to preparea 1-km pilot stretch as all thetechnologies were unproved.Subsequent delays were causeddue to formation of the high-powered committee to lay downsafety and other specifications.

“We will be issuing bidsvery soon for the pod taxi pro-

ject now, with all hurdlescleared. The safety and securi-ty concerns will be taken care ofas per the recommendation ofthe committee. This will be amajor step towards easing con-gestion on busy Dhaula Kuan-Manesar stretch and revolu-tionising transportation,”Gadkari told PTI.

PRT is an advanced publictransport using automated elec-tric pod cars to provide a taxi-like demand responsive feederand shuttle services for smallgroups of travellers and is agreen mode of uninterruptedjourney. The committee in itsreport, a copy of which is withPTI, also recommended fram-

ing of request for quotation(RFQ) based on discussionswith interested players andstressed the need for evalua-tion, based on performance inthe test sections.

The automated peoplemover (APM) standards inthe US as recommended by thecommittee for the maiden PRTin India have been prepared bythe American Society of CivilEngineers (ASCE) and theseconstitute the minimumrequirements for an acceptablelevel of safety and perfor-mance for the PRT.

“The APM standardsinclude minimum requirementsfor the design, construction,operation and maintenance ofthe various sub-systems of anAPM system and are in gener-al relevant for a PRT,” the com-mittee said. These include vehi-cle arrival audio and video visu-al warning system, platformsloping, evacuation of misa-lighted vehicles, surveil-lance/CCTV, audio communi-cation, emergency call pointsand fire protection, among otheradvanced systems, it added.

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NEW DELHI: State-ownedIDBI Bank on Tuesday said ithas disengaged Moody’sInvestors Services (Moody’s) torate its bond programmes.“Upon reviewing the ratingengagements with various for-eign rating agencies, IDBI Bankhas decided to terminate all therating contracts/engagementswith Moody’s Investors Services(Moody's) for various issuesmade under the MTN (medi-um term note) BondProgramme,” IDBI Bank said ina regulatory filing.

Earlier in August, Moody’shad downgraded the foreigncurrency senior unsecuredMTN programme rating ofIDBI and its DIFC branch to(P)B1 from (P)Ba2. The globalratings firm had also down-graded the bank's local and for-eign currency bank deposit rat-ings to B1 from Ba2 citing rea-sons that the lender remains sig-nificantly under-capitalised andthat Government’s capital infu-sions have been insufficient torepair the bank's balance sheet.

IDBI had reported a net lossof �198 crore for second quar-ter ended September of thecurrent fiscal, against a netprofit of �56 crore in the samequarter of previous fiscal. PNS

MUMBAI: A Mumbai ses-sions court to Tuesdayquashed and set aside sum-mons issued by a magistrate’scourt to ousted Tata Groupchairman Cyrus Mistry andothers in connection with a�500 crore defamation com-plaint filed by Tata Trusts’ RVenkatramanan.

Mistry and the otheraccused had approached thesessions court after the met-ropolitan magistrate issuedthe summons in July this yeardirecting them to appearbefore it.

“The sessions court, afterhearing arguments of all sidesat length, on Tuesday quashedand set aside the summonsissued by the magistrate’scourt. The matter has beenremanded to the magistrate forhearing on the complaint,”

Mistry’s lawyer Aabad Pondasaid.

Venkatramanan, manag-ing trustee of Tata Trusts, hadfiled the criminal defamationcomplaint against Mistry andothers for making ‘false’ state-ments and sought a compen-

sation of �500 crore. An e-mailsent by Mistry to the directorsand trustees of Tata Trustscontained ‘defamatory state-ments’ against him,Venkatramanan said.According to the complaint,after Mistry was ousted as the

chairman of Tata Sons onOctober 24, 2016, he, in an e-mail, alleged that fraudulenttransactions worth �22 crorehad taken place at the group'saviation venture, AirAsiaIndia, and accusedVenkatramanan of havingtried to cover it up. The issueis now being probed by theEnforcement Directorate.Venkatramanan said the e-mail, which was leaked to themedia, caused irreparabledamage to his reputation. PTI

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NEW DELHI: Realty firmPrestige Group on Tuesday saidit has purchased 66.66 per centstake in its group firm, whichholds a land parcel of 180 acresin Bengaluru, from Red FortIndia and land owners for �324crore. It already has 33.34 per centstake in Prestige Projects Pvt Ltd(PPPL), which has 180 acres ofland in Bengaluru.

Prestige group, through itswholly owned special purposevehicle (SPV), is acquiring 66.66per cent stake from private equi-ty partner Red Fort India RealEstate and land owners in itsgroup company Prestige ProjectsPvt Ltd (PPPL), the company saidin a statement. PPPL has a landparcel measuring over 180 acres,which is located near SarjapurRoad, Bengaluru. Prestige Group

intends to develop a affordableand mid- income housing projectcomprising of apartments, villasand plots on this land. IrfanRazack, CMD, Prestige Group,said: “Our long-term strategy tocreate value is to diversify our rev-enue base, expand earnings andstrengthen our developmentpipeline. This transaction willhelp us enter into the affordablehousing segment in a big way.”

The proposed project in theSPV has a significant potentialto grow our profitable revenuebase and further strengthenour market share in the micro-market, he added. Venkat KNarayana, CEO, Prestige Groupsaid, “This strategic acquisi-tion of 66.66 per cent stake willmove PEPL's stake in SPV to100 per cent ownership.” PTI

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Sending out a strong messageto corporates, the

Government has said non-com-pliance will be ‘very costly’ andstrong deterrents will be there tocurb the dangerous adventure ofusing companies for wrongfulpurposes.

Continuing the clampdownon illicit fund flows, the Ministryof Corporate Affairs has alreadystruck off more than 2.24 lakhcompanies that have not beendoing business for long and hasdisqualified over three lakhdirectors associated with suchentities. Against this backdrop,Corporate Affairs SecretaryInjeti Srinivas said things arebeing simplified for legitimatebusinesses while checks arebeing strengthened against ille-gal business activities.

“It should be very easy to becompliant and very costly to benon-compliant. We want this.There should be a strong deter-rent against illegal business.People using the company forwrong purposes, that should bea very dangerous adventure,” hetold PTI in an interview. Aboutthe ongoing action with respect to

suspected shell companies, he saidinvestigations are being carriedout with urgency.

“When you go for prosecu-tion, it should serve as a deter-rent. Imprisonment optionshould essentially be confined toviolations involving criminalityand fraud,” Srinivas said. On thescenario of certain genuine enti-ties also facing the heat in theclampdown, Srinivas said everyeffort is made to ensure that‘innocent companies are notinconvenienced’, adding thatinvestigations are carried outonly after preliminary scrutiny.

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NEW DELHI: The All IndiaInduction FurnacesAssociation (AIIFA) hassought the Government’s inter-vention to check rising pricesof semi-finished steel productsused to make constructionproducts, saying the price risecould affect the affordablehousing programme and infra-structure projects.

The All India InductionFurnaces Association (AIIFA)said prices of semi-finishedsteel products such as ingots andbillets have gone up drasticallyin last three months.

“A tonne of billet and ingotwhich cost �27,300 a metrictonne on October 26, 2016 canbe bought at �34,300 per met-ric tonne on Tuesday onDecember 26, 2017,” AIIFAGeneral Secretary KamalAgarwal said.

Ingots and billets, madefrom sponge iron and scrap, areraw materials for making angles,structural and TMT used asconstruction material, Agarwalsaid, adding that the price risecan also affect Government'saffordable housing programme.Short supply of iron ore push-ing up sponge iron prices is oneof the reasons for the rise inprices of semi-finished steelproducts, Agarwal said. PTI

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NEW DELHI: Two foreigndirect investment (FDI) pro-posals, including that of DamroFurniture worth over �400 crorewere approved by the depart-ment of industrial policy andpromotion (DIPP) in the retailsector. Damro Furniture wouldundertake single brand retailtrading of ‘Damro’ brandedproducts in India, according tothe DIPP’s Foreign InvestmentFacilitation portal.

The company had proposedto invest �402 crore. SuprInfotech Solutions will carry outfood product retail trading ofmilk and other daily need prod-ucts. The firm proposes to invest�10.85 crore. The portal was setup after the winding up of theforeign investment promotionboard. FDI into the countrygrew 17 per cent to $25.35 bil-lion during April-Septemberthis fiscal. PNS

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NEW DELHI:Canara Bank on Tuesday said it will raise upto �3,500 crorecapital through a qualified institutions placement (QIP) route. The decisionin this respect was taken at the bank's board meeting held. “The board ofbank at its meeting held on December 26, 2017 has decided to raise addi-tional equity share capital amounting up to �90 crore via QIP route, by issu-ing up to 9 crore equity shares of a face value of �10 each with a premium tobe decided as per the applicable guidelines/regulations for an aggregate amountnot exceeding �3,500 crore inclusive of such premium,” it said. PNS

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Having failed in his admin-istration’s earlier effort to

repeal and replace Obamacare,President Donald Trump nowbelieves the just-enactedremoval of its “individual man-date” clause will gradually spellthe end of his predecessor’s sig-nature insurance reform foraffordable healthcare.

Obamacare’s individualmandate, under which everyAmerican citizen was requiredto buy health insurance or paya penalty, was done away withby the Republican majority inCongress last week as it votedTrump’s landmark tax overhaul.

Although only the indi-vidual mandate has beenremoved, with the rest of theObamacare still in place,Trump believes its days arenumbered and that a bipartisanalternative will emerge incourse of time.

“Based on the fact that thevery unfair and unpopularIndividual Mandate has beenterminated as part of our TaxCut Bill, which essentiallyRepeals (over time)ObamaCare, the Democrats &Republicans will eventuallycome together and develop agreat new HealthCare plan!”Trump tweeted on Tuesday.

Trump’s optimism aboutthe two parties coming upwith a bipartisan alternative inthe coming year is not shared

by Democrats, who remainstoutly opposed to anyRepublican exercise aimed atdiscarding Obamacare.

Reacting to Trump’s earli-er assertions that the scrappingof the individual mandate wastantamount to repeal ofObamacare, former HouseSpeaker Nancy Pelosi com-mented: “The president isunder some other illusion thathe has repealed the AffordableCare Act. He’s damaged it, buthe hasn’t repealed it. I don’t

know if he knows that.” Over the years,

Republicans have been tryingto repeal Obamacare, but theirfirst real chance came aboutonly after Republican Trumptook over as president lastJanuary. Even so, the partyfailed yet again in its bid to getrid of Obamacare in July whenthree of its Senators, includingRepublican veteran JohnMcCain, voted against themeasure.

Despite Trump’s con-tention that Obamacare isextremely unpopular with“premiums going through theroof ”, the annual open enroll-ment for it has shown only amarginal decline in numbers.During the enrollment drivefor 2018 that ended onDecember 15, roughly 8.8 mil-lion people signed up for plansoperating through the federalexchange in 39 States – a dropof just 4 per cent from lastyear’s 9.2 million enrollments.

These enrollment num-bers are huge and an “incred-ible indicator of hust how much people want quality,affordable coverage”, assertsthe “Get America Covered”campaign.

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A“smart” Brexit deal couldserve as a model for the

EU’s future relations with othernon-EU states, GermanForeign Minister SigmarGabriel says.

Turkey and Ukraine weretwo states that could benefitfrom the template, he toldGermany’s Funke media group.

He did not see either join-ing the EU any time soon, soalternative forms of closer co-operation were needed.

The UK’s future relation-ship with the EU, which it isdue to leave on 29 March 2019,is still being negotiated.

The two sides agreed thismonth on the three “divorce”

issues that took up the firstphase of negotiations: howmuch the UK owes the EU,what happens to the Northern

Ireland border and what hap-pens to UK citizens living else-where in the EU and EU citi-zens living in the UK.

In June 2016, the UK votedin a referendum to leave the EUafter more than four decades ofmembership.

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Israel is in touch with “at leastten countries” over the pos-

sible transfer of their embassiesto Jerusalem after the UnitedStates recognised the city asIsrael’s capital, a deputy min-ister said today.

“We are in contact with atleast ten countries, some ofthem in Europe” to discuss themove, deputy foreign ministerTzipi Hotovely told publicradio.

She spoke a day afterGuatemala said it would moveits embassy to the city, a moveslammed by Palestinian offi-cials as “shameful”.

Hotovely said US PresidentDonald Trump’s statementwould “trigger a wave” ofsuch moves.

“So far we have only seenthe beginning,” she said.

Hotovely did not name thecountries in question, but pub-lic radio cited Israeli diplo-matic sources as sayingHonduras, the Philippines,Romania and South Sudan areamong states considering sucha move.

Two-thirds of UnitedNations member states onThursday voted for a resolu-

tion rejecting Trump's con-troversial move, reaffirmingthat the status of Jerusalemmust be resolved throughnegotiations.

Israel seized the easternpart of Jerusalem in the 1967Six Day War and later annexedit in a move not recognised bythe international community.

Several mainly Latin

American countries had diplo-matic missions in Jerusalemuntil a 1980 UN SecurityCouncil resolution condemningIsrael's attempt to alter the“character and status” of the city,saying it was a barrier to peace.

Trump's announcement onDecember 6 sparked anger inthe Palestinian territories andacross the Muslim world.

Israelis see the whole of thecity as their undivided capitalwhile the Palestinians view theeast as the capital of theirfuture state.

No country currently hasits embassy in Jerusalem,instead keeping them in theIsraeli commercial capital TelAviv.

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President Donald Trumpcouldn't stop talking about

the red carpets, militaryparades and fancy dinners thatwere lavished upon him dur-ing state visits on his recenttour of Asia. “Magnificent,” hedeclared at one point on thetrip.

But Trump has yet to rec-iprocate, making him the firstpresident in almost a centuryto close his first year in officewithout welcoming a visitingcounterpart to the US withsimilar trappings.

Trump spoke dismissivelyof state dinners as a candidate,when he panned PresidentBarack Obama’s decision towelcome Chinese President XiJinping with a 2015 state visit.Such visits are an importantdiplomatic tool that includes a showy arrival ceremony andan elaborate dinner at the

White House.“I would not be throwing

(Xi) a dinner,” Trump said atthe time. “I would get him aMcDonald’s hamburger andsay we’ve got to get down towork.”

Last month it was Xi’s turnto literally roll out the red car-pet. The Chinese leader pouredon the pageantry as he wel-comed Trump to Beijing onwhat was billed as a “state visit,plus.” Trump also made statevisits to South Korea andVietnam.

White House press secre-tary Sarah Huckabee Sanderssaid there is no “singular rea-son” why Trump hasn't extend-ed a state visit invitation yet,but added that the adminis-tration hopes to schedule a visitearly in 2018. Sanders gave nohints about which of Trump'sforeign counterparts are beingconsidered for the diplomatichonor.

A state visit typically isoffered as a sign of friendshipand to showcase strategic tiesbetween countries that areimportant to each other, saidAnita McBride, a veteran ofthree Republican administra-tions who last served as chiefof staff to first lady LauraBush.

“The White House is theworld stage to elevate that,” shesaid. “These occasions really goa long way to solidify andstrengthen relationships.”

Trump speaks often abouthis relationships with many ofhis foreign counterparts,including Xi. Trump and theChinese leader met at Trump'sFlorida estate in April, andTrump treated Xi to a full din-ner — not the aforementionedburger — and what Trumpdescribed as “the most beauti-ful piece of chocolate cake.”

“President Xi was enjoyingit,” the president reported.

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Russian officials shouldreview opposition leader

Alexei Navalny’s calls for an elec-tion boycott to see if they mightbe breaking the law, the Kremlinsaid today, hinting at possiblelegal repercussions.

In a widely anticipated deci-sion, Russia’s top election bodyyesterday ruled to formally baranti-corruption crusaderNavalny from running in thepresidential election next March.

Navalny promptly put out avideo statement, saying that theban shows that PresidentVladimir “Putin is terriblyscared and is afraid of runningagainst me,” and called on hissupporters to stay away from thevote in protest.

Putin, who has been inpower for 18 years, announcedhis bid for re-election earlier thismonth, but so far has refrainedfrom canvassing.

In contrast, his most promi-nent rival, anti-corruption cru-sader Navalny has been cam-paigning aggressively all year,reaching out to the most remoteparts of the country. Opinionpolls say that Putin should eas-ily win the March vote.

Putin spokesman DmitryPeskov today wouldn’t com-ment on the Election Com-mission’s decision to barNavalny but said the “calls forboycott ought to be carefullystudied to see if they are break-ing the law.”

Peskov also rejected sug-gestions that Navalny's absence

on the ballot could dent thelegitimacy of Putin’s possible re-election.

The Russian law doesn't saycalls for an election boycott areillegal, but authorities last yearblocked access to several web-sites calling for the boycott.

Navalny rose to promi-nence in 2009 with investiga-tions into official corruptionand became a protest leaderwhen hundreds of thousandstook to the streets across Russiain 2011 to protest electoralfraud.

A few years later and afterseveral short-term spells in jail,Navalny faced two separate setsof charges of fraud which wereviewed as political retributionaimed to bar him from runningfor office.

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The Kremlin today rejectedconcerns that its decision

to ban opposition leader AlexeiNavalny from running againstPresident Vladimir Putin in aMarch election could under-mine the vote’s legitimacy.

The European Unionweighed in to the controversymeanwhile, warning that theban cast “serious doubt” on theelection.

Russia’s Central ElectionCommission yesterday reject-ed Navalny’s bid to take onPutin in the March presidentialpoll, citing a controversial

embezzlement conviction.The 41-year-old lawyer

maintains that the case againsthim is politically motivated. Heurged his supporters to stage a“vote strike” instead.

Navalny is seen by many asthe only Russian oppositionleader who stands a fightingchance of challenging Putin.

Observers have expressedconcern that barring Navalnyfrom running would affect thelegitimacy of the March polland could affect voter turnout.

“We cannot agree with thispoint of view,” Putin’sspokesman Dmitry Peskovtold reporters today.

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Jerusalem: An Israeli militarycourt has extended the deten-tion of a Palestinian teen whohas become a national heroafter she was filmed kickingand slapping Israeli soldiers.Ahed Tamimi, a blonde 17-year-old firebrand from theWest Bank village of NebiSaleh, was arrested last week byIsraeli troops and faces chargesof attacking soldiers. An Israelimilitary court on Mondayextended Tamimi’s detention,along with those of her moth-er and cousin, for four days forquestioning.

Tamimi was filmed earlierthis month outside her familyhome shouting, pushing, kick-ing and slapping Israeli soldiers,who fended off the blows with-out retaliating. Palestinians arecelebrating her as an icon of anew generation of resistance toIsraeli occupation, while thesoldiers’ restraint stirred uproarover what some perceive as thearmy’s humiliation. AP

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Notice Inviting Bid (NIB)The General Manager. SF Complex., Jagdalpur-494001, invites separate sealed bids in the

prescribed format from reputed firms for execution of following work at SI Complex, Jagdalpur.

S. Name of the Work Bid EMD Bid submission Bid submission Bid openingNo. document (Rs.) Stan Date End date & date & Time

Cost (Rs.) Time

1. Pneumatically Operated - 75,000/- 11/12/2017 02/01/2018 02/01/2018Mechanized Flap Door, 12:30 Hrs. 14:30 Hrs.As per Technical Specification

The Bid document is to be downloaded from the DRDO) website: www.eprocure.gov.in/epub-lish/app. The cost of EMD in the form of demand draft drawn in favour of General Manager, SFComplex, Jagdalpur-494001 payble at Jadgalpur, at the time of submission of the bid, failing whichthe bid would not be considered.

The General Manager, SF Complex reserves the right to the reject any or all bid without assing-ing any reason.

Sd/-General Manager

SF Complex, Jagdarlpur

davp/10301/11/0330/1718

Government of India, Ministry of DefenceDefence Research & Development Organization (DRDO)SF Complex, Airport Terminal Building, Jagdalpur-494001Tel : 07867-289461/62/63/64/65,Fax : 07867-289466,Email : [email protected]

NOTICE

Tally Cer tified Par tnerContact for Tally SaleServices and Solution SonaE Design and Solution, A-62 Pocket- 11, Jasola ViharNew Delhi- 25 Mobile:9811252801, 9999105541

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��������������?��@�����:�The User interface (UI) developers

combine programming, psychology andcreative design to craft intuitive controlsfor software and hardware. The UI devel-oper’s mission is to create an interface thatbehaves as users would it expect it to, facil-itating a seamless and efficient user expe-rience. It is predicted that through 2020and beyond, a record number of busi-nesses will launch new computer systemsand web-based applications to gain a com-petitive advantage in the increasingly dig-ital world. Demand for talented user inter-face developers will flourish in all pro-gramming-centric domains, includingweb, software and mobile applicationdevelopment.

JOBS AVAILABLE: User experiencedesigner, user interface designer, userinterface designer (computer softwareapplications), creative director.

REMUNERATION: �5 to �10 lakh.

��7��������������Smartphone usage has only gone up,

and it will continue to rise. Companies,organizations, and educational institutionsare all resorting to apps to improve theiraccessibility and customer relations, thusrise in the demand of mobile development.This ever-changing and growing industryand its revenue generation opportunitieshave not only enticed customers, but alsobusiness conglomerates.

This year featured a steep rise in textmessaging, Smartphone purchases andmobile advertising. Location-based ser-vices, social networking application, m-commerce, context-aware service, objectrecognition, mobile instant messaging andmobile payment or mobile money trans-fer will be the areas of growth. Also, moresocial games apps in mobile devices willbe developed.

Mobile app development is evolvingto integrate with television, in-car navi-gation and entertainment, shopping,commerce and banking. This talks aboutfuture growth prospects in the industry.

JOBS AVAILABLE: Android and iOSdevelopers, technical architect, leadsoftware engineer, project man-ager (IT).

REMUNERATION:�4.5 to �9 lakh.

�7������������Most companies or

businesses are expected tohave an online presence

these days, whether on social media or acompany website. As such, there is ademand for people who have the skills tocraft beautiful and functional websites thatare responsive and user-friendly. A careerin web architecture and developmentframework fulfills the technical needs andconcepts of the client and equips studentswith sources for designing, develop-ment, production, assessment ofweb apps and strategies to locatethe sources. Programmersneed to have knowledge of.NET, PHP, Python, Java,and Ruby.

JOBS AVAILABLE:Web developer, softwareengineer, programmer,project manager.

REMUNERATION: �3to �10 lakh.

�������������:With cloud computing becoming the

platform that enterprises are turning to fortheir applications and data, it should comeas no surprise that cloud positions are inextremely high demand. Marketable skillsin this line include cloud migration,cloud security and cloud applicationdevelopment.

JOBS AVAILABLE: IT architect,cloud software engineer, software archi-tect, technical consultant.

REMUNERATION: �5 to �20 lakh.

����:��G��:��������Most companies want to hire a per-

son who is not only knowledge-able about computer data storageand access, but who also has thecapabilities to manage the data storagesystem for the entire company.

It’s more than just saving stuff tothe cloud or shared drive, too –companies expect the person incharge or storage system man-agement to be able to providetheir data with safe, secureand organized storagewhich is easy

to navigate and properly backed up (in theevent that something happens and data islost).

JOBS AVAILABLE: IT consultant,principal software engineer, test engineer,system engineer, system administrator.

REMUNERATION: �4.5- �10 lakh.

�� ���G�������������As the Internet continues to grow

and develop, the security of a company’snetwork and information becomes moreof a concern. More companies now wantto hire people with the skills to helpensure that the information that isstored on their computer networks iswell-protected and secure. This skill isexpected to go up in importance andnecessity as cloud computing and theInternet of Things (IoT) continues togrow in scope, and as each new gener-

ation of hackers grows betterat finding loopholes toexploit.

JOBS AVAILABLE BASED: Networksecurity engineer, network security ana-lyst, information security analyst, infor-mation security officer

REMUNERATION: �4 to �10 lakh.

��:����������:��F�����:Algorithm design is about creating the

software commands that are at the heartof computer science.

JOBS AVAILABLE: Software devel-opment engineer, lead software engineer,software developer.

REMUNERATION: �6 to �10 lakh.

���������:�G���������It involves more research and col-

lecting data either physical or digital dataand compiling an analysis to deriveimportant information and reports. Manycompanies value the information data andoften require people who are skilled atquickly going through data and collectingimportant information that could con-tribute to the growth of the company.

JOBS AVAILABLE: Data scientist,senior business analyst, data analyst, sta-tistician data scientist.

REMUNERATION: �3 to �7 lakh.

��:��������F����������:Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

and Search Engine Marketing helps inbringing up the website and its content inthe top search results when people searchfor related keywords and helps to boosttraffic on the website. As both SEO andSEM rely heavily on content marketingand distribution, people who know a lotabout SEO and SEM can produce goodresults through a content marketing cam-paign.

JOBS AVAILABLE: Digital market-ing manager, online marketing manager,SEO marketing strategist, SEO manager,SEO analyst

REMUNERATION: �3 to �6 lakh.

7����:��������������H����With the launch of GST and advent

of cryptocurrencies, bitcoin investmentsand demand in insurance, thesector is booming with a highdemand of skilled manpower.

JOBS AVAILABLE:Financial planners and advis-ers, mutual fund advisers,insurance agents, tax consul-tants.

REMUNERATION: �4to �12 lakh.

In 2017, not too many changes tookplace in the Education Sector, other

than the wave of digital education whichhas been good for the students as itbrought study materials and questionpapers at a click of the button.

But to have a larger impact, we needto have the right infrastructure and peo-ple who know how to best use the tech-nology. Who will teach those parentswho don’t know how to operate theInternet? There has to be a platform forthem to get trained in using digital plat-forms for the convenience of their wardsand themselves.

On the flip side, early interventionof gadgets into our children’s lives is alsobringing harm to them as they get accessto gaming and social media platformswhich are not meant for them at this age.Thanks to the overuse of the gadgets, thestudents’ academic performance hascome down drastically despite privatetuitions after school. Parents need tounderstand that children have a shortspan of attention and they need to be fos-tered to become capable individuals.Providing them gadgets which keepthem busy and reduce the attention pay-

load of parents is not a good parentingmeasure.

It is imperative that parents com-municate with their children about whatcareers they would want to pursue andhelp them achieve their dream. It is cru-cial that the young ones socialise offlineand have a comprehensive spiritual,physical, emotional and intellectualdevelopment.

The first principle of education isnothing can be taught. Students shouldbe self-taught. Once we bring out theirpotential, they will start realising theimportance of education and use itaccordingly for our and their benefit.

Inculcating values of honesty andintegrity are mores that start at home.Parents fooling schools and giving fakeEconomically Weaker Section (EWS)certificates is a widespread corrupt prac-tice which schools the child into believ-ing that it is okay to lie.

A lot was done by the Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal to streamlinenursery admissions to private schools. Allin good stead but at school, we saw manyparents submitting EWS certificates.When we investigated their background,we found out that they earned �5-�10lakh per annum through renting theirhouses and other means of work. Whenwe refused them admission, they com-plained to the administration which, inturn, said to us that when parents havethe EWS certificate, what is the issue ingiving them admission? Getting anEWS certificate made is very easy. Nowthe nursery admissions are startingfrom today onwards (December 27), wewill be getting many such cases. To iden-tify and filter the genuine EWS catego-ry children, we need a mechanism forauditing and monitoring such cases.

Our Education system continues tobe skewed with many deformities, includ-

ing the totally juvenile CBSE Board. Ourteacher pool is short and nothing is beingdone to spruce up faculties across thenation. The most important pillar of edu-cation is primary education which hascontinued to be ignored with much of theGovernment focus is on higher educa-tion, the IITs, the IIMs etc.

While the Government school infra-structure and teachers were under con-stant scrutiny, private education gotmore and more commercial with mon-eybags hijacking agendas in their bid toearn as much as possible and without anyaccountability. The earlier crop of edu-cation magnates who knew the sectorwell became a dying race.

If we talk about higher education,students who can afford quality educa-tion are opting to study abroad atrenowned universities. And those whocannot afford are aiming for not less thanIITs, IIMs, AIIMS etc. The biggest con-cern is students who are doing well intheir various fields in India are aspiringto work in the foreign countries, leadingto brain drain. These people innovatedin other countries and only a handful ofthem researched and innovated in India.After 70 years of establishment of theinstitutions which are meant for researchand development, we are unable todevelop our strength in R&D or retaintalent and workforces within India.

Education needs to be totallyrevamped. We need the right kind ofeducation, run by genuine teachers andeducators who are deeply involved in thesector. People who run this sector shouldunderstand all the four aspects of edu-cation — primary, upper primary, sec-ondary and technical education. We haveto be accountable, strict and have manda-tory teacher training capsules.

The writer is Director of GyanBharti School, New Delhi.

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The yearly round up of the Education sector inIndia for 2017 is quite grim. According to the

‘World Development Report 2018: ‘Learning toRealize Education’s Promise’, India ranks secondafter Malawi in a list of 12 countries, wherein agrade two student could not read a single wordof a short text or perform two-digit subtraction.The schooling system in India today continues tofocus rigidly on memorisation rather than onnourishing intellectual creativity. This deficiencyis even more pronounced as benchmark studiesby Trends in International Mathematics andScience Study (TIMSS) and Progress inInternational Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) sug-gest, creating a skills deficit and making gradu-ates non-competitive and/or unemployable in thejobs market.

The positives were that there is a lot of edu-cation focus on CSR activities of various compa-nies. It is one of the top spending areas amongcompanies according to most surveys. But thatspend was largely focused on non-academicactivities (focusing on infrastructure building inschools, distribution of bags, books etc) rather thanon improving the quality of education in the K-12 space. In the past year, we have witnessed ahuge explosion in the digital content space withDigital Digitisation the trending keyword influ-encing the inclusion of digital content in the learn-ing modules in schools.

But still, there is still a lot to be fixed in the cur-rent education system in our country. There hasbeen a short supply of content that addresses mid-dle schools, which have been largely ignored. Fromhere on, the gaps begin to appear which has long-reaching effects. Despite the proliferation of hugecontent, syllabus continues to very dry and not funfor students.

Simultaneously, teacher training is entirelymissing as a focus area from CSR initiatives. Veryfew programmes exist to assist teachers. The for-mal colleges offering BEd focus entirely on ped-agogy with the assumption that subject matterexpertise is present. This assumption, for the mostpart, is incorrect. Also, the quality of teachers enter-ing the profession seems to be dropping. The pri-mary reasons for choosing the profession seem tobe for “convenience”. This compromises the qual-ity of teaching in the classroom. The enormouseffort and money spent by the Government andprivate agencies on teacher training have limitedimpact because the quality of talent entering theteaching profession is suspect.

In 2017, not much has changed. �����������$�#���$�,��� ��E&DC,&�������������

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Google in association withPluralsight and Udacity hasrecently announced a newscholarship programme to help130,000 developers and stu-dents across India. Around100,000 scholarships on thePluralsight technology learningplatform and 30,000 scholar-ships on Udacity are beingsponsored to help developersgain access to advanced learn-ing curriculum and furthertheir employability in emergingtechnologies like mobile andweb development, machinelearning, AR/VR, ArtificialIntelligence, and cloud plat-forms.

Interested candidates willalso get access to Pluralsight IQ,where they can measure theirskills in the latest technologieswithin five minutes. This newscholarship programme is incontinuation of Google’s plansto train two million developersin India, to help spur innovationand support the growth ofIndia’s start-up ecosystem.

Those interested can visithttps://developers.google.com/training/programs/india/ and learnmore about the scholarships.

Macquarie University, hasannounced scholarship worthAUD $1.5 million to rewardoutstanding students in India,with a focus on supportingpostgraduate female students,undergraduate students across

all Macquarie courses,and students interested in

pursuing data science.The Macquarie

International Women’sScholarship for postgraduatefemale students will enablewomen in India to achievecareer goals by improving theaffordability of acquiring aMasters degree from Macquarie.The scholarship will provide forup to AUD $11,000 in tuitionfees for the full duration of thecourse.

The Macquarie UniversityUG Academic ExcellenceScholarship is being offered toapplicants applying for under-graduate degrees and providesfor up to AUD $17,000 intuition fees for the full durationof the course for academic ses-sion commencing in 2018.

V i c e - C h a n c e l l o r ’ sInternational Scholarships —Data Science Scholarship forIndian students — MacquarieUniversity has recently launcheda new Master of Data Scienceprogramme. To encourage highquality applicants for this newprogramme, the university willoffer a scholarship worth up toAUD $12,000 for the full dura-tion of the course for academ-ic session commencing in 2018.

Applicants for all scholar-ships will be required to meetthe English requirements. Formore details visithttps://www.mq.edu.au/study/why-study-here/scholarships/schol-arships

Application deadline: Thedeadline is January 31, 2018 forsession 1 and June 30, 2018 forsession 2.

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QUERY: Hi. My name isAmit Rawat. My date of birth isDecember 19, 1995. Please letme know which career is bestsuited for me as per my planetcondition in astrology.

BHATT: Your element is Fire,ruling planet is Jupiter. You arephilosophical, optimistic, straight-forward by nature. You enjoyyour freedom of movement andself-expression and can do bestworking in a field that allows youboth. You can be a great counsel-lor, untiring worker and goodteam leader at extracting workfrom others.

You are an individual whocannot be carried away by moneyor fame. You are a person withgood habits and actions. You areborn with many career optionsand are suitable at many placeswith good productivity at work.Mars in Sagittarius makes one awarrior. You could spoil yourhealth and wealth due to angerand harsh speech. Be cautious andpractice meditation to controlyour anger and bring harmony inprofessional and personal relation-ships.

Anchor: You have the abilityto shine through your well-designed manners. You are verysmart, have an intelligence senseof humor and also know that howto incarcerate the other concen-tration. You like to show out andhighlight the unique qualities.These qualities makes you perfectfor anchor.

Journalist: Any field relatedto public interest is the best careeroption for you. Whether they areout for reporting, Sagittarius is justthe person to make sure the rightinformation get covered. This is areal profession because they get to

work in the public eyewithout necessarily becom-ing a celebrity.

Business: Your zodiac signmakes you perfect for business.Due to your need for freedom toexplore and strong independentstreak or being in a position ofcontrol, you can do fairly well inyour own business. Your starsshows you have a natural flair forsales and marketing. You knowhow to convince the clients withtheir fine eloquence and presen-tation skills. Sagittarius entrepre-neur is a gifted mentor for salesand marketing team.

Managing Operations:Sagittarius are good in managingthe operations as they can makepeople enthusiastic about projectsand bring the positive energy inthem. Hence you can do well inany job related to managingadministration, operations or pro-ject manager.

Doctor: Usually, Sagittarianshave best personalities for work-ing in healthcare. Your stars showsthat you are quite selfless in yoururge to help and support others,you could make a wonderfullyintuitive doctor.

Sagittarians can be a goodteacher, professor, public speaker,politician, bank employee andthey can make a successful careerin any professions related to reli-gion and education institutions,editing and publishing, companylaw, civil engineering, contractorsand foreign assignments also.Hence you have many options,you can choose from according toyour interest.F"��� �(.��������������������

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The Education Sector is at an interest-ing juncture. On one hand, there isa growing focus on achieving learn-

ing outcomes, while on the other, technol-ogy is being adopted quickly and contentbeing rewritten and redesigned to adapt toa variety of emerging media. Technologyhas clearly emerged as the single biggesttheme to impact the sector in the last fewyears. This augurs well for the present-daylearner, as also for educators and others inthe teaching-learning process. Let us lookat edtech trends that changed the educa-tion landscape forever.

Virtual and Augmented Reality (VRand AR): This has been the most talkedabout the trend of 2017. The VR immers-es the user in a virtual or imaginary envi-ronment. Immersive educational envi-ronments area l r e a d ybeing usedto providelearners alife-like experiencein subjects asdiverse as historyand chemistry. AR,on the other hand,is a technologyused to present anenhanced version ofreality where ele-ments of the physi-cal real-world envi-ronment are aug-mented with digitallearning experiences.

AR/VR technologieshelp learners experienceand interact with digitallearning objects to support their learning.Educators, who earlier had print or digi-tal images and animations for teachingsupport, now can leverage these high-fidelity educational experiences to achievebetter learning outcomes.

Adaptive learning: Adaptive learninghas the potential to solve a crucial chal-lenge in classroom learning — how toengage learners of different abilities in thesame classroom! Adaptive learning systemsuse machine learning and to help person-alise the presentation of learning materi-al based on their learning speed, interestand problem areas.

In the hands of teachers, this canbecome an important tool to ensure moreuniform learning.

Machine learning along with naturalprocessing and speech recognition tech-nologies are also facilitating the develop-ment of conversational programmes, alsocalled chatbots. The bots can be pro-grammed to provide a wide variety of ser-vices such as tutoring.

Learning Analytics: The focus isshifting from big data to ‘little’ data.Little data is personal activity data whichwhen analysed by intelligent systems, isable to provide key insights into the waystudents learn.

It may well become an importantsource of information and insight ondecision-making for educators all overIndia. It may also unlock new potential for

personalisation of tools and content.By adding the right information cap-

ture mechanisms and real-time insightcapabil it ies, traditional LearningManagement Systems can now vastly

enhance the teaching-learning experi-ence.

Online Assessments: New forms oftechnology mediated assess-

ments have enabled a bigshift from fixed-in-

point summativea s s e s s m e nt s ,

which aretoday at the

core of thelearning process, to

more continuous and adaptive formativeassessments. Online assessment solutionsare clearly more customisable, interactive,secure and quick to deliver. They workacross multiple platforms (mobile includ-ed) and offer detailed interactive dash-boards to analyse performance from var-ious aspects.

The ability to store historical assess-ment data and compare progress over timecan be used to establish a trend and alsodraw inferences on the learners’ progressin the context of learning. Online testingalso brings in the benefits of anytime test-ing, remote proctoring, real-time audio-video integration and also more person-alised testing.

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�������������India’s Education Sector faces a plethora of chal-

lenges due to the country’s geographic anddemographic variations. Making sure that qual-

ity education is available across the length and breadthof the country is a logistical nightmare for any enti-ty. Emerging technologies have come to the marketwith the potential to engage with these limitationsand some had a bearing in 2017.

Cloud-based technology: Cloud-based sharingof educational content has enabled educators toadvance their reach withoutneeding to significantly spendon infrastructure, as they canupload this informa-tion and share itwith their stu-dents withgreater flexi-bility thanbefore. In acountry likeIndia, this canhelp students fromacross the country get accessto relevant educational content with much greaterease.

New technologies opened up theEducation Sector to disrup-tion, leaving it poised to bring

the benefits of education in greatermeasure. These technologiesengage directly with thelogistical inefficiencies andfailures of the legacy edu-cational system in India,and represent the comingtogether of global technol-ogy paradigms to heraldthe dawn of edtech sector.

Smartphone learning:The prolific rise of smart-phones in India in the last cou-ple of years has indelibly changedhow Indians from various differentclasses and regions access and useinformation. India’s increase in inter-net penetration has largely been drivenby this spread of internet-enabledphone, and the new generation hastaken to these devices in greater num-bers than other demographics.Smartphones have an unbelievablepotential for education, with severalapplications already in the market

t h a tp r o v i d e

multimedia content to explain conceptsas basic as multiplication to complexideas such as calculus. At presentsmartphones and the educational appli-cations on them are providing supple-mentary content to help students withtheir doubts and confusion, but in thefuture, they might become a primaryavenue for disseminating education.

�.���%� &, C��0$-($�/%�%4� For most stu-dents, the most edu-cational relationshipthey have often comefrom their peers.Whether it is friends

clearing up doubts orhelping you through

solving a tough question, peer-based learning is an important part

of education. But even the closest andmost dependable friend might not beavailable at all points of time.Technology has now enabled access notjust to people whose phone numbersyou might have, but a global commu-nity of students and experts that can beaccessed through forums, social media,or learning platforms that encouragediscussions amongst users.

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<������� �The year 2017 has certain-

ly been an adventurousyet learning curve for

the education sector with lead-ers having aced numerouschallenges in flying colours.Elements like flipped class-rooms, multilingual learning,faculty professional develop-ment and skill training arekeeping the sector on its toes.Here are a few points:

Personalised learning:Assembling content in a spe-cific learning environmentthat meets the individual stu-dent’s needs is the paramountneed of the hour. The contentis generally delivered throughonline and micro learningportals.

Safeguarding personalidentifiable information:While going digital on a largescale is a good move, the dig-

ital footprints left across byyoung ones can be increment-ing for their safety. Proactiveinstitutions have already takenprecautions of using layeredprotection to detect discrepan-cies and leaks.

Gamification and simu-lations: Learning throughgamification and simulationsis a powerful yet enjoyable wayto catch young minds andimpart education.

Leveraging learning ana-lytics: With the emergence abracing connecting infrastruc-ture and affordability in com-puting power, institutionssharpened their capacity toprovide all-inclusive learningopportunities to students inmobile locations.

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When a person is dubbed asthe next Kapil Dev, you

know he has done somethingright and Hardik Pandya couldhardly do any wrong in 2017 as heproved his mettle in all three for-mats. His rise started in the IPLwhere he shone with both bat andball. Afted being called up to thenational side, he continued his bril-

liant run by playing many dazzlingknocks filled with breathtakingstroke-play and also bowled at live-ly pace. He also made his Testdebut and by scoring a hundredagainst Sri Lanka, gave India theall-rounder they have been look-ing for in that format. While com-parisons with Kapil Dev may beslightly premature, there is nodoubt that India have unearthed anextremely bright talent.

Olympic silver medallistSindhu once again

reigned supreme of theIndian badmintonscene throughimpressive perfor-

mances through theyear. She avenged her

loss to Carolina Marinin the Olympic gold

medal match on home soilby defeating her in the Final of

the Indian Open. She then reachedthe Final of the World Championshipand took part in one of the greatestmatches in the history of the sportagainst Nozomi Okuhara which she lostafter an epic encounter. The final wentdown to th e decisive third set and last-ed for one hour and 49 minutes. The

match also started a rivalry betweent thetwo. Sindhu had her revenge by beatingOkuhara in the Final of the Korea Open.The year ended with the Hyderabadireaching the Final of the Dubai SuperSeries Finals and again missed the titleby a small margin but once again prov-ing that she brings her best in big tour-naments.

Who would havethought that a 20-

year old boy wouldemerge as the biggest starof PKL and completelyovershadow giants of thegame like Anup Kumarand Rahul Chaudhary.That's exactly whatPardeep Narwal did

and in the process raised the bar of perfor-mance to unseen heights in the 5th edition ofPKL. Stats tell the story of his domination thisseason: 369 points, 18 super raids and 19 super10's which included 20+ point performancesalso. Not only did he dominate the entire sea-son but also rose to the occasion in the Final byrescuing his team from precarious positions andgetting them the PKL 5 title.

Indian football over-saw some major

changes this year. Thesenior national team ison a 13-match unbeatenstreak and broke intotop 100 of FIFA rankingfor the first time. ButIndia under-17 boys tookthe limelight away fromthe men as India hostedthe FIFA under-17 World Cup. The team failedto win any of their matches but Dheeraj Singhbecame crowd favourite with his series of mar-velous saves in all the games. Although JeaksonSingh created history by becoming the first andonly Indian player to score in a football WorldCup, Dheeraj was the talk of the town.

Vijender Singh began 2017being unbeaten in his pro-

boxing career and has finished itwithout a blemish. He had toendure a gruelling contestagainst China’s ZulpikarMaimaitiali which went down tothe wire but Vijender somehowemerged as the winner and showedgreat sportsmanship by offering toreturn his opponent’s belt whichhe had won. He then faced ErnestAmuzu at the end of the year andproved himself by registering aneasy win. He has already put otheron notice by saying that he isaiming for the World title.

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David Warner posted a century after ano-ball reprieve and skipper Steve

Smith was on track for four straightBoxing Day tons as Australia made a solidstart to the fourth Ashes Test againstEngland on Tuesday.

Warner received a massive let-off on99 to claim his 21st Test hundred as anAustralia side chasing a series whitewashtook full advantage of winning the toss onan unresponsive Melbourne CricketGround drop-in pitch.

The aggressive opener, who had beenmarooned in the 90s for over 40 minutes,was poised on 99 to bring up his centu-ry as he faced the last ball of debutant TomCurran's fifth over.

But instead Warner top-edged a catchto mid-on and walked off to the jubila-tion of the England team, only forreplays to detect a no-ball for Curranoverstepping, meaning Warner wascalled back to the crease.

The next delivery Warneradded further to the Englandteam's dark mood when heraised his hundred off 130balls with a flick off his hip andcelebrated by leaping into theair and ripping off his helmetto salute the 88,172 Boxing Day crowd atthe MCG.

But Warner didn't stay at the creasefor much longer after his massive let-off,as he was caught behind off JamesAnderson for 103.

Smith, who hasn't been dismissed ina Melbourne Test match since Boxing Day2014, was still batting at the close on 65with Shaun Marsh not out 31 andAustralia 244 for three.

In the last three showpiece BoxingDay Tests, Smith has scored 192 againstIndia, 134 not out against the WestIndies and an unbeaten 165 last yearagainst Pakistan.

So far in this series Smith has amassed491 runs at a stunning average of 163.66from five innings.

Australia have already reclaimed theAshes after taking an unassailable three-nil lead in the five-Test series and are seek-ing a 5-0 whitewash over the beleagueredtourists.

The Australians freewheeled to lunchat 102 without loss with Warner leadingthe charge but England's bowlers toiledaway under a hot sun to restrict the homeside in the remaining two sessions.

In the process of raising his centuryWarner brought up 6,000 runs in his 70th

Test, making him the joint fourth- fastestAustralian to do so behind Don Bradman,Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden andalongside Greg Chappell.

Stuart Broad got his first wicket sincethe second Adelaide Test to end a barrenrun of 414 balls when he had UsmanKhawaja snapped up by Jonny Bairstow for17, and incoming Shaun Marsh surviveda leg before wicket review off the next ball.

England also took the wicket ofCameron Bancroft in the middle sessionleg before wicket for 26 off 95 balls facingChris Woakes in the 35th over.

Bancroft shared in a 122-run openingstand and was the passive partner asWarner chased runs.

It was the first toss captain Joe Roothas failed to win in the series, and was apotentially bad one to lose on a straw-coloured pitch with an unforgiving dayahead in the field for England.

The Australian players were wearingblack armbands in memory of ThomasMaggs, wicketkeeper Tim Paine's father-in- law, who passed away on Sunday.

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Amoment of sheer wizardrywas witnessed at the Dr

Ambedkar Stadium whenNongdamba Naoremdribbled past four

Shillong Lajong defendersto score the second goal of

his team as the IndianArrows marched on to win

the match 3-0 here onTuesday.

The Arrows ended theirthree-match losing streakwith a complete performanceas they dominated every

aspect of the game against a 10-man Lajong side — after sub-stitute F Lalrohlua saw his sec-ond yellow at 68th minute fora late tackle on Ali — in the offi-cial 90 minutes of play.

"It's very important for us towin the match, especially afterlosing three matches. We need-ed things to go our way to getback our confidence and weexactly managed to do that. Wewould like to build up on thiswin and keep getting positiveresults," said the stalwart goal-keeper Dheeraj Singh.

The teenagers looked hun-gry from the word go as they

exerted pressure on the awayside from the word go. Theysoon opened their account atthe 19th minute from a first-touch finish by centre-backJitendra Singh. The goal was aresult of quick link-up playfrom a free-kick that saw left-back Sanjeev Stalin plays RahimAli free on the flanks. The for-ward wasted no time in feedingunmarked centre-back JitendraSingh inside the box.

The match turned into amidfield battle after that asnone of the side were able to ekeout a clear chance further in thefirst half.

The same continued in thesecond half but graduallyRobert Nongrum-coached sidestarted looking more confidentwith their build-ups, especial-ly from set-pieces; Achilles heelof Arrows so far this season.

But that changed whenLalrohlua was sent off at 68thminute. Arrows' Stand-in coachFloyd Pinto — for coach LuisNorton de Matos, who is on aChristmas holiday — soonbrought on Naorem and KPRahul; albeit for defensive pur-poses but the duo end up doingoffensive wreckage.

After Naorem's solo goal in

the 85th minute, Rahul scoreda blinder of his own from out-side the box as shot-stopperPhurba Lachenpa stood nochance of blocking the shot inthe injury time.

"Despite being down to 10men, Shillong were attacking innumbers from the flanks so Isent in Nong (Naorem) andRahul to help the fullbacksfirst," said Pinto. "They did thatextra bit of effort themselves toscore the goals. We all knowhow efficient of a dribbler Nongis. For Rahul, when he connectsthe ball well with his feet, he isunstoppable."

Lajong coach Nongrumheaped praises on the youngestteam in the league.

"They were much improvedside than we saw them in pre-vious matches. They read ourgame well and got control of thegame in the first 15 minutesitself," said the Lajong gaffer.

Arrows will next playMohun Bagan away in Kolkataon December 29. The venue isyet to be decided as the I-leaguegiants have made an appeal toplay their home matches attheir own 22000-capacity homeground.

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Olympic and World Championshipsilver medallist PV Sindhu feels

the experimental service law in bad-minton could have come at a better time.

According to the new rule, "thewhole of the shuttle shall be below 1.15metres from the surface of the court atthe instant of being hit by the server'sracket".

The law will be tested at next year'sAll England Open Championships.

"From my side its just that it couldhave come at a better time. A differenttournament instead of the All EnglandChampionships because it is a veryprestigious tournament for everybody,"Sindhu said here on Tuesday whenasked about the service experiment .

"As far as my service goes I am try-ing but it should not be much of prob-lem. We just need to practice it out," shesaid.

Asked about the cramped interna-tional calendar, which has been slammed

by top players like Saina Nehwal andCarolina Marin, Sindhu said there is nopoint talking about it.

"The calender has already come outso we can not say we won't play. Ofcourse its a very tough schedule withWorld Championship, Asian Games and

Commonwealth Games. I am going topick and choose tournaments and planwith the coach accordingly."

The Badminton World Federation(BWF) had earlier received a lot of flakafter it made it mandatory for top shut-tlers to play at least 12 tournaments ina revamped schedule for 2018.

However, Sindhu is not on the samepage as some of the fellow players whosuggested that badminton calendarshould have tournaments like the tennisGrand slams.

"I cannot comment about someoneelse, how they prepare for the tourna-ment and they can't say about me. Sometournaments maybe are important forothers while some are important for me,"she said at a press conference, ahead ofher team's PBL tie against MumbaiRockets.

Talking about her much awaitedclash with Nehwal, which did not takeplace due to the latter's injury, Sindhusaid she was looking forward to playingagainst the fellow Indian.

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2016 was a hard act to follow for ViratKohli considering his prolific run ofform in that year. But Kohli did exact-

ly that, hammering 6 ODI and 5 Test tonsin the year including 3 double hundreds.The year also saw him take over from MSDhoni as the skipper in the limited oversformat and his success as a leader in Testswas replicated in the shorter versions as

well. Under him, India won all series theyplayed across formats, home and away, andalso reached the Finals of the ChampionsTrophy apart from remaining the No 1ranked Test side. Like 2016, Kohli was ona record-breaking spree this year and isnow looking to establishhimself as an all-timegreat.

TOP PERFORMERS OF 2017����������� �������������������!�����"�������������������������!����������#���� ���������������� ���!�

For all those whodoubted whether

women's cricket can beas exciting as the men'sversion, HarmanpreetKaur's magnificentinnings of 171 not out offjust 115 balls in thewomen's World Cupsemi-final againstAustralia must have set-tled the issue. Shesecured her name in thehistory of the game byplaying one of the great-est knocks by an Indianbatter — man or women— and arguably the bestin the history of thewomen's game. Her mer-ciless destruction of theAustralian bowlingattack made her as famil-iar a name among crick-et fans as that of ViratKohli or Rohit Sharmaand has inspired a wholegeneration of young girlsto thing about taking upthe game.

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India's search for a consistentperformer in the men's sin-

gles division ended with one ofhis protégé's Kidambi Srikanthachieving great heights in 2017.The 24-year old from Gunturjoined an elite club of interna-tional players by winning fourSuper Series titles in the year -French Open, Denmark Open,Indonesia Open and Australia Open. In rankings, heclimbed as high as the No 2 spot. Surprisingly, he suf-fered losses to B Sai Praneeth and HS Prannoy in theFinals of the Singapore Open Super Series.

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Already establishedas one of the

most devastating bats-men in limited overs

cricket, Rohit added to hisreputation by his consistentrun of form this year in both

ODI T20 formats whichculminated in him scor-ing his third ODI dou-

ble hundred and thejoint fastest T20Ihundred — taking

just 35 balls to reachthe three figure mark.

He also showed his abil-ities as a skipper by lead-

ing Mumbai Indians to theIPL title and later in the year

captained the national teamto victories in both the ODIand T20 home series against

Sri Lanka.

15

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PV Sindhu scaled new heights but itwas K Srikanth who took Indianbadminton by storm with a higher

title count as male shuttlers finally cameout of the shadows in a season ofunprecedented success for the sport.

It was a year when the nationalanthem played quite frequently at stadiaacross the globe as either Sindhu orSrikanth stood on the podium in aseries of elite badminton tournaments.

If Sindhu cemented her place amongthe world's very best with three titles andthree silvers, Srikanth exceeded all expec-tations with four titles and a runners-upfinish to join the big league in a trulyremarkable season.

Infact, men's players managed to out-shine their women's counterpart as B SaiPraneeth and H S Prannoy too shonethrough on the international stage.

Another memorable aspect of theyear was the return of Saina Nehwal andhopes of resurgence in doubles.

The appointment of Indonesia'sMulyo Handoyo, best known for coach-ing Taufik Hidayat, gave a massive impe-tus to Indian badminton, which also alsosaw a change of guard at the associationwith Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma becom-ing the president following the suddendemise of Dr Akhilesh Das Gupta.

Among all the postcard moments thisyear, Sindhu's exhausted frame afterinnumerable energy-sapping matches isunlikely to be forgotten anytime soon.Her triumphs were not just a reflectionof talent but also the sheer determinationof the 22-year-old.

The World Championship's 110-minute epic final against Japan's NozomiOkuhara had fans on the edge of theirseats. And the summit clashes at KoreaOpen and the Dubai Super Series Finalwere as emotionally draining if notmore.

Though the Hyderabadi had toendure three painful final losses —

World Championship, Hong Kong Openand Dubai Super Series Finals — she alsoenjoyed the high of clinching Super Seriestitles at the India Open and Korea Open,besides the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold.

On the other hand, Srikanth's abili-ty to peak in successive weeks twice in ayear made him the first Indian to winfour titles in a season, a feat onlyachieved by the iconic Lin Dan, LeeChong Wei and Chen Long.

After recovering from an ankle injurythat nearly kept him out of action for fourmonths last year, the 24-year-old fromGuntur hit a purple patch in April as hereached three successive finals atSingapore, Indonesia and Australia.

He won the last two and it helpedhim regain his place in the top 10 andalso grab the top spot in the badmintonearnings chart.

His unbeaten streak, however, endedat the World Championship when he lost

to South Korea's Son Wan in the quar-ters but the Indian soon regained histouch, securing two wins in two weeksagain at Denmark and France in October.

His envious run earned him theWorld No 2 position and a spot in theseason-ending Dubai Finals.

However, non-stop badminton tooka toll as Srikanth aggravated his leg injuryduring the National Championships,where he finished second to Prannoy andhad to stay off the circuit for two tour-

naments.While Sindhu and Srikanth domi-

nated, Praneeth and Prannoy also maderapid strides with the former defeatingSrikanth at the Singapore Open in an all-Indian final to lay claim to his maidenSuper Series title.

Six weeks later, Praneeth secured theThailand Grand Prix Gold title.

Prannoy, meanwhile, notched upwins over Malaysian legend Lee ChongWei and China's Chen Long on succes-sive days to reach the semifinals at theIndonesia Open.

The 25-year-old later scooped the USOpen Grand Prix Gold title beating Pkashyap in another all-Indian finals.

He again outwitted Chong Wei at theDenmark Open and his rampaging runsaw him reach a career-best ranking ofWorld No. 10, besides becoming thecostliest buy at the PBL auction inOctober.

The year also saw Saina returning toaction to clinch the Malaysia MastersGrand Prix Gold early in the year. Shegave ample proof of her progress by bag-ging a bronze at the WorldChampionship.

Saina also notched up an incrediblewin over Sindhu at the finals of the SeniorNationals, which saw the return of topplayers, following initiatives taken by DrSarma.

But the 27-year-old's fitness remaineda concern and she decided to reunite withher long-time mentor Gopichand afterspending three years under Vimal Kumar.

The year also saw 16-year-oldLakshya Sen winning two titles at theIndia International Series and EurasiaBulgarian Open before finishing runners-up at the Tata Open India International.

With his wards dishing out consistentperformances, the legend of national coachPullela Gopichand only grew but allega-tions of favouritism against him followinghis daughter Gayatri's selection in theWorld Junior Championship team did raisesome uncomfortable questions.

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Ishant Sharma is yet to realise his true poten-tial, feels former pacer Venkatesh Prasad, who

wants the lanky speedster to lead the Indian attackin next month's tough tour of South Africa.

India have picked up five pace specialists --Ishant, Umesh Yadav, Bhuveshwar Kumar,Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah -- for thethree-Test series starting in Cape Town onJanuary 5.

By far the most experienced pacer out of thefive, Ishant, has been bowling well of late but heis not a sure starter in the playing eleven.

The 29-year-old made his Test debut way backin 2007 and has played 79 Tests since then, tak-ing 226 wickets at an average of 36.55.

"Ishant has been around for more than adecade. It is high time that he leads the attack. Idon't know what the issue is. He has got the pace,the height, the aggression but he has not realisedhis potential. He should be playing the role thatSrinath (Javagal) played when he was around, orZaheer Khan or Kapil Dev when they played,"Prasad told PTI today.

Talking about the Indian pacers picked for theSouth Africa tour, Prasad said there is enoughvariety but a lot would depend on how they adaptto the conditions.

"They all are different to each other. Withmore and more cricket being played and morerolling, the pitches in South Africa are not whatthey were 10-15 years ago.

"However, the extra bounce would surely suitthe faster bowlers but it remains to be seen howthe Indian pacers adapt to the conditions afterdoing well at home," said Prasad.

Bumrah has received his maiden call-up inTests after doing well consistently in the shorterformats.

"He has done well and that is why he has beenpicked. Let him get the opportunity then we willsee how he fares. The requirements of bowling inTests are different to the needs of the shorter for-mats," said Prasad, who toured South Africa twice.

India's bowling attack certainly looks promis-ing while South Africa boast of names like DaleSteyn, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander andKagiso Rabada.

Prasad feels Steyn and Morkel, who are com-ing back after an injury lay-off, will not be much ofa threat to the formidable Indian batting but the vis-itors need to be wary of Rabada.

"With due respect, I don't see Steyn and Morkelposing a big threat. The bowler India need to watchout for is Rabada. He is young, he has got the paceand creates that awkward bounce for the batsman,"he opined.

Prasad said there is no reason why India can'tpost 350 or more consistently against the SouthAfrican attack.

"Most of our batsmen have been doing really welland I expect their rich run to continue in SouthAfrica. They are experienced enough to deal withthe conditions."

Prasad, however, added that expectationsshould be equal from the Indian batsmen andbowlers.

"Everytime India tour South Africa, England orAustralia, there is a tendency to put extra pressureon the bowlers. That is not fair.

"It will be really important for the batsmen toput up 350 runs or more in the first innings and thenthe bowlers come into play. And I actually see theentire team performing well and win their maidenseries in South Africa," Prasad predicted.

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I-League giants Kingfisher EastBengal would be hoping to go top

of the table with a win when they hostGokulam Kerala FC at theYuvabharati Krirangan in Kolkataon Wednesday.

After shrugging of a rather poorstart to the season, the Red and Goldshave recorded three wins on the spinand return home in hopes of pickingall three points against the Hero I-League newbies, thus propelling themto the top of the table, albeit after hav-ing played a game more than currentleaders Minerva Punjab FC.

Head coach Khalid Jamil did notsee this as an opportunity to jump thegun and get too excited. "We have tojust go and play good football. Everyteam which comes to play us will givetheir hundred percent so we cannottake anyone lightly. I do not knowmuch about their (Gokulam KeralaFC's) specialities but I had watchedtheir first game. We have to play pos-itive and think about our own gamerather than others", humbly saidJamil.

Willis Plaza, who announced hiscomeback into goalscoring form twogames ago with a brace againstChurchill Brothers ten days ago,remained positive as well. He said, "Iam feeling good at the moment withmy game and have been workinghard. But the end of the matter is thatwe need three points."

Though the Red and Golds havebeen in sublime goalscoring form,with twelve hits to the team's name,shipping in seven goals in five gameswill be a concern they would like toaddress quickly. Arnab Mondal hasbeen reinstated with Eduardo Ferreiraand it will be up to the duo to keepthe defence organized with theircombined leadership and experience.

While Mahmoud Al Amna andKatsumi Yusa remain the men towatch out for, Charles De Souzamight be persisted with after hescored his first goal for the club in thelast round, that too against his formeremployers Chennai City FC.

On the other hand, after pickingup their first win of the seasonagainst the Indian Arrows, GokulamKerala FC will possibly be missing the

services of Stephane Kamo Bayi,whose brother Bazie Armand is partof the Kingfisher East Bengal squad.The participation of SushanthMathew and Khalid Al-Saleh are

also under a cloud after the duopicked up injuries, the latter havingscored in the last game.

Striker Leo Mbele and defenderDaniel Addo will have added respon-sibilities to rally a side that lies sev-enth on the points table but howev-er are exempt from relegation thisHero I-League season. EmmanuelChigozie returned to their lineup inthe last game and the Calicut-basedside will take solace from the fact thatthey have had a rather tight backline,conceding only five goals so far andwill hope to keep it that way.

Bino George on the eve of thegame said, "I have respect forKingfisher East Bengal, they are a bigteam. I am looking for a point here.I am not happy with the performanceswe have put in so far but this is a newclub and it will take time before westart performing."

Striker Rohit Mirza sat beside himechoed his Boss' sentiments. "They area good side. We take one match at atime. We are working hard and hope-fully, we will play well. There is pres-sure and we will want to win apoint," he said.

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I-league Defending championsAizwal FC will host league

leaders Minerva Punjab FC at theRajiv Gandhi Stadium in Aizawlon Wednesday.

The reigning championsAizawl FC had the last laugh lastseason in this tie, courtesy theown goal by Loveday.

Minerva Punjab FC arecoming to the tie from anunbeaten home run which hasearned them 13 points from 5matches.

Minerva Punjab FC coachKhogen Singh is well aware oftheir position in the league andhe stressed on keeping the focuson the match but nothing else.

He opined, "We will try tocontinue this form until the endof the season. But our fixtureswill be tougher as playing in awaymatches and I have experiencedthis as a player myself. Aizawl willbe a tough opponent but i hopewe can end the season in our cur-rent position."

Minerva Punjab FC's tran-

sition from relegation battlers tofighting for the championship ismuch help by the addition of for-warding Chencho Gyeltshen.The Bhutanese forward feelsconfident as he hopes to finish hisfirst season in India with flyingcolours.

Chencho made the differ-ence in their last match havingscored the solitary goal of thematch against Indian Arrows.

He stated, "It is my first sea-son in India and it is quite dif-ferent to Bhutan. I want to scoreas many goals possible and be thebest player in the league. Liftingthe Hero I-League with Minervais my main aim and I hope we

can achieve that as a team,"Chencho is one of the best

players in the league so far butAizawl's Portuguese coach PauloMenezes said they will not manmark the forward.

"Man-marking is not myphilosophy and we will not markChencho tomorrow as well. Wewill play as a team and I hope wecan collect 3 points," Menezessaid.

The champions Aizawl FCwere the battered side in their lasttie at their fortress when theywent down to their Northeasternrivals Shillong Lajong FC, thanksto the sole strike by RedeemTlang.

Aizawl FC captain AlfredJaryan feels that they are a dif-ferent team as compared to lastseason title winning side.

"As compared to the last sea-son, we are a completely peculiarside. The coach is different andour styles and tactics are also dif-ferent. But there are still a lot ofmatches to be played and I hopewe can finish the season in agood fashion," he opined.

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Former Indian football captain Bhaichung Bhutiafeels strengthening club culture and providing

attractive pay will encourage more people to takesports as a profession in the country.

Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar had last weekraised the issue of financial security of athletes, say-ing it is often a challenge when any person decidesto focus on sports alone as their career.

Bhutia agreeing to the batting maestro saidfinancial security is definitely a factor while choos-ing a career but also pointed out that things haveimproved with the advent of professional leaguesin different sports disciplines.

This trend, along with the long standing foot-

ball culture, has provided sportspersons withmore opportunities to earn a decent living.

"I guess the club structure in any sport has tobe strong. Incentive for sportspersons when theydo well at state and national levels has to be good.And corporates have to come up (in a bigger way)and sponsor", Bhutia told PTI.

He said that more than health insurance, it isgood pay that will attract people to take up sportsas a career.

Bhutia also emphasised on the importance ofhaving health insurance for national-level athletes.

It is really good if sportspersons are coveredunder health insurance. But more importantly, oneshould have good club structure, which offers attrac-tive professional contracts to players, the 41-year-old said.

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