c m y k - the pioneer...malarna dungar of swai madhopur district from friday evening. the agitation...

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The Gujjar community agi-tation demanding five per

cent quota in jobs and educa-tional institutes turned violentin Dholpur district on Sundayas shots were fired and threepolice vehicles torched.

Unidentified miscreantsfired 8-10 rounds in the airwhile the blockade on theAgra-Morena Highway was inplace, Dholpur Superintendentof Police (SP) Ajay Singh said.

The agitators set afire threepolice vehicles, including twojeeps and a bus, he added.

The SP said the protestersalso pelted stones, injuringfour Army jawans, adding thatpolice had to lob tear gas shellsto disperse the crowd.

Chief Minister AshokGehlot called the stone peltingand the torching of vehiclesunjustified. "Holding protest isjustified but sitting on railwaytracks is not. Protesters shouldcome forward for talks. TheGovernment is open for dia-logue and has constituted acommittee," he said.

Referring to the violence inDholpur, Gehlot said, "Anti-social elements have joined

the protest. Administrationand police will investigate thereasons of the incident. Gujjarleader Kirori Singh Bainsla hasappealed to maintain peace sopeople should listen to him."

Gujjars are holding a sit-inprotest on rail tracks inMalarna Dungar of SwaiMadhopur district from Fridayevening. The agitation spread as Bainsla refused to calloff the stir.

As a precautionary mea-sure, authorities have imposedprohibitory orders under CrPcsection 144 in Dholpur and

neighbouring Karauli districts,police said.

The agitation has affectedthe train movement in NorthWestern Railway (NWR) andWest Central Railway (WCR)zones of the Indian Railwayscausing inconvenience to com-mon people.

The agitators have nowstarted blocking highways con-necting major cities.

The RajasthanGovernment on Sunday past-ed a notice at the residence ofGujjar leader Bainsla — who isleading the protests that turned

violent in some areas and sawrail and road traffic being disrupted — warning himagainst violation of court direc-tives on agitation.

On Saturday, aGovernment delegation hadmet Bainsla and his supportersto hold talks, but no agreementcould be reached.

Bainsla has said that thecommunity will continue theirprotest demanding five percent reservation to the Gujjars,Raika-Rebari, Gadia Luhar,Banjara and the Gadaria com-munities in Government jobs

and educational institutions as promised by the StateGovernment.

In the notice pasted by theKarauli district administrationat Bainsla’s Hindaun residence,it has been stated that SupremeCourt and different high courtshave on several occasions direct-

ed that no public or privateproperty should be damagedand rail or railway traffic be dis-rupted during any agitation.

“If the Supreme Court andhigh court directives are notfollowed, you will be heldresponsible for contempt ofcourt,” the notice said.

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Aday before the Comptrollerand Auditor General

(CAG) is expected to submit tothe President a much-awaitedreport on its audit of big-tick-et military procurements in thelast few years, including thecontroversial Rafale deal, theCongress on Sunday accusedCAG Rajiv Mehrishi of con-flict of interest.

Addressing a Pressconference, seniorCongress leader KapilSibal questioned how Mehrishicould “investigate himself ”since he had been the UnionFinance (Economic Affairs)Secretary when Prime MinisterNarendra Modi announced theRafale deal in April 2015.

Accusing Mehrishi of being“complicit” in the “irregulari-ties” in the deal, Sibal said therewas no reason or occasion foryou to audit the 36 Rafale air-craft deal.

“Finance Ministry playsan important role in thesenegotiations... Now it is clearthat the Rafale deal happenedunder Rajiv Mehrishi. Now heis CAG. We met him twice onSeptember 19 and October 4,2018. We told him about thescam. We told him that the dealshould be probed because it iscorrupt deal. But how can heinitiate a probe against himself,”Sibal said.

Demanding that Mehrishimust recuse himself from theCAG report, Sibal alleged,“This is the corrupt deal andfair investigation should be

done, but how can CAGinvestigate himself when hewas the Finance Secretary.There is a clear conflict of inter-est.”

The CAG report on theThe President has to forwardthe CAG report to the LokSabha, the Rajya Sabha and theGovernment. The report couldbe tabled in Parliament beforeWednesday, the last day of theBudget Session and the last dayof sitting of Parliament beforethe Lok Sabha elections.

The Congress leaderalleged that CAG is going tocompletely save theGovernment in its report.

“The whole deal was mate-rialised in the supervision ofRajiv Mehrishi who was thethen Finance Secretary. Whenthe negotiations started theMinistry of Finance were partof it,” the Congress leader said.

The Congress has sent amemorandum to CAGMehrishi on the Rafale deal andreminded him about the ‘car-dinal principle of law’.

Continued on Page 4

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The occurrence of fog due tofrequent western distur-

bances and high speed of windsin north India, including Delhiand NCR, has been lowest inthe current winter compared tolast 17 years. The IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) said north India includ-ing Delhi and NCR has wit-nessed severe fog only onJanuary 18 where the visibilitywas reduced to 0 to 50 metersthis year.

Fog is a seasonal featurethat commences aroundNovember and goes on tillFebruary, impacting road, airand rail traffic badly. Generally,10 to 15 days in January and 10to 12 days in December aremarked for moderate to severefog every year.

As per data, fog occur-rence was only 19 days (95

hours) of total duration in2017-18 as compared to 29days (174 hours), 20 days (93hours), 26 days (120 hours) for2014-15, 2015-16 & 2016-17,respectively. 1n 2017, 11,090people died of fog related roadaccidents while 9,317 peopledied in 2016.

IMD officials attributedoccurrence of less fog this yearto frequent western distur-bances and high speed of windsin January this year andDecember last year. In the nor-mal circumstances, plains wit-ness rainfall during winterwhich allows formation ofground frost and moisture.This year, snowfall and rainsrestricted to hills only.

Plains have received lessrainfall which led to little mois-ture on the ground. Due to thisweather conditions are clearand fog occurrence are less innorth India during the ongoing

winter season.“When passage of a west-

ern disturbance affects theplains on a large scale it caus-es y widespread rain and thun-dershower activities. This isflowed by dense to very densefog formation,” the IMD said.

The Met Department saidJanuary witnessed seven west-ern disturbances this year whileDecember saw 6-7 western

disturbances against normalof 4-5 every year. February alsowitnessed one western distur-bance in the first week whilethe second one is expected onFebruary 13 which will bringrainfall, hailstorm and thun-derstorm in several parts espe-cially north east and southernpeninsula of the country.

“Forecasting of fog stillremains a grey area. Weather

models cannot predict fogdirectly and can only be donethrough objective and subjectivemethods,” said IMD officials.

“Dense fog in Delhi andNorth India (from Decemberto January) is the most com-mon feature of the winterwhich leads to massive delaysand cancellations of flights andtrains. The reason for fog inNorth India is entirely becauseof western disturbance affect-ing the hills of Jammu andKashmir which lead to a sud-den reversal of winds from thenormal dry and cool north-westerly to humid easterlies orsoutheasterlies which couldcause widespread fog,” said aprivate weather broadcaster.

According to Skymet, thereason for fog formation inEast India is primarily due to itsproximity to water bodies (RiverGanga) and slow wind speed.

Continued on Page 4

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The Bengal Police has namedMukul Roy — BJP leader

and former confidant of TMCchief Mamata Banerjee — inthe murder of Satyajit Biswas,a Trinamool Congress MLAfrom Krishnaganj in Nadia district.

Roy’s name figured amongfour accused two of whomwere arrested on Sunday andremanded in police custody.

Demanding an impartialprobe into the matter, Roy, theerstwhile TMC MP who joinedthe BJP following differenceswith Mamata, termed the FIR as“politically motivated, and said,“In the entire State of Bengalwhenever anybody is killed bytheir (TMC’s) own people or byother miscreants, the TMCGovernment tries to implicatethat it is by leaders and workersof the BJP. I demand probe byindependent agency into thematter.”

Biswas, a popular leaderfrom Krishnaganj-Ranaghat-Hanshkhali region of Nadia,was on Saturday gunned downalleged by BJP supporters whilehe was inaugurating a SaraswatiPuja Pandal at Majdia villagenear his home, barely 15-20 kmaway from Bangladesh border.

“Those who have beenarrested were seen firing at myhusband,” the grieving wife ofthe deceased youth leader saidclaiming the assailants hadearlier been the followers of thevictim but late last year hadswitched over to the BJP.

Attacking the ChiefMinister, a livid Roy said,“Mamata is afraid of us.

Continued on Page 4

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The year-long bitter politicalfight between the BJP and

the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)over “injustice” to AndhraPradesh reached a crescendoon Sunday with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and AndhraChief Minister N ChandrababuNaidu turning it into personalattacks on each other.

Taking exception to Modiaddressing him as “father ofLokesh” at a rally in Guntur onSunday, Naidu launched acounter-offensive by asking,“You have estranged your wife.Do you have any respect in thefamily system.”

In a reflection of the nadirin the relations between the twosides, neither Chief MinisterChandrababu Naidu nor any ofhis Cabinet colleagues werepresent at the Gannavaram air-port to receive the PrimeMinister. Only the ChiefSecretary and the DirectorGeneral of Police were presentto complete the formality.

In his first visit to the Statesince the TDP walked out ofthe NDA over Centre not giv-ing Special Category Status toAndhra, Modi attacked theTDP Government in AP as“Baap Bete ki Sarkar” (rule offather and son) referring toNaidu’s son Nara Lokesh, whois a Minister.

“Naidu promised sun risebut gave son rise,” Modiquipped.

Referring to the TDP join-ing hands with the Congress,Modi said that Naidu had for-gotten that NT Rama Rao hadfounded the TDP to makeIndia free of the Congress.

“Naidu changes his friendsbefore every election and fallson their feet for political gains,”Modi said.

Also alluding to Naidu’srepeated statements that hewas senior to Modi in politics,Modi ridiculed his opponent.“Yes he is senior to me in back-stabbing his father-in-law NTRama Rao and changingalliances,” Modi said.

Naidu on his part went bal-listic answering Modi in equal

measure and questioned thetreatment Modi had metedout to his wife Jasoda Ben.

“You brought triple talaq(Bill) but you can’t answerquestions on those subjects inyour personal life,” said a bit-ter Naidu. “I am going to attackyou because you attacked mepersonally”, Naidu said givingpoint-by-point rebuttal to theother attacks of Modi.

Modi’s visit to the State wasmarred by protests by several

parties, including ruling TDPstaging protest demonstrations,waiving black flags and releas-ing black balloons in the airacross the State.

Continued on Page 4

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Expressing displeasure overutilisation of Nirbhaya

Fund in construction of build-ings, a Parliamentary StandingCommittee said such alloca-tions virtually defeat the verypurpose of the project — thewomen safety.

The ParliamentaryStanding Committee on HomeAffairs, headed by Congressleader P Chidambaram, said,“The committee is also of thefirm view that funds for con-struction of buildings should

come from other sources andnot from the Nirbhaya Fund.

“Nirbhaya Fund shouldnot be used for construction ofbuildings. Such allocations vir-tually defeat the purpose of it,”the panel said in its report sub-mitted to the Rajya Sabha lastweek. The committee said itstrongly recommends that theHome Ministry should desistfrom sanctioning funds forschemes like construction ofbuildings from the NirbhayaFund and adhere to its originalpurpose.

The Nirbhaya Fund wasstarted in 2013 by theCongress-led UnitedProgressive Alliance (UPA)government to implement ini-tiatives aimed at enhancingsafety and security of womenacross the country.

The non-lapsable corpusfund was instituted followinggan-grape of a girl in Delhi in

2012 which triggered a nation-wide outrage and protests.

The committee said thatsanctioning money fromNirbhaya Fund for schemespertaining to compensationwould render it as a fund formerely disbursal and would nothave a desired impact at theground-level in enhancing thesecurity scenario for thewomen.

The panel observed that Rs200 crore has been sanctionedas one-time grant for CentralVictim Compensation Fund(CVCF) Scheme for compen-sating women victims of acidattacks, rape, trafficking, etc.

It appreciated the necessi-ty and significance of theCVCF Scheme, however, sug-gesting that this scheme couldhave been funded from othersources.

The committee took noteof the reply of the home min-

istry that the decreased alloca-tion made for ‘Schemes ofSafety of Women’ was primar-ily because most of the expen-diture out of the approved out-lay for Emergency ResponseSupport System had alreadybeen incurred up to 2017-18.

The committee, however,felt that the home ministryshould have been “more proac-tive in finding new technology-driven projects” that couldhave been implemented duringthe current fiscal year.

“The committee feels thatministry should identify suchinnovative projects for fundingand implementation. “Thecommittee, therefore, recom-mends that the ministry shouldundertake sincere efforts toidentify innovative technology-driven projects that canenhance the safety of women,and seek additional funds fortheir implementation,” it said.

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Attacking Congress forallegedly interfering with

the institutions of the country,Union Minister Arun Jaitley onSunday accused it of launching‘fake campaigns’ against thedefence forces, judiciary andReserve Bank .

“It is about time that Indiaand its institutions are pro-tected from these ‘institutionwreckers’,” said Jaitley, whoSaturday returned from theUS after medical treatment.

In his Facebook post, thesenior Minister said Congress-led Governments used to inter-fere with institutions like theRBI, judiciary and the CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI).

In the post titled‘Institutions Under Attack -The Latest Fabrication’, Jaitleysaid the past two months havewitnessed several “fake cam-paigns” which failed to cutmuch ice as falsehood does nothave longevity.

The ‘compulsive contrar-

ians’ continued to jump fromone falsehood to another, hesaid.

Jaitley said in West Bengal,democracy is seriously underperil.

“BJP leaders can’t land,public meetings are being pre-vented and the Rath Yatra wasdisallowed. The CongressParty’s stand on multiple issuesis self-contradictory. It slaugh-ters a cow before the camerasin Kerala, and invokes theNational Security Act againstthe cow killers in MadhyaPradesh,” he said.

There are two critical fea-tures of these new emergingbreed of ‘institution protectors’.They criticise the governmentthe maximum and simultane-ously argue that the free speechis in danger, Jaitley said.

“They shed crocodile tearsfor democracy and make everyeffort to convert the world’slargest democracy into a dynas-tic one,” he said.

“The Congress alignedwith the Maoist in the recent

Chhattisgarh elections. RahulGandhi stood shoulder toshoulder with the ‘TukdeTukde’ gang at the JawaharlalNehru University. TheCongress was in the forefrontof defending the urban naxalsin court. And yet it claims to befriend of both, the idea ofIndia and its institutions,”Jaitley said.

He said these ‘institutionprotectors’ support the legit-imising of illegal infiltratorsinto India. They readily jumpto the support of those whowant to dismember the coun-

try, he said.Accusing Congress

President Rahul Gandhi ofstalling functioning ofParliament, Jaitley said his twospeeches on Rafale are based ona personal hatred for the PrimeMinister emanating from envy.

“History will record thatPt. Jawaharlal Nehru’s greatgrandson has singularly dam-aged India’s Parliament as aninstitution more than anyoneelse,” he said.

The minister said theCongress attempts at 11.00 amevery morning to disrupt both

houses of Parliament.On Rafale, Jaitley said the

deal not only strengthens thecombat ability of the Indian AirForce but saved thousands ofcrores for the exchequer.

“When its falsehood col-lapsed, its creators by produc-ing half a document lost theirfull credibility. They forgot thattruth always prevails,” he said.

Accusing the Congress oforganising loot on the banksbetween 2008-2014, Jaitley saidthe party is now alleging thatindustrial loans had beenwaived. “Not a single rupee waswaived. On the contrary, thedefaulters have been thrownout of management &Congress’s falsehood wasexposed,” he said.

Stating that the govern-ment has consistently main-tained an arm’s length dis-tance with the ElectionCommission, he said the attackon the EVMs is not merely toallay defeat, it is an attack onthe commission.

He also said it is the

Opposition which questionedfirst the existence of the surgi-cal strike and then played itdown as a routine action whichhas also taken place in the past.

“The Army Chief wasdescribed as a ‘Sadak ka Gunda’.Serious doubts have beenraised on the Air Force ledchoice of the combat aircraftRafale and its negotiationprocess. In the face of all this,they allege that institutions areunder attack by theGovernment would be a mock-ery” he said.

On RBI, Jaitley saidCongress governments in thepast have been liberal in askinggovernors of the central bankto quit.

“Pt. Nehru, Mrs. IndiraGandhi and subsequently MrYashwant Sinha had askedGovernors to quit. During theUPA Government, twoGovernors were barely onspeaking terms with theFinance Minister. Nothing ofthis kind has happened in therecent past,” he said.

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The Union Housing andUrban Affairs Ministry

plans to introduce ‘mobileshops’ concept for street ven-dors in the country under itsNational Urban LivelihoodsMission (NULM). Secretary(Housing and Urban Affairs)Durga Shankar Mishra saidthat under the concept, theowner will be given license todo the mobile street vending.

The idea was floated at arecent ‘National Workshop onStreet Vendors’ organised bythe Ministry. “At the recentnational workshop on streetvendors, several suggestionscame up. One of the sugges-tions was to allow ‘mobileshop’ in country. The ministrywill consider it and find out asolution how we can providefunding (to mobile shops),”Mishra said.

He said 18 lakh street ven-dors have been identified so farin 2,430 cities across the coun-try under the Street Vendors

Act 2014.Also, 2,344 ‘Street Vendor

Committees’ have been con-stituted and nine lakh streetvendors have been issued iden-tity cards under the Act, theSecretary said.

He said that street vendorsneed some protection as theyare providing various servicesto the society. At the workshopheld on Friday, a progressreport, prepared by Centre forCivil Society (CSS), an NGO,over the implementation ofStreet Vendors Act, wasreleased.

According to the report,

Tamil Nadu topped the chartby scoring 75 marks out of 100in implementing the Act andMizoram came second, fol-lowed by Chandigarh,Rajasthan, Jharkhand andamong others. Nagaland,according to the NGO report,is the state with “very poorcompliance” and scored ninemarks. Manipur, Karnataka,Sikkim and West Bengal havebeen listed in the category ofstates with “poor compliance”of the Act.

According to Ministry,National Urban LivelihoodsMission (NULM) is aimed atproviding shelters equippedwith essential services to theurban homeless in a phasedmanner.

It also stated that theNULM also addresses liveli-hood concerns of the urbanstreet vendors by facilitatingaccess to suitable spaces, insti-tutional credit, social securityand skills to the urban streetvendors for accessing emergingmarket opportunities.

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The Government has soughtover Rs 1,637 crore in the

current fiscal to allow the LawMinistry make payments totwo suppliers of electronic vot-ing machines (EVMs) andpaper trail machines ahead ofthe Lok Sabha elections.

The Government, in thethird batch of SupplementaryDemands for Grants for 2018-19, has sought Parliament’sapproval for �1,637.14 crore toallow the Law Ministry payElectronics Corporation ofIndia Ltd and BharatElectronics Ltd for electronicvoting machines and papertrail machines, according to thedocument.

The third batch of supple-mentary demands for grantswill be passed by February 13when the Budget session con-cludes. The two public sectorundertakings tasked with man-ufacturing the latest M3 typeEVMs to be used in Lok Sabhaelections due this summer havedelivered the lot comprisingnearly 22.3 lakh ballot unitsand 16.3 lakh control units tothe Election Commission.

Around 22.3 lakh ballotunits, 16.3 lakh control unitsand nearly 17.3 lakh VVPATsor paper trail machines will beused for the 2019 Lok Sabhapolls. The number of machinesincludes the buffer stock fortraining as well as replace-ments.

These machines would bedeployed at the nearly 10.6 lakhpolling stations across India inthe next parliamentary elec-tions.

The Bharat Electronics Ltdand the ElectronicsCorporation of India Ltd weremandated to deliver thesemachines to the poll panel bySeptember 30, 2018.

During simultaneous elec-tions, two separate sets ofEVMs are required, one for the

parliamentary constituencyand the other for legislativeassembly constituency.

In case of an error with theVVPAT, the machine isreplaced with a reserve. But incase a ballot unit or control unitmalfunctions, the entire set ofballot unit, control unit andVVPAT is replaced.

Till date, EVMs have beenused in 113 Assembly electionsand three Lok Sabha electionssince 2000.

Amid demands by someopposition parties to go back toballot papers, the Commissionhas maintained that use ofEVMs has ended the days ofbooth capturing and the delaysand errors in counting of bal-lot papers.

Several parties have ques-tioned the reliability of votingmachines, alleging that theycould be tampered with. TheOpposition’s demand for acount of 50 percent of theVVPAT slips, as opposed to thecurrent system of countingVVPAT slips in one randomlyselected booth of each con-stituency, is aimed at ensuringthat EVMs have not been tam-pered with. EC safeguards arerobust enough to prevent this,but VVPAT recounts couldeliminate any remaining doubtabout possible “insider fraud”by errant officials or manufac-turers.

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American aerospace major Boeing on Sundayannounced the arrival of first batch of four

Chinook military helicopters for the Indian AirForce at the Mundra port in Gujarat.

A statement from the company said theCH47F (I) Chinooks will be ferried toChandigarh, where they will be formally induct-ed into the Indian Air Force later this year.

The Chinook is a multi-role, vertical-lift plat-form, which is used for transporting troops,artillery, equipment and fuel.

It is also used for humanitarian and disasterrelief operations and in missions such as trans-portation of relief supplies and mass evacuationof refugees.

“The CH-47F (I) Chinook is an advancedmulti-mission helicopter that will provide theIndian armed forces with unmatched strategic air-lift capability across the full spectrum of combatand humanitarian missions. The Indian AirForce currently has 15 Chinook helicopters onorder,” the statement said.

India had finalised a mega contract withBoeing to procure 22 Apache helicopters and 15Chinooks for the Indian Air Force in September2015.

“Boeing has strengthened its supply chain withover 160 partners in India, and a JV to manu-facture fuselages for Apache helicopters. Annualsourcing from India stands at $1 billion,” it said.

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Taking a dig atBSP supremo

Mayawati, Unionminister and LokJanshakti Partypresident Ram VilasPaswan said onSunday that hermain purpose in erecting stat-ues of several Dalit icons,including B R Ambedkar, whenshe was the Uttar PradeshChief Minister was to build herown statues.

Paswan’s comments camein the wake of some adverseobservations made by theSupreme Court in a plea filedagainst her decision to spendpublic money on statues of

leaders, some ofwhom werelinked to herparty, and also onthe BSP symbolof the elephantwhen she was atthe helm in UP.

“Her mainpurpose was to

erect her own statues. Installingstatues of the likes of Baba Sahabwas an excuse,” Paswan said.

Following the court’sobservation that she may haveto return the money spent onthe exercise, Mayawati hadlashed out at rival leaders andthe media for distorting thejudicial observations andexpressed faith that she wouldget justice in the matter.

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Meals on board the soon-to-be-launched Vande Bharat

Express or Train 18 will not beoptional for passengers unlike inpremium trains such as Shatabdi,Rajdhani and Duronto express,where travellers can choose not totake catering services, officials said.

However, passengers travellingthe last leg on the route of the semi-high speed train — Allahabad toVaranasi — will have the choice ofopting out of the meals provided bythe Indian Railways Catering andTourism Corporation (IRCTC), inadvance while booking their tickets,the sources told PTI.

The catering charges would notbe included in their ticket prices.

For others, the prices of themeals will be part of the ticket fareof the train which will run fromVaranasi to Delhi on its maidenjourney on February 15.

If the passengers who haveopted out in advance want a mealduring their travel, they will have toshell out an extra �50 for it, thesources said.

In 2017, the IRCTC made mealson board prepaid trains likeRajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto(which add the meal prices in tick-et) with pantry services optional.

It was done to effectively con-trol unfair practices of overcharging,issues of quality as well quantity andalso to avoid wastage of food. Thisgave the passengers option to ‘noteat’ if he does not want the food sup-plied on board.

This also reduced the cost of thetickets on these trains by around �250.

Talking about Train 18, an offi-cial said, “The catering chargesbetween the stations have beenfixed and they will be added to theticket fare of all passengers.

“However, passengers boardingthe train to travel the final or firstleg of the journey from Varanasi toAllahabad or Allahabad to Varanasimay opt out of the catering services.They will have to opt out at the timeof booking.”

“A separate receipt shall beissued to such passengers by theIRCTC,” the source said.

The train which has two class-es of tickets — executive class and

chair car — will have differentlypriced meals, the source said.

While passengers travellingfrom New Delhi to Varanasi in theexecutive class will be charged Rs399 for morning tea, breakfast andlunch, travellers in the chair car willneed to pay �344 for the same.

Those travelling from NewDelhi to Kanpur and Prayagraj willhave to pay �155 and �122 for exec-utive class and chair car, respectively.

From Varanasi to New Delhi,the passengers will be charged Rs349 and �288 in the executive classand chair, respectively. They will beserved evening tea with snacks anddinner.

The tickets in Train 18 or theVande Bharat Express, which willeventually replace Shatabdi trains,will be priced higher than the faresof the premium train.

The train will cover the 755-kmdistance in eight hours with stop-pages at Kanpur and Prayagraj. Itwill be the fastest train on theroute.

The current fastest train takesaround 11-and-a-half-hours to com-plete the journey.

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The Enforcement Directorate(ED) has tracked a dozen Swiss

bank accounts in the name of RajivSaxena, who is key accused in the�3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIPchopper scam. The ED has alsofound out accounts held by his fam-ily members and associates wherethe kickbacks in the now scrappeddeal were allegedly parked.

Two bank accounts are in thename of Rajiv Saxena’s associatesPankaj Jain and Sumita Jain who arealso the authorised signatories. Thethird is in the name of another asso-ciate Ajit Singh Bubber, but Rajiv andhis family members are authorisedsignatories. The remaining nineaccounts are largely owned andoperated by Rajiv, his family mem-bers and associates.

Rajiv Saxena was deported bythe UAE authorities on January 30and the ED formally arrested himthe next day and a court later grant-ed his remand to the agency. He iscurrently undergoing custodial inter-rogation by the ED. The agency hadin 2017 arrested his wife Shivani whois now enlarged in bail.

The ED probe has revealed thatAgustaWestland International Ltd,UK paid an amount of Euro 58 mil-

lion as kickbacks through GordianServices Sarl, Tunisia and IDS Sarl,Tunisia. These companies furthersiphoned off the kickback money/Proceeds of Crime in the name ofconsultancy contracts to InterstellarTechnologies Ltd., Mauritius andothers, which were further trans-ferred to UHY Saxena, Dubai,Matrix Holdings Ltd. Dubai and oth-ers.

The probe also revealed thatRajiv Saxena is owner of InterstellarTechnologies Ltd., Mauritius. RajivSaxena and his wife Shivani are part-ners/ Directors in UHY Saxena,Dubai and Matrix Holdings Limited,Dubai. Both these companiesreceived proceeds of bribe in theirrespective Dubai bank accountsfrom Interstellar Technologies Ltd.Mauritius.

Investigation by ED alsorevealed that Rajiv Saxena and hiswife Shivani have remitted/ trans-ferred huge amount of moneythrough their companies at Dubai tovarious other accounts including inthe Swiss Bank accounts, sourcessaid.

The ED is probing why RajivSaxena is maintaining a dozen Swissbank accounts if he and his familymembers were the only beneficialowners, the sources further said.

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chhattisgarh 03RAIPUR | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 11, 2019

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Congress has claimed that thebudget for fiscal year 2019-20

presented in state assembly late lastweek by Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel will create at least 2 lakhjobs annually in Chhattisgarh.

“Bhupesh Baghel governmentwill provide jobs to at least 10youths from a village, which willbenefit over 2 lakh individualsacross Chhattisgarh,” Shailesh NitinTrivedi, Chairman State CongressCommunication wing stated.

He claimed that the Congressgovernment in this budget hasclearly made provisions of morethan Rs 1500 crore under MNRE- GA which will have positive impact on the village level economy.

“Now MNREGA could be usedin agricultural activities which willgive an impetus economic condi-tion of farmers and labourers,”Trivedi said while adding thatemployment-oriented schemes likeNarwa, Garwa, Ghurwa, Badi willalso generate massive employmentopportunities at village level.

While pointing out the decisionof establishing five food processingunits in state, Trivedi said that thisstep will ensure better value forcrops.

While taking a dig at Modi gov-ernment at the centre, Trivedi stat-ed that BJP government in its 2014manifesto had claimed of providing

2 crore jobs annually, but at the endit turned out to be a ‘political jumla’.On the contrary GST and demone-tization not only slowed down busi-ness sector but also claimed severaljobs.

Meanwhile, state BJPspokesperson Sanjay Shrivastavsaid that several key factors weremissing in the state budget.Provision for new industry, busi-ness, employment, liquor prohibi-tion etc are completely missing inthe ruling party’s state budget, hesaid.

“Bhupesh Baghel governmenthas betrayed the residents of state,”Shrivastava concluded.

B a g h e l g o v t t o c r e a t e2 l a k h s j o b s a n n u a l l y

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Government of India willconfer national level

Swachchhata Excellenceawards-2018-19 to three ofthe Women Self HelpGroups of Ambikapur,Raigarh and Mahasamundregions.

All the three SHGswould be awarded byMinistry of Housing andUrban Affairs of Centre fortheir outstanding contri-bution in the field of main-taining cleanliness andsanitation in their respec-tive areas.

The award would be

conferred to them at afunction to be held VigyanBhawan of national capitalon February 15.

The names of theseSHGs are SwachchhSaraipali of Saraipali inMahasamund District,Ujala of Raigarh andSwachchh AmbikapurMission CooperativeCommittee of Ambikapurin Surguja district.

Urban AdministrationMinister Shiv Daharia hadcongratulated the SHGsfor their achievementasserting they havebrought laurels for thestate.

T h r e e w o m e nS H G s t o g e tn a t i o n a l a w a r d


State government will take up work ofrecharging all the rivulets existing in state,

said Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel whileaddressing a function in village Tarra of Patandevelopment block in Durg district on Sunday.

Chandranahu Kshatriya Samaj felicitatedChief Minister on the occasion.

Sharing his experience, Chief Ministersaid, “When I was minister in previousCongress government in state, then I had madeplan to recharge few of rivulets. The works ofrecharging of rivulets were undertaken inPatan area, where the groundwater level had

increased.”He further said, “For increasing ground

level water, recharging the rivulet is the best

option. This will not bring the land of farmersunder submergence area like that of dams. Ithelps to maintain humidity in soil. It is benefi-cial for the crop.”

Making a call to villagers, Baghel said,“There is need to make the cattle resources aspower centre. Keep a small area for cow-shedand larger section of land for grazing for cattle.It will work as lifeline for the farmers. It willfacilitate to generate organic fertilizers andbiogas.

All rivulets of state willbe recharged: CM

STAFF REPORTER n KANKERSpecial Investigation Team (SIT)

probing the Antagarh tape case hasfast tracked its investigation and theprobe team reached Pakhanjur inKanker district on Sunday to interro-gate Manturam Pawar, the key per-son in the bribery case linked to anassembly bypoll.

A highly placed official con-firmed that he was reportedlyquizzed at his residence for a coupleof hour in isolation and no one waspermitted to enter the room. Theofficial however, denied providingdetails citing the reason that it mightaffect the probe.

Meanwhile, the official also hint-ed that some bigwigs that includeformer Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, his

son Amit Jogi and Punit Gupta, son-in-law of former Chief MinisterRaman Singh might be interrogatedsoon.Notable, as anticipatory bailplea of Manturam and Punit wasrejected by the lower court recently.Also, the other day SIT interrogatedState General Secretary ofChhattisgarh Pradesh CongressCommittee Girish Dewangan and hereportedly handed over a sealedenvelope to the SIT.

SIT likely to quiz Ajit Jogi,Amit Jogi, Punit Gupta soon

Antagarh tape case hasfast tracked its investigationand the probe team reachedPakhanjur in Kanker districton Sunday to interrogateManturam Pawar

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPURHitting out at Narendra Modi-led central

government, Chhattisgarh Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel on Sunday said thatEnforcement Directorate’s (ED) ongoinginterrogation of Robert Vadra, husband ofCongress national general secretary PriyankaGandhi Vadra, is a political vendetta.

“Where was ED all these five years and ithas swung into action at the time when gen-eral elections is just round the corner. It clear-ly indicates political vendetta,’’ he said whiletalking to media persons here at ChhattisgarhAssembly premises during refresher course ofnew legislators.

Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Ministerand senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh was

also present on this occa-sion.

Regarding suspen-sion of two top policeofficials of the state,Baghel commented`only dust had beenremoved from the files atpresent and so much ofchaos had been created’.

Replying to a querywhether there will bearrest of former ChiefMinister Raman Singh,Baghel said `probe wason at present and noth-

ing could be said at this initial moment’.

Vadra’s interrogation a political

vendetta, claims Baghel


Election Commission of India (ECI) in a letter to allChief Secretaries and Chief Electoral Officers of

state and union territories have asked to conduct all thetransfers/postings latest by February 20.

Earlier, the Commission had fixed the date onFebruary 28.

The ECI stated that it revised the date primarilykeeping in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha Polls 2019and general elections for state assemblies of AndhraPradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim.

The letter stated that ECI had issued an earlier let-ter on January 16 where it was directed to all the statesand union territories to carry out transfers/postings ofthe officials by February 28 and furnishing the compli-ance report by first week of March 2019.

But amending the earlier circular, ECI has nowdirected to conduct transfers/postings of all officerscovered under the instructions to be carried out byFebruary 20 and submit the compliance report by

February 25.Generally, the criteria of transfer of officials during

Lok Sabha election are similar to state assembly elec-tion. The officials having completed three years of termat one place, posted in home district and those officialswho were served in the post during last Lok Sabha pollsin same place.

ECI directs states to transferofficers by February 20

STAFF REPORTER n SIMGA

In a welcome news for farmerscommunity, Chief Minister

Bhupesh Baghel announced onSunday that next in kharif sea-son the paddy from farmers willbe procured at Rs 2500 perquintal rate.

Government has also madea budgetary provision of Rs5000 crore as well in an annualbudget tabled in state assemblyon Friday.

He made the announcementwhile participating in a‘Parmeshwari Mahotsav’ organ-ized to mark ‘Basant Panchmi’ atSimga tehsil of Baloda Bazar-Bhatapara district organized byDewangan Community.

Baghel said, “Governmentwaived off farmers loan and pro-cured paddy at Rs 2500 perquintal. This has strengthened

the entire economy of state.With purchasing power of farm-ers has increased, it will indi-rectly help business too.”

Chief Minister appreciatingcontribution of DewanganCommunity said, “The commu-nity apart from their traditionalweaving trade had progressed inbusiness also without govern-ment patronage. One has tojump in open competition.Those who ensure quality willremain in market.”

“State government will pro-vide advisor to community aswith changing times newdesigns has to be included inweaving,” Baghel assured.

On liquor prohibition issue,he said demand should comefrom society so at political andsocial level the social ill of liquorconsumption can be dealt with.

Govt will continue to procurepaddy at Rs 2500: CM

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPURMuscular ultrasound is an easy mode to identifydiseases related to joints, soft skin and bones ofhands-legs when compared to MRI Imaging.Especially for joint pathology for spine injury, itbecomes more effective, said Dr MaheshPrakash, Professor Radiology, PGI, Chandigarh,President Musculoskeletal Society of India (MSI)while addressing a daylong workshop on Sunday.

He was holding scientific session during‘MSK Ultrasound Workshop’ organized by MSIand Department of Radiodiagnosis, Pt.Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Medical College,Raipur in collaboration with IRIA, ChhattisgarhChapter of Radiology at Telemedicine Hall,Medical College Raipur.

This was further endorsed by Radiologist DrNaga Varaprasad Vemuri from Vijaywada statingthat shoulder, wrist and knee joints ultrasoundhelps to identify the problem with ease even forthose patients who have fear for MRI scan. It is a

portable machine so it helps to take ultrasound ofcritical patients from bedside.

Expert radiologists from Meerut and

Hyderabad also spoke on different aspects statingthat there is no danger of radiation while it ismuch cheaper than MRI and CT Scan.

Muscular ultrasound much easierthan MRI, CT scan: Experts

�� 4��'�(��) '��) **�'�,-*.

From Page 1The memorandum said, “The

cardinal principle of law is that “noone can be a judge in his own cause.”Constitutional scheme and theessential Rule of Law envisage thatno individual can audit or examineor sit in judgement over one’s ownactions.

“It has been now revealed to usthat the audit of the 36 Rafale air-craft deal by you as CAG is one suchglaring case. Under the DefenceProcurement Procedure as also theGovernment of India (Transactionof Business) Rules, Ministry ofFinance and the then CabinetCommittee on Security (CCS) arethe appropriate authorities for finan-cial sanction and approval of thedefence deals.”

The memorandum states, “Youwere Finance Secretary fromOctober 29, 2014 to August 30,2015. This means that you were theFinance Secretary at the time of uni-lateral announcement of purchaseof 36 Rafale aircraft at a cost of Rs58,000 crore by the Prime Minister.”

“Representatives of the FinanceMinistry ie, Members of the CostAccounts Service and FinancialAdvisers were part of the Indian

negotiating team. Hence, you werealso involved in the negotiations ofthe Rafale deal,” the Congress says.

“We urge upon you to recuseyourself and publicly accept thegross impropriety committed byyou in initiating the audit of 36Rafale aircraft deal,” it said.

Congress has been accusing theModi Government of corruption inthe deal, alleging that the price of theaircraft was raised and the offset dealwas taken from State-owned aircraftmaker HAL and given to business-man Anil Ambani’s newly formedReliance Defence, which had noexperience.

The Government and AnilAmbani have repeatedly refuted allallegations of irregularities and cor-ruption.

Congress president RahulGandhi stepped up his attack on theNarendra Modi Government overRafale deal on Friday following anews report claiming that theDefence Ministry objected to “par-allel parleys” by the Prime Minister’sOffice (PMO) with the Frenchauthorities.

A report published by TheHindu claimed that “the French sidetook advantage of parallel parleys bythe PMO that weakened Indianteam’s position” in negotiating theRafale deal with France.

From Page 1“In the hilly areas of the Northeast, characteristics of fog are

completely different from what they are in the plains of East India.The terrain of Northeast India is a mix of everything, from hillsand valleys to mountains, which is conducive for trapping fogfor longer durations. Northeast is well known for dense fog

throughout the winter seasondue to persistent flow of moistair from River Brahmaputra.Lucknow, Allahabad in UttarPradesh, Patna in Bihar,Kolkata in the Indo Gangeticplains and Jorhat in NortheastIndia are some of the placesthat witness dense to verydense fog during winters,” theSkymet said.

Dry Central India is gen-erally escapes the wrath of fogin the winter season. However,places closer to the sub-tropics(at around latitude 23?N) likeJabalpur, Indore and Nagpur dowitness fog sometimes.Changing weather conditionsin North India leads to rareoccasions of fog in CentralIndia.

From Page 1Workers of TDP, Congress and Left

parties organised the demonstrationsagainst Modi raising slogans of “Modi GoBack” in Vijaywada, Guntur,Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and other majorcentres.

Many of the protesters wore black shirtsand waved black flags. Significantly theentire rout from Gannavaram airport nearVijaywada to Guntur was full of big anti-Modi billboards questioning the Centre’sfailure in keeping the promises made toAndhra Pradesh.

Some of the billboards read, “Withwhat face are you coming to AndhraPradesh” and “Where is the special categorystatus you promised to Andhra Pradesh”.

In his characteristic style Modi,addressing in Hindi played with the wordsto target Naidu and the TDP. On the slo-gan of ‘Modi go back’, Modi said, “yes I willgo back to Delhi as Prime Minister for sec-ond term after the coming elections”. Healso made fun of the black flags and the bal-loons as “Drishti” or an antidote against theevil eye.

Modi has been facing black flags andprotest in different States during his visitin the recent weeks. After Tamil Nadu,Assam and Arunachal Pradesh earlier hefaced similar protests in AP, for second timein Tamil Nadu and Karnataka where headdressed a series of meeting in the run-up to the coming elections.

Rejecting the TDP’s allegations that hedid not keep promises made to AndhraPradesh Modi said, “Our Government

gave AP much more than what was men-tioned in the special status category. TheChief Minister of Andhra Pradesh alsoacknowledged the special package buttook a U-turn later as they failed to use thefunds appropriately,” Modi said.

On Naidu’s proposed day-long hungerstrike in New Delhi on Monday, Modi saidthat the BJP was organising programmesspending its own money whereas Naiduwas spending public money for theMonday’s protest in Delhi.

In his equally strong counter to Modi’sattack Naidu said, “What all Modi said wasa lie. I don’t have to give any answers (onexpenditure). State accountants have all thefigures of (expenditure)”.

On Modi’s criticism of his son NaraLokesh, Naidu said, “I am proud of my fam-ily, as Lokesh’s dad, Devansh’s grand fatherand Bhuvanesari’s husband”.

Stressing that his family was with himNaidu said, “I always promote family val-ues where as Modi has no family and isunable to appreciate these things”.

Meanwhile, hundreds of TDP workersand supporters were travelling by trainfrom different places in the State to NewDelhi to take part in Monday’s hungerstrike by Naidu against the Centre. 22 polit-ical parties including Congress haveannounced their support to Naidu’s pro-gramme.

BJP leadership has stepped up itsattack on the Andhra Pradesh Governmentever since Naidu emerged as a driving forcebehind a Congress led alliance against theBJP at the national level.

From Page 1It is on orders of her that alle-

gations are being levelled againstthe BJP for his murder.”

Meanwhile, police arrestedKartik and Sujit Mondal, bothalleged BJP workers. The duo wason Sunday remanded to police 14-day custody. The prime suspect isstill at large, said police, addingthey expected to nab the personsoon.

The officer in-charge of localHanskhali police station and thepersonal security officer of Biswaswere suspended amid allegationsthat there was no security coverdespite the presence of the MLAand a Minister at the venue of aSaraswati Puja where the incidentoccurred.

A departmental enquiry hasalso been initiated against the OCand the PSO, who was reported-ly on leave on Saturday, policesaid.

Asked about the chances ofthe assailants fleeing the area, anofficer said the State police havebeen put on a high alert.”Nadiashares border with Bangladeshand there could be a possibility ofthem (assailants) trying to escapeto the neighbouring country.Police have been put on high alertto check the movements along theborder,” he said.

A large crowd gathered to paylast respects to the deceased MLAat his residence, a few metres fromthe Saraswati Puja marquee wherehe was shot.

Urban Development MinisterFirhad Hakim alleged that “theBJP is importing the politics ofviolence and murder in WestBengal from Gujarat.“They think that they will win theseat if they eliminate him,” he saidaccusing the BJP.

Hakim also squarely blamedthe BJP for the killing of Biswas,

who belonged to the Matua com-munity - deemed vital as a sup-port base in Bengal.

“The Prime Minister came towoo the Matua community inThakurnagar last week. Now thelocal BJP leaders are resorting tocriminal activities to gain politi-cal turf,” he said.

Denying allegations of BJP’sinvolvement, the party’s statepresident Dilip Ghosh demand-ed a CBI investigation into thekilling. An independent probewill reveal the truth, he said.

Ghosh also echoed Roy’s sen-timents and said Biswas was a vic-tim of internal feud within theruling party.

“If an MLA gets killed likethis, how can the common feelsafe?” he maintained.

CPI (M) state secretarySurjyakanta Mishra said this inci-dent shows that nobody is safeunder TMC rule.

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Mumbai: Courts have a "limit-ed" role to play in the resolutionof the Ayodhya dispute, BJPleader Subramanian Swamy saidhere on Sunday.

Speaking at a public functionhere, the Rajya Sabha MP alsoclaimed that Pakistan will disin-tegrate in the next decade.

Talking about the BabriMasjid-Ram temple issue, whichis currently before the SupremeCourt, Swamy said, "Court's roleis limited in this case.

"The non-disputed land canbe taken into possession and thetemple can be constructed with-in two years," he said.

Last month, the NarendraModi Government asked theSupreme Court to allow it toreturn the "non-disputed" sur-plus land acquired around thedisputed structure in Ayodhya toa Hindu trust and other originalowners.

Swamy also predicted thatPakistan will split up and ceaseto exist as a country. PTI

Nagpur: Mohammad Hanif Syed, one of the three con-victs sentenced to death in the 2003 Mumbai twin bombblasts and currently lodged in the Nagpur Central Jail,died at a hospital, a prison officer said on Sunday.

Syed's health suddenly deteriorated Saturday evening,following which he was shifted to the GovernmentMedical College and Hospital (GMCH) where he diedone and half hours after admission, Jail SuperintendentRani Bhosle told PTI on Sunday night.

"The exact cause of his death will be known afterpost-mortem which will be conducted Monday in thepresence of his relatives who have arrived in the citySunday," she said, adding that Syed's body will be hand-ed over to his relatives after autopsy.

As per preliminary information and symptoms, hecould have died of a cardiac arrest, Bhosle said. PTI

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Divided on caste lines,polarization of the domi-

nant Jat community versus thenon-Jats seems to be gettingstronger in Haryana and like-ly to dominate the political dis-course as well as the outcomein the Lok Sabha elections, afew weeks from now.

Haryana which has 10 LokSabha seats, is bitterly dividedon caste lines following the vio-lent Jat reservation agitation in2016. While the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) is bankingon the non-Jat votes to get atleast seven seats which it wonin 2014 polls, there is a toughcompetition to get the Jat votes.

In the past three decades,the dominant Jats constitutingabout 29 percent of state’s pop-ulation (25 percent of the elec-torate) is stated to have alwayspolarized behind a favoured Jatleader in the maze of Haryanapolitics.

The Jats are usually seen asplaying a key role in electing oroverthrowing Jat leaders in thepolls but the Jat card is unlike-ly to work in favour of the rul-ing BJP in Haryana.

“With the Jat community

drifting away from the BJP overthe issue of their unfulfilleddemands including reserva-tion, the strategy of consoli-dating the non-Jat votes, justlike in 2014 assembly polls,would be party’s main agendafor Lok Sabha polls 2019. In theabsence of Modi-wave thistime, the BJP would be bank-ing on non-Jat voters in 10 par-liamentary constituencies inHaryana,” say political experts.

The non-Jat polarizationhas already worked in favour ofthe BJP in recent bypoll to Jindassembly segment, where theparty had never won in thepast.

Jind, which were conven-tionally known as INLD andCongress bastions due to amajority of Jat voters, sawpolarization along caste lineswith non-Jat votes ralliedaround and pumped for BJP’sKrishan Middha and the even-tual winner.

In the past, only formerChief Minister Bhajan Lal, anon-Jat had managed tobecome a potential non-Jatoption for the voters and hadled the Congress for years,bringing together non-Jats likeDalits, Yadavs and other Hinducastes in Haryana.

Sensing the success of thispolitical strategy, the BJP undera Punjabi Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar nowseems to be working on thesame formula of consolida-tion of non-Jats, which appearsto be an aggrieved gatheringdue to the perceived politicalclout being enjoyed by the Jatsin the past three decades inHaryana.

The BJP’s focus on thenon-Jat votes was evident in2014 when the party decided tochose Manohar Lal, a firstnon-Jat to lead the state in 18years after former ChiefMinister Bhajan Lal.

The saffron party, whichwas riding high on theNarendra Modi wave in the2014 Lok Sabha elections hadwon seven seats out of 10 LokSabha seats.

In general elections, theBJP had contested eight seatsout of 10 and left Hissar andSirsa to its alliance partner atthat time, Haryana JanhitCongress (HJC) of former CMBhajan Lal’s son KuldeepBishnoi.

While the HJC lost bothseats to the INLD, the BJP wonseven seats, losing the Rohtakseat to Deepender Hooda of

the Congress.Later that year, several fac-

tors including consolidationof non-Jat votes, support by asection of Jats, shifting loyalistsof Congress’ bigwigs and astrong anti-incumbency againstCongress had led to BJP’s maid-en victory in the state assem-bly polls.

Barring northern Haryana,the Jats have strongholdseverywhere across the state.Their strength is particularlyhigh in central Haryana, whichincludes Rohtak Lok Sabhaconstituency seat.

The community also hasa significant presence inHisar, Bhiwani-Mahendragarh and Sonepatparliamentary seats.

While around 25 percent oftotal electorate in Haryana areJats, the remaining 75 percentare non-Jats, which includeDalits, Brahmins, Yadavs,Baniyas among others.

This time, Haryana will bewitnessing a rectangular polit-ical battle with BJP, Congress,INLD-BSP and Jannayak JantaParty of Hisar MP DushyantChautala in the fray. JJP, abreakaway faction of the INLDis likely to form an alliance withthe Aam Aadmi Party for the

general elections.With the formation of

another political party—JJP—ahead of general elections, thevote arithmetic is likely to takea different shape this time in Jatdominated areas.

“With the dominant Jatcommunity unhappy with theruling party due to their unful-filled demands, the BJP is like-ly to focus on cobbling togeth-er other castes including Dalits,Brahmins, Ahirs, Gujjars,Baniyas among others to getbenefit in the ensuing generalelections,” said Kulwant SinghNehra, Assistant Professor, RBIchair at Chandigarh-basedCentre for Research in Ruraland Industrial Development(CRRID) while talking to ThePioneer.

He said, “The non-Jatpolarization might work infavour of the BJP in some LokSabha seats. The four LokSabha seats including Rohtak,Hisar, Bhiwani-Mahendragarhand Sonepat are Jat dominatedseats and the strategy of non-Jat polarization is unlikely towork in favour of the rulingparty.”

Jitender Prasad, retiredProfessor, Department ofSociology, Maharashi

Dayanand University, Rohtaksaid that another factor thatmight work in favor of the BJPwould be split in Jat vote bankwith the formation of JJP, asplinter group of INLD, whichis a Jat-centric party.

“In Jind bypoll, the contestbetween a Punjabi vs three Jatcandidates helped the BJP toensure its victory. Split in Jatvotes had benefited the saffronparty in the bypoll. This sameequation might work in favorof the BJP in some segments inHaryana in upcoming polls,” hesaid.

“From the looks of it, theBJP seems to be in the lead aftertheir Jind bypoll success, butthe political scenario will alsodepend on the selection ofcandidates by all major politi-cal parties,” Prasad said.

He said, “Around 20 per-cent Dalit voters, about 7 per-cent Saini voters and consid-erable amount of Brahminsand Yadav voters will have animpact in atleast six con-stituencies in Haryana.”

In upcoming general elec-tions, the mishandling of sen-sitive issue of Jat reservationagitation by the ruling BJPwill also certainly swing keyelectorate votes, he added.

Notably, 31 people haddied while more than 200 wereinjured during the violent Jatquota agitation in 2016 in thestate.

Ahead of 2019 polls, theJat community is again gearingup for a fresh agitation overtheir unfulfilled demands ofreservation in educational insti-tutions and government jobs,release of youths arrested dur-ing quota stir 2016 and with-drawal of cases registeredagainst them.

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Out of 10 Lok Sabha seats,two seats including Sirsa andAmbala are reserved con-stituencies in Haryana.

Rohtak, which was theepicentre of the 2016 violentJat agitation, is considered astronghold of former ChiefMinister Bhupinder SinghHooda. During Lok Sabhapolls 2014, Congress hadmanaged to retain its Rohtakseat, with Deepender SinghHooda being the onlyCongress candidate recordingvictory during the polls.

Two seats of Hissar andSirsa were won by INLD’sDushyant Chautala and

Charanjit Singh respectively.BJP’s candidate Rattan Lal

Kataria had won in Ambala,Rajkumar Saini in Kurukshetra,Ashwini Kumar Chopra inKarnal, Ramesh Chander inSonepat, Dharmveer inBhiwani-Mahendragarh, RaoInderjit Singh in Gurugramand Krishan Pal Gurjar inFaridabad.

The BJP, which won sevenof the 10 Lok Sabha seats inHaryana, had managed to geta vote share of 34.7 per cent ascompared to 17.21 per cent in2009 when it failed to win anyseat.

The Congress, on theother hand, lost eight of thenine seats it had won in 2009and saw its vote share declin-ing to 22.9 per cent as com-pared to 41.77 per cent in2009. The INLD, which wontwo seats, increased its voteshare to 24.4 per cent from15.78 per cent in 2009.

The Aam Aadmi Party,which unsuccessfully con-tested all the 10 seats for thefirst time, got a vote share of4.2 per cent while the BSPwhich failed to win any seatalso saw a decline in its voteshare to 4.6 per cent from 4.98per cent in 2009.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi willsend out a message of cleanliness

from Haryana’s Kurukshetra onFebruary 12 during the “SwachhShakti-2019” programme.

“This programme is dedicated towomen. About 7,500 women repre-sentatives from across the country and15,000 women Panches andSarpanches from across the state, areparticipating in this programme,” saidan official spokesman.

On the occasion, the Prime Ministerwill also lay the foundation stone ofNational Institute of Ayurveda at ShriMata Mansa Devi Complex, Panchkulafrom Kurukshetra through digital link.He will also inaugurate National CancerInstitute (NCI) at Badhsa, Jhajjarthrough video conferencing.

Giving details of “Swachh Shakti-2019” programme, the spokesmansaid that in order to empower women,the Prime Minister had first launchedthe Swachh Shakti-2017 programmefrom Gujarat, Swachh Shakti-2018from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh and

the third Swachh Shakti-2019 pro-gramme is being inaugurated fromKurukshetra in Haryana.

He said that under this mission, theCentral Government and the StateGovernment has, so far, released Rs122.69 crore and Rs 169.75 crores,respectively to urban local bodies inorder to promote cleanliness in thestate.

The State Government has imple-ment Swachhta Shehri Puraskaaryojana. Under which, the best ward inMunicipal Corporation areas would beawarded cash prize of Rs 2 lakh for itssanitation efforts, best ward inMunicipal Committees with cash prizeof Rs 1 lakh and best ward inMunicipalities with cash prize of Rs50,000, the spokesman said.

He further said that in the currentfinancial year 2018-19, Rs 75 crore wasapproved in the revised budget.

Under the sanitation campaign, thenumber of toilets were constructed,has reached to 70,000 from 60,000. InHaryana so far, more than 3,700 com-munity toilets have been constructedfor the public.

The women coming to this pro-

gramme would be informed regardingefforts to further empower the womenof the state.

Under this, they would visitwomen hockey nursery, KalpanaChawla museum and women policestations, the spokesman said.

About the National Institute ofAyurveda at Shri Mata Mansa DeviComplex, Panchkula, the spokesmansaid that the estimated cost of this pro-ject is Rs 270.50 crore.

The Prime Minister will also laythe foundation stone of this project onFebruary 12. This institute will be anational level institute for Ayurvedatreatment, education and researchwith 250 bedded hospital , thespokesman said.

It will cater to over 500 studentsevery year offering UG, PG and PHDdegree with facilities for auditorium,hostel accommodation, staff quartersand guest house etc. Har yanaGovernment as well as Shri MataMansa Devi Shrine board have pro-vided 19.87 acre of land of Shri MataMansa Devi shrine Board at Panchkulaon lease to the Union Ministry ofAYUSH, he said.

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Punjab Police on Sunday usedwater cannons, and resorted

to lathicharge to stop the protest-ing teachers from movingtowards the Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh’s private resi-dence in Patiala, leaving atleast10 injured. The police action wascondemned by all political par-ties in opposition.

The police lathicharged thegroup of teachers that wasmarching towards CaptAmarinder’s Moti Bagh Palace inPatiala to protest against the con-ditions for their regularisation.

A superintendent of police-rank officer was also injured inthe melee as the police tried todisperse the protesters whowanted to gherao the Moti baghpalace, said the police.

The protesters were demon-strating against the StatGovernment’s regularisation pol-icy for 8,886 teachers of Adarshschools, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan(SSA) and Rashtriya MadhyamikShiksha Abhiyan (RMSA).

Police also used water can-nons to disperse the protesters,who had gathered near the

Patiala bus stand where barri-cades had been erected to stopthem.

However, as they insisted onmarching ahead, towards theChief Minister's residence, ascuffle broke out between pro-testers and the police personnel,said the police official.

The teachers, most of whomare contractual employees, wereprotesting against the conditionfor their regularisation.According to the condition, thecontractual teachers will have towork at a monthly salary of near-ly Rs 15,000 for three yearsbefore being regularised in theirjobs.

Some teachers alleged thatthe State Government hasstopped paying salaries to theSSA and RMSA teachers fornot accepting the condition forregularisation.

Meanwhile, the rival politi-cal parties condemned the lath-icharge by the Congress-ledGovernment. SAD presidentSukhbir Badal, terming the act asa murder of democracy, said thatthe lathi-charge on teachers cou-pled with use of high pressurewater cannons was reminiscent

of the rule of an arrogant anddictatorial Raja.

Expressing sympathies withthose injured in the brutal policeaction, Sukhbir said that it wasshocking that woman teachershad been handled in such aninhuman manner. “It seems thegovernment wanted to teach a les-son to teachers for trying togherao the CM’s residence. Thisis why no attempt was made toaddress their concerns and insteadthey were manhandled to crushtheir democratic protest,” he said.

SAD general secretaryBikram Singh Majithia, con-demning the police action onprotesting teachers on the occa-sion of Basant Panchmi, said thatthe voice of democracy could notbe muzzled in this fashion.

He urged the youth acrossthe state to show solidarity withthe striking teachers of Adarshschools, SSA and RMSA.

He also demanded immedi-ate registration or criminal casesagainst all police officials whohad manhandled woman teach-ers. We cannot tolerate thosewho are moulding our futuregenerations to be treated in thismanner”, he added.

Former Education MinisterSAD senior vice president DaljitSingh Cheema, describing theincident as most unfortunate,said that there was no examplein the history of IndependentIndia where the two third salaryof the employees was taken awayforcibly on the pretext of regu-larization of services of theemployees.

Expressing deep sympathywith the agitating teachers, theSAD leader said that the partywill forcefully raise the issue inthe upcoming session of thestate Assembly.

SAD (Taksali) president andKhadoor Sahib MP Ranjit SinghBrahmpura slammed CaptAmarinder-led CongressGovernment for the action bysaying that the Congress gov-ernment had been trying to sup-press the voice of the commonman with the power of lath-icharge and water cannons attack.

Brahmpura called upon thepeople to throw away Congressgovernment in Punjab in theensuing Lok Sabha electionsand vote Shiromani Akali Dal(Taksali) to power for the res-olution of all their demands.

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Tens of thousands of peoplewaving Spanish flags joined

a rally on Sunday in Madridcalled by right-wing and far-right parties against PrimeMinister Pedro Sanchez overhis negotiations with Catalanseparatists.

Under the shadow of ahuge Spanish flag that fliesabove the central Colon Square,the demonstrators waved theirown smaller red and yellowversions of the same bannerand held signs reading “StopSanchez. Elections now!”.

Municipal police estimat-ed some 45,000 people hadtaken part in the protest, whichcomes just two days before thehigh-profile trial of Catalanseparatist leaders opens inMadrid under the national andforeign spotlight.

The rally was called by cen-tre-right Ciudadanos, the con-servative Popular Party (PP)and far-right Vox, which hasonly recently burst onto Spain’spolitical scene, as well as ahandful of smaller far-rightgroups. They are angered bySanchez’s decision to take amore conciliatory tone withpro-independence parties,whose votes are crucial to thelegislative agenda of his eight-month-old minority govern-ment.

“The government ofSanchez’s time is up,” PP headPablo Casado told reporters

before the start of the rally.Sanchez came to power in

June with the support ofCatalan nationalist parties,which voted with him in a noconfidence motion against for-mer Prime Minister MarianoRajoy, whose PP was embroiledin a corruption scandal.

Polls show that betweenthem the PP, Ciudadanos andVox would win a majority if ageneral election were heldtoday, giving them the com-bined parliamentary clout todrive Sanchez from office.

The three parties won amajority in a regional electionin the southwestern region ofAndalusia in December, oust-

ing the Socialists from power inthe region after 36 years.

They called the rally afterSanchez’s government last weekaccepted the presence -- asasked by Catalan separatists -- of an independent “rappor-teur” in future talks betweenCatalan parties.

The right wing partiesaccused the government oftreachery over the move.

Despite the government’sconcession, Catalan separatistparties still refuse to back thegovernment’s 2019 budget. IfSanchez is unable to approvehis budget, he could call elec-tions before his term is over in2020.

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Turkey on Saturday con-demned China’s treatment

of its Muslim ethnic Uighurpeople as “a great embarrass-ment for humanity”, adding torights groups’ recent criticismover mass detentions of theTurkic-speaking minority.

“The systematic assimila-tion policy of Chinese author-ities towards Uighur Turks is agreat embarrassment forhumanity,” Turkish ForeignMinistry spokesman HamiAksoy said in a statement.

The northwest Xinjiangregion of China, where mostUighurs live, has been underheavy police surveillance inrecent years, after violent inter-ethnic tensions.

Nearly one million Uighursand other Turkic language-speaking minorities in Chinahave reportedly been held in re-education camps, according toa UN panel of experts.

Beijing says the “vocation-al education centres” help peo-ple steer clear of terrorism andallow them to be reintegratedinto society.

But critics say China isseeking to assimilate Xinjiang’sminority population and sup-press religious and culturalpractices that conflict withCommunist ideology and thedominant Han culture.

“It is no longer a secret thatmore than one million UighurTurks, — who are exposed toarbitrary arrests — are sub-jected to torture and politicalbrainwashing in concentrationcentres and prisons,” Aksoysaid in the Turkish foreignministry statement .

“Uighurs who are notdetained in the camps are alsounder great pressure,” headded.

Turkey called on the inter-national community and UNSecretary General AntonioGuterres “to take effective steps

to end the human tragedy inXinjiang region”.

Most mainly Muslim coun-tries have not been vocal on theissue, not criticising the gov-ernment in China which is animportant trading partner.Aksoy also said Turkey hadlearned of the “tragic” death incustody Saturday of Uighurpoet and musician AbdurehimHeyit.

“We’ve learned with greatsorrow that dignified poetAbdurehim Heyit, who wassentenced to eight years inprison for his compositions,died in the second year of hisimprisonment,” he said.

“This tragic incident hasfurther strengthened theTurkish public’s reaction tothe serious human rights vio-lations in Xinjiang Region”.

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Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan will meet IMF

chief Christine Lagarde inDubai on Sunday to discuss theconditions of the bailout pack-age for his cash-strapped coun-try.

Khan is paying a day-longtrip to the UAE to take part inthe 7th edition of the WorldGovernment Summit on theinvitation of Vice Presidentand Prime Minister of theUAE Sheikh Mohammad BinRashid Al-Maktoum.

Information MinisterFawad Chaudhry told Dawnnewspaper that the premier willmeet Lagarde on the sidelinesof the World GovernmentSummit in Dubai.

The report quoted a seniorofficial involved in the negoti-ations as saying that Pakistanand the International MonetaryFund (IMF) have narrowedtheir positions on the scale ofadjustments over the past fewweeks of continuous engage-ments.

The IMF is asking for anadjustment of around Rs 1,600-2,000 billion over three to fouryears. It also wants some cor-rective measures to putPakistan’s economy on the righttrack after witnessing the high-est-ever current account deficit.

But the stumbling issue inthe talks is the pace of adjust-ments in the current expendi-ture. The emphasis on current

expenditures comes as a resultof a focus on what is known asa “primary balance” in theparlance of public finance.

According to the official,there is some space for cut incertain expenditures wherePakistan is in a comfortableposition.

“This agreement in cutwill pave way for accession tothe programme,” the officialclaimed, adding that it will bea politically difficult decision.

A cut in the current expen-ditures still seems to put thegovernment in awkward posi-tion by making adjustments insubsidies and other specialgrants.

The IMF has beendemanding that the burden ofany expenditure cuts should fallon current expenditures thatinclude debt service, defenceand subsidies.

Finance Division’sSpokesperson Khaqan Najeeb

said that productive dialoguecontinued with the IMF on allareas including fiscal, energy,structural reforms and mone-tary policy.

The two sides continue toexchange views on data and areform framework to moveforward. Discussions are part ofa regular ongoing interactionbetween the government andthe IMF and will continue incoming weeks, Najeeb said.

“In addition, technical levelsubject-specific discussions alsosupport the process of overalldialogue,” he said.

The IMF has also asked forfurther monetary tightening aswell as a complete free float ofthe exchange rate.

“We are already towardstarget in these areas,” the offi-cial said, adding that the IMFhas acknowledged these mea-sures.

According to the official,Finance Minister Asad Umarhas already conveyed to theIMF during the recent parleysthat only those measures will betaken which are favourable forthe country’s economic growth.

Although the governmenthas secured a breathing spacefrom Saudi Arabian and theUAE loans, an IMF programmeis essential to unlock access toresources from other multilat-eral lenders like the WorldBank and the AsianDevelopment Bank, as well asthe global capital markets.

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In a landmark decision, AbuDhabi has included Hindi as

the third official language usedin its courts, alongside Arabicand English, as part of a movedesigned to improve access tojustice. The Abu Dhabi JudicialDepartment on Saturday said ithas extended the adoption ofinteractive forms of statementof claims filed before courts byincluding the Hindi languagealongside Arabic and English inlabour cases.

This is aimed at helpingHindi speakers to learn aboutlitigation procedures, theirrights and duties without a lan-guage barrier, in addition tofacilitating registration proce-dures via unified forms avail-able through the ADJD website,the judicial body said.

According to official fig-ures, the UAE population isestimated to be around ninemillion of which 2/3rd areimmigrants from foreign coun-tries. The Indian community inthe UAE, numbering 2.6 mil-lion, constitutes 30 per cent ofthe total population and is thelargest expatriate community inthe country.

Yousef Saeed Al Abri,undersecretary of the ADJD,said the adoption of multilin-gual interactive forms for claimsheets, grievances and requests,aims to promote judicial ser-

vices in line with the planTomorrow 2021, and increasethe transparency of litigationprocedures.

“This is in addition tofacilitating registration proce-dures to the public throughsimplified and easy forms andraising litigants’ legal awarenessvia interactive forms of thestatements of claims, to ensureaccess to the legal materialsrelated to the subject of the dis-pute,” Al Abri was quoted assaying by the Khaleej Times.

He indicated that theextension of the adoption ofinteractive forms in severallanguages comes under thedirectives of Sheikh Mansourbin Zayed Al Nahyan, DeputyPrime Minister and Minister ofPresidential Affairs and ADJDChairman. Al Abri explainedthat the adoption of new lan-guages comes as part of thebilingual litigation system, thefirst phase of which waslaunched in November 2018,through the adoption of pro-cedures requiring the plaintiffsto translate the case docu-ments in civil and commerciallawsuits into English, if thedefendant is a foreigner.

“The foreign investorreceives the case files translat-ed, thus contributing to the pro-vision of a global judicial servicethat meets the requirements ofresidents in the Emirate of AbuDhabi,” he added.

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US-backed forces werelocked in fierce fighting on

Sunday as they pressed the bat-tle against the last shred of theIslamic State group’s “caliphate”in eastern Syria. The jehadisoverran large parts of the coun-try and neighbouring Iraq in2014, but various militaryoffensives have since reducedthat territory to a patch on theIraqi border.

The Syrian DemocraticForces (SDF), supported by aUS-led coalition, announced afinal push to retake the jihadistpocket on late Saturday, after apause of more than a week toallow civilians to flee.

SDF spokesman MustafaBali on Sunday afternoon saidhis fighters had battled theirway forwards against thejihadists, capturing 41 positionsfrom them.

“Our forces are relying ondirect combat with lightweapons,” he told AFP.

The Syrian Observatoryfor Human Rights monitorgroup said the SDF hadadvanced across farming land,backed by coalition air strikesand artillery fire.

Earlier, an SDF field com-mander reported “heavy clash-es” as his fighters gainedground. The SDF launched anoffensive to expel ISIS from theoil-rich eastern province ofDeir Ezzor in September.

The Kurdish-led alliancehas since whittled downjihadist-held territory to a scrapof just four square kilometres(one square mile) between theEuphrates and the Iraqi border.

Up to 600 jehadis couldstill remain inside, most ofthem foreigners, Bali said.Hundreds of civilians are alsobelieved to be inside, he said.

But Bali added the extrem-ist group’s elusive leader AbuBakr al-Baghdadi was likely notin the last pocket.

“We do not think he is inSyria,” Bali said, without addingfurther details about thewhereabouts of the man whodeclared a cross-border IS“caliphate” in 2014.

On the Iraqi side of theborder, French members ofthe coalition on Saturday stoodready to pour fury on anyjihadists trying to escape.

Dozens of 155-mm shellswere lined up ready to beloaded onto three green-and-black Caesar gun-howitzerswith a range of 40 kilometres(25 miles). Coalition deputycommander ChristopherGhika last week said Iraqiforces had sealed their borderwith Syria.

Since September, morethan 1,270 ISIS terrorists, morethan 670 SDF fighters, andaround 400 civilians have beenkilled in the fighting, theObservatory says. At the heightof their rule, the jehadis

imposed their brutal interpre-tation of Islamic law on a ter-ritory roughly the size ofBritain. But military offensivesin both countries, including bythe SDF, have since retaken thevast bulk of that “caliphate”.

On Saturday, Bali said heexpected the battle for the lastpatch of ISIS territory to beover in days.

The jehadis, however,retain a presence in Syria’s vastBadia desert, and have claimeda series of deadly attacks inSDF-held areas.

Since December, morethan 37,000 people, mostlywives and children of jihadistfighters, have fled out intoSDF-held areas, theObservatory says.

That figure includes some3,400 suspected jihadistsdetained by the SDF, accordingto the monitor, which relies onsources inside Syria for itsinformation.

The SDF holds hundreds offoreigners accused of belongingto the extremist group in itscustody, as well as members oftheir families.

They have urged Westerngovernments to repatriate theirnationals, but politiciansabroad have been reluctant.

Relatives at home fearalleged foreign jehadis mayend up facing tough justice inIraq, where Human RightsWatch warned they could face“torture and unfair trials”.

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Prince Philip, the 97-year-oldhusband of British Queen

Elizabeth II, has voluntarilysurrendered his driving licence,weeks after the duke miracu-lously escaped unhurt in a ter-rifying accident that injuredtwo women in another car.

“After careful considerationthe Duke of Edinburgh hastaken the decision to volun-tarily surrender his drivinglicence,” Buckingham Palacesaid in a brief statement. Hesurrendered his licence onSaturday, the palace said.

The Prince’s decision tohand over his driving licencewas entirely his own and he willbe driven from now on, itadded. The move means theroyal is likely to escape beingcharged and prosecuted forcareless driving after injuringtwo women in a crash outsidethe Queen’s Sandringhamestate in Norfolk on January 17.

Norfolk Police confirmedthat the duke had surrenderedhis licence to officers and itwould now be returned to theDVLA.

“We will follow the stan-

dard procedure and return thelicence to the DVLA. Theinvestigation file for the colli-sion has been passed to theCrown Prosecution Service(CPS),” a Norfolk Policespokesperson said.

The CPS said it would takethe latest development intoaccount. It is believed thatbringing a prosecution over thecrash will not be deemed in thepublic interest.

Officers from local NorfolkPolice have been investigatingthe crash since January 17,when the Duke pulled out of aside road onto the main roadand collided with a HyundaiKia driven by Ellie Townsend.

The impact of the crashflipped his Land Rover onto itsside. Townsend, a 28-year-oldteacher, suffered cuts to herknee, while her friend andpassenger Emma Fairweather,46, broke her wrist. Townsend’snine-month-old son escapedwithout injury.

Though Philip was unhurt,the accident stirred up a debatein the UK about old age anddriving and raised questionsover the duke still driving him-self on public roads.

Seoul: The United States andNorth Korea will meet againthis month in an unidentifiedAsian country ahead of theirleaders’ planned second sum-mit in Vietnam in lateFebruary, South Korean offi-cials said on Sunday.

The US special represen-tative for North Korea, StephenBiegun, visited Pyongyang lastweek to work out details of theFebruary 27-28 summitbetween President DonaldTrump and North Koreanleader Kim Jong Un.

After being briefed byBiegun about his discussions inNorth Korea, South Korea’spresidential office said that theUS and North Korea usedBiegun’s trip as a chance toexplain what concrete stepsthey want from each other.

South Korea’s nationalsecurity adviser Chung Eui-yong, who met Biegun, report-ed that US-North Korea diplo-macy “is working well,” presi-dential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said. He said a follow-up US-North Korea meetingahead of the summit will takeplace in a third country in Asiain the week that beginsFebruary 17.

In Pyongyang, Biegun andKim Hyok Chol, North Korea’sspecial representative for USaffairs, discussed advancingTrump and Kim’s Singaporesummit commitments of com-plete denuclearisation. AP

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Nudged by rightwing polit-ical rivals after a deadly

Palestinian attack on a youngIsraeli woman, Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu whoseeks re-election pledgedSunday to freeze money trans-fers to the PalestinianAuthority.

Israel collects around USD127 million a month in cus-toms duties levied on goodsdestined for Palestinian mar-kets that transit through Israeliports and then transfers it tothe PA.

The Israeli parliament lastyear passed legislation to par-tially withhold funds, inresponse to PA payments to families ofPalestinians jailed by Israel forattacks against Israelis.

“By the end of the week,the staff-work necessary forimplementing the law ondeducting terrorists’ salarieswill be completed,” Netanyahu— who faces a general electionin April — told journalists atthe start of the weekly cabinetmeeting.

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The decade from 2014 to2023 could end up being

the warmest in over 150 yearsof records, say scientists whopredict that the global averagesurface temperature for thenext five years will be onedegree Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The figures released by theUK Met Office include datafrom a number of sourcesincluding the latest publicationof provisional figures for 2018.Records for annual global aver-age temperature extend back to1850.

“2015 was the first year thatglobal annual average surfacetemperatures reached 1.0degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels and the fol-lowing three years have allremained close to this level,”said Adam Scaife, Head ofLong-Range Prediction at theMet Office in the UK.

“The global average tem-perature between now and2023 is predicted to remainhigh, potentially making the

decade from 2014 the warmestin more than 150 years ofrecords,” said Scaife.

Averaged over the five-year period 2019-2023, forecastpatterns suggest enhancedwarming is likely over much ofthe globe, especially over landand at high northern latitudes,particularly the Arctic region.

“A run of temperatures of1.0 degree Celsius or abovewould increase the risk of atemporary excursion above thethreshold of 1.5 degree Celsiusabove pre-industrial levels,”said Doug Smith, a research fel-low at Met Office.

“Predictions now suggestaround a 10 per cent chance ofat least one year between 2019and 2023 temporarily exceed-ing 1.5 degree Celsius,” Smithsaid.

2018 is cited to be thefourth warmest year on recordglobally. It follows 2015, 2016and 2017, which are the threewarmest years in the 169-yearrecord.

The effects of climatechange are not limited to sur-face temperature. Warming of

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The Afghan Taliban has saidthat despite the ongoing

talks with the US and otherregional powers, it had “not yetreached” any conclusion thatwould entail an immediate endto hostilities against Americaand its allies, according to amedia report.

“We are forced to wage war.Our enemies are attacking us;therefore, we are also combat-ing them,” Taliban spokesmanZabiullah Mujahid was quotedas saying by DawnNewsTV.

The Taliban control near-ly half of Afghanistan, and aremore powerful than at anytime since the 2001 US-ledinvasion after the 9/11 terrorattacks in 2001.

In a series of tweets after sixdays of talks with the Talibanrepresentatives in Doha lastmonth, Special USRepresentative for AfghanistanReconciliation ZalmayKhalilzad said the US has made“significant progress” in itspeace talks with the Taliban.

“We have a draft of theframework that has to be

fleshed out before it becomesan agreement,” Khalilzad saidat the time. “The Taliban havecommitted, to our satisfaction,to do what is necessary thatwould prevent Afghanistanfrom ever becoming a platformfor international terroristgroups or individuals.”

Since being appointed inSeptember, Khalilzad has metwith all sides in an attempt toend America’s longest war inwhich the US has lost over2,400 soldiers in more than 17years.

But Mujahid said that, evenin Moscow talks, nothing con-crete was achieved that wouldcompel them to end the warand military pressure, the chan-nel reported.

He insisted that the Talibanare holding talks with theUnited States “on their own ini-tiative”.

Responding to a questionregarding the timing of thetalks, the militant commanderexplained that, even prior to theUS invasion, the Taliban hadasked Washington to engage indialogue instead of war, thechannel said.

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Airstrikes in Afghanistan'ssouthern Helmand

province have killed 21 civil-ians, including women andchildren, a lawmaker from theregion said Sunday.

Mohammad HashimAlkozai said 13 civilians werekilled in one strike and eight inanother. Both were carried outlate Friday in the Sangin dis-trict, where heavy fighting isunderway between NATO-backed Afghan forces and theTaliban. Alkozai said at leastfive other people were wound-ed in the airstrikes.

"Innocent people, womenand children, are the only vic-tims of the airstrikes," he said,adding that the military oper-ations have stoked public anger.

Omer Zwak, the provincialgovernor's spokesman, saidinsurgents fired on Afghanforces from a civilian area. Heconfirmed that airstrikes hadkilled civilians but could notprovide further information.He says an investigation hasbeen launched. Alkozai said hehas raised concerns about civil-ian casualties in parliamentand with officials.

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You will be surprised to hear thatIndia is well on its way tobecome a surplus producer ofelectricity. In fact, even as tensof power plants, built during a

debt-fuelled rush, are still to hit the grid,India has more than enough total electric-ity to meet most of its needs. The problemin our country that any expert on energywill tell you is the abysmal state of thefinances of distribution companies that areusually owned by State Governments.

Politicians are used to giving doles offree power, which in some cases, benefitthem the most as many leaders make it upto the ranks. India’s large and rich farm-ers have made matters worse. At the sametime, some newer power plants produceenergy at slightly higher rates and the urgeto keep rates low or subsidised means thatpoliticians would rather deal with load-shedding, which is not a function ofpower production anymore but one of cost.

We make this argument to answerthose critics of electric cars, who ask whereis the electricity for electric cars and two-wheelers if India is to go down the electricmobility route? The fact is that there ismore than enough electricity in our coun-try. If India were to go down an electricpath and if one assumed that by 2030, 10per cent of all new vehicles sold were elec-tric, it would use under 10 per cent of theinstalled capacity. Of course, there are all

sorts of other problems. Weneed to address them all.

The first, of course, is thefact that Battery ElectricVehicles are not exactly clean.They are, in the words of many,“emissions elsewhere” vehicles.This is particularly true in Indiawhere a bulk of power remainsdriven by coal-powered thermalplants. Thermal plants in ourcountry use coal, which hashigh ash content. This makesthe particulate matter problemeven worse.

Of course, those living inDelhi won’t care if pollutionmoves away to a sparsely pop-ulated area, say 500 kilometersaway, but until a compensato-ry scheme is worked out, it isnot what you would call it tobe ‘fair’. Also, according tosome carbon mathematicsdone by both research insti-tutes and car companies, thiswould make Battery ElectricVehicles more carbon-ineffi-cient than a Plug-In HybridElectric Vehicle (PHEV).

Sure, one could argue thatelectric cars can be powered bygreen sources of energy, andthat is a noble idea, but if youare charging your electric carat night, solar is not quite anoption for obvious reasons.On the other hand, wind poweris seasonal and needs vastopen areas to build the tur-bines. In countries like Norway,where electric cars have reallycaught on, a majority of thepower produced comes fromhydroelectric plants, ironic fora nation that makes its moneyfrom selling oil.

Damming the Himalayas isfraught with seismic risks andlarge electricity generating damson the plains like the SardarSarovar project have huge issuessurrounding land acquisition.This is not to say that storagesolutions to store solar energygenerated in the day will not beavailable, some companies likeTesla are developing both homeand commercial storage facili-ties for solar power. This couldmean that solar power cancharge your car and even meetthe ‘peak’ demand for power,which in India is usually aFriday evening at 7 PM.

The problem is actuallynot so much about electricitygeneration but primarily one ofstorage and distribution. Infact, even in localities, wherethere is no problem of electric-ity supply, improvements needto be made to transformers andcharging infrastructure if wide-spread electric private mobilitytakes off. And that will cost a lot.

Then there will also arisethe question as to who will paythe electricity bill? This is the bigproblem in India — the bill.Further, there are unintendedconsequences as well, bothCentral and State Governmentsmake huge amounts of moneyfrom taxing liquids. The liquidsin question being alcohol andpetroleum products. Here is thestrange situation about subsidis-ing electric cars and electricityfor electric cars. More owners ofelectric cars and two-wheelers,who pay lower taxes and thendon’t buy highly taxed petrole-um, actually hurt Government

revenues.Of course, if that is the price

to pay for lower emissions,some might argue that it is aprice worth paying. But theoverall benefit from battery-powered vehicles is questionableas we have already discussed,emissions move elsewhere andoverall carbon benefits are lowerthan plug-in hybrids.

In fact, if one looks at bat-tery-powered e-rickshaws, Indiahas already adapted to electricvehicles but unintended conse-quences here have meant thatmillions of lead-acid batterieshave to be processed and thathas to be thought of. Cases ofbattery theft, too, have shot upin Delhi. This columnist hasargued before that hybrid vehi-cles are the best thing to do inthe short-term while charginginfrastructure and the solu-tions for many of these prob-lems are thought.

The Government has tothink of ways to replace revenuewhile spending money on gridimprovement. Subsidies forelectric vehicles, particularlyfor cheap power, may be a self-defeating idea for Governmentsin the short term. Parking solu-tions have to be found. Wherewill people charge vehicles ifthey don’t have parking at theirown house? Residential societybylaws have to be changed ifpeople put chargers inside theparking areas and these willhave to be thought of by poli-cy-makers at the Centre, stateand municipalities.

(The writer is ManagingEditor, The Pioneer)

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Sir — This refers to a DefenceMinistry’s internal note datedNovember 24, 2015, that hassurfaced in the media clearly evi-dencing the fact that the PrimeMinister’s Office (PMO) hadconducted parallel negotiationsin the murky Rafale deal, there-by weakening the bargainingposition of the Ministry ofDefence (MoD) and the Indiannegotiating team.

MoD had also objected tothis high handedness of thePMO and had alerted the thenDefence Minister, ManoharParrikar, who was helpless inthis matter.

Looking at the sequence ofevents, one really wonderswhether the dilution of estab-lished norms was an internalbarter deal to make the Frenchmanufacturer accept an inexpe-rienced and debt-laden Indianfirm as an offset partner.

The demand by Congresschief Rahul Gandhi for a thor-ough probe by a JointParliamentary Committee (JPC)sounds very reasonable.

Tharcius S FernandoChennai

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Sir — The Congress as well as theruling Government have con-stantly been engaged in a war ofwords before the ensuing LokSabha elections on various issues,including the Rafale deal. Thecorridors of power seem tooattractive at the moment to theCongress as well as the NDA.

However, the country needsa Government which can put thenation’s development and interestas its first priority. India is verymuch capable of bringing out aleader who can rise aboveparochial and blinkered visionand one who can contribute tothe nation’s development. Thistime voters must choose wisely.

Devendra KhuranaBhopal

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Sir — In a 100-minute speech inthe Lok Sabha, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi launched astinging attack on the Congress,accusing its successiveGovernments of indulging incorruption and harbouring thecorrupt. A look into the coun-try’s past will reveal that there

have been many leaders in theCongress, who vied to loot thecountry but it’s all history now.

The political milieu haschanged completely so have itsleaders. Congress chief RahulGandhi seems to have grown tobe a true lover of this country.It is to be hoped that he wouldrise to the people’s expectations.

TK Nandanan Chennai

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Rate cut cheer” (February9). The Reserve Bank of India’s(RBI) rate cut by 25 basis pointscan hardly revive the economy.For long, the clamour for ratecut has taken the sheen off theneed to take some bold reformsand dealing effectively with thegrowing problem of bad loans.

Recognising the ills thatplague the economy and takingsteps for a meaningful revivalmust be the way forward.

Shubham Via email

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Banking is inherently a hugeprofitable business. To get asense of it, all one needs to do

is to look at the thousands ofcrores of rupees that a bank receivesin various savings account on whichit pays a meager 3.5 per cent to 4per cent interest and earns a min-imum of 10 per cent by way of lend-ing. Even on account of funds, itgarners by way of term deposits —6.25 per cent to 7.5 per cent,depending on the period. There isenough room to make good money.

Yet, Public Sector Banks (PSBs)have registered huge losses in recenttimes, leading to erosion in capitaland impairment of their capacity tocontinue lending. Eleven out of atotal of 21 PSBs have been put

under Prompt Corrective Action(PCA) framework that puts restric-tions on their deposit taking andlending activities.

An overriding reason for thisanomalous situation is mammothloans that were not paid back.These dues, known as non-per-forming assets (NPAs) in commonparlance, are an offshoot of indis-criminate lending, especially dur-ing 2008-2014, to those patronisedby the ruling establishment withoutconducting due diligence.

If a bank has a major slice offunds simply going down the drain(forget interest, the principal amount,too, is not recovered), even high mar-gin (difference between lending rateand cost of funds) won’t be of anyhelp to keep their balance sheets ingood shape. So, the banks plungedinto a crisis-like situation.

The Modi dispensation has ini-tiated all necessary measures viz,legislative, administrative, investi-gation and prosecution, to make anonslaught on mounting NPAs. Atthe core of the reform measures is

the Insolvency and BankruptcyCode (IBC) — a law enacted by ittwo years ago — which strikes allthe right notes and provides fortimely resolution of bad loans.

From the day an account regis-ters NPAs, the banks get six monthsto either get the defaulting borrow-er pay up or his assets be transferredto the new owner who can pay it up.On its expiration, the case isreferred to the National CompanyLaw Tribunal (NCLT), which getssix months to complete the resolu-tion process; extendable by threemonths under extraordinary cir-cumstances.

This prompts all stakeholdersviz, Committee of Creditors (CoC),bidders/suitors and judicial author-ities, into action mode so that thecapital embedded in the enterpriseis conserved and resolution yieldsmaximum value. The time limit ofsix (plus three) months forces themto deliver results expeditiously.

So far, banks have recoveredover �350,000 crore, including�200,000 crore for settlement of

4,452 cases at the pre-admissionstage and �150,000 crore under IBC(�80,000 crore already recoveredand �70,000 crore expected to berecovered during the remainingmonths of the current fiscal). Thisis over one-third of the total banks’NPAs of about �1000,000 crore.

Together with reining in freshslippages (courtesy drastic changesin the eco-system of lending with anemphasis on due diligence for loansanction, transparent processes andprompt reporting of large defaults),this has helped reduce gross NPAsfrom 11.5 per cent as of March 2018,to 10.8 per cent in September 2018.This is expected to further declineto 10.3 per cent by the end of the current fiscal.

The NPA scenario in our coun-try is expected to show further sus-tainable and substantial improve-ment. Confidence stems from thefear put by the IBC architecture inthe minds of defaulting borrowersthat they would loose ownership andmanagement control of the compa-ny if they do not turn up to clear the

dues. So, defaulters will have to payup. It also forces the debtor to chasethe creditor instead of the latter chas-ing the former (as it happened in thepast) to get the dues cleared.

However, for momentum tosustain, India needs a committedleadership. Things could be difficultif a new regime takes charge in Maythis year, leading to a return to theold days when PSBs were made togive loans on considerations otherthan the commercial viability of the project.

To reduce vulnerability of thesystem to the political leadership,there is an urgent need to giveautonomy to the PSBs and min-imise political and bureaucraticinterference in their working. Forthis, the Union Government shouldrelinquish majority control by low-ering its share holding to less than 50 per cent.

The NDA dispensation, underthe then Prime Minister Atal BihariVajpayee (1999-2004), had mootedreduction in its share in PSBs to lessthan 50 per cent initially and even-

tually to 33per cent. Recently, a com-mittee, set up by the Reserve Bankof India (RBI) under P Nayak, alsorecommended reducing its share tobelow 50 per cent and housing the residual shares in a holding com-pany.

The Government may transferits share — along with associatedrights and responsibilities — to abanking investment company. Afterthe banks turn robust and healthy,it should consider at an appropri-ate time (when their market capi-talisation improves) divestment ofthe majority holding. The sharesshould be distributed in a way so asto avoid concentration of holdingin a few hands and, hence, ensurethat the management has greateraccountability to the public.

This indeed should be the wayforward to enable the banking sec-tor meet the credit needs of theIndian economy, to put it on a highgrowth trajectory and for the cre-ation of more jobs in our country.

(The writer is a freelance journalist)

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People in low-income communities live inrisky environments and in constant fear ofa catastrophe or tragedy that may strike

anytime. They live on the edge, vulnerable asthey are to numerous perils, multiple risks, fam-ily misfortunes, economic shocks, accidentaldeath or disability, loss of property due to theftor fire, agricultural losses and disasters, both nat-ural and man-made. They are also the one’s whoare the least able to cope with a crisis. A smallmisfortune can push them down into a tailspin.Yet, they aren’t considered as ‘insurable’ at rea-sonable levels of premium. This makes a casefor high demand for insurance schemes forthem, particularly in sectors of health and life,agricultural and property. Cover for natural dis-asters, too, must be considered. For the poor,insurance is the only hedge against financial ruin.

Poverty and vulnerability reinforce eachother in an escalating downward spiral. Exposureto these risks not only result in substantial finan-cial losses but vulnerable households also suf-fer from ongoing uncertainty about whether andwhen a loss might occur. Often, the trigger forpoverty is illness, which can eat away hard-earned savings of low-income communities. Thenet result is bankruptcy and a slip into pover-ty. It is, therefore, essential that micro-insurancebe made an integral component of financialinclusion if India wants to keep this segmentaway from the poverty trap.

Women are the most vulnerable among therural population. Yet, they are largely excludedfrom the insurance market. According toNational Bank for Agriculture and RuralDevelopment’s (Nabard) All India RuralFinancial Inclusion (NAFIS) Survey, 2016-17,overall, 25 per cent of the Indian households hadat least one or the other kind of insurance.Fifteen per cent of them reported having at leastone person with life insurance; two per cent hadaccident insurance; six per cent had health insur-ance; and five per cent had vehicle insurance.

The poor usually face two types of risks —idiosyncratic (specific to household) and covari-ate (the most common, for example, drought andepidemics). The poor need insurance more thanthe rich because they have no cushion and aremore vulnerable to the many risks. The state, too,has failed to help them. Micro-insurance, by def-inition, envisages protection of low-income peo-ple against debt traps that often imperil theirlivelihood and lives. This is mostly an outgrowthof micro-finance, with micro-finance institutions(MFIs) being the leading providers.

Given its focus on low-income people,micro-insurance usually differs from regularinsurance schemes in terms of types of risks cov-ered, delivery channels, premium levels and doc-umentation requirements. The working groupof the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor(CGAP) defines micro-insurance as “the pro-tection of low-income households against spe-cific perils in exchange for premium paymentsproportionate to the likelihood and cost of therisk involved.”

The poor prefer health insurance to lifeinsurance. They say, “We die once but go to thedoctor many times every year”. According to theUnion Health Ministry, 25 per cent of the peo-

ple admitted to the hospital were driven topenury by the costs involved. Added to this wasthe loss of a day’s wage. By managing risks andavoiding debt, those who have micro-insurancepolicies, are in a position to protect the wealththey accumulate, generate more income andeven get a fair chance to rescue themselves andtheir families out of the mire of poverty.

The cost of insuring against an unforeseendevelopment is considerably lower than self-insuring through savings. Governments, donorsand other development actors engaged in com-bating poverty and designing social protectionmeasures need to have insurance as one of theweapons in their arsenal. The key challenge formicro-insurance is the high cost of administer-ing the same. The poor live off the banking grid.Families are scattered, this makes physicalaccess difficult. The transaction costs of issuingmillions of small policies through serviceagents, too, are high.

The difficulties in making micro-insuranceviable stems from the fact that it is a ‘low tick-et’ business, requiring huge volumes for sustain-ability. India also lacks the distribution channelsappropriate for lower-income groups. But rapidadvances in digital payment systems are creat-ing opportunities to connect poor households toaffordable and reliable financial tools, throughmobile phones and other digital interfaces.Micro-insurance can piggyback on the explod-ing reach of cellphone banking and infrastruc-ture created by micro-credit institutions.Insurance coverage can be widened by couplingservices with existing mobile financial productsor creating new mobile solutions that bring insur-ance services straight to a consumer’s phone.

There are three major types of micro-insur-ance products:

Life insurance: It is the most common formof micro-insurance, facilitated by the extensionof the micro-finance model into the area of cov-erage. However, the life insurance provided bymicro-finance institutions (MFIs ) is mainly away of insuring loans (credit life insurance)rather than providing income support in the caseof the policy holder’s death.

Agricultural insurance: This mainly consistsof crop insurance that covers farmers against mul-tiple shocks and pays out against losses that theinsurer assesses by observing harvest yields. Index-based insurance pays out fixed sums to farmerswhen an independently observed trigger (oftenrainfall levels, crop yields or livestock mortalityrates) shows that an insured event has occurred.

Health insurance: Many countries aredeveloping public, private and community-basedhealth insurance programmes to pool the risksassociated with health shocks. The coverage ofthese schemes remain quite low, particularlyamong the poor, but there is some growth incommunity health insurance for low-incomepopulations.

Typically, rural insurance products areclones of products introduced in urban areas andare not suited to the rural context. Risk mitiga-tion mechanisms are weak and complexity ofpeople and problems make underwriting andclaim processing and resolution a very challeng-ing process. Crop insurance has surprisingly beena bright spot on the insurance horizon. It hasemerged as the third largest line of business aftermotor insurance and health insurance followingthe launch of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal BimaYojana (PMFBY); though it is a market-drivenscheme where insurers quote market rates. Thefarmer pays only two percentage points of thesum insured as premium and the rest is sub-sidised by the Government.

Micro-insurance is now acknowledged as ahighly effective tool to end the cycle of pover-ty by providing a robust safety net that familiesneed. If the poor know that they are covered,they are more likely to plan their future better,invest in expanding businesses, diversify cropsor send their children to school without the fearof losing their savings if something were to hap-pen. The whole capacity to take risks changes.Thus, from just being a safety net, micro-insur-ance provides benefits that earlier generationscould never imagine: Hope for the future.

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

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Five terrorists belonging toHizbul Mujahideen outfit

were killed in a gunfight inKellam village of southKashmir’s Kulgam district whileas three persons including awoman were injured in agrenade blast in Lal Chowk areaof summer capital Srinagar.

Sources said a joint team ofsecurity forces launched cordonand search operation on thebasis of specific informationabout the presence of terroristsin Kellam village of Devsararea of Kulgam, around 70 kilo-meters from here. They said asthe forces zeroed in on the sus-pected place, the hiding terror-ists fired upon forces indis-criminately triggering gunfightthat continued for several hours.

Five terrorists were killed inthe ensuing gunfight. Theywere all local residents and hadjoined the Hizbul outfit last year.One of them identified asWaseem Bashir Rather aliasZeeshan was pursuing doctor-al degree before joining the ter-rorist ranks.

The other slain were iden-tified as Zahid Parrey, IdreesBhat, Aqib Nazir Mir andParvez Bhat—all local residents.After conducting all the for-malities, the bodies of the slainwere handed over to their

respective families for last rites.Reports said that intense

clashes erupted in the area nearthe gunfight site and otherareas of Kulgam. Reports saidyouth pelted stones apparentlyon security forces to disrupt thecounter terrorist operation togive safe passage to the holed upterrorists. They said the forcesresponded by firing tear gasshells triggering further clash-es.

The authorities have alsosnapped mobile internet ser-vices in the area and adjacentplaces. The train services havebeen suspended in southKashmir while the servicesresumed in north Kashmirregion after day long suspensiondue to shutdown called by the

separatists. Meanwhile, at least nine

persons including four policemen, three CRPF personneland two pedestrians wereinjured after unknown militantsattacked security party withhand grenade near PalladiumLane in Lal Chowk area ofSrinagar city on Sundayevening.

Security sources said allthe injured with splinter injurieswere rushed to the hospital fortreatment.

A woman is among the twocivilians injured in the grenadeattack. Meanwhile, securityforces launched manhunt to nabthe attackers. Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit claimedresponsibility for the attack.

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Shillong: Kolkata PoliceCommissioner Rajeev Kumarand former TMC MP KunalGhosh are being questioned atthe CBI office here in connec-tion with the Saradha chit fundscam.

The questioning of Kumar,as per the directions of theSupreme Court, continued forthe second day on Sunday.

The Kolkata Police chiefwas quizzed for nearly ninehours on Saturday by threesenior CBI officers about hisalleged role in tampering ofcrucial evidence in the case,officials said.

Kumar had led the specialinvestigation team (SIT)formed by West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee toprobe the Saradha scam beforethe case was handed over to theCBI by the apex court.

Ghosh, who arrived hereshortly after 10 am, soughtblessings of goddess Saraswatiat a pandal, barely 100 metersfrom the CBI office, beforeentering the highly securedoffice of the investigatingagency at Oakland.

"I have no comments (tomake). I have been asked toattend a hearing at this office.All along I have been cooper-ating with the investigatingagency. So I came to attend it,"he told mediapersons before

entering the CBI office.The former Trinamool

Congress MP was arrested in2013 in the Saradha ponziscam and has been out on bailsince 2016. The CBI is likely toconfront him with Kumar.

Ghosh had implicated BJPleader Mukul Roy, who wasonce the right hand man ofBanerjee, and 12 others in theSaradha scam.

The Supreme Court haddirected Kumar on Tuesday toappear before the CBI and"faithfully" cooperate in theinvestigation of cases arisingout of the Saradha chit fundscam.

The court chose Shillongas the neutral meeting place"to avoid all unnecessary con-troversy" and made it clearthat Kumar would not bearrested.

The CBI had moved theSupreme Court after its officialswere thwarted by KolkataPolice when they had gone toKumar's official residence inKolkata to question him onFebruary 3.

Banerjee had rushed tothe spot and had staged athree-day ‘Save theConstitution' sit-in against theCBI move and accused PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andBJP national president AmitShah of plotting a 'coup'. PTI

��B�%(#��-�� !��,��"&%�&!�� Patna: RLSP leader Nagmani,

who was sacked from the postof national executive presidenttwo days back, resigned onSunday from the primarymembership accusing partychief Upendra Kushwaha of"selling" Lok Sabha tickets.

"I am announcing my res-ignation in front of journalistssince the RLSP did not observethe courtesy of providing mewith a copy of the letter remov-ing me from the top post, thecontents of which I came tolearn only through the media,"Nagmani told reporters here.

Nagmani was sacked fromthe post of national executivepresident for indulging in anti-party activities.

"The party had held thatmy presence at functionsattended by Chief MinisterNitish Kumar was tantamountto indiscipline. Both such func-tions were held in the memo-ry of my father Jagdeo Prasad,who is extolled by ourKushwaha community as anicon. Can I be accused of anti-party activities in such a back-drop," Nagmani asked.

The former Union minis-ter in Atal Behari Vajpayee'sGovernment also alleged thatUpendra Kushwaha and his"cronies" were upset with himsince February 7 when heflagged the issue of a party tick-et being given from Motihari toMadhaw Anand, who hails

from Madhubani and is basedin Delhi.

"I told him that there isconsiderable resentment inMotihari over this decision ofthe party," Nagmani, who washimself an aspirant for partyticket from Chatra inJharkhand, said.

He alleged that Kushwahatried to silence him by sayingthat Anand had used his cor-porate connections to get Rs 9crore for the party.

"I reminded Kushwaha thatpeople like me had joined hisparty and offered him supportsince we strongly felt that ourcommunity, despite being size-able, has not got its due inBihars politics.

"He was compromising onour cherished goal by puttingtickets on sale. He did not sayanything then but I sensedthat I had ruffled many feath-ers. Kushwaha bared his fangsthe very next day," he added.

Asked about the RashtriyaLok Samta Party's (RLSP) con-tention that it was unacceptableto see him beside Nitish Kumarwhen the party was accusingthe chief minister of havingconspired to get Kushwahakilled in the lathi charge ofFebruary 2, Nagmani quipped"Kushwaha is a big 'nau-tankibaaz' (One who indulgesin drama). He stayed in hospi-tal for two days without havingreceived a single blow on his

body".Reacting to Nagmanis alle-

gations, the RLSP office hereshot off a release dismissing hisclaims about the Motihari LokSabha seat.

Ir said RLSP was yet to for-mally announce candidates forany seat.

"The fact is, he (Nagmani)wanted the ticket for himselffrom Chatra in Jharkhandwhich he has represented in thepast, besides a ticket for hiswife. He has been bitter sincehe was given no assurance," thestatement said.

The statement, signed bystate RLSP general secretarySatyanand Prasad Dangi said,it is ridiculous that on the onehand Nagmani is accusingKushwaha of putting up partytickets for sale and on theother he is also upset that afterremoving him from the nation-al executive president's post,Kushwaha refused to talk tohim.

Nagmani had won theChatra seat in 1999 on an RJDticket but engineered a split inthe party headed by LaluPrasad and joined the BJP-led

NDA, becoming a Ministerin the Atal Bihari VajpayeeGovernment at the Centre.

After the NDA lost powerat the Centre, Nagmaniswitched over to Ram VilasPaswan's LJP before crossingover to the JD(U). PTI

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Aizawl: Special mass prayer washeld in churches acrossMizoram for the defeat of theCitizenship (Amendment) Billin the Rajya Sabha, Presbyterianchurch's Mizoram Synodsources said on Sunday.

Members of 16 majorchurches of different denomi-nations held prayers onSaturday night.

The appeal made by theMizoram Kohhran HruaituteCommittee (MKHC), a con-glomeration of leaders of majorchurches, had asked the localchurches of all the denomina-tions to pray so that the bill getsstalled in the Rajya Sabha.

The MKHC had earlierappealed to members to holdmass prayer on the night ofFebruary 16, but issued anoth-

er circular on Friday last to con-duct the mass prayer onFebruary 9 or February 10.

A press statement issued bythe MKHC said that the bill is"harmful" for Mizoram andChristians.

The bill, being vehementlyopposed in the Northeast, waspassed in Lok Sabha on January8 and the Centre has said it willtry to get the Rajya Sabha nodin this Budget session.

The bill seeks to provide

Indian citizenship to Hindus,Jains, Christians, Sikhs,Buddhists and Parsis fromBangladesh, Pakistan andAfghanistan after six years ofresidence in India even if theydo not possess any document.

"Passage of the amendmentbill can result in suppression ofthe freedom of religion and isagainst the spirit of secularism,"the MKHC statement said.

It appealed to the churchmembers to pray for religiousfreedom in India so that thepeople can continue to worshipGod freely.

Prime Minister NarendraModi at a public meeting atChangsari in Assam Saturdayassured the people of the regionthat the bill will in no way causeharm to their interests. PTI

Panaji: Goa InformationTechnology Minister RohanKhaunte on Sunday said a lawwas needed in the State to curbonline multi-player gameP l a y e r U n k n o w n ' sBattlegrounds, popularly calledPUBG.

Speaking to reporters onthe sidelines of a Governmentevent in Porvorim near here,Khaunte said the game hadbecome a "demon" in everyhouse and students wereengrossed in playing it andneglecting their studies.

"I am not aware of Statesbanning PUBG but some lawhas to be made to ensure thereis a restriction on it in Goa,"Khaunte said, adding that ChiefMinister Manohar Parrikar

should take a call on such aban.

"PUBG has become ademon in every house.Students, instead of studying,are engrossed in playingPUBG," he claimed.

Earlier, in January this year,the Gujarat State educationdepartment had issued a cir-cular directing its district pri-mary education officers(DPEOs) to take necessarysteps to enforce a ban on thegame in primary schools. PTI

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Srinagar: PDP chiefMehbooba Mufti on Sundaypraised Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan for tak-ing steps to name a forestreserve after Guru Nanak Dev,but hit out at the Centre sayingits “top priority” seems to berenaming ancient cities andbuilding Ram temple inAyodhya.

“How times change.Centre’s top priority is seem-ingly renaming historic cities &building Ram Mandir. On theother hand , heartening to seethat Pak PM has initiated stepsto name Baloki forest reserveafter Guru Nanak ji & create auniversity under his name," theformer Jammu & Kashmirchief minister tweeted.

She was reacting to Khan'sannouncement that he wastaking steps to name the wildlife reserve after Guru Nanak

Dev, the founder of Sikhism."The Baloki Forest Reserve

and a new University inNankana Sahib will be estab-lished and named after BabaGuru Nanak. Pakistan belongsto all citizens equally and wewill ensure that Sikh pilgrimsare facilitated for 550thanniversary of Guru Nanak,"Khan said at a function. PTI

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Lucknow: The hooch tragedythat claimed scores of lives inUttar Pradesh took a politicalhue on Sunday, with ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanathrecalling the hands ofSamajwadi Party in "such mis-chievous acts" and BSP chiefMayawati seeking a CBI probeinto the matter.

Adityanath, from his hometurf Gorakhpur, warned ofstern action against all thosefound involved in illicit liquortrade even if they were associ-ated with any political party.

"In the past too, such typeof mischievous acts by SP lead-ers had come to fore. InAzamgarh, Hardoi, Kanpurand Barabanki, SP leaders werefound to be involved in past

hooch tragedies. We can't denyconspiracy this time too," Yogitold reporters on Saturdaynight.

Samajwadi Party (SP) pres-ident and former Uttar PradeshChief Minister Akhilesh Yadavslammed the Bharatiya Janata

Party (BJP) Government onSunday over the deaths in thetragedy.

He said, "The Oppositionhas been notifying theGovernment about such activ-ities, but they did not act assome of its leaders are involved.

The truth is that without thebacking of the Government,such businesses cannot be car-ried out. The BJP should acceptthe fact that they cannot runthe State."

The Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP), the SP's alliance partnerfor the upcoming Lok Sabhapolls, also blamed the BJPGovernments in UP andUttarakhand for the deaths.

BSP chief Mayawati in astatement said that both theState Governments were "cal-lous" in their approach towardsbanning sale of spurious liquorand demanded a CBI probeinto the tragedy.

She said till the CBI probewas complete, excise Ministersof both the States should be

asked to step down to ensurefree and fair inquiry.

Mayawati said bootleggerswho are running a paralleladministration right under thenose of the authorities and sell-ing spurious liquor.

Over 60 people have diedin the hooch tragedy that hittwo adjoining districts inUttarakhand and Uttar Pradeshwith more people dying of thespurious liquor they drank at aHaridwar village, officials said.

More than 20 victims diedin Balupur and its neighbour-ing villages in Haridwar districtand around 40 had died in UP'sSaharanpur district.

In an unrelated incident,nine people have died over theweek in eastern Uttar

Pradesh's Kushinagar district,allegedly after drinking spuri-ous liquor.

Adityanath said he hadspoken to his Uttarakhandcounterpart Trivendra SinghRawat and asked him to sharedetails as the spurious liquorwas served to the natives ofUttar Pradesh in a Haridwarvillage.

"A racket of spurious liquorwas being operated there inUttarakhand. Therefore, I havespoken to the CM seekingdetails," Adityanath said.

Adityanath said action hasbeen taken against the exciseofficer, the excise inspector,SHOs and beat constables inSaharanpur and Kushinagardistricts of UP. PTI

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Aizawl: After the withdrawal offlights to Guwahati and Delhifrom here by Jet Airways,Mizoram now has direct airlink with Kolkata only, officialssaid on Sunday.

The Saturday Jet AirwaysAizawl-Guwahati flight wasthe last one to take off fromLengpui Airport here as the air-line has withdrawn flights onthe route from Sunday and alsoon the Aizawl-Delhi route,they said.

Only Air India is now run-ning a flight service fromLengpui Airport here toKolkata, the officials said.

Mizoram Government'sprincipal consultant for CivilAviation, Wing CommanderJoe Lalhmingliana said trav-ellers from the land lockednorth-eastern State would facea tough time due to withdraw-al of flights to Guwahati andDelhi. PTI

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Panaji: A day after BJP chiefAmit Shah said his party wouldtry its best to find a solution tothe mining impasse in Goa, anorganisation comprising thosedependent on the sector onSunday said they did not havemuch hope from the rulingparty.

Shah made his one-linemention of the State's miningwoes while addressing BJPworkers at 'Atal BoothKaryakarta Sammelan' here onSaturday.

"We will make all possibleefforts to resume mining whichhas stopped in Goa," Shah hadsaid Saturday.

The mining sector in thestate came to a standstill inMarch last year after a SupremeCourt order quashed 88 leasesand banned the extraction ofiron ore. Reacting to the BJPchief 's statement, Puti Gaonkar

of the Goa Mining People'sFront said, "We don't havemuch hope from BJP now afterAmit Shah's action of dodgingthe mining issue during hisGoa visit (on Saturday)."

"The way Amit Shahaddressed the issue in only onesentence clearly indicates theyare not serious about such amajor problem," Gaonkar toldPTI.

He said the GMPF hadcalled for a public meeting inUsgao village in north Goa onFebruary 14 to decide on thefuture course of action for themining sector's resumption.

A shutdown would also beobserved by the GMPF in themining belt on February 28,Goankar added.

Bicholim, Quepem,Sanguem and Dharbandoratalukas comprise the miningbelt in the State. PTI

Vadodara: A six-time BJP MLAfrom Gujarat's Vadodara districton Sunday demanded the party'sLok Sabha ticket from the pres-tigious seat.

The Vadodara Lok Sabhaseat was won in 2014 by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi by amargin of over 5 lakh votes.

The PM then relinquishedit and retained Varanasi LokSabha seat in Uttar Pradesh.

Madhu Srivastav, six-timeMLA from the district'sWaghodiya Assembly con-

stituency, said he wanted tofight the Lok Sabha polls fromVadodara to strengthen PMModi's hands and spread the lat-ter's "sabka saath, sabka vikas"initiative. Claiming to be astaunch Modi loyalist, Srivastavtold reporters here he also hadgood contacts in UP and Biharwhich would come handy forthe party in the general polls. "Ihave communicated to the BJPcentral leadership that I want tocontest Lok Sabha polls fromVadodara," he added. PTI

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Allahabad: The chill in theatmosphere in and around theSangam here failed to dampenthe spirit of around 1.5 crorepeople who gathered onSunday for the third 'shahisnan' at the confluence ofGanga, Yamuna and the myth-ical Saraswati.

Even before the dawnbroke, scores of people hailingfrom different walks of life hadtaken the dip with their friendsand family. As a bright sunnyday progressed, the number ofdevotees and enthusiasts takingdip went up.

"Around 1.5 crore peoplehave taken dip on the occasionof Basant Panchami. Close to50 lakh devotees had taken dipbefore the sunrise," KumbhMela Adhikari Vijay KiranAnand told PTI.

He also said all 'akharas'have completed the shahi snan(royal bath).

With Sunday's figures, thetotal number of pilgrims takingthe holy dip during the Kumbhthis year (up to February 10)has touched 16.44 crore, offi-cials said.

The continuous cold breezesweeping the mela area couldnot deter the devotees fromtaking the dip in Sangam. Theychanted devotional hymnseulogizing various gods andgoddesses. Chants of ‘Har HarGangey' and ‘Jai Ganga Maiyya'filled the air as devotees poured

in and around the bathingghats.

Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath hasexpressed his gratitude to allakharas and saints on the suc-cessful conduct of three shahisnans and a total of four snansduring the ongoing Kumbh.

He congratulated all theofficers of the Team Kumbh for

their hard work in the organi-sation of the Kumbh, a seniorUP government official said.

However, UP Cabinet min-ister and leader of SuheldevBharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP)Om Prakash Rajbhar ques-tioned the statistics of the pil-grims turning up at the megaevent.

"On what basis are they

(government) claiming thataround 15 crore people havevisited the Kumbh Mela? Canthey tell which route has beenopted by the devotees and pil-grims, while arriving at theKumbh and departing from it?"Rajbhar told reporters.

The entire Kumbh Melaarea wore an illuminated look(before sunrise), and devotees

approaching the Sangam areathrough Kali Marg were mes-merized by the LED lighting.

Some enthusiasts stoppedto click selfies, with an illumi-nated mela area in the back-ground. Most of the devoteescould be seen carrying water ofriver Ganga in bottles after fin-ishing the ritual bath.

As the number of visitorsstarted going up, senior policeofficials were heard issuinginstructions to the devotees totake a specific exit routes, andfinish the bathing formality, sothat other devotees could alsotake the holy dip.

The Kumbh Mela policeused gas balloons as indicatorto the public thronging themela area to locate the lost-and-found centres run by it.

Choppers were also usedfor aerial monitoring of theKumbh mela area.

The mela commenced onJanuary 15 on MakarSankranti, the first bathingday, and the Mahashivratri onMarch 4 will mark its lastbathing day.

Prior to Basant Panchami,shahi snans were held onMakar Sankranti on January 15and Mauni Amawasya onFebruary 4.

Allahabad MayorAbhilasha Gupta Nandi said,"Basant Panchami is the thirdand the last shahi snan of theKumbh. By taking three dips

on this day, a devotee gets theblessings of the Ganga, theYamuna and the mythicalSaraswati rivers. Hence, it holdstremendous significance fordevotees."

The festival of BasantPanchami heralds the arrival ofspring and is dedicated toGoddess Saraswati.

Even before 2 am, a num-ber of devotees were seen tak-ing the exit route from the Melaarea, and searching for a modeof transport to reach theirrespective destinations.

It was 1.45 am, and RakeshKumar, a resident of Banda,was heading home.

"The main reason to takethe (holy) dip early was that Iwill get time to reach home.The crowd was relatively lessand hence there were no prob-lems," he said.

Meanwhile, in the after-noon, fire broke out in sector-14, and one person sustainedminor burn injuries. "The firewas controlled within 15 min-utes, and the person wasadministered first aid,” addi-tional mela officer, Dilip KumarTrigunayat said.

Till 3.00 pm, more than1.50 crore pilgrims had takena dip at 40 ghats, officials said.

Amidst playing of variousmusical instruments, andchanting of 'Har Har Mahadev'the Akharas participated inthe shahi snan. PTI

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In a major political develop-ment, Karnataka BJP State

president BS Yeddyurappa,after denying, has acceptedthat he had met Sharangouda,the son of JD(S) MLA ofGurumitkal. Yeddyurappa whohad denied all allegations in thecontroversial audio tape, whichwas released by Chief MinisterHD Kumaraswamy, blamedthis as a conspiracy.

Yeddyurappa who spoke toreporters in Hubballi in northKarnataka on Sunday said "Imet Sharanagouda, son ofJD(S)' Gurmitkal legislatorNanganagouda Kandakur, atDevadurga in Raichur districton February 7 and discussedmany things. But the content,in the audio tapeKumaraswamy released inBengaluru on February 8, isfabricated and its voice doc-tored."

"It is true that I spoke toGurumathakal JD(S) MLANaganagowda's son

Sharanagowda but he was sentby Kumaraswamy to meet me.It was a pre-planned move bythe CM behind the audio clip."Kumaraswamy has edited theaudio and is trying to blackmailme. The other half of the audiowill be made public at the par-liament on Monday," he added.

He further said that hewould release a video ofPrajwal Revanna."He has givenstatement that JD(S) is a suit-case culture party. The videowill be released on Monday,"Prajwal Revanna is grandsonof HD Devegowda and anaspirant to enter politics fromGowda clan.

It was on FridayKumaraswamy dropped anaudio bomb of allegedlyYeddyurappa luring a JDsMLA from Gurumitkal con-stituency which has embar-rassed the saffron party. Thisalso hampered operation lotusto de stabilise the JD(S)Congress coalitionGovernment in Karnataka.

Lingayat strongmanYeddyurappa had dismissedall allegations and challengedChief Minister to prove thecharges and if it is proved hewould retire from politics.

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Lucknow: Enthused by theappointment of new leaders tosteer them into the coming LokSabha election, Congressmenhave planned a grand wel-come to the party’s general sec-retary in-charge of easternUttar Pradesh, PriyankaGandhi Vadra, and otherswhen they arrive in the Statecapital on Monday.

Congress workers, led byUttar Pradesh CongressCommittee (UPCC) chief RajBabbar, have made elaboratearrangements to welcome theirleaders, including Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi andin-charge of the state's westernregion, Jyotiraditya Scindia,who will accompany PriyankaVadra as she makes her firstpublic appearance in the Stateafter her new assignment.

The trio, who will arrive atthe Lucknow airport, will passthrough the main areas of the

state capital to reach the NehruBhawan office of the UPCC.

They will be welcomed byparty workers and leaders atnearly 37 points in the citybetween the airport and theUPCC office, Congressspokesman Anshu Awasthi toldPTI.

Before reaching theCongress office, the Congressleaders are expected to garlandthe statues of Mahatma Gandhiand former prime ministerRajiv Gandhi on the route.

Hoardings of Congressleaders, including RahulGandhi and Priyanka Vadra,have been put up along theroute they are proposed totake. Banners on the routeread, "Waqt Hai Badlav Ka".

Workers of Congress andits grassroots organisation SewaDal have been giving finaltouch to the preparations sinceearly Sunday. PTI

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Hyderabad: A sex determina-tion racket has been bustednear here and a doctor arrest-ed in this connection, policesaid on Sunday.

A team comprising healthand police officials carried outa decoy operation at a privatescanning centre inIbrahimpatnam on January 8and arrested a doctor forallegedly conducting prenatalsex determination examina-tion with the help of a media-tor, they said.

Based on credible infor-mation that prenatal sex deter-mination tests were conductedillegally on pregnant ladies atthe scanning centre,a 6-monthpregnant woman was takenfor sex determination test, as adecoy, to the centre, theyadded.

The doctor took �7,000for sex determination and dis-closed the gender of the unbornbaby, police said adding hewas apprehended. PTI

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An unsavoury episodeinvolving veteran actor

Amol Palekar being interrupt-ed by a couple of members ofthe National Gallery of ModernArt (NGMA) over his criticismof the Government on Sundaysnowballed into a controversy,with the Opposition slammingthe attempts to curb his free-dom to disapprove theGovernment's decision to scraptwo artists’ advisory committeesoperating from Mumbai andBengaluru.

Speaking at the inaugura-tion of an exhibition "InsideThe Empty Box" organised byNGMA in memory of artistPrabhakar Barwe here, Palekarslammed the Government forthe scrapping of artists’ advisorycommittees operating fromMumbai and Bengaluru andmoving the process relating todecisions on the theme/contentof the NGMA exhibitions toDelhi.

“Many of you may notknow that this retrospective willbe the last show that is decid-ed by the advisory committeeof local artists and not by somebureaucrat or an agent of theGovernment with an agenda ofeither moral policing or prolif-eration of certain art commen-

surate with an ideologicalincline,” the veteran actor said.

“As of November 13, 2018,the artistes’ advisory commit-tees operating at both regionalcenters i.e. at Mumbai andBangalore have been abolished,is what I have learnt!... Till now,which exhibition will be held atwhich space of the 2 NGMAbranches, namely at Mumbaiand Bangalore, was decided bythe local artists’ advisory com-mittee,” Palekar said.

“I have also learnt that as ofNovember 13, 2018, all thesedecisions would be taken fromDelhi by the Ministry ofCulture. Accordingly at present,no new committee has beenconvened after the expiry of theold committee’s tenure thatended on 25th October 2018,”Palekar noted.

At this point, a gallerymember interrupted him,requesting that Amol Palekaronly talk about the artist. "Thisis not needed at the moment,sorry....The function is aboutPrabhakar Barwe, please stickto that,” she said.

Mumbai: The police havearrested three Nigerian menalongwith a Brazilian womanand seized cocaine wortharound �39 crore from theirpossession,a senior official saidhere on Sunday.

The accused were about tosend the drug to South Africa,police said.

A team of Amboli policenabbed the accused from theMaurya Estate road in subur-ban Andheri Saturday nightand recovered drugs worth�38.95 crore, the official said.

The accused were identi-fied as Neras Pokhogo (35),Michael Hop (29), SimonAgobata (32), all Nigerians;and Karle Ires (41), a womanfrom Brazil.

The cocaine allegedlyseized from their possessionwas supposed to be sent toJohannesburg in South Africa.

The accused were heldwhen they were heading for theoffice of a courier companytodispatch the consignment.

Additional Commissionerof Police Manoj Kumar Sharmasaid the accused concealed nar-cotic drugs in rings and pipesof curtains. These drug-loadedconsignments of curtains wouldbe then sent abroad throughcourier companies. PTI

Guwahati: Former UnionFinance Minister YashwantSinha on Sunday claimed allthe economical data, includingthe growth figures, are being“manipulated” by the BJP-ledCentral Government to give a“false impression” of develop-ment.

Delivering a lecture on 'Stateof the Nation and the way for-ward' here, Sinha, who had quitthe BJP last year, referred to therecent resignation of two mem-bers of the National StatisticalCommission and the issue ofdata's authenticity.

"In 2017, I said that it wasdifficult to trust governmentdata. I am telling you with allsense of responsibility that I cancommand, that this is the firstGovernment in India which ismanipulating data. NoGovernment did this earlier.This Government is doing itcontinuously.

"All the current economicaldata are manipulated. The coun-try is not growing at 7.5 per cent,it is not the fastest growing econ-omy in the world. Own (NDA)data are revised upward andUPA's data were revised down-ward," he said.

During demonetisationperiod also, data were "fudged"and the country's growth datawas revised at 8.2 per cent,Sinha claimed.

He mentioned about writ-ing an article in September

2017 on the country's econom-ical aspects, after which thegovernment tried to deviate thetopic by presenting it as a per-sonal conflict between him andhis son, who is also a Ministerin the Narendra Modi-Government.

"The Prime Ministerbrought in Mahabharata andsaid that some people are cun-ning and always spoke depress-ing things. But I said I would notdeviate from the topic, wouldnot make it personal issuebetween father-son and wouldcontinue to raise the actualmatter.

"Quoting Mahabharata, Isaid that only two brothers ofKauravas are known —Duryodhan and Dusshashana.Nobody knows who is the thirdin Kauravas. At most, people talkabout Shakuni Mama. Today,BJP's situation is like Kauravas— nobody knows who is thethird person," Sinha said with-out naming anyone.

The former Union Ministerattacked the Prime Ministerseveral times without takinghis name for a single time andsaid that he (PM) "does notbelieve in democracy".

"The democracy is not onlyabout numbers. The essence ofdemocracy is about consensus.The days of Parliament ses-sions were decreasing, the PMdoes not sit in the House and hedoes not reach out to the oppo-sition. The whole session washout. Why?" he asked.

Sinha also said that media isworst affected among all insti-tutes during the present Centralgovernment with a "fear envi-ronment" everywhere.

"Voices are not heard, it issuppressed. In Delhi, it is saidthat daily instructions go fromBJP on what to publish or tele-cast. The biggest problem is thatthe fourth pillar of the democ-racy has just collapsed. It is play-ing a big role in weakening ourdemocracy," he added.

Talking about RBI's formerGovernor Urjit Patel's resigna-tion, Sinha said: "I don't thinkthe last word has been said aboutPatel's resignation. One daywhen it will be opened, the truthwill shock everyone. I knowsome information, but I don'twant to share it today with youbecause it may be termed anirresponsible statement."

He also attacked the PrimeMinister on his alleged unilateralstyle of functioning saying thatthe Home Minister, the DefenceMinister, the Finance Minister orthe External Affairs Minister are"never consulted" before anyimportant decision. PTI

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Kottayam (Ker): Rape-accusedBishop Franco Mulakkal, whowas relieved of his pastoralresponsibilities by PopeFrancis, still interferes withthe administrative matters ofJalandhar diocese of the RomanCatholic Church, nuns protest-ing against him alleged here onSunday.

"We believe that BishopAngelo is the apostolic admin-istrator of Jalandhar diocese.But when we see the kind of let-ters (being issued by the dio-cese PRO and Missionaries ofJesus congregation head), we

doubt whether Bishop Francostill wields power in the dio-cese," Sister Anupama, a rep-resentative of the protestingnun, told reporters atKuravilangad near here.

Their statement comes aday after Jalandhar diocesePRO Fr Peter Kavumpuram,who is allegedly close to BishopMulakkal, issued a clarificationstatement countering an e-mail issued to nuns by itsapostolic administrator BishopAngelo Ruffino Gracias.

In his e-mail, BishopAngelo had assured the five

nuns, who are staying with therape survivor nun, that "therewill be no move from the dio-cese of Jalandhar to oust" themfrom the Kuravilangad conventin Kottayam district as long asthey are needed for the courtcase.

The Bishop wrote to thenuns after they complained tohim against the head of theircongregation, Missionaries ofJesus under the Jalandhar dio-cese, for issuing transfer ordersto four of them who took partin the protest demanding thearrest of the bishop.

Another nun, Sister NeenaRose, who is staying with therape survivor, was asked toreport to the Missionaries ofJesus congregation's Jalandharconvent and meet its SuperiorGeneral Sr ReginaKandamthottu on January 26.

Kavumpuram, issued aclarification statement coun-tering Bishop Angelo hoursafter his e-mail communicationwas made public, saying eventhough the congregation ofMissionaries of Jesus is ofdiocesan right, the internalrunning of the congregation is

left to the Superior General andher council.

"The Bishop of Jalandhardoes not normally interfereunless the overall interests ofthe church demands such inter-ference. By this clarification theApostolic Administrator hasnot interfered in the internalaffairs of this congregation,therefore the order to return totheir rightful communities bythe Mother General is not can-celled but stands," the state-ment quoting Fr Kavumpuramhad said.

The protesting nuns stay

with the survivor nun in theconvent in Kuravilangad.

Talking to reporters onSunday, Sister Anupama reject-ed the clarification statementissued by Kavumpuram, sayingthey would not move out of theconvent in Kuravilangad.

"Clarification statement(issued by Kavumpuram) is notacceptable for us. We will con-tinue to stay in this convent tillthe case is over," she said.

The congregation of nuns-- Missionaries of Jesus -- haddirected the nuns to join theirpreviously-assigned convents,

according to the transfer ordersissued between March andMay last year.

The nuns Alphy,Anupama, Josephine andAncitta were served notice bythe superior general, urgingthem to take up their assignedresponsibilities as befittingmembers of the congregation.

The four nuns had earlierwritten to Kerala ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan seek-ing his intervention to ensurethat their transfer orders werenot effected till the trial of thecase was over. PTI

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Srinagar: Police on Sundayordered a probe into allegedmanhandling of woman by copsin Shopian district of Jammu &Kashmir.

The inquiry was orderedafter a 15-second video clip,showing two cops manhandlinga woman in a village in Shopianon Saturday night, went viral onsocial media.

"The video is being probedand an inquiry is ordered toexamine the conduct of thepolicemen," a police spokesmansaid. The spokesman said thecops had gone to the house ofone Rameez Khan while inves-tigating a case of kidnapping of

a minor girl.Police received a complaint

from a man that his 15-year-olddaughter was abducted by threepersons — Rameez Khan,Mohsin Khan and Saleem Khan,of Shadab Karewa in Shopian, hesaid. The spokesman said as thepolice party raided the house ofthe accused to recover the vic-tim, they found two of theaccused — Mohsin Khan andSaleem Khan — in the house.

"The family members ofthe accused, especially womenaround the house, tried to blockthe policemen on duty. Theaccused meanwhile managed toescape," he added. PTI

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Bengaluru: Imploring industrybodies to weed out "blacksheeps" who give a bad name tothe business community, Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu onSunday asked various nations toreach a consensus to not provideshelter to fugitives involved ineconomic offences.

"In the wake of the eco-nomic offences by some indi-viduals, I implore industry bod-ies to weed out black sheeps whogive a bad name to the businesscommunity," he said at "TheHuddle," a thought conclave

held by 'The Hindu' here."Time also has come for var-

ious nations to arrive at a con-sensus in not providing shelterto economic fugitives," he added.

These remarks come in thewake of industrialist VijayMallya's possible extradition toIndia from the UnitedKingdom.

A UK court on December10 last year had ordered extra-dition of Mallya, who is wantedin India for alleged fraud andmoney laundering involving anestimated �9,000 crore. PTI

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The Navratna public sectorundertaking (PSU), underMinistry of Mines, NALCO is

the country’s leading manufacturerand exporter of alumina and alu-minium. The company has declaredits financial results for the third quar-ter ended December 2018 which is anindication of a good year in 2019.Edited excerpts from the interview:

● Despite the drop in prices of alu-minium in the global market,NALCO has recorded good profits.What has brought about this suc-cess?The aluminum prices have comedown from the third quarter to thefourth quarter almost by $100.According to the results for the thirdquarter of the financial year 2018-19,we recorded a net profit of �302 croreand the net profit for the period fromApril 2018 to December 2018 grew to�1499 crore in camparison to �1,085crore during the same period last year,which is a growth of 38 per cent. Thisis already more than the last year’stotal profit of �1,342 crore. Ouroperating profit was �589 crore, reg-istering 80 per cent growth over thesame period of the last year. The netsales for the nine months of the fis-cal are �8,644 crore which is a growthof 32 per cent over the same periodof the last year.

We have also achieved a recordgrowth in production in all fronts.During the first nine months of thecurrent fiscal, we achieved productionof 55.39 lakh tonnes of bauxite, ascompared to 54.40 lakh tonnesachieved during the comparable peri-od of the previous fiscal. We pro-duced 15.92 lakh tonnes of aluminahydrate, against 15.51lakh tonnesachieved in the corresponding peri-od of the previous financial year. Themetal production was 3.29 lakhtonnes, against 3.17 lakh tonnes dur-ing the comparable nine months ofthe previous fiscal and the net powergenerated during the period was4,580million units.

We have a corporate plan toincrease the turnover from the exist-ing level of �10,000 crore to � 30,000

crore. This year itself, we are likely toregister a gross turnover of more than�12,000 crore. We have managed toclock this growth by increasing theproduction capacity, reducing the costof production and also reducingenergy costs. Now, our plan is to openthe Utkal-D coal block mines in thefirst half of 2019 which will help usbring two million tonnes of coal,which will be a game changer inNALCO’s profitability.

● What were the major insightsduring the recently heldInternational Conference onAluminium (INCAL 2019)?INCAL 2019 was a grand successwhich saw participation from morethan 850 delegates, including 150 for-eign delegates from 20 countries. Thisglobal summit saw aluminium pro-ducers, technologists, equipment sup-pliers, raw material suppliers fromacross the globe who came togetherto develop a roadmap for sustainable

aluminium industry vis-à-vis othermetals and contribute for green devel-opment. This event provided us amega platform to exchange ideas onthe latest technological advances,upstream and downstream integrationand also became the platform to pro-mote Odisha as the aluminium capi-tal of the country. We also formulat-ed the Aluminium Roadmap 2030which focuses on reducing the cost ofproduction through technology solu-tions. This reduced cost of productionwill make the metal more affordableto the masses and thus increase its sal-ability, leading to scalability. Anotherattraction was the exhibition with over100 exhibitors from across the globefor industries to showcase their tech-nology, products and processes.

It was deliberated that aluminiumshould be projected as the metal ofchoice for driving growth and devel-opment. The conference was alsoinstrumental in dispelling some mythsregarding the environmental impact of

bauxite mining. It was discussed thataluminium is an environment friend-ly metal since it does not corrode, isanti bacterial and light. In case ofautomobile sector, aluminium is a bet-ter metal and this can be understoodfrom the fact that if one kg of metalis replaced with one kg of aluminium,there is a reduction of 23 kg of carbondioxide. It is a direct impact onimproving air quality. Electrical vehi-cles are manufactured from alumini-um, which reduces two-thirds of con-sumption of fuel and thus indirectlyreduces the consumption of fossil fuels.

●What is the focus of the ongoinginternational tie-ups of the compa-ny?To ensure that we have access to strate-gic minerals like lithium and cobalt,along the lines of ONGC Videsh, ajoint venture was set up betweenNALCO, Hindustan Copper andMineral Exploration Corp Limited, tolook for and acquire strategic miner-al assets abroad, particularly inArgentina, Bolivia and Chile. A col-laboration with Argentina is highlylikely for lithium extraction to be doneby India. The other tie-ups focus onhigh-end technology. We are alsoplanning to set up high-end alumini-um products plant by availing tech-nology from foreign suppliers. Thetechnology for high-end aluminiumproducts plants is not available inIndia. So, we are in talks with poten-tial suppliers in USA and Russia toavail their technologies. If we get theright technology, our proposed plantmay come up within the aluminiumpark at Angul or somewhere closer tothe site. We have floated an Expressionof Interest (EoI) to select the technol-ogy supplier. We already have a mem-orandum of understanding (MoU)with the Defence Ministry PSU—Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited(Midhani) for manufacture of high-end aluminium alloys.

●What initiatives have been takento boost research and develop-ment?As per the government mandate, onepercent of the company’s expenditure

should be on research and develop-ment. We are spending more thanthis amount and have set up amodern research centre. The Centreof Excellence is functioning underfour broad categories—applicationof new products, process efficiency,fundamental research and wealthfrom waste. We are also setting upa Special Purpose Vehicle in col-laboration with the Department ofscience and Technology (DST) andknowledge partners like IIT, NIT,ICTR and IIIT to develop incuba-tion centres particularly for tech-nology. Recently, we have had abreakthrough in combating fluoridecontamination with the use of nano-technology.

●What are the CSR initiatives ofthe company?

We have introduced the idea ofEmployee Social Responsibiliy(ESR) along with Corporate SocialResponsibility (CSR) which is anidea to engage the employees of thecompany for socio-economic uplift-ment. We introduced a scheme—‘NALCO Ki Ladli’, where a poor andunderprivileged girl child is adopt-ed to provide education fromkindergarten to post graduation.The employees can contribute�3,000 per annum, per girl child,choose a school from a list ofdefined government schools andthen the school adopts the child tofulfil the educational requirements.The company also contributes anequal amout which is given to theprincipal. We started in 2016 with277 girls and many of these childrenhave done extremely well in theirexaminations. Taking the schemefurther, NALCO is now supportingthe girls until they are settled as aprofessional. As many as 300employees have already shown sup-port to the cause. We have alsointroduced an Integrated HealthManagement scheme to plug thegaps in the health care system. Weare developing a structure where wecan connect the people from theperipheral areas to the ongoingschemes of the government.

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As debate intensifies overrising unemployment in

the country, the ModiGovernment claims to havegenerated over 3.79 lakh jobsbetween 2017 and 2019 in itsvarious establishments, accord-ing to the interim budget for2019-20.

The Government said ithas generated 2,51,279 jobs incentral Government establish-ments between 2017 and 2018.This is estimated to go up by3,79,544 to reach 36,15,770 on1 March 2019, shows an analy-sis of documents of the inter-im budget, presented byFinance Minister Piyush Goyalon 1 February.

The data assumes signifi-cance as the Congress andother opposition parties havebeen targeting Prime MinisterNarendra Modi over risingunemployment. TheGovernment has rejected thecharges.

Most of the recruitmentwas done by the Ministry of

Railways, police forces and thedirect and indirect tax depart-ments.

The budget documents givea sector wise break-up on howthe jobs were added in centralGovernment establishments.

It said Indian Railways willgenerate the highest number ofjobs — 98,999 by 1 March 2019against its actual strength of12,70,714 in March 2017.

There will be 79,353 addi-tional jobs in police depart-ments by 1 March 2019, upfrom the actual strength of10,52,351 as on 1 March 2017.

Similarly, jobs in direct taxdepartments will touch an esti-mated 80,143 by next month asagainst 50,208 in March 2017

(an increase of 29,935jobs).

In indirect tax depart-ments, the Governmentsaid there were 53,394employees in March 2017.This went up to 92,842 inMarch 2018. It also gavethe same figure (92,842) asthe estimated strength ofindirect tax establishment

as on 1 March 2019.The Ministry of Civil

Aviation will have 2,363 morepersonnel by 1 March this yearagainst its actual strength of1,174 in March 2017, the doc-ument shows.

Similarly, for theDepartment of Posts, it saidthere will be 4,21,068 person-nel on 1 March 2019 as againstits actual strength of 41,88,18in March 2017.

In the Ministr y ofExternal Affairs, 11,877 peo-ple are estimated to be work-ing by next month as againstits actual strength of 10,044 inMarch 2017, which was esti-mated to have reached 11,870in 2018.

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The Finance Ministry hassought from the Reserve

Bank of India (RBI) �27,380crore that was withheld by thecentral bank towards risks andreserves in the previous years,said sources.

The RBI had retained�13,190 crore towards risksand reserves during 2016-17. Itincreased to �14,190 crore in2017-18. Together, retainedamount is �27,380 crore.

The Ministry has request-ed the RBI to provide an inter-im surplus for the current fis-cal on the analogy of the pre-vious financial year and trans-fer the amount withheld fromthe surplus of 2016-17 and2017-18, sources said.

Earlier this month, EconomicAffairs Secretary SubhashChandra Garg had said the gov-

ernment expects �28,000 crorefrom the RBI as interim dividendduring the current fiscal.

The RBI, which followsJuly-June financial year, hasalready transferred �40,000crore in the current fiscal.

If the central board of theRBI approves transfer of�28,000 crore requested by theGovernment as interim divi-dend for the current fiscal, thetotal surplus transfer by thecentral bank would be �68,000crore in 2018-19.

According to sources, theGovernment expects �69,000crore dividend in the nextfinancial year.

The Government has pro-jected to mobilise �82,911.56crore as dividend or surplusfrom the RBI, nationalisedbanks and financial institutionsduring 2019-20.

After making provision forbad and doubtful debts, depre-ciation in assets, contribution tostaff and superannuation fundand for all matters for which theprovision is to be made by orunder the Act or which are usu-ally provided by bankers, thebalance of the profits shall bepaid to the central Government,as per the RBI Act.

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Up girl Shreya Singh onSaturday declared winner

of Skindrella 2019 beautypageant organised by Skinellawith a special focus to breakrigid stereotype of beauty stan-dards. It was a beauty pageantlike never before that glorifiesthe real beauty in every girl. Inthe second year running,Skinderella has found the most#SuperNaturally girl of 2019,and gave a cash prize of �1lakh.

Speaking on the pageant,Dolly Kumar, founder andDirector at Skinella said, “Ibelieve that every girl is mostflawless and beautiful when sheis her natural self.”

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Karvy Consultants, the armof the Karvy Group that

provides financial services toretail individuals, high net-worth clients, and corporatesin India and internationally,launched the 11th edition ofthe Annual Commodity andCurrency Report 2019. Thereport offers a comprehensiveoutlook on commodities andcurrencies for this year andaims to guide market partici-pants in investment decisions.

The last year was a cata-strophic one for both the com-modity and currency market,domestically and internation-ally. The stellar performance ofbase metals in 2017 failed toextend the same trend in 2018.For Indian Rupee, the problemof widening twin deficits-fis-cal and current account-emerged as the biggest painpoint.

This year is foreseen as amixed one for the commodi-ties and currencies market.

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India’s largest LNG supplierQatar on Sunday urged the

central government to includenatural gas in GST to help cre-ate demand for the environ-ment friendly fuel and raise itsshare in the country’s energybasket.

Speaking at Petrotech con-ference here, Qatar Gas CEOKhalid Bin Khalifa Al-Thanisaid India is very importantmarket for Qatar.

“If there is change indemand worldwide we will seeit in India especially in fossilefuel,” he said.

Qatar supplies 8.5 milliontonnes a year of liquefiednatural gas to India. It is thecountry’s single largest sourceof imported gas, supplyingabout 40 per cent of all over-seas shipments reachingIndia.

He said the country needsto build infrastructure so thatclean fuel can reach all corners.

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After catapulting LPG cov-erage by about 40 per cent

in just 55 months, the govern-ment will soon make availableclean cooking fuel to all house-holds, Oil MinisterDharmendra Pradhan said onSunday.

Speaking at the Petrotech2019 conference here on theoutskirts of Delhi, he said cov-erage of LPG in the country hasreached close to 90 per cent,rising from about 55 per centin 2014.

“Very soon, India will beconnecting all households withclean cooking fuel. The sourceof fuel will be LPG as well asgas from bio-mass and alter-nate sources,” he said.

The increase in coveragehas been credited to thePradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana(PMUY), which provides freecooking gas (LPG) connec-tion to the poor. Under PMUY,about 6.4 crore connectionshave been provided since thelaunch of the scheme on May1, 2016, he said.

“Before March 31, 2020, wewill provide LPG connections

to 8 crore households underPMUY,” he said.

LPG is supposed to replacetraditional cooking fuels inrural kitchens such as firewoodand cow dung which not onlycontribute to environmentaldegradation but also have seri-ous health implications on users.

Pradhan said the oil andgas sector is a key contributorto India’s economy andaccounted for almost 55 percent of its energy mix in 2017.

India is the third largestconsumer of crude oil andpetroleum products in theworld, accounting for 4.5 percent of global oil consumption,behind US and China. ?

“We have taken severalmeasures to overhaul the hydro-carbon policy framework toensure energy security for thecountry while pursuing thegreen path to progress,” he said.

Listing reforms to revitalisethe exploration and productionecosystem, he said a new rev-enue sharing model, uniformlicence for all hydrocarbonsand marketing freedom for oiland gas have been introduced.

Also, the government hasintroduced various others pol-

icy reforms including marketingand pricing freedom for natur-al gas produced from deep andultra-deep waters and highpressure high temperature areas,coal bed methane, incentivefor enhanced recovery for aug-menting production of oil andgas from matured fields andexploration and exploitation ofunconventional hydrocarbonfrom all fields.

“We have set up a state-of-the-art National Data Repositoryto facilitate potential investors totake informed decisions based onthe geo-scientific data of hydro-carbon resources in the country.

“With the introduction ofNational Data Repository, Indiahas joined the league of coun-tries like UK and Norwaywhich have a national datarepository for the upstreamsector,” he said. ?

In downstream sector tooIndia has been able to attractglobal investments, he said,adding that leading playerslike Saudi Aramco, ADNOC,Total and Shell are expandingtheir footprints in the country’senergy space and looking toinvest more in the Indian oiland gas market.

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The Government plan tooffer PSUs special incen-

tives for natural gas discover-ies in difficult and unviableareas will help raise India’s nat-ural gas production as it willunlock output in a dozen fieldsof state-owned ONGC andOIL, officials said on Sunday.

India currently producesabout 90 million standardcubic meters per day(mmscmd) of natural gas andhas ambitious plans to doubleoutput by 2022 to reduce itsreliance on imports andreplace some of the pollutingliquid fuels to cut emissions.

Speaking on sidelines ofthe Petrotech conference hereon the outskirts of Delhi, offi-cials said ONGC and OIL

have a dozen discoveries,which are unviable at currentgovernment mandated gasprice.

These finds, they said,need a higher price and thegovernment plans for specialincentives for them wouldhelp bring them to produc-tion quickly.

Oil Minister Dharmendrapradhan had last month stat-ed “special incentive besidesthe incentive already provided”will be given to difficult fieldsof ONGC.

“We dont know what thatincentive will be, but we pre-sume it will be a higher andremunerative price,” an officialsaid.

State-owned Oil andNatural Gas Corp (ONGC)and Oil India Ltd (OIL) have

not been able to develop thediscoveries or bring them toproduction as the current gasprice of $3.36 per millionBritish thermal unit (MMBtu)is way lower than the cost ofproduction.

Officials said ONGC hasabout 35 billion cubic metersof recoverable reserves in dis-coveries in the shallow sea offAndhra Pradesh on the eastand off Gujarat and Mumbaion the west coast blocks.

The three blocks inKrishna Godavari basin, Gulfof Kutch and Mumbai off-shore can produce about 10mmscmd of gas and an equiv-alent amount can be producedfrom its onshore discoveries inblocks like Bantumili,Mandapeta and Bhuvanagiri,they said.

About 5 mmscmd of pro-duction can be added by mak-ing some investment in exist-ing fields like Mumbai HighSouth, Neelam and B-127Cluster in the Arabian Sea.

Oil India Ltd (OIL) has anonland discovery in theKrishna Godavari basin inAndhra Pradesh with over 3billion cubic meters of recov-erable reserves, but needs ahigher price to bring it to pro-duction.

The officials said all thesefields can be expeditiouslydeveloped and monetised incase pricing and marketingfreedom is granted by theGovernment.

ONGC and OIL want aprice of over $6 per MMBtu tohelp them produce the gaswithout suffering any losses.

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Bangladeshi traders havereceived export orders

worth 2 billion Taka (�169.79crore) at the recently conclud-ed 24th Dhaka InternationalTrade Fair, a media report saidon Sunday.

The orders received wasnearly $4 million (�28 crore)higher compared to the previ-ous year, the bdnews24.Comreported.

The trade fair this year hadaround 412 stalls, including 110pavilions and 83 mini-pavil-ions.

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Finance Minister PiyushGoyal on Sunday asked

state-owned S ecur ityPr int ing & Mint ingCorporation of India (SPM-CIL) to tap its full potentialand expand export footprintso that profit can grow expo-nentially.

“I am told that the com-pany has already initiatedtalks with some countriesfor minting of coins and youhave potential to export toAfr ican countr ies andEuropean nations,” he said atthe 13th foundation dayevent of SPMCIL here.

The company should

have huge outreach pro-gramme and try to get bigorders in the area of mintingof coins, printing of curren-cy notes and postal stampetc, he said, adding it shoulddream big and think ofachieving profit of �6,000crore.

The company should alsofocus on modernisation of itsnine production units acrossthe country so that it can getexport order, Goyal added.

SPMCIL, which earned aprofit of �630 crore last fis-cal, is engaged in the pro-duction of currency and banknotes, Security Paper, postalstamps, security inks, andcommemorative coins.

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Tata group firm Voltas onSunday said it will invest

over �500 crore to set up amanufacturing facility inTirupati, Andhra Pradesh.

“This facility will initiallymanufacture and assemble airconditioners and related cool-ing products with a total capac-ity of more than 1 million unitsto start with,” the company saidin a BSE filing.

Voltas said it aims to cre-ate technologically advancedproducts which are expected tostart rolling out from the sec-ond half of 2020.

The company plans to investover �500 crore while puttingtogether an OEM (originalequipment manufacturer) basefor home appliances, and simul-taneously creating local employ-ment opportunities in the region.

The manufacturing facili-ty, spread over 65 acres, will beone of the first cooling appli-ances unit in Andhra Pradesh.The choice of Andhra Pradeshas the destination for the newmanufacturing unit was due tothe state’s ease of doing businessand growing focus on ‘Make inIndia’, it said.

The chosen location providesdual benefits of superior marketaccess and cost effective connec-tivity via road and port, it added.Voltas will cater to the south, westand east markets through thismanufacturing facility.

“We are delighted to havelaid the ground for the Voltasmanufacturing plant here inTirupati. This facility helps us inexpanding our manufacturingcapabilities while increasing ourreach in the Southern market,”said Pradeep Bakshi, managingdirector and CEO, Voltas Ltd.

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Napoli could finish the weekendtrailing Serie A leaders Juventus by

11 points after Carlo Ancelotti's waste-ful side stuttered to a 0-0 draw atFiorentina, as Lautaro Martinez scoredthe only goal to get Inter Milan backwinning against promoted Parma.

Both sides start their EuropaLeague campaigns this week aftercrashing out of the Champions Leaguewith Napoli travelling to FC Zurichand Inter Milan away to Rapid Viennain their round of the 32, first leg ties.

Fiorentina goalkeeper AlbanLafont produced a string of saves todeny Piotr Zielinski and Dries Mertensas Napoli failed to score away fromhome for the third game running.

"We dropped two points that wewould've deserved for attacking fromstart to finish," said Ancelotti.

"In some ways, it was animpeccable performance, butwe weren't clinical enough infront of goal and were forcedto make do with a point."

Ancelotti's side have nowbeen held twice in the pastthree games while hostsFiorentina drew for the 11th time in 23matches this season to sit ninth, butjust six points off the ChampionsLeague berths.

The Tuscany side's best chancecame just after half-time when Frenchmidfielder Jordan Veretout was deniedby an excellent stop from Alex Meret.

Inter Milan, in third, got back win-ning after Martinez came off thebench late, scoring after 79 minutes atParma, after an earlier DaniloD'Ambrosio headed goal was ruled outafter a VAR video review for a han-dling offence.

Belgian midfielder Radja

Nainggolan crossed nicely for theArgentine blast in Luciano Spalletti'sside their first league goal and win of

2019.Inter are now nine points

behind Napoli, with Roma infourth, a further five pointsbehind, and Lazio fifth after theirwins over Chievo and Empoliearlier this week.

"I'm well suited to overcomingdifficulties," said under-pressure InterMilan coach Spalletti.

"Just as the defeat against Bologna(last week) caused despair, this victo-ry will give us enthusiasm andstrength.

"We must now keep a low profileto rediscover stability. We showed pos-itive things tonight, but we need toproduce further performances like thisto gain consistency."

Parma are in 12th position withjust one goal from their last fivegames, despite their heroics last weekwith a late Gervinho double holdingchampions Juventus 3-3.

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Former world number ones KarolinaPliskova and Simona Halep won their

opening rubbers as the Fed Cup clashbetween defending champions CzechRepublic and Romania ended 1-1 onSaturday's opening day.

Pliskova, her country's top player inthe absence of world number two PetraKvitova, swept past Mihaela Buzarnescu6-1, 6-4 before Halep disposed of KaterinaSiniakova 6-4, 6-0 to bring Romania level.

The wins set up a mouthwateringclash between Pliskova, ranked five in theworld, and number three Halep on theindoor hard courts of Ostrava on Sunday.

"I'm excited but I can't afford to getover-excited," said Australian Open semi-finalist Pliskova, who is hoping to inspirethe Czechs to an 11th successive appear-ance in the last four of the Fed Cup.

Her caution is understandable as shetrails Halep 6-2 in career meetings.

However, Pliskova won their lastclash on clay in Madrid in 2018 as wellas coming out on top in a 2016 Fed CupWorld Group clash over three sets.

French Open champion Halep has

already vowed to win a first Fed Cup forRomania before she retires, describing itas "the first thing on her bucket list now"having ticked off a maiden Grand Slamcrown at Roland Garros last year.

In Liege, two-time champions Francedominated Belgium for a 2-0 lead.

Top 20 player Caroline Garcia,returning to the French squad for the firsttime in two years after a bitter fall-outwith teammates following the 2016 final,earned the opening point with a 7-6 (7/2),4-6, 6-2 win over Alison Van Uytvanck.

On the back of an 86-minute first set,Alize Cornet then made it 2-0 by seeingoff Belgian number one Elise Mertens 7-6 (8/6), 6-2.

It was Cornet's first win in the com-petition in five years as she made a mock-ery of the 30 places separating her fromMertens in the world rankings.

Belarus, the 2017 runners-up, com-fortably moved 2-0 ahead of Germany inBraunschweig with straight sets wins forAliaksandra Sasnovich and ArynaSabalenka.

Sasnovich defeated Tatjana Maria 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 before Sabalenka needed justover an hour to defeat Andrea Petkovic.

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Ollie Pope (63) and Sam Hain (57)stood out on the final day with fight-

ing half centuries as England Lions drewthe first unofficial Test against India 'A'at the Krishnagiri stadium on Sunday.

Beginning day four at 20 for no loss,openers Ben Duckett (30) and MaxHolden (29) looked positive and broughtup the team's 50 in the 12th over.

Paceman Avesh Khan got the firstbreakthrough for the home side, when hehad Duckett caught by K L Rahul after theopeners had added 82.

Holden went seven overs later, givingJalaj Saxena, who plays for Kerala indomestic cricket, his first wicket in the sec-ond innings.

Hain and 21-year old Pope, a highlyrated batsmen who has played two Tests

so far, joined forces and defied the India'A' bowlers for the next couple of hours.

They were willing to play the waitinggame and didn't miss out on scoringopportunities. The 105-run partnershipwent a long way in ensuring that the vis-iting team, who were at the receiving endin the ODI series preceding the 'Tests',

stayed in the game.The right-handed Pope played some

attractive strokes as he picked up 10 foursin his 122-ball knock.

Hain was more restrained and hisinnings lasted 178 balls.

Pope became the first of ShahbazNadeem's victims, nicking one to 'keep-er K S Bharat.

Skipper Sam Billings didn't have agreat game, falling for just 5, off Nadeem'sbowling.

There was a brief stoppage due tomild showers and on resumption, theLions lost two wickets before StevenMullaney (3 from 38 balls) and Will Jacks(13 for 31 balls) knuckled down anddenied India 'A'.

The match was called off whenEngland Lions were ahead by 14 runs andteams decided a result was not possible.

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Defending champions Bayern Munich trimmed the gap in theBundesliga table to five points behind Borussia Dortmund on

Saturday as Robert Lewandowski scored his 100th goal at homein a 3-1 win over Schalke 04.

"We did really well in the first-half, then for patches in the sec-ond," said coach Niko Kovac as Bayern bounced back from lastSaturday's shock 3-1 defeat at Leverkusen.

"We deserved the win and the margin of victory."Dortmund had earlier blown a three-goal lead at home to

Hoffenheim, who scored three times late on, ina dramatic 3-3 draw.

Bayern dominated at Munich's Allianz Arena,taking the lead after new Schalke signing JeffreyBruma bundled the ball into his own net on 12minutes.

Schalke pulled level when Turkey internation-al Ahmed Kutucu finished a brilliant counter-attack on 25 minutes to beat Sven Ulreich, Bayern's stand-in keep-er with Manuel Neuer sidelined by a thumb injury.

Poland striker Lewandowski restored Bayern's lead just 90 sec-onds later when he netted his 100th goal at the Allianz Arena inthe red shirt.

James Rodriguez then went close for Bayern, while ThiagoAlcantara cleared a Weston McKennie header as Schalke threat-ened to equalise before half-time.

McKennie hit the post after the break for Schalke, but SergeGnabry sealed Bayern's win with a header on 57 minutes afterLewandowski directed the ball towards goal with a bicycle kick.

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Former Australia captain Ricky Pontinghas tipped India and England as

favourites to win the upcoming World Cupon current form but feels that his countryalso has a chance to defend the title itclinched in 2015.

Ponting said with the impendingreturn of suspended batsmen Steve Smithand David Warner, Australia can win theODI showpiece, which begins on May 30in England.

"Absolutely," Ponting replied whenasked if he thought Australia could win theWorld Cup.

"India and England are probably thetwo standout teams right now, but if youadd Warner and Smith back into that line-up then I think that team looks as strongas any," the batting legend was quoted assaying by Cricket Australia official websitecricket.Com.Au.

Australia have won just four of theirmost recent 26 ODI contests but Ponting,who was on Friday named as new assistantcoach, said the team will be a contender forthe title yet again.

"I am not just saying that because I amone of the coaches, I actually said it whenI was not around the group. Conditions inEngland will suit our style of play. I thinkAustralia will be the one of the main con-tenders for sure," said the 44-year-old three-time World Cup winner.

Smith and Warner were banned for oneyear by the ICC for their involvement in theinfamous ball-tempering scandal last yearand they will become eligible for interna-tional cricket again from March 29.

"With the inclusion of two of the bestone-day players in the world who have alot of experience, all of a sudden the teamstarts looking a whole lot better. You willhave guys that will handle a lot of pressuresituations better because they have done itall before," Ponting said about Smith andWarner.

Talking about the concerns ofAustralian players' weakness against spin,Ponting said, "Looking at our line-upnow, there are potentially a few better play-ers of spin in the middle order than whatwe had last year.

"The thing about English conditions isthe wickets should not spin too muchthroughout the World Cup."

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Tottenham kept alive their bid togate-crash the Premier Leaguetitle race as Davinson Sanchez's

first goal for the club and HugoLloris's penalty save inspired a 3-1win over Leicester on Sunday.

Mauricio Pochettino's side tookthe lead through Sanchez's first halfheader, but they were indebted toLloris for keeping out Jamie Vardy'sspot-kick after the interval atWembley.

Christian Eriksen nettedmoments later and although Vardygot one back, Son Heung-min's latestrike ensured third-placedTottenham clinched a fifth win intheir last six league games.

The north Londoners are fivepoints off the top of the table as theytry to catch pace-setters Liverpooland Manchester City.

While Tottenham are still out-siders to win their first English titlesince 1961, their ability to stay in con-tention, despite injuries to key play-ers Harry Kane and Dele Alli suggeststhey shouldn't be completely writtenoff.

This gritty success wasthe ideal preparation forhosting Borussia Dortmundin the Champions Leaguelast 16 f irst leg onWednesday.

Leicester has lost four oftheir last five league games, increas-ing the pressure on under-fire bossClaude Puel.

Puel has reportedly lostthe support of several influen-tial players, including Englandstriker Vardy, who was left onthe bench for the first 60minutes before coming on tomiss the penalty with his first

touch.With the Dortmund clash loom-

ing on Wednesday, Pochettino

tweaked his team, leaving out TobyAlderweireld and Lucas Moura andrecalling Fernando Llorente.

Llorente was caught nappingearly on when Harry Maguire evad-ed the Spanish striker's markingand met James Maddison's free-kickwith a towering header that HugoLloris tipped over.

That chance was symptomatic of

a disjointed start from Tottenham.Tottenham kept pressing and

were rewarded with a well-worked33rd minute opener.

Trippier's short corner foundthe unmarked Christian Eriksen andhe whipped a pin-point cross towardsSanchez six yards from goal.

Leicester called for offside, buttheir protests were in vain as Sanchezlaunched himself into a diving head-er that flashed past Schmeichel.

Replays showed the Colombiadefender was just onside as he scoredhis first goal for Tottenham since his2017 move from Ajax.

Leicester's positive start to thesecond half brought a golden oppor-tunity to equalise with their 60thminute penalty.

A rapid exchange of passesopened up a chance for Maddison,prompting Jan Vertonghen to rash-ly bundle over the midfielder.

Vardy had been warming up inpreparation and was immediatelyintroduced, jogging forward to takethe ball from Maddison.

But Lloris came to Tottenham'srescue, plunging to his right to keepout Vardy's spot-kick.

Tottenham made the most oftheir escape as Eriksen doubled thelead three minutes later.

Llorente pounced on Pereira'spoor clearance and teed up Eriksenfor a superb strike from the edge ofthe area for his first goal sinceJanuary 1.

Vardy gave Leicester hope in the76th minute, pouncing from close-range to convert Pereira's cross intypically predatory fashion.

But Son had the last word in the90th minute as the winger raced clearto slot past Schmeichel for his 15thgoal of the season.

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New Zealand denied Indiaa perfect finish to theirhighly successful tour

Down Under by clinching theT20 series 2-1 with a narrowfour-run win in the series-deciding third match at SeddonPark on Sunday.

India savoured a historicTest and ODI bilateral series winin Australia before recordingtheir biggest ODI series win onNew Zealand soil.

A first ever T20 series winwould have been an icing on thecake but the hosts held theirnerves to pull off a thrilling vic-tory. With Sunday's result, Indiahave lost their first T20 seriesafter winning nine and drawingone.

India needed to knock offa stiff 213-run target to bringcurtains on a memorable three-month tour in a befitting man-ner but fell just short.

Exploiting batting friendlyconditions at the small SeddonPark ground, New Zealand cutthe Indian attack to shreds topost an imposing 212 for four.Opener Colin Munro produceda 40-ball 72 and shared a 80-runstand with fellow opener TimSeifert (43) to lay foundation fora big score.

Krunal Pandya was themost expensive of the Indianbowlers, bleeding 54 runs in hisfour-over quota. If it was not forleft-arm Chinaman KuldeepYadav (2/26)'s tight bowling inthe middle-overs andBhuvneshwar Kumar (1/37),India would have got a biggertarget to chase.

India captain Rohit Sharma,who usually bats explosive insuch situations, made anuncharacteristical 32-ball 38

and it also hurt India's chances.Vijay Shankar (43 off 28) playeda useful knock though at the topafter Shikhar Dhawan (5) fellearly.

Rishabh Pant (28 off 12)and Hardik Pandya (21 off 11)infused some life into India'schase with some brutal hittingbut perished while trying tokeep up with a steep scoringrate. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (2off 4) also could not do much.

India needed 16 runs off thefinal over and Dinesh Karthik(33 not out off 16) after taking

a double off the first ball,stunned the crowd and histeammates by refusing to takea single in the third ball. Krunal(26 not out off 30) had reachedthe striker's end but Karthik didnot run, sending his partnerback.

This was after umpire didnot give a clear wide bowled byTim Southee.

Karthik could only managea single off the next ball asSouthee bowled a straight ball.By then, the match had clearlyslipped out of India's hands.

Both Karthik and Krunal didexceedingly well to take thegame into the final over buttheir unbeaten 63-run stand off28 balls did not prove to beenough.

New Zealand bowlers faredmuch better than India, consis-tently hitting the short-of-length, which proved to be keyon this small ground.

Earlier, Bhuvneshwar washit for a six by Munro in his firstover but the lean pacer respond-ed with splendid block-holedeliveries in the next over.

The Kiwis though did keepa very healthy run-rate, racingto 50 in just 5.2 overs.

Indian bowlers had conced-ed 79 runs in first seven overs

when Rohit brought Kuldeepand the leg-spinner straightaway made an impact, by get-ting Seifert stumped withDhoni's lightening quick handsat work.

Munro kept going strong ashe hammered Krunal for a sixto raise the team's 100 in the11th over.

Again it was Kuldeep whocame to team's rescue by seeingthe back of dangerous-lookingMunro while Khaleel Ahmedgot rid of Williamson (27).

There was no respite for theIndian bowlers as Daryl Mitchell(19) and Ross Taylor (14 off 7)helped New Zealand finish theinnings strongly by smashing 61runs in the last five overs.

�� *-�05�73�

India captain Rohit Sharmasaid his team will return home

with lots of positives despite a"disappointing" 1-2 defeat inthe three-match T20 series.

A first ever T20 series winwould have been an icing on thecake but the hosts held theirnerves to pull off a thrilling four-run victory on Sunday.

"Disappointing to not crossthe line but we fought well righttill the end. 210 odd (213 target)was always going to be tough,but we were in it till the end.They held their nerve and kepthitting their yorkers," said Rohitat the post-match presentation.

"Still lot of positives, westarted well with the ODIs,wanted to do well here but theboys throughout the tour wereexcellent, put in a lot of hardwork. They will be disappoint-ed tonight but we've to learnfrom the mistakes we madeand move ahead."

India next host Australia fortwo T20s and five ODIs, start-ing in Vizag on February 24.

New Zealand captain KaneWilliamson said his team willtake a lot of confidence from theT20 triumph against India intothe home series againstBangladesh.

"Brilliant high-scoringgame, a great advertisement forT20 cricket. The first perfor-

mance was our best, there werelearnings in the second game.Both teams put in strong perfor-mances tonight, we did slight-ly better," said Williamson.

Opener and man of thematch Colin Munro said it wasanybody's game with Indianeeding 16 off the final over.

"It was touch and go thereuntil the final minute. India —you get one good batsman,another one comes along. Theboys did a really good job of fin-ishing off the really good Indianbatsmen," said Munro.

On his 72 off 40 balls, headded: "I didn't really focus ontrying to do anything different,tried to put pressure back on thebowlers. Just came out niceand free, had a bit of luck, whichyou certainly need in thismatch."

�� *-�05�73�

The Indian women's teamalmost pulled off a dramat-

ic win but failed to score aboundary in the final delivery tolose the third and final T20International against NewZealand by a mere two runs onSunday.

Chasing 162 for a win, staropening batswoman SmritiMandhana took the Indian teamon course for a consolation winwith a career-best knock of 86from 52 balls but the visiting sidefailed to build on her scintillat-ing knock to end their inningsat 159 for 4.

With the three-match seriesalready lost after defeats in thefirst and second T20Is, Indiasurprisingly named senior play-er Mithali Raj in the playingeleven and she contributed 24not out from 20 balls after com-ing to bat at the fall of captainHarmanpreet Kaur (2).

But she failed to hit a fourfrom the final delivery bowledby Leigh Kasperek as India lostthe match by two runs.

India needed 16 runs fromthe final over and Raj andDeepti Sharma (21 not out)raised hopes of a remarkable winby hitting boundaries in the firstand third deliveries but were leftto hit a four off the last ball.

Mandhana, who had scored58 and 36 in the first twomatches, continued her red-hot form by notching up hereight T20I fifty and second ofthe series as she dominated

against New Zealand bowlers yetagain.

With one-down JemimahRodrigues (21), the otherbatswoman who has been in finetouch, India reached 92 for 2 atthe halfway stage.

But after that, India couldnot force the pace of scoring andwith captain Kaur failing tomake a mark, the asking ratekept on climbing.

When Mandhana was outin the 16th over, India needed 39from 4.3 overs which was not aneasy job. Raj and Deepti couldnot get too many boundariesand they were left with 16 to winfrom the final over.

Electing to bat, NewZealand looked set to post amuch bigger total by reaching 80

for 2 at the halfway stage butIndia came back strongly toforce a batting collapse as thehome side ended their inningsat 161 for 7.

Hard-hitting opener SophieDevine top-scored with asparkling 52-ball 72 which waslaced with eight boundaries andtwo sixes while captain AmySatterthwaite contributed 31.

�� *-�05�73�

Whitewashed by New Zealand womenin the three-match T20 series, India

opener Smriti Mandhana on Sunday saidher team needs to address its batting woes,especially after losing all the games fromwinning positions.

Mandhana took the side on course fora consolation win with a career-best knockof 86 but the visitors failed to build on herscintillating knock to end the innings.

"Well I think the girls fought really well.If you look back at the series and see, 70 or80 per cent of the times we were in winningpositions. That's a good take away but thereare a lot of things which we can improve,"said Mandhana.

"We need to address those (batting)issues as soon as possible. We need some-one who can bat through 20 overs andsomeone who can go in at the middle overs

and get runs later on," she said.Mandhana returned as the highest

run-getter in the T20 series, amassing 180runs from three games at an average of 60,including two half-centuries.

But she didn't get enough support fromthe other end and the left-hander rued herinability to get India home on Sunday.

"I really wanted to finish the game for

India. I have never been that animated ever.I badly wanted to do it today and help theteam get over the line but unfortunately, Icouldn't," the southpaw said.

Counting on the positives from the NewZealand tour, Mandhana said: "We havedone a lot of good things. We really playedwell in the first two matches of the ODIseries. But we became a little complacentafter that and we will try to go with the sameintensity in all the future matches."

Mandhana was delighted to see thecrowd response in the entire tour and hopedfor same response from the fans of women'scricket in future.

"Definitely, because the girls don't havethe experience of playing in front of suchgood crowds. We generally get this sort ofcrowd in World Cup. If we can pull crowdsin such series that will really be good, every-one will be prepared to play under pressure,"she said.

�� *-�05�73

India all-rounder VijayShankar on Sunday said

being promoted to bat at thecrucial number three positioncame as a big surprise to himand he returns home from themaiden tour of Australia andNew Zealand as a muchimproved cricketer.

Shankar batted at numberthree in two of three T20sagainst New Zealand, scoring43 off 28 balls in the final gameand 23 in the series opener.

He made his ODI debutagainst Australia at Melbourneand featured in three out of fiveODIs and all three T20s againstthe Black Caps. The 28-year-old might not have doneenough to stake a strong claimfor a World Cup spot but gavea good account of his all-round abilities.

Going forward, Shankarsaid he would love to bat high-er up the order.

"It was a big surprise for mewhen they asked me to bat atthree. That is a big thing. I wasfocussed on playing the situa-tion. You need to be open any-way if you are playing for a

team like India," said Shankarafter his team's four-run loss inthe third T20.

"These (Australia and NewZealand) two series I have

learnt a lot. I might not havebowled a lot but I learnt to bowlin different conditions. In bat-ting, just watching seniors likeVirat (Kohli), Rohit (Sharma)

and (MS) Dhoni, how they goabout their job, I learnt a lot."

The fact that he had cometo New Zealand with the India'A' team in December alsohelped him.

He got starts in all threeinnings in the T20 series butcould not play a match-win-ning knock.

"Even the last game was alearning experience for me. Icould have gone for single or atwo than go for another bound-ary," Shankar said.

"I also had a very goodopportunity to win this gamefor the team. If I can winmatches for the team, that willautomatically help me person-ally. For me, the most impor-tant thing is that I adapt quick-ly to different conditions and beconsistent."

On the tight loss in theseries decider where India werechasing an imposing 213,Shankar said: "We played wellright through the 20 overs.Everyone was very positivewhen we were trying get clos-er to the total. Eventually wewere just one hit away. Theresult could have been differenton another day."

�'�� $7*-�

Despite the loss of world number oneNaomi Osaka through injury, six of the

women's top 10 players descend on Dohathis week for the Qatar Open.

Australian Open champion — and thesport's new superstar — Osaka withdrewlast week due to a back injury, leaving a bighole to fill for tournament organisers,which they have done with a strong fieldincluding three former world number ones.

Simona Halep is now the top seed andthe Romanian will be joined by the CzechRepublic's Karolina Pliskova andGermany's Angelique Kerber as the topseeds.

All three were formerly at the top ofthe women's rankings, Halep only beingousted by Osaka last month afterMelbourne.

Halep, now ranked three in the world,and Kerber, sixth, are both Grand Slamwinners. Pliskova, the world number five,is a former US Open finalist.

Kerber is the first of these to arrive inDoha as she seeks to erase the memory ofher crushing straights sets fourth rounddefeat against Danielle Collins in Australia.

"It's a tough draw [in Doha]," Kerbertold reporters on Sunday. "But this is a chal-lenge, and I'm always looking forward to

coming here." All three top seeds have agood record in Qatar.

Halep and Kerber met in the 2014final, with the Romanian winning, andPliskova won the title two years ago.

World number seven Elina Svitolina ofUkraine — a wildcard replacement forOsaka — is the fourth seed.

Also in Doha from the top 10 will beworld number eight Kiki Bertens of theNetherlands and Denmark's CarolineWozniacki, ranked tenth.

The Dane was the runner-up toPliskova in 2017.

Svitolina said she had changed hermind about playing in Doha after initial-ly deciding she needed more rest afterAustralia where she struggled with ashoulder and neck injury.

But the 24-year-old now feels she isready to return to the court earlier thananticipated.

"This tournament, you know, here isalways tough," she said.

"Everyone wants to play, everyonewants to play well. That's why it makes itnot easy at all." The top four seeds areexpected to be in action from Tuesday.

Halep and Pliskova could meet in thefinal in Doha, just days after the pair wereset to meet against each other this week-end in the Fed Cup.

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