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Fresh from slashing the taxrate for companies to low-

est in almost three decades,Prime Minister Narendra Modion Wednesday pitched India as“the” investment destination forglobal investors, saying reformsby his Government are just thebeginning of a long innings.

Modi promised to person-ally act as a bridge for busi-nesses and said India has aGovernment which respectscorporates and wealth creators.

“India’s growth story hasfour important factors that arerare to find anywhere else inthe world.

These factors are democ-racy, demography, demand,and decisiveness. Democracytogether with political stabili-ty, predictable policy and inde-pendent judiciary gives confi-dence of safety and security ofinvestment and of growth,” hesaid.

Speaking at the BloombergGlobal Business Forum here, hesaid last week’s decision toslash corporate tax rate is a “bigrevolutionary step” for invest-ment and the move has beenhailed by businesses as historic.

The government last weekannounced a surprise reduc-tion in the corporate tax ratefrom close to 35 per cent to25.17 per cent, a move that isbeing dubbed as a massivetrigger for revving up growthand, more importantly, resur-recting sentiments that weredown in the dumps.

The immediate benefit isincreased cash flows to corpo-rate India that will be chan-nelised into debt reduction orincremental investments inincreasing capacity.

“If you want to invest in amarket where there is scale,come to India,” Modi said. “Ifyou want to invest in a marketwhere the latest trends and fea-tures are appreciated, come toIndia. If you want to invest instart-ups with a huge market,come to India. If you want toinvest in one of the world’slargest infrastructure ecosys-tem, come to India.”

Asia’s third largest econo-

my is rapidly modernising itscities, and equipping themwith the latest technology andcitizen-friendly infrastructure,the Prime Minister said.

“Thus if you want to investin urbanisation, come to India,”he said. “We have opened ourdefence sector like neverbefore. If you want to Make inIndia, for India and for theworld, come to India.”

India, he said, is waiting forglobal investors. “India is youronly destination. I am waitingto welcome you.”

“Your desires and ourdreams match perfectly. Yourtechnology and our talent can

change the world. Your scaleand our skills can speed upglobal economic growth,” hesaid. “Your prudent methodand our pragmatic mind canwrite new stories in manage-ment. Your rational ways andour human values can show thepath which the world is look-ing for.”

“And if there is any gapanywhere, I will personally actas a bridge,” he said.

Modi said democracy andan English-based judicial sys-tem gives added confidence toinvestors as there would be noproblem of interpretation.

The government is looking

at investing Rs 100 lakh crorein building new airports, rail-way lines, electrification, layingnew roads and giving houses toall. “Infrastructure is a priori-ty,” Modi emphasised.

“We have taken numerousdecisions to increase investorsconfidence including scrapingof 50 old laws which werecoming in way of develop-ment,” he said. “This is just thebeginning. We have a longinnings ahead. The world busi-ness has a golden opportunityto partner with India.”

Modi said his Governmentdoes not shy away from takingthe biggest of steps to improvethe business environment.

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The Modi Government plansto go for aggressive strate-

gic disinvestment of severalState-owned companies andalso reduce its stakes in manyother PSUs to raise funds to off-set the massive revenue loss itundertook in announcing cor-porate tax cut. Shares of manyof these companies surgeddespite a massive correction inSensex on Wednesday.

According to a CNBC-TV18 report, the Government hasplanned to sell its entire stakein BPCL, ContainerCorporation, ShippingCorporation of India, THDC &NEEPCO. The proposalincludes selling complete 75per cent stake in THDC toNTPC.

In addition, theGovernment also plans to gofor disinvestment of Powergrid and raise �20,000 crore intwo tranches.

Shares of Power GridCorporation of India was up by4.10 per cent, third straight dayof gain to touch a 52-week highlevel after reports that theGovernment seeks stake sale inthe firm in FY20 itself. CON-COR share rose by 3 per centand SCI 2.89 per cent whileBPCL saw double digit gain in

the last two days.The Government has 53.29

per cent stake in BPCL, 54.79per cent in CONCOR, 63.75per cent in SCI, 75 per cent inTHDC and 100 per cent stakein NEEPCO.

Meanwhile, theGovernment has alreadyexpressed its intent for 100 percent stake sale in Air India.

Unlike in the past when theGovernment mostly went forselling its stake in the loss-mak-ing companies, the focus hasnow shifted to strategic disin-vestment of profit-makingcompanies. This is becausefinding a buyer for a loss mak-ing company was bound to bedifficult exercise in a tough eco-nomic environment.

The Government will alsonot transfer its stake from onePSU to another in the name ofdisinvestment as was done inthe case of ONGC acquisitionof HPCL last year. As per itsnow disinvestment plan, the

Government will offload itsentire stake to some privatebidder in case of strategic dis-investment.

In her Budget speech,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman had set a disin-vestment target of �1.05 lakhcrore for 2019-2020. This was�15,000 crore more than thetarget of �90,000 crore set byPiyush Goyal as the interim FMin the interim Budget onFebruary 1.

Disinvestment proceeds forFY19 stood at �85,000 crore, up6.2 per cent from the Budgetestimate of �80,000 crore.

The Government is nowlikely to seek Cabinet nod forthese strategic disinvestmentproposals and then appointconsultant and merchantbankers for arriving at valua-tions. After this, the Group ofMinisters on disinvestmentheaded by the Finance Ministerwill finalise the bid price andopen the floor for sell.

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Unfazed by the EnforcementDirectorate’s move to reg-

ister a money laundering caseagainst him and others in the�25,000-crore MaharashtraState Cooperative Bank(MSCB) scam, NCP presidentSharad Pawar said onWednesday that he would visitthe ED’s office on September 27and give the investigatingagency “whatever information”it needed in the case.

On a day whenMaharashtra Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis distancedhis Government from the EDinvestigations into the MSCBscam and denied there was anypolitical vendetta behind themoney laundering case regis-tered against the NCP chief andothers, Pawar played the

Maratha card, by saying, “Oursis a land of (Maratha warrior)Chhatrapati Shivaji. We havegrown following Shivaji’s ide-ology. We have ever beentaught to bow before the Delhitakht (throne).”

Deftly blunting the rulingBJP’s possible effort to use hisalleged involvement in theMSCB scam as a weapon tosully him in the campaign forthe October 21 Assembly polls,Pawar said he himself would goto the ED’s office on Friday to“understand” as to what are the

charges against him.Maintaining that he had

neither heard anything offi-cially from the ED nor had hereceived any notice from theinvestigating agency, the NCPchief said, “I want to under-stand what my crime is allabout.

Since I will be mostly awayfrom Mumbai, campaigningfor the next one month, I willpersonally visit the ED’s officeat 2 pm on Friday and providewhatever information theyneed.”

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The residents of Andamanand Nicobar might not

have contributed much in car-bon emission, but the impactof the climate change resultingin the rise in sea level andincrease in natural disasterslike cyclones is set to threatentheir survival.

Anjal Prakash, coordinat-ing lead author of theIntergovernmental Panel onClimate Change (IPCC)report, has warned that rise insea level and increase in cli-matic events like cyclones mayleave the islands like Andamanand Nicobar inhabitable in afew years and people wouldhave to be evacuated fromthere. He stressed that thefocus has to be on adaptationand building climate resilience.The IPCC Special Report onthe Ocean and Cryosphere ina Changing Climate (SROCC)has cautioned that warming ofoceans will increase the fre-

quency and severity of climat-ic events like cyclones inIndia.“Islands like Andamanand Nicobar, Maldives, etc,will have to be vacated. Peoplewill have to be migrated fromthere as due to rising sea lev-els, these places will becomenon-inhabitable,” Prakash said.

“Even with an under two-degree rise in global tempera-ture, there will be sea level rise,glaciers will melt and manycommunities will be affected.Some of these events are irre-

versible. So focus has to be onadaptation for the comingfuture,” said Prakash, who isalso an associate professor ofRegional Water Studies atTERI School of AdvancedStudies. The Andaman andNicobar islands are alreadystruggling with waste genera-tion and disposal, negativeacculturation, sproutingeconomies and problems ofdrug and alcohol addictions.

All this is creating chal-lenges for the 3,80,000 people

who live on the archipelago,more than a quarter of them inthe capital, Port Blair, accord-ing to data from the lastnationwide census in 2011.

The report also painted agrim picture of the future thatawaits the Hindu KushHimalayan region, an areacovering high mountainschains of central, south andinner Asia. It noted that theregion faces the risk of losingover 60 per cent of its glaciersby 2100. It said that glacierretreat and snow cover changeshave already contributed tolocalised declines in agricul-tural yields in high mountainregions, including Hindu KushHimalaya.

The HKH region includesmountain ranges of the TienShan, Kun Lun, Pamir, HinduKush, Karakoram, Himalayas,and Hengduan and the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau whichproduce one of the world’slargest renewable supplies offreshwater.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi was on Wednesday

conferred “GlobalGoalkeeper” award by the Billand Melinda GatesFoundation for the SwachchhBharat Abhiyan.

In a series of tweets inHindi, the Prime Minister’sOffice (PMO) said Modi laud-ed the countrymen for con-tributing to the grand successof the cleanliness mission,saying he shared the honourwith them.

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Falling in lines with Stateslike Gujarat, Uttarakhand,

Karnataka, the State Cabinet onWednesday reduced the hightraffic fines introduced by theCentre under the Motor Vehicles(Amendment) Act, 2019. Thelatest changes come after ChiefMinister Raghubar Das hadannounced to give three-monthrelief from fines under newMotor Vehicle Act.

Under the amended MVAct, the violation of Pollutionunder check (PUC) norm invitesa penalty of �10,000 from �1,000on first violation and�2,000 fornext offence. The State Cabinetchanging the penalty hasreduced the fines in Pollutionunder check (PUC) norm to�1,000. State UrbanDevelopment, Housing &Transport Minister CP Singh

said, “The State Government haspower to make changes in MVAct in compounding offences.The Government with thispower has decided to reduce thefines (penalty) in some offencesgiving relief to commuters.”

Singh said that as per section179 (sub section) of MV Act2019, the penalty for disobedi-ence of order of authority was�2000, which has been reducedto �500 as per earlier MV Act.

Similarly, for talking onmobile while driving, there wasfine of �5,000 as per new MV Act2019, but it has been reduced to�1,000 keeping the earlier MVAct. For driving vehicles withoutregistration, there was fine of�5,000 as per new MV Act, it hasbeen slashed to �2,000 as per ear-lier MV Act.

However, no relief has beengiven to commuters in someoffences which come under non-compounding offences. No reliefhas been provided to commutersdriving vehicles without licens-es. As per amended MV Act,2019 the penalty under this sec-

tion was �5,000 which has beenkept intact. Similarly, no relief hasbeen provided to commuters dri-ving vehicles without helmet.The MV Act, 2019 has hiked thefines in driving vehicles withouthelmet from �100 to �1,000.

In another important deci-sion, the Cabinet today notifiedUpper Bazar, Mahabir ChowkShadanand Road as commercialarea, earlier it was notified as res-idential area. Singh said, “As perearlier master plan due to admin-istrative lapses these areas werenotified as residential areas, butit has changed and it has beennotified as commercial areasagain.”

In today’s Cabinet meeting,approval to 23 agenda weregiven nod. State Cabinet coor-dination department secretaryin-charge Ajay Kumar Singhsaid, “The Cabinet gave its nodfor construction of 3.91 kmroad from ITI bus stand to St.Francis School, Harmu at a costof �40.50 crore.” Singh furthersaid, the Cabinet also gave its nodfor appointment of women

observer in Women and ChildDevelopment. As per Cabinetdecision, 75 per cent womenobservers will be appointeddirectly through Staff SelectionCommission (SSC), while rest 25per cent will be appointed fromeligible Aaganwadi Sewikas.However, only graduateAaganwadi Sewikas will beappointed as women observerfollowed by interview and hav-ing an experience of ten years.

The Cabinet also gave itsnod for deployment of twowomen home guards inKasturba Gandhi BalikaVidyalaya across the State.Approval for bonus of �185 inpaddy was minimum supportprice (MSP) of paddy was alsogiven. With �185 bonus, theMSP in paddy the procurementfor which will start fromNovember/December will goup to �2,000. The Cabinet alsogave its nod for changing namesof Karmatand in Jamtara districtthe Karmabhoomi of legendaryIshwar Chandra Vidyasagar toKarmatand Vidyasagar.

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The Central Government onWednesday declared 10 dis-

tricts of Jharkhand droughtaffected, a step that will providerelief to around 12 lakh farmersof the State. Bokaro district hasbeen declared the worst affect-ed, while Chatra, Deoghar,Giridih, Garhwa, Godda,Hazaribagh, Jamtara, Kodermaand Pakur have been declaredmedium affected.

The State Government hasrequested the Centre to includeRanchi, Dumka and Lateharalso in the list of drought affect-ed ones. The assessment ofdrought has been done on thebasis of monsoon rains betweenAugust 1 and September 4.

State Agriculture SecretaryPooja Singhal said that the StateGovernment had requested theCentre to declare Jharkhand asdrought hit. The Centre on thebasis of probe, facts and analy-sis of data declared 10 districtsof the State as drought hit. Shesaid that State Government hasagain requested to include at leastthree more districts in the list.

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After whirlwind tour to dif-ferent parts of the State,

Chief Minister Raghubar Dason Wednesday launched ShramShakti Abhiyan at FootballGround of Adityapur in theneighbouring district SeraikelaKharsawan. The programme isaimed to register labourersworking in the unorganisedsector.

Addressing the gathering,Das said that the Governmentis dedicated to the welfare ofthe workers. Policies are beingframed to help them lead agood life. He said that thelaborers working in the unor-ganised sector are not aware ofthe government's schemes andthey become dependent onothers and workers have tobecome aware and increasetheir confidence.

The State-wide ‘ShramShakti Abhiyan’ is aimed at reg-istering labourers employed inunorganized sector betweenSeptember 25 and October 2 inthe State labour department.

Das asked administration of allthe 24 districts to registerworkers on a mission modetaking help of NGOs. “It is ourambitious programme and wewant to make it successful. Ihave asked the PrincipalSecretary labour, employmentand training department, RajivArun Ekka to direct deputycommissioners to ensure thatblock officers, circle officersand other administrative offi-cials should hold registrationcamps in every place including

work site and factories. Theyshould also hold meeting withfactory owners and realtorsand direct that they shouldemploy only those workerswho get registered in the ShramShakti Abhiyan,” said Das.

The CM also appealed tothe NGOs, political parties andtrade unions to ensure thatmaximum number of workersare registered during the ShramShakti Abhiyan. As per theprogramme after getting regis-tered, workers can benefit of

unorganized workers insur-ance scheme wherein depen-dants of workers will get �2 lakh after death of the work-er while labour departmentwill pay the entire premiumamount to LIC, other schemesinclude Antyashti Sahayatayojana (dependants will get�25,000 for conducting lastrites), CM scholarship scheme,Kaushal Unnayan scheme(children getting assistance inskill improvement) and healthassistance scheme for women.

The CM also announcedthat government has allocatedRs 150 crore for workers in realestate. “We want to ensurewelfare of all the workers irre-spective of any sector.

The Government has allo-cated �150 crore for workers inbuilding construction sectorand this fund would be used fortheir benefit.

We also plan to link theover 18,000 health workersemployed in different civicbodies in the State labour,employment and trainingdepartment board wherein anyhealth workers who has com-pleted over three days of training will have a monthlyincrement of �500 as he wouldbe treated as skilled labour,”said Das.

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With monsoon rain in fullbloom, officials of the

district administration,Jamshedpur Durga PujaKendriya Samity( JDPKS), andJamshedpur Notified AreaCommittee (JNAC) inspectedthe river ghats where immer-sion would take place afterDurga Puja. The officialsinspected all major ghats tocheck the cleanliness.

The sub divisional officer(SDO), Dhalbhum, ChandanKumar directed theJamshedpur Notified AreaCommittee ( JNAC) and Juscoto take up the cleanliness of theghats with a joint effort."Although the river ghats arenot so unclean may be due tothe recent rains, we have askedJNAC and Jusco to take up the

responsibility as soon as pos-sible. The others would betaken up by the concernednotified area committees forthe cleanliness work," saidKumar.

The SDO has also askedthe cattle shed owners to

remove themselves from thebank of the river, which hasmade the area unclean. Thecattle shed owners have beengiven a time period of 24 hoursto remove them. The con-cerned police station inchargein the respective areas have

been asked to do their jobs ifthe cattle shed owners do notmove to some other place.Thecity will witness about 320Durga Puja this year. TheJNAC has been directed toremove the garbages to adumping area to provide devo-

tees a clean environment. Juscohas been told to provide elec-tricity in the river ghats.

According to those in theJamshedpur Durga PujaKendriya Samity, the worstghat was the Subernarekhaghat with garbages dumped bythe side of the river. The bestone has been Domuhani riverghat in Sonari which has notbeen affected so much.

“The administrationshould also ensure proper light-ing facilities, life saving diversalong the ghats. Thousands ofdevotees would participate.The administration shoulddeploy police personnel andemergency services like ambu-lance at riverbanks,” noted thesenior member." We wantproper safety arrangementsthis year.

The river ghats must beclean as it is related to pujas.Therefore the JNAC and Juscohave been asked to take up thematter as soon as possible," saidRambabu Singh, secretary,Jamshedpur Durga PujaKendriya Samity.

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Synergy betweenGovernment and Non-

Government Organisations(NGO) was the need of thehour in order to identify andaddress the issues posingthreats to safe, secure andhealthy upbringing of childrenin Jharkhand, GovernorDroupadi Murmu said onWednesday in Ranchi.

Murmu was addressing aState level dissemination ofinitiatives taken by Save theChildren — an NGO that hasbeen working in the field ofchild rights for a century andclaims to have changed thelives of over 10 millionChildren so far. "When we saySave the Children, we shouldalso ponder upon the prob-lems we need to save our chil-dren from. What is it that wecan do? We need to save ourchildren from labour, mar-riage, trafficking and exploita-tion," the Governor said.

Save the Children heldspecial training sessions underits initiative 'Daksh' in WestSinghbhum and Gumla dis-tricts of the State. Under theinitiative, experts from theorganisation imparted training

to District Child ProtectionOfficers (DCPOs) and villagerepresentatives in a bid toensure safe and healthy envi-ronment for children growingup in rural areas. "One of thegreatest achievements of theinitiative was awarenessamong villagers about child

rights and healthy ways ofcommunicating with chil-dren," said Mahadev Hansda,Programme Director of theNGO in Jharkhand.

Bal Suraksha Samitis con-stituted in 178 villages ofJharkhand have been address-ing the issues of child rights

effectively, he said, addingthat such committees would behelpful in all the villages here."Law of love can be bestunderstood through children,"he said quoting MahatmaGandhi as the country gearsup to celebrate his 150th birthanniversary. Alka Singh, a

Save the Children memberwho was in the thick of eventsduring the training sessions invillages here, said,"Underreporting of childrights issues is the greatesthurdle in the State. Lack ofredressal mechanisms and fol-low ups was a lacuna in thesystem here." The training, sheadded, helped in increasingthe reportage of such cases.

Governor DroupadiMurmu also released a childrights poster on Wednesday,highlighting the issues relatedto child protection that needattention.

"We know that childrenare the future of the country.In order to have a brightfuture, we must protect ourchildren. Reporting and datacollection are of great impor-tance. Therefore, we need ourcrusade for preserving childrights to be a joint effort ofNGOs and the Government,"she said.

Highlighting the impor-tance of rehabilitation of chil-dren, she said that KasturbaGandhi Balika Vidyalayas inthe State are doing a great job."There is provision to even getsuch children admitted to pri-vate schools," she added.

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Handicraft and handloomproducts of Jharcraft in

Jharkhand Karigar Mahotsav2019 are attracting many visitorsat INA Dilli Haat in Delhi.Jharcraft of Department ofIndustry, Government ofJharkhand, is organizing thisyear’s exhibition cum sale ofJharkhand’s famous handicraftand handloom on larger scale andthere are 75 stalls for this exhibi-tion.

Moving at the venue, onespotted multi–coloured stalls,featuring unique jharcraft prod-

ucts and when you turned thecorner, rows of elegant jute art,and jute bags, handmade shawls,bed sheets and sarees withapplique work, caught everyoneeyes. Visitors have purchasedethnic lakh bangles with paint-ing printed and jute Bags andmany other products here.

The objective of JharkhandKarigar Festival is to bring thenational artists and workers ofJharkhand their national identi-ty. In the last few years, theGovernment has done unprece-dented work for Indian workers.

In this, the Mega HandloomCluster Scheme is a very suc-

cessful and profitable scheme,through which many states ofIndia are getting success inimproving the economic condi-tion of the weavers.Development Commissioner fora backward state likes Jharkhand.

Jharkhand KarigarMahotsav and Jharkhand Diwaswas inaugurated on September22 at INA, Dilli Haat, bySecretary, Department ofIndustry, K. Ravi Kumar.

After the lighting of theceremonial lamp, Kumar alsovisited the various stalls of hand-icraft and handloom products ofJharcraft.

The Inauguration ofJharkhand Karigar Mahotsav2019 and celebration ofJharkhand Diwas was followedby a memorable Cultural eveningand chhau dance by NarayanMahto and group.

Kumar said that many pro-jects have been started for theoverall development of hand-loom, Jharcraft, silk and khadivillage weavers, which has cre-ated arrangements for employ-ment generation by promotingproduction, training and mar-keting in this area.

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Central Coalfields Limited(CCL) being the largest

Coal Mining PSU of the statehas actively played the role ofresponsible corporate entity.CCL has not only strived towork for energizing the nationbut also has worked towards theholistic development of thestate and society at large. CCLunder its “Kayakalp Scheme”has been running 64 variousschemes for the welfare andprosperity of the people ofJharkhand with special focus onthe project affected persons(PAPs). Thousands of peoplehave been benefitted from CCL’sschemes in the field of educa-tion, health, skill development,sports, drinking water etc, CCLis committed towards its mis-sion of inclusive growth and“Antyodaya”.

The land for the CCL’sRajrappa Project in DhawaiyaVillage in Bokaro District wasacquired in two slots in 1966and 2013. However, possessionwas not necessitated as the pro-ject was running in other vil-lages of Ramgarh District. Inorder tocontinue the running ofthe Rajrappa Project, miningneeds to be commenced inDhawaiya village. The landcompensation of Rs 41 Crore(approx.) has already been sanc-tioned by the Ministry of Coalagainst 456.18 acres tenancyland of villages Dhawaiya &Semrabera. However, the vil-lagers have submitted theirclaims of land compensation for87 acres (approx.) only amount-ing to just Rs 7 Crore.

These claims of land com-pensation are under processfor payment to the concerned

tenants. CCL management hasengaged various means to dis-seminate the informationamong villagers requestingthem to claim their compensa-tion.

Notices have been sent toeach individual tenant by reg-istered post along-with widepublicity and propagationthrough loudspeakers, drumbeating, general notices in vil-lage and notices through wide-ly circulated local newspapers.The area management has beenregularly conducting meetingsfor convincing the villagers tosubmit their claims for landcompensation.

CCL has been persistentlyworking towards its goal ofenergizing the nation. We real-ize the importance of our sig-nificant role in quenching theenergy thirst of a young,dynamic and developing coun-try, aspiring to meet the expec-tation of its 1.3 billion citizens.

We have set a goal of 100MT coal production and arestriving to achieve it. In the mis-sion to achieve our target CCLneeds land for coal production.CCL with the active support ofstate government, districtadministration and ultimatelythe local villagers have been for-tunate enough to acquire landfor mining uninterruptedly eversince its inception.

We are committed to pro-vide all the facilities and bene-fits laid under CIL R&R Policy,2012 and beyond. The all-rounddevelopment in the CCL com-mand areas stand as witness toour commitment for the welfareof the people of Jharkhand par-ticularly PAPs and DhawaiyaVillage will not be left behind incoming time.

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Confederation of IndianIndustry (CII) Jharkhand

in association with FactoryInspectorate, Government ofJharkhand, organised its maid-en edition of Industrial SafetySymposium on Wednesday.

The objective of the CIIJharkhand Industrial SafetySymposium 2019 was to inspirethe stakeholders towards build-ing an even stronger culture ofsafety in their organisations.This symposium acted as aforum wherein the partici-pants got the opportunity tointeract with the safety profes-sionals, thought leaders to learnthe best practices.

Addressing the gathering,Neeraj Kant, chairman, CIIJharkhand State Council andManaging Director, The ISWPLtd said, "Safety is somethingwhich can never be overemphasised. Impact of beingunsafe is very heavy on thesociety. Best safety cultures areled by business leaders whointegrate safety into the busi-ness"."For achieving Vision

Zero or a Zero-accident work-place, we would need moreinvolvement and commitmentof the MSMEs. I am happy thatthe CII Jharkhand Safety Panelhas launched Project SARTHIto handhold MSMEs on bettersafety management practicesand transform them into abetter and safer workplace",stated Sanjay Sabherwal, vicechairman, CII Jharkhand StateCouncil & managing director,Metaldyne Industries Ltd at theCII Jharkhand Industrial SafetySymposium 2019 inJamshedpur. "The commitmentfrom the leadership towardssafety is extremely critical toinculcate a true safety culturewithin the organisation",affirmed Vilas Gaikwad, chief- safety, Tata Steel LongProducts Ltd while addressingthe symposium.

Bipin B Sharan, convenor,CII Jharkhand Safety Panel &Head-Safety, Tata Motors Ltdavowed "This maiden edition of

CII Jharkhand Industrial SafetySymposium will prove to be agood learning session with sig-nificant takeaways and wouldgo along way in encouragingindustries to take proactiveapproaches for a safe work-place".

Rajender Sachdev, vicechairman, CII JamshedpurZonal Council & managingdirector, Industrial Forge &Engineering Ltd opined thatachieving Vision Zero inIndustrial Safety will requirenew mindset, new beliefs, newapproaches and a differentkind of leadership.

The symposium deliberat-ed on important topics of dis-cussion including Contractor &Health Safety and DisasterManagement, Role ofLeadership for SustainableSafety Performance, Legal &Statutory Requirements andEase of Doing Business. Over100 delegates participated inthis important forum.

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State Congress presidentRameshwar Oraon termed

Asaduddin Owaisi chief ofAIMIM (All India Majlis eIttehadul Muslimeen) as ‘politi-cally irrelevant’, who will have noimpact in the coming Assemblyelection here in this State. Oraonat a press conference here inDaltonganj today said, “People ofJharkhand have acute politicalwisdom. They understand every-thing. Owaisi has scripted hisown fall here himself. He is apolitical reject everywhere as hewent to Bihar, Andhra Pradeshand Maharashtra during electionwhere he met with political dis-missal.”

The Congress chief said,“Will Owaisi be able to explainas to where he was when peoplein Jharkhand died of hunger.Will he tell victim families ofmob lynching as to what he wasdoing when their bread winnerswere lynched to death? He has

no answer to people ofJharkhand.” Owaisi is a “bye bye”in Jharkhand as any leader whocreates wedge among the com-munities is simply unaccept-able to Jharkhandis, addedOraon.

Oraon said Owaisi is nevera political factor but a non enti-ty everywhere, who by his wordsand speeches furthers the causeand interest of the BJP.The StateCongress president Oraon madehis first visit to his home townDaltonganj after becoming theState head of the Congress.Party workers and his support-ers gave him a grand reception.Former MLA K N Tripathy,Dadai Dubey and hosts of otherCongress leaders welcomed him.Palamu district Congress J RPathak alias Bittu Pathak and histeam worked hard for Oraon’svisit and his interactive sessionwith the party leaders and work-ers here today. Oraon to ananother query about RJD said,“RJD’s leaders have deserted it

but not the masses. RJD stillholds people.” On alliance Oraonsaid, “I favour and support theframework of alliance that wehad here in the Lok Sabha elec-tion.”

On the BJP’s rule here in theState Oraon just burst down say-ing, “ Where are the jobs here?Outsiders have come over hereand are taking the pies whichought to have gone to the locals.Officers have been made to sit inoffices forbidding them to moveon to fields.”

Oraon further said, “Peopleare dissatisfied with this gov-ernment. There is resentmenteverywhere. It will explode onthe day of voting here. Landstaken from raiyyats for expan-sion of roads have not been com-pensated.” The Congress chiefadded, “Mandal dam will dis-place and uproot 7 villages butGovernment has no any concernfor people going to be affected byit. Raghubar Das Government isdoing bossism (dadagiri).”

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On the occasion of birthanniversary of Pandit

Deen Dayal Upadhyay, ChiefMinister Raghubar Das todaylaunched the ‘Kamal Doot’(Lotus Messenger) campaignhere. The CM said on theoccasion that the messengerswill provide information ofpublic welfare schemes to thelast person on the society. “I amdelighted to start the ‘KamalDoot Abhiyan’ ‘today to spreadinformation on public welfareschemes on the birth anniver-sary of Pandit DeendayalUpadhyay ji, who gave themantra of Antyodaya, Thankyou lotus messengers. All ofyou are going out to serve thepoor. I am confident that whenthe information about the gov-ernment schemes reaches

remote villages through you,then Antyodaya i.e. the last per-son of the society will also beable to benefit from thescheme. This is the dream ofPanditji and the BharatiyaJanata Party,” said the CM onthe occasion. Das said that thelotus messengers will go to the

villages and towns and informthe people about the ongoingdevelopment schemes in theState. “All the schemes of thegovernment are being run byfocusing on the poor. All sec-tions of the society will devel-op, only then we will be able tobuild a bright India, a bright

Jharkhand. Today the result ofthe Government's schemes isthat women of the State arebecoming owners by register-ing assets up to �50 lakh.

Other schemes, includingUjjwala Yojana, PradhanMantri Awas Yojana, PradhanMantri Kisan Samman Nidhi

Yojana, Mukhyamantri KrishiAashirwad Yojana, PensionYojana, Toilets for Sisters andDaughters, Sukanya Yojana forGirls, are for poor, deprived,backward, women, youth only.The government is working fortheir sustainable development,”he added.

The CM said that it is amatter of pride for every Indianthat Prime Minister NarendraModi has been awarded the'Global Goalkeeper Award' bythe Gates Foundation. This isa great recognition for the suc-cess India has achieved inimproving sanitation andhygiene. The Prime Minister'sefforts made Swachh Bharat amovement.

Das said this after PrimeMinister Narendra Modi washonoured with the the 'GlobalGoalkeeper Award' by Bill andMelinda Gates Foundation.The Chief Minister said that inJharkhand, work is being doneby making this campaign ofPrime Minister a movement.Now, every village, cities of theState are moving towardsbecoming a model in terms ofcleanliness.

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The State Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) on Wednesday

termed Jharkhand VikasMorcha (JVM) Chief BabulalMarandi’s rally a flop show.

State BJP Spokesperson,Pratul Shahdeo said Marandihad claimed that lakhs of peo-ple will gather in his rally butsome thousand people came toattend, and JVM leaders sayingthat due to bad weather thefootfalls were low.

“All partners of GrandAlliance are now singing theirown songs separately, sometime earlier they had beentalking about Grand Alliance.JVM leaders projected todayMaradi as Chief Minister butMarandi accepted HemantSoren for the post. In realitythey are trying to minimizetheir hold,” said Shahdeo.

Citing example of Marandi,the BJP spokesperson said thathe has been advising BJP lead-ers to speak in decent language

but today he use too muchfilthy words from the stage. Itexhibits his words and deeds,he added. “BJP is going to elec-tion on the basis of develop-ment work done by RaghubarDas Government and it willachieve 65 plus mark. It will

add disappointment in oppo-sition parties. After givingemphasis on whole country togather crowd in Marandi’s rallycould not been able to matchcrowd coming in the ChiefMinister’s Santhal Paragana’srally,” said Shahdeo.

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The Jharkhand VikasMorcha (Prajatantrik) on

Wednesday sounded poll buglepromising good governancein State if voted to power inyear-end Assembly election.Addressing JanadeshSamagam--a rally at PrabhatTara ground in Dhurwa, theJVM (P) chief Babulal Marandislammed the Raghubar Dasgovernment on several fronts.

Displaying show ofstrength, Marandi the formerChief Minister cornered theState Government on severalfronts right from hunger death,indifference to farmers, poorlaw and order, lynching cases toTuesday’s police lathicharge onAaganwadi Sewikas. Marandiaddressing the crowd said,“Despite BJP’s claim of doubleengine Government at Centre

and State, no development orprogress has been made inState as in last five years aroundtwo dozen people have dieddue to hunger. On one handthere are efforts to reach toMars and Moon, but in thename of development noprogress has been made.” Hesaid he had visited severalareas, discovering that onlyhandful of people have receivedfunds under Mukhyamantri

Ashirwad Yojana. The formerChief Minister claimed that ifhis party is voted to power, hisfirst task will be provision ofwater to farmers in their fieldswhich will help in increasingthe agriculture productivity inState.

He also attacked the StateGovernment for targetingopponents with false cases, asseveral JVM leaders are behindthe bars in sexual harassment

and corruption cases.Lambasting the State govern-ment on recent mob lynchingof Tabrez Ansari, he said, “Inlast five years, Jharkhand hasbecome lynching hub as Statehas witnessed maximum moblynching deaths. The situationis as such that even mothers areafraid to taking their childoutside apprehending that ifthe child crises, the crowd willlynched her suspecting her to

be child thieves.” The JVMchief also blamed the StateGovernment for recent policelathicharge on AaganwadiSewikas, claiming that in thisGovernment people’s democ-ratic right is being stanched byGovernment.

Marandi said, “The moblynching incidents and policelathicharge shows that there ispoor law and situation in State.”On the issue of displacement ofpeople in name of setting upindustries, the former ChiefMinister said that theGovernment has failed to solvethe displacement issue asRaghubar Das Government isworking on the hands of bigcorporate houses.

Asking his workers to startpreparations for year-endAssembly election, he said theJVM which was formed in2006 has seen ups and downsbut the party is committed withits principles.

Urging the workers toreach out to masses, he askedworkers to concentrate onstrengthening the organiza-tion at rural areas. He said,“The election symbol of JVMis hair comb and the partyworkers will work in givingnew shape to State.”

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The Jharkhand MuktiMorcha on Wednesday

came down heavily againstlathicharge on AnganwadiSevikas near raj Bahwan anddemanded immediate dis-missal and legal action againstthe policemen involved in theincident.

Addressing a press confer-ence here on Wednesday JMMGeneral Secretary SupriyoBhattacharya said that not asingle woman constable wasthere during attack on thewomen. “All police personnelwere males with arms andsticks. They suddenly attackedon Anaganwadi seviaks. Theonly fault of the sevikas wasthat they have been protestingfor about two months but theyare grossly ignored by the gov-ernment.

The CM is threateningthem to dismiss from service.The sevikas were going toexpress their grief to the CM,”he said. “For the last four daysCM is wandering in SanthalPargana. He has been talkingfrequently about women

empowerment, their strength-ening and their emancipationas a political rhetoric. Heshould tell whether Anagnwadiworkers are not mothers, sistersand daughters? If so then whyare they being punished andlathicharged? They are justtalking about their rights,” saidhe. Supriyo further said that itis not just the police forces thathave been misbehaving withthe women of the State, eventhe elected representatives of

the Government have beencharged of misbehaviour withwomen. Without naming any-one he said that a BJP womanleader has alleged an MLA ofrape but the government is sit-ting idle. “We demand thatwhoever policemen wereinvolved in lathicharge must beidentified, dismissed at theearliest and action should betaken under Section 307. TheJMM will not accept anythingless than that,” saidBhattacharya.

“The CM is disillusionedafter Santhal visit as he wasrejected by the people. In thepolitical campaign governmentmachinery was used and sev-eral government programmeswere organised. He even wenton to say that degrees and skillswill not work for employment.We have been alerting the gov-ernment time and again.

It’s high time they shouldunderstand the feelings of thepeople in the State. The gov-ernment is taking its last breath;they should understand thetruth and keep away from giv-ing useless arguments,” headded.

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Aday after the police resort-ed to lathicharge on

protesting Anganwadi workersreaching Chief Minister’s resi-dence in State Capital, theAagnawadi Sewikas onWednesday resorted to peace-ful protest march. On Tuesdayaround a dozen of Anganwadisewiakas were injured in theincident. Anganwadi workerBasanti Devi hand was frac-tured while Karam Lakra suf-fered serious injuries.

The agitating workersvowed that they will not with-draw their agitation and con-tinue their protest till theirdemands which include regu-larization of their job are ful-

filled. As many as 89,000Anganwadi workers are protest-ing under the banner of

Samyukta Morcha and are onstrike for 41 days near the RajBhavan. On Tuesday, the

AaganwadiS e w i k a swere beatenup by malepolice offi-cers. Theprotest start-ed onAugust 22and theyhave beenon hungerstrike sincelast 14 days.Anganwadiw o r k e r s ,who aredemandingregulariza-

tion of their job. Their demandsinclude salary of Rs 18,000 forSewikas and Rs 9000 to

Sahayakas apart from otherbenefits and increase in retire-ment age to 65 from 60 years.Today was 41st day of strike andthey have vowed even policelathicharge will not deter theirstrike. The Aaganwadi workersthreatened that they will inten-sify their agitation till theirdemands are not meet.

On September 17,Sectretary Department ofWomen, Child Developmentand Social Security AmitabhKaushal, had given time to theprotesting Anganwadi workersto return to their work withina week otherwise an order hasbeen given to the DeputyCommissioners to removethem. However, they didn’treturn on their duty and con-

tinue agitation. There are near-ly 40,000 Anganwadi centresscattered across the 24 dis-tricts in Jharkhand includingthe backward ones where mal-nutrition is rampant.Anganwadis were started underthe Integrated ChildDevelopment Scheme (ICDS)of the centre in 1975 to combatmalnutrition and offer childand mother care facilities.

Earlier this month, theAnganwadi Sevikas hadplanned to stage protest duringPrime Minister NarendraModi’s visit to Ranchi. However,the Administration had pre-vented them from reaching thevenue and many of them wereput in preventive custody for aday.

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Ahead of the StateAssembly elections, AJSU

Party convened its workingcommittee meeting here onWednesday. During the meet-ing the party decided that itwill take a call on seat shar-ing after discussions withalliance partners for the StateAssembly elections.

Addressing the meetingAJSU Party president SudeshMahto said that the partyhas decided that seats will bedistributed among alliancepartners’ on the basis of theirvote base on the particularseat. “The party has complet-ed its preparation that it willincrease its tally this time andwill enter into State Assemblybuilding in 10 digits,” headded.

Elaborating about AJSUParty’s future programme theparty president said that theparty wil l start ‘SwarajSwabhiman Janadesh Yatra’on October, 2 on the birthanniversary of MahatmaGandhi in ever y State

Assembly constituency andwill hold dialogue with peo-ple through the ‘Yatra’. “Theparty will start State Assemblyconstituency wise booth com-mittee meeting from October11 to strengthen its tie to theirfamilies of booth committeemembers so that their house-holds’ burner should not beoff,” he added. “The party iscelebrat ing MahatmaGandhi’s birthday to givemomentum to the party’s

opinion and struggle. Theparty had organized humanchain in 2013 from Barhi toBahragora for its historicdemand that the State shouldbe given status of specialState. The party had started its‘Swaraj Swabhiman Yatra’ tohold communication of peo-ple of 2,000 villages of theState on the day in 2018,” saidMahto. Speaking on the occa-sion Water Resource Minister,Ramchandra Sahis said that it

is party’s old demand thatreservation should be givenon the ratio of population.“The party is demandingsince long that a total of 73per cent reservation given toOther Backward Class (OBC),Scheduled Class (SC) andScheduled Tribe out of which27 per cent for OBC, 14 percent for SC and 32 per centfor ST. It is well known factthat a total of 51 per cent ofOBCs in the State so thatquota for this class should beincreased,” he added.

“It is constitutional rightsof OBCs’ to get 27 per centreser vat ion in theGovernment jobs’ because inthe unified Bihar there were27 per cent reservation forthis class but after bifurcationof the State, OBCs’ are gettingonly 14 per cent quota ofreservation instead of 27 percent. This class is gettingbenefit of reservation between30 per cent to 50 per cent invarious other states likeTamilanadu, Kerla, Hariyana,Himachal Pradesh andAndhra Pradesh”, said Sahis.

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With just a few days left forthe Durga Puja festivities

to being in the State capital, theRanchi Municipal Corporation(RMC) is taking various stepsto ensure smooth celebrationsaround the city. From securityto fixing defunct street lights,proper garbage collection andmaking environment friendlypandals, RMC is covering it all.

Recently, RMC held ameeting chaired by the MayorAsha Lakra, Deputy MayorSanjeev Vijaywargiya,Municipal CommissionerManoj Kumar and other offi-cials from the body present withmembers of the Ranchi DistrictDurga Puja Samiti, RanchiMahanagar Durga Puja Samitiand presidents of various Durgapuja pandals across the city.The civic body has instructedall the puja pandal organisers to

ensure minimum use of plasticand thermocool for the con-struction and decoration of thepandal structure as well as atfood stalls around its premises.It has instead encouraged theuse of reusable products whichare environment friendly. “Withso many worshippers visitingthe pandal, they should alsoconvey a message about thehazardous effects of productslike plastic and thermocool onthe environment.

Keeping everyone’s safety asa priority, just like separatelines for male and female devo-tees are made at the entrance ofthe pandal, similar barricadesshould be placed at the exit aswell for the safety and conve-nience of female worshippers.”said the Mayor. The organiserswere also instructed to ban theuse of thermocool and plasticplates spoons and glasses forprasad distribution.

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Union leaders ofBMS claimed

around 14,000 coalmine workers in allthree areas includingKathara, B&K andDhori went on strike onfrom September 23 to27 to protest againstthe Central govern-ment’s move to allow100 per cent ForeignDirect Investment(FDI) in coal miningand associated infra-structure under theautomatic route.

The Union leadersclaimed that the strikethat began at 6 am onSeptember 23 has beennear total. This three-day strike is expected toaffect despatch and pro-duction at all three coalarea in Bermo byaround 70 per cent. ARs 200-crore loss in rev-enue has been estimat-ed. Sources said thatthe strike is also expect-ed to hit power supply,“As BTPS, CTPS and

TTPS plants with thou-sands of megawatts ofgeneration capacityhave fuel stocks only fora day or lesser.” Thestrike was successful.

Barely 1-2 per centattendance was regis-tered on Tuesday, thattoo for just emergencyservices like security,medical staff or pumpoperators. Rail and roadtransport of coal is total-ly halted on Wednesdayalso while as many as7000 permanent andanother around 50 per-cent contract workershave participated in thisstrike, said Joint gener-al Secretary RavindraKumar Mishra ofBhartiy MazdoorSangh. On Wednesdaysaw barely 50 per cent of

the coal workforce reg-istered for attendance,said union leader. Asolidarity protestdemonstration was alsoorganised by the BMSactivists at Kathara,B&K and Dhori areason Wednesday. JGSRavindra KumarMishra said that theprimary demand of thestriking workers is thatthe government with-draw the 100 per centFDI from the coal sec-tor through the auto-matic route. FDI raisesfears of workers losingbenefits as private com-panies would look tocut production costs atthe expense of the secu-rity and benefits cur-rently provided toworkers.

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Working on a tip-off,a Crime Branch

team of personnel ofRailway Protection Force(RPF) conducted a raid onthe premises of a travelagency in Bokaro SteelCity; one was arrested inthis connection, e-ticketsworth of rupees one lakhwere seized, police said.

During the raid sev-eral e-tickets and tatkaltickets issued on person-al ID were seized fromM/s Satyam Computers,Sector 2D, BS City, saidRD Yaday Inspector CBIRPF. “We have also seizedone desktop computer,mobile phone includingseveral incriminates doc-uments from the premis-es,” he added. “One ownerof the said agency wasarrested Under Section143 of The Railways Act

and we are interrogatinghim”.Notably, the stiffaction of the RailwayAdministration puts anend on the touts to phys-ically buying tickets; nowtravel agencies have takena new method of extortingmoney from the passen-gers by creating a numberof personal IDs withIRCTC (Indian RailwayCatering and TourismCorporation) for onlineticketing of the IndianRailways.

Unauthorized buyingand selling of reservedtickets is an offence underSection 143 of theRailways Act, he said.“Passengers who buy tick-ets from unauthorizedtravel agents may loseboth their tickets and thereserved accommodationif such tickets are seizedduring raids,” addedYadav.

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After three yearsof evading arrest

for his involvementin several murdersextortion, and rob-bery cases, notoriousNaxalite TejoMandal finally ranout of luck and wasarrested by theBhelwaghati policeon late Tuesdaynight,said ASPDeepak Kumar.

Sources said thatafter being tippedoff that Tejo Mandal,was coming on hismotorbike fromunknown destina-tion and was justreached near Gadi-Billi village, policefrom Bhelwaghati,and CRPF, in a jointoperation onTuesday night, con-ducted a raid to nabthe man who hadbeen evading arrestfor the last threeyears.

Police foundcartridges, alongwith several Naxalpamphlets, fromTejo's possession.

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The district administrationBokaro is all set for the

Bhairav Mahotsav being organ-ised by the State tourismdepartment in joint associationwith the district administra-tion, to give more exposureand to enhance Bhairav Sthanas a tourist spot atChandankiyari on 27 and 28September. Over About 20,000visitors across Jharkhand areexpected to participate in it,said an official.

Two days ‘BhairavMahotsav’ is scheduled to bekicked-off on 27 September atBhairav Sthan in Bhojudihunder Chandankiyari block,about 42 kms from the districtheadquarter of Bokaro aimingto enhance tourism inJharkhand and to make thestate a cultural hub, said RaviRanjan Mishra DDC Bokaro.

Governor JharkhandDrapradi Murmu scheduled toparticipate in the Mahotsavbesides other prominent dele-gates, he said, adding "the con-

struction work of helipad hasalready been completed."

A team of district admin-istrative officials led by MukeshKumar DC Bokaro rushed atBhairavnath Dhan and inspect-ed the site. They also took theaccount of ongoing preparationworks and also given essentialand necessary directions for

the event, to the site in-charge.Addressing to the media

persons DDC said, thisMahotsav (the fourth edition)would be organised by thestate tourism department injoint association with the dis-trict administration, to givemore exposure and to enhanceBhairav Sthan as a tourist

spot.“This festival will prove amilestone for the state tourismindustry; the Mahotsav will beconcluded on 28 September,”added Mishra.Vikash Mela isalso scheduled to be organisedduring the Mahotsav, he said.

Several artists fromJharkhand and other parts ofthe country are scheduled to beperformed here.

Besides cultural pro-grammes, Food Festival,Sports Festival, Art andCultural Fair are also sched-uled to be organised duringthis eve, informed DDC.Thedistrict and police adminis-tration have taken all neces-sary measures to make theMahotsava successful, he said.

�� 6��

Palamu police are all up toprevent road robbery as

with the advent of Durga Pujafestivities new gangs of crim-inals take to roads to earn fastbucks by way of looting bikersand travellers. SP Palamu AjayLinda said an alert Chainpurpolice team led by its officer incharge Sunit Kumar foiled onesuch bid of road robbery onPathra Bankheta black toproad by nabbing one of the

three road robbers who waslater identified to be the a vet-eran of road robber SavinderChowdhury of village Katuwalunder the same police station.

The two managed toescape Linda said but theirnames and addresses are nowwith police. The two escapedare Sonu Dubey of Tildaag vil-lage and the other RajanChowdhury of Chotehasa vil-lage.

Police have recovered onecountry made pistol, one

round of fire , cash worth 4,100and the bike on which thethree were riding added Linda.Linda said the nabbedChowdhury was remanded injudicial custody late in theevening of Tuesday.

Chowdhury has five casesagainst him and all the fivecases are with the Chainpurpolice station.

Among the cases there isone case of murder under sec-tion 302 lodged against himway back in 2016.Officer in

charge Sunit Kumar saidChowdhury has been to cen-tral jail Daltonganj in connec-tion with cases of road robbery,murder and Arms Act.

Linda said police werezeroing in on him since the dayhe had looted a non bankingofficial of more than a lakh ofrupees and his tablet too.Lindasaid NH patrol, SH patrol havebeen intensified and policestations have been tasked tocurb and foil any attempt ofroad robbery.

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With close to six lakh TBpatients still not on the

radar and an additional twolakh being detected butremaining untreated, the ModiGovernment's target to elimi-nate the deadly disease by 2025would require Herculeanefforts. However, the detectionrate has increased by 16 percent giving a fillip to theGovernment's initiatives in thisregard.

The Government's target isactually five years ahead of thatset by the United Nations ie2030 under its SustainableDevelopment Goals to end theTB epidemic.

The Annual TB report2019, which was launched hereon Wednesday at an event, stat-ed that the detection of 21.5lakh TB patients is a 16 per centincrease compared to 2017.Of these, 5.37 lakh TB patientswere picked up from the privatesector, a 35 per cent increasefrom the previous year.

Racing against time, as itmakes efforts to reach out toevery TB patient in the coun-try, the Union Health Ministryhas kicked off the 'TB HaregaDesh Jeetega' campaign.

On the occasion, UnionHealth Minister Harshvardhannoted that there were "still 5.5lakh patients" who wereuntraceable in the country,even as he remained optimisticsaying that India could becomeTB free before its target of 2025.

The TB report says that of

the 27 lakh estimated TB cases,the Revised National TBProgramme (RNTCP) was ableto pick up 21.5 lakh TB patients."Not all 21.5 lakh patients hadaccess to treatment. Over twolakh patients were further elim-inated, as even though theywere detected positive for TB,the Ministry was not able toprovide treatment to them.Treatment was initiated in 19.1lakh cases, which is 90 per centof those detected," it says.

The report further statesthat 40,761 new patients whowere notified in 2017, died. Ofthe patients who were on thetreatment rolls from previousyears, upto 13,423 patients died.The time taken for TB treat-ment can be between 6 months

to over two years.While theannual report was ready inJune itself, it was released aftera delay of close to three months.

The report also said that 79per cent of those patients noti-fied in 2017 have completedtreatment.

Sanjeeva Kumar,Additional Secretary, HealthMinistry said that in 2018,upto 14.4 crore population wasscreened under the Active CaseFinding programme, which ledto an additional reporting of 49,733 cases while Vikas Sheel,Joint Secretary in the said,"Currently TB is declining at 1-2 per cent per year, and toachieve the goal by 2025, weneed to have an acceleratedannual decline in TB inci-

dence by about 10 per cent."The report also states that

there are 3,794 extensivelydrug-resistant patients, whichmeans that very few drugswork on them.

The report also stressed onthe expansion of access to ser-vices. It said that over 19 lakhpatients were now under theFixed Dosage Combinationsthat were provided to allpatients, while adding that thethere had been an increase inproportion of patients on injec-tion free-drug regimens hadgone up by 67% in 2017 to98.5% in 2018.

Gujarat and HimachalPradesh were dubbed the bestperforming state above the 50lakh population.

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Citing the UK SupremeCourt ruling that British

Prime Minister Boris Johnson'scontroversial move to suspendParliament in the run-up toBrexit was "unlawful", seniorCongress leader Kapil Sibalon Wednesday said in Indiathere is no scrutiny as bills arepassed as 'money bills' andsome key acts like the abroga-tion of Article 370 and theUnlawful Activities(Prevention) Act (UAPA) havebeen passed without properscrutiny. It is a wake-up call forthe courts, he said.

"UK Supreme Court :Executive power can't silenceLegislative scrutiny. In India noscrutiny of : 1) Clearly not'Money Bills' . 2) UAPA;Amending Art. 370 etc. Otherways to silence opposition:Latest: Lavasa's family; SharadPawar. A wake up call forCourts!," Sibal tweeted.

In an embarrassment toJohnson, the UK SupremeCourt termed his move to sus-pend Parliament in the run-upto Brexit as "unlawful".

Attacking the Modi gov-ernment, Sibal also said it isadopting different ways tosilence the opposition thatincludes the Income Tax scruti-ny against ElectionCommissioner Ashok Lavasa'sfamily, against whom noticeshave been sent, andEnforcement Directorate (ED)action against NCP leaderSharad Pawar.

Another Congress leaderShashi Tharoor had said thatthe significance of UK SupremeCourt's judgement for those ofus who live in other parlia-mentary systems inspired bythe British model should not bemissed.

"The judgement makesclear that the leeway for thepolitical executive to subvertconvention is limited: the exec-utive cannot simply distort therules of procedure & conductof business under the garb ofthe Parliament's privilege as asovereign body to do as itwants. The Court's reasoning isthat the executive's legislativemajority cannot be used toobstruct Parliament's work,"he tweeted

"To put it bluntly, the exec-utive, in the name of itsParliamentary majority, cannotuse Parliament's own powersand privileges to undermineitself. In short, Parliament can-not be induced by its ownmajority to commit suicide.Note: UK precedents are oftencited by Indian courts," he alsosaid.

��

Against the backdrop of USpresident Donald Trump's

effusive praise for PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andsubsequent criticism of it fromsome quarters, Union MinisterJitendra Singh on Wednesdaysaid those who do not feelproud of Trump describingModi as the ‘father of India’, donot consider themselvesIndians.

In his no-holds-barredappreciation of Modi, Trumpon Tuesday credited the formerwith uniting India.

"I remember India beforewas very torn. There was a lotof dissension, fighting and hebrought it all together. Like afather would. Maybe he is thefather of India," Trump said inNewyork during Modi's ongo-ing US tour.

The union minister saidIndia is being respected in away which was rare in the past.He was speaking on the side-lines of the launch ofCPGRAMS reforms here in theDepartment of Posts.

"People who live abroad areproud today of being Indian.This is happening due to thepersonality and personal out-reach of Prime Minister Modi,"said the Minister of State forPrime Minister's Office.

Asked to comment on USPresident's comment on thePrime Minister, Singh said thathe had never heard anythinglike this from any Americanpresident for an Indian primeminister.

"If an impartial and boldstatement comes from Americaand its President then I feelevery Indian should feel proudregardless of his political affili-ations with any party or ideology.

"This is the first time thatan American president hasused this kind of words ofpraise not for an Indian PrimeMinister but for any otherworld leader and if someone isnot proud of this, then maybehe does not consider himselfIndian," Singh sought to say.

When asked that someCongress leaders have assertedthat there could be only onefather of the nation, Singh saidfor this, the Congress will haveto argue with Trump.

Criticising Pakistan for itsrole in terrorism, Singh said "asfar as terrorism and Pakistan'srole in advancing terrorism isconcerned, foreign countrieswhich earlier did not buyIndia's narrative of Pakistan'sinvolvement in terrorism arenow accepting it and its cred-it goes to Prime MinisterModi".

��

On the lines of Australiawhich has popularised the

concept of the dual-flush sys-tem to conserve water, Indiashould make the two-bucketsystem compulsory for garbagedisposal, with one bucketreserved for plastic waste, com-pulsory, Union MinisterGajendra Singh Shekhawat saidon Wednesday.

Proper segregation andrecycling is the only solution tothe environmental risk posedby plastic waste, said the Unionminister for Jal Shakti whileaddressing a conclave on'Circular Economy on PlasticWaste' here.

He said "The main chal-lenge is segregation of plasticwaste at source. Like Australiapopularised the concept of the

dual-flush system to conservewater, India should make thetwo-bucket system, with onebucket reserved for plasticwaste, compulsory."

"In the US, each personuses 120 kg of plastic every

year. It is 68 kg in Europe andaround 40 kg in China. InIndia, only 11 kg of plastic isused per person annually.Though our plastic 'consump-tion' is undoubtedly the lowest,our pollution (due to plastic) is

the maximum," he said.Shekhawat said the reasons

were that "we have a hugepopulation and until now, welacked ways to recycle plasticproperly."

The reason why India didnot have a way of recyclingplastic was the lack of aware-ness about pollution caused byplastic, he said, adding a mas-sive awareness campaign hasbeen started after the clarioncall given by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

Plastic cannot be ignoredcompletely, the Union Ministersaid while displaying a jacketmade of recycled plastic andwool.

He said T-shirts of globalsports brands, which are sellingin the market for Rs 3,000 to Rs5,000, are made of recycledplastic. The minister also

stressed on the importance ofinvolving the intelligentsia, acad-emia and youths to make suchawareness campaigns successful.

According to The Energyand Resources Institute (TERI),India produces over 15,342tonnes of plastic every day. Thecountry's average per capitaconsumption of plastic is esti-mated to increase to 20 kg by2020, according to the Ministryof Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Prime Minister Modi, whois leading efforts to scrap single-use plastics by 2022, is likely toannounce a ban on a few itemson October 2, the birth anniver-sary of Mahatma Gandhi. In hisIndependence Day speech, Modihad urged people to avoid usingplastic bags, and techniciansand entrepreneurs to look at innovative ways to recycle plastic.

��

The Modi Government hasinstituted the highest civilian

award for contribution to India'sunity and integrity in the nameof Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, thecountry's first Home Ministercredited for the integration of theprincely states in India.

The award, comprising amedal and a citation, would notbe conferred posthumouslyexcept in very rare and highlydeserving cases, the Ministry ofHome Affairs (MHA) said in astatement. No monetary grant orcash reward would be attachedto the award and not more thanthree awards would be given ina year. The award would beannounced on the occasion ofNational Unity Day — the birthanniversary of Sardar Patel on

October 31, the statement said.The award seeks to recog-

nise notable and inspiring con-tributions to promote the causeof national unity and integrityand to reinforce the value of astrong and united India. It willbe conferred by the President bya sanad under his hand and seal,and presented by him in a pre-sentation ceremony along withthe Padma award presentationceremony held at RashtrapatiBhawan, MHA said.

An award committeewould be constituted by theprime minister, which wouldinclude the Cabinet secretary,principal secretary to the PrimeMinister, secretary to the pres-ident, home secretary as mem-bers and three-four eminentpersons selected by the primeminister, the MHA said.

��

Aday after an overzealousShashi Tharoor put the

Congress in a spot with his pic-torial act, the former UnionMinister on Wednesday soughtto make amends to his bid tobe one up on the BJP as hemaintained that the first PrimeMinister Jawaharlal Nehruremained more popular thanPrime Minister NarendraModi.

Tharoor said, Nehru wasthe only Indian PM to begreeted on arrival at the air-port by a US President."Jawaharlal Nehru remainsthe only Indian PrimeMinister to be greeted onarrival at the airport by a USPresident & it happened twice:President Harry S Truman in1949 and President John FKennedy in 1961 both receivedhim off the plane," he said.

Against the backdrop of themega 'Howdy Modi' event inHouston, Tharoor had foundhimself in a spot of Twittertrouble when he posted a pictureof Nehru and Indira Gandhi inwhat he claimed was the US.only to clarify later that it wasprobably from their visit to theUSSR. The Congress leader,who had tweeted the photographof the first prime minister and hisdaughter in an open vehiclewaving to large crowds of peo-ple, was also trolled for mis-spelling Indira Gandhi's name as"India Gandhi".

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Fearing a backlash in theforthcoming Assembly polls

due to the non-payment of thepromised loan waivers to farm-ers in three states whereCongress wrested power fromBJP last year, the RajasthanGovernment on Wednesdayfinally sanctioned a proposal togrant additional budget of�100 crore as farmers' long-term loan waiver scheme.

Congress in its manifestohad announced the loan waiv-er scheme for farmers within10days of government forma-tion in all the then poll-boundstates of Rajasthan, MadhyaPradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Gehlot announced the�100-crore grant of additionalbudget towards farmers' long-term loan waiver scheme, 2019in Rajasthan. "The decision wastaken in the larger interest offarmers," said a state govern-ment release. The Congressgovernment in the state hadannounced the loan waiverscheme for farmers after assum-ing office in December last year.

AICC sources said that theparty leadership directedGehlot to work on the grantswithin a couple of days as theparty will announce farmers'benefit schemes in its manifesto

for the State assembly polls inMaharashtra and Haryana.Both the states are agricultur-ally significant and the party islooking forward to wrest powerfrom BJP in both the States.

Farm loan waiverannounced by the then partychief Rahul Gandhi during thelast year State assembly pollsturned out to be controversialas Congress MLAs in MadhyaPradesh have openly criticizedthe Kamal Nath governmentfor not implementing thescheme. MLAs and seniorparty leader JyotiradityaScindia at public platformsvoiced concern over the delayin disbursement of the waiverwhich was announced by noneother than Rahul himself.Rahul had announced to waive

the loans within 10 days of gov-ernment formation.

Sources said that interimparty chief Sonia Gandhi hasasked the CMs of MP,Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh toswiftly work on the feasibilityas announced in the party'smanifesto and start the dis-bursal process. Farmers of thesestates too have complained bycomparing it with the NarendraModi farmers scheme that wasannounced by NDA govern-ment in this year budget beforethe Lok Sabha polls.

Congress MLA LakshmanSingh, brother of senior partyleader and former chief minis-ter Digvijaya Singh, last weekhad said Rahul Gandhi shouldnot have made the 10-day farmloan waiver promise ahead ofthe Assembly elections in thestate.

"Waiving loans worth�45,000 crore in 10 days was-n't possible, but still if he(Rahul) made a promise, weshould seek forgiveness fromthe public," said Lakshman.

"If we could not fulfill ourpromise, we should simplyapologise to the public," saidLakshman, urging the KamalNath-led government to clari-fy when the entire loan amountof farmers would be waived.

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New Delhi: Nearly two weeksafter worst ever drone andmissile attacks on its oil facili-ties, Saudi Arabia has said itwill ramp up cooperation withIndia in combating terrorism,including by choking flow offunds to terror groups andboosting intelligence sharing.

Saudi Ambassador DrSaud bin Mohammed Al Satisaid India and Saudi Arabia areclosely cooperating with eachother in fighting terrorism andenhancing their level of engage-ment to deal with the menace.

A series of drone and mis-sile attacks on the oil facilitiesof Saudi Aramco, the country’slargest petroleum company, onSeptember 14 knocked out halfits daily oil production, severe-ly impacting the global oilmarket and triggering freshtension between Saudi Arabiaand Iran.

Yemen’s Houthi terrorgroup has taken responsibilityfor the biggest-ever attacks onSaudi oil facilities. Saudi Arabiaand its ally, the US, haveblamed Iran for the attacks butTehran has strongly deniedthe allegations.

“Saudi Arabia and Indiahave been closely cooperatingwith each other in fighting ter-rorism, including throughexchange of information andintelligence,” Al Sati told PTI inan interview.

Saudi Arabia, known to bea key ally of Pakistan, has beensiding with India in its cam-paign to rid the region of ter-rorism and pledged to extendall cooperation to effectivelydeal with the challenge. Bothcountries already signed severalagreements in the field of secu-rity, including an extraditiontreaty. PTI

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt Wednesday said it wouldhear on October 3 the pleaschallenging the validity ofamendments to the SC/ST Actlast year that had nullified itsverdict diluting the provisionsof arrest under the law.

However, a bench headedby Justice Arun Mishra said itwould not accept any writtensubmissions from any party onthe Centre's plea seeking reviewof the top court's March 20,2018 verdict.The apex court,which on September 18reserved its verdict on theCentre's review petition, hadindicated that it would pass cer-tain directions to "bring inequality" as per the provisionsof law and asked the parties tofile their written submissionsby September 20.Earlier, thetop court had reserved order onthe Centre''s plea seeking torecall 2018 judgement. PTI

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In a first of its kind a wildlifehospital on the outskirts of

Bengaluru has found tradi-tional Chinese veterinary med-icine and acupuncture to treatspinal injuries on the snakes.

The veterinarians at theWildlife hospital run by PeopleFor Animal (PFA), a voluntaryorganisation, working for theurban wildlife have come upwith a unique and advancedway to treat the spinal injuriescommonly found in snakes inand around Bangalore.

The experts found this as anovel way of treatment whichblends the traditional Chineseveterinary medicine ofacupuncture with the ultra-modern Laser physiotherapy totrigger the immune responseand thus fasten the healingprocess of the injured snakes.According to the vets, it alsoreduces the pain and inflam-mation inflicted during the

injury. This acupuncture is aunique methodology in thetreatment of injured snakes.

According to Colonel (Dr.)Navaz Shariff, ChiefVeterinarian at PFA, the esca-lating and unplanned urbani-sation has affected the snakesas much as it has affected anyother wildlife species.“Indiscriminate use of earthequipments, bulldozers andmachines to clear for expansionhave resulted in a steep increasein the number of spine injuriesfound in snakes”, he said. “Thesnakes are a vital link in thefood chain have been victims ofunmindful of urbanisation andthe urgent need is to savethem.”

“The unique combinationtherapy is a novel procedurethat is being practiced for thefirst time in Veterinary medi-cine. We, at PFA, considersnakes play a pivotal role in thenature’s food chain and thispath-breaking techniques using

traditional Chinese veterinarymedicine of Acupuncture withthe ultramodern Laser physio-therapy to address their spinalaccidents,“ he adds. Recentlythe PFA had organised aninternational workshop onthis path-breaking treatmentfor spinal injuries in snakes .

Col Shariff a retired armyofficer use to treat spinalinjuries of dogs and other ani-mals using the acupunctureand advanced laser technolo-gy and for first time in theworld he is using the acupunc-ture and laser treatment for thespinal injured snakes. He saysthis has worked so well andeffective and has reduced thehealing time of the inuredsnake.

According to AlpanaBharatiya founding trustee thePFA has rescued and treatedmore than 9227 snakes over 28species until March, 2019.

Snakes are easily one of themost influential yet miscon-

ceived species in the ecosys-tem. Indians have understoodtheir significance since longtime back that they are reveredas Gods in Indian mythology.PFA holds an equivalent regardfor Snakes. Through theirStudents Outreach Program,PFA has visited nearly 4500schools until June, 2019, andhas educated more than 2Lakhs students on the aware-ness about Snakes and wildlifeas a whole.

People for Animals, pro-vides round the clock rescueservice for wildlife animalswith 24+7 functioning helplines and ambulances. PFABangalore has rescued over24,000 wildlife animals whichenvelopes 198 varieties ofwildlife species.

PFA provides timely, spe-cialised veterinary care toinjured urban wild animals,rehabilitate them, and thenrelease them into their natur-al or adoptive habitats.

“As of 2011 census,Bangalore had seen a humanpopulation growth of 53% ascompared to 2001. This hasgrown even further in the last5 years. These dramaticincreases have steadily result-ed in urbanisation that hasadversely affected the city'slakes, parks and partial forests- causing significant ecologicalimbalance. Not long ago,Bangalore was a city of positivecoexistence, rich in urban

wildlife. With the effect ofurbanisation, we see anincrease in displaced animalsand orphaned young ones,seeking safety, food and speciessecurity. While the WildlifeActs are designed to protect thenation's wildlife, they cannotprotect the wildlife that lives inthe cities”, said a PFA docu-ment.

Founded in 1996 byNamrata Dugar, AlpanaBhartia, Gauri Maini Hira andArushi Poddar, People forAnimals, Bengaluru, is a non-profit animal welfare organi-zation, formed under thenationwide initiative and visionof Maneka Gandhi.

Kolkata: Hitting out at TMCfor intentionally creating panicover implementation of NRCin West Bengal, the BJP and theRSS said on Wenesday thatthey will launch a countercampaign in the State to allaythe fear of the people andbuild public opinion onCitizenship (Amendment) Bill.

The saffron organisationswould launch door-to-doorcampaign in West Bengal toallay the fears of the peopleover NRC, they said.

Without naming the TMC,a senior state RSS leader saidpolitical parties should havesupported the Bill inParliament instead of opposingit if they are worried over theomission of Hindus from thefinal NRC list in Assam.

"We will start door-to-doorcampaign soon over NRC andCitizenship (Amendment) Bill(CAB). We will tell the gener-al people why NRC is neededto weed out BangladeshiMuslim infiltrators and that wewill first implement the CAB togive citizenship to Hindurefugees who have come to thiscountry from neighbouringnations," said a senior State BJPleader.

"The TMC is only creating

panic just to instill fear amongthe masses. We will counter it,"he said.

Fear over implementationof the NRC in the state hasmade hundreds of people toqueue up at government andmunicipal offices here andacross West Bengal to collecttheir birth certificates andother necessary documents.

The fear has been sparkedby the alleged omission ofabout 12 lakh Bengalis fromthe final National Register ofCitizen list in BJP-ruled Assamdespite assurances by the TMCgovernment that the NRC willnot be allowed in West Bengal.

Apparently referring toTMC's opposition to the Bill,RSS West Bengal secretaryJishnu Basu said a few politicalparties are creating panic toserve their own vested interests.

"If they (TMC) are so con-

cerned about Hindus then whyare they opposing the CAB?They should support it. Wewant to categorically say thatCAB will be passed inParliament soon to grant citi-zenship to Hindu refugees.Those who don't want Hindusto get citizenship are opposingthe CAB. We will campaign toinform the masses about theneed for NRC and CAB," Basusaid.

He said the NRC and theCAB are required to protectWest Bengal as infiltratorsfrom Bangladesh are takingshelter in the state and areinvolved in anti-national activ-ities.

"This is not just harmful forthe Bengali Hindus but also forIndian Muslims and is equallyharmful for the security of ourcountry," Basu said.

The CAB, 2019 provided

for according Indian citizen-ship to Hindus, Jains,Christians, Sikhs, Buddhistsand Parsis from Bangladesh,Pakistan and Afghanistan after

seven years of residence inIndia instead of 12 years, whichis the current norm, even ifthey do not possess any docu-ment.

The legislation was passedby Lok Sabha during its wintersession on January 8 but couldnot be cleared by the upperhouse and lapsed. PTI

Thiruvananthapuram: TheSouth Asian Climate OutlookForum has predicted normalnortheast monsoon in Keralaand South India duringOctober-December season thisyear.

Above normal rainfall islikely over most part of SriLanka, Maldives and easternparts of Myanmar during thisperiod. However, below normalrainfall is likely over southernparts of Myanmar and someareas at the foothills ofHimalayas, according to theconsensus statement made at theend of the 15th session of SAS-

COF, which met here.Normal rainfall is likely

over remaining areas of theregion. During the season, nor-mal to slightly above normaltemperature are likely, over mostpart of the region, a governmentpress release said.

According to the release,currently neutral ElNino/Southern Oscillations(ENSO) conditions are prevail-ing in the Pacific Ocean andIndian Ocean. These parame-ters, which are known to influ-ence the climate over South Asia,are likely to continue at their cur-rent level during the October to

December season.The consensus climate out-

look for the 2019 October-December season over SouthAsia has been developedthrough an expert assessment ofthe prevailing global climateconditions influencing the SouthAsian climate.

Kerala Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan, who inaugu-rated the main session of SAS-COF on Climate Service UserForum (CSUF) on Wednesdaysaid regular patterns of rain thatare known to two generations inKerala have drastically changedduring the last three years. PTI

Ahmedabad: Gujarat hasreceived over 126 per cent ofthe average annual rainfall sofar this monsoon, with thetotal 205 dams in the State filledto 93.73 per cent of their capac-ity, State officials said onWednesday.

According to the data pro-vided by the State EmergencyOperation Centre, the statereceived 1,029.54 mm rainfall,almost 126.17 per cent of itsaverage annual rainfall thisseason.

Kutch and south Gujaratregions received 144.58 percent and 137.73 per cent rain-fall respectively, the maximumin the state, the officials said.

North Gujarat districts,however, received only 96.69per cent of annual averagerainfall, with the lowest rainfallrecorded in Banaskantha and

Mehsana districts at 89.10 and89.28 percent respectively, itsaid.

Patan, Gandhinagar,Ahmedabad and Mahisagar

are other districts that receivedbelow average rainfall this sea-son, the data showed.

Chhota Udepur in centralGujarat received the maxi-mum rainfall for a district inthe state at 163.98 per cent, fol-lowed by Bharuch in south at161.08 per cent.

The data showed thatSaurashtra received 125.38 percent of the average rainfall, withJamnagar district in the regionreceiving the maximum 149.49per cent rainfall, followed byMorbi at 139.54 per cent.

The Narmada WaterResources and Water SupplyDepartment said that all the205 dams or reservoirs in the

state are filled to 93.73 per centof their capacity with 23,641.6million cubic feet water. Ofthese, nine dams have reached100 per cent of their capacity.

Forty six of these dams are90 per cent full, while 10 oth-ers are filled around 80 to 90per cent of their storage capac-ity. Fifteen dams in northGujarat region are 61.23 percent full.

The Sardar Sarovar Damis 98.54 per cent full at 9,321.52million cubic feet water and iscurrently at a level of 138.25metres as against its full reser-voir level of 138.68 metres, thegovernment said.

PTI

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Kolkata: BJP national generalsecretary Kailash Vijayvargiyaon Wednesday said that NRCwill be "100 per cent" imple-mented in West Bengal and nota single Hindu will have toleave the country.

Without naming the TMC,Vijayvargiya, who is BJP'sBengal minder, said certainpolitical parties and politiciansare trying to instill fear amongthe general people over NRC byspreading canards.

"Be 100 percent sure aboutNRC in Bengal. But Hindushave nothing to fear as we aresoon bringing the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill inParliament," he said at a pro-gramme here.

"As the national general

secretary of BJP I want toassure all of you that NRC willbe implemented but not a sin-gle Hindu will have to leave thecountry. Each and every Hinduwill be given citizenship," headded.

The attempt by "somepolitical parties" to create a"fear psychosis" among thepeople will not yield any results,he said at a programme here.

Hinting at the TMC,Vijayvargiya said there are cer-tain people who are trying to"spread canards and misguidethe people".

"India is not a charityhouse that those who are themajority community inBangladesh, Afghanistan andPakistan (Muslims) can infil-

trate, spread terror and takeaway livelihood of our citizens,"Vijayvargiya said.

Hindus in those countriesare minorities there and arecoming to India to protecttheir lives, he said adding theyhave nothing to worry about aslong as Narendra Mopdi is thecountry's prime minister andAmit Shah its home minister.

Hundreds of people arequeueing up at governmentand municipal offices here andacross West Bengal to collecttheir birth certificates and nec-essary documents should theNational Register of Citizens(NRC) be implemented in thestate despite assurances by theTMC government that it wouldnot be allowed. PTI

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The 23rd edition of theTrilateral Maritime

Exercise MALABAR, is sched-uled between the navies ofIndia, Japan and USA fromThursday off the coast of Japan.

Two frontline indigenous-ly designed and built IndianNaval Ships, the MultipurposeGuided Missile FrigateSahyadri and ASW Corvette

Kiltan, with Rear Admiral SurajBerry, Flag OfficerCommanding Eastern Fleetembarked onboard, arrived atSasebo on Wednesday to par-ticipate in the exercise. In addi-tion to the ships, a P8I LongRange Maritime Patrol Aircraft,also arrived in Japan.

The US Navy is being rep-resented by USS McCampbell,a Los Angeles-Class AttackSubmarine and a P8A Long

Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft.The JMSDF would be partici-pating with its Izumo ClassHelicopter Destroyer JS Kaga,Guided Missile Destroyers JSSamidare and Choukai and aP1 Long Range Maritime PatrolAircraft.

MALABAR 2019 wouldendeavour to further strength-en India - Japan - US Navalcooperation and enhance inter-operability, based on shared

values and principles. The exer-cise would encompass con-duct of complex maritimeoperations in the surface, sub-surface and air domains, andfocus on Anti-SubmarineWarfare, Anti-Air and Anti-Surface Firings, MaritimeInterdiction Operations (MIO)including Visit Board Searchand Seizure (VBSS) and tacti-cal scenario based Exercise atSea. In addition, the partnernavies would conduct official

protocol visits, professionalinteractions including SubjectMatter Expert Exchanges(SMEE), reciprocal ship visits,sports fixtures and social eventsduring the harbour phase.

Participation of IndianNaval ships and aircraft in theexercise would significantlybolster the strong maritimebonds of friendship betweenthe three countries and con-tribute to security and stabili-ty in the region.

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Defence Minister RajnathSingh on Wednesday com-

missioned Indian Coast GuardShip Varaha, the fourth in theseries of seven Offshore PatrolVessels at Chennai.

Director General IndianCoast Guard DGKrishnaswamy Natarajan, the

Commander Coast GuardEastern Seaboard, additionaldirector general KR Nautiyal,and senior dignitaries of thecentral and state governmentwere present.

Speaking on the occasionDefence Minister said that itwas indeed reassuring to wit-ness the growing strength ofIndian Coast Guard. It isindeed impressive to see thecapability of L&T ShipbuildingLtd yard for undertaking com-plex shipbuilding in an exem-plary manner and contributingimmensely to the vision of‘Make in India’. Inclusion of"Varaha" in the fleet would fur-ther strengthen capabilities forthe multifarious roles of theIndian Coast Guard, he added.

The OPV is named‘Varaha,’ the third incarnationof lord ‘Vishnu’ who took theform of a boar to rescue god-dess earth from the ocean bylifting her on his tusks. Theship will be based at NewMangalore, Karnataka underthe operational and adminis-trative control of theCommander Coast GuardRegion (West).

The ship is designed and

built indigenously by M/sLarsen & Toubro Ltd atChennai and is fitted withstate-of-the-art navigation andcommunication equipment,sensors and machineries. It hasthe fire power of 30-mm gunand 12.7mm gun with firecontrol system for enhancedfighting efficiency at sea. It isalso equipped with state of artequipment and has a powerfulexternal firefighting system.The ship is designed to carryone twin engine helicopter andfour high speed boats includ-ing two rigid hull inflatableboats for swift boarding oper-ation, search and rescue, lawenforcement and maritimepatrol.

The ship is also capable ofcarrying pollution responseequipment to contain oil spillat sea.

The vessel has a displace-ment of 2100 tons and is pro-pelled by two 9100 KW dieselengines. The ship can attain amaximum speed of 26 knotsand has an endurance of 5000nautical miles which enablesher to go around half the globeat economical speed.

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Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath onWednesday announced anannual assistance of �6,000 tothe victims of triple talaq tilltheir rehabilitation and saidthey will also get free legal aidfrom the State Government.

The Chief Minister, underthe Pradhan Mantri Jan VikasKaryakram (PMJVK) here,interacted with the womenwho faced divorce throughoutlawed practice of instanttriple talaq. He said suchwomen should be given rightsover waqf properties and alsocalled for several welfare mea-sures that should be undertak-en for their rehabilitation.

Around 300 women fromacross the State attended theevent.

“Educated women shouldbe absorbed in Governmentjobs as per their qualificationswhile arrangements shouldalso be made for providingthem shelter and educationunder various schemes. Thesewomen should be coveredunder the Ayushman BharatYojana or under the ChiefMinister Arogya Scheme,” hesaid.

Adityanath directed thedepartments concerned to prepare welfare schemes for thevictims.

“Proper schemes shouldbe implemented for the over-all development of the societyand no person should feelneglected,” he said.

While assuring the tripletalaq victims that their griev-ances will be redressed, thechief minister in a stern warn-ing to the police said they too

would be punished if it isfound that they failed to per-form their duty.

Adityanath said womenhave the right to live with dignity .

“In Uttar Pradesh, in lastone year, 273 cases of tripletalaq were reported from var-ious districts in which FIRwas registered.

We will ensure propergrievance redressal of the tripletalaq victims and in case policefailed to do their duties, theytoo will be punished,” the ChiefMinister said, adding the soci-ety cannot develop if one com-munity is neglected.

He asked the AdditionalChief Secretary (Home) to per-sonally look into the concernsof the victims who submittedtheir applications during theevent.

The Chief Minister alsoasked for identifying tripletalaq victims and holding suchinteractive programmes at divi-sional level.

“The Government is ready

to support all women, whetherHindu or Muslim, who havefaced any kind of harassment.The Government wants tomake it clear that even Hindumen illegally having secondwife and harassing them wouldnot be spared and will face thewrath of law,” he said.

The chief minister inau-gurated and laid the foundationstones for projects that aremeant to benefit the minoritycommunity, according to aState Government statement.

“I thank Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for bringinglaw on triple talaq and takingthe step towards womenempowerment and honouringthe dignity of women. Only hecould have taken such step,” he said.

“I want to assure all thewomen present here and otherwomen of the State that the UPGovernment is there to supportthem and help in all possibleways while following the pathshown by Modi,” he said.

PTI

Guwahati: Assam ChiefMinister Sarbananda Sonowalon Wednesday said the recentcut in corporate tax will bene-fit the manufacturing sector inthe North-East and lead togrowth and employmentopportunities in the region.

Sonowal told a Press con-ference that the cut in corpo-rate tax is a “historic step” andwill provide golden opportu-nity to the manufacturing unitsof the region, where the cor-porate sector is looking forchances of investment.

The Centre’s step a “boldinitiative” towards realising thePrime Minister’s goal of mak-ing the country a five trillioneconomy and the north eastregion with its proximity tosouth east Asia will particular-ly benefit from it and emerge

as an investor-friendly desti-nation, the Chief Minister said.

The corporate sector has

already benefitted to the tuneof �1,000,47 crore and is look-ing for new investment oppor-tunities and expansion of units,the Chief Minister said.

“I thank Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman

for taking this boldand strong stepwhich has led toa positive ande n c o u r a g i n ga t m o s p h e r e

across the coun-try”, he added.

Sonowal saidthat with the

reductionin corpo-rate tax,companiesf r o mChina and

South Korea will express inter-est in investing in the country.

“This will lead to increasein exports leading to growthand employment oppurtunities,particularly in the north east,”he added.

Sonowal accused the erst-

while Congress government atthe Centre of ignoring thenorth east for 70 years sinceIndia’s independence.

“Due to this the region didnot get an opportunity to be apart of mainstream India”.

He said the Act East Policyof the Modi Government willhelp north east to becomeglobally competitive.

The prime minister,Sonowal said, has taken sever-al initiatives to ensure thedevelopment of the regionwhich he calls the ‘Asthalaxmi’.

The states of the regionunder Modi’s guidance are tak-ing steps to usher in develop-ment, he said.

Stating that connectivitywith ASEAN and BBN coun-tries have led to encouragingdevelopment initiatives in the

region, he said farmers hadbenefitted greatly from it andare now able to sell their pro-duce in Dubai, Abu Dhabi,London, Hong Kong andSingapore.

Air connectivity has beenestablished with Dhaka andBangkok from Guwahati andvery soon flights to moreASEAN countries will be intro-duced, Sonowal said.

Referring to Assam,Sonowal said 240 MoUs worth�80,000 crore was signed at theAdvantage Assam InvestmentSummit organised by the StateGovernment in 2018.

This had translated intosetting up of 170 manufactur-ing units, majority of them inthe oil and gas sector, involv-ing �52,000 crore so far, headded. PTI

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Ahmedabad: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi will declarecountry open defecation-freeon the occasion of the 150thbirth anniversary of MahatmaGandhi on October 2.

Modi will make the decla-ration in the presence of over20,000 village heads at a func-tion at the Sabarmati Riverfronthere during his visit to Gujarat,Deputy Chief Minister NitinPatel said on Wednesday.

These village heads(sarpanchs) would includearound 10,000 from Gujaratand another 10,000 from acrossthe country, he said.

Dignitaries from across theworld are also expected toattend the mega event to markthe 150th birth anniversary ofMahatma Gandhi, said Patel.

“October 2 will be cele-brated as Swachh Bharat Diwasacross the country. Our PrimeMinister would visit Gujarat onthat day and declare the entirecountry open defecation-free inthe presence over 20,000sarpanchs, including around10,000 other states,” Patel toldreporters in Gandhinagar.

“To spread the message ofcleanliness to the masses, dig-nitaries from across the worldhave been invited to attend theevent to be held at theSabarmati Riverfront inAhmedabad on October 2,”the BJP leader said.

People associated withGandhian institutions, highcourt judges, Padma awardees,students, educationists and vil-lage-level sanitation workershave also been invited for thefunction, said Patel.

He said the 10,000sarpanchs coming from otherstates would be taken to dif-ferent places associated withthe Father of the Nation suchas Dandi Memorial andMahatma Mandir.

PTI

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Srinagar: National SecurityAdvisor Ajit Doval arrivedhere on Wednesday to takestock of the situation inKashmir Valley and decide thefuture course of action for thesmooth implementation ofGovernment plans after thewithdrawal of special status ofJammu & Kashmir, officials said.

Doval will meet top secu-rity officials and take stock ofsecurity and development-related activities in the State,which will be converted into

two union territories —Jammu& Kashmir, and Ladakh — onOctober 31, the officials said.

It was not immediatelyknown how long the NSAwould stay in the valley.

The NSA had camped for11 days in the valley after theCentre announced its decisionto withdraw the special statusof the State under Article 370and split it into two UTs onAugust 5. During that period,he had ensured that there wasno violence in the aftermath ofthe Government’s decision.

During his previous stay,he had taken rounds of the mil-itancy-hit Shopian town insouth Kashmir and DowntownSrinagar.

He had also addressed per-sonnel of the Jammu&Kashmir Police, CRPF andArmy separately, telling themabout their successes in dis-turbed areas and underlingtheir importance in ensuringthe safety of the country andcitizens.

The NSA has been closelymonitoring the situation andensuring smooth coordinationbetween all arms of securityforces in the hinterland as wellas along the line of control.

On August 5, theGovernment announced thedecision to abrogate special sta-tus of Jammu & Kashmir underArticle 370 of the Constitution,and dividing the State intotwo Union Territories. PTI

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Jammu: A special workshopfor pension was organised onWednesday by the Ministry ofPersonnel for the BSF person-nel here.

The Department ofPension and Pensioners’Welfare (DoPPW) underMinistry of Personnel, PublicGrievances and Pensions senta team of officers who con-ducted the special workshopfor the Border Security Force(BSF) on Pensioners’ Portal attheir frontier headquarters.

The workshop —attendedby over 100 officials includingN N Dubey, DIG,Headquarters BSF, New Delhiand Hardeep Singh, DIG,Frontier BSF, Jammu —edu-cated the pension dealing staffof the force on the functional-ity of the system so that theycan seamlessly process the pen-sion, said the ministry in a

statement.The ‘Bhavishya’ (future)

software — a common manda-tory platform for all the centralgovernment employees for thepurpose of processing pen-sions— was discussed at length,the statement said.

They were also educatedon Digital Life Certificate andhow the same can be digitallygiven from the comfort of one’shome, it said.

Jitendra Singh, the Ministerof State for Personnel, PublicGrievances and Pensions, haddirected the department offi-cials to send a team of DoPPWto Jammu, the ministry added.

PTI

Muzaffarnagar: A court hereon Wednesday rejected thebail plea of a Governmentschool teacher who was arrest-ed last month allegedly forgetting the job by submittingfake educational qualificationcertificates and working for 17years before being caught.

Additional DistrictSessions Judge Vir Nayak Singhrejected the bail plea of ParveshKumari, who was appointed asa primary school teacher in2000.

According to Governmentcounsel Jitender Tyagi,Kumari’s academic credentialswere found to be fake duringverification, following whichshe was dismissed from theservice in 2017 and a case of

cheating was registered againsther.

She was arrested inTugalpur village here onAugust 19.

The woman was paid atotal of over Rs 41 lakh in salaryin the 17 years, according toofficials.

The state educationdepartment has ordered thatthe amount be recovered fromher. PTI

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Agartala: In a major jolt to theTripura Congress, nine leadersof the party, including its vice-president, put in their papers onWednesday, a day after PradyotKishore Debbarman announcedhis resignation from the post ofits state unit chief.

Addressing a press meethere, at the residence ofDebbarman, TPCC GeneralSecretary Sridam Debbarma,who is among the nine leaders,said the “royal scion has fallenvictim to a conspiracy”.

“Maharaja Pradyot wasforced to resign from the partyas he sought the implementationof NRC exercise and refused tocompromise with a section ofcorrupt leaders,” he claimed.

Among others present at themeet were Dinesh Debbarma,who is also a general secretary

of the party, and state unit vice-president Sachindra Debbarma.

“Now that we haveresigned, many more in thedistricts and the sub-divisionswill follow suit to protestagainst the conspiracy to driveout the ‘maharaja’. We mayform an independent party toprotect the interests of people,”Sridam Debbarma said.

Extending support toDebbarman, he said theCongress could secure only1.5% votes in the Assemblyelections last year, but after the“maharaja” took over as theTPCC president in February,organisational strengthincreased and the party man-aged to bag 30% votes in the LokSabha polls.

Training guns on AICCGeneral Secretary Luizinho

Felerio, who is also in-charge ofthe northeast states, the TPCCgeneral secretary alleged that hewas a corrupt leader and theparty would not be able to winpower in the region in the nextfifty years, if he continues to beat the helm.

Despite repeated attempts,Debbarman, the grandson oferstwhile Tripura king BirBikram Kishore Manikya, couldnot be contacted for his com-ment.

Taking to Facebook, how-ever, he said, “There are certainpeople who are attacking mepersonally on FB and on media.ButIi dont care because I havetaken a stand to speak for ourpeople and state before speakingfor any political interests orparty...”

PTI

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Allahabad: The AllahabadHigh Court on Wednesdaystayed the arrest of seniorSamajwadi Party leader AzamKhan in 27 cases of allegedgrabbing of land.

A two-judge of justicesManoj Mishra and Manju RaniChauhan passed the order ona petition filed by the formerUttar Pradesh minister, chal-lenging the FIRs registeredbetween July 13 and 20.

The court order protectsthe former Uttar Pradesh min-ister from arrest in 27 criminalcases, registered on complaints

of forcible occupation of farm-ers' land for the constructionrelated to his Mohammad AliJauhar University in Rampur.

The court has also askedthe state government and thecounsel appearing for farmersto file their counter affidavit.

The high court issued anotice to actor-turned-politi-cian Jaya Prada as Azam Khanhad contended that all FIRsagainst him were lodged at herbehest.

He has made Jaya Prada arespondent.

The FIRs were lodged

against Khan by several farm-ers at the Azeem Nagar policestation in Rampur.

It was alleged in the peti-tion by Azam Khan that theFIRs were lodged against himdue to political enmity.

The next hearing into thecase is scheduled for October24.

On September 14,Samajwadi Party chief AkhileshYadav had said in Rampurthat all cases lodged againstRampur MP Azam Khanwould be withdrawn if theirparty came to power. PTI

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Remember the months before thelegislative elections, L’affaire Rafalewas in the news everyday, thanksto the then leader of Opposition,who alleged hanky-panky in the

intergovernmental deal signed between Indiaand France for acquiring 36 off-the-shelfRafale multi-role fighter planes. The day thecampaign was over, no line of negative writ-ing has appeared in the media. Of course,L’affaire was just an electoral plank and hadno connection with the reality of the deal itself.

Dassault Aviation is back in the news andthis time for better reasons. The headline ofone national daily read, “Rafales are coming!Deadly French fighter planes to arrive soon;Rajnath to receive first aircraft this month.”

It has been a long journey since the firstRequest for Information for 126 MediumMulti-Role Fighter Aircraft was made in 2001.Five years ago, the then French DefenceMinister Jean-Yves Le Drian came to Indiaon a two-day visit. He was trying to resur-rect the stagnating deal with his Indian coun-terpart, Manohar Parrikar. In an interviewfor The Pioneer, he told me: “France and Indiashare a wide range of common interests. Ourstrategic partnership, developing since 1998,when the BJP was in power, includes defenceand security.” Regarding the Rafales, heobserved: “The negotiations are proceedingwell. For a project of this scale and such com-plexity, which brings the transfer of know-how to several industrial stakeholdersof India, the pace is comparable to that ofother negotiations. Both our Governmentsshare the will to conclude it and this is, ofcourse, essential.”

But it was far from being done. In fact,it took two more years and the will of theIndian Prime Minister to sign a Government-to-Government agreement for 36 planes. OnOctober 8, Defence Minister Rajnath Singhwill finally receive the first plane at Dassault’sfactory in its facility in Merignac nearBordeaux. The first four planes should arrivein May 2020. Other jets will follow in quicksuccession. What a protracted, painful road!

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has alreadystarted training 24 pilots in three differentbatches to fly the Indian custom-made com-bat aircraft, which will be deployed (onesquadron each) at Ambala airbase in Haryanaand Hasimara in West Bengal.

As a new Chief of Air Staff (CAS) wasnominated, the IAF received “acceptance” forits first Rafale in Merignac, where the planesare assembled. On the tail of India’s new Rafaleis painted “RB-01”, standing for Air MarshalRKS Bhadauria, who will take over as the newCAS on October 1 and whose role was piv-otal in negotiating the final deal between Indiaand France. The IAF’s Deputy Chief, AirMarshal VR Chaudhary, had just flown theIndian jet, which will be equipped with lat-est gadgets, in particular Meteor missiles,SCALP ground attack missiles and manyother equipment that must remain top-secret.

This comes at a time when India faced

a difficult time on the interna-tional scene with two of itsneighbours clubbing their forcesto internationalise the Kashmirissue. China distastefully decid-ed to support Pakistan’s objec-tions to the abrogation of Article370 of the Indian Constitution,which has surprised many. Indiaundoubtedly needs all its ener-gies, resources and friends to facethese two separate fronts.

Incidentally, France was thefirst country to torpedo theChinese initiative to get a state-ment on the abrogation of Article370 from the Security Council.Further, on August 21, Jean-YvesLe Drian, now Minister forEurope and Foreign Affairs, tele-phoned his Pakistan counterpart,Shah Mahmood Qureshi andtold him that for France, Kashmirwas a bilateral issue betweenIndia and Pakistan. Le Drianpleaded for restraint, de-escala-tion and easing the situation. Themessage was clear.

France has a long relationwith India, particularly in thedomain of defence. In the early1950s, India had purchased 71Ouragans (known in India asToofanis) from the same Dassaultcompany. HS Malik, the thenIndian Ambassador to France,wrote to then Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru in October1953: “All of us in the Embassy,who have been working on theimplantation of the contract withthe Defence Ministry here for thesupply of Ouragan aircraft, were

greatly relieved and delightedwhen we got the news that ourfour pilots with the fourOuragans had reached Palamsafely.” He continued: “I ventureto bring to your notice the won-derful cooperation that we havereceived both from the Frenchofficers of the Ministry ofDefence, from the CabinetMinister downwards and fromthe French industry.”

Since then, India and Franceremain reliable friends. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi wasFrench President EmmanuelMacron’s special invitee at the G-7 meet in Biarritz in SouthFrance. The two leaders metbefore and the joint statementnoted that the “traditional rela-tionship is enduring, trustworthy,like-minded and all-encompass-ing. India-France relations aremarked by mutual trust betweentwo strategic partners who havealways stood by each other.”

Modi’s visit further strength-ened the strategic ties in crucialsectors such as defence, nuclearenergy and maritime securityand deepened the bilateral coop-eration to check the flow of fundsfor terror activities. The collab-oration with France in the IndianOcean is particularly noteworthy.Apart from defence and newfields in IT, cooperation hasdeveloped in key areas such asnuclear energy, spaceInternational Solar Alliance andjoint development projects.

Symptomatic of the close

relations, India and Francefinalised a closer cooperation indigital and cybersecuritydomain: “The two leaders haveadopted a cybersecurity anddigital technology road map,aimed at expanding Indo-French bilateral cooperation,particularly in the strategic sec-tors of high performance com-puting and ArtificialIntelligence, with the target ofbringing our start-up ecosys-tems closer to each other,” saidthe joint statement.

Both nations have been leftfar behind by China and it is hightime that India collaborates withfriendly countries in this domain,which will determine the super-powers of tomorrow. With theworld in turmoil, France has beenand indeed is an enduring part-ner for India.

Tailpiece: One domainwhere India could help France istransport security. On the firstday of a recent visit to France, Iwas robbed of my wallet with allmy cash in the Paris metro. It isa fact that the Delhi metro is farsafer than Paris’. Indian engineersshould advise their French coun-terparts how to have a clean andsecure transport system. Thenumber of other avenues inbilateral collaborations is unlim-ited, the purchase of 36 new air-craft is already rumoured. Don’tunderstand what “illumined” issupposed to mean?

(The writer is an expert on India-China relations)

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Sir — This refers to the report,“CM, minister to pay their ownincome tax” (September 25).Undoubtedly, the tax obligationof an individual is “personal” andnot the responsibility of a demo-cratically-elected Government.Such an incoherent policy wasapparently framed to appeasethe team of Ministers. The con-tention by the then Governmentheaded by VP Singh was that theChief Ministers and Council ofMinisters were “too poor” to paytheir income taxes.

That �86.87 lakh was paid asincome tax bill of the Ministersby the State exchequer for thelast financial year corroboratesthe gigantic amount allocated sofar on this account. This is anabsolute misuse of the authori-ty for availing such an undemo-cratic facility. The baffling pro-vision also went against thebasic principles of bonafidedemocracy. Incidentally, a num-ber of Chief Ministers andMinisters are billionaires, yetthey had been availing suchatypical benefits.

Cicily ThomasKumbalamchuvattil

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Sir — The landmark decision ofthe UK Supreme Court, where itsaid that Boris Johnson’s decisionto suspend Parliament for five

weeks was “unlawful”, is one ofthe most significantConstitutional judgements inmodern times. However, somelegal experts worry that theBritish judgement could set atroubling precedent, opening the

door to a form of judicial reviewthat is widely accepted in the USthat has a Supreme Court thatactively interprets theConstitution. In contrast, Britainrelies on an unwritten set of tra-ditions and conventions that have

treated a sovereign Parliament asthe supreme law of the land. Oncethe courts venture into the polit-ical sphere and begin passingjudgements on Parliament’sactions, they say there is nogoing back. For democracies likeIndia, the ruling is a signal thatan independent judiciary canfind the leeway to rein in theexecutive with numerical major-ity when parliamentary conven-tions are undermined. Normally,courts steer clear of politicaldecisions taken by the executive.

Meghna ANew South Wales

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Sir — With Aadhaar alreadymired in controversies over datasecurity and privacy, it is absurdthat the Government is mootingthe idea of one card for all utili-ties. With a single card handlingall crucial data, individuals wouldface an even greater risk. Better,the Government should focus onstrengthening the economy first.

GunjanVia email

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Back in 2006, British mathematician CliveHumby famously said, “data is the new oil,”in the context of Tesco’s Clubcard Loyalty

programme, a basic marketing gimmick. Little didhe know that five years on his words would takea life of their own with the onset of IndustrialRevolution 4.0 that is largely driven by ArtificialIntelligence (AI), Big Data and the internet of things(IoT). As the world stands at the brink of an AI-disruption, data is all the more critical.

Simply speaking, an AI programme is a com-puter code that can learn from real world situa-tions and tweak itself to perform more efficient-ly. This requires that it be fed large datasets to learn,find patterns and draw conclusions. This enablesthe AI to perform its task better, with accuracy thatenhances over time as more data is fed in. As AIis being developed to solve increasingly complexproblems, especially in healthcare like diagnosinga patient, impeccable accuracy is imperative. Thisin turn requires developers to have access to largeamounts of representative and quality data.

Recently, NITI Aayog’s proposal to develop aninstitutional AI framework that identified healthas a core area was approved by the FinanceMinistry. In the coming few weeks, the UnionHealth Ministry is also expected to release the finalNational Digital Health Blueprint (NDHB). Theseevents are set to move conversations around AI inhealthcare to the centre stage, but the question ofrelevant data for development of AI systems forpublic health is yet to be answered comprehensive-ly. Two dimensions of this question have to be con-sidered — the data available and how to access it?

While clinical data in the form of longitudi-nal Electronic Health Records (EHR) would be crit-ical for future development of this industry, massadoption of interoperable EHR systems is movingslowly in India. In the interim, disease registries,service and logistics tracking data and reposito-ries of radiology scans might all serve as startingpoints to develop useful AI applications. Theseapplications have to be trained on large datasetsthat are usually available with the Governmentthrough its national programmes and public healthfacilities. Training on Government datasets alsoensures universal, error-proof applicability.However, these remain inaccessible to academiaand the private sector alike.

Government as a gatekeeper: As comparedto other sectors, health data is highly sensitive andrequires the Government to protect it by limitingaccess. However, as the open data movement takeshold the world over, India has also been makingattempts at unlocking its wealth. The National DataSharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP) wasreleased to manage the release of Government data,but it has not been implemented equally acrossGovernment vestiges. The data platform set upthereunder — data.gov.in — still suffers from thelack of critical updated datasets that are granularand clean enough to deliver value. Most depart-ments still haven’t uploaded their mandatory min-imum of five datasets and those who have,upload top-level metadata. There are multiple con-cerns that the Government has in unlocking data,some legitimate but easily solvable and othersdeeply embedded, which require a shift in culture.Due to the lack of a comprehensive data privacylegislation, even officials who understand the

potential of open data shy away from tak-ing initiatives to unlock it. This is alsocomplicated by the recent global scan-dals relating to commercial exploitationof personal data by mega tech giants,making officials wary of companiesdealing in data. Unlocking data hasanother unintended consequence — itbrings to the fore concerns regarding thequality of the data collected, especiallywhen compared with parallely collecteddata through different programmes.This even thwarts efforts of inter-min-isterial data sharing, let alone makingdatasets publicly available.

One issue with most datasets thathave been digitised is machine readabil-ity. Scans of handwritten physical doc-uments are illegible to machines withoutproper annotation, such as labelling keyheaders. The task of making even someof the Government data machine read-able is cumbersome but the benefits interms of cost-savings in resource plan-ning and efficiencies in clinical care andpublic health at large, make it a com-pelling case.

Concerns around commercialinnovations on citizen data: For thoseselect few within the Government, whoview data as an asset having commercialvalue, the natural instinct is to preventwhat is primarily a public good from pri-vate sector exploitation. Whether datacollected by the Government should bemade available for free is a polarisingquestion. On one hand, it can be arguedthat the data generated through citizensshould be freely released to companiesso that they can innovate and in turn pro-vide better services. However, this schoolof thought doesn’t account for the factthat while companies make commercialgains from the citizen’s data, the peopleare neither given financial or otherbenefits at the point of data-sharing norat the point of receipt of the final service.Thus, engagement with patients andincentivisation is necessary so that they

can be convinced to share their data usingcomprehensive consent managers andopt-out options. This adds to the costburden to the Government of creatingdatasets for sharing.

In fact, in making its data useable,the Government would spend immensecosts in annotating and cleaning the data.Open data as a principle is not opposedto levying a fee for use of Governmentdatasets. Certain base datasets can bereleased free of cost while premium setscan be made subject to payment.However, distinctions must be madebetween non-commercial and commer-cial use in terms of user fees. Models thatcharge commercial entities in order toadequately subsidise non-profit access todatasets can be explored. Outside of usercharges, innovative models such as anobligatory public service clause can alsobe introduced in data-sharing agree-ments for innovators using public data,which can ensure public benefit at large.

Moving swiftly to find this piece ofthe jigsaw: Earlier this year, AI consul-tancy Oxford Insights AI ReadinessIndex pointed out that while India sitsat a comfortable 19th rank, it severely lagsbehind its Asian competitors like Chinaand Singapore in open data and dataavailability. Advancing India’s globalleadership will require the Governmentto act swiftly to develop data-sharing col-laborations and protocols. Smallerdatasets and non-commercial collabora-tions might be a safe first step.

Globally, medical colleges and uni-versities are leading the way in makingsmaller datasets publicly accessible inorder to spur innovations. The StanfordML Group’s open datasets like CheXpert,for instance, allows participants access toover 14,000 standardised high-resolutionchest X-ray scans to build and test theirAI algorithms. However, such opendatasets will continue to have limited useand Government (or Government-approved) datasets are necessary for

training and testing AI systems from aregulatory standpoint. The Governmentis well aware of this necessity and there-fore, NITI Aayog tied up withDepartment of Biotechnology to set upan imaging ‘biobank’ for cancer. Howmuch of the data will be meaningful andopen for all remains to be seen, but ini-tiatives like these are crucial.

Traditionally, data is seen as some-thing to be protected and kept hiddeninstead of a resource that could bringabout economic and social value whenoptimally utilised. Once seen as a pub-lic asset, data sharing will kick-start auto-matically. Environment like data sand-boxes or creation of small data lakes toallow innovators to train their AI mustbe explored. In March 2019, CMS, theUS federal agency overlooking Medicareand Medicaid programmes, launched theAI Health Outcomes Challenge, whichinvited AI solutions for predeterminedproblems using certain Medicare claimsdatasets. These confidence-boostingsteps show bureaucrats the value emerg-ing technology applications can bring.

Unlocking data also means explor-ing watertight ways of preserving the pri-vacy, security and traceability of data.Advancement in technologies as distrib-uted ledger technology (blockchain is apopular form) hold answers to problemssuch as ensuring single use when datasetsare shared. Technologies such as homo-morphic encryption may enable train-ing on a dataset without having to exposethe sensitive parts of the dataset. Debatesaround tactical details of data sharing willgo on, but one thing is clear — there isno value in keeping data locked. It is per-tinent that we now move beyond mereconversation and actually propel actionto unlock meaningful data.

(Verma is a lawyer and policy con-sultant and Eluri has led digital transfor-mation projects in the pharmaceuticalindustry. Both are with the InternationalInnovation Corps, Chicago University.)

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The spectre of global warmingis now reaching the deepestand coolest parts of the plan-

et and its oceans. Considered the lifeblood of the Earth, the oceans are anamazing repository of life forms andit is believed that some of the stun-ning aquatic species are yet to be dis-covered. Sadly, these are now fallingprey to global warming and pollutionas the flora and fauna in the marineecosystem have long been at thereceiving end of man-made malaise.A case in point is the Great PacificGarbage Patch, a man-made floatingisland of marine debris comprisingmostly plastic, weighing over 700,000tonnes, in the North Pacific Ocean.

Also known as the Pacific trash

vortex, this marine debris compris-es the Western Garbage Patch nearJapan and the Eastern Garbage Patchbetween Hawaii and California.Oceanographers and ecologistsrecently discovered that about 70 percent of marine debris actually sinksto the bottom of the ocean and ruinsthe marine ecosystem.

Closer home, the Indian coast-line that supports an ancient anddiverse coral reef system is fightinga different battle. Corals are referredto as underwater rainforests becauseof the important role they play insupporting marine life and biodiver-sity. They are also vital for fisheries,tourism and as a repository of med-icinal, agronomical and industrialproducts. Based on a recent study, ateam of Indian researchers haswarned that rising sea temperaturescould put these fragile underwatersystems in peril. They analysedinformation from the NationalOceanic and AtmosphericAdministration’s OptimumInterpolated Sea SurfaceTemperature database from 1982onwards and found that three mass

bleaching events occurred in 1998,2010 and 2016, impacting coralreefs in the Andaman, Nicobar,Lakshadweep, Gulf of Mannar andGulf of Kutch.

Oceans are massive sinks forgreenhouse gases. However, as theyabsorb them, the oceans warm up

and there are changes in seawaterchemistry. Corals are sensitive totemperature changes, which affectphotosynthesis and calcification oftheir structures, making them proneto diseases and even death. Seaalgae and corals share a symbioticexistence and when seawaters turn

warm in summers and remain so formore than 28 days, the corals expe-rience thermal stress. Due to this,they expel the zooxanthellae algaeresiding in their tissues and turncolourless, say the findings publishedin the Current Science journal.Although coral reefs are known torecover from bleaching in a decadeor two, its severity can overwhelmthem and hamper their ability torecover.

Coral bleaching is not specific toIndian coasts. The most extensivecoral bleaching event from 2014 to2017 affected reefs across the world,including the Great Barrier Reef inAustralia, where the damage wasintense and also those along the eastcoast of Africa, where the intensityof destruction was slightly less.Seychelles was the worst-hit, followedby Madagascar, while parts ofMauritius, Kenya and Tanzania werebadly impacted. If bleaching contin-ues for an extended period, thecorals eventually die.

Coral bleaching and mortalityexacerbated by climate change are thebiggest threats to oceanic biodiver-

sity as reefs provide the perfectplace for marine life to thrive, espe-cially fish. The fallout of bleachingand coral death is a rise in the growthof fleshy macro algae in reefs, whichdoes not allow corals to revive by tak-ing up their space. Interestingly,depletion of corals also seems to havea detrimental impact on tourism. Forinstance, when intense coral bleach-ing occurred in Africa, it hit thescuba diving industry and tourismbadly.

According to a World Bank esti-mates, the African tourism industryreported losses amounting to $2.2million in Zanzibar and $15.09 mil-lion in Mombasa. Even Seychelleshas lost a considerable amount of itscoral reefs and the country’s profitsfrom dive tourism have dipped.

India must learn from theseglobal debacles and rush to save itscoral reserves from destruction. Thiswill not only preserve the environ-ment and oceans but also protect thetourism industry and the livesattached to it.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

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Around 14.24 lakh jobs werecreated in July, higher than

12.49 lakh in the previousmonth, according to a latestpayroll data from Employees’State Insurance Corporation(ESIC).

Gross enrolments of newsubscribers with the ESIC were1.49 crore during 2018-19,National Statistical Office(NSO) said in a report.

It also showed that duringSeptember, 2017 to July, 2019,around 2.83 crore new sub-scribers joined the ESI scheme.

The NSO report is basedon the payroll data of new sub-scribers of various social secu-rity schemes run by the ESIC,retirement fund body EPFOand the Pension FundRegulatory and DevelopmentAuthority (PFRDA).

It has been releasing thepayroll data or new subscribersdata of these three bodies sinceApril, 2018, covering a periodstarting from September 2017.

The report showed thatgross new enrolments with theESIC during September 2017 toMarch 2018 were 83.34 lakh.

A net of 11.61 lakh newenrolments with theEmployees’ Provident Fund

Organisation (EPFO) wererecorded in July, as comparedto 10.75 lakh in June this year.

During 2018-19, 61.12 lakhnew subscribers on a net basisjoined the social securityschemes run by the EPFO.Similarly, the net new enrol-ments were 15.52 lakh duringSeptember 2017 to March2018.

It showed that duringSeptember, 2017 to July, 2019;around 2.65 crore new sub-scribers joined the EPF scheme.

The report said that sincethe number of subscribers arefrom various sources, thereare elements of overlap and theestimates are not additive.

The NSO said the presentreport gives different perspec-tives on the levels of employ-ment in the formal sector anddoes not measure employmentat a holistic level.

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Rebutting social mediarumours swiftly, the

Reserve Bank of India onWednesday said no commer-cial banks are going to be shut.

Finance secretary RajivKumar discribed such socialmedia messages as “mischie-vous” saying the governmentwas in process of strengtheningpublic sector banks by infusingcapital in them.

“Reports appearing insome sections of social mediaabout the RBI closing downcertain commercial banks arefalse,” the central bank said ina statement.

Messages are circulatingin various social media plat-forms that nine banks will beclosed down permanently bythe RBI and appeals beingmade to public to withdrawtheir money from them.

“No question of closingany #PSB, which are articles offaith. Rather Govt is strength-ening PSBs with reforms andinfusion of capital to betterserve its customers,” Kumarsaid in a tweet.

The messages are being

circulated a day after the RBIplaced restrictions on with-drawals in the crippled Punjab& Maharashtra CooperativeBank (PMC), thus affectinglakhs of customers.

Most of the banks namedin the messages are those thathave been either merged withother banks or are in theprocess of being merged.

Last month, the govern-ment had announced that 10public sector banks would bemerged into four.

Oriental Bank ofCommerce and United Bank ofIndia will be merged withPunjab National Bank, whileSyndicate Bank will becomepart of Canara Bank.

Andhra Bank andCorporation Bank will bemerged with Union Bank ofIndia, and Allahabad Bankwith Indian Bank.

The government hasalready merged Dena Bankand Vijaya Bank with Bank ofBaroda. Also, the IDBI Bankwas taken over the public sec-tor insurance behemoth LIC.Recently, the governmentannounced to infuse capitalinto the IDBI Bank.

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At a time when the countryas a whole is witnessing a

massive downslide in economicsector, particularly in the fieldof job creation, Bengal haswitnessed a quantum jump inemployment generation,sources in the State FinanceDepartment said.

In what could bring smilesin Chief Minister MamataBanerjee’s face, her State hasrecorded an additional job cre-ation of six lakh in the pasteight years when employmentgeneration has gone down to a45 year low in the past one year.

According to sources in lasteight years the State has record-ed formation of 77,525 newsfirms creating new jobs for thepeople. These firms and alsothe Government have jointlycreated about 6 lakh 40 thou-sand and 399 jobs in the pasteight years, sources at State sec-retariat Nabanna said.

According to Governmentsources in 2011-2012 therewere 95,241 firms generatingprofessional tax. They

employed 14 lakh 72 thousandand 238 people. In 2018-2019the number of such firms wentup to 1 lakh 72thousand. In theorganized sector the number ofpeople giving professional taxis 21 lakh 16 thousand 637.

According to a senior offi-cial the firms transacting withthe Government and also thoseregistered in the GST regimehave to provide records ofpeople working with them.Till 2019 March the number ofsuch employees had gone up tomore than 21 lakh.

Noted economist AbhiroopSarkar said an increase of 5 per-cent in job sector was satisfac-tory but one has also to takeinto consideration of the qual-

itative nature of the jobs thusprovided by the firms.

He said “last year the Staterealized professional tax worth�550 crore which itself provesthat most of the employedpeople were giving profession-al tax. According to Nabannasources a tough GST regime in2018-2019 led to about 56,000new registrations in profes-sional tax system.

Incidentally State FinanceMinister Amit Mitra hadclaimed that the State hadrecorded new employment ofabout 9.05 lakh in 2018-2019.The figure for the previous yearin 2017-2018 was 8.92 lakh“which is not bad,” said asenior official.

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Reliance Industries’Chairman Mukesh Ambani

has topped the list of richestIndians for the eighth consec-utive year, with a net worth of�3,80,700 crore, according tothe latest IIFL Wealth HurunIndia Rich List.

London-based SP Hinduja& family, with assets worth�1,86,500 crore, retained thesecond rank in the list, followedby Wipro founder Azim Premji at the third placewith a wealth of �1,17,100crore.

According to the latestIIFL Wealth Hurun India RichList, the number of Indianshaving a net worth of morethan �1,000 crore has grown to953 this year from 831 in 2018;while, the number of billion-aires in terms of US dollar has reduced to 138from 141.

“The combined wealth oftop 25 in the list equates to 10

per cent of India’s GDP andthat of 953 accounts for 27 percent,” it said.

L N Mittal, chairman andCEO of ArcelorMittal, was the4th richest with a wealth of�1,07,300 crore and GautamAdani was placed on the 5thposition with a net worth of�94,500 crore.

Others in the top 10include Uday Kotak at the 6thplace with a wealth of �94,100crore, Cyrus S Poonawalla at7th position with �88,800 croreassets, Cyrus Pallonji Mistry at 8th spot with a wealth of �76,800 crore,Shapoor Pallonji at 9th positionwith a net worth of �76,800crore and Dilip Shanghvi at10th slot with �71,500-crorewealth.

Interestingly, while thecumulative wealth for this yearshows an increase of 2 per centcompared to last year, the aver-age wealth shows a decline of11 per cent, IFL Wealth HurunIndia Rich List said.

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Aday after the RBI slappedrestrictions on Punjab &

Maharashtra Co-operative Bank(PMC Bank) citing regulatorylapses, Union minister AnuragSingh Thakur on Wednesdaysaid the government will ensurethat customers of the bank donot face any problem.

The central bank onTuesday put a slew of restric-tions on the Mumbai-basedlender, creating panic amongthousands of depositors.

Major restrictions includecapping withdrawal at �1,000

per customer during the six-month period, and banning thebank from extending newloans. The lender has around�11,000 crore of public deposits.

“Representations have beenmade by customers and someothers to the finance ministry.We will look into those mattersand update you,” he toldreporters.

“Compliance is must incase of institutions dealing withpublic money. Compliance hasto be ensured...We will ensurethat the common man shouldnot face any problem,” Thakur said.

New Delhi: The Government isdetermined to take India backto a high trajectory growthrate of 8-9 per cent and the realchallenge before the country isto sustain that growth, NITIAayog CEO Amitabh Kantsaid.

His remarks come at atime when the governmenthas taken several measures toboost the economy that has hitover six-year low of 5 per cent.

“The government is deter-mined to take India back to ahigh trajectory growth rate of

8-9 per cent and the challengebefore India is really to grow ona sustained basis of 8-9 per centper annum year after year forthree decades or more,” Kantsaid last evening.

He was speaking during61st Holland Memorial Lectureorganised by the Mining,Geological & MetallurgicalInsititute of India (MGMI).

“But if we have to do thisfor the next three decades,energy (sector) has to be at thecentre of this economicalgrowth,” he said. PTI

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Prime Minister NarendraModi has announced a

$150 million line of credit tothe group of Pacific islandnations for undertaking solar,renewable energy and climaterelated projects based on theirrequirement.

Modi, who attended theIndia-Pacific Islands DevelopingStates (PSIDS) Leaders’Meeting, also announced a totalallocation of $12 million to themember states towards imple-

mentation of high impact devel-opmental project in the area oftheir choice.

The meeting was held hereon Tuesday on the sidelines ofthe 74th session of the UNGeneral Assembly. This is thefirst time he has met the leadersof the PSIDS on the margins ofUNGA in a plurilateral format.

“In New York, I had theopportunity to meet leaders ofthe Pacific Islands and interactwith them on ways to boostcooperation between ournations. Pacific Islands are at

the core of our Act East Policy.Issues like climate change anddisaster management were dis-cussed,” PM Modi tweeted.

The meeting was attendedby the Heads of delegation ofFiji, Republic of Kiribati,Republic of Marshall Islands,Federated States of Micronesia,Republic of Nauru, Republic ofPalau, Independent State ofPapua New Guinea, TheIndependent State of Samoa,Solomon Islands, Kingdom ofTonga, Tuvalu and Republic ofVanuatu.

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Credit card payments to buyfuel at petrol pumps will

from October 1 not get a 0.75per cent discount that state-owned oil companies hadintroduced more than two-and-a-half years back to pro-mote digital payments.

“Dear SBI credit cardhold-er, as advised by public sector oilmarketing companies, the 0.75per cent cashback on fuel trans-actions will be discontinuedwith effect from October 1,2019,” the country’s largest bankin a text message informed its

credit card customers.The government had asked

Indian Oil Corp, BharatPetroleum Corp Ltd andHindustan Petroleum Corp Ltdto give a 0.75 per cent discounton card payments for fuel pur-chases after a widespread cashcrunch in late 20016 followingdemonetisation of 86 per centof currency notes in circulation.

The 0.75 per cent discountof the value of fuel purchasesusing credit/debit cards and e-wallets was introduced inDecember 2016 and had con-tinued for more than two-and-a-half years, straining OMCs.

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Google said on Wednesdayit will not pay European

media outlets for using theirarticles, pictures and videos inits searches in France, in amove that will undercut a newEU copyright law.

The tech giant said it wouldonly display content in itssearch \engine results and onGoogle News from mediagroups who had given theirpermission for it to be used for free.

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The Asian DevelopmentBank (ADB) on

Wednesday sharply loweredIndia’s growth forecast from 7.2per cent to 6.5 per cent for thecurrent fiscal, though it indi-cated that the country wouldgrow faster than China.

The multi-lateral lendingagency in its AsianDevelopment Outlook (ADO)Update for 2019 cut the growthprojection for India, whichrecorded an over six-year lowgrowth of 5 per cent in April-June quarter this fiscal.

“India’s growth forecast forfiscal year 2019 is lowered to6.5 per cent after growthslowed markedly to 5 per centin the first quarter, April-June.Abrupt declines in manufac-turing and investment reflectuncertainty ahead of generalelections, subdued lending bybanks and other financial insti-tutions, stress in the ruraleconomy, and a weakeningexternal outlook,” the agencysaid.

However, India is expectedto rebound to 7.2 per centgrowth in fiscal 2021 and joinmost other sub-regional coun-tries in performing at or neartheir ADO 2019 growth fore-casts for next year, it added.

The Manila-headquarteredfunding agency had projectedIndia’s economy to expand at

7.2 per cent in its ADO for2019-20 released earlier inApril this year and cut it downto 7 per cent in the supplementto the ADO in July.

As regards China, ADBhas projected that growth willslip from 6.6 per cent last yearto 6.2 per cent in 2019, and 6per cent in 2020 — below pre-vious projections — withincreased government spend-ing and a strong housing mar-ket partly offsetting the impactof the trade dispute with the USand sluggish manufacturinginvestment.

“In Hong Kong, China,recent political tensions, spill-over from the trade conflict,and the global electronicsdownturn will slow growth in2019 and 2020 well belowADO 2019 projections,” it said

further.On South Asian growth

projections, the ADO Updatesaid the growth momentumhas softened in the region.

“Growth forecasts are low-ered to 6.2 per cent for 2019and 6.7 per cent for 2020.

“Growth in South Asia isnow seen moderating this yearas India’s economy slows pri-marily for domestic reasons,such as the pre-election declinein investment and tighter cred-it conditions,” it said.

Further, South Asia infla-tion forecast is lowered, large-ly reflecting unexpectedly lowfood prices in India, but theforecast for 2020 is maintained,as per the ADO Update.

Asia girds for prolongeduncertainty, ADB said, addingthe regional growth remainsrobust but is expected to mod-erate.

“GDP expansion in theregion, though still strong, isprojected to slow from 5.9 percent in 2018 to 5.4 per cent thisyear, then edge back up to 5.5per cent next year,” it added.

The revisions reflectgloomier prospects for inter-national trade, in part becauseof re-escalation in trade conflictbetween the US and China, andevidence of slowing growth inthe advanced economies andChina, as well as in India andthe larger economies in eastand southeast Asia.

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Corporate India’s mergerand acquisition activity

moderated in August with 23deals worth USD 845 million,the second lowest monthlydeal volume till date amidongoing global uncertainties,says a report.

According to GrantThornton’s monthly M&ADealtracker, the prevailingeconomic uncertainties result-ed in August recording 36per cent decline in terms ofnumber of deals and 49 percent fall in value terms.

In August 2018, there were36 deals worth USD 1,660 million.

“Owing to global tradetensions and failure to recordbig ticket deals during August2018, cross-border values fellby over five times. However, onthe positive side, the domesticM&A values recorded a 55 percent increase over August 2018on the back of encouragingmeasures and easing reforms,”Pankaj Chopda, director atGrant Thornton India LLPsaid.

The month of August wit-nessed only one deal valuedover USD 500 million and onedeal valued over USD 100 mil-lion each.

“Domestic transactionswere primarily themed around

acquisition of stressed assets tostrengthen market leadershipposition, divestment conse-quent to global transaction,compliance with competitioncommission requirements inIndia and investments in tech-nology products to improvemarket offerings and efficien-cy,” Chopda said.

In the first eight months ofthis year, there were 287 trans-actions worth USD 22,855 mil-lion, while in the correspond-ing period of the last yearthere were 318 deals worthUSD 75,408 million.

The largest deal duringAugust was seen in the energyand natural resources sector,with the Adani-GMR deal val-ued at USD 512 million, fol-lowed by Air Water’s acquisi-tion of Linde India in themanufacturing sector.

Contrary to the previousmonth, August was dominatedby deals in the IT and ITeS sec-tor, pushed by consolidation inthe software development andIT solutions segment. The start-up sector remainedactive after the IT sector withfive deals worth USD 25 million.

The month also witnesseddeals in the pharma and health-care, e-commerce, banking,retail, and media and enter-tainment sectors, the reportsaid.

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The BSE Sensex plum-meted 504 points onWednesday as investors

booked profit following thebenchmark’s recent record-shattering run, while globalequities took a knock overgeopolitical uncertainties andgrowth concerns.

After sinking 586 pointsduring the day, the 30-shareSensex ended 503.62 points, or1.29%, lower at 38,593.52. Thebroader NSE Nifty plunged148 points, or 1.28%, to11,440.20.

Global markets wobbledafter top US Democrat NancyPelosi announced opening of aformal impeachment inquiryinto President Donald Trump.

This has ratcheted uppolitical uncertainties at a timewhen equities are already bear-ing the brunt of Middle Easttensions and weak globalgrowth signals, analysts said.

Further, Trump put Chinaon notice at the UnitedNations, declaring that thetime of trade “abuses” byBeijing was “over” and callingon the country to protect HongKong’s “democratic ways oflife”.

On the domestic front,investors were eager to bookprofit after the recent rally,leading to heavy selling pres-

sure in bank, finance and autocounters, traders said.

Moreover, ADB sharplycut India’s growth forecast to6.5 per cent for 2019-20 from7.2 per cent estimated earlier,though it indicated that thecountry would grow fasterthan China.

Top laggards in the Sensexpack were SBI, Tata Motors,Maruti, Yes Bank, M&M,HDFC twins, ITC, Vedanta,Hero MotoCorp, Tata Steeland L&T, losing up to 7.37%.

On the other hand,PowerGrid, TCS, NTPC, HCLTech, Tech Mahindra and RILrallied up to 4.39%.

“Political uproar in US toimpeach President Trump ledto sell-off in global marketseems a short-term reaction,while fresh NPA issues, weakSeptember auto sales andmonthly expiry promptedinvestors to book profit postthe sharp upside since the lastFriday.

“Bond yields are inchinghigher anticipating fiscal tight-ness, while government isplanning higher divestmentto ease the situation,” saidVinod Nair, head of research atGeojit Financial Services.

Sectorally, BSE auto, real-ty, metal, capital goods,bankex, finance, industrialsand telecom indices declinedup to 3.84%.

However, power, utilities,IT and teck spurted up to1.05% higher.

Broader BSE midcap andsmallcap indices cracked up to1.76%.

Elsewhere in Asia, HangSeng, Shanghai CompositeIndex, Nikkei and Kospi endedsignificantly lower.

Stock exchanges in Europewere also trading nearly 1 percent down in their respectiveearly sessions.

On the currency front, therupee depreciated 9 paise to71.10 against the US dollar(intra-day).

Oil prices also took a hit,with WTI off 0.9% and BrentBrent crude futures falling1.65% to USD 62.06 per barrel.

“Oil markets continue tosell as risk sentiment remainssour after Trump accusedChina of currency manipula-tion, theft of intellectual prop-erty and product dumping,”said Stephen Innes, Asia Pacificmarket strategist at AxiTrader.

In currency trading, thepound slipped against the dol-lar. It had rallied on Tuesdayfollowing Britain’s SupremeCourt ruling that PrimeMinister Boris Johnson’s sus-pension of parliament was“unlawful”, providing a spark ofhope that Brexit will be moreorderly than previously feared.

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Script Open High Low LTPVBL 655.00 660.00 615.00 624.45AUBANK 675.00 675.00 565.15 643.75ZEEL 289.30 293.30 268.85 271.90KOTAKBANK 1615.00 1617.00 1580.25 1600.50MARUTI 6990.00 6996.00 6603.05 6641.50SBIN 299.40 299.40 278.60 280.15MOTHERSUMI 114.95 114.95 107.00 108.00BPCL 458.00 473.50 448.70 464.75YESBANK 56.00 56.80 53.10 53.70HDFCBANK 1251.00 1251.05 1230.40 1239.70RELIANCE 1281.00 1295.45 1269.35 1279.80BAJFINANCE 3960.00 3997.00 3889.80 3932.85ICICIBANK 440.00 440.20 429.70 434.45TATAMOTORS 129.95 129.95 121.50 123.00INFY 791.00 801.55 782.20 792.20TCS 2057.00 2092.05 2057.00 2087.80BRITANNIA 3080.50 3088.05 3001.80 3055.00AXISBANK 701.85 703.05 683.85 694.90IBULHSGFIN 428.00 433.60 420.00 420.75INDUSINDBK 1500.00 1521.65 1492.95 1503.60HDFC 2144.50 2144.50 2050.85 2069.60ASHOKLEY 74.60 74.90 70.30 70.75POWERGRID 193.05 203.35 193.00 198.75TATASTEEL 368.70 368.70 357.60 362.15LT 1480.10 1481.00 1447.00 1450.05RBLBANK 396.00 403.60 377.75 383.50ADANIPOWER 67.50 69.85 66.90 68.40HINDPETRO 282.95 288.70 278.10 285.45DHFL 45.10 49.20 44.05 47.05NCC 64.40 64.40 60.35 61.45ITC 255.80 256.20 242.75 248.80IDBI 33.75 37.70 32.75 36.85SPICEJET 134.00 134.45 128.15 129.25DLF 166.65 167.30 152.60 155.80BANKBARODA 99.00 99.00 93.10 93.60DMART 1865.05 1928.00 1850.00 1904.10SUNPHARMA 410.00 413.00 401.90 406.75HDFCLIFE 555.00 562.90 550.85 557.80HEROMOTOCO 2753.90 2753.90 2649.50 2704.60ESCORTS 602.60 602.60 578.00 587.60TITAN 1292.45 1314.90 1262.50 1269.05CONCOR 579.80 617.25 557.00 599.65IOC 138.10 142.75 137.00 140.55BAJAJFINSV 8250.00 8378.95 8162.05 8260.00JINDALSTEL 106.10 106.25 101.35 103.60EICHERMOT 18479.40 18514.90 17427.75 17577.95TATAELXSI 684.95 699.95 660.30 666.70MCX 986.00 1019.35 973.00 973.00VEDL 158.80 158.80 152.80 156.05HINDUNILVR 2045.00 2061.75 2012.50 2047.60M&M 560.10 560.10 528.40 535.00PEL 1841.10 1890.00 1811.90 1818.70TATAPOWER 65.70 66.45 62.90 63.65JSWSTEEL 233.40 235.50 228.25 234.40PETRONET 258.50 259.80 254.45 258.20LICHSGFIN 416.00 416.00 391.60 394.15ADANIENT 150.20 151.00 145.55 147.50GRAPHITE 349.50 354.75 336.50 342.70CANBK 202.70 202.70 190.50 191.85HEG 1205.00 1216.00 1149.50 1168.30FEDERALBNK 94.00 94.20 91.60 92.10JUBLFOOD 1455.00 1478.40 1441.05 1442.75PNB 64.80 65.85 62.65 63.25BEL 111.80 111.80 108.00 109.10L&TFH 96.70 96.70 93.25 94.15STAR 353.50 353.80 328.25 331.70CIPLA 450.05 450.05 432.00 434.45ASIANPAINT 1781.00 1781.00 1728.20 1757.85RELINFRA 36.65 37.10 35.15 35.95RELCAPITAL 30.40 32.00 29.65 31.10COALINDIA 194.00 198.70 192.00 192.80ACC 1650.00 1657.70 1616.00 1632.65INDIGO 1821.60 1830.00 1794.00 1803.15TECHM 704.00 709.60 699.15 705.50IDEA 5.59 5.62 5.22 5.32SAIL 34.00 34.00 32.60 32.90PIIND 1271.20 1338.00 1271.20 1306.45BEML 949.95 950.00 894.70 906.90NTPC 115.90 118.65 115.10 117.10HINDALCO 196.80 196.80 188.80 190.00SIEMENS 1434.70 1475.45 1426.00 1441.90BHARTIARTL 349.30 350.05 338.40 341.55ONGC 132.70 133.65 130.80 131.45TATAGLOBAL 277.90 281.45 271.50 279.50BAJAJ-AUTO 2943.85 2964.55 2912.00 2927.35ICICIPRULI 424.10 435.95 424.10 433.10PIDILITIND 1458.00 1458.20 1412.05 1439.90BANKINDIA 70.45 70.50 65.75 66.45BHEL 52.00 52.00 49.85 50.15TATAMTRDVR 60.80 60.80 55.50 56.40DISHTV 21.30 21.90 19.35 19.65VOLTAS 668.20 679.00 662.30 669.05RNAM 261.30 267.40 257.10 263.00NATIONALUM 46.70 46.70 43.55 43.85SCI 38.45 41.25 36.70 39.15JUSTDIAL 703.95 705.50 687.60 692.00TVSMOTOR 419.95 419.95 391.25 398.75GMRINFRA 17.65 17.80 16.50 16.80INDIACEM 84.50 85.60 83.10 84.25BBTC 1232.05 1285.00 1215.50 1227.45GODREJPROP 1015.00 1023.60 993.60 1012.10AUROPHARMA 615.00 618.85 595.50 601.60PVR 1848.80 1860.00 1810.30 1846.90HDFCAMC 2920.75 2920.75 2852.30 2865.45PAGEIND 23181.15 23310.30 21853.90 21992.00ULTRACEMCO 4321.80 4338.45 4255.00 4279.00UJJIVAN 321.00 321.50 307.15 312.50STRTECH 169.00 169.00 154.90 156.10

BIOCON 224.85 225.80 216.60 218.35RITES 263.45 270.75 258.10 265.85WIPRO 240.95 241.30 238.10 238.80UNIONBANK 60.00 60.00 55.85 56.40HAVELLS 756.00 756.00 726.25 735.55GRASIM 745.00 745.00 718.50 724.15CENTURYTEX 947.15 949.65 908.70 927.05SRTRANSFIN 1160.00 1160.00 1101.00 1111.45LTTS 1557.15 1599.80 1554.30 1594.85VENKYS 1809.00 1814.00 1725.00 1736.05BATAINDIA 1718.80 1719.40 1700.85 1711.90EQUITAS 103.95 104.10 99.75 101.80ADANIPORTS 411.00 417.90 410.40 414.90SUNTV 479.00 479.00 457.20 463.75MARICO 396.75 403.70 384.70 391.15MUTHOOTFIN 698.00 698.00 660.50 669.95PFC 102.60 103.05 100.10 100.50SRF 2875.00 2889.55 2760.50 2785.20RAYMOND 598.00 599.20 583.00 583.00DELTACORP 196.50 197.75 188.00 190.10LUPIN 739.00 740.00 727.40 730.95APOLLOTYRE 186.30 187.30 181.95 184.90SHANKARA 360.00 394.10 360.00 386.90SBILIFE 794.85 800.00 777.15 795.95RAJESHEXPO 672.40 674.35 664.00 665.60GODREJCP 671.00 675.00 655.60 671.10BALRAMCHIN 167.90 173.75 166.50 171.60NMDC 89.60 89.60 85.20 85.50HCLTECH 1054.75 1061.85 1044.75 1054.95RECLTD 129.95 130.45 125.85 126.10RCF 49.95 51.75 49.80 50.30NBCC 39.35 39.35 36.55 37.05IDFCFIRSTB 42.65 43.25 42.35 42.95INFRATEL 256.20 259.00 251.60 257.30BHARATFORG 460.00 460.00 437.00 439.20OFSS 2865.10 3012.05 2865.10 2966.00UPL 574.75 578.95 572.50 577.60MANAPPURAM 137.00 139.00 134.35 134.85OBEROIRLTY 546.50 547.00 515.00 519.50NOCIL 117.70 117.70 112.95 113.75DABUR 451.50 452.50 442.00 445.75PTC 57.40 60.45 57.40 58.05MRF 65351.00 65993.35 64263.00 64527.15COLPAL 1515.00 1517.00 1474.25 1487.85ENGINERSIN 114.00 114.30 108.50 109.75FINEORG 1637.00 1790.45 1633.40 1769.80NESTLEIND 13430.00 13503.95 13315.05 13500.00EXIDEIND 196.50 196.50 188.40 190.10DIVISLAB 1629.85 1653.25 1621.10 1621.30HEXAWARE 380.00 385.50 370.30 372.80GAIL 138.10 138.20 134.30 136.40J&KBANK 34.80 38.95 34.40 35.35AVANTI 384.90 386.45 362.25 378.60DRREDDY 2755.00 2784.00 2752.55 2775.50BOMDYEING 88.20 89.80 85.45 86.00AMBUJACEM 214.00 215.55 207.25 209.55IBREALEST 60.00 60.00 56.20 56.50M&MFIN 345.05 346.50 334.70 336.90EDELWEISS 115.65 116.25 107.40 107.70APOLLOHOSP 1454.05 1454.30 1418.65 1430.85IBVENTURES 185.80 185.80 172.80 176.00SUNTECK 451.00 451.00 434.00 440.35RVNL 26.50 26.55 25.30 25.50JAICORPLTD 92.65 93.10 89.05 89.50CGPOWER 15.39 15.39 14.73 15.30KAJARIACER 583.75 589.05 565.45 572.20ABCAPITAL 90.50 93.35 88.95 92.40WOCKPHARMA 308.00 309.40 295.60 298.40IGL 365.00 365.00 347.90 348.15GNFC 216.90 218.30 208.10 208.30JUBILANT 567.00 567.30 548.45 557.35SUVEN 291.00 303.80 286.00 290.00DBL 442.40 451.50 430.85 439.45PHILIPCARB 131.60 132.65 126.30 127.90CHOLAFIN 303.50 305.95 294.50 295.00CEATLTD 980.00 983.00 957.65 965.90MINDACORP 89.45 89.95 86.00 88.00ABB 1573.40 1574.25 1511.00 1525.35CADILAHC 256.80 256.80 245.75 249.20VIPIND 498.00 498.75 470.20 472.40BANDHANBNK 501.05 501.05 487.70 488.70BALKRISIND 793.00 799.00 774.20 778.70DEEPAKFERT 109.45 112.65 104.00 105.80ICICIGI 1202.10 1228.10 1168.90 1173.55TATACHEM 601.90 605.65 592.75 600.25HINDZINC 210.50 210.50 201.10 201.80BERGEPAINT 428.00 429.45 421.30 423.45RAIN 106.95 109.70 102.50 103.55AMARAJABAT 727.00 727.00 708.05 718.60RPOWER 2.77 2.80 2.70 2.73MINDTREE 717.90 724.00 698.00 700.90FSL 51.90 51.95 49.95 50.10

GLENMARK 348.00 351.00 343.45 345.40MGL 900.05 910.00 897.10 906.05IDFC 38.50 38.70 37.50 37.60WHIRLPOOL 1899.95 1899.95 1814.90 1860.00LTI 1487.00 1514.50 1467.10 1493.50CUMMINSIND 619.95 620.00 590.60 593.00SWANENERGY 107.40 110.00 106.90 110.00RELAXO 510.00 561.00 486.35 497.05PCJEWELLER 37.05 37.30 36.00 36.20TORNTPOWER 291.00 291.00 284.45 288.00MFSL 415.50 421.00 413.50 416.35GRUH 266.00 268.40 261.25 263.55SUPREMEIND 1188.20 1200.00 1164.50 1199.00NAVINFLUOR 807.80 815.30 778.00 787.95SPARC 151.00 151.00 143.65 144.30GSFC 86.55 87.25 82.25 82.75GODFRYPHLP 989.95 995.70 971.05 975.45INDHOTEL 157.75 159.25 154.25 154.85BOSCHLTD 14515.00 14515.00 13822.90 14047.85JINDALSAW 84.00 85.40 81.45 81.50INDIANB 147.45 147.50 139.45 142.35ADANITRANS 237.15 247.00 234.00 237.20OMAXE 194.45 194.45 191.45 191.80DALBHARAT 830.00 888.00 790.05 797.65KEI 527.00 540.00 515.30 516.30CANFINHOME 420.00 424.10 410.20 412.15BLISSGVS 107.30 107.30 101.60 103.00UBL 1380.00 1380.00 1337.55 1353.55IBULISL 124.10 137.10 124.10 137.10FORCEMOT 1210.70 1211.00 1171.40 1179.80CHAMBLFERT 167.50 168.00 159.00 160.05CUB 222.55 226.95 220.20 220.70GALAXYSURF 1430.00 1520.85 1419.00 1472.90ISEC 296.25 297.20 270.05 272.00DEEPAKNI 299.00 303.00 295.20 297.15POLYCAB 685.05 699.90 675.60 682.55SUZLON 3.04 3.04 2.90 2.94FORTIS 135.00 135.00 129.65 130.30ABBOTINDIA 10850.00 10850.00 10399.95 10617.55INFIBEAM 39.95 40.75 39.35 39.35IRB 89.10 93.15 85.75 86.55ADANIGREEN 52.50 53.90 51.50 52.50NIITTECH 1425.00 1429.90 1398.60 1401.65NAUKRI 2065.05 2095.00 2027.25 2055.70GLAXO 1461.10 1480.00 1430.90 1440.15GODREJIND 424.50 428.00 415.70 415.70CASTROLIND 134.90 134.90 131.20 132.15COROMANDEL 422.00 424.25 409.40 413.05ADANIGAS 133.80 134.75 131.10 131.75CENTURYPLY 150.00 155.50 150.00 154.95SHREECEM 19729.20 19729.20 19350.00 19350.00RADICO 327.00 327.00 316.00 316.65RAMCOCEM 765.00 765.00 748.45 760.55DCBBANK 213.00 213.00 204.60 209.30ITDCEM 51.00 58.00 51.00 52.35KEC 286.40 286.40 274.50 275.70ITI 82.40 82.75 80.20 80.65STARCEMENT 100.00 102.55 95.00 95.95LEMONTREE 59.95 59.95 57.30 58.60SOUTHBANK 11.95 11.95 11.54 11.62TORNTPHARM 1689.15 1715.15 1685.55 1704.60HSCL 85.10 87.50 82.85 84.20WABCOINDIA 6180.00 6324.90 6133.90 6294.90EVEREADY 48.10 49.75 47.60 47.60THOMASCOOK 148.00 148.50 135.00 145.10JSL 34.80 37.40 34.25 36.10REPCOHOME 323.45 324.00 310.20 312.00AJANTPHARM 1029.00 1035.10 1013.85 1024.15QUESS 448.00 468.00 448.00 453.35ASTRAZEN 2325.90 2325.90 2137.05 2140.05JSWENERGY 65.00 65.65 63.40 63.65FINCABLES 424.00 433.00 394.20 400.70TNPL 197.95 205.15 195.30 197.50BAJAJHLDNG 3660.00 3660.00 3480.00 3490.00HFCL 18.85 19.05 18.75 18.80SUNDRMFAST 475.95 484.40 463.20 480.00HINDCOPPER 38.75 38.75 36.40 36.70MEGH 60.20 60.20 56.80 57.15NATCOPHARM 591.00 596.75 584.00 589.75OIL 147.95 148.15 145.50 145.90IRCON 386.00 389.00 373.00 374.35TRENT 519.90 520.25 511.75 518.50NILKAMAL 1163.80 1195.75 1153.90 1163.05PGHH 11809.05 11888.30 11369.00 11730.65IPCALAB 954.15 957.00 925.05 927.00ASHOKA 109.50 109.50 101.00 104.55INTELLECT 198.00 198.00 186.65 188.40JBCHEPHARM 371.00 376.00 352.30 359.00KANSAINER 516.60 516.60 496.35 510.50EIDPARRY 165.90 171.25 164.40 166.25KTKBANK 81.40 81.40 78.55 78.95EMAMILTD 337.00 337.00 320.75 330.45PGHL 4619.50 4649.45 4551.55 4627.95REDINGTON 114.00 114.50 108.85 110.00ASTRAL 1171.50 1202.55 1149.90 1181.50TV18BRDCST 24.90 25.05 23.50 24.25SCHAEFFLER 4143.15 4188.00 4050.00 4187.00ABFRL 208.00 213.10 204.10 209.60SOBHA 515.00 523.90 502.00 503.15HEIDELBERG 195.35 199.35 191.75 192.90ORIENTBANK 63.70 63.75 61.55 62.25MAXINDIA 59.50 60.30 54.60 58.00JKTYRE 72.00 73.25 70.35 70.80PFIZER 3358.45 3392.90 3305.15 3319.65MOIL 128.55 130.85 124.30 124.30LINDEINDIA 498.90 520.00 498.90 513.00ITDC 246.50 260.00 238.80 252.55BAJAJELEC 405.00 407.85 394.80 397.00PERSISTENT 604.55 604.55 565.00 569.10

JISLJALEQS 22.70 22.85 21.20 21.75VINATIORGA 2286.00 2288.00 2244.00 2260.00TIMKEN 794.70 794.70 775.00 777.70WELSPUNIND 57.30 57.30 53.55 54.10THERMAX 1148.00 1159.05 1114.05 1131.30GUJALKALI 476.45 487.35 458.00 469.10TRIDENT 61.65 61.65 59.00 59.05AEGISLOG 182.40 182.40 179.45 180.50GREAVESCOT 147.00 147.05 141.45 142.10JAMNAAUTO 41.65 41.65 38.80 39.15WESTLIFE 313.80 322.85 313.00 319.85RCOM 0.75 0.75 0.74 0.74SUDARSCHEM 354.45 361.00 329.85 357.453MINDIA 19800.00 20300.00 19597.30 20029.95CHENNPETRO 172.00 172.00 162.20 163.95DCMSHRIRAM 414.00 423.55 409.00 417.15PARAGMILK 165.90 165.90 160.00 160.40BALMLAWRIE 173.00 173.60 165.80 166.45MOTILALOFS 694.20 699.90 673.00 689.30TIINDIA 381.85 403.35 381.85 397.05NHPC 23.05 23.10 22.65 22.70SANOFI 5977.00 5977.00 5830.00 5830.00PNBHOUSING 641.95 651.10 637.00 643.35KALPATPOWR 509.00 511.00 492.00 492.00BASF 1053.90 1055.15 1020.70 1025.20ATUL 3944.30 4039.20 3944.30 3992.55WELCORP 139.10 139.45 134.05 134.05FCONSUMER 30.40 30.50 29.20 29.35MINDAIND 353.75 356.95 343.55 346.65AAVAS 1577.00 1624.00 1561.50 1590.95ASTERDM 130.00 130.00 122.80 123.85HUDCO 37.75 38.15 36.45 36.70ENDURANCE 987.80 1035.80 982.40 996.25AKZOINDIA 1913.70 1973.00 1882.75 1910.00AIAENG 1750.00 1799.60 1700.40 1700.40GRINDWELL 625.05 625.05 604.00 608.00GRANULES 103.00 104.10 100.20 101.55CROMPTON 261.50 261.50 259.20 259.50CREDITACC 660.00 682.25 651.90 667.35ALBK 31.05 31.05 29.60 29.95INOXLEISUR 322.05 327.35 318.90 325.70ZYDUSWELL 1777.65 1777.65 1728.00 1743.00GHCL 222.70 224.00 215.30 216.90MMTC 18.45 18.50 17.95 18.05LAKSHVILAS 38.30 38.60 37.20 37.60NIACL 106.50 107.70 99.60 100.10CHOLAHLDNG 494.90 494.90 470.25 480.55GSPL 220.20 220.20 215.00 218.00GODREJAGRO 482.85 490.15 480.50 485.25ERIS 435.05 436.45 411.90 420.30HONAUT 27600.00 28218.85 27000.00 27950.00MAHLOG 386.85 386.85 370.00 374.95IEX 131.10 131.10 126.00 126.00NLCINDIA 56.75 58.15 56.75 57.60MPHASIS 966.00 967.40 946.50 953.70GUJGAS 179.85 181.00 174.15 174.75GICRE 197.95 201.00 190.85 200.35SOMANYCERA 206.35 206.35 192.70 195.90MAHINDCIE 174.90 175.00 166.10 172.85CRISIL 1335.00 1335.00 1311.65 1331.50SONATSOFTW 321.95 323.30 317.60 318.95BLUESTARCO 783.85 784.75 764.10 771.30ALLCARGO 108.00 109.40 104.45 106.20TAKE 115.70 115.70 110.10 110.90SYNDIBANK 30.05 30.05 29.20 29.25LALPATHLAB 1420.00 1420.00 1380.40 1399.20TATACOFFEE 81.90 81.95 79.70 80.80GICHSGFIN 162.50 162.80 152.65 153.40GESHIP* 266.10 273.00 265.00 270.20JMFINANCIL 80.00 84.00 80.00 83.00BDL 312.95 318.00 308.20 311.00LAXMIMACH 3827.20 3848.55 3771.00 3787.00MAHSCOOTER 4340.00 4387.40 4320.00 4375.00FRETAIL 399.00 399.20 391.00 391.00VMART 2145.00 2184.90 2047.00 2141.20SCHNEIDER 83.00 85.65 78.45 84.70GSKCONS 8738.85 8810.00 8640.00 8810.00VGUARD 224.10 224.35 220.95 222.90JPASSOCIAT 2.11 2.14 2.03 2.05FINOLEXIND 601.00 601.00 575.00 576.00BIRLACORPN 608.60 617.65 586.65 596.10IFCI 7.56 7.65 7.31 7.34DHANUKA 331.00 331.00 317.20 319.10KNRCON 238.00 238.00 230.00 233.50CARERATING 532.95 539.40 525.00 530.80CARBORUNIV 320.00 321.00 302.00 306.50SJVN 24.55 24.60 24.30 24.40TVSSRICHAK 2005.00 2005.00 1948.70 1970.70WABAG 279.20 281.70 277.50 277.50ECLERX 455.00 460.00 442.05 442.05APLAPOLLO 1418.50 1418.50 1381.25 1387.00MAHSEAMLES 412.80 417.05 394.00 399.65JKCEMENT 1150.00 1150.00 1053.65 1062.00ALKEM 1926.10 1927.80 1895.00 1895.00CYIENT 465.30 467.20 445.20 448.00SYMPHONY 1298.00 1298.00 1275.00 1286.50MRPL 48.20 48.80 46.50 46.75TATAMETALI 569.90 569.90 550.10 550.10UFLEX 224.70 228.00 220.65 220.65JAGRAN 65.00 65.45 64.00 64.15MAHLIFE 408.95 410.55 405.00 410.55DCAL 176.55 178.00 170.65 171.70GMDCLTD 66.70 67.95 65.20 66.00JSLHISAR 66.80 68.75 65.50 66.15CCL 238.45 238.45 232.50 232.50PRESTIGE 295.20 295.20 284.50 285.85EIHOTEL 181.10 183.00 173.55 177.65GILLETTE 7187.00 7187.00 7108.00 7155.00BAYERCROP 3373.75 3388.20 3334.50 3362.00

MAGMA 61.50 61.50 56.10 56.15GET&D 178.95 178.95 170.00 172.35ESSELPRO 115.00 115.50 110.00 115.50SREINFRA 10.10 10.21 9.55 9.56PHOENIXLTD 720.00 728.00 712.95 715.50ORIENTELEC 166.00 170.75 165.50 167.10GULFOILLUB 864.00 871.35 864.00 867.00KRBL 228.15 233.70 221.00 223.60MASFIN 695.60 700.00 673.20 680.00VARROC 470.00 470.00 448.90 454.00TCNSBRANDS 741.20 750.00 711.80 744.00PNCINFRA 188.15 191.00 183.80 188.50VSTIND 3749.25 3750.00 3627.00 3750.00RALLIS 172.70 174.05 172.55 173.35COCHINSHIP 359.85 359.85 343.20 343.70LAOPALA 183.00 185.00 178.00 182.80TEAMLEASE 2934.55 3031.35 2916.25 2920.00TEJASNET 82.50 85.25 82.00 84.00JYOTHYLAB 166.85 168.00 164.15 165.40TVTODAY 309.55 313.05 299.80 304.00CENTRALBK 19.95 19.95 19.50 19.55HAL 745.00 749.85 743.50 744.00TATAINVEST 830.00 835.00 827.20 827.75PRSMJOHNSN 88.50 89.00 86.00 86.00SUPRAJIT 182.00 194.00 170.95 183.30SKFINDIA 2130.00 2132.40 2103.70 2106.90APLLTD 523.60 529.75 513.00 513.00HATHWAY 22.25 22.85 22.00 22.85COFFEEDAY 56.00 56.00 56.00 56.00LAURUSLABS 346.50 364.20 344.80 354.60BLUEDART 2360.15 2360.15 2300.10 2325.20GPPL 88.10 88.20 84.95 84.95SHILPAMED 287.00 289.50 284.90 289.50GEPIL 810.00 821.70 802.65 821.00NETWORK18 23.70 23.70 22.20 22.30NESCO 551.60 566.60 551.60 560.00HIMATSEIDE 154.00 154.00 147.30 147.30CERA 2714.00 2765.00 2685.15 2726.65APARINDS 585.00 596.70 562.40 566.55TTKPRESTIG 6320.50 6320.50 6206.40 6211.15UCOBANK 14.70 14.75 14.20 14.25CAPPL 421.00 426.00 413.00 422.80TIMETECHNO 66.25 66.25 64.05 64.45HERITGFOOD 397.10 397.10 386.30 389.00THYROCARE 515.05 519.15 511.50 513.30IFBIND 730.00 730.00 712.70 720.60MHRIL 237.50 239.55 236.50 238.50SHK 137.95 137.95 130.10 131.80GDL 110.50 110.85 106.15 106.15NH 236.60 240.25 234.60 237.50

VTL 954.10 960.00 948.20 960.00ORIENTCEM 95.00 96.65 93.40 94.50BAJAJCON 251.05 256.10 247.65 248.95MAHABANK 11.92 11.92 11.67 11.71CENTRUM 24.00 24.60 24.00 24.55ADVENZYMES 165.35 165.35 160.95 161.25INDOSTAR 238.25 238.25 230.10 232.80ANDHRABANK 18.65 18.65 18.20 18.35UNITEDBNK 9.23 9.32 9.01 9.18IOB 10.17 10.31 10.05 10.10JKLAKSHMI 325.00 325.85 319.05 319.05FDC 175.30 177.00 173.90 177.00KPRMILL 563.80 573.35 559.55 567.85SYNGENE 311.05 312.95 308.05 310.75LUXIND 1250.80 1276.40 1235.50 1272.75ZENSARTECH 209.00 212.75 206.20 206.20INOXWIND 38.80 38.80 34.00 35.00TRITURBINE 102.60 103.15 101.20 102.00DBCORP 143.25 148.85 142.50 144.60SHRIRAMCIT 1330.00 1349.65 1314.65 1340.80JSWHL 2750.00 2800.50 2750.00 2772.00CORPBANK 16.55 16.55 16.05 16.15NBVENTURES 85.00 85.00 83.00 83.35GAYAPROJ 106.45 108.30 105.85 106.10FLFL 454.10 470.00 452.00 452.00SIS 874.55 883.75 858.05 865.10SHOPERSTOP 414.05 414.15 400.60 401.10SADBHAV 135.95 138.45 135.95 138.45SFL 1300.00 1304.65 1285.90 1300.00SOLARINDS 1108.50 1110.15 1100.20 1110.15JCHAC 1873.80 1873.80 1843.15 1843.15RATNAMANI 965.20 965.20 954.10 954.10CHALET 324.90 326.05 320.00 326.05

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11564.85 11564.95 11416.10 11440.20 -148.00POWERGRID 193.50 203.40 193.10 197.75 7.30TCS 2065.00 2092.00 2060.05 2084.00 39.30NTPC 115.60 118.60 115.05 116.95 1.80IOC 138.25 142.80 137.00 140.40 1.70HCLTECH 1049.50 1062.00 1044.20 1054.95 7.55ADANIPORTS 409.30 417.95 409.10 416.00 2.15HINDUNILVR 2041.00 2062.45 2011.85 2057.00 6.55BPCL 458.00 473.40 448.45 462.70 1.40BAJAJFINSV 8221.00 8374.95 8160.80 8265.00 24.30INFRATEL 256.75 259.35 251.55 258.35 0.70TECHM 704.05 709.95 698.00 705.50 1.65RELIANCE 1284.00 1295.00 1268.85 1280.60 1.90JSWSTEEL 233.50 235.75 228.30 233.60 0.25DRREDDY 2750.15 2784.00 2750.15 2784.00 -1.25INFY 787.70 801.00 781.65 790.75 -3.30UPL 575.30 578.90 572.00 576.40 -3.00WIPRO 240.50 241.35 238.00 239.20 -1.50BAJFINANCE 3960.00 3998.90 3890.00 3935.10 -26.65BAJAJ-AUTO 2940.00 2965.00 2910.00 2938.00 -20.15INDUSINDBK 1509.00 1521.05 1492.55 1506.00 -10.30SUNPHARMA 409.60 412.70 401.75 406.75 -2.90ASIANPAINT 1784.00 1784.00 1728.25 1753.00 -12.90ULTRACEMCO 4301.05 4340.00 4254.70 4277.85 -40.15BRITANNIA 3079.95 3090.30 3001.00 3048.70 -31.50HDFCBANK 1249.90 1249.90 1230.10 1240.00 -13.80KOTAKBANK 1617.00 1617.00 1580.50 1600.00 -18.10ICICIBANK 439.10 440.95 429.60 434.80 -6.10ONGC 132.00 133.65 130.70 131.65 -1.85BHARTIARTL 349.05 350.95 338.00 343.00 -5.65GAIL 138.55 138.55 134.20 136.90 -2.35ZEEL 290.00 294.00 269.00 273.50 -5.50HEROMOTOCO2750.00 2750.00 2646.60 2699.90 -56.05TITAN 1296.15 1314.90 1262.80 1266.00 -26.65LT 1480.90 1481.70 1446.65 1450.55 -30.75TATASTEEL 367.50 367.95 357.55 361.70 -9.10AXISBANK 702.00 703.45 683.65 686.55 -17.85COALINDIA 193.00 198.70 191.15 193.00 -5.15VEDL 157.00 158.50 152.75 155.70 -4.25HDFC 2127.05 2127.05 2050.25 2067.85 -62.15IBULHSGFIN 426.00 433.80 419.30 421.30 -13.70GRASIM 742.25 744.75 718.30 725.00 -24.70CIPLA 449.90 450.00 432.20 434.00 -16.25HINDALCO 196.10 196.60 188.90 189.40 -8.40M&M 558.70 558.70 528.00 535.00 -23.75ITC 255.10 256.25 242.70 245.00 -11.00MARUTI 7000.00 7000.00 6602.00 6700.00 -309.10EICHERMOT 18350.00 18524.00 17405.00 17596.70 -837.55YESBANK 55.90 56.85 53.10 53.25 -2.80TATAMOTORS 129.90 129.90 121.50 123.15 -7.75SBIN 297.00 297.50 278.70 279.30 -23.30

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 27874.15 27891.95 27408.60 27484.50 -458.05CONCOR 579.95 617.50 557.05 598.55 17.45ICICIPRULI 427.50 436.00 424.55 433.50 6.10GODREJCP 665.00 675.70 655.00 671.00 7.00HDFCLIFE 551.80 562.70 550.10 556.40 5.35DMART 1830.00 1927.70 1830.00 1898.00 17.75PETRONET 256.25 259.65 254.50 258.45 2.20OFSS 2954.50 3018.40 2882.00 2964.00 24.20HINDPETRO 284.45 288.75 278.05 284.80 1.95SIEMENS 1424.05 1475.05 1424.05 1445.00 9.70GICRE 197.40 201.00 190.05 198.20 0.80SBILIFE 793.30 799.90 777.10 798.25 3.10MCDOWELL-N 651.10 659.00 647.25 651.40 1.15DIVISLAB 1620.15 1653.20 1620.15 1622.00 -7.65INDIGO 1822.30 1830.00 1793.00 1800.10 -17.80ACC 1648.55 1659.00 1615.60 1632.50 -18.30LUPIN 738.90 740.00 727.30 729.10 -10.15UBL 1372.00 1372.00 1337.55 1353.20 -19.65PIDILITIND 1456.80 1456.80 1411.10 1434.00 -22.80PEL 1835.00 1889.95 1812.20 1817.50 -31.35COLPAL 1516.45 1516.45 1474.10 1490.00 -28.40NHPC 23.10 23.20 22.65 22.70 -0.45PGHH 11789.95 11901.00 11361.00 11561.00 -229.65DABUR 452.00 453.30 441.95 442.50 -9.40MRF 65522.00 65990.00 64200.00 64399.95 -1479.60CADILAHC 251.15 252.50 245.65 248.00 -5.95HDFCAMC 2922.00 2922.00 2850.00 2859.00 -70.95AMBUJACEM 214.95 215.70 207.30 210.00 -5.75SHREECEM 20145.00 20145.00 19175.40 19398.00 -533.00HAVELLS 751.00 751.05 726.10 735.00 -22.00AUROPHARMA 617.60 617.80 595.00 601.00 -18.05BIOCON 224.95 225.50 216.50 217.70 -6.70ABB 1571.00 1575.00 1510.00 1525.95 -47.40MARICO 397.90 404.00 384.10 384.30 -12.15L&TFH 96.70 96.70 93.25 93.80 -3.25BANDHANBNK 500.00 503.80 488.00 488.95 -17.20BOSCHLTD 14600.00 14637.10 13831.10 14075.00 -500.65BHEL 51.90 51.90 49.90 49.95 -1.95HINDZINC 210.50 210.50 201.00 201.65 -8.85ICICIGI 1226.00 1227.50 1167.90 1169.65 -52.75IDEA 5.55 5.60 5.20 5.35 -0.25NMDC 89.00 89.30 85.00 85.55 -4.00SRTRANSFIN 1150.50 1161.75 1100.50 1111.95 -53.70SAIL 34.00 34.10 32.60 32.70 -1.65BAJAJHLDNG 3680.00 3680.00 3476.00 3492.25 -195.80ASHOKLEY 74.75 75.45 70.30 70.85 -4.30PAGEIND 23101.00 23299.90 21840.00 22000.00 -1358.95NIACL 106.35 107.70 99.55 99.60 -6.35BANKBARODA 98.15 98.40 93.00 93.25 -5.95DLF 166.80 167.45 152.50 155.80 -11.45MOTHERSUMI 114.30 114.80 107.10 107.25 -8.30

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Pakistani Prime MinisterImran Khan bluntly warned

that war was possible overIndia’s crackdown in Kashmir,while US President DonaldTrump buddied up to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi intheir second meeting in threedays.

Trump urged the sides toresolve their differences even ashe gushed over Modi, saying hewas as popular as Americanrock legend Elvis Presley.

The nuclear-armed rivalshave been locked in a worsen-ing standoff since August 5,when the Indian governmentrevoked the special status toJammu and Kashmir.

“For 50 days, the people ofKashmir have been lockeddown by 900,000 soldiers,”Khan said, describing massarrests, non-functioning hos-pitals and “a total news black-out.”

“Eight million people in anopen jail is unprecedented inthis day and age. ... The biggestworry is what happens once thecurfew is lifted? he said.

“There’s a potential thattwo nuclear-armed countrieswill come face to face at somestage.”

Modi has defended the

Kashmir changes as freeingthe territory from separatism,and his supporters welcomedthe move.

While Khan warned ofwar, Trump was having a muchlighter moment with Modi.Trump on Tuesday comparedModi to Presley, the lateAmerican singer often referredto as the king of rock and roll,after Modi received a rock-starwelcome Sunday in Houston.The president had carved outtime to join Modi, who wasgreeted in Texas by 50,000cheering Indian Americans.

“Those people went crazy,”Trump said as he and Modimet on the sidelines of the UNGeneral Assembly. “That waslike Elvis.”

Asked to describe his

chemistry with Modi, Trumpsaid it’s “as good as it can get.”

“I have great respect, Ihave great admiration and Ireally like him, that’s anotherthing,” the president toldreporters.

He went on to describeModi as a “great gentleman”and “great leader” and sug-gested he be called the “fatherof India.”

Modi also showeredTrump with praise, saying he’s“definitely my friend, but he isalso a friend of India,” theprime minister said.

On the Kashmir standoff,Trump urged Modi and Khanto find a resolution.

“We all want to see that,”said Trump, who met withKhan on Monday.

2�� 6

Beijing accused DonaldTrump of making “untrue

remarks” over Hong Kong andChinese trade commitments onWednesday, hitting back afterthe US president ramped uppressure on China at the UnitedNations.

Beijing is facing interna-tional criticism on a number offronts, as months of pro-democracy unrest in the semi-autonomous city of Hong Kongcome alongside economic ten-sions with the US and interna-tional scrutiny of its policytowards Muslim minorities inXinjiang.

Foreign ministryspokesman Geng Shuangslammed “the untrue remarksmentioned by the US side in hisspeech” after Trump criticisedthe fellow Security Councilmember in a strident speechTuesday saying it must “protectHong Kong’s freedom and legalsystem and democratic ways oflife”.

The US president alsodeclared that the time ofBeijing’s “abuses” of the systemwas “over”.

But Geng said the “USshould meet China at halfway”and called for the two countriesto “handle and control their

differences on the basis ofmutual respect”.

Geng also criticised a USState Department event tohighlight the plight of ethnicUighurs in China’s northwest-ern Xinjiang region, wherehuman rights organisationssay a million or more mainlyMuslim minorities are beinginterned.

“I want to emphasize herethat the issue of Xinjiang is nota religious or a human rightsissue, but an anti-secessionand anti-terrorism issue,” hesaid.

“Xinjiang continues tomaintain prosperity and sta-bility, national unity and socialharmony... All malicious slan-der and smearing from the USand other countries are in

vain.” The conference was held

on the sidelines of the UNGeneral Assembly to garnersupport “to demand and com-pel an immediate end toChina’s horrific campaign ofrepression,” John Sullivan, theUS’s second-highest diplomat,said.

The demonstrations inHong Kong have triggered theAsian financial hub’s biggestpolitical crisis since its han-dover from Britain to China in1997.

Until Tuesday, Trump hadlargely left it to the StateDepartment to demand respectfor the handover agreementwith the UK, which handedHong Kong back to China in1997.

��

Iran’s defense minister Wednesday rejected theidea of a deal with world powers over the coun-

try’s missile programme.The official IRNA news agency quoted

General Amir Hatami as saying that any deal withthe United States over Iran’s “missile power” woulddamage the country’s capabilities. He said Iran’sleaders all support improving the missile pro-gramme.

Tehran long has insisted its ballistic missileprogram is non-negotiable. President DonaldTrump, however, cited it as a reason for unilater-ally withdrawing the US from the nuclear dealbetween Iran and Western powers over a year ago.

Hatami’s remarks come as the US and its alliessay Iran is behind a major drone-and-missile strikeon Saudi Arabia’s oil industry.

Iran has denied the allegations, saying anystrikes by the US or Saudi Arabia will lead to “all-out war”.

Separately, the chief of the powerfulRevolutionary Guard in charge of the country’smissile programme, General Hossein Salami, wasquoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agencyas saying Wednesday that Iran has shown self-restraint despite the capabilities of its military,including its missile programme.

“We are not looking for trouble but we willrespond to troublemakers,” he said.

Referring to Iran-backed Houthi rebel attackson Saudi Arabia, Salami said Iran has improvedits military power to the extent that other coun-tries blame it for actions carried out by the rebelsthemselves.

“The enemy assumes that we are in charge ofany sophisticated job,” he said.

Without elaborating, he added that theHouthis were capable of “changing the entire fieldof war.”

Iran has medium-range surface-to-surfacemissiles with a range up to 2,000 kilometers (1,250miles) that can reach archenemy Israel and USbases in the region.

2��

British-flaggedoil tanker

Stena Impero,seized by Iranmore than twomonths ago, wasWednesday giventhe final clearanceto leave, foreignm i n i s t r yspokesman AbbasMousavi said.

He tweetedthat “the lifting ofthe seizure of the vessel Stena Imperowas finalised today” after a procedurecoordinated by the foreign ministry,Iran’s judiciary and its port and mar-itime authorities.

But a legal case “remains open”, hesaid. “The captain and the owners havesigned a written commitment toaccept the verdict” handed down at theend of proceedings.

On Monday, governmentspokesman Ali Rabiei had announcedthat “the legal process has finished”and the Swedish-owned vessel was freeto leave.

But Erick Hanell, CEO of the own-ers Stena Bulk, denied Tuesday that thetanker had left Iran and said it was stillwaiting for authorisation.

Earlier the same day, specialistshipping website TankerTrackersreported the Stena Impero had set sail.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard

Corps had surrounded the vesselwith attack boats before rappellingonto the deck of the tanker in the Straitof Hormuz on July 19.

It was impounded at BandarAbbas port for allegedly failing torespond to distress calls and turningoff its transponder after hitting a fish-ing boat.

Seven of its 23 crew members werereleased on September 4.

The seizure was widely seen as atit-for-tat move after the British over-seas territory of Gibraltar detained anIranian tanker earlier in July on sus-picion it was shipping oil to Syria inbreach of EU sanctions.

A Gibraltar court ordered theIranian tanker’s release on August 15despite an 11th-hour US legal bid tokeep it in detention.

Tehran has repeatedly denied thetwo cases are related.

2�� 7�

Ukraine’s president hasjoked that the only person

who can pressure him is his six-year-old son, amid a growingscandal over whether US leaderDonald Trump leaned on Kievto investigate a political rival.

“Nobody can pressure mebecause I am the president ofan independent country,”Volodymyr Zelensky told theRussian news channel Rossiya24 from New York.

“The only person who canput pressure on me is my son,who is six years old,” added theleader, who was a popularcomedian before his surpriseelection to the presidency ear-lier this year.

Zelensky and Trump aredue to meet for the first timeWednesday on the sidelines of

the United Nations GeneralAssembly.

US Democrats havelaunched a formal impeach-ment inquiry against Trump,accusing him of abuse of powerover a reported attempt topressure Zelensky into openinga corruption probe into ex-vicepresident Joe Biden, the lead-ing Democrat presidential con-tender.

The investigation — thefirst step in a possible impeach-ment process — allegedlywould have focused on Biden’sson Hunter and his work for aUkrainian company while hisfather was President BarackObama’s deputy.

Trump has admitted dis-cussing Biden with Zelensky,but denied reports he threat-ened to suspend military aid inthe case of refusal.

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Britain’s House of Commonsreconvened Wednesday, a

day after the bombshellSupreme Court ruling thatPrime Minister Boris Johnsonhad acted illegally by suspend-ing Parliament, and lawmakersimmediately demandedanswers about how the sus-pension came about in thefirst place.

The historic court rulingbacked Parliament’s sovereigntyand slapped down what justicesviewed as Johnson’s effort tosquelch debate on Brexit, thecountry’s most politically divi-sive issue in years.

Johnson remains on a col-lision course with Parliamentover his determination to pullBritain out of the EuropeanUnion on October 31 even if nodivorce deal is reached. Parliament has passed a lawrequiring him to seek a Brexit

extension if there is no deal, butJohnson says he won’t do thatunder any circumstances.

The prime minister flewback to London in the morn-ing, cutting short a trip to theUN General Assembly asdemands for his resignationrose from opposition partiesafter the court ruling.

In New York, Johnsonbrushed aside questions aboutwhether he would resign, saidhe “strongly” disagreed with thecourt decision and suggested hemight try to suspendParliament for a second time.

In the House of Commons,newly-returned lawmakersfocused their ire Wednesday onAttorney General Geoffrey Cox,who was forced to concede thathe may have to make furtherdisclosures about his advicethat the suspension was legal.

“I am bound by the long-standing convention that theviews of the law officers are not

disclosed outside the govern-ment without their consent,”Cox said.

“However, I will considerover the coming days whetherthe public interest mightrequire a greater disclosure ofthe advice given to the gov-ernment.”

Johnson will addressParliament on Wednesdayafternoon but, looking ahead toa possible early general elec-tion, has begun to positionhimself as the champion of thepeople facing a recalcitrantestablishment bent on frus-trating the 2016 Brexit vote.

Opposition leader JeremyCorbyn said Johnson shouldsay he was sorry to the publicand to Queen Elizabeth II fortelling her that Parliamentshould be suspended. The suspension would havelimited debate before Britain’sscheduled October 31 depar-ture from the 28-nation bloc.

Islamabad: The death toll in the devastating earthquake that rat-tled Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and several north-easterncities in the country rose to 37 on Wednesday as authoritiesstepped up rescue operations to save people trapped in debrisof several toppled buildings. The epicentre of the powerful 5.8-magnitude earthquake, which occurred at around 4 pm onTuesday at a depth of only 10 kilometers, was near Mirpur cityin the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), roughly 20 kilometersnorth of Jhelum in Punjab, according to the US Geological Survey.

The earthquake resurrected the haunting memories of a mon-ster tremor that had wrecked the region 14 years ago.

The quake — which also jolted several cities of Punjab andKhyber-Pakthunkhwa province — killed 37 people, MirpurDivisional Commissioner Muhammad Tayyab was quoted as say-ing by the Express Tribune.

According to the paper, figures showed that the worst-hit wasMirpur with 24 dead, nine in Jatlan and one person lost his lifein Jhelum. Other people died in the areas located between Mirpurand Jari Kas, PoK’s State Disaster Management AuthoritySecretary Shahid Mohyiddin said. PTI

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�What was your parents’ reac-tion to your nominations forEmmys in the past few years?

Milo: The first time I wasnominated, I asked them, ‘Heyguys! I would love if you come tothe Emmys with me.’ My momsaid, ‘No. I don’t want to be in thathuge a crowd.’ And my father said,‘I am holding out for the Oscars.’In the second year, I asked themagain. And my mom said, ‘It’s finesweetheart, you go.’ My fatheragain said, ‘I am holding out forthe Oscars.’ And then I said,‘Dad, these are the Oscars for TV.’And then, the third year, the firstcall I made was to my parents andhoped to hear a yes. Well, beforeI even got that out they said, ‘Ohyes, we are going!’

�This Is Us just got extended bythree more seasons. How wasthe last season for you?

It was challenging. We havealready met Jack a couple oftimes. The mustache Jack, thegoatee Jack, the beard Jack. So wealready met those Jacks. But to gobackwards, and be clean-shavedor in war, Jack, we and the writ-ers had to make sure that every-thing was all lining up towardsthat eventual Jack that we knewfrom the first and the second sea-son. So it was challenging as wellas rewarding. Michael Angaranois phenomenal. What Mandy andI were able to discover in thisnewer, younger era of that lovestory was really wonderful.

�It is a little weird that theyannounced that the show isending in season six. And you’rein season three. Why wouldthey announce it?

Yes, we are middle-aged now.We’re over the hill, on our way,declined to nursing home, andthen the grave. (Laughs)

�But why? Is it because theywant to control the storylines?

We never know where we’regoing. We never know what’sthat’s going to happen. The showcould have a huge spike in seasonsix and everybody wants morebeyond that. But I think, creative-

ly, they have an idea of whatthey’re trying to do to wrap it upin this nice story so at least theaudience knows, the fans know,they’re going to get three moreseasons, which is nice. You cancommit a little more. It will notbe like, ‘Oh, will it be on or not?’But beyond that, maybe there willbe more. I don’t know that.

�Sterling K Brown was calledthe sexiest TV dad. Was thathard? Because it seems like youshould’ve been in that categoryas well?

Maybe, I don’t know. WhenSterling and I get our weeklymeals to talk about us beingsexy, I’ll ask him. I’ll say, ‘Heyman! You took it down this year.That’s cool. Maybe next year, Iwill.’ (Laughs)

�We have seen more of Jack andRebecca in the last season. Whatare we going to see movingahead? What gaps do you hopeto fill in?

Happiness. There is alwayshappiness. We have always had anice balance — turmoil and somefun. So I was at home and goingthrough my photographs and I

came across this video of Mandyand I on the set, where we bothare sitting in the first season in thePierson family den, and I just sayto Mandy, ‘What was it that youwanted to say?’ and then I just putthe camera on her and she goes,‘Ditch the crying man!’ This was

season one. And back then, Ithink I was the moustache Jackand had a few happier days. It waslike crying over something. ThenI thought Mandy Moore said it forreal.

�Your first job was on FreshPrince of Bel Air. What did youdo?

Yes, my first paying gig wason Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Iplayed party guest number one.And I still remember the lines andthe scenes pretty well as well asthe whole experience. I walkeddown the steps and I said, ‘Relax,Ash. We are just taking a littledetour.’ As she had said, ‘Noone’s allowed upstairs.’ And thereare some laughs before I walk off.

�When you were nominatedfor Emmy for the first time forThis Is Us Season 1, what didyour father put on Instagram?

It was National French FriesDay. He talked about the day andcaught hell for posting about it.It came a little late to him that hisson got nominated for an Emmy.I mean, priorities.

(The series airs on Star Worldfrom September 28.)

Imagine yourself vacationing inSantorini, Greece or a far away retreatin the world. It’s just the first day of your

trip and the travel firm that you’ve bookedyour package with has been shut down.The firm has announced that it has failedto secure a bailout from its lenders andwould soon go out of business. Well, asmuch as it would result in a loss to its hos-pitality and tourism services, hundreds ofthousands of tourists would be forced tofind a new way to get home.

When the world’s oldest travel giantThomas Cook, UK, collapsed on Monday,it concluded that it had no choice but totake steps to enter into compulsory liqui-dation with immediate effect. Around15,000 travellers were flown to theirhomelands in 64 flights. It recentlyrevealed that most future holiday packageshave been cancelled due to the announce-ment of its collapse. However, the refundarrangements for ATOL (Air TravelOragnisers’ Licensing) customers isexpected to be detailed by September 30.But holiday-makers will have to wait to gettheir money back as it claimed to havebeen paid within two months of being sub-mitted.

Well, the travel industry has beenbogged down by such failures and shut-downs over the past decade. And this onecertainly reminds one of those many night-mares. For instance, when the Icelandiccarrier Wow Air shut down in March 2019,its repercussions resulted in 2.3 milliontravellers being stranded at various placesacross Europe and other parts of the world.The Rodgers Travel loss turned out to bean even bigger jolt to the holiday-makers,despite its circumstances being slightly dif-ferent. Another case, that of Jet Airways,which had shut down its operations tem-porarily on April 17, left 20,000 employ-ees and more than 60,000 customers affect-ed indirectly. The second-largest Indianpassenger airline flew more people than

national carrier Air India overseas. EvenCox & Kings-owned online booking web-site, LateRooms, and travel firm in the UKhad shut down in August 2019, leavingthousands of customers in a lurch.

Now, even though the response byThomas Cook might have givensome relief to the troubledtourists, the question herearises is that how do travelfacilitators protect theirstranded customers in caseof such emergencies? Whatare the policies and measuresthey adopt? Do they have anyimmediate properties to relo-cate their customers to? Are thereany pre-cautious warnings or insuranceswhich people could avail? The questionmakes even more sense when we look atthe larger picture — online penetration hasrisen by 42 per cent after the advent ofonline travel companies over the last fiveyears. And as per the data, total onlinebookings will increase by 42 per cent by2022. Given that these bookings have seensuch a sharp rise, why shouldn’t travellersbe made more secure?

Durgesh Nandan, CO-founder andCoo Ithaka Travel, said, “The world isincreasingly becoming independent with

the penetration of internet. Companies,which are collapsing, are badly managedand are not able to adapt to the current andchanging times. Travel is a thin-marginbusiness and traditional companies, which

are not leveraging technology, are find-ing a hard time to manage prof-

itability and an excessive num-ber of bookings from acrossthe globe.”

He suggested that con-tracting in a way that all thepayments are made post theavailed service could be a way.

Roshan D’Silva, CEO andfounder, TripVillas, looks at

what has happened with ThomasCook as “blatantly illegal” and an “uneth-

ical” behaviour and that a responsible trav-el company wouldn’t have been in such asituation. He suggested, “Consumersshould only transact with brands and trav-el agents that they trust and have been fol-lowing for a while. The only way for con-sumers to protect themselves in such sit-uations is to buy a travel insurance andalways pay for travel using a credit cardwhere they can get a chargeback in casethe service is not delivered.” Since most ofthe bookings are made in advance today,in such emergency cases, customers are

liable to get refunds for their payments.Speaking of its protective measures, he

pointed out that TripVillas has a policy of“escrowing all customer funds and payingthe holiday home-owners and hotels onlypost successful check-in. We also verify allhome-owners and in case of any suchuninvited incidents, we have a policy torelocate the customer to an equivalent orbetter property immediately.”

For Mohit Poddar, CEO and founder,Shoes on Loose, it’s very disappointing toknow about the company’s unexpectedbreakdown and how it has impacted thecustomers adversely. “Lot of predatorypricing is being followed by some big play-ers in order to create a monopoly in themarket. Industry bodies like theCompetition Committee of India and cer-tain laws like Monopolies and RestrictiveTrade Practices Act were created in orderto curb unethically competitive pricingstrategies. The objective of such an act isto prevent the unwanted growth of privatemonopolies and concentration of econom-ic power in the hands of a small numberof individuals. In order to have a healthygrowth of the market and avoid such unex-pected events in future, these practicesneed to be enforced in the industry,” hesuggested.

He pointed out that what happenedwith the travellers because of ThomasCook shutdown was quite unfortunate.“And in such cases, the governmentshould intervene to protect travellers’ inter-ests reasonably. Also, it is a company’sresponsibility to either provide their trav-ellers with a feasible substitute or priorinformation to them and their partners inorder to avoid the entire hotch-potch.”

Experts also point out that the collapseof Thomas Cook comes at a time when air-lines are being squeezed more than everinto schedules due to increased competi-tion from low cost, “no frills” carriers. Also,most of the giants in the travel sector areusually struggling due to slowdownbecause expenditures on travel are the firstthing people put a hold on when theirgoing is tough. Hence, one of the biggestthings that travel experts suggest is to payvia credit cards for the easier way out.

One of the recent tweets by a ThomasCook air hostess, after the emergencyoccurred, said, “TC crew being held intheir hotel in Cuba. Hotel is not lettingthem leave. Asking for $3,000 but notaccepting payments by credit card. Needhelp!” The Cuban resort had held the crewhostage until the payment was received foraccommodation.

Being the son of the Malayalamicon Mammootty, young

Dulquer Salmaan tells you he hasalways been a risk-taker —because that’s what his superstarfather has always taught him todo.

“My father always encour-ages me to take risks. Right frommy initial days, he told me thatmy food, lodging and other basicthings were secure. So, as ayoungster if I don’t take risks, ifI don’t experiment, who will?Dad always says that unless youmake mistakes you cannot buildyour character as an individual,and grow as an artist. If one filmfails, I do not have to sleep on theroad, right? So, then why shouldI not take calculated risks? Myfather is very stubborn. He doesnot believe in spoon-feeding mein the film business,” Dulquersaid.

The actor has seen the SouthIndian film industry closely, evenbefore he entered the businesswith his debut film Second Showin 2012. He went on acting infilms like Ustad Hotel, Njaan,Vaayai Moodi Pesavum, OKadhal Kanmani, Charlie. In2018 he made his Bollywooddebut with Karwaan. He wasrecently seen in the rom-com TheZoya Factor alongside SonamKapoor Ahuja.

So what is his process of get-ting under the skin of a charac-ter?

“It really depends on thekind of character I am playing,because in some, I need physicaltraining while in others I needmore of mental preparation andobservation,” he replied.

Citing an example of one ofhis earlier f ilm Mahanati ,Dulquer shared: “That was myTelugu debut and I was playingthe iconic actor Gemini Ganesan.I did quite a bit of character studyfor the role. I met his family toknow some of his habits in dailylife and also his body language.It is interesting to know thesedetails. My idea was not to mockany individual but to internalisesome of those elements so that Ican portray the role correctly.”

“In my Bollywood debut,Karwaan, I played a regular guy.It was a silent character so I wasnot in that zone of heavy prepa-ration. For The Zoya Factorthough, I had to learn the game

of cricket,” he pointed out.Coming from a Malayalam

household and brought up inChennai, he is now working inHindi films. How does he man-age to switch between languageswith ease?

“Hindi is my second lan-guage and I grew up in Chennai,so my Tamil is good. My moth-er made sure that my sister andI speak in Malayalam at home, sothat at least we learn our moth-er tongue. Having said that, Ithink in English, so any otherlanguage I converse in, I actual-ly translate in my mind beforesaying it.”

According to Dulquer, sucha situation is an outcome of hisschooling. Initially, his parentsused to point out the fact that hedoes not speak good Malayalam.

“I think it is a generationalthing. I was admitted in anEnglish school, so it is only nat-ural that I would pick up that lan-guage. Of course, back then I didnot know I would become anactor,” he said. “However, I alwaysan interest to learn different lan-guages as kid. So I am constant-ly learning and I think dad ishappy with the fact that I amdoing everything by myself,”added Dulquer, mentioning “eat-ing rice” is the most “Malluhabit” he has, rather than speak-ing in Malayalam.

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Educational developmentis an integral part of the

capital development as it isnot merely confined to infra-structure like construction ofroads, flyovers, bridges andmore. Its scope is beyond. Ifyou are developing educa-tional infrastructure, yourare contributing somethingmore valuable and significanttowards the capital develop-ment,” said Manish Sisodia,Deputy CM of Delhi at theinaugural function of theInternational conference onknowledge and policy forsustainable development:global lessons and local chal-lenges, organised by theDirectorate of International

Affairs, Guru Gobind SinghIndraprastha University atRadisson Blu hotel Dwarka.

He added that education-

al institutions cannot work inisolation. For the bettermentof the society, it is essential towork collectively. Focussing

on the crucial role of positivemindset, he stressed that ifyou have a positive mindsetto work, you can do wonderseven in available infrastruc-ture and funds.

Presiding over the func-tion of the vice chancellor ofthe university, professor DrMahesh Verma, said that thewhole world is like a family.We are concerned for every-one. It is a part of our cultureand heritage. For develop-ment, it is essential to beinnovative and experimental.University is a strong stackholder of sustainable devel-opment. We are intended tobe oriented towards sustain-able development.

In order to provide conve-nience of booking of unre-

served tickets through mobilephones, the UTS Mobile appwas launched in November2018. It was developed by therailways to facilitate passengersso that they don’t have toundergo the discomfort ofreaching a ticket counter.

Northern Railways hadlaunched several promotionaldrives to create awarenessabout the app. Help desks wereset up at many prominent sta-tions. TP Singh, general man-ager of the Northern Railways,expressed his satisfaction onthe gaining popularity of theapp. He said that in past sever-al months, the passengerengagement on the app has

gone up as 41.14 lakh. As theawareness about the app willincrease though the promo-

tional drives, ticketing willbecome more convenient,paperless and digital.

October 1 is celebrated asInternational Day of Older

Persons all over the world.Ministry of Social Justice andEmpowerment celebrates thisday and confers awards —Vayoshreshtha Samman — toeminent senior citizens inrecognition of their service. Asper the scheme, the awardsshall be presented by thePresident of India or the PrimeMinister at a special ceremonyto be held on on October 1.

Thaawarchand Gehlot,Minister of Social Justice andEmpowerment, says, “India isthe nation which follows thephilosophy of VasudhaivaKutumbakam, which meansthat the whole earth is one fam-ily. It inspires us to care forelderly as our prime concern.”

Every year, a morningwalkathon is also organised onthe occasion. It is is a symbolof expression of solidarity with

the older generation and alsoan act that gives a strong mes-sage to the whole world thatsenior citizens are an integralpart of our society.

Bureau of Indian Standardsconvened a meeting to

review BIS laboratory activities.The meeting was chaired by theMinister for Consumer Affairs,Food and Public Distribution,Ram Vilas Paswan. BIS has themandate to lead and co-ordi-nate the conformity assess-ment activities in the countryto meet the emerging needsand expectations of Indianindustry, government, con-sumers and relevant stake-holders. It is also important forBIS to ensure that India is ableto influence and play a leadingrole in the international forabringing its testing capabilitiesin line with the best in theworld.

During the meeting, thetesting requirements of theindustry and BIS in particularwas deliberated upon. It wasfelt that the BIS lab facilitiesmust be upgraded with latest

technology to enhance thepace of quality testing andalso making it industry friend-ly. Inputs from private playerswere taken into considerationto understand the require-ments and demand for carry-ing high quality testing ofproducts.

Lauding the efforts of BIS,Paswan said that all depart-ments such as BIS, FSSAI andother pertaining ministriesmust synergise and work incoordination to prevent over-lapping of work. He stressed onthe need to increase the mon-itoring process of standardised

products. “It is the duty of alldepartments and respectiveministries to ensure that stan-dards are being followed by theproducts available in the mar-ket. Our products should meetinternational standards andthe testing facility should bematched as well,” he said.

�Ayushman Bharat NationalHealth Protection Schemeaimed to cover over 10 crorepeople. Since its inception,how many lives have beentouched and turned around?

Within a short span oftime, the Ayushman Bharatscheme has made 21,000Ayushman Bharat Health &Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs)which cover a target populationof 5 crore and have seen a foot-fall of 1,70,63,522 patients.Approximately 47 lakh peoplehave availed treatment underPradhan Mantri Jan ArogyaYojana (PMJAY). This flag-ship scheme aims to provideuniversal health care to thepoor, needy and vulnerablesections of the country.

We have also linked theAyushman Bharat with EatRight movement. Through thiswe are trying to make peopleaware about things like — kamkhao, hit ke anusar khao, ritu keanusar khao. The movement isabout eating less sugar, salt andoily food to ensure the well-being of people. It is a steptowards eating healthy. We arecreating awareness about mal-nutrition, a condition thatcauses many health problems,and also educating pregnantwomen about what they shouldeat and drink because that isthe main source of baby’s nour-ishment.

PMJAY covers 50 crorepoor and vulnerable people inthe country. It provides ahealth assurance cover of �5lakh per family per year forsecondary and tertiary care forserious and catastrophic ill-nesses. It also provides cashlessand paperless access to servicesfor the beneficiary at the pointof service.

�What are your future plans?We aim to build 1.5 lakh

Health and Wellness Centres byDecember 2022, which wouldprovide comprehensive prima-ry care (CPHC) including pre-ventive and promotive health-care. Besides providing goodhealthcare services, the schemeaims to achieve its vision ofincreasing employment in the

health sector. An indigenoushealthcare setup is coming up,and the infrastructure willdevelop further, especially intier II and tier III towns.

�Cancer is a lifestyle disease.While there are constant cam-paigns about the use of tobac-co, how does the Ministryintend to tackle it and pro-

mote healthier lifestyles?The Ministry is concerned

about promoting healthierlifestyles among people. Morethan 70 lakh people have beentreated, around 1.3 crore werescreened for diabetes and morethan 31 lakh people are beingtreated for it.

Those who display thesymptoms of the disease arereferred to the higher publichealthcare facilities for diagno-sis and treatment. More than 76lakh population has beenscreened for oral cavity cancerand out of these, 10,218 peopleare being treated. While morethan 53 lakh women have beenscreened for breast cancer,around 9,700 women are ontreatment and more than 37lakh women were screened forcervical cancer and around10,000 women are on treatment.In addition, more than 1.6 crorepatients have been providedwith medicines and around 49lakh with diagnostic services.The tele-consultation serviceswith qualified medical officersand specialists for cases referredfrom Sub Health centre leveland Primary Health Care levelwill be introduced shortly. Apilot is being done with e-Sanjeevani application of C-DAC, Mohali in Punjab. Afterthe due security audit, it will berolled out in all functional AB-HWCs in phased manner.

�How do you intend to tackle the menace of fakebills being generated by pri-vate hospitals under thescheme?

We ensure that frauds arelargely prevented and even ifthey are attempted, they arequickly detected. We haveresponded promptly to them.As punishment, we haveimposed a penalty and also de-panelled those hospitals. Notonly this, we have taken majorlegal actions against them sothat they are more careful inthe future. We try to keep aconstant check over the hos-pitals so that they always func-tion and operate within thespecific guidelines.

�In recent times we haveseen an increase in privatehospitals. What would yousay about it?

Earlier the public used tocomplain there being very fewprivate hospitals but now theycan see that after our consis-tent efforts the number ofprivate hospitals has increased.Public hospitals are 47 per centout of the total empanelledhospitals while private hospi-tal figures have gone up to 53per cent. We have issued 10crore beneficiary cards and arehappy to fulfill the expecta-tions of the people.

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National Mission for CleanGanga organised a cleanli-

ness drive at Delhi’s KalindiKunj Ghat along the YamunaRiver on the occasion of WorldCleanup Day. The drive wasconducted as a part of theongoing Swachhata Hi Sevacampaign. Rajiv Ranjan Mishra,DG, National Mission for CleanGanga, led from the front and

inspired others to join in thecause. Several NGOs such asTree Craze Foundation, LeharFoundation, Smile Foundationand Aarohan Street to SchoolFoundation also worked along-side NMCG in cleaning theghat.

World Cleanup Day is aglobal social action programmeaimed at combating the global

solid waste problem. It is cele-brated with litter cleanup andwaste mapping activities span-ning every time zone across theworld. Its beauty lies in coop-eration and collaboration:building bridges between dis-parate communities and includ-ing all levels of society. Speakingon the occasion, Mishra said,“While the Government is

leading the way, Delhi’s resi-dents must take ownership ofthe Yamuna and come for-ward to participate in keepingthe riverfront clean.”

Rampant use of plasticand other non-biodegradableitems are the major pollutantsin our river system and theYamuna requires immediateattention.

The holy town is all set to hostnine-day Navratra festival,

which is going to begin onSeptember 29 with elaborativearrangements by the Government,said divisional commissioner,Sanjeev Verma.

Elaborating on details aboutannual pilgrimage to Vaishno Devi,the Div Com informed that 3,18,753pilgrims have paid obeisance at therevered Cave during Navratras in2018. This year’s events wouldinclude shobha yatras, mata kikahani, cultural programmes, prab-hat pheris, all India devotional songscompetition, Bhagvat Katha, hassayavyang sammelan and programme byspecially-abled children.

Raksha Mantri RajnathSingh awarded gallantry

and meritorious service medalsto the Indian Coast Guard(ICG) personnel at an impres-sive investiture ceremony heldat Indian Coast Guard AirStation Chennai. Rajnath Singhinspected the ceremonial guard

prior to awarding the medals.A total of 61 awards whichincluded 01 PTM (Gallantry),08 PTM (DistinguishedService), 32 TM (Gallantry)and 20 TM (MeritoriousService) were conferred.

The award not only servesas a well-deserved recognition

for the acts of bravery, valourand selfless devotion of the per-sonnel in extreme conditions,but also serve as morale boost-er and motivation to the servicefor maintaining safety andsecurity of nation’s vast mar-itime frontiers.

With the ever increasing

challenges of safety and secu-rity near the oceans, this fineservice has been living up tothe expectations of the coun-try. The very fact, that therewere considerably large num-ber of awardees for prestigiousmedals, proves the valour anddedication.

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Tottenham’s disappointing start tothe season hit a new low as theysuffered an embarrassing League

Cup third-round defeat on penalties atfourth-tier Colchester on Tuesday.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side wereheld to a 0-0 draw in normal time beforelosing 4-3 on penalties against oppo-nents currently 10th in League Two.

Christian Eriksen’s opening spot-kick was saved and Lucas Moura hit thecrossbar before Tom Lapslie scored thewinning penalty to spark a pitch inva-sion from Colchester’s jubilant fans.

It was the first time Tottenhammanager Pochettino had been knockedout of a domestic cup competitionagainst lower-league opposition.

The shock defeat extendedTottenham’s poor run, which includeda 2-1 loss at Leicester in the PremierLeague on Saturday.

“Colchester made a fantastic game,it was difficult. We are so disappointed

we could not score in 90 minutes,”Pochettino said.

“That’s the beauty of the competi-tion, always something can hap-pen. We wanted to go further butwe are out.”

After finishing asChampions League runners-uplast season, Tottenham wereexpected to kick on this seasonbut instead they have struggledto find any consistency.

The upset was the biggest setbackso far for Pochettino, who made 10changes to his side but could still call onenough quality players to expect a winagainst a team 71 places below them inthe football pyramid.

There were debuts for 17-year-oldTroy Parrott and 20-year-old JaphetTanganga, while Eric Dier made his firstappearance of the season alongside DeleAlli in midfield.

But Tottenham laboured badly andcould not find the breakthrough asColchester followed up their second-

round win against Crystal Palace withan even bigger scalp on a memorablenight that ranked alongside the club’s

famous FA Cup success againstLeeds in 1971.

With Pochettino yet to winhis first trophy as Tottenhamboss and the club without silver-ware since the 2008 LeagueCup, this was another blow totheir flagging morale.

SLICK CITYHolders Manchester City won 3-0

at Championship club Preston as theymade a smooth start to their bid to winthe League Cup for a third successiveseason.

Raheem Sterling’s fine solo effortput City ahead and Gabriel Jesus dou-bled the lead with a crisp strike beforeRyan Ledson’s own goal made it three.

Gabriel Martinelli scored his firstgoals in English football and RobHolding enjoyed a dream return frominjury as Arsenal crushed second-tier

Nottingham Forest 5-0.Martinelli, making his first Gunners

start following a summer move fromBrazilian club Ituano, claimed the first-half opener before completing the scor-ing in stoppage time.

Defender Holding, out for morethan nine months with a serious kneeproblem, powerfully headed home thefirst of four goals in the final 19 min-utes, with Joe Willock and Reiss Nelsonalso on target.

Southampton routed third-tierPortsmouth 4-0 in the first meetingbetween the fierce south-coast since2012, with Danny Ings scoring twice forhis boyhood club in their first win atFratton Park for 35 years.

Danny Welbeck scored his first goalfor 11 months in Watford’s 2-1 win overSwansea.

Leicester thrashed Luton 4-0 andEverton won 2-0 at SheffieldWednesday.

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The 2021 UEFA ChampionsLeague final will be played

in Saint Petersburg, Europeanfootball’s governing bodyannounced on Tuesday.

The venues for the nextthree finals were revealed atUEFA’s Executive Committeemeeting in the Slovenian capi-tal Ljubljana, with Munich beingawarded the 2022 showpieceand the 2023 final being givento Wembley.

In awarding the venues forthe next three years, UEFA havehad to take into account not justthe likely demand for matchtickets but also the importanceof hotel rooms and transportinfrastructure.

That means there are a lim-ited number of cities aroundEurope capable of successfullystaging a match of such magni-tude.

“The chosen venues haveproper mobility, hotels andeverything else. Where we havea problem, and probably willhave a problem anywhere, is thatsometimes hotels take advantageof the fact the ChampionsLeague final is in a certain city,”admitted UEFA presidentAleksander Ceferin.

“I am sure that if you checkthose three cities in half an houryou will see that hotel priceshave already started to rise.

“This is a problem but it ishard for us to influence. That iswhy we want to go to such bigcities with so many hotels thatin the end you can choose.”

“Those venues are big cities,interesting cities, accessible forthe fans and with very nice sta-diums,” he added, although hesaid he “cannot do any promis-es for now” in terms of increas-ing ticket allocations for sup-porters.

This season’s final will beplayed in Istanbul, before host-ing is given to the 68,000-capac-ity Gazprom Arena in SaintPetersburg.

It will be the secondChampions League final to beplayed in Russia afterManchester United beat Chelseain Moscow to win the trophy in2008.

The 70,000-seat AllianzArena in Munich is also a hostvenue for Euro 2020 and stagedthe 2012 Champions Leaguefinal when Bayern Munich loston penalties to Chelsea.

The 2023 final will be theeighth to be held at Wembley,with the iconic 90,000-seat

London venue also hosting thesemi-finals and final of nextyear’s European Championship.

Meanwhile, European foot-ball’s governing body alsorevealed that the 2021 EuropaLeague final will be played inSeville, at Sevilla’s RamonSanchez Pizjuan stadium.

The Spanish city was chosenahead of Tbilisi as the gamereturns to western Europe —after being staged in Baku lastseason, next year’s final will goto the Polish city of Gdansk.

The 2021 UEFA Super Cupmatch — between the winnersof the Champions League andEuropa League — will be playedin Belfast.

UEFA said VAR, whichmade its Champions Leaguedebut in the last 16 last season,will be introduced to the EuropaLeague for the knockout roundsthis term.

A third European club com-petition that is set to start in2021 will be known as theUEFA Europa ConferenceLeague.

UEFA also announced thenumber of matches played in theNations League would beexpanded following the successof the inaugural edition of theinternational competition.

2��

Lionel Messi endured yetmore injury frustration on

Tuesday after going off at half-time against Villarreal butBarcelona gave their coachErnesto Valverde somemuch-needed reliefwith a comfortable 2-1victory.

Messi receivedtreatment in the firsthalf for what lookedlike a problem with hisleft thigh and was thenunable to continueafter the interval, replaced byOusmane Dembele.

His withdrawal will be amajor concern for Barca, partic-ularly given this was Messi’s firststart of the season after justrecovering from a niggling calfinjury sustained at the start ofAugust.

After the match, Valverdestruck a note of calm.

“When something happensto Messi, everyone stops, notonly on the field, but in thestands as well,” he said.

“It is a small problem in theadductor and as a precaution wehave decided not to risk it. Intheory, it is nothing more but wewill see tomorrow how it is.”

Barcelona visit Getafe in LaLiga on Saturday before playingInter Milan at home in theChampions League four dayslater.

Certainly, they would havebeen eager to see Messi back intheir line-up, having suffered ahumbling 2-0 loss at newly-pro-moted Granada last weekend.

They arrived at Camp Nouwith doubts hovering, particu-larly over Valverde, but deliv-ered a far more convincing winthan the scoreline suggested,thanks to early goals fromAntoine Griezmann, his third

of the season, andArthur Melo.

“We are still farfrom our best butwith matches every-thing will improve,”said Griezmann.

On his ownadaptation atBarcelona, he added:

“It’s different. A different styleof football, a different position.I knew it was going to be achallenge and it would taketime.

“But I’m not too bad, right?Three goals. I can do better, yes,but I have to keep working.”

Santi Cazorla put Villarrealin touch on the stroke of half-time but in truth the visitorsbarely threatened thereafter,with Barcelona impressivelycomposed when nerves mighteasily have taken over.

It means Valverde’s sideclimb to fourth in the table, onepoint behind Real Madrid andlevel on points with AtleticoMadrid. Villarreal’s encourag-ing start stalls a little as theydrop to eighth.

Granada, who backed uptheir shock win over Barca witha 1-1 draw at Real Valladolid,top the table, although bothAthletic Bilbao and RealMadrid can move three pointsabove them when they playtheir games.

2��

Mario Balotelli made hisfirst start for Brescia but

the promoted northeners stillfell to a 2-1 defeat which sentchampions Juventus top ofSerie A on Tuesday.

Former Manchester Cityand Inter Milan striker Balotellihas returned to Italy to play forhis hometown club, but hisdebut had been delayed as hesat out a four-game suspensionfor previous club Marseille.

Juventus were withoutPortuguese forward CristianoRonaldo, rested with a slightthigh problem, but the cham-pions recovered from goingbehind after less than fourminutes to an AlfredoDonnarumma goal — hisfourth in five games.

Juventus goalkeeperWojciech Szczesny got two

hands to Donnarumma’s pow-erful strike, but could only pushthe ball into the net.

Brescia defender JhonChancellor let the champions

off the hook five minutesbefore the break, diverting theball into his own goal, withBosnian midfielder MiralemPjanic completing the come-

back, volleying in on 63 min-utes.

Juventus overtake InterMilan at the top of the Serie Atable with 13 points from fivegames.

Antonio Conte’s side areone point behind before theyhost Lazio at the San Siro.

Balotelli, back in Italy forthe first time since 2016, wasdenied after half an hour withPolish ‘keeper Szczesny tippinghis 30-yard free-kick over thebar.

“Mario is working hardand is an extraordinary player.I’m sure he’ll give us a big handthis season,” said Brescia coachEugenio Corini.

Elsewhere, Verona wereheld to a goalless draw at homeagainst Udinese, with bothteams settled in the bottom halfof the table with just one wineach from five games.

2��

Russia midfielder AleksandrGolovin scored twice and set

up a third goal as Monaco movedout of the Ligue 1 relegation zonewith a 3-1 win over Patrick Vieira’sNice on Tuesday.

Golovin’s double came eitherside of Patrick Burner’s equaliserbefore he fed Wissam Ben Yedderto claim Leonardo Jardim’s firstthree points of the campaign, lift-ing some of the pressure from thePortuguese coach.

The 30-time Russia interna-tional opened the scoring justbefore the half-hour mark as cap-tain Cesc Fabregas marked thefirst victory of the season with hismaiden assist for Monaco.

Former Chelsea andBarcelona playmaker Fabregas,who joined the Ligue 1 side inJanuary, found Golovin insidethe box and the attacker smashedhis finish high into the top corner.

The hosts were denied a quicksecond four minutes later as IslamSlimani’s effort was ruled out foroffside by VAR.

Vieira’s side were back on levelterms eight minutes into the sec-ond period.

Monaco made a mess ofclearing a short corner and right-back Burner scored his first seniorgoal.

Golovin’s second came withquarter of an hour to play asSlimani played a square ball for the23-year-old to finish smoothly.

He then teed up summersigning Ben Yedder who madesure of all three points, beatingWalter Benitez with ease andsecuring Jardim’s first win sinceMay.

Earlier, Andre Villas-Boas’Marseille struggled to a 0-0 drawat winless Dijon but moved tothird in the table due to Nice’sthird loss of the campaign.

��

Indian football team head coach Igor Stimachon Wednesday said he wants all his players to

be fully fit for the World Cup qualify-ing round match against Bangladeshnext month.

India had played out a raregoal-less draw against Qatar inDoha on September 15 in their sec-ond match of World Cup qualifiersround 2.

India will take on Bangladesh intheir next match on October 15 inKolkata.

“We still have some uncer-tainties with small injuryproblems with few players.The Bangladesh game isgoing to be very different

from the last one against Qatar. We need all theplayers to be fully fit, and ready for the day,”Stimac said.

The Croat announced a list of 29 probablesfor a preparatory camp to be held in Guwahati

from October 3. The match againstBangladesh will be played at the YBKStadium in Kolkata on October 15.

The list will be further pruned down to25 at the end of this week.

Midfielder Amarjit Singh Kiyam con-tinued to be absent as he is recovering

from an elbow injury. “I hope that YBK will be

packed and our supportersin Kolkata will push ourplayers all the way tohelp us register our firstvictory in qualifiers,” hesaid.

��

Ethiopia’s Andamlak Belihuand Tsehay Gemechu will

return to defend their men’sand women’s titles respec-tively in the 15th edition ofthe Airtel Delhi HalfMarathon on October 20.

Belihu won men’s halfmarathon title of this presti-gious IAAF Gold Label RoadRace last year in 59:18, justmissing out on the courserecord of 59:06 whichremained since 2014 in thename of compatriot GuyeAdola.

“Immediately after lastyear’s race I said that I wasgoing to come back to Delhiin 2019 as I had unfinishedbusiness with the courserecord and I am keeping mypromise,” commented Belihu,who will still be just 20 onrace day.

Last year, Belihu had towork hard to hold off his fel-low Ethiopian AmdeworkWalelegn to win by four sec-onds. Walelegn will also

return with the ambition ofgoing one better in this year’srace.

No less than eight men inthe ADHM 2019 elite fieldhave run under the worldclass benchmark of one hourbut much of the attention willbe on a man who has yet torun the distance, HagosGebrhiwet.

Gebrhiwet had planned tomake his half marathon debutin Delhi last year but a latebout of illness curtailed histraining. However, he willstand on the start line thisyear. He won a Bronze in RioOlympics 5000m race.

The fastest man in Delhithis year wil l be ErickKiptanui. The Kenyannotched up two impressivehalf marathon victories in2018 when winning at high-quality Lisbon and Berlinraces, coming home in theGerman capital in a person-al best 58:42, and he is cur-rently equal seventh on theworld all-time list.

In the women’s elite sec-

tion last year, Gemechu madea huge impact in her debutover the distance when she setan ADHM women’s courserecord of 66:50 and in 2019she has shown it was no flukewith a string of sparklingperformances both on theroads and the track, includingtaking the African Games10,000m title.

The third and fourth-placed women from theADHM 2018 also return withEthiopia’s Zeineba Yimer andKenya’s Stacy Ndiwa comingback to do battle.

The fastest woman in theADHM 2019 elite field will beCaroline Kipkirui. TheKenyan-born runner, whonow competes under theKazakhstan flag, set a person-al best of 65:07 in the 2018Ras Al Khaimah HalfMarathon.

Both the men’s andwomen’s races have a firstprize cheques of $ 27,000with a total prize money purse(combined men and women)of $ 275,000.

�� 6��

Virdhawal Khade clinchedIndia’s seventh Gold

medal at the 10th Asian AgeGroup Championship butfailed to make the Olympic ‘A’cut in the men’s 50m freestyleevent, here on Wednesday.

Khade clocked 22.59 sec-onds to finish ahead ofKhurshidjon Tursunov (22.96)of Uzbekistan and IranianGharehhassanloo Benyamin(23.23).

The Gold medal winningfeat was, however, not enoughfor the 2010 Asian GamesBronze medallist to make theOlympic A qualification mark,set at 22.01 seconds.

“I am quite disappointedwith my timing. I was fullytapered for this meet, I got offto a great start but somehowmy timing with the techniquewas not put to the mark,”Khade said.

“I will be attempting againnext month during the FINAWorld Cup in Singapore andI want to achieve it this yearalthough there is time till June.If I can make the qualificationnow then I can just focus ontraining for Tokyo,” he added.

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Parupalli Kashyap was the loneIndian to survive in the singles

event after star shuttlers P V Sindhu,Saina Nehwal and B Sai Praneethmade first round exits at the KoreaOpen badminton tournament onWednesday.

Kashyap registered a comfortable21-16, 21-16 over Lu Chia Hung ofChinese Taipei in a men’s singlesmatch that lasted 42 minutes. He willface Malaysia’s Liew Daren in the sec-ond round.

The first round casualties forIndia included World ChampionSindhu, who bowed out of the tour-nament after going down 7-21, 24-22,15-21 at the hands of USA’s BeiwenZhang, Sai Praneeth and Saina — bothretired hurt in their respective firstround matches. World

Championships Bronze-medallist SaiPraneeth was trailing 9-21, 7-11 whenhe conceded the match to fifth-seed-ed Anders Antonsen due to an ankleinjury.

Saina was trailing 21-19, 18-21, 1-8 against South Korea’s Kim Ga Eunwhen she was forced to retire.

Saina’s husband and personalcoach Kashyap said she retiredbecause of gastroenteritis problem.

“It seems she had a relapse of thegastroenteritis that bothered her earlyin the year. She was feeling dizzy andvomited yesterday. In fact, she went tothe stadium straight from the hospi-tal today,” he said.

“Still she could have won butwhen it went to three games, she did-n’t have anything left in her tank. Weneed to check with the doctor whenwe go back. It has been a difficult yearfor her.”

Saina has had a tough year owingto injuries. She won the IndonesiaOpen at the beginning of the seasonbut has struggled since then. At theChina Open last week, she made afirst-round exit.

Sindhu also seems to be facing arough patch after the high of winningthe World Championships. She wasknocked out of the China Open byThailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong inthe second round last week.

It was also curtains for India in theopening round of the men’s doublescompetition.

The pair of Manu Attri and BSumeeth Reddy lost to Huang KaiXiang and Liu Cheng of China 16-21,21-19, 18-21, while SatwiksairajRankireddy and Chirag Shetty wentdown to fourth seeds Takeshi Kamuraand Keigo Sonoda of Japan 19-21, 21-18, 18-21.

�� 7 E ��6��

Rohit Sharma will begin a last ditcheffort to save his stop-start Testcareer with a trial run in the unfa-

miliar opener’s slot when he leads theBoard President’s XI in a three-day warm-up game against South Africa, startinghere today.

With the national selection commit-tee and the team management decidingto promote Rohit as an opener, keepinghis spunky strokeplay in mind, the nextfive Tests could be a make or break for the32-year-old stylish right-hander.

He will have Mayank Agarwal forcompany as the two would look to strikean understanding before the first Teststarting on October 2 in Visakhapatnam.

The third notable character in thegame would be Umesh Yadav, who hasbeen drafted into the Test side as aninjured Jasprit Bumrah’s replacement.

He will look to rattle the likes of FafDu Plessis and Aiden Makram in orderto make a statement.

But the focus from today willundoubtedly be on Rohit.

One of the modern day greats in thewhite ball format, Rohit’s average of39.62 in 27 Tests, including three hun-dreds, doesn’t do justice to his potential.

Red-ball vice-captain Ajinkya Rahaneand the fast-rising Hanuma Vihari con-solidated their middle-order slots withimpressive performances in the WestIndies and the only remaining option forRohit was to bat at the top.

The three-day game against the qual-ity red-ball attack of South Africa, com-prising Kagiso Rabada, Vernon Philanderand Lungi Ngidi, will be a good dressrehearsal before the opening game inVisakhapatnam.

Rohit’s technique against the movingred SG, Dukes or Kookaburra has beensuspect but this is an inspired punt thatVirat Kohli and Ravi Shastri are ready totake keeping Virender Sehwag’s stupen-dous success in mind.

If it clicks, this will be considered amasterstroke but if it doesn’t, the Ateam’s supply line of openers comprisingShubman Gill, Abhimanyu Easwaranand Priyank Panchal will be there.

Not to forget KL Rahul, who wouldlook to score heavily and get his place backand Prithvi Shaw, also hungry as ever afterhaving served a doping ban and learntharsh lessons of life.

Even if Rohit succeeds on the low andslow sub-continental tracks, there’s noguarantee that he would be able to repli-cate it on the grounds in New Zealand,where Trent Boult promises to bring itback in repeatedly.

The road ahead will be tricky for one

of India’s finest ODI openers as the nextsix months will decide his fate in thegame’s traditional format.

SQUADSBoard President’s XI: Rohit Sharma (c),Mayank Agarwal, Priyank Panchal, AREaswaran, Karun Nair, Siddhesh Lad, KSBharat (wk), Jalaj Saxena,Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Avesh Khan,Ishan Porel, Shardul Thakur, UmeshYadavSouth Africa: Faf du Plessis (c), TembaBavuma, Theunis de Bruyn, Quinton deKock, Dean Elgar, Zubayr Hamza, KeshavMaharaj, Aiden Markram, SenuranMuthusamy, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje,Vernon Philander, Dane Piedt, KagisoRabada, Rudi Second.

��

The Indian women’s cricket team captainHarmanpreet Kaur said the team’s below-par

batting show in the first T20 International againstSouth Africa here had left her nervous before thebowlers rose to the challenge with a stellar effort.

Harmanpreet was the only Indian batswomanto play an impactful knock, scoring 43, while therest of her colleagues failed to chip in with anynotable contribution.

The bowlers, led by player of the match DeeptiSharma(4/8), produced an impressive show to dis-miss South Africa for 119 in 19.5 overs.

“I was nervous at the halfway stage but we knewthat we’d have something for the bowlers. They dida great job,” Harmanpreet said after the match.

She said the players have been working hardon their fitness.

“We were doing a lot of fitness (regimens)before coming here and we got the result on thefield. The way we fielded and bowled, I was happy,”she said.

She also her side still needs improvement in sev-eral areas, especially batting.

“Lot of areas to improve. Need to improve alot with the bat.

We are playing with an extra batter, so if bat-ters do well, we can do even better,” said the 30-year-old.

She said she had trusted Radha Yadav to dowell in the final over of the South African run chaseand eventually the left-armer took two wickets toend the visiting side’s innings.

Star of the match Deepti said her effort was the“best bowling performance” of her career.

“We bowled how I had planned. Got help fromthe wicket too. The plan was to bowl wicket towicket and it was turning, so I pitched it up too,”she said. “The mindset was to bowl in front. Wewere confident at the halfway mark. And we want-ed to enjoy. If you enjoy, you automatically do well,”

the 22-year-old off-spinner said.South Africa captain Sune Luus

said 130 was a chaseabletotal though her side couldnot make it in the end.

“The way our new-ball bowlers bowled, they

gave us a good platform towork on. We thought 130

was a total we couldchase. Chasing 130 isabout when you go forthe charge,” she said.

“Lizelle Lee gave agood platform. Thebatsmen who then came

in just couldn’t exe-cute. The wayDeepti and thespinners bowled,

you could definitelysee there was morespin as the evening

progressed.”

��

Newly-appointed foreign table tennis coachDejan Papic’s stint with the Indian team

could end even before he takes charge as theCanadian’s joining has been delayed by at leastthe next two months due to a knee surgery hehas undergone.

Papic had accepted the coaching offer in Julyafter much deliberation but at that time TableTennis Federation of India (TTFI) secretary MP Singh said he was not aware of his medical con-dition.

The current situation has led to more lossof crucial time for the players, who have beenpreparing on their own for next year’s Olympicsand are without a coach since the 2018 AsianGames.

“Papic will take another two months torecover. Players are losing crucial time and werealise that but we got to know about his kneesurgery much later after the appointmentprocess was completed,” M P Singh said onWednesday.

“We have approached a few coaches to takecharge of the national squad. We are awaitingtheir response,” he added.

TTFI is keen to sign German coach JorgBitzegaio, who is currently with the USA team.

“Our leading players, Sharath Kamal and GSathiyan, have given their thumbs up to Jorg. Wehear that he resigned as USA coach but his res-ignation was not accepted. Hopefully, they accepthis resignation so that he can come to India atthe earliest,” added Singh.

��

The Indian duo of Pankaj Advani andAditya Mehta overcame a tough Thai

team to emerge world champions in theIBSF World Snooker Team event onWednesday.

This takes Advani’s world title tally toa phenomenal 23 while Aditya claimed hismaiden at a time when his future is beingdoubted due to health issues.

For Advani, this win has ensured thathis name is now there on every IBSFworld title on offer.

He had won the world billiards eventlast week.

“I’m absolutely excited to win my firstworld title. All the years of hard work andstruggle has finally paid off,” said Mehta.

Advani too was ecstatic.“It’s a dream trip for me as I return

from Myanmar in under 3 weeks with 2world championship Gold medals and aBronze (which he got in the world 6-redsnooker event). I’m over the moon to havewon the only missing world title on mylist and this win is very special for that rea-son.

“It’s been a long but satisfying outing.Having to switch from billiards to snook-er in a day and to come out on top is areassurance that specialising in two sportsis indeed achievable.”

2��

Ukrainian teen DayanaYastremska scored the

first top-10 win of her careerat the Wuhan Open onWednesday over worldnumber two KarolinaPliskova, declaring herselfone of the young talentsmaking a splash on tour thisseason.

In a year where 19-year-old Bianca Andreescuhas won the US Open, and15-year-old Cori Gauff hasreached the second week atWimbledon, Yastremskapicked up two WTA titlesand made the fourth roundat SW19.

“They’re young butthey’re also very good.There’s a lot of things Icould learn from them aswell,” Yastremska said of theplayers following her 6-1, 6-4 third-round victory againstPliskova.

“I’m really happy thatnow the young generation iscoming up. It’s really time forus.”

Pliskova’s exit temporar-ily takes the pressure off

world number one AshleighBarty, who can hold onto hertop ranking for at least onemore week now that hernearest rival was unable toreach the semi-finals inWuhan.

Barty booked her tick-et to the quarter-finals witha 6-3, 7-5 success overr e c e n t l y - c r o w n e dGuangzhou champion SofiaKenin, and takes onCroatian Petra Martic ontoday.

Meanwhile, third-seed-ed Elina Svitolina is happyto have put her early-seasonwoes behind her as shesecured passage to the quar-ter-finals with a 6-4, 6-2 routof Russian qualifier SvetlanaKuznetsova.

She next test comes inthe form of American worldnumber 35 Alison Riske,who maintained her cleanrecord against homefavourite Wang Qiang witha 6-2, 6-1 triumph.

Aryna Sabalenkasquandered a 6-1, 5-1 leadbefore recovering to com-plete a tricky 6-1, 7-6 (11/9)dismissal of sixth-seed KikiBertens.

Two-time Wuhanchampion Petra Kvitovaclosed out play onWednesday, beating 10th-seeded Sloane Stephens forthe first time, 6-3, 6-3, to setup a quarter-final show-down with Yastremska.

Meanwhile SimonaHalep was left disappointedafter suffering a fresh injurysetback in China that forcedher to retire from with alower back problem.

Halep said the problemthat caused her to quit herthird-round match felt dif-ferent to the herniated discshe had suffered at the ChinaOpen in Beijing a year agowhich brought an early endto the Romanian’s 2018 sea-son.

“It’s lower back. I thinkit’s more muscle, but I don’tknow yet because I haven’tchecked it properly,” saidtwo-time Grand Slam cham-pion Halep.

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The BCCI on Wednesday named SriLanka as Zimbabwe’s replacement

for a short three-match T20International series to be held inJanuary next year.

The BCCI has roped in Sri Lankafor the short series in place ofZimbabwe, which has been suspend-ed by the ICC.

As planned earlier, the first T20will take place in Guwahati on January5, followed by matches in Indore onJanuary 7 and Pune on January 10.

“In the wake of Zimbabwe’s sus-pension by ICC, the BCCI invited SriLanka to participate in the three-matchseries. Sri Lanka Cricket has confirmedtheir participation,” the BCCI said.

The series against Zimbabwe wasin doubt after the ICC had suspend-ed Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) in July thisyear over government interference inits administration.

The ICC Board unanimouslydecided that ZC was in breach ofArticle 2.4 (c) and (d) of its constitu-tion which imposes an obligation onmembers to provide a process for freeand democratic elections.

SCHEDULE1st T20: January 5, Guwahati2nd T20: January 7, Indore3rd T20: January 10, Pune.

��

Rohit Sharma moved up aplace to world number eight

while India skipper Virat Kohliand Shikhar Dhawan inchedcloser to a top 10 spot in the lat-est ICC T20 Rankings for bats-men released on Wednesday.

Kohli’s unbeaten 72 in thesecond T20I against SouthAfrica has seen him gain onespot and reach 11th in the listwhile Dhawan has moved upthree places to 13th after scores

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of 40 and 36.Rohit is tied at the

eighth spot withEngland’s Alex Hales.Both batsmen have 664points.

In the bowlers’ rank-ing, Washington Sundaris the top ranked Indian.He moved eight spots tobe placed 50th.

The series in Indiaalso saw South Africa’sQuinton de Kock moveup from 49th to 30th, his

highest position in twoyears, after scores of 52and 79 not out.

Spinner TabraizShamsi has reached thetop 20 in the bowlers’ listfor the first time whileAndile Phehlukwayo hasachieved a career-bestranking of seventh.

In the T20 team rank-ings, India are placedfourth below South Africa(3rd), England (2nd) andtop-ranked Pakistan.

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