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C ongress president Rahul Gandhi led from the front as the high voltage Lok Sabha debate in the Lok Sabha on the Rafale fighter jet deal on Wednesday saw the Opposition putting up a united face backed by BJP ally Shiv Sena, and Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which for the first time joined the chorus for JPC probe into the deal. Launching his pincer attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi amidst acri- monious scene which saw paper planes flying around in the House, Rahul said Modi does not have “guts” to come to Parliament to confront ques- tions and “hides” in his room. In a heightened drama, Rahul sought the Speaker’s permission to play an audio tape, in which a Goa Minister Vishwajit Rane purportedly claims that State Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, a former Defence Minister, has all the files and papers of the Rafale deal in his possession. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the tape is “false and fabricated”, asking the Congress president if he can authenticate it. He may have to face privi- lege motion and even expulsion in case it turns out to be fabri- cated, the BJP leader added. Amid an uproar which caused a brief adjournment of the House proceedings, the Congress leader said he would not play it, prompting Jaitley to say that Rahul was “scared” as he knew it was false. “This man lies and lies repeatedly,” Jaitley said. The Speaker also disallowed Rahul’s request to play the clip. Rane has already termed the tape “fabricated”, Jaitley said. In his speech, Rahul also referred to Modi’s comments in an interview that no personal allegation was levelled against him in the matter and said this is not true as the “entire nation” is asking him a direct question on the contract for purchase of fighter aircraft. “He (Modi) spoke for 90 minutes in a staged interview but still did not answer ques- tions on the Rafale issue,” he said, reiterating his party’s demand for a JPC probe into the matter. “We demand a JPC probe into matter. There is no reason for BJP leaders to feel afraid. The country will get to know that Modi put 30,000 crore in the pockets of ‘double A’. The contract was snatched from HAL (a Government-run unit),” he said, alleging cor- ruption in the contract. ‘Double A’ was an apparent reference to Anil Ambani, whom Rahul repeatedly referred to in his speech before Mahajan asked him not to name him as he is not a mem- ber of the House. The Congress leader described Ambani as a “dear friend” of Modi and a “failed businessman”. His defence firm was registered only 10 days before it got the off-set contract from Rafale, a French firm, Rahul alleged. Rahul kept his focus and referred to pricing and offset contracts and asked why the Rafale deal which was negoti- ated for 530 crore per plane during the UPA regime was now set to cost 1,600 crore per plane. “Is it not true that Defence Ministry officials objected to the new price of 1,600 crore, Rahul said, accusing Modi of favouring his “dear friend” and “failed businessman” Anil Ambani. He also repeated the old charges that the Prime Minister had himself authored the deal to snatch the offset contracts from HAL and give it to his “friend” Anil Ambani. Ambani has repeatedly denied allegations against him. Rahul also claimed that Defence Ministry officials had objected to the renegotiated deal on the purchase of Rafale aircraft. He also accused AIADMK members, who were protesting in the Well of the House over the Cauvery issue, of trying to protect Modi. P eople of Delhi and National Capital Region are likely to get some relief from cold wave conditions in the coming days. Due to feeble western distur- bances prevailing cold wave and frost conditions is likely to abate in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi NCR from January 4 onwards. Winter rain has remained almost absent from Delhi NCR, this season. Though there was some very light rain on two occasions in December, yet it could not impact the weather. “The minimum tempera- ture is expected to rise in the next few days in northern parts of the country including Delhi. On Wednesday morning, Safdarjung Observatory recorded minimum at 6.5 degree Celsius, one notch below the season’s average and it has seen a rise of 2.5 degree Celsius as compared to the pre- vious day. On January 5 and 6, Delhi and NCR will witness cloudy sky with light rain over widespread area due to western disturbances. Although inten- sity of rains would not be much over the capital but it would lead to significant drop in day maximum. January 5 and 6 is expected cold day con- ditions due to rainfall,” said Dr Kuldeep Srivastava of the India Meteorological Department (IMD). January records the lowest minimum temperature where- in the average minimum is 7.6 degrees Celsius and maximum is 20.5 degrees Celsius. “IMD models are indicat- ing that a fresh western dis- turbance would affect Western Himalayan region from January 4 and plains of North West India from 5 January onwards. Analysis of various ther- mo-diagnostic parameters and indices indicated that the Western Disturbance would be quite intense and favourably located to affect the weather pattern of North-West India during January 4 to 7,” the IMD said. I n the wake of a spate of com- plaints that some zookeepers siphon off food meant for cap- tive animals, the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) has sought installation of the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras to enhance the sur- veillance mechanism in kitchens and stores where the meal is prepared, stored and distributed to the animals. This will ensure that the quality and quantity of foods being doled out to animals, rep- tiles and birds in the zoos across the country is watched through the network of the CCTV cameras. In a circular issued last week to the directors of the rec- ognized zoos, CZA Member Secretary Dr Anup Kumar Nayak pointed out that time and again, the CZA has been receiving representations from various quarters expressing apprehension regarding quali- ty and quantity of food being offered to captive animals housed in zoos. There are total 142 zoos in the country. This is for the first time that the CCTV cameras are being proposed to be deployed in the kitchen and stores so that directors of the zoos from his/her office can keep a watch on the quality and quantity of food being given to the animals. Nayak said, “To ensure that the animals get quality food as per their requirements, the zoos are advised to enhance the surveillance mechanism in places of procurement, storage, processing and distribution of food for captive animals housed in zoos. “Installation of CCTV cam- eras is advised for the purpose. Also, manpower be deputed for monitoring the same. The data- base so generated should be made available for inspection of the authorized personnel. Based on the inputs received, appro- priate corrective measures be taken up by the zoos.” The Zoos have also been asked to conduct a review in this regard, finalize the sur- veillance plan and ascertain the availability of infrastructure. This is in fulfillment of the standard and norms prescribed in the schedule 5 (2) of Rule 10 under the recognition of Zoo Rules, 2009, added a senior offi- cial from the CZA under the Ministry of Environment and Wildlife. The proposal has to be submitted with the CZA with- in a month. If needed, CZA will help fund the project also. “So far the zoos have been installing the CCTV cameras for keeping a tab on visitors or checking thefts. But there have been reports that some zoo keepers are not adhering to hygiene while providing food to animals or are stealing their food. It is the duty of the zoo to provide quality food to each animal. The health of the zoo’s animals is directly related to the quality of food being served to them,” the official explained. An animal expert said that the poor quality of feed raises the risk of enteritis, which is a bacterial infection in the intes- tine and is considered one of the prime causes of animal deaths. A purported audio clip of a Goa Minister speaking about Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s alleged claim of papers and files on the Rafale fighter jets contract “lying in his bedroom” led to a political slugfest between Congress and BJP after Parliament resumed for the first day of the New Year on Wednesday. While Congress led by party chief Rahul Gandhi claimed that the tape was gen- uine, BJP alleged the tape was doctored, false and fabricated. Sparks flew between Congress and the Centre with Rahul Gandhi making an attempt in the Lok Sabha to play the “unverified” audio tape purportedly of Minister Vishwajit Rane telling an unidentified person regarding the alleged claim by Parrikar at a Cabinet meeting. Rahul alleged that Parrikar is “black- mailing” Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “The Goa Minister is say- ing clearly that Parrikarji said in a Cabinet meeting that he has a complete file on Rafale deal with all details and therefore he can’t be disturbed. There may be other such audio tapes,” Rahul said at a Press confer- ence. “Now Parrikar says all details are in his bedroom. Truth can’t be kept hidden. The more you try to hide the truth, new facts will come out,” Rahul said. “What Parrikar is doing is threatening the Prime Minister and blackmailing him in a way. We have been raising this for a long time. Question is what informa- tion is there in Parrikar’s bed- room and what files are there and what could be the impact on Narendra Modi,” Rahul fur- ther alleged. I n an attempt to give the much- needed boost to the demor- alised SAD-BJP cadre in Punjab ahead 2019 Lok Sabha elec- tions, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi would sound the poll bugle on Thursday from Gurdaspur. Tight security arrangements have been made for the event. Modi would address the joint rally of the SAD-BJP to kick-start the combine’s poll campaign in Punjab, where it has not only lost the power but has also been pushed to the poor third spot, next to nascent AAP. The rally, being organised as a part of the BJP’s election cam- paign programme to hold 100 rallies ahead of the elections, is expected to provide a fillip to improve the party’s declining graph and sinking popularity. SAD-BJP alliance is riding high on the several decisions, concerning the Sikh communi- ty, taken by the BJP-led Central Government recently including the opening of Kartarpur Sahib Corridor, conviction in 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases, among others, which the combine is all set to utilise to lure the Sikh vot- ers in Punjab. BJP is known to have Hindu voter base in Punjab, with major- ity of Sikh population voting for the Akali Dal prominently in rural areas and the Congress in the urban areas. However, over the period of time, the voters’ pattern has undergone a change, especially with AAP’s emer- gence in the state politics. “We have made elaborate arrangements for the public rally. PM Modi has taken a number of steps for the benefit of Punjabis and Sikhs. It is going to be a mega rally in Gurdaspur,” said Punjab BJP president and Rajya Sabha MP Shwet Malik. “The Prime Minister would highlight the works done by the BJP Government at the Centre, including opening of the Kartarpur corridor, waiving of GST on langar items, conviction in 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases espe- cially that of Congress senior leader Sajjan Kumar, among others,” a senior BJP leader told The Pioneer. The leader said that there issues are so much important for the Sikh community, and the BJP Government’s decision would surely won votes in its favour. Punjab is among the few states in the country where BJP or its ally is not in power, and BJP is trying to gain ground in the states where it is losing it fast, especially after the recently-con- cluded Assembly elections to five States, where Congress managed to form Government in three. Out of total 13 seats in Punjab, BJP has just one in its kitty with the Congress, SAD and AAP having three MPs each. After addressing the rally, Modi will go to Jalandhar to inaugurate the 106th session of the Indian Science Congress at the Lovely Professional University (LPU). S caling up its model of recruiting private sector experts in Government set up, the Manohar Lal Khattar Government in Haryana has decided to hire 15 young pro- fessionals for the planning and implementation of pro- jects in key sectors. The State Government, which has around 10 months left in its five-year tenure, will recruit these young profes- sionals for getting quality inputs in disciplines like Economics, Finance, Health, Agriculture, Engineering, Urban Development among others. The Government will attach these experts with var- ious branches of Finance and Planning Department and its other key projects. With the eligibility crite- ria of atleast two years post qualification experience with a master’s degree and age limit below 40 years of age, the State Government will be offering these professionals a monthly salary of 40,000 per month. “The private professionals will assist the State Government in policy plan- ning and work in various divisions in Finance and Planning Department, Haryana,” said a senior offi- cial. “The move to recruit domain experts in policy making is aimed at supple- menting Government’s efforts of providing good governance in the State, he said. The State Government’s latest decision to hire 15 pro- fessionals is another attempt in its series of measures to engage people from private sector to enhance its working and expedite implementation of various key projects. This was started when the BJP led Haryana Government, after coming to the power in 2014, had decided to move away from the tradition in State administration, where bureaucrats used to call the shots in policy making and monitoring. Instead of preferring its senior bureaucrats, Haryana Government had in 2016 appointed 22 Chief Minister’s good governance associates (CMGGAs) in different dis- tricts with an objective to ensure implementation and monitoring of programmes of both Union and State Governments. These CMGGAs have been working with the Deputy Commissioners and other dis- trict officials to execute vari- ous Government schemes and bring about transformational changes within their districts. The recruitment process was further enlarged with the State Government later roping in experts from private sector in departments like Finance, Transport, Power, Urban Local Bodies, Education among others. Such appointments have, however, come under sharp attack from the opposition parties, which have time and again accused the State Government of undermining the democratically-elected representatives, bureaucracy and the constitutional posts.

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Page 1: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in ...€¦ · Janata Dal (BJD), which for the ... Analysis of various ther-mo-diagnostic parameters and indices indicated that

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Congress president RahulGandhi led from the front

as the high voltage Lok Sabhadebate in the Lok Sabha on theRafale fighter jet deal onWednesday saw the Oppositionputting up a united face backedby BJP ally Shiv Sena, and BijuJanata Dal (BJD), which for thefirst time joined the chorus forJPC probe into the deal.

Launching his pincerattack on Prime MinisterNarendra Modi amidst acri-monious scene which sawpaper planes flying around inthe House, Rahul said Modidoes not have “guts” to come toParliament to confront ques-tions and “hides” in his room.

In a heightened drama,Rahul sought the Speaker’spermission to play an audiotape, in which a Goa MinisterVishwajit Rane purportedlyclaims that State Chief MinisterManohar Parrikar, a formerDefence Minister, has all thefiles and papers of the Rafaledeal in his possession.

Finance Minister ArunJaitley said the tape is “false andfabricated”, asking the Congresspresident if he can authenticateit. He may have to face privi-lege motion and even expulsionin case it turns out to be fabri-cated, the BJP leader added.

Amid an uproar whichcaused a brief adjournment ofthe House proceedings, theCongress leader said he wouldnot play it, prompting Jaitley tosay that Rahul was “scared” ashe knew it was false.

“This man lies and liesrepeatedly,” Jaitley said. TheSpeaker also disallowed Rahul’srequest to play the clip.

Rane has already termedthe tape “fabricated”, Jaitleysaid.

In his speech, Rahul alsoreferred to Modi’s comments inan interview that no personalallegation was levelled againsthim in the matter and said thisis not true as the “entire nation”is asking him a direct question

on the contract for purchase offighter aircraft.

“He (Modi) spoke for 90minutes in a staged interviewbut still did not answer ques-tions on the Rafale issue,” hesaid, reiterating his party’sdemand for a JPC probe intothe matter.

“We demand a JPC probeinto matter. There is no reasonfor BJP leaders to feel afraid.The country will get to knowthat Modi put �30,000 crore inthe pockets of ‘double A’. Thecontract was snatched fromHAL (a Government-rununit),” he said, alleging cor-ruption in the contract.

‘Double A’ was an apparentreference to Anil Ambani,whom Rahul repeatedlyreferred to in his speech beforeMahajan asked him not toname him as he is not a mem-ber of the House.

The Congress leaderdescribed Ambani as a “dearfriend” of Modi and a “failedbusinessman”. His defencefirm was registered only 10days before it got the off-setcontract from Rafale, a Frenchfirm, Rahul alleged.

Rahul kept his focus andreferred to pricing and offsetcontracts and asked why theRafale deal which was negoti-ated for �530 crore per planeduring the UPA regime wasnow set to cost �1,600 crore perplane.

“Is it not true that DefenceMinistry officials objected tothe new price of �1,600 crore,Rahul said, accusing Modi offavouring his “dear friend” and

“failed businessman” AnilAmbani.

He also repeated the oldcharges that the Prime Ministerhad himself authored the dealto snatch the offset contractsfrom HAL and give it to his“friend” Anil Ambani.

Ambani has repeatedlydenied allegations against him.

Rahul also claimed thatDefence Ministry officials hadobjected to the renegotiateddeal on the purchase of Rafaleaircraft.

He also accused AIADMKmembers, who were protestingin the Well of the House overthe Cauvery issue, of trying toprotect Modi.

������� ���� /1 ��1+8"

People of Delhi and NationalCapital Region are likely to

get some relief from cold waveconditions in the coming days.Due to feeble western distur-bances prevailing cold waveand frost conditions is likely toabate in Haryana, UttarPradesh and Delhi NCR fromJanuary 4 onwards.

Winter rain has remainedalmost absent from Delhi NCR,this season. Though there wassome very light rain on twooccasions in December, yet itcould not impact the weather.

“The minimum tempera-ture is expected to rise in thenext few days in northern partsof the country including Delhi.On Wednesday morning,Safdarjung Observatoryrecorded minimum at 6.5degree Celsius, one notchbelow the season’s average andit has seen a rise of 2.5 degreeCelsius as compared to the pre-vious day. On January 5 and 6,Delhi and NCR will witnesscloudy sky with light rain overwidespread area due to westerndisturbances. Although inten-

sity of rains would not bemuch over the capital but itwould lead to significant dropin day maximum. January 5and 6 is expected cold day con-ditions due to rainfall,” said DrKuldeep Srivastava of the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD).

January records the lowest

minimum temperature where-in the average minimum is 7.6degrees Celsius and maximumis 20.5 degrees Celsius.

“IMD models are indicat-ing that a fresh western dis-turbance would affect WesternHimalayan region fromJanuary 4 and plains of NorthWest India from 5 January

onwards. Analysis of various ther-

mo-diagnostic parameters andindices indicated that theWestern Disturbance wouldbe quite intense and favourablylocated to affect the weatherpattern of North-West Indiaduring January 4 to 7,” the IMDsaid.

��������������� /1 ��1+8"

In the wake of a spate of com-plaints that some zookeepers

siphon off food meant for cap-tive animals, the Central ZooAuthority (CZA) has soughtinstallation of the ClosedCircuit Television (CCTV)cameras to enhance the sur-veillance mechanism inkitchens and stores where themeal is prepared, stored anddistributed to the animals.

This will ensure that thequality and quantity of foodsbeing doled out to animals, rep-tiles and birds in the zoosacross the country is watchedthrough the network of theCCTV cameras.

In a circular issued lastweek to the directors of the rec-ognized zoos, CZA MemberSecretary Dr Anup Kumar

Nayak pointed out that timeand again, the CZA has beenreceiving representations fromvarious quarters expressingapprehension regarding quali-ty and quantity of food beingoffered to captive animalshoused in zoos.

There are total 142 zoos inthe country. This is for the firsttime that the CCTV camerasare being proposed to bedeployed in the kitchen andstores so that directors of thezoos from his/her office cankeep a watch on the quality andquantity of food being given tothe animals.

Nayak said, “To ensurethat the animals get qualityfood as per their requirements,the zoos are advised to enhancethe surveillance mechanism inplaces of procurement, storage,processing and distribution of

food for captive animalshoused in zoos.

“Installation of CCTV cam-eras is advised for the purpose.Also, manpower be deputed formonitoring the same. The data-base so generated should bemade available for inspection ofthe authorized personnel. Basedon the inputs received, appro-priate corrective measures betaken up by the zoos.”

The Zoos have also beenasked to conduct a review inthis regard, finalize the sur-veillance plan and ascertainthe availability of infrastructure.

This is in fulfillment of thestandard and norms prescribedin the schedule 5 (2) of Rule 10under the recognition of ZooRules, 2009, added a senior offi-cial from the CZA under theMinistry of Environment andWildlife. The proposal has to be

submitted with the CZA with-in a month. If needed, CZA willhelp fund the project also.

“So far the zoos have beeninstalling the CCTV camerasfor keeping a tab on visitors orchecking thefts. But there havebeen reports that some zookeepers are not adhering tohygiene while providing foodto animals or are stealing theirfood. It is the duty of the zooto provide quality food to eachanimal.

The health of the zoo’sanimals is directly related to thequality of food being served tothem,” the official explained.

An animal expert said thatthe poor quality of feed raisesthe risk of enteritis, which is abacterial infection in the intes-tine and is considered one ofthe prime causes of animaldeaths.

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Apurported audio clip of aGoa Minister speaking

about Chief Minister ManoharParrikar’s alleged claim ofpapers and files on the Rafalefighter jets contract “lying in hisbedroom” led to a politicalslugfest between Congress andBJP after Parliament resumedfor the first day of the New Yearon Wednesday.

While Congress led byparty chief Rahul Gandhiclaimed that the tape was gen-uine, BJP alleged the tape wasdoctored, false and fabricated.

Sparks f lew betweenCongress and the Centre withRahul Gandhi making anattempt in the Lok Sabha toplay the “unverified” audiotape purportedly of MinisterVishwajit Rane telling anunidentified person regardingthe alleged claim by Parrikar ata Cabinet meeting. Rahul

alleged that Parrikar is “black-mailing” Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

“The Goa Minister is say-ing clearly that Parrikarji said ina Cabinet meeting that he hasa complete file on Rafale dealwith all details and therefore hecan’t be disturbed. There maybe other such audio tapes,”Rahul said at a Press confer-ence. “Now Parrikar says alldetails are in his bedroom.Truth can’t be kept hidden.

The more you try to hidethe truth, new facts will comeout,” Rahul said.

“What Parrikar is doing isthreatening the Prime Ministerand blackmailing him in a way.We have been raising this for along time.

Question is what informa-tion is there in Parrikar’s bed-room and what files are thereand what could be the impacton Narendra Modi,” Rahul fur-ther alleged.

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In an attempt to give the much-needed boost to the demor-

alised SAD-BJP cadre in Punjabahead 2019 Lok Sabha elec-tions, the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi would sound thepoll bugle on Thursday fromGurdaspur. Tight securityarrangements have been madefor the event.

Modi would address thejoint rally of the SAD-BJP tokick-start the combine’s pollcampaign in Punjab, where it hasnot only lost the power but hasalso been pushed to the poorthird spot, next to nascent AAP.

The rally, being organised asa part of the BJP’s election cam-paign programme to hold 100rallies ahead of the elections, isexpected to provide a fillip toimprove the party’s declininggraph and sinking popularity.

SAD-BJP alliance is ridinghigh on the several decisions,concerning the Sikh communi-ty, taken by the BJP-led CentralGovernment recently includingthe opening of Kartarpur SahibCorridor, conviction in 1984anti-Sikh riots cases, amongothers, which the combine is allset to utilise to lure the Sikh vot-ers in Punjab.

BJP is known to have Hinduvoter base in Punjab, with major-ity of Sikh population voting forthe Akali Dal prominently inrural areas and the Congress inthe urban areas. However, overthe period of time, the voters’pattern has undergone a change,

especially with AAP’s emer-gence in the state politics.

“We have made elaboratearrangements for the publicrally. PM Modi has taken anumber of steps for the benefitof Punjabis and Sikhs. It is goingto be a mega rally in Gurdaspur,”said Punjab BJP president andRajya Sabha MP Shwet Malik.

“The Prime Minister wouldhighlight the works done by theBJP Government at the Centre,including opening of theKartarpur corridor, waiving ofGST on langar items, convictionin 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases espe-cially that of Congress seniorleader Sajjan Kumar, amongothers,” a senior BJP leader toldThe Pioneer.

The leader said that thereissues are so much important forthe Sikh community, and the BJPGovernment’s decision wouldsurely won votes in its favour.

Punjab is among the fewstates in the country where BJPor its ally is not in power, and BJPis trying to gain ground in thestates where it is losing it fast,especially after the recently-con-cluded Assembly elections to fiveStates, where Congress managedto form Government in three.

Out of total 13 seats inPunjab, BJP has just one in itskitty with the Congress, SAD andAAP having three MPs each.

After addressing the rally,Modi will go to Jalandhar toinaugurate the 106th session ofthe Indian Science Congress atthe Lovely ProfessionalUniversity (LPU).

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Scaling up its model ofrecruiting private sector

experts in Government set up,the Manohar Lal KhattarGovernment in Haryana hasdecided to hire 15 young pro-fessionals for the planningand implementation of pro-jects in key sectors.

The State Government,which has around 10 monthsleft in its five-year tenure, willrecruit these young profes-sionals for getting qualityinputs in disciplines likeEconomics, Finance, Health,Agriculture, Engineering,Urban Development amongothers.

The Government willattach these experts with var-ious branches of Finance andPlanning Department and itsother key projects.

With the eligibility crite-ria of atleast two years postqualification experience witha master’s degree and agelimit below 40 years of age, theState Government will beoffering these professionals a

monthly salary of �40,000 permonth.

“The private professionalswil l assist the StateGovernment in policy plan-ning and work in variousdivisions in Finance andPlanning Department,Haryana,” said a senior offi-cial.

“The move to recruitdomain experts in policymaking is aimed at supple-menting Government’s effortsof providing good governancein the State, he said.

The State Government’slatest decision to hire 15 pro-fessionals is another attemptin its series of measures toengage people from privatesector to enhance its workingand expedite implementationof various key projects.

This was started when theBJP led Haryana Government,after coming to the power in2014, had decided to moveaway from the tradition inState administration, wherebureaucrats used to call theshots in policy making andmonitoring.

Instead of preferring its

senior bureaucrats, HaryanaGovernment had in 2016appointed 22 Chief Minister’sgood governance associates(CMGGAs) in different dis-tricts with an objective toensure implementation andmonitoring of programmesof both Union and StateGovernments. TheseCMGGAs have been workingwith the DeputyCommissioners and other dis-trict officials to execute vari-ous Government schemes andbring about transformationalchanges within their districts.

The recruitment processwas further enlarged with theState Government later ropingin experts from private sectorin departments like Finance,Transport, Power, UrbanLocal Bodies, Educationamong others.

Such appointments have,however, come under sharpattack from the oppositionparties, which have time andagain accused the StateGovernment of underminingthe democratically-electedrepresentatives, bureaucracyand the constitutional posts.

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Aday before Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s rally at

Gurdaspur in Punjab, hisrivals—the ruling Congressparty in Punjab and the prin-cipal opposition Aam Aadmiparty (AAP) — targeted himon variety of issues, includingfarm debt waiver, NDA ledCentral Government’s failureon all fronts, among others.

Punjab Congress presidentSunil Jakhar nailed Modi’s “lie”on the Congress-led OunjabGovernment’s farm debt waiv-er scheme by releasing a com-plete list of 4,14,275 beneficia-ry farmers, along with theirnames, with an average waiv-er amount, per farmer, of Rs56,737 towards cooperativebank loans and Rs 1,62,830towards commercial bankloans.

Jakhar, Gurdaspur MP, hasalso written to the PrimeMinister, urging him to riseabove party lines to exercise hisown judgement in the alloca-tion of central governmentresources to ensure that thecountry’s beleaguered farmersget their due share.

Sharing the list of Punjab’sbeneficiaries of farm debt waiv-er scheme, Jakhar declared

that it was obvious that Modihad lied on the issue and thathe had no empathy for thewoes of the distressed farmers.

Jakhar, in his letter to thePrime Minister which he sub-mitted to the latter’s office inthe Parliament House,expressed dismay at Modi’scomments in Dharamshala onDecember 27, on the farmloan waiver schemesannounced by the newly-elect-ed Congress Governments inMadhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarhand Rajasthan.

“Not only had the PrimeMinister insensitively dubbedthese schemes as an attempt tofool the farmers, but had comeout with a shockingly mis-leading statement that theCongress government inPunjab had done nothing on itspoll promise of loan waiver tothe farmers and not even a sin-gle farmer had got any relieffrom the state,” Jakhar wrote inthe letter.

Writing as a member of theCongress party and a humblefarmer who has always workedfor the upliftment of the farm-ing community, Jakhar soughtto clear the Prime Minister’smisconceptions with detaileddata of the Punjab govern-ment’s farm debt waiver.

“In the past one year, theState Government has waivedoff crop loans of 4,14,275farmers worth Rs 3,417 crores.The average amount of reliefper farmer works out to Rs56,737 towards cooperativebank loans and Rs 1,62,830towards commercial bankloans,” he said.

Jakhar further noted thateven it continued with itsphased programme of loanwaiver to Punjab’s 10.25 lakhmost distressed small and mar-ginal farmers, the Punjab gov-ernment was set to soon beannouncing loan waiver forlandless labourers, as waspromised before the election.

Jakhar pointed out thatover the last four and a halfyears, since Modi took over, theCentral Government has had awindfall gain of approximate-ly Rs 13 lakh crores on accountof low international prices ofcrude oil.

What’s more, your gov-ernment has also accepted theseventh Pay CommissionReport, and its mere acceptancewill result in an additionalexpenditure of Rs one lakhcrores every year, Jakhar point-ed out to the Prime Minister,adding that all this showed thatthough funds were available

with the union government,fixing of priorities for their dis-tribution was missing.

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Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)MP from Sangrur BhagwantMann on Wednesday said thatNarendra Modi-ledGovernment at the Centre hadfailed on all front to live up tothe aspirations of the people ofthis country.

Terming Modi’s 95-minuteinterview to ANI on a spec-trum of issues as “a mere polit-ical gimmick to misleadingpeople of the country” on thepromises that he made duringthe 2014 Lok Sabha elections,Mann said that the interviewwas a mere cover-up exerciseby the “pradhan sewak” tohide BJP’s failures and foiblesduring its five-year rule.

Mann reiterated that in itsfirst meeting after assumingpower, the Union Cabinet hadexpressed its serious concernover the farm distress anddecided to allow major loanwaivers to ameliorating the lotof farming community.

“The interview was noth-ing but a complete turnaroundon what the government hadpromised during the 2014 elec-

tions. The government hadleft the debt-ridden farmersacross the country with nochoice but to committee sui-cides,” he said.

Mann said that the saffrongovernment had also back-tracked on the issue of imple-menting the recommendationsof Swaminathan Commissionset up with a view to relievingthe farmers of the distress,forcing them to take theextreme step. “The promisedcompensation on account ofthe cost of crop plus 50 percentwent haywire due to lack ofvision on the part of the gov-ernment,” he said.

On the issue of employ-ment, Mann said that the Modigovernment had miserablyfailed to live up to the aspira-tions of the youth of the coun-try. “Modi had no plausibleanswer on the issue of employ-ment generation,” he said.

Mann said that theGovernment in the saddle hadcome up with the demonetiza-tion in just single stroke sayingthat the exercise would bringback the black money pur-ported to have been stacked inforeign banks.

“The ill-conceived ideaboomeranged as it failed tobring back the black money. It

was indeed a misguided missileon the part of the government,”he added.

Similarly, GST, too, was aploy to benefit a handful of pri-vate corporate houses, whichinstead of doing any good tothe common man, middle-rung industrialists and businesshouse owners, has given themmere false hopes, he said.

Mann accused theGovernment for dividing thecountry on the basis of caste,colour and creed just to grabpower. This is why people havemade up their mind to get ridof the saffron party in theensuing Lok Sabha electionsdue this year, if the decimationof the party in the recently con-cluded Assembly elections inthe Hindi heartland states,besides Punjab, was any point-ers.

Back home, the CaptainAmarinder-led government,too, have played a cruel jokewith the farming fraternity bynot addressing the problemsbeing faced by them in termsof farm waiver he hadpromised during the Assemblyelections in the state, he said.

Similarly, on the issue ofgeneration of employment inthe state, his government hadfailed to deliver, Mann said.

)��� 68,/�"�,-8

In a bid to provide informationrelated to facilities through

Aadhar Card and to resolveproblems related to updating theAadhar profile or enrolment inthe state, Haryana Governmenthas launched “Aadhar-Rath” IECawareness van.

This “Aadhar Rath” woulddisseminate information relatedto Aadhar from January 2 toFebruary 10 across all the villagesand districts of the state, said

Additional Chief Secretary,Home, SS Prasad after flaggingoff the “Aadhar Rath” fromHaryana Civil Secretariatpremises on Wednesday.

Prasad said that concerningAadhar Card registration underUnique Identification Authorityof India(UIDAI), Haryana isthe leading state in the country.Similarly, in birth registrations,Haryana is the foremost state.

He said that this “AadharRath” would make people awareabout the Aadhar related infor-

mation and other facilities beingprovided by UIDAI during these40 days (January 2 to February10) in the state.

Mentioning the example ofPublic Distribution System beinglinked with Aadhar, he said thatnow the ration is being distrib-uted to needy beneficiaries onlywithout any confusion. Theintroduction of Aadhar cardhas minimized corruption to alarge extent, he said.

He also said that Haryanais pioneer in implementingthe Aadhaar enrolment of newborn children in the hospitalsitself through Aadhaar LinkedBirth Registration (ALBR) pro-gramme and ranks first in thecountry in terms of AadhaarSaturation of Children upto 5years of age. Aadhaar has beenissued to 25.69 lakh children.

For ensuring maximumenrolment of children, morethan 800 tablets have beenalready issued and are workingin Government and Privatehospitals under the control ofDirector General HealthServices, Haryana who hasbeen appointed as Registrar byUIDAI.

It was informed thatHaryana State has alreadytaken steps to enroll the stu-dents and children in the agegroup of 5 to 18 years and 500kits have been procured andinstalled in various schools forthis purpose.

As per the UIDAI policy, tofacilitate the residents, Aadharkits have been deployed in 350bank branches and in morethan 200 post offices across thestate.

)��� 68,/�"�,-8

All works of Swachh Bharat Mission in Haryana will now beundertaken in supervision of zila parishads.This was informed in a meeting of Executive Committee of

Haryana State Swachh Bharat Mission Society held under thechairmanship of Chief Secretary DS Dhesi here on Wednesday.

Dhesi directed the Development and Panchayats Departmentand Haryana Pond and Waste Water Management Authority towork together for liquid waste management in rural areas.

During the meeting, it was decided to approve funds underSwachh Bharat Mission for construction of toilets in AnganwadiCentre in rural and urban areas of Haryana.

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)��� 68,/�"�,-8

Punjab’s youth is all set to getsmart-phones soon. For,

the State Cabinet onWednesday approved themodalities for the distributionof the smart phones in a phasedmanner.

Fulfilling its one of majorpre-poll promises within twoyears of taking over the statereins and despite acute finan-cial crunch, the Congress-led

Punjab Government main-tained that tenders for thesame have already been float-ed.

In the first phase, the grad-uating students of governmentschools, colleges and technicalinstitutions would be covered,and the students need to sub-mit self-certification statingthat they do not already possessa smart-phone.

The scheme, aimed at giv-ing further impetus to theState Government’s digitalempowerment agenda, willprovide for distribution ofmobile phones with varioussmart features, such as touchscreen, camera and applicationsto access social media etc.

In addition, one-time bun-dled 12 GB data and 600 localminutes talk time (voice) withone year validity would also beprovided under the scheme.

The vendor to implementthe scheme shall be selectedthrough an open transparentbidding process for which thetender document has alreadybeen f loated by PunjabInformation andCommunication TechnologyCorporation. Vendors shall beon board within a period ofabout two months and thefirst batch of phones is expect-ed to be distributed in the

month of March.Cabinet also authorised

the Chief Minister to finalisethe name of the scheme,besides authorising the chair-man of the committee for pro-curement and distribution ofsmart phones to make changesin the Request For Proposal(RFP) as may be required in thefuture.

Notably, the Punjab gov-ernment had announced a

scheme named ‘Mobile Phoneto the Youth’ in its budget forthe financial year 2017-18 withthe objective of providing dig-ital access to youth and infor-mation regarding education,career opportunities, access toskill development andemployment opportunities andbasic citizen-centric servicesthrough government applica-tions, etc.

This unique initiativewould help in connecting indigitally engaging the youth ofthe state. It would also encour-age and incentivise youth to usedigital technology in their day-to-day life besides enablingthem, among other things, tobe a beneficiary and a partnerin the government’s efforts todigitise Punjab through theDigital Punjab Initiative.

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Tightening the noosearound the absconding eco-nomic offenders, PunjabCabinet gave its nod to repub-lish Fugitive EconomicOffenders Act, 2018, to attachand confiscate their propertiesand assets.

Already approved by theParliament, the Act is aimed atempowering authorities toattach and confiscate propertiesand assets of the economicoffenders, such as loan default-ers, who had fled the country.

With this, the StateGovernment would republishthe Fugitive EconomicOffenders Act, 2018, (Act No17 of 2018) in the State Gazettein larger public interest, said thespokesperson, adding that afterRs 13,000 crore PNB scam byNirav Modi and Mehul Choksi,it had become apparent that theexisting civil and criminal pro-

visions were not entirely ade-quate to deal with the severityof the problem.

Spokesperson said thatabsence of offenders duringinvestigation was creating hur-dles for probing agencies, apartfrom undermining the law ofthe country.

Notably, the Act came intoeffect after the President’sassent on July 31, 2018, and waspublished in the Gazette ofIndia Extraordinary, Part-II,Section on August 1, 2018.

The Act will force theabsconders to return to Indiaand face trial for economicoffences, which would furtherhelp the banks and other finan-cial institutions to achievehigher recovery from suchdefaulters, besides improvingthe financial health of theseinstitutions.

The creation of a specialforum for speedy confiscationof the proceeds of crime, inIndia and abroad, would forcethe fugitive to return to India

to submit to the jurisdiction ofcourts in India to face the lawin respect of the scheduledoffences.

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To ensure greater trans-parency, efficiency andaccountability in public ser-vices, the Punjab Cabinet onWednesday approved a new setof draft rules under Section 20of the Punjab Transparencyand Accountability in Deliveryof Public Service Act, 2018 —framed by the Department ofGovernance Reforms andPublic Grievances.

The rules would help inensuring back-end computer-isation of all public serviceswithin three years, besidesmaking mandatory the provi-sion of online receipt of servicerequests.

Spokesperson said that therules emphasise on electronicdelivery of services to citizens,

as far as possible, in a time-bound manner to enhancetransparency and accountabil-ity, besides inclusion of ahealthy system of incentivesand disincentives for the pub-lic authorities and their staff.

They also provide for inti-mation or tracking of applica-tion status by applicantsthrough mobile phones orinternet. A simplified redressalor appeal mechanism, as well asa lean and thin Commission,namely Punjab Transparencyand Accountability in Deliveryof Public Services Commission,with faster delivery of justice,has also been incorporated tostrengthen the provision ofthe Act in letter and spirit.

Notably, the PunjabTransparency andAccountability in Delivery ofPublic Service Act, 2018received the assent of thePunjab Governor on July 12,2018, and was notified andcame into effect on July 17,2018.

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)��� 68,/�"�,-8�

To study ways and means toregulate use of water in the

State through conservation andmanagement of the criticalwater resources, PunjabCabinet on Wednesday con-stituted a sub-committee.

Comprising CabinetMinisters Navjot Singh Sidhu,Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa,Sukh Sarkaria and RaziaSultana, the sub-committeehas been mandated to exploreand suggest measures to tack-le critical water situation in thestate.

The issue was taken up for

an informal discussion duringthe meeting, held under thechairmanship of Chief MinisterCapt Amarinder Singh.

The sub-committee mem-bers will visit Israel to studytheir water conservation modeland examine the feasibility ofits adoption in Punjab.

The Cabinet also entrust-ed the sub-committee with thetask of examining variousobjections expressed by someof the ministers on the scopeand functioning of the pro-posed Punjab Water Regulationand Development Authority(PWRDA), which was mootedlast month.

The government had laterdecided to withdraw the pro-posed legislation for the con-stitution of the Authority afterreservations were expressedby some of the ministers withrespect to its operations, par-ticularly with reference to itspowers to impose tariff.

Sangrur, Jalandhar, andMoga, tops the list with maxi-mum over exploitation ofground water followed byKapurthala, Barnala, FatehgarhSahib, and Patiala, Ludhiana,Faridkot, Ferozpur, Mansa,Tarn Taran, Amritsar,Gurdaspur, Ropar andNawanshahr.

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)��� 68,/�"�,-8

Not compromising on firesafety and structural safe-

ty standards of the buildings,Punjab Cabinet on Wednesdayapproved One-TimeSettlement (OTS) of non-com-poundable violations in case ofunauthorised constructionsthat have come up in the stateup to June 30, 2018.

The Cabinet approved forpromulgation ‘The PunjabOne-Time VoluntaryDisclosure and Settlement ofViolations of the BuildingsOrdinance, 2018’ for all build-ings constructed in violation ofthe building bylaws in themunicipal areas as per thesaid cut-off date.

The move is aimed toensure that unauthorizedbuildings, that have come upover the years, are aligned tothe parking, fire and safetystandards across the state as itis no longer feasible to demol-ish such buildings.

During the meeting, theLocal Government MinisterNavjot Singh Sidhu informedthe meeting that theDepartment was also workingon a separate policy for a one-time settlement for CLU(change of land use) violations,after the issue was raised byFood and Civil SuppliesMinister Bharat BhushanAshu.

The Ordinance providesthat any person, who has madea non-compoundable buildingviolation till June 30, 2018, maydisclose voluntarily such vio-

lation and apply online, alongwith photographs of the build-ing, to the competent author-ity within a period of threemonths.

The applicant shall submitthe requisite information, doc-uments or plans and pre-scribed application fee there-after within a period of twomonths.

It has been made clear thatviolation of land use, exceptconversion of shop-cum-flat tocommercial, in the TownPlanning or Building Schemes,Improvement Trust Schemes,Urban Estates, Industrial FocalPoints or Schemes formulatedunder any other Act,Encroachment on any publicor private land or on publicspace by virtue of any Schemeor Restricted areas under anyAct prohibiting the construc-tion of buildings in a particu-lar area, would not be com-poundable.

In case of non-residentialbuilding violations, exceptwhere fire safety and publicsafety or security and publicconvenience is compromised,will be similarly settled againstcomposition fee of Rs 1,000per sq ft of the total non-com-poundable area in Amritsar,Jalandhar and Ludhiana, andRs 600 per sq ft in otherinstances.

In case the applicant isunable to provide parkingspace, the applicant shall beliable to pay parking cessequivalent to the prevailingcollector rate of land requiredto fulfil the shortage of ECS.

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)��� 68,/�"�,-8

To make process of teachers’transfers more rational and

transparent, Punjab Cabinet onWednesday approved OnlineTransfer Policy-2019 of SchoolEducation Department thusensuring equal opportunity forall employees using onlinemethod for seeking transfers.

At the same time, ChiefMinister Capt Amarinder Singhhad asked all departments tocome up with performance-based review policy for transferof employees.

The transfer policy wouldbecome effective from academicsession 2019-20, that is April 1,2019, and would be applicableto all teaching cadre posts —ETT, HT, CHT, Master, C&V,lecturer, vocational masters,principals and headmasters,except employees on extensionof services after attaining the ageof superannuation.

Posts of ministerial cadre,block officers, district officers,principal DIETS shall not becovered under the policy.

In the new policy, theDepartment has done awaywith the condition of teachersto be compulsorily transferredafter seven years of service in aparticular zone or school. Theearlier condition of havingthree-year minimum stay at oneparticular station before ateacher can put a request to gethimself or herself transferredhas been now changed to oneyear, but for newly-appointedteachers, the minimum stay atone place will be three years.

However, newly-marriedfemale teachers could seektransfer once in these three yearsif they get married after appoint-ment.

Cancer patients or patientson dialysis, those with over 60percent disability, hepatitis Band C, sickle cell anaemia,Thalassemia, divorced or per-sons having differently-abledchildren or mentally challengedchildren, war widow or widowof Shaheed or where death ofthe spouse makes it necessaryfor the serving employee to relo-cate to another place immedi-ately and having children below15 years of age or teachers whoare spouses of armed force per-sonal, who have been posted indifficult areas, may put inrequest for transfer any timeduring the year and the sameshall be considered by thedepartment on merit.

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)��� 68,/�"�,-8

Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on

Wednesday directed the ChiefSecretary to prepare a detailedplan for renovation of infra-structure and other amenitiesat both the Main and MiniSecretariat office buildings.

The Chief Minister hasalso directed the ChiefSecretary Karan Avtar Singh toexpedite the process of digiti-sation of government files.

Appreciating the newly-renovated seventh floor of themini secretariat building,which he inspected onWednesday, Capt Amarinderalso asked the PWD SecretaryHussan Lal to replicate themodel floor work on both thebuildings floor-wise, in a

focused manner, once thedetailed plan is approved.

Also congratulating theCommittee members over-looking the rehauling works,Capt Amarinder asked them toensure a conducive and seam-less working environment foremployees and staff members.

Reaffirming his personalcommitment towards the wel-fare of employees, the ChiefMinister assured that despitethe tight financial situation, hisgovernment would provide allfunds necessary for the upgra-dation of facilities required forproper discharge of duty by theemployees.

Notably, the top floor ofthe Mini Secretariat, whichhouses the office rooms andbranch offices of PWD, WaterSupply and Sanitation, besidesWater Resources and Minesand NRI Affairs departments,has been refurbished with allthe modern facilities as a sam-ple layout and would serve asa benchmark for the overhaulof the remaining floors of boththe Secretariats.

On the occasion, CaptAmarinder also interacted withthe staff of Mini Secretariat andwished them a prosperous newyear.

)��� 68,/�"�,-8

Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal on Wednesday

handed over the final possessioncertificate of flats to the benefi-ciaries of affordable housingscheme under Defence andParamilitary category floated byHaryana Housing Board in Sector31, Panchkula.

The Chief Minister while

addressing the beneficiaries saidthat they had served the nationwith dedication.

Speaking on the occasion,Housing Minister, Krishan LalPanwar said that this is firstscheme of the country underwhich flats have been provided todefence personnel at one place.

After constitution ofHousing Board, 90,000 flats havebeen constructed by the Board of

which 90 per cent are for peoplebelonging to economically weak-er sections. Such scheme wasbeing implemented for defencepersonnel in Jhajjar andFaridabad, he said.

Giving details of the scheme,Chairman, Haryana HousingBoard, Jawahar Yadav informedthe Chief Minister that the Boardwould construct a total of 711 flatsfor defence personnel.

)��� 68,/�"�,-8

To revive the mythologicalSaraswati river and ensure flow

of fresh water in it, HaryanaGovernment on Wednesdayapproved 11 major projects includ-ing the restoration of various heritagesites along the course of riverSaraswati.

The CM Manohar Lal, while pre-siding over a meeting of GoverningBody of Haryana Saraswati HeritageDevelopment Board (HSHDB) saidthat it is the priority of StateGovernment to ensure that freshwater flow in Saraswati river and toensure this, various steps are beingtaken.

On this occasion, he alsolaunched a mobile App developed bythe Haryana Saraswati HeritageDevelopment Board.

The information related to

Saraswati river including scientificevidences of its existence and otherrelevant studies have been madeavailable on this App.

He also approved the logo of theSaraswati Heritage DevelopmentBoard, said an official spokesman.

During the meeting, the Boardapproved the proposal for appoint-ment of consultant to assess the tech-no-feasibility for water way/heritagedevelopment/pilgrimage tourismactivities from Pipli to Jyotisar andat Pehowa in district Kurukshetra.

It also approved grant-in-aid ofRs 50 lakh annually for carrying outresearch activities at the Centre ofExcellence at Kurukshetra University.

The spokesman said that the pro-jects which were approved for therejuvenation and development ofSaraswati river in the state includedconstruction of Somb Saraswati bar-rage and Saraswati reservoir, con-

struction of Adi Badri dam and otherdevelopment works in HimachalPradesh and Haryana at Adi Badri indistrict Yamunanagar, Saraswatiriver rejuvenation from Saraswatireservoir to its outfall in riverGhaggar, interlinking of Markandariver and Saraswati river throughKainthla supply channel, construc-tion of waste water treatment plantsfor recycling of all waste waterfalling into Saraswati river, con-struction of RCC divide wall atSaraswati Tirath at Saraswati Nagar.

He said that the Board alsoapproved construction of SaraswatiGhat at village Bhaini and Mangnain district Kurukshetra, constructionof bridges on river Saraswati at vil-lage Ishargarh and Beer Pipli nearPratapgarh in district Kurukshetrafor the convenience of people, devel-opment works for restoration ofheritage places along the course of

Saraswati river including heritage siteand construction or development oftemples and ghats and linking ofSaraswati river heritage researchinstitute with centre of excellence forresearch on Saraswati river estab-lished at Kurukshetra University.

During the meeting, it wasinformed that the construction ofSomb Saraswati barrage andSaraswati reservoir would facilitatestorage of 1000 hectare meters waterin Saraswati reservoir which wouldfulfil the need of flow of water inSaraswati river to a large extent.

Similarly, after the completion ofconstruction of Adi Badri dam andother development works inHimachal Pradesh and Haryana atadi Badri, the storage capacity of theproposed Saraswati reservoir at vil-lage Rampur Herian, RampurKambian and Chillaur in Haryanaarea would be increased from 100hectare meters to 1475 hectaremeters. This would enable SaraswatiRiver to run with a discharge of 200cusecs in monsoon season.

It was informed that the NOCfor interstate clearance fromHimachal Pradesh Government hasalready been obtained in this regard.

The CM was also apprized thatwith the completion of interlinkingof Markanda river and Saraswatiriver through Kainthla supply chan-nel, 3000 cusecs of flood water couldbe diverted from Markanda river toSaraswati river from Jhansa head of

Markand river. The work for the construction of

Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) atKurukshetra and Saraswati Nagar isin progress and for the constructionof STP at Bilaspur, the detailed pro-ject report (DPR) would be finalizedwithin ten days by the Public HealthEngineering Department.

It was also informed that theHSHDB has identified the heritagesites which include various temples,ghats and other structures along thecourse of Saraswati for their devel-opment and restoration.

Earlier, Deputy Chairman ofHSHDB Prashant Bharadwaj pre-sented water collected from 427 dif-ferent rivers to CM in a bottle.Manohar Lal alongwith Union RoadTransport and Highways MinisterNitin Gadkari had performed MahaJalabhishek at Adi Badri in districtYamunanagar recently.

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)��� 68,/�"�,-8

Haryana Government onWednesday directed vari-

ous departments, boards andcorporations to make all offi-cial comments and correspon-dence only in “Hindi” lan-guage.

An order in this regard wasissued from the ChiefSecretary’s office to all admin-istrative secretaries, Head ofDepartments, ChiefAdministrators and ManagingDirectors of Boards/Corporation, Registrar ofUniversities, divisional com-missioners and deputy com-missioners on Wednesday.

Haryana Government hasdirected the authorities con-cerned to ensure strict com-pliance of the directions.

While normal correspon-dence with the general publicwould also be in Hindi, thedepartments has been asked toensure clear translation of allforms and applications forms inHindi and English and uploadthese on their websites forpeople’s inconvenience. Theyhave also been asked to makeall official comments in“Hindi” language.

However, the use ofEnglish would continue in legalmatters related to the SupremeCourt, Punjab and HaryanaHigh Court and other courts,

the order stated. Though theOfficial Language Act, 1969,provided for adoption of Hindias the language to be used forofficial purposes in Haryana,the Act is yet to be imple-mented in letter and spirit inthe government offices.

Referring to the circularissued, Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal on Wednesdaysaid that Hindi is the officiallanguage of North Indianstates, but in order to encour-age it, the government depart-ments should do maximumcorrespondence in Hindi lan-guage so that general publicwould easily get information.

Manohar Lal said thatwhere correspondence by gov-ernment departments is carriedout with court and other non-Hindi speaking states, Englishshould be used alongwithHindi language.

He said that as far as corre-spondence in Hindi language ingovernment departments ofHaryana is concerned, theGeneral Administration branchof Chief Secretary’s office hasissued circulars to theAdministrative Secretaries fromtime to time. The ChiefSecretary’s office has issued onesuch circular on Wednesday. Notonly this, the Chief Secretary’soffice had also issued such cir-culars in 1993, 1999, 2006 and2016, the Chief Minister added.

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For the border area developmentat a rapid pace by having better

connectivity, Punjab Social Security,Women and Child Developmentand Transport Minister Aruna

Chaudhary on Wednesday writtento the Union Minister of RoadTransport and Highways andShipping Nitin Gadkari for theconstruction of a permanent highlevel bridge at Makaura Pattan vil-lage in Gurdaspur.

Terming the project as the“absolute necessity” for upliftingeconomy of Gurdaspur and Majharegion, Chaudhary detailed thatthere is a temporary pontoon bridgeat Makaura Pattan which is laidevery year over river Ravi after mon-

soon rains.“There are seven villages across

the river which are not connectedwith an all weather road and thebridge is dismantled every yearbefore rainy season with peopleusing boats to cross the river,” said

Chaudhary, who is also MLA fromDinanagar in Gurdaspur.

Chaudhary pointed out thatthe local residents face a lot of trou-ble for doing their daily chores. “Thestudents have schools and collegeson other side of the river, farmers are

unable to bring their produce fromtheir fields to market as well as sugarmills leading to huge losses offinancial nature. The medical aidalso is unable to reach the people incrunch situations,” she said.

Keeping in view the above con-

siderations, she said that the need ofthis bridge is immense andexpressed strong hope that theUnion Minister would take a sym-pathetic view of the situation andbestow this gift to the inhabitants ofborder areas.

)�������������������68,/�"�,-8

Targeting the Congressparty on the issue of

Sohrabuddin encounter case,Har yana Chief MinisterManohar Lal on Wednesdaysaid that the Congress isaccused of misusing admin-istrative framework to takeaction against its politicalopposition parties.

“But the decision of spe-cial CBI court has made itclear that Congress had triedto push down the justice andconstitution to ruin the imageof BJP President Amit Shah inthe case of terroristSohrabuddin Sheikh,”Manohar Lal said.

The special court hasacquitted Amit Shah and oth-ers, which was a major jolt tothe Congress party, he said.

The Har yana ChiefMinister Manohar Lal alsocriticized Congress PresidentRahul Gandhi, who wasexpressing sympathy towardsterrorist Sohrabuddin Sheikhby stating that he was notkilled by anyone and he diedhimself.

Continuing his tiradeagainst the Congress,Har yana Chief MinisterManohar Lal said that nowRahul Gandhi and seniorCongress leaders have beenexposed. Ironically, HomeMinister of a State was putbehind bars on the direc-tions of the then CongressGovernment on the death of

a terrorist, he said.The Congress and its

senior leaders had conspiredto defame the then ChiefMinister and current PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andtried to make Amit Shah the victim of politicalrivalry. The Congress express-es sympathies towards ter-rorists and stands in theirsupport due to which theirtruth is in front of people,Har yana Chief MinisterManohar Lal added.

He further said that theBJP and the party workersexpress gratitude towards thejudiciary and advices theCongress Party to stay awayfrom such acts and raise itsethical level.

Due to such acts, the ide-ology and credibility of theCongress is leading towardsend, he added.

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The CBI has booked fiveArmy personnel, including

a colonel, for allegedly receiv-ing bribe amount worth �18lakh from a supplier of rationsfor troops posted in Assam andArunachal Pradesh.

This is the second FIR inthe recent past when the CBIhas booked against army offi-cers for corruption in sup-plies.

In the latest case, theagency has named ColonelRaman Dahda, LieutenantColonel Mahendra Kumar,Subedar Devender Kumar,Havildar Abhay Singh, SubedarSahuran Sahu and supplier K KYangfo in the FIR for criminalconspiracy and graft.

Dahda was the thenCommanding Officer of the556 Army Supply Corps andMahendra Kumar a platooncommander. The duo has beenbooked under provisions of thePrevention of Corruption Actbesides criminal conspiracy ofthe Indian Penal Code.

The FIR alleged that theofficers received �18 lakh incash from civilian contractorsin regard to procurement offresh and dry rations for troopsdeployed in Assam andArunachal Pradesh.

The CBI FIR was registeredon the basis of a complaintfrom the Army.

Dahda allegedly misusedhis official position andreceived �4.15 lakh from sup-plier Yangfo through two trans-actions in his father’s bank

account. According to the com-plaint, Mahender Kumar, whowas responsible for qualitycheck, allegedly misused hisofficial position and took Rs 1lakh as bribe.

Subedar Devender Kumarallegedly took a bribe of �2.04lakh, Havildar Abhay Kumar�and Subedar Sahuran Saho�7.65 lakh in three separatetransactions from Yangfo.

Yangfo, a civilian contrac-tor in Arunachal Pradesh’sTawang, supplied ration for theArmy between 2015 and 2017.

The CBI had earlier regis-tered a Preliminary Enquirywhich revealed that undueadvantage was given to anentire chain of officials and unitrepresentatives involved inchecking of quality and quan-tity of items being supplied byYangfo.

Following prima facie evi-dentiary materials emergingduring the PE, the agency reg-istered an FIR against the sus-pects.

The CBI had earlier regis-tered a similar FIR against LtCol Amit Sharma and Lt ColSutikshan Rana, officers of theArmy Service Corps, whoallegedly received bribes worthRs 82 lakh between 2012 and2016 from a supplier of rationin Nagaland.

)��� /1 ��1+8"

As the Rajya Sabha contin-ued to witness disruptions

since the winter session beganon December 11 last year,Chairman M Venkaiah Naidusaid here on Wednesday thenation cannot emerge strongerwithout a shared Parliamentaryagenda among different polit-ical parties. He said this afterreleasing the ‘Rajya SabhaCalendar 2019’ in the presenceof senior leaders of differentparties in Parliament House.

Referring to the persistingturbulence in the Upper House,Naidu invoked 12 precedingchairmen of the Rajya Sabhawho insisted on ensuring effec-tive functioning of the Houseso as to contribute to nationbuilding.

“I am pained by our inabil-ity to ensure convergence ofdifferent agendas into a nation-al agenda. No nation canemerge stronger without sucha shared parliamentary agen-da,” he said after the calendarlaunch. Rajya Sabha DeputyChairman Harivansh, Leader of

the House and FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley andLeader of the OppositionGhulam Nabi Azad were alsopresent at the launch.

“Parliamentary institutionscan’t be held captive to thecompeting agendas. We can’tafford to lose any more time inlending a degree of maturity toour democratic processes andinstitutions. The civility of pro-ceedings in Parliamentary insti-tutions is a certain barometer of

an aspiring nation finding it’sfeet and fulfilling it’s quest,” hesaid. The 2019 calendar features65 leaders, including 13 formerchairmen, 12 former deputychairpersons, 26 leaders of theHouse and 14 leaders of theopposition, since the inceptionof the Upper House in 1952.

Referring to this, Naidunoted that the calendar is achronicle of political changesand the history of the RajyaSabha since 1952. Describing the

calendar as innovative, imagi-native and inspiring, the chair-man recalled what his prede-cessors had said about the func-tioning of the House andexpressed hope that it wouldserve as a reminder to all theleaders and members about theneed for its effective functioning.

The calendar features onechairman on each page alongwith the quotes of what theyhad said about the expectationsfrom the House and its mem-

bers. The calendar reveals thatthe Upper House did not havea leader of opposition for 34years since the Rajya Sabhacame into being.

Former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh has the dis-tinction of being the leader ofopposition and leader of theHouse in Rajya Sabha for thelongest duration of over sixyears and 10 years respectively.

While the first leader ofopposition in Rajya Sabha wasShyam Nandan, Congress (O)’sfirst leader of the House wasNarasimha GopalaswamiAyyangar while the first deputychairman was SVKrishnamoorthy Rao.

Rajya Sabha chairmen whowent on to become presidentswere Dr SarvepalliRadhakrishnan, Dr ZakirHusain, VV Giri, RVenkataraman, Shanker DayalSharma and KR Narayanan.The first leader of the House tobecome president was PranabMukherjee and the first deputychairperson to become presi-dent was Pratibha DevisinghPatil.

��������������� /1 ��1+8"

AParliamentary panel hastaken exception to the low

bed occupancy rate at the sixnew AIIMS, commenting thatit speaks volumes about the‘prevalent distrust’ in thehealthcare facilities at theseinstitutes in Bhopal,Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna,Raipur and Rishikesh.

Giving instance of the dis-mal bed occupancy just 37per cent against 40 beds in theobstetrics and gynaecologydepartments of the six newAIIMS, the panel said that theinstitutes which were antici-pated to serve as an excellentcentre of medical care havefailed miserably to accomplishthe desired objective of health-care to all.

In its report on the “func-tioning of the six new AIIMS(Phase-1) under the PradhanMantri Swasthya SurakshaYojana”, the panel headed byRajya Sabha member Ram

Gopal Yadav also recom-mended that the new AIIMSshould be included in the MeraAspataal (My Hospital) initia-tive of the Health Ministry thatcaptures patient feedback forservices received at the hospi-tal through multiple channelssuch as SMS, outbound dialling(OBD) mobile application andweb portals.

It also called for quarterlyassessment of the bed occu-pancy rate in all the six AIIMSand said the institutes shouldsubmit a status note citing rea-sons for its failure towardsoptimum utilisation of tertiarycare facilities and low bedoccupancy rate.

The panel was also curious

to know if the establishment ofthe AIIMS in the six States hashad any impact on the patientload in AIIMS Delhi fromthese States. “The idea behindregional AIIMS was to providetertiary health care facilities inall the States so that the localpatients do not have to rush toAIIMS Delhi for even basicmedical care.

“Therefore, the Committeedesires AIIMS Delhi to submita report on the impact thesenew AIIMS like Institutionshad on patient load. AIIMSDelhi should also submit areport on the number ofPatients that were transferredfrom the regional AIIMS toAIIMS Delhi,” said the report.

)��� /1 ��1+8"

The Centre on Wednesdaydecided to set up a high-

level committee to recommendhow to provide constitutional,legislative and administrativesafeguards to the indigenouspeople of Assam promised inthe Assam Accord of 1985,including by reserving seats inthe State Assembly.

Detailing the Cabinet deci-sion, Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh said that a deci-sion was also taken to imple-ment the cultural heritage aspromised in the Bodo Accordin 2003.

“The committee will holddiscussions with all stakehold-ers and assess the requiredquantum of reservation of seatsin the Assam LegislativeAssembly and local bodies forAssamese people,” he said,while addressing the mediaalong with Home SecretaryRajiv Gauba.

The Home Minister saidthe panel will also assess therequirement of measures to betaken to protect Assamese andother indigenous languages ofthe state, quantum of reserva-tion in employment under theGovernment of Assam andother measures to protect, pre-serve and promote cultural,social, linguistic identity andheritage of Assamese people.

“It was a very significantdecision for the promotionand protection of cultural,social, linguistic identity andheritage of Assamese people,”he said, adding that the termsof reference and composition ofthe committee will be

announced within the nextfew days.

“The composition andterms of reference of the com-mittee will be issued separate-ly by the Ministry of HomeAffairs. It is expected that thesetting up of the committee willpave the way for the imple-mentation of the Assam Accordin letter and spirit and will helpfulfil the longstanding expec-tations of the Assamese people,”Singh said.

The Union Cabinet alsoapproved a number of mea-sures to fulfil the outstandingissues related to the Bodo com-munity that include establish-ment of a Bodo museum-cum-language and cultural studycentre, modernisation of exist-ing All India Radio station andDoordarshan kendra atKokrajhar and naming a super-fast train passing throughBodoland TerritorialAdministrative Districts(BTAD) as ARONAI Express.The Home Minister said rele-vant Central Ministries willtake the required actions toimplement these decisions.

)��� /1 ��1+8"

Upping his ante againstPrime Minister Narendra

Modi over the Rafale issueeven outside Parliament,Congress president RahulGandhi on Wednesday used apurported audio clip to allegethat Goa Chief MinisterManohar Parrikar is “black-mailing” Modi with a file onthe �58,000-crore jet deal “lyingin his bedroom”. He alsoattacked Finance MinisterArun Jaitley and simultane-ously challenged Modi for a 20-minute one-on-one debate overissues including defence anddiplomacy.

After his speech in theLok Sabha in the day, Rahulconvened a Press conference inthe evening where he playedthe audio clip of a conversationpurportedly of Goa MinisterVishwajit Rane, and alleged that the audio isclearly heard as saying thatParrikar told his cabinet duringa meeting that all documentsrelating to the Rafale deal werewith him and therefore, he can’tbe disturbed.

Asserting that the audiowas authentic, Rahul indicatedthere may be more such tapesand dismissed denials byParrikar and his Minister.Jaitley had questioned the

veracity of the tapes which theGandhi scion cited in the floorof the Parliament.

Demanding answers fromthe Prime Minister onParrikar’s purported claim,Rahul asked if this was the rea-son why a Joint ParliamentaryCommittee (JPC) probe wasnot being ordered. He said theentire country wants Modi to

answer these questions.“The Goa minister is say-

ing clearly that Parrikar ji saidin a cabinet meeting that he hasa complete file on Rafale dealwith all details and therefore, hecan’t be disturbed. There maybe other such audio tapes,” saidthe Congress chief.

The Congress along withother opposition parties is

demanding a JointParliamentary Committee toprobe the �58,000 crore deal.“What Parrikar is doing isthreatening the Prime Ministerand blackmailing him in away. We have been raising thisfor a long time. Question iswhat information is there inParrikar’s bedroom and whatfiles are there and what could

be the impact on NarendraModi,” he alleged.

He also asked who raisedthe price of Rafale aircraftfrom �526 crore to �1,600crore. Attacking Jaitley, Rahulsaid there were inconsistenciesin the statements being madeby Finance Minister and othersin the government.

Jaitley has himself said thisis a �58000 crore deal and if wedivide it by 36, it will be �1600crore. That’s how the figure of�526 crore (for price of one air-craft) comes. It is not our(Congress’s) number but yours(the Government’s),” Rahul stated.

He also said the primeminister needs to answer whatobjections were raised by theIAF or by the defence ministry,if there were any. “”NowParrikar says all details are inhis bedroom. Truth can’t bekept hidden The more you tryto hide the truth, new facts willcome out,” he said.

Attacking PM, Rahul said,“The person who went toFrance with all pomp andshow, he can’t reply and standin Parliament, but it is financeminister who is being made toreply.” Repeating his allega-tion that “chowkidar chor hai”,Rahul said a JPC probe wouldclear throw two names — AnilAmbani and Narendra Modi.

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Presiding officers of boththe Houses of Parliament

on Wednesday took the toughdecision of suspendingAIADMK and DMK mem-bers for continuously raising adin over the days and disrupt-ing the proceedings.

Lok Sabha Speaker SumitraMahajan suspended 24AIADMK members for nextfive consecutive sittings (days)due to the “grave disorder” theycaused with their protests overthe Cauvery issue in the Wellof the House. Her action cameeven as the House was havingdebate on the Rafale issue.

And Rajya SabhaChairman M Venkaiah Naidu,after being unable to convincethe agitating members to allowthe House to run, orderedmembers of AIADMK andDMK to leave the House for theday when they continued toprotest in the Well over theCauvery issue.

AIADMK members hadtrooped into the Well withplacards and some flingingtorn pieces of papers towardsthe table where Lok Sabha sec-retariat officials sit during pro-ceedings.

A visibly peeved Mahajansuspended the 24 members ofAIADMK under rule 374 (A)that allows Lok Sabha speakerto suspend members in theevent of grave disorder occa-

sioned by a member cominginto the Well of the House orabusing the rules of the House,among other things.

The AIADMK MPs sus-pended included K AshokKumar, RK Bharathi Mohan, MChandrakasi, JayakumarJayavardhan, K Parasuraman,Dr K Kamraj, P Kumar, MVasanti, C Mahendram, KMargatham and P Nagarajan.The AIADMK, the third largestparty in the House, has 37members.

The Upper House had tobe adjourned twice in the after-noon amid din over the issueand finally for the day, minutesafter it reassembled at 3 PM.The protest by these membersprompted Naidu to invokeRule 255, asking over a dozenmembers of both parties fromTamil Nadu to leave the Housefor the day.

Rule 255 provides that theChairman may direct anymember whose conduct, inhis opinion, is grossly disor-derly to withdraw immediate-ly from the council. It says anymember so ordered to with-draw shall do so forthwith andshall absent himself during thereminder of the day’s meeting.

When the House resumedon the day AIADMK andDMK members started withtheir protests while manyCongress MPs raised slogansfor a JPC probe into the Rafalefighter jet deal. The Housewas adjourned twice during theZero Hour.

Naidu made a fervent

appeal for smooth functioningof the House as only fourworking days were left in thecurrent Winter session andmany important bills and dis-cussions were pending.

The Rajya Sabha has facedrepeated disruptions on variousissue and not transacted anysubstantial business since itmet on December 11 for theWinter session. “People areridiculing us,” Naidu said, refer-ring to repeated adjournmentsin the Upper House because ofdisruptions.

The Chairman said actionwould be taken against mem-bers protesting in the Well, ifthere is consensus in the House.However, he added that actionwould be against all memberswho troop into the Well. “Itcannot be selective”.

Parliamentary AffairsMinister Vijay Goel alsorequested the members fromTamil Nadu to allow the WaterResources Minister NitinGadkari to deliver his state-ment on the Cauvery issue.Naidu also said the ministerhad been called to the House todeliver a statement followingthe Tamil Nadu members’request and now he should beallowed to do so.

However, the membersfrom AIADMK continued theirprotest in the Well, with fourDMK members also joining toassociate with them. In themeantime, Naidu said now theminister (Gadkari) would notmake a statement. He thenasked Home Minister RajnathSingh to move a resolution toproclaim President’s rule inJammu and Kashmir onDecember 19, 2018 underArticle 356 of the Constitution.

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Former Union MinistersYashwant Sinha and Arun

Shourie along with advocatePrashant Bhushan approachedthe Supreme Court onWednesday seeking review ofits December 14 judgmentwhich dismissed all PILs alleg-ing irregularities in the pro-curement of 36 Rafale jetsfrom France.

The apex court had reliedupon “patently incorrect”claims made by the govern-ment in an unsigned notegiven in a sealed cover in thecourt, they alleged in theirreview plea. They said that theywere not given an opportuni-ty to be heard on the claimsmade by the Government inthe note “resulting in gross mis-carriage of justice”.

A three-judge Bench head-ed by Chief Justice RanjanGogoi had on December 14

dismissed all Public InterestLitigations (PILs) against thedeal between India and Francefor procurement of 36 Rafalefighter jets, saying there was nooccasion to “really doubt thedecision making process” war-ranting setting aside of thecontract.

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New Delhi: With Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi unre-lenting, Finance MinisterArun Jaitley too onWednesday continued withhis counters to take onOpposition leader. In a seriesof tweets, Jaitley questionedthe knowledge of Rahul saying“How much does he know?When will be know?”

His comments come on aday when Parliament wit-nessed an uproar over theRafale deal. During the debate,Gandhi wanted to know fromthe Government why the priceof the fighter jet went upfrom �526 crore to �1,600crore. “Even a fool will notcompare prices of a simple fly-away aircraft with aweaponised jet,” Jaitley said.

He further said that evenin the offer made to the UPAGovernment there were twodifferent prices — one of theflyaway aircraft and the offerof the weaponised aircraft.

PNS

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The police authorities inJammu & Kashmir have

described year 2018 as a suc-cessful period against terrorism recording killing ofover 250 terrorists and 45 secu-rity personnel.

Talking to mediapersons,Director General of PoliceDilbagh Singh said that year2018 was a mixed bag of goodand bad happenings.

Singh said that around 93encounters with terroristsoccurred during the year 2018where 87 of them were con-cluded without any collateraldamage. He said 252 terrorists(including Pakistanis) werekilled during the previous yearwhich is success to the counterterrorism grid.

Statistics compiled suggestthat 106 civilians were killed inyear 2018 that includes thoseyouth who were part of protestsnear gunfight sites trying to dis-rupt counter-terrorist opera-tions, at various places in southand other areas in Kashmir.

“The sad part is we lostaround 90 security personnelalso, half of them killed by ter-rorists brutally and they madethese killings public throughvideos on social media,” Singhsaid. He said 45 personnel of

J&K police, 09 CRPF and 30Army personnel were killed.

Dilbagh said that 44 civil-ians were also killed by terror-ists. In reply to a question, DGPsaid that cross border infiltra-tion was still going on as majorinfiltration attempts were madein year 2018. He said all possi-ble measures were being takento stop infiltration of terroristsfrom across the border.

He acknowledged that alarge number of youths joinedterrorists. He said that most ofthem were killed duringencounters.

In reply to a question, DGPsaid that there is no substantialpresence of ISIS in Kashmir. He,however, said that attemptswere being made to radicaliseKashmiri Muslim youths totread extreme path leading toextremism.

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Army Chief Gen BipinRawat on Wednesday

reviewed the security situationand preparedness of troopsduring his visits to severalarmy formations in KashmirValley on the second day of hisJ&K visit.

Accompanied by theNorthern Army CommanderLt Gen Ranbir Singh, theArmy Chief was briefed by XVCorps Commander, Lt GenAK Bhatt, at the Corps head-quarters on the overall situa-tion and major operational,informational, logistical and

administrative aspects, adefence spokesman said. GenRawat visited the formationsand units deployed in SouthKashmir, where he was briefedby the local Commanders onexisting security situation andthe measures instituted toensure close coordination withall Govt agencies towardsmaintaining vigil and peace.During his interaction with thesoldiers on ground, the Chiefof Army Staff lauded them fortheir high levels of morale anddedication and further rein-forced the need to be preparedto meet emerging securitychallenges effectively, thespokesman said.

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Shillong: The divers from theIndian Navy and the NDRF onWednesday could not go downthe 370 foot-deep mine, inwhich 15 miners are trappedfor nearly three weeks, even asdraining out of a nearby aban-doned mine they believe maybe connected to it continued,officials said.

A high-powered sub-mersible pump from CoalIndia Ltd will be put into oper-ation Thursday in the aban-doned mine, while more

pumps from Odissa Fire andDisaster service are to bepressed into services in moreabandoned mines, they said.

The divers from the Indiannavy and the NDRF did not go

down the main shaft to rescuethe trapped miners because ‘de-watering’ was going on in thenearby mines and there was nosignificant decrease in waterlevel there, operationspokesperson R Susngi told PTI, giving details of theoperation on the 21st day of thedisaster.

At about 5.30 pm, thewater level at the nearby aban-doned mine went down by 16inches, he said. On Tuesday,water level in this mine had

lowered down by six inches.The spokesperson said the

services of the Navy and NDRFdivers will be used once thewater level at the main shaftdecreases to about 100 feetfrom its current level of over160 feet.

A high powered sub-mersible pump from CoalIndia Ltd, which arrived hereTuesday night, is expected to befully operational and beginpumping on Thursday, Susngisaid. PTI

Patna: BJP president AmitShah was framed in theSohrabuddin Sheikh encountercase by the CBI at the instanceof the Congress which was thenin power at the Centre, BiharMinister Mangal Pandeyalleged on Wednesday.

Pandey, a former State BJPpresident, claimed that thecase was aimed at defamingPrime Minister Narendra Modiwho was then the GujaratChief Minister, and Shah wasthe Minister of State for Homein that State.

He was reacting to thespecial Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) court’srecent decision acquitting Shahand others in the case.

The special CBI court inMumbai had on December 21acquitted all 22 accused in thekilling of Sheikh, his wifeKausar Bi and his aide TulsiPrajapati in alleged fakeencounters by Gujarat Policebetween 2005 and 2006 citinginsufficient evidence.

Shah was arrested briefly in2010 in the case before beingdischarged in December 2014.

Pandey also accused UPAChairperson Sonia Gandhi ofusing the investigating agencyfor political ends.

Claiming that Sohrabuddinwas a criminal, the BJP leaderalleged that the Congress hasbeen in the habit of eulogisingthose involved in terror activ-ities. PTI

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Chennai: The Tamil NaduGovernment on Wednesdayrejected the request of theSterlite copper smelter plant toreopen its unit at Tuticorin fol-lowing an NGT order settingaside its closure, saying it hasmoved the Supreme Courtagainst the tribunal’s verdict.

The Tamil Nadu PollutionControl Board, in a letter to theplant, said “you are informedthat the Tamil NaduGovernment and TNPCB hasfiled the appeal before theSupreme Court on January 2.”

The State Government hadon May 28 directed the TNPCBto seal and ‘permanently’ closethe copper plant, followingviolent protests over pollutionconcerns.

On an appeal by the com-pany, the NGT on December15 quashed the order, holdingthat it was “non-sustainable”and “unjustified”.

Following this, the Vedantagroup company on December20 said it had sought permission from TNPCB toopen its plant.

Sterlite Chief ExecutiveOfficer P Ramnath had saidthat after getting the TNPCBpermission, it would take abouttwo months to make the plantoperational.

Responding to Sterlite’s let-ter, seeking renewal of consentunder the Water and Air Actsand authorisation under theHazardous Wastes Rules,TNPCB said the plea cannot be

considered.The firm wanted opening of

the seal of the premises, restora-tion of electricity supply andproviding access to the plant tocarry out urgent care and main-tenance services, PCB said.

On December 21, theMadurai Bench of the MadrasHigh Court had, on a plea froman Anti-Sterlite Movement’sactivist, directed status quo onthe Sterlite issue till January 21and asked Tamil Nadu toinform the court if it intendedto file an appeal against the tri-bunal’s order.

Thirteen people were killedin police firing on May 22-23 lastyear and several injured after theprotests against Sterlite turnedviolent in Tuticorin. PTI

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Ahmedabad: Clashes brokeout on Wednesday between thepolice and farmers protestingagainst limestone mining by aprivate firm near a village inBhavnagar district of Gujarat,leaving several policemen andagitators injured, officials andlocal residents said.

While Bhavnagar SP P LMall said four policemen wereinjured in the clashes, local vil-lagers claimed around 15 peo-ple, including women and girls,were wounded.

The police lobbed 35 tear-gas shells and resorted to batoncharge to control a large groupof farmers demanding thatlimestone mining by UltraTechCement Ltd near Bambhor vil-lage in Talaja taluka be halted,the SP said. PTI

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Panaji: Opposition Congressin Goa on Wednesdaydemanded that the CBI “raid”the private residence of Chief Minister ManoharParrikar to find about a file onRafale deal.

It also demanded thatParrikar and his Cabinet col-leagues should undergo thelie detector test.

The reaction came afterParrikar’s purported claim thathe had a file on the Rafale jetdeal “lying in his bedroom”and Congress president RahulGandhi making an attempt in

the Lok Sabha to play anaudio tape purportedly of aGoa Minister regarding thismatter.

Goa Congress spokesper-son Siddhanath Buyao said ata press conference here that theaudio tape of a conversationbetween Goa Health MinisterVishwajit Rane and an uniden-tified person has revealed thata file related to the Rafale dealwas lying in Parrikar’s bed-room.

Both Parrikar, a formerDefence Minister, and Ranehave denied the allegation. PTI

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After vacillating betweenbacking his brother or son

for over two years and refrain-ing from taking sides in thefamily dispute, Samajwadiparty patriarch Mulayam SinghYadav has finally decided tothrow his weight behind sonAkhilesh, the national presi-dent of the party.

Mulayam’s younger broth-er Shivpal Singh Yadav hasalready floated his own politi-cal outfit, the Pragatisheel

Samajwadi Party (Lohia).Mulayam Singh Yadav on

Tuesday made his presencefelt in the Samajwadi Party,making assertions that arebeing interpreted as a signthat he has publicly thrown hisweight behind his son Akhileshafter a whisper campaign abouta rift between the two.

“You must meet me andshare your problems in theparty with me. Tell me if youare unhappy with anybody. Iam here to solve your problem.I am the patron of the party,”

Mulayam told Samajwadi Partyworkers in the presence ofAkhilesh at a meeting at theparty headquarters in Lucknowon the occasion of New Year.

The comments came exact-ly two years after SamajwadiParty members had electedAkhilesh as party presidenton January 1, 2017, andMulayam as its patron, by ashow of hands. They hadremoved Shivpal from all postsof the organisation.

Some Shivpal loyalists usedto claim that Mulayam wasdethroned by his son the wayMughal emperor Aurangzebhad usurped power from his

father Shah Jahan. However,insiders always believed that itwas a strategy chalked out byMulayam to establish his son inthe party and marginaliseShivpal.

On Tuesday, Mulayamplayed the affectionate fatherand unsparing guru. “I amvery much here to take care ofeverything,” he said.

At one point, Mulayamscolded a section of partyworkers when they raised theslogan “Desh ka neta kaisa ho,Akhilesh Yadav jaisa ho” (Whatkind of a leader we need in thecountry, there should be onelike Akhilesh Yadav).”

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Despite many setbacks, likeCyclone Gaja, which

affected 6.4 lakh families andthe responsibility to look after4.81 lakh persons in reliefcamps, Tamil NaduGovernment has done a rea-sonably good job in governanceas well as in social welfare mea-sures during 2018-19, accord-ing to Banwarilal Purohit,Governor of the State.

Addressing the sixthSession of the 15th LegislativeAssembly on Wednesday, theGovernor also highlighted thewoes being faced by the StateGovernment due to the short-comings in the recommenda-tions made by the 14th FinanceCommission and the delay inthe release of compensation tothe State from the IntegratedGoods and Services Tax (IGST)and the GST. “The revenuedeficit has been on the rise

in recent years mainly dueto the devolution formulaeevolved by the 14th FinanceCommission which hasadversely affected the Statefinances. Further, implemen-tation of Ujwal DiscomAssurance Yojana (UDAY) and7th Pay Commission recom-mendations has also widenedthe revenue deficit,” said theGovernor in his address.

Listing various arrears dueto the State from the IGST andGST compensation, theGovernor said the State was yetto receive �7,214 crore from the

Central Government. The Stateof Tamil Nadu is apprehensiveof the permission granted tothe Governments of Karnatakaand Kerala for the preparationof the detailed project reportsfor the construction of theMekedatu Dam and the newMullaperiyar Dam. He saidTamil Nadu would be forced toapproach the apex court chal-lenging the decision of theCentral Water Commission inthis regard.

Much to the discomfiture ofthe Opposition parties whichhad boycotted the Governor’sspeech by walking out of theHouse, Purohit said the TamilNadu Government had earnedrecognition and accolades fromvarious Governmental andNon-Governmental Agenciesfor all-round performance inimplementing welfare measuresas well as good governance.

One of the noteworthyperformances of the TamilNadu Government during the

last seven years has been theturn- around made by theState in power sector. TheGovernment is implementingthermal and hydro-electricprojects to the tune of 17,100MW at a total estimated cost of�127 lakh crore which areunder various stages of the exe-cution. “A robust power sec-tor has become the biggeststrength of the State for attract-ing new investments,” saidPurohit.

The Governor said thatthe State Government as suc-ceeded in making great stridesin comprehensive public healthdelivery by integrating variousschemes floated by the Centreas well as the StateGovernments. He thanked theUnion Government for varioushealth initiatives launched by itwhich had helped theGovernment at the State inmaking quality health careaccessible to all people in theState at reduced costs.

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In a major development a hospital in Kasaragod inKerala bordering Karnataka has developed an inte-

grative treatment protocol to treat one of the biggestdeformities in the world, filariasis or Haathi Paaun.The Institute of Applied Dermatology (IAD), for thefirst time in the country has found an answer to treatHaathi Paaun which has affected over 2.5 crore peo-ple in the country.

The IAD developed an integrative protocol usingmodern medicine, Ayurveda and Yoga to treat this dread-ed disease which has affected poor and rural populationin the country. This cost effective treatment is based onover two decades of research has treated over ten thou-sand patients from around 22 States across India. Manypatients from different parts of the world have also takenthis effective treatment in this hospital. To give confi-dence to the patients IAD has also created a slogan “Neverfear filariasis or Lymphedema: we care for you.”

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Now it is the turn of theTrinamool Congress to

vouch for Achchhe Din on itsanniversary which would def-initely come under the stew-ardship of TMC supremoMamata Banerjee. Party MPAbhishek Banerjee said 2019was going to be a “year ofchange for good” and theTrinamool Congress wouldherald that change under theleadership of Mamata Banerjee.

Tuesday was the 21stanniversary of the Bengal rul-ing outfit. The party was found-ed by Mamata Banerjee on thisday in 1998.

Presaging a year of bothstruggle and change Banerjee,the nephew of the Bengal ChiefMinister, said “this change isgoing to be the change forgood” when the “TrinamoolCongress will bring back goodold days for the people in gen-eral and the working class inparticular,” adding the ChiefMinister was destined to play

a pivotal role in the epoch-making change that India wasgoing to witness in a fewmonths from now.

“We should prepare to fighthard in order to ensure that weare able to gift the people of this

country a secular and pro-gressive India in New Delhiunder the leadership ofMamata Banerjee,” the youngerBanerjee said, adding his party “has turned 21” which“signifies struggle youthful-ness and change.”

Meanwhile, the ChiefMinister on Wednesday lam-basted the Centre once againfor stealing away the credit ofthe crop insurance for farmersof the State.

She said “just by bearing 20per cent of what is spent for thepurpose the Centre is takingcredit of the crop insurance,”adding her Government willnot allow the BJP-led CentralGovernment to tag its namewith crop insurance.

Banerjee was addressing anadministrative meeting inBolpur in Birbhum district.About 49 per cent farmerswere currently benefited bythe crop insurance scheme,the Chief Minister said, addingthe remaining 51 per centwould soon be brought within

the scheme.She said “we won’t allow

the Centre to play politics withsuch a sensitive issue like cropinsurance for farmers. They aresharing only 20 per cent of thepremium amount while theState Government pays theremaining 80 per cent where-as, they are claiming the cred-it for it. In future we will pay theentire amount and remove theCentre’s name from thescheme.”

Banerjee had earlierdeclared a new scheme calledKrishak Bandhu for the farm-ers where by the Governmentwould pay �2 lakh to the fam-ilies of the farmers if they died— during productive age —that is before the age of 60.Besides she also announced ayearly allowance of �5,000 foreach acre of single-crop lands.The amount would be paid intwo tranches.

“We have already waivedagricultural tax and abolishedmutation system for farmers asthey are our mainstay,” she said.

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Vellore: Six people were killedon Wednesday when the carthey were travelling in rammedinto a container lorry nearhere, police said.

The Chennai-bound carhit the truck which was gettingonto the highway from a petrolbunk at Wallajapet, about 30km from here.

Four men and two womendied in the mishap, a policeofficial told PTI.

It is not known if anybodywas injured. Further detailsare awaited, police said.

The bodies have beenremoved from the vehicle andsent for autopsy at aGovernment hospital. PTI

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Ahmedabad: Three key accused inthe Gujarat constable examinationpaper leak case of last month havebeen arrested, the state’s top policeofficer said on Wednesday, takingthe number of those behind bars inthe matter to 15.

Investigations have revealed theaccused were part of a gang whichhad stolen an exam paper meant forrecruitment of police constables inGujarat from a printing press atManipal town in Karnataka inNovember, said Director General ofPolice Shivanand Jha.

The trio, key accused in the case,was arrested Tuesday from differentparts of the country and brought toGandhinagar, where an FIR was reg-istered last month, he told reportersin the state capital.

Earlier, 12 people, includingcandidates who had allegedly paid

money for the leaked paper, werearrested by the police in the case.

The recruitment exam, origi-nally scheduled on December 2last year, was called off at the lastmoment after the authorities cameto know about the paper leak.

A fresh exam will be held onJanuary 6.

The DGP said the trio was partof a professional gang involved inleaking papers of many such com-petitive exams in the past.

They were identified by thepolice as Vinay Arora of Sonepat inHaryana, and Mahadev Dattatreyand Vinod Rathod, both from Bidarin Karnataka.

Two other key accused - VinodChhikara, a suspended constable ofthe Delhi police, and Vinay Mathur— are still on the run, said Jha.

PTI

Page 8: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in ...€¦ · Janata Dal (BJD), which for the ... Analysis of various ther-mo-diagnostic parameters and indices indicated that

The planet is in turmoil. This didnot start in 2018 but worsenedduring the past year and with-out being a bird of bad omen, itwill continue in 2019. The 2018

award for chaos goes to…US PresidentDonald Trump.

On December 20, 2018, The New YorkTimes published an article titled, ‘You’reHired! You’re Fired! Yes, the Turnover at theTop of the Trump Administration Is …“Unprecedented.”’ Jim Mattis, the DefenceSecretary, was the last on the list. He wasthe fourth member of the Trump admin-istration to resign or be forced out in the lasttwo months. The article said, “Some roleshave been more volatile than others. Forexample, there have been four White Housecommunications directors, with stints rang-ing from less than a week (AnthonyScaramucci) to more than six months(Hope Hicks). Sean Spicer, while serving asPress Secretary, filled the position twice...”

A list of major departures is given: JimMattis, Secretary of Defence after Trumpannounced plans to withdraw troops fromSyria; Ryan Zinke, Secretary of Interior,amid several ethics investigations; NickAyers, Chief of Staff to vice president; JohnF Kelly, White House’s Chief of Staff; JeffSessions, Attorney General and Indian-ori-gin Nikki Haley, Ambassador to the UN.But there’s no need to get into the politi-cal implications for the US and the plan-et. Other nations are in turmoil, too.

As the Gaulish tribes had alwaysfeared, the sky is falling on French PresidentEmmanuel Macron’s head. During the lasttwo months, he has had to face millions ofgilets jaunes (yellow vests) in the streets ofFrance. This phenomenon involves someatavism. In fact, the Gaulish character traitsnever really disappear, they keep re-emerg-ing from time to time. One of these traitsis to be anti-establishment. Remember inthe comic, Asterix the Gaul, CenturionGracchus Armisurplus, commander of aRoman Compendium fortified garrison,pays a heavy price each time the Gauls walkout of their village; Asterix and his com-panions could not accept the establishedRoman hierarchy.

Whether in May 1968 or today, theFrench love to march down the streets toprotest. Nobody can stop them fromshouting Ras le bol, (the bowl is brimmingover) or from chanting ‘Macron, duPognon’ (Macron, give dough); Macrononce called his countrymen with theirproud Gaulish DNA, the Gaulois réfrac-taires (change-allergic Gauls).

Cross the channel and you will findJeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, sayingin his new year’s message that post-Brexit,his country is a “complete mess” and thatit “cannot go on like this”. The UK is dueto leave the European Union on March 29but the island nation, which once upon atime ruled the world, may plunge into chaos

if the MPs reject the UK’s with-drawal agreement ...ditto if theyagree to Prime Minister TheresaMay’s proposals.

Corbyn accused theGovernment when he said,“Eight years of damaging Toryfailure has left us with a divid-ed country where millions arestruggling to make ends meet.”It is always easier to blame oth-ers, especially when one has one-self triggered the mess in the firstplace. One word about the born-in-turmoil Pakistan, accordingto a media report, Islamabad willneed to disburse $40 billion toChina in 20 years as repaymentsof debt and dividends on a$26.5 billion investment underthe China-Pakistan EconomicCorridor (CPEC).

Citing documents of theMinistry of Planning andDevelopment, The ExpressTribune affirmed that out of$39.83 billion, debt repaymentsfor energy and infrastructureprojects amount to $28.43 billionand the remaining $11.4 billionneed to be paid in the shape ofdividends to the investors. Whata mess! China is not left out.There is no doubt that with hisunpredictability, PresidentTrump has changed the rules ofthe game for Beijing; he actswildly …like China has beendoing for years and Beijing is notaccustomed to this. WhetherBeijing accepts it or not, Trumpwill be at the centre of China’sfate in the coming year.

Jeffrey Sachs in ProjectSyndicate asserted: “TheTrump administration’s conflictwith China has little to do withthe US’ external imbalances,closed Chinese markets or evenChina’s alleged theft of intellec-tual property. It has every-thing to do with containingChina by limiting its access toforeign markets, advancedtechnologies, global bankingservices, and perhaps even USuniversities.” Indeed, year 2019will be a crucial year for China.

On the morning of May 4,1919, student representativesfrom 13 different local univer-sities met in Beijing and draft-ed five resolutions, in particu-lar, to oppose the granting ofShandong to the Japanese andthe creation of a Beijing studentunion. Later in the afternoon,some 3,000 students of BeijingUniversity marched toTiananmen Square shoutingslogans such as ‘Struggle for thesovereignty externally, get ridof the national traitors at home’or ‘Don’t sign the VersaillesTreaty’. Will we witness aremake of the dramatic eventswhich will be celebrated by theCommunist Party of China(CPC) during the year?

This year will also mark the70th anniversary of the foun-dation of the People’s Republic,and 30 years of the massacre ofthe Tiananmen Square.

At an event marking the40th anniversary of China’s

reform and opening, PresidentXi Jinping of China told the3,000 officials assembled inthe Great Hall of the People:“Every step in reform andopening up will not be easy,and we will face all kinds ofrisks and challenges in thefuture and we may evenencounter unimaginable terri-fying tidal waves and horrify-ing storms. …Only by improv-ing the party’s leadership andgovernance … can we ensurethe ship of reform and openingup will sail forward.” Can theparty be the saviour of theMiddle Kingdom?

During his new year mes-sage, President Xi said,“Looking at the world at large,we’re facing a period of majorchange never seen in a century.No matter what these changesbring, China will remain resoluteand confident in its defence ofits national sovereignty andsecurity.” He spoke of China’ssincerity and goodwill to safe-guard world peace. Let us see.

You may ask, what aboutIndia? Mess, confusion, uncer-tainty, chaos, turmoil and theugly face of democracy willprevail till the general electionsat least. This is a safe prediction.But India is, perhaps, a betterplace to face the chaos. We callit ‘democracy’ here, the leastworst system of governance.

(The writer is an expert onIndia-China relations and anauthor) ������)��� �� ��������������

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Sir — It was indeed a historicmoment for the Indian cricketteam, which could never win aTest series match in Australia, atthe Melbourne Cricket Groundwhen it beat Australia in the thirdTest match. The series nowstands at 2-1 in India’s favour. Butcan India hold on to the lead inthe fourth Test match in Sydney?Standout performers for India atMelbourne were Jasprit Bumrahand Cheteshwar Pujara whileMayank Agarwal, too, playedwell. Indian bowlers have playedwell in overseas conditions in allthe three Test matches played sofar. One only hopes that by theend of the Test match in Sydney,cricket fans in India would havesomething to feel happy about. Itwill be momentous for the crick-et team to do something forwhich they will be rememberedas the first Indians to do so.

Devendra Khurana Bhopal

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Sir — With the demise of MrinalSen, India lost one of its finest and

greatest film-makers who hoist-ed the Indian film industry tosuch great heights that the entireworld took notice and saluted thecraftsmanship of Indian cinemaand its intellectuals.

One among the trio ofIndia’s parallel cinema, Sen,through his work, portrayedthe changes in the socio-politi-cal drama of Indian life and therapid changing life of the world

as a whole. Sen’s signature in the film

world canvas is a class apart andthe style he introduced in hisfilms is proof enough of hisexceptional intelligence as afilm-maker. When most film-makers go after the voluptuousbody of films, Mrinalda went forits soul.

M Pradyu Thalikavu Kannur

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Sir — The passing away of leg-endary film-maker Mrinal Senmarks the end of another glori-ous and unforgettable chapter inIndian cinema. Sen was a notedBengali film-maker with severalmovies to his credit such as EkDin Pratidin, Padatik, Mrigya,Akaler Sandhane, Chorus, Kharij,

Kandahar, Bhuwan Shome, AkashKusum and Calcutta 71. He wasthe one who paved the way forparallel cinema in India and oneamong those legends who crossedboundaries in placing Indiancinema into the global platform.

His films came out as harshcritiques of the contemporarysociety. Besides, he was anardent Left-wing intellectualwho was always empathetictowards the working class. In afilm-making career spanningover five decades, Sen directed27 full-length feature, 14 shortfilms and four documentaries.Films like Bhuvan Shome helpedhim earn fame nationally andinternationally.

Mega star AmitabhBachchan was spot on in histweet where he described his as“a most amiable, distinguishedcreative cinematic mind, con-temporary of Satyajit Ray andRitwik Ghatak.” Sen’s passingaway is a big loss not only forIndian cinema but also for theworld of culture and India’scivilisational values.

Ramesh G Jethwani Bangalore

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Page 9: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in ...€¦ · Janata Dal (BJD), which for the ... Analysis of various ther-mo-diagnostic parameters and indices indicated that

Two key problems emerged fromlast year’s Assembly election —job crisis and farm distress. The

Congress, that recently got elected inMadhya Pradesh, Rajasthan andChhattisgarh, is already working on itthrough promises of loan waivers andjobs. But history seems to be repeatingitself for the BJP, which came intopower in 2014 with the promise of gen-erating two crore jobs for the youthevery year. On its part, the Governmenthas been trying hard to dispel thegloom and escape political embarrass-ment. It has been citing the job num-bers thrown up by the EmployeesProvident Fund Organisation (EPFO).Rajiv Kumar, NITI Aayog ViceChairmen said: “Huge disbursement ofMudra loans and EPFO data shows that

enough opportunities for employmentand self-employment were createdduring the past years. A number ofother schemes such as ‘Start-up India’,‘Make in India’ and ‘Stand-up India’among others have created many newjobs. Around 70 lakh jobs were creat-ed in the financial year 2017-18 alone.”

However, in reality, the story isentirely different. Rising dissent amongthe youth is visible through frequentdemonstrations. Take for instance, thefurore in the name of religion.Organisations such as the Gau RakshaDal and Yuva Vahini Sena have beenopposing migrants from other States.Stone-pelting incidents on our Armymen in Jammu & Kashmir, too, haveseen a rise. Further, the twin shocks ofdemonetisation and GST have result-ed in huge job losses, particularly in theunorganised sector.

Whereas, growth in EPF sub-scription numbers, as claimed byKumar, may largely represent formal-isation of jobs and/or a churn amongyoung workers, not all of it may be anet addition to jobs. Most Mudra loanswere availed by entrepreneurs who

already had a small business and werelooking for extra top-up capital. FormerPrime Minister Manmohan Singh hadsaid, “The BJP-led Government’spromise to generate two crore jobsannually has turned out to be a gim-mick.”

Available data on employmentand Gross Domestic Product (GDP)growth relationship shows that employ-ment elasticity has declined to 0.2 orlower today. This indicates that forevery one per cent rise in GDP growth,we are creating only a 0.2 per cent addi-tional jobs. We need a minimum of 10per cent GDP growth to register thekind of boost we used to get in the1990s.

According to the Labour BureauEmployment-Unemployment survey,unemployment rate in the countryincreased from 3.4 per cent in 2013-14to 4.0 per cent in 2015-16. It reachedits peak around 8.5 per cent byNovember 2018, as estimated byCMIE. Unemployment rate in partic-ular is rising steadily among the youth(15-29 years), and among graduates itis more than 13 per cent. This means

that more youths are joining the labourforce but are unable to get jobs at a sim-ilar pace. As per the Organisation forEconomic Cooperation andDevelopment, 30 per cent of the youthtoday are not involved in any kind ofjob, education or training. Pressure onjobs was also expressed by respondentsto the Mood of the Nation (MOTN)survey conducted by India Today in July2018. Around 29 per cent of therespondents listed jobs as theGovernment’s biggest failure.

Additionally, a large number ofposts are lying vacant viz 50 per centfaculty posts in Central universities; oneof three faculty positions in IITs; 20 percent of sanctioned posts for IPS offi-cers; one of eight pilot positions in theAir Force and many more. But theGovernment has not shown any inten-tion to fill these vacancies. Thousandsof youth, including highly qualifiedones, applied for a few Governmentsector vacancies advertised during thelast few years. The preference forGovernment jobs among the youth hasbeen rising in recent years due to jobsecurity and post-retirement benefits,

as compared to private sector jobs,which are quite volatile.

Yet, the Government is not readyto acknowledge the present job crisisin the country and prefers calling everyreal issue an Opposition stunt. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi recently said,“I don’t blame our opponents forblaming us on the issue of jobs; afterall, no one has an accurate data on jobs.They will naturally exploit this oppor-tunity to paint a picture of their choiceand blame us.” But the question is: Whohas created the situation of lack of accu-rate data on jobs in the country? It iswell-known that the National SampleSurvey Organisation (NSSO) used tocollect data on employment through anational-level comprehensive survey ona five-year interval regularly since1973. It was considered to be the mostcredible assessment of jobs, despite crit-icisms for its long period.

The last NSSO employment sur-vey was conducted in 2011-12, whichwas later discontinued by theGovernment with the introduction ofa new annual employment survey in2017. Indeed, this was a commendable

because in future, job figures will beavailable on annual basis from a reli-able source. This will not only helpremove confusion about data but alsohelp assess jobs in short intervals. Thefirst annual employment survey wasstarted in July, 2017 and ended in June,2018. The draft report was preparedand approved by the statistical commit-tee. This was expected to be releasedby early December, 2018. However, theGovernment has not released thereport yet and may be available onlyafter the polls.

For a few years, private investmentalmost dried up. Agriculture no longersupports half the population. Freshpressure on jobs is the result of ruralpeople migrating to urban areas.Besides, automation is eating intoexisting low skill jobs. It is obvious thatthe BJP Government will have to facea tough battle on this front. It will betested against the promise of twocrore new jobs per year and the degreeto which it has tired to fulfil it.

(The writer is Fellow at Institute forHuman Development, Delhi. Viewsexpressed above are personal)

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is muchcloser to our lives than ever before.Be it Apple’s Siri or Google’s Alexa,every intelligent assistant relies onspeech recognition software whose

backbone is AI. But for its untapped potential,human beings are turning to AI not only to playtheir favourite song from the playlist, but alsoto safeguard the environment, win over the cli-mate change challenge and increase agricultur-al productivity. AI-driven technology holdsimmense potential. The best-laid plans, ema-nating from the elite minds in the scientificworld, have neither been able to stave off wors-ening environmental conditions, nor could theyensure better state of affairs for our agricultur-al sector.

AI is fundamentally the simulation ofhuman intelligence by computer systems. It hasbeen around for quite some time, in fact since1950s, but during those times, it was more ofa concept than an applicable technology.Thanks to rapid technological progress, thingshave changed now. Today, AI holds the poten-tial to think, learn and act in response to itsimmediate environment, according to its pro-grammed objectives. These smart attributes canprove to be a game-changer if AI is appliedeffectively on a large-scale basis for environ-mental protection and climate change.

The environmental situation, as it standstoday, looks abysmal. The planet continues towarm up and extreme weather events are mul-tiplying rapidly. Environment conditions andworsening and climate change circumstancesare assuming severe proportions with eachpassing year. In 2016, there were 772 weatherand disaster events, triple the number thatoccurred in 1980. Due to such events, around20 per cent of the animal species are under thethreat of extinction. This number is onlyexpected to rise to 50 per cent by 2100. Thecombined scientific prowess of the world andthe unified resolve to limit spiralling globaltemperatures have not helped. In fact, even ifall signatory countries stand by their pledge atthe Paris climate deal, by 2100 it’s likely thataverage global temperatures will still be threedegrees Celsius higher than in pre-industrial times.

AI can, however, change the environmentfor better, quite literally. Starting with weath-er and pollution forecasting options, AI can dis-card those models whose prediction rates areabysmal. This can help achieve accuracy.Similarly, a smart AI software can simulateurban heat waves and predict which industriesshould be shut down in order to lower the tem-peratures. They can even suggest the locationsto plant trees so as to reduce the urban heatisland effect. These are some of the manyadvantages that AI technology holds. Indiamust, therefore, explore the possibility ofmaking this technology a part of the daily envi-ronmental protection measure.

As urban India endures the debilitatingimpacts of climate change, rural counter-parts, especially farmers, fare no better. Theyare faced with an ever-increasing challenge tomaintain farm productivity in the midst of ris-

ing agricultural debts and unpre-dictable weather patterns. These con-ditions in the agricultural sector have,on the one hand, caused a spate offarmer suicides due to rising debts,and on the other, these trying situa-tions have led to a steady drop in agri-cultural productivity, leading to a pos-sible threat to food security in the nearfuture.

Even though in a nascent stage, AIis slowly but surely making its pres-ence felt in the agricultural sector inour country. For instance, digitalfarming practices, like cloud technol-ogy and business intelligence, havehelped groundnut farmers in southIndia get 30 per cent higher yields perhectare. Using AI, they could getinformation related to preparing theirland, applying fertiliser and choosingsowing dates. AI even helpedresearchers achieve 89 to 99 per centaccuracy in identifying tropicalcyclones, weather fronts and atmos-pheric rivers, which are often hard forhumans to identify on their own. Byimproving predictability of weather-related events and intensity as well asthe duration of weather spells, it hasnow become easier for farmers to plantheir crop cycles, which is a godsendin times of climate change induced byweather ambiguities.

AI can alter the future of Indianagriculture. It can weed out the prob-lems that have bedevilled this sector.The power of technology can help takedrudgery out of agriculture and usherin an era of e-agriculture or smartfarming. AI technology can take overplanting, maintaining, harvestingcrops and detect certain diseases inplants and, thus, help save money,energy, labour and resources. Thesmart software driving AI can buildprogramme objectives in such a waythat crop diseases and pest damagesare recognised. Measures are automat-ically taken to protect the crop. In a

trial simulation, researchers usedTensorFlow, Google’s open sourcelibrary, to build an archive of 2,756images of cassava leaves from plantsin Tanzania. The AI-run crop protec-tion software, that relied on thisdatabase, was able to identify a diseasewith 98 per cent accuracy. This showsthe potential of AI.

Agriculture is slowly becomingdigital with AI showing promisingpotential in three major categories:Agricultural robotics, soil and cropmonitoring and predictive analytics.Farmers are already using sensors andsoil sampling to gather data which isstored on farm management systemsthat allow better processing and analy-sis. This data, along with specific algo-rithms, can be combined with weath-er information sourced from satellitesto create customised AI software fordifferent agricultural regions in India.

The global use of AI for agricul-ture is quite impressive. For instance,the US-based Blue River technology,a John Deere subsidiary, has evolvedmachine learning to a stage where sen-sors detect weeds, their type and rightherbicides to apply within the rightbuffer around the plant. Camerasand sensors use machine learning thatcan capture images. Besides, themachines can be taught about differ-ent weeds. Even then, the right her-bicides are sprayed precisely as perencroachment area.

Blue River Technology has furtherdeveloped a robot called ‘see andspray’, which reportedly leveragescomputer vision to monitor and pre-cisely spray weeds on cotton plants.Precision spraying can help preventherbicide resistance. Similarly, HarvestCROO Robotics has developed arobot to help strawberry farmers pickand pack their crops. The lack oflabourers has reportedly led to mil-lions of dollars of revenue losses in keyfarming regions such as California and

Arizona. Apart from this, the Berlin-based agricultural tech startup PEAThas developed the Plantix app thatidentifies potential defects and nutri-ent deficiencies in the soil. This appli-cation uses images to detect plant dis-eases, a smart phone collects image,which is matched with a server imageand then a diagnosis of the planthealth is provided. In this way, it usesAI and machine learning to solvethreatening plant diseases.

Given the adoption of emergingtechnologies, AI is expensive and outof reach for the common man, espe-cially for debt-ridden farmers. But thisis where the opportunity lies — Indiahas the advantage of scale and scien-tific resources that can rival the bestof the world’s research institutions.These strong points provide India withenough raw materials to build arobust and comprehensive AI softwarethat can provide one-time solution forall issues being faced by farmers in theeffort to produce a bumper harvest.

In this quest of becoming pioneersof largescale AI application in agricul-ture, India must look towards theIndian Space Research Organisation toprovide the necessary satellite data, asexhaustive information is the backboneof any successful AI software. Thisinformation, processed through latestcomputers, will give AI the edge itneeds and ensure fast data processing.This will in turn enable AI to quicklydiscern patterns that humans cannot,make predictions more efficiently andrecommend better policies — all inrecord time. But today’s AI still has alot of catching up to do when com-pared to humans. For instance, ittakes 83,000 processors, 40 minutes tocompute what one per cent of thehuman brain can calculate in one sec-ond. This needs to improve drastical-ly for AI to be a game changer.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

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The Union Cabinet onWednesday approved the

merger of Vijaya Bank andDena Bank with Bank ofBaroda. The Cabinet meetingchaired by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi also approvedthe amendments in TradeUnion Act, 1926 to makeprovisions for recognition oftrade unions. The CabinetCommittee on EconomicAffairs (CCEA) decided toprovide 3 per cent interest

subsidy to merchantexporters, entailing an expen-diture of �600 crore.

With the merger of VijayaBank and Dena Bank, theBank of Baroda (BoB) willbecome the third largest bankafter State Bank of India andICICI Bank. “There will be noimpact on the service condi-tions of the employees andthere will be no retrenchmentfollowing the merger,” UnionLaw Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad told reporters aboutdecisions taken by the UnionCabinet.

The merger has beendesigned to make BoB asmerged entity, a globally com-petitive lender, Prasad added.

The Cabinet a lsoapproved amendment to theTrade Unions Act, 1926 tomake provisions regardingrecognition of trade unions.The present act provides foronly registration of tradeunions. Currently, there isno provision for recognitionof unions in the Act, saidLabour Minister Santosh

Gangwar.However, the recognition

of trade union is governed byguidelines in the ‘Code ofDiscipline’ evolved in 1958,voluntari ly accepted byemployers and employees.The recognition is necessarybecause recognised tradeunion of an industry or estab-lishment gets bargaining ornegotiating rights with theemployer.

To a query on the factionfights in the Congress’ tradeunion INTUC, the Ministersaid that “this division in theINTUC issue” will decided bythe Courts.

The CCEA decided to pro-vide 3 per cent interest subsidyto merchant exporters, entail-ing an expenditure of �600crore, to enhance liquidity witha view to boosting outboundshipments. “The proposal willentail benefits of around �600crore to exporters on interestequalisation for the remainingperiod of the scheme,” an offi-cial release said.

It added that the inclu-sion of merchant exporters inthe scheme is expected tomake exporters more com-petitive, encourage them toexport more products manu-factured by MSMEs.

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The Indian economy isprojected to be the

fastest-growing majoreconomy in the currentand upcoming fiscal 2019-20, the Finance Ministrysaid on Wednesday whileemphasising that theGovernment has takenseveral steps to boostinvestors’ confidence.

According to a recentWorld Bank report, Indiahas improved its rankingin the Ease of Doing Businessto 77th in 2018.

The average growth of theIndian economy between 2014-15 and 2017-18 was 7.3 percent, fastest among the majoreconomies in the world, theMinistry said in Year EndReview 2018.

“Indian economy is pro-jected to be the fastest-growingmajor economy in 2018-19and 2019-20 (InternationalMonetary Fund October 2018database). This is borne byGDP growth of 7.6 per cent inthe first half of 2018-19,” it said.

The Indian economy is on

track to maintain a high growthrate in the current global envi-ronment, it added.

Highlighting various ini-tiatives taken to improve theconfidence and boost thegrowth of the Indian economy,it said there were measures toboost manufacturing, compre-hensive reforms in the foreigndirect investment policy, specialpackage for the textile industry,push to infrastructure devel-opment by giving infrastruc-ture status to affordable hous-ing and focus on coastal con-nectivity.

The success of the

Government poli-cies is further reaf-firmed and under-scored when thei n t e r n a t i o n a lorganisations suchas the World Bankand the IMF recog-nise India as thefastest-growingemerging economyin the world andapplaud theresilient and stablegrowth India haswitnessed, it said.

On inflation, it said thecountry witnessed moderationduring 2017-18 and thisprogress is a result of a num-ber of initiatives and reformsundertaken by the Governmentwhich follows in the subse-quent pages.

Consumer Price Index-based headline inflation aver-aged 3.3 per cent during theperiod which is the lowest inthe last six financial years.

This has been stated in theEconomic Survey 2017-18placed in Parliament byFinance and Corporate AffairsMinister Arun Jaitley.

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The GST Council is slated tomeet on January 10 to dis-

cuss lowering GST on under-construction flats and houses to5 per cent, as well as hikingexemption threshold for smalland medium enterprises.

The council, in its previousmeeting on December 22,2018, had rationalised the 28per cent tax slab and reducedrates on 23 goods and services.

“The next meeting isscheduled for January 10,” anofficial said.

This would be the 32ndmeeting of the council, whichis chaired by Finance MinisterArun Jaitley and comprises hisstate counterparts.

Briefing reporters after the

recent council meeting, Jaitleyhad said that the next meetingwould consider rationalisationof tax rates on residential prop-erties and raising the thresholdlimit for MSMEs from the cur-rent �20 lakh.

Also, the council wouldconsider a composition schemefor small suppliers, apart fromdiscussing levying a calamitycess as well as GST rates on thelottery.

The GST Council is likelyto consider lowering GST onunder-construction flats andhouses to 5 per cent, an officialsaid.

Currently, the Goods andServices Tax (GST) is levied at12 per cent on payments madefor under-construction prop-erty or ready-to-move-in flats

where completion certificatehas not been issued at thetime of sale.

However, GST is not leviedon buyers of real estate prop-erties for which completioncertificate has been issued atthe time of sale.

An official said that this 12per cent GST rate ideally wouldhave been partially offset byway of taxes paid on inputs bybuilders and hence the actualincidence of GST on under-construction home buyerswould have been around 5-6per cent. However, buildersare not passing on the input taxcredit (ITC) benefit to con-sumers.

“One of the proposalsbefore the council is to lowerthe GST rate to 5 per cent for

builders who purchase 80 percent of inputs from registereddealers,” an official said.

Also the report of group ofministers looking into the con-cerns of MSMEs under theGST regime would be taken upfor consideration.

Currently, businesses witha turnover of up to �20 lakh areexempted from GST. TheCouncil could consider hikingthe threshold to �75 lakh foronly MSMEs.

Besides, the council wouldconsider composition schemefor small suppliers, since it feltthat the number of small ser-vice providers getting registeredunder GST was not on expect-ed lines.

“An in-principle unani-mous decision was taken thata composition scheme beframed for small serviceproviders. The threshold and

composition charge would bedecided in the next meeting,”Jaitley had said on December22.

With regard to GST on thelottery, currently, state-organ-ised lottery attract 12 per centGST, while state-authorisedlottery attracts 28 per cent.

A final view would betaken as to whether the statusquo should continue on GSTon the lottery or if there is ascope to tweak it.

Also, a view on levyingcalamity cess under GSTwould be discussed by thecouncil.

Bihar Deputy ChiefMinister Sushil Modi led-groupof ministers (GoM) had inOctober had decided to seekstates’ views on whether astate-specific or a nationwide‘disaster tax’ should be leviedunder the GST.

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The Government onWednesday gave out the 6-

croreth free cooking gas (LPG)connection as the scheme tomake available cleaner fuel inevery household kitchens runsahead of schedule.Government of India intro-duced ‘Pradhan MantriUjjwala Yojana’ (PMUY) forwhich budgetary provision of�12,800 crore has been pro-vided for releasing 5 CroresLPG connections to womenmember of BPL households byMarch’19 and additional 3Crore LPG connections byMarch 2020.

Industry has crossed 5Crore mark during August ‘18which was 8 months ahead ofschedule.

Last year the PMUY cov-erage was enhanced and new 7categories SC/STs households,beneficiaries of PradhanMantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)(Gramin), Antyodaya AnnaYojana (AAY), Forest dwellers,Most Backward Classes(MBC), Tea & Ex-Tea Garden

Tribes, people residing inIslands/river islands.

Recently, in order to give auniversal reach of clean cook-ing fuel LPG in the country theCabinet Committee onEconomic Affairs (CCEA)chaired by Prime Minister, hasgiven a latest decision to releasedeposit free LPG connectionsto poor families, who were notin SECC list or not under 7 cat-egories of EPMUY.

Since inception till January1, 2019, HPCL has releasedmore than 1.6 Crore LPG con-nections and Industry releasedmore than 6 crore LPG con-nections on all India basisunder the scheme. Further,national LPG coverage whichwas less than 62% as on April1, 2016 has improved to 89.5%as on December 1, 2018.

In Delhi state, IOC hasreleased 25889, BPC hasreleased 21533 and HPC hasreleased 16506 that is total63928 number of beneficiarieshave been provided with LPGconnection under the schemetill January 1, 2019 with totalstate coverage stands at126.4%.

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Shares of Jet Airways tum-bled nearly 7 per cent

Wednesday after the crisis-hitfirm defaulted on repayment of loans to a consortium ofIndian banks.

The stock tanked 6.16 percent to close at �263.75 on BSE.During the day, it cracked 7.13per cent to �261.

On NSE, shares of thecompany slumped 6.89 percent to end at �261.45.

The company’s market val-uation eroded by �195.87 croreto �2,996.13 crore on BSE.

In terms of equity volume,9.66 lakh shares of the compa-ny were traded on BSE andover one crore shares changedhands on NSE during the day.

The full-service carrier,which has been grappling withfinancial woes for some timenow, has been making delayedsalary payments to its staff.

“Payment of interest andprincipal installment due to theconsortium of Indian banks(led by State Bank of India) onDecember 31, 2018 has beendelayed due to temporary cash-flow mismatch,” the airlinesaid in a filing to the stockexchanges late Tuesday.

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The telecom regulator Trai hasapproached the Supreme

Court against TDSAT order,which dismissed its predatorypricing tariff rule, Parliamentwas informed on Wednesday.

“Trai has filed an appealbefore Supreme Court againstthe order of TDSAT dated 13thDecember, 2018. The appeal isyet to be listed,” telecom min-ister Manoj Sinha said in a writ-ten reply to the Lok Sabha.

Under the predatory pric-ing tariff rule, the TelecomRegulatory Authority of Indiahad barred telecom operators,with over 30 per cent marketshare, from offering services ata price which is below the aver-age cost of service that areintended to reduce competitionor eliminate the competitors.

The regulator has also saidthat telcos will have to provideservices to all subscribers avail-ing the same tariff plan in anon-discriminatory manner.

However, the same was dis-missed by the Telecom DisputesSettlement and AppellateTribunal(TDSAT) in an orderdated December 13, 2018 citinglack of transparency in the guide-lines over determining marketshare and rates of services.

In February 2018, Trai saidit will impose financial disin-centive of up to �50 lakh per cir-cle on operators if their servicerates are found to be predatoryin nature. The amendment wasissued after old telecom opera-tors Airtel, Vodafone and Ideaalleged that Reliance Jio is offer-ing services at predatory rates.

Sinha said that trans-parency in tariff is and hasalways been an issue of primeconcern for the Governmentand to protect the interests ofthe consumers of telecommu-nications services, the regula-tor has issued several tarifforders, directions and guide-lines in order to ensure trans-parency in tariff offers fromtime-to-time.

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New Delhi (PTI): The governmenton Wednesday decided to provide 3 percent interest subsidy to merchantexporters to enhance flow of funds forthem with a view to boosting outboundshipments. The decision was taken by theCabinet Committee on EconomicAffairs.

“The proposal will entail benefits ofaround �600 crore to exporters on inter-

est equalisation for the remaining peri-od of the scheme,” an official release said.

Approval has been given to the pro-posal of the Department of Commercefor “including merchant exporters underthe interest equalisation scheme for preand post shipment rupee export creditby allowing them interest equalisationrate of 3 per cent on such credit forexport of products covered under 416

tariff lines (products) identified underthe scheme,” the release said. These prod-ucts are largely in MSME/labour-inten-sive sectors such as agriculture, textiles,leather, handicraft and machinery.

It added that inclusion of merchantexporters in the scheme is expected tomake the exporters more competitive,encourage them to export more productsmanufactured by MSMEs. “Additional

exports by them will increase productionby MSME giving a fillip to employmentgeneration as MSME are generally in theemployment-intensive sectors,” it added.

Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhuhas time and again raised the issue ofdeclining export credit. He had suggest-ed that loans to exporters should be con-sidered as priority sector lending by thebanks.

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The MSME sector onWednesday demanded the

RBI’s loan restructuringscheme be also extended to thecompanies not yet registeredunder the Goods and ServicesTax and called for restorationof priority sector lending tag forsuch enterprises. The ReserveBank of India on Tuesdayallowed a one-time restructur-ing of the existing debt of up to�25 crore for the companies thathave defaulted on payments buttheir loans have continued to beclassified as standard assets.

“It would have been farmore effective if the scheme cov-ered all MSMEs, GST-regis-tered or not, as a large numberof units are adversely affecteddue to delays in payments owingto stressed economic condi-tions as a result of twin shocksof demonetisation and GST,”said Federation of Indian Micro,

Small and Medium Enterprisessecretary general Anil Bhardwaj.

To be eligible for thescheme, the aggregate expo-sure, including non-fund basedfacilities of banks and non-banking finance companies, toa borrower should not exceed�25 crore as on January 1, 2019,and the restructuring has to beimplemented by March 31, 2020.

“Obviously, this is going toboost the MSME sector. Wehave also requested the PrimeMinister to give relief to MSMEswhose loans have turned non-performing assets (NPA) or areon the verge of turning NPAs inthe last one year,” MSMEDevelopment Forum chairmanRajnish Goenka told PTI.

The restructuring of loanswill help micro, small and medi-um enterprises, which are facingcash crunch in the wake ofdemonetisation and the GSTimplementation. “Whileschemes like 59-minute portal

for credit of up to �1 crore and2 per cent interest subsidy showthe government’s intent inaddressing the sector’s concerns,the need of the hour is some bigsteps including restoring prior-ity sector lending tag for MSMEsand specific incentives to dis-ruptive fintech sector to lendmore to the sector,” said RNarayan, founder and chiefexecutive officer, Power2SME.

Assocham termed it as a sig-nificant measure which willhelp improve competitiveness ofthis critical sector and said themove would play a pivotal rolein further reviving the ecosystemfor small businesses and createan enabling business environ-ment. Hailing the RBI’s move,FICCI president Sandip Somanysaid: “This will provide a much-needed boost to the small andmedium enterprises that hadbeen reeling under financialpressures on account of reasonsbeyond their control.”

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Indian equity benchmarkSensex on Wednesdayplummeted over 363 points,

tracking global markets whichkicked off the new year on asluggish note due to Chinaslowdown concerns.

Disappointing Chineseeconomic data and weak autosales number played out asdominant factors in triggeringsell-offs in metal and autostocks on domestic bourses.

After New Year holiday,world stocks on Wednesdayopened with an anxiety relat-ed to China slowdown, pullingmost global bourses signifi-cantly down.

Back home, the 30-shareBSE index, after cracking over500 points in the early session,pared some losses towards thefag-end and finished lower by363.05 points, or 1 per cent, at35,891.52.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty plunged 117.60 points, or1.08 per cent, to settle at10,792.50.

The biggest losers in theSensex pack were Vedanta,Tata Steel, M&M, Tata Motors,Maruti, Hero MotoCorp,PowerGrid, Bharti Airtel, SBIand Coal India — falling up to4.48 per cent.

Among the winners wereSun Pharma, TCS, AsianPaints, Infosys, Yes Bank and

ICICI Bank — rising up to 1.66per cent.

Sectorally, auto and metalindices took the worst hit,falling over 3 per cent.

Auto stocks plunged onweak domestic passenger vehi-cle sales numbers, which con-tinued to be in a slow lane inDecember with major playersreporting either marginalincrease or decline in offtakeduring the month on accountof adverse macro-economicconditions.

Meanwhile, the Indianrupee fell sharply against theUS dollar, hitting a low of70.06 against the US dollar inthe afternoon trade, down 63paise.

Brent crude futuresdropped 1.25 per cent to USD53.12 per barrel.

Analysts said that weakGST collections and concernsaround fiscal budget targetsalso added to investor concernsand as a result, the rupee wasone of the worst performingemerging market currencieswith 0.9 per cent fall.

Goods and services taxcollections dropped to �94,726crore in December 2018, lowerthan �97,637 crore collected inthe previous month.Traders were also tracking PMIdata, which revealed that thecountry’s manufacturing sectoractivity in December sloweddown from the previous

month.The Nikkei India

Manufacturing PurchasingManagers’ Index eased to 53.2in December, from 54, inNovember.

On a net basis, foreignportfolio investors (FPIs) soldshares worth �48.19 crore onTuesday, while domestic insti-tutional investors (DIIs) werenet buyers to the tune of�142.58 crore, provisional dataavai lable with the BSEshowed.

Hemang Jani, head (advi-sory), Sharekhan by BNPParibas, said, “In the nearterm, movement in crude oil,currency and Q3FY19 earn-ings starting from next weekwill decide the trend of themarket.”

Elsewhere in Asia, Korea’sKospi ended 1.52 per centlower, while Hong Kong’s HangSeng fell 2.77 per cent andShanghai Composite Indexslipped 1.15 per cent.

In Europe, Paris CACcracked 1.95 per cent, whileFrankfurt’s DAX fell 0.76 percent. London’s FTSE fell 1.28per cent. Japanese market wasclosed on Wednesday.

Global investor sentimenttook a beating as tradingresumed on Wednesday postNew Year break, after Chineseeconomic growth sank to a lowof 6.5 per cent in the Septemberquarter over a year-ago period.

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PNB Housing Finance saidon Wednesday it had raised

USD 265 million (�1,853 crore)through external commercialborrowing (ECB) route lastweek. The company raised thefunds on December 28, 2018and these will be utilised for nor-mal on-lending operations, thebank said in a release.

The housing finance com-pany further said that it raiseda total USD 465 million (�3,324crore) through ECB during thethird quarter of 2018-19 of five-year tenure. “The facility hascome at a landed cost which ismuch below the domestic pric-ing for similar tenor,” PNBHousing Finance MD & CEOSanjaya Gupta said.

Total borrowing throughvarious means remained at�20,000 crore in spite of market

headwinds in the third quarterof the current fiscal, PNBHousing further said.

This includes both long-term and short-term facilitiesthrough deposits, ECBs,National Housing Bank (NHB)refinance, securitisation (directassignment route), bank bor-rowings and commercial papers(CPs).

The company said that apartfrom CPs, all the other fresh bor-rowings in third quarter were oflong term in nature, therebyhelping the company in furtherstrengthening the asset liabilitymanagement (ALM) profile andbusiness growth.

Factoring these, the com-pany as on December 31, 2018,had liquidity of about �12,000crore which includes cash andliquid investments of nearly�6,000 crore and �6,000 crore ofsanctioned undrawn-lines.

Script Open High Low LTPRCOM 14.40 14.40 13.62 13.81M&M 774.00 774.00 736.20 741.50YESBANK 183.75 187.00 182.60 184.65VEDL 201.00 201.00 192.45 193.10TATASTEEL 506.95 507.00 491.55 493.85SBIN 299.35 302.20 293.10 293.85EICHERMOT 22321.00 22488.00 21000.00 21164.05JETAIRWAYS 274.00 278.25 261.00 263.75ASHOKLEY 102.50 102.50 99.00 100.05JPASSOCIAT 7.80 7.94 7.32 7.39MARUTI 7465.00 7465.00 7250.05 7272.45SUNPHARMA 430.90 441.15 429.25 440.30INFY 668.00 673.70 662.45 669.30SUZLON 5.50 5.50 5.33 5.36HINDPETRO 256.45 258.40 245.00 256.25DHFL 245.50 249.40 240.80 241.95RELIANCE 1116.00 1126.75 1101.45 1106.30IBULHSGFIN 842.95 855.20 833.20 842.60BPCL 368.40 368.40 347.65 358.35AXISBANK 624.70 628.30 617.10 618.90ICICIBANK 362.65 367.95 360.45 364.35BANKBARODA 123.50 124.60 118.30 119.40ESCORTS 721.90 730.25 702.40 707.20TATAMOTORS 171.00 171.70 168.00 168.55BEML 900.00 929.00 895.00 922.70SPICEJET 90.90 90.90 87.00 87.80NCC 89.00 91.35 88.60 89.40TCS 1907.90 1933.00 1900.55 1923.15BANKINDIA 106.85 107.90 103.85 104.75PNB 79.90 80.45 77.35 77.85GAIL 355.65 360.40 348.60 351.50RELCAPITAL 230.00 232.00 220.10 221.75JSWSTEEL 293.20 297.95 287.00 288.70PCJEWELLER 86.25 86.25 82.25 82.80BAJFINANCE 2646.80 2662.00 2605.00 2616.50JINDALSTEL 160.00 160.70 157.00 158.05IOC 137.10 138.10 134.15 137.20TVSMOTOR 573.00 575.50 530.20 535.00ITC 282.90 283.35 277.75 280.50NMDC 98.00 99.50 96.65 96.90JAICORPLTD 116.50 118.60 113.70 114.30HINDALCO 218.75 219.20 213.75 214.40JUBLFOOD 1250.75 1275.90 1230.00 1239.20L&TFH 153.85 154.35 149.70 150.70IBVENTURES 391.00 416.65 391.00 403.50UNIONBANK 89.50 89.75 87.35 88.35TRITURBINE 108.25 121.80 102.70 116.90HDFC 2009.90 2009.90 1963.75 1979.00ONGC 148.30 148.30 146.30 147.60LT 1442.80 1444.00 1417.55 1426.40HEROMOTOCO 3123.00 3123.00 3035.00 3046.05KOTAKBANK 1245.50 1248.30 1228.10 1240.90BHARTIARTL 316.00 320.75 309.20 312.80HDFCBANK 2145.00 2147.95 2120.10 2125.95BAJAJ-AUTO 2728.00 2744.65 2680.00 2689.40RELINFRA 317.70 317.70 303.40 306.00FEDERALBNK 93.35 95.70 93.15 94.85CHAMBLFERT 147.95 156.65 147.95 154.20DLF 181.00 181.00 172.30 172.90BHEL 73.70 74.75 72.40 72.85TITAN 924.80 936.90 923.95 931.70UJJIVAN 274.00 283.10 272.00 274.60SRTRANSFIN 1229.85 1251.30 1177.90 1196.70DMART 1591.00 1591.00 1555.00 1562.55BEL 87.80 90.10 86.80 89.65DABUR 424.95 425.20 411.20 416.00COALINDIA 241.10 241.20 235.00 237.00CANBK 281.95 283.75 273.70 275.40BANDHANBNK 553.00 564.00 550.00 551.60ORIENTBANK 98.00 99.05 94.90 95.60INFIBEAM 47.75 47.75 45.65 46.30HINDUNILVR 1798.00 1808.70 1772.55 1784.00STRTECH 295.90 299.80 292.00 293.95HEXAWARE 332.60 340.65 329.70 331.15HCLTECH 951.00 961.90 941.55 945.85JSL 34.90 35.00 33.60 33.75PFC 107.00 107.65 103.60 104.05WOCKPHARMA 528.80 532.50 513.15 518.05IBREALEST 88.50 88.90 86.60 87.15GRAPHITE 755.00 764.00 747.00 748.75NBCC 57.65 58.90 56.90 57.85ZEEL 477.00 480.50 463.45 469.10PEL 2400.00 2409.00 2335.00 2340.80INDHOTEL 146.00 150.30 137.85 144.30INDIANB 252.50 255.60 244.55 245.70BHARATFORG 508.50 510.70 492.10 495.10LUPIN 840.00 847.35 826.55 832.60BLISSGVS 161.00 169.95 161.00 165.15TATAPOWER 76.70 76.70 74.50 74.85FSL 49.35 49.65 48.25 48.40SAIL 54.90 55.25 53.80 54.10DELTACORP 251.30 252.25 245.60 247.70TATAELXSI 1030.00 1041.95 1020.65 1025.10TATACHEM 704.60 709.15 697.25 701.05HEG 3671.40 3725.00 3661.00 3679.20SHANKARA 557.00 558.00 534.00 536.60GSFC 115.80 117.40 111.20 111.95SIEMENS 1065.00 1067.00 1050.00 1056.60RECLTD 120.00 121.75 118.50 119.05ASIANPAINT 1371.00 1386.75 1363.30 1381.55TATAMTRDVR 92.65 92.65 89.20 90.05TECHM 719.00 729.35 709.30 711.85RBLBANK 578.00 582.40 566.15 567.00RPOWER 29.00 29.00 27.60 27.70HDFCLIFE 386.80 393.00 383.80 390.50BOMDYEING 114.50 115.95 112.00 112.60INDUSINDBK 1585.00 1596.95 1568.00 1577.40BIOCON 624.10 631.15 619.60 622.75

FORCEMOT 1622.05 1624.80 1595.95 1603.60BAJAJFINSV 6500.00 6524.00 6363.00 6390.75CGPOWER 45.80 45.90 44.00 44.45SUVEN 230.45 239.80 229.10 236.45GNFC 349.00 353.70 342.00 343.25NIITTECH 1140.00 1178.30 1140.00 1152.30ADANIPORTS 387.00 388.90 378.25 380.95UCOBANK 22.80 23.00 21.90 22.10ABFRL 203.90 203.90 194.85 195.70ITI 93.50 95.50 93.10 93.45INDIGO 1175.00 1178.95 1155.00 1162.15IDFCBANK 43.15 43.60 42.25 42.70WIPRO 327.20 331.20 323.20 325.10FRETAIL 500.00 500.00 459.35 469.35LICHSGFIN 472.00 485.50 472.00 475.70ENGINERSIN 126.10 127.55 124.50 125.05TIINDIA 344.15 362.50 344.00 353.05AUROPHARMA 727.00 732.25 718.05 722.30PRESTIGE 238.50 242.45 229.10 231.85ABCAPITAL 99.75 101.50 99.05 99.45COLPAL 1320.25 1322.70 1300.00 1303.65STAR 465.00 469.50 454.30 458.55OIL 175.85 176.10 171.80 172.95LTI 1720.15 1751.00 1705.15 1726.50PETRONET 227.75 231.00 226.95 228.15SWANENERGY 102.00 102.00 96.20 97.15OBEROIRLTY 450.00 466.25 442.30 450.15BALKRISIND 927.00 932.60 908.85 912.25ADANIPOWER 50.50 51.10 50.25 50.65JSWENERGY 70.15 70.65 69.60 70.30GODREJCP 812.00 822.90 801.50 807.65JISLJALEQS 69.00 69.50 67.10 67.50GRASIM 824.50 838.00 813.30 816.05EDELWEISS 180.95 184.10 178.80 180.10APOLLOHOSP 1264.90 1288.50 1254.25 1261.25CASTROLIND 151.00 151.55 147.00 147.30ALBK 46.85 46.95 44.90 45.00

PHILIPCARB 208.00 210.00 205.40 206.45HAVELLS 692.00 703.15 689.05 690.80SPARC 190.45 192.90 188.50 190.55INDIACEM 97.00 97.00 93.30 93.70IGL 274.00 276.00 270.10 274.45MUTHOOTFIN 511.15 515.25 499.05 502.70CANFINHOME 284.90 290.05 278.15 280.90MOTHERSUMI 165.65 166.00 162.85 163.65EQUITAS 124.85 126.40 122.50 123.30CUB 196.85 196.85 187.05 192.65DRREDDY 2619.00 2619.00 2576.00 2600.60IDEA 37.75 37.80 36.55 36.80POWERGRID 199.00 199.30 194.10 195.40NOCIL 166.00 167.95 162.00 163.45MINDTREE 864.40 878.50 854.85 858.55NATIONALUM 65.00 65.10 63.75 64.20ACC 1499.50 1500.65 1474.80 1483.15CHOLAFIN 1247.00 1265.95 1227.95 1233.15RCF 63.75 65.05 63.50 63.75GLENMARK 688.85 691.50 673.45 681.65DCBBANK 170.75 172.45 167.60 168.90CIPLA 524.00 524.00 513.65 515.65PIDILITIND 1101.10 1116.00 1090.00 1107.35MAHINDCIE 253.00 255.00 246.95 248.25CEATLTD 1274.00 1309.30 1274.00 1289.25UPL 752.75 758.00 744.40 755.15SYNDIBANK 39.80 40.10 38.65 39.10SUNTV 603.95 613.20 599.55 604.30BBTC 1319.70 1330.00 1290.00 1303.35SOUTHBANK 15.70 15.80 15.30 15.50CHENNPETRO 290.00 292.00 282.00 284.95VENKYS 2400.00 2438.00 2374.70 2403.00JUSTDIAL 499.00 505.35 493.85 495.95IFCI 15.05 15.20 14.45 14.60MCX 730.05 737.50 716.15 725.40BAJAJELEC 510.80 512.20 502.50 506.75BRITANNIA 3087.15 3130.00 3075.20 3115.85INTELLECT 227.60 232.70 222.60 223.50CONCOR 686.00 689.00 664.00 669.85LEMONTREE 74.00 74.00 71.00 71.30KPIT 217.00 220.30 215.20 215.90NTPC 148.30 150.10 145.75 146.60J&KBANK 38.80 39.85 38.25 38.85M&MFIN 474.35 474.35 461.25 465.80RAYMOND 840.00 842.85 812.05 819.30IDFC 43.40 43.70 42.00 42.20

WESTLIFE 382.85 408.75 380.10 396.95WELSPUNIND 60.30 62.30 59.95 61.20ICICIGI 871.00 884.45 863.50 871.90VIPIND 512.00 517.50 502.05 504.25MANAPPURAM 92.50 93.80 91.70 92.30ICICIPRULI 325.85 325.85 318.00 319.55OMAXE 214.25 214.50 213.15 213.50RAIN 133.70 135.00 131.00 131.85VOLTAS 552.50 556.00 535.25 538.00IRB 163.50 165.10 158.00 159.00DENABANK 18.15 18.45 17.85 17.95ULTRACEMCO 3992.95 4017.00 3978.10 3999.80CUMMINSIND 846.55 857.15 838.35 844.60MFSL 449.50 449.50 426.00 428.65GODREJPROP 651.20 673.25 651.20 668.75ABB 1314.40 1327.25 1313.75 1316.00MARICO 372.30 377.45 369.55 372.85DIVISLAB 1470.00 1483.15 1462.00 1471.20SRF 1988.00 2012.10 1965.00 1992.80APOLLOTYRE 232.70 235.00 229.00 230.40AJANTPHARM 1177.05 1190.80 1153.50 1161.55KEI 360.00 363.75 351.15 356.90JINDALSAW 84.20 84.85 82.50 83.35TORNTPOWER 260.00 260.00 253.95 255.90QUESS 700.10 719.35 683.20 710.60BATAINDIA 1128.00 1135.00 1108.60 1113.20ITDC 330.95 341.00 320.00 323.50PAGEIND 24700.00 25104.75 24353.10 24668.95REPCOHOME 395.95 402.95 384.65 387.80GMRINFRA 16.45 16.45 15.90 15.95PERSISTENT 624.95 643.50 623.00 624.65GESHIP 313.00 330.65 311.85 319.45RADICO 402.45 405.50 397.65 400.05CENTRALBK 37.35 38.00 36.00 37.10AVANTI 385.00 386.95 376.65 378.50CENTURYTEX 920.10 922.45 901.00 906.15UBL 1351.00 1371.20 1347.40 1356.65HFCL 21.20 21.50 21.05 21.20BHARATFIN 1002.45 1014.00 996.00 998.95MGL 906.05 916.00 895.00 900.60EXIDEIND 266.80 268.00 260.10 261.00MAHABANK 15.80 15.90 15.30 15.59DBL 424.30 426.30 415.00 417.80DCMSHRIRAM 340.15 354.00 339.95 344.20CADILAHC 349.00 349.65 343.10 346.50SUNTECK 347.95 350.50 343.65 348.15KTKBANK 112.80 114.25 111.00 111.35TRIDENT 67.90 68.40 66.50 67.40PVR 1582.80 1602.40 1578.10 1588.90AMBUJACEM 223.25 223.55 218.30 219.10TATAGLOBAL 218.50 220.35 213.60 214.80KRBL 285.00 296.85 283.85 291.70INFRATEL 260.65 267.00 258.75 263.30CROMPTON 235.10 236.45 229.00 231.45EMAMILTD 424.00 424.60 419.00 422.10MRPL 74.25 75.60 73.20 74.15UFLEX 278.45 282.15 277.95 278.60VGUARD 226.50 228.10 220.60 222.60MANPASAND 89.80 89.80 85.30 86.05JKTYRE 103.20 104.65 103.00 104.05SREINFRA 36.15 36.30 34.40 34.60TV18BRDCST 38.80 38.80 37.40 37.80MPHASIS 1002.65 1008.15 986.00 988.45GRUH 321.00 322.20 315.25 319.60WABAG 259.90 262.90 259.05 260.00WELCORP 139.00 140.40 134.50 135.20NESTLEIND 11001.60 11145.00 10941.15 11041.05IBULISL 365.90 374.00 359.00 362.00MMTC 30.95 31.00 30.00 30.20RALLIS 179.30 182.00 176.50 177.75GODREJIND 539.45 546.80 534.00 536.85BERGEPAINT 329.75 331.50 325.90 327.25PARAGMILK 248.55 248.55 242.50 245.30PTC 92.00 93.00 90.50 91.15ISEC 265.00 284.00 260.40 262.95WHIRLPOOL 1365.00 1412.05 1365.00 1396.65DISHTV 39.40 39.40 37.50 38.30TATAINVEST 900.00 905.55 895.25 898.70HINDCOPPER 51.55 51.80 50.55 50.85HINDZINC 277.95 277.95 272.05 273.50ADANIGREEN 42.40 42.40 40.70 41.10TIMETECHNO 104.00 107.00 103.40 104.35IEX 166.05 167.90 162.00 163.65FCONSUMER 45.60 46.20 45.05 45.30AUBANK 615.00 624.00 612.60 619.50GREAVESCOT 119.00 119.10 115.90 116.45KSCL 576.50 584.80 564.95 568.40JKLAKSHMI 314.60 319.90 307.55 312.85HIMATSEIDE 213.35 218.50 210.00 213.80TORNTPHARM 1775.50 1788.30 1748.80 1770.35LTTS 1722.70 1729.00 1699.05 1703.75KAJARIACER 493.45 496.55 487.75 493.55GODFRYPHLP 881.20 894.00 861.30 868.15MOTILALOFS 657.10 678.05 647.20 674.15APLAPOLLO 1181.95 1232.25 1181.95 1203.80MERCK 3150.00 3150.00 3027.50 3039.65THERMAX 1118.25 1160.00 1118.25 1142.30SOBHA 475.00 476.00 459.15 472.50MEGH 60.00 60.90 59.00 59.50JYOTHYLAB 210.60 211.15 203.10 204.70IDBI 61.45 61.55 61.15 61.35NILKAMAL 1465.00 1484.35 1448.90 1454.35SCI 47.85 48.00 46.40 47.05KANSAINER 490.40 490.40 480.10 483.75KEC 300.00 301.80 297.25 299.05DEEPAKNI 222.95 223.90 217.70 221.90NAVINFLUOR 694.70 703.85 689.00 699.10NAUKRI 1443.00 1452.35 1396.00 1435.00ADANITRANS 199.05 202.00 198.30 199.80

JMFINANCIL 92.10 92.75 89.40 89.60PIIND 857.55 874.15 855.35 859.60TATACOMM 522.45 533.55 519.00 521.35JKCEMENT 729.00 737.00 719.05 722.85NETWORK18 40.50 41.45 39.65 40.25HUDCO 43.65 43.85 43.05 43.20GRANULES 90.00 91.25 89.00 89.65SUNDRMFAST 546.00 547.60 531.70 535.25NATCOPHARM* 694.95 704.80 681.30 699.65AKZOINDIA 1750.00 1820.95 1747.15 1770.30ASTRAL 1125.00 1165.45 1120.00 1140.05DEEPAKFERT 148.15 152.00 147.35 147.95VIJAYABANK 51.00 51.80 51.00 51.05NIACL 179.35 184.55 179.35 184.15SONATSOFTW 300.60 307.00 300.50 301.60NHPC 26.00 26.00 25.60 25.70MINDAIND 320.35 333.00 320.00 329.15JSLHISAR 91.00 91.30 88.45 89.10EIHOTEL 194.45 194.55 186.45 189.00HAL 798.00 812.70 792.00 800.30MAHLIFE 407.70 425.15 396.00 399.30HSCL 131.10 132.05 130.05 130.60JAMNAAUTO 65.00 65.00 63.65 63.80FORTIS 138.00 141.00 138.00 140.30ANDHRABANK 29.90 30.05 29.20 29.45AARTIIND 1434.05 1456.00 1434.05 1450.05TATACOFFEE 98.35 99.50 96.65 97.35SUPRAJIT 233.00 239.90 227.45 236.55ESSELPRO 110.00 114.00 109.40 110.30VINATIORGA 1615.00 1632.00 1588.00 1598.65GICRE 258.00 262.50 257.40 258.50GODREJAGRO 501.00 505.00 498.60 499.65PFIZER 2823.00 2860.45 2802.00 2822.25GDL 124.70 127.50 121.10 124.55VBL 818.00 818.00 788.60 793.40MRF 66599.00 66918.95 66100.00 66577.35TIMKEN 611.55 624.95 601.75 604.90NAVKARCORP 56.35 56.90 55.00 55.50PNBHOUSING 916.00 925.00 911.40 918.403MINDIA 20364.95 20364.95 19966.10 20004.20RNAM 160.95 160.95 158.00 159.30GULFOILLUB 823.00 855.00 823.00 836.05ASHOKA 127.90 127.90 122.60 123.35AEGISLOG 199.70 204.05 199.70 203.50COCHINSHIP 372.30 373.30 370.50 371.55SBILIFE 595.80 603.25 593.50 599.35IPCALAB 813.35 816.30 799.50 801.90AMARAJABAT 735.00 738.90 730.00 732.65SYNGENE 558.45 558.45 548.00 553.75MHRIL 211.95 212.50 207.20 210.05OFSS 3710.00 3755.20 3696.00 3705.10JUBILANT 705.95 713.45 705.10 706.65KNRCON 210.85 215.40 209.00 213.25SJVN 25.35 26.00 25.35 25.70SUPREMEIND 1161.00 1161.00 1125.75 1129.45RAJESHEXPO 572.50 575.00 571.00 572.75ATUL 3430.85 3485.00 3410.00 3452.10JBCHEPHARM 314.90 318.00 307.00 312.10TRENT 360.00 360.65 349.30 352.90INDOSTAR 350.00 360.00 341.05 343.75GSPL 175.85 176.95 174.55 176.50MOIL 170.10 170.25 168.60 169.30HSIL 236.00 239.00 233.60 234.80BAJAJCORP 378.50 380.15 374.95 376.10THOMASCOOK 232.20 233.00 228.40 231.95KIOCL 163.15 164.90 154.50 154.75ASTERDM 158.60 161.00 155.00 159.55BAJAJHLDNG 2939.05 2973.00 2925.10 2950.00NLCINDIA 69.70 69.70 67.75 68.20ITDCEM 115.05 115.30 111.85 112.55GUJALKALI 546.25 551.30 538.00 544.40ALKEM 1938.75 1970.00 1935.55 1954.35EIDPARRY 206.50 208.50 204.35 205.35GSKCONS 7546.00 7600.00 7450.00 7503.80TNPL 254.95 256.50 250.00 250.50BALMLAWRIE 203.25 203.25 198.90 199.25MAXINDIA 83.45 85.55 83.40 84.75PRSMJOHNSN 89.00 89.90 87.65 88.05SHARDACROP 302.50 310.60 300.00 300.20PNCINFRA 151.70 153.70 150.00 150.95ZYDUSWELL 1360.00 1367.95 1350.55 1353.45HERITGFOOD 529.00 531.45 522.00 525.40IOB 15.00 15.14 14.80 14.85ZENSARTECH 232.05 234.50 230.40 231.30THYROCARE 530.00 545.00 530.00 542.30SOMANYCERA 334.20 337.55 329.00 335.95DCAL 232.25 233.30 229.65 230.85LUXIND 1380.00 1395.20 1340.10 1347.80CYIENT 616.05 623.10 614.45 619.35ADVENZYMES 175.05 176.90 174.40 175.65LALPATHLAB 916.25 925.40 901.95 916.65TATAMETALI 618.50 622.80 610.00 612.90MINDACORP 149.00 151.00 149.00 149.70CARBORUNIV 365.00 368.70 356.00 360.40SUDARSCHEM 345.00 346.70 342.25 344.85CAPPL 382.50 387.00 377.90 380.35DBCORP 171.70 180.80 167.95 169.55KALPATPOWR 386.80 386.90 379.00 379.65FORBESCO 2400.00 2400.00 2340.00 2344.60ASAHIINDIA 265.00 270.35 255.15 257.10COROMANDEL 454.25 454.25 448.15 448.55APLLTD 585.00 585.00 577.00 581.00CORPBANK 29.80 29.80 28.90 29.00GEPIL 820.20 834.00 812.15 819.70GHCL 243.00 246.40 240.00 244.55ENDURANCE 1255.00 1266.00 1238.05 1242.70GLAXO 1544.95 1544.95 1485.05 1492.35ABBOTINDIA 7580.05 7592.00 7500.05 7532.50LINDEINDIA 684.90 690.00 678.10 680.15

SHREECEM 17057.40 17202.55 16816.55 16934.45SYMPHONY 1229.00 1229.00 1146.05 1161.90BASF 1547.00 1553.75 1525.00 1540.75GUJFLUORO 910.05 915.00 907.45 911.20LAXMIMACH 5777.95 5777.95 5705.00 5710.00CENTRUM 37.25 37.60 36.00 36.30SHILPAMED 393.05 398.00 380.55 382.70GET&D 294.50 297.50 286.00 287.35CENTURYPLY 176.00 177.50 174.50 175.00GICHSGFIN 261.00 264.85 256.20 258.20BOSCHLTD 19556.30 19600.00 19411.00 19465.75EVEREADY 184.70 186.00 183.50 183.55TEJASNET 206.85 208.85 202.15 205.80FINOLEXIND 548.95 551.25 533.00 537.35SHRIRAMCIT 1589.95 1619.95 1571.05 1589.40TAKE 149.50 151.75 147.10 148.80ALLCARGO 109.20 109.20 107.50 108.40BDL 278.80 284.00 278.70 282.55RAMCOCEM 637.90 641.65 634.05 637.05WABCOINDIA 6890.60 6890.60 6800.00 6820.90GPPL 103.75 103.75 101.75 102.10HEIDELBERG 152.70 153.00 150.10 150.30SCHNEIDER 102.00 103.95 100.60 100.75SOLARINDS 1070.60 1080.00 1059.70 1070.65BLUESTARCO 622.20 625.00 617.30 623.60CARERATING 976.85 981.85 971.05 974.55BIRLACORPN 598.20 598.20 586.00 588.00ERIS 687.50 687.50 663.90 670.95GMDCLTD 90.00 90.50 89.20 89.85FDC 173.15 176.30 171.10 172.80AIAENG 1660.00 1662.20 1635.00 1653.60GREENPLY 139.45 139.80 136.70 137.80NBVENTURES 119.50 120.15 119.35 119.75VMART 2572.80 2604.00 2555.00 2573.90ORIENTCEM 85.00 85.00 82.30 82.55FLFL 408.80 408.80 396.00 397.50ASTRAZEN 1448.50 1456.50 1415.95 1422.60JCHAC 1825.00 1825.00 1701.25 1753.80HONAUT 21735.05 22058.75 21600.00 21732.65GILLETTE 6486.05 6497.20 6445.45 6454.00REDINGTON 88.65 88.70 87.10 87.30SKFINDIA 1897.65 1918.45 1894.40 1899.20NAVNETEDUL 105.90 108.00 105.90 107.60NESCO 445.30 448.15 444.10 445.65GUJGAS 667.00 672.00 667.00 667.45MAGMA 111.90 111.90 105.55 106.90LAOPALA 223.55 228.00 216.00 216.60ISGEC 4995.00 5084.95 4995.00 5051.30ELGIEQUIP 255.05 262.70 255.00 257.10COFFEEDAY 275.00 277.60 274.00 275.15NH 193.30 193.70 192.00 193.00DHANUKA 443.75 445.00 437.00 442.30TTKPRESTIG 7525.00 7543.00 7440.00 7490.05IFBIND 855.45 861.45 843.60 850.50PGHH 9898.10 9898.10 9836.05 9867.80CRISIL 1619.00 1636.00 1610.05 1627.50SHOPERSTOP 528.40 530.70 516.65 524.15KPRMILL 556.40 560.90 549.20 553.45LAURUSLABS 383.15 385.05 379.00 379.70INOXLEISUR 244.65 247.10 244.65 246.75SADBHAV 209.45 210.75 207.00 209.25INOXWIND 76.45 76.80 75.50 75.85ECLERX 1080.65 1094.05 1079.10 1084.40RELAXO 731.90 738.45 726.25 737.80SIS 761.05 763.55 744.05 748.75PHOENIXLTD 577.00 577.00 572.15 574.70SANOFI 6349.50 6352.05 6212.00 6242.90TVSSRICHAK 2511.80 2517.50 2490.00 2505.40STARCEMENT 103.60 104.95 102.85 103.00JAGRAN 115.45 116.65 114.20 115.80SHK 171.20 172.75 171.10 172.60FINCABLES 453.00 454.00 450.00 453.10BLUEDART 3383.00 3383.00 3329.00 3356.95MAHLOG 513.00 520.00 513.00 513.40CCL 270.50 272.10 268.05 268.75TIFHL 512.60 512.60 505.65 507.80APARINDS 676.00 681.00 660.10 664.25LAKSHVILAS 87.00 87.45 86.00 86.30SUPPETRO 207.85 207.85 202.20 203.45GRINDWELL 554.50 565.00 554.50 555.20SCHAEFFLER 5670.00 5721.00 5661.00 5674.00TVTODAY 373.40 373.40 368.70 369.95HATSUN 620.10 632.75 620.00 626.60GALAXYSURF 1213.60 1226.00 1210.00 1212.80RATNAMANI 934.00 940.00 926.05 930.00CERA 2352.40 2387.10 2351.05 2371.95TEAMLEASE 2876.95 2885.95 2840.00 2870.60MONSANTO 2638.05 2639.00 2586.00 2586.00VTL 1111.90 1111.90 1100.05 1108.15SFL 1452.00 1483.90 1452.00 1478.45SUNCLAYLTD 3526.10 3547.05 3526.10 3546.05

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 10868.85 10895.35 10735.05 10792.50 -117.60SUNPHARMA 430.50 441.20 429.25 439.95 6.40INFRATEL 261.95 266.00 258.70 265.20 2.95TCS 1905.00 1934.45 1900.00 1919.00 16.20ASIANPAINT 1367.00 1386.85 1361.60 1380.05 8.50INFY 666.00 674.00 662.05 668.00 2.95TITAN 923.30 937.00 923.30 931.50 3.50UPL 750.00 758.45 744.00 755.05 1.55YESBANK 183.45 187.00 182.50 184.60 0.35ICICIBANK 361.50 367.90 360.30 364.30 0.55DRREDDY 2606.00 2618.00 2575.05 2605.05 -2.00ULTRACEMCO 4000.00 4018.95 3973.95 3996.65 -12.55WIPRO 328.80 331.30 323.00 325.40 -1.25IBULHSGFIN 841.00 856.50 832.85 840.00 -4.75IOC 137.30 138.20 134.10 136.70 -1.00ITC 282.25 283.25 277.55 280.60 -2.10KOTAKBANK 1247.90 1248.25 1227.00 1241.00 -9.45HINDPETRO 255.85 258.50 244.70 254.60 -2.10TECHM 719.15 729.70 709.25 712.15 -6.95HDFCBANK 2142.80 2147.50 2119.70 2127.00 -21.10ONGC 148.00 148.35 145.75 146.85 -1.65HINDUNILVR 1792.40 1808.85 1771.30 1781.00 -20.10LT 1441.00 1444.90 1417.10 1424.50 -17.40AXISBANK 623.00 628.50 617.50 619.45 -7.85HDFC 2004.70 2009.00 1961.00 1983.00 -26.00NTPC 147.95 148.70 146.15 146.65 -2.05HCLTECH 959.00 962.00 939.15 946.10 -13.75INDUSINDBK 1587.60 1598.00 1568.25 1572.05 -23.55RELIANCE 1114.50 1127.00 1101.00 1104.35 -16.65BAJAJ-AUTO 2720.00 2747.25 2677.00 2685.00 -41.65BAJFINANCE 2635.10 2662.00 2601.90 2614.50 -42.35ZEEL 476.05 480.00 462.25 472.50 -7.75CIPLA 521.90 522.50 513.15 514.30 -8.75BAJAJFINSV 6475.00 6526.00 6360.00 6404.00 -117.95SBIN 299.10 302.50 293.10 293.80 -5.80ADANIPORTS 388.00 388.95 378.00 381.00 -8.00COALINDIA 240.90 241.45 236.05 236.45 -5.05GRASIM 829.90 838.00 812.75 815.55 -17.95BHARTIARTL 316.90 321.00 309.10 312.50 -7.00POWERGRID 199.10 200.00 194.00 194.65 -5.35MARUTI 7445.00 7460.00 7244.00 7269.00 -207.80TATAMOTORS 170.60 171.75 168.00 168.40 -5.05BPCL 366.00 366.00 346.75 355.65 -11.55GAIL 360.55 361.90 347.55 350.30 -11.85HEROMOTOCO 3115.00 3117.30 3023.80 3025.00 -102.60HINDALCO 218.95 219.15 213.65 214.50 -8.25M&M 772.80 772.80 735.10 740.55 -32.80VEDL 200.00 200.00 192.50 193.20 -8.90TATASTEEL 506.00 506.80 492.00 492.50 -23.25JSWSTEEL 296.05 297.95 286.60 287.40 -16.55EICHERMOT 22340.00 22340.00 20950.25 21014.00 -2181.10

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 28074.05 28188.40 27801.75 27876.95 -234.70BEL 87.25 90.25 86.75 90.00 2.55NIACL 181.60 186.40 180.75 184.10 4.35HDFCLIFE 385.95 392.50 385.10 391.65 5.25NMDC 98.00 99.50 96.65 96.85 1.10SBILIFE 593.40 604.00 593.40 602.00 3.15PIDILITIND 1103.10 1116.20 1088.30 1107.35 5.40MARICO 373.40 377.65 369.25 373.55 1.25BRITANNIA 3100.00 3131.00 3081.20 3110.00 6.95ICICIGI 870.00 884.50 860.00 875.05 1.80PGHH 9900.05 9913.60 9840.00 9899.00 -4.75GODREJCP 815.00 822.75 796.20 806.75 -0.60MRF 66500.00 67100.00 66150.70 66700.00 -101.20BOSCHLTD 19515.00 19628.95 19431.80 19530.00 -46.50ABB 1320.00 1330.00 1311.30 1315.90 -3.30INDIGO 1170.00 1179.10 1154.20 1162.60 -3.00PETRONET 227.20 231.30 226.90 228.35 -0.65HAVELLS 692.00 703.00 690.00 691.70 -3.10BIOCON 624.80 631.20 619.00 622.85 -2.95SHREECEM 16969.75 17198.00 16772.00 16891.30 -81.95SUNTV 607.70 612.85 598.45 604.50 -3.35MCDOWELL-N 619.90 625.35 612.10 617.40 -3.60ACC 1487.85 1501.95 1477.55 1478.20 -10.60OFSS 3738.95 3760.00 3693.30 3702.00 -27.45GICRE 259.00 262.80 256.25 257.00 -2.40BANDHANBNK 553.00 563.70 549.60 551.40 -5.30CADILAHC 348.50 350.00 342.55 346.70 -3.35ABCAPITAL 99.80 101.45 99.00 99.05 -1.05LUPIN 842.00 847.00 826.05 832.00 -9.45SIEMENS 1067.00 1067.60 1049.60 1050.55 -12.10NHPC 25.90 26.00 25.55 25.65 -0.30DABUR 421.95 425.35 411.00 416.15 -5.70BHEL 73.40 74.80 72.45 72.75 -1.05MOTHERSUMI 165.00 165.95 162.80 163.10 -2.35AUROPHARMA 729.00 732.40 719.00 722.10 -11.05DMART 1589.40 1591.95 1551.30 1565.00 -25.75COLPAL 1315.00 1322.75 1297.20 1302.00 -21.90LICHSGFIN 480.00 486.00 474.35 477.70 -8.85OIL 175.80 176.20 171.00 172.35 -3.40HINDZINC 275.00 277.75 271.70 272.20 -5.65AMBUJACEM 222.90 223.80 218.05 218.25 -4.65L&TFH 153.20 154.35 149.60 149.95 -3.20CONCOR 686.00 689.10 663.00 670.00 -15.30ICICIPRULI 323.70 327.00 318.10 318.60 -7.30PEL 2386.00 2410.00 2334.50 2340.00 -55.30ASHOKLEY 102.05 102.30 99.00 100.05 -2.45BANKBARODA 123.50 124.45 118.20 119.55 -3.75SRTRANSFIN 1230.10 1252.00 1176.55 1191.35 -38.40IDEA 37.95 37.95 36.50 36.55 -1.20SAIL 54.50 55.20 53.75 53.85 -1.90DLF 179.90 179.90 172.25 173.10 -7.20

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Mitt Romney, theRepublican party’s pres-

idential nominee in 2012, hasslammed US President DonaldTrump, saying his conductover the past two years, par-ticularly his actions thismonth, is evidence that he hasnot risen to the mantle of theoffice.

Romney, 71, who waselected as a Republican Senatorfrom Utah in November, willbe sworn in on Thursday.

“The Trump presidencymade a deep descent inDecember...On balance, hisconduct over the past twoyears, particularly his actionsthis month, is evidence that thepresident has not risen to themantle of the office,” Romneysaid in an op-ed published inthe Washington Post onTuesday.

His strong-hitting op-edgains significance that he isunlikely to follow White Houseposition on critical issues giventhat the ruling party has 53seats in a 100-member Senate.

On some critical issuesTrump would require 60 votesto get his legislative agendapassed.

Romney, notably enough,during the Republican presi-dential primaries in 2016, haddescribed Trump as a conman and accused him as afraud.

“There’s plenty of evidencethat Mr Trump is a con man,a fake. Mr Trump has changedhis positions not just over theyears, but over the course ofthe campaign,” Romney said inhis speech at the HinckleyInstitute on March 3, 2016.

“Here’s what I know.Donald Trump is a phony, afraud. His promises are as

worthless as a degree fromTrump University,” Romneyhad said and warned his partycolleagues that Trump if nominated as the Republican nominee wouldnever be able to defeat the thenDemocratic candidate HillaryClinton.

However, Trump wentahead to earn the Republcianpresidential nomination byovercoming the challenge from16 others and surprised polit-ical pundits by defeatingfavourite Hillary Clinton in theNovember 2016 presidentialelections.

After Trump’s electoral vic-tory, the two leaders met overdinner in New York.

The then media reportssaid that Trump consideredhim for the position ofSecretary of State.

However, later Trump gavethe position to Rex Tillerson.

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Talking tough, President XiJinping Wednesday asked

Taiwan to reject independenceand embrace “peaceful reuni-fication” with China on a ‘one-country-two systems’ basis,warning that he would notrenounce the option of usingmilitary force if Taipei persistswith the idea of freedom.

In a speech marking the40th anniversary of issuing‘Message to Compatriots’ inTaiwan, president Xi proposed‘one -country-two-systems’ onthe lines of Hong Kong for thepeaceful reunification ofTaiwan.

“Chinese don’t fightChinese,” Xi, 65, said, assertingthat the peaceful reunificationis in the best interests of thecompatriots across the Strait aswell as to China.

“We make no promise torenounce the use of force and

reserve the option of taking allnecessary means,” he said,delivering a strong message toTaiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, a firm advocate ofTaiwan’s independence.

Xi, regarded as the mostpowerful leader who heads theruling Communist Party ofChina (CPC), the military andthe presidency, said both HongKong and Macau were inte-grated into China under the‘one-country-two-systems’basis and have retained theirautonomy.

“Peaceful reunification andone-country-two-systems isthe best way to achieve nation-al reunification. It embodies thewisdom of the Chinese peoplethat all rivers run into the seaand is inclusive,” he said in aspeech telecast live all over thecountry. “The concrete imple-mentation of ‘one-country-two-systems’ in Taiwan willtake into full account the real-ity of Taiwan,” he said.

Xi’s speech laced with adecisive message to Taiwancomes after President Tsai’sDemocratic Progressive Party

(DPP) suffered major losses inthe last month’s local govern-ment elections following whichshe resigned as the leader of theparty.

In a veiled reference to theUS’ growing backing of Taiwanin recent months, Xi said hismessage was not targeted atcompatriots in Taiwan, but atthe interference of externalforces and the very small num-ber of “Taiwan independence”separatists and their activities.

Last September, Chinademanded the US to cancel aUSD 330 million arms dealwith Taiwan, warning “severedamage” to bilateral ties andpeace and stability in Taiwanstraits separating the Chinesemainland with Taiwan.

Amid the rising tensionswith China over the ongoingtrade war and sanctionsimposed on Chinese militaryprocurement unit for RussianSu-35 fighter jets and S-400missiles, the US has approvedthe sale of spare parts and relat-ed support for Taiwan’s US-made F-16 fighters and othermilitary aircraft.

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Rescuers hunted for sur-vivors Wednesday in the

rubble of a Russian apartmentbuilding hit by a New Year’s Evegas explosion, but found onlybodies as the number of con-firmed dead rose to 18.

Nearly two dozen peoplewere still missing followingthe explosion, which destroyed35 apartments in the high-risein the city of Magnitogorsk inthe Ural mountains.

Braving temperatures thatfell as low as minus 27 degreesCelsius (minus 16 degreesFahrenheit), rescue workerswere combing through man-gled concrete and metal.

Their efforts were given aboost on Tuesday when a 10-month-old baby boy was foundalive and reunited with hismother. But hope was startingto fade of finding many moresurvivors.

The emergency situationsministry said in a statementthat as of 12:15 Moscow time(local time) the bodies of 18people, including two chil-dren, had been recovered fromthe partly collapsed building.

Six people, including twochildren, had been rescuedand 23 people were still miss-ing.

“Work at the scene is con-tinuing,” it said, noting that 800square metres of debris --loaded into 50 dump trucks --had been cleared from the sitein the last 24 hours.

The explosion, believed tohave been caused by a gas leak,tore through the nine-storeybuilding in Magnitogorsk, anindustrial town nearly 1,700kilometres (1,050 miles) east ofMoscow, in the early hours ofMonday.

Witnesses described a“wave of fire” from the explo-sion and said the blast wasstrong enough to shatter win-dows in nearby buildings.

The Soviet-era apartmentblock was home to about 1,100people and the blast left dozenshomeless over the New Year -- the biggest holiday of the yearin Russia.

Tuesday’s recovery of theinfant boy offered a raremoment of hope, with officialsdescribing his rescue as a “NewYear’s miracle”.

The boy was found in his

cradle after rescuers heard himcrying from within the rubble.He was brought to his mother,who had survived the blast, andthen flown to Moscow fortreatment.

Russian television showedfootage of the boy lying in ahospital bed watched by histearful mother.

Medical officials inMoscow said the boy was inserious but stable conditionafter suffering from severefrostbite, a head injury andmultiple fractures.

Residents left homeless bythe explosion were beinghoused in a nearby school andhelped by a team of psycholo-gists.

Wednesday was a day ofmourning in the region, withflags lowered and entertain-ment events cancelled, in acountry where New Year’s Evecelebrations are an annualhighlight. Mourners laid flow-ers and lit candles near the siteof the building. “We are allgrieving,” a middle-aged mantold Rossiya 24 television.“Nearly everyone in the cityknew someone” caught up inthe accident, he said.

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Western nations, includ-ing the US and Britain,

have cautiously welcomedthe results of the Bangladeshelection in which PrimeMinister Sheikh Hasinastormed back to power for athird successive term despiteopposition allegations ofvote rigging and violence.

“The United States com-mends the tens of millions ofBangladeshis who voted inBangladesh’s 11th parlia-mentary election onDecember 30, 2018, as wellas the decision of all majoropposition political partiesto participate, a positivedevelopment after the boy-cotted election of 2014,” theUS State Department said ina statement.

It said the US remained“deeply invested in the futureof Bangladesh and its demo-cratic development” since itwas Bangladesh’s “largestforeign investor, largest sin-gle-country market forBangladeshi exports, andhome to a large communityof Americans of Bangladeshiorigin”.

“In this light, we notewith concern credible reports of harass-ment, intimidation, and vio-lence in the pre-electionperiod that made it difficultfor many opposition candi-dates and their supporters tomeet, hold rallies, and cam-paign freely,” the statementsaid.

Furthermore, it said, theUS was also concerned that“election-day irregularitiesprevented some people from

voting, which underminedfaith in the electoral process”.

The UK also welcomedBangladesh’s polls andpledged its continued sup-port to the people ofBangladesh in their “aspira-tions to democracy” withMinister of State for Asia andthe Pacific, Mark Field,appreciating the participa-tion of all opposition partiesin the election.

“It is vital for the gov-ernment and all politicalparties to now work togeth-er to address differences andfind a way forward in linewith the interests of thepeople of Bangladesh,” hesaid.

But he added that theUK was “aware of credibleaccounts of obstacles,including arrests that con-strained or prevented cam-paigning by opposition par-ties, and of irregularities inthe conduct of elections onpolling day that preventedsome people from voting”.

He “deplored” the acts ofintimidation and violencethat took place during thecampaign period, saying “Iam deeply concerned by theincidents that led to so manydeaths on polling day”.

“I urge a full, credibleand transparent resolution ofall complaints related to theconduct of the election,”Field said.

The victory of Hasina,whose ruling Awami Leagueis set to rule for the thirdconsecutive term while shewill be sworn in as premierfor a record fourth timeoverall, was welcomed bySaudi Arabia.

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The White HouseWednesday rejected a pro-

posal put forward by the oppo-sition Democratic party to endthe protracted partialGovernment shutdown, asserting that any plan withouta provision for funding USPresident Donald Trump’slong-promised border wall is a“non-starter”.

The over 10-day long par-tial government shutdownstarting on December 22 hasaffected 800,000 federalemployees, who have eitherbeen furloughed or are work-ing without pay.

President Trump cancelledhis planned trip to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to spendtime with family for Christmasand New Year.

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Six people were killed in atrain accident early

Wednesday on a Danish bridgelinking the central islands ofZealand and Funen, accordingto the rail operator. Authoritiessaid several others were injured.

Danish Railways toldDenmark’s TV2 that the sixwere passengers on a trainfrom the city of Odense, on thecentral Danish island of Fyn,heading toward the capitalCopenhagen.

Police did not confirm thefatalities, only saying severalwere killed and injured in theaccident, which took placeabout 8 am local time.

Police spokesman ArneGram said the passenger train“hit an unknown object,” butdid not further comment.

Danish media reportedthat a tarpaulin on a freighttrain hit the passenger train,which was going in the oppo-site direction, prompting it tobrake suddenly.

The Storebaelt bridge ispart of a system of bridges anda tunnel linking the Danishislands.

Denmark’s TV2 showedimages of a freight train withthe tarpaulin that covered thetrain torn in pieces. It report-ed that eight people wereinjured.

In a statement, police urgedpassengers to contact next ofkin to inform them of theirsafety and urged people not toshare photos and videos of theaccident. The accident tookplace on a road-and-rail bridge,part of a transport system con-sisting of a road suspensionbridge and a railway tunnel.

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An actor-writer-comedianand Quranic scholar, themulti-talented Kader Khan,

who died early on Tuesday (IST)in Toronto aged 81, has left behinda vast volume of work from acareer spanning over four decadesand will be remembered as muchfor his contribution to Hindufilmdom as for deciphering Islamfor the laity across the religiousspectrum.

He had spent nearly fourmonths in hospital, for variousold-age related ailments, includ-ing breathing issues, and finallysuccumbed on December 31evening (Toronto time).

It was during his college daysthat he developed a passion fortheatre, acting and penning sto-ries and dialogues. He penned adrama, Local Train which baggedthe first prize at the NationalJagruti Drama Competition in theearly 1970s.

It was Narendra Singh Bedi,son of the legendary RajinderSingh Bedi who gave Kader Khanthe first break for writing thesuperhit musical Jawani Diwani(1972) starring Randhir Kapoor-Jaya Bhaduri, and since then henever looked back.

Bollywood thespian DilipKumar, who happened to watchone of his plays during a collegeday function, offered Kader Khana role and an assignment forwriting dialogues. But he wasalready busy with scripting theRajesh Khanna-starrer Roti(1974), so later, he wrote the filmBairaag (1976), a mega-hit musi-cal featuring Dilip Kumar and hiswife Saira Banu in the lead roles,with Kader Khan in a characterrole.

Starting with his first film asan actor in the late Yash Chopra’sdirectorial debut, the super-hitmusical Daag (1973), over thenext 40 years he went on to act in

over 300 films in memorableroles, and also wrote the story ordialogues for more than 250 filmsin Hindi and Urdu.

With his rich experience onstage, Kader Khan effortlesslymanaged to enact all types of neg-ative-positive character roles,besides as a villain, comedian, anddouble-roles, though competingwith some of the biggest names ofhis era.

The sad news of Kader Khan’spassing shocked the Bollywoodfraternity. Actress RaveenaTandon, who has had the privilegeof working with him in severalfilms like Dulhe Raja, Aatish:Feel the Fire and Main Khiladi Tu

Anari, says she was always bowledover by his comic timing. “He wasa scholar and an entertainer, a rarecombination in the entertain-ment industry. Waking up tosuch a sad news was really dis-heartening for me. Whateverparts he played he would add adifferent charm to it. Someonewho can portray a comedian anda villain at same time with suchease is rare,” she sighed.

The demise has left filmmak-er David Dhawan bereft. He said,“Bhaijaan, that’s what I called him,was the backbone of my cinema.After we worked together for thefirst time in Bol Radha Bol, Icouldn’t think of directing a film

without Bhaijaan. I wanted him towrite and act in every film that Imade, and I made sure it hap-pened. But he was so busy. Therewas a time when every big com-mercial film had Bhaijaan’s con-tribution, not just as an actor orwriter. He was all there for everyfilm that he did.”

Speaking of Kader Khan’simprovisational powers, Dhawansaid, “He would rewrite a sceneand the dialogue on the spot dur-ing shooting. He took every shotto another level. As a writer, hemade every hero sound credibleand spectacular. Just look atBhaijaan’s contribution to Amitji(Amitabh Bachchan’s) on-screen

persona. In Amar AkbarAnthony, Bhaijaan showedAmitji how to speak in thatBombaiyya-Catholic style. Theresult as always was amazing.”

“Now in his death, our filmindustry has lost a prominentvoice. The movies will never bethe same. Yes, I work with otherwriters. But I only think ofBhaijaan as my writer, collabo-rator, friend and mentor. He wasin a lot of pain in his final years.I would still like to be selfish andwant him back,” Dhawan added.

Amitabh Bachchan wroteon social media, “Kader Khanpasses away. Sad, depressingnews. My prayers and condolences. A brilliant stageartiste, most compassionate andaccomplished talent on film. Awriter of eminence... in most ofmy very successful films. Adelightful company and a math-ematician. It was a joy and alearning experience to be on thesets with him. His improvisation-al skills were phenomenal. Hishumour was eternal and original.He was a wonderful writer. Wewill miss him and his brilliance.”

Shatrughan Sinha, whoworked with Kader in several

films, also expressed his griefand recollected his memorieswith him.

He said, “Kader Khan was oneof the pillars of Bollywood. He wasnot just an excellent actor who fit-ted into any role, but also an out-standing writer. Both Amitabhand I were very closely associat-ed with him. I knew him from thetime he wrote Manmohan Desai’sNaseeb and Prakash Mehra’sJwalamukhi, both of which Istarred in. Whenever I met him heregaled me with his intellectualmind and deep study of commer-cial Indian cinema. I don’t thinkthere can be another Kader Khanever.” >�# �

There are two perennial dilem-mas associated with longweekends. Whether to cele-brate them at home or as day-outs and plan for a big annu-

al break or burn up all of the savings inone big trip or spread them out overmany shorter ones?

There have been significant changesin terms of travellers’ preferences in therecent past, as experts highlight. “Untila couple of years ago, long weekend tripswere limited only to domestic destina-tions. But now people do not mindexploring elaborate options within athree-day window. The scenario startedchanging when travellers also startedplanning for international breaks takingadvantage of long weekends,” saysKaran Anand, Head, Relationships, Cox& Kings. The rise in the weekender trav-eller means that the spinoff effects on thelocal tourism economy are huge, whatwith a regular flow ensuring there is nolow season.

The West is already calling 2019 theyear of “bite-sized travel”, which meanspacking in customised and curated expe-riences in your limited time frame.Boosted by attractive frequent flyingmiles that you accrue on your businesstrips, smart flight linkages and inter-con-nections, affordable car rentals andaccommodation, the short getaway hasalready begun to look more gettable.Couple this with a one-time obsession,like taking a dip at Kumbh, and the minibreaks seem a profitable option.

However, Anand suggests, in 2019,people need to plan their trips wisely asthe year will have only 10-11 long week-ends as compared to 2018, which had 16long weekends. This in turn implies thatthe bookings would have to be made alittle more in advance to avoid the rush.

April and August are the two monthsin 2019 wherein one can plan longdomestic or international vacations. Hesays, “You can plan an international trip,six to nine days long, during the period,April 13-21 by taking two to three daysleave. This will be coincide with the offi-

cial holidays of Ambedkar Jayanti,Mahavir Jayanti and Good Friday.Similarly, August 10 to 18 also make upfor an ideal period to plan a vacation asthere are holidays for Bakri-Id,Independence Day and Parsi New Year.”

A few suggestions for planning thelong weekends the wiser way this yearcould be: January sees an occasional hol-iday on 14, that is Monday, for MakarSankranti and Pongal, so an excursioncould be planned from the night ofJanuary 11 to the morning of January 15.

Anand believes that since weekendtravel has become an intrinsic part ofpeople’s lifestyle these days, “the lessernumber of long weekends will not stopthem from planning one.” Travellersused to this format could pack in an extraday or two as casual leaves.

While Anand points towards mak-ing the most of long weekends by plan-ning international trips, Heena J Akhtar,co-founder, TripXOXO, feels that peoplemay actually choose theme travel as theydo not want to just visit places but alsotake in the culture of a place in an immer-sive fashion. “It has been observed thatthe travellers are always looking forwardto trying something new. This time there

are enquiries for grand festivals such asKumbh Mela, Pushkar festival and Kitefestival, which people want to experi-ence,” says Akhtar. Nature trails and otheradventure activities specific to a place aremaking the weekend hotlist. “Bungee-jumping in Rishikesh, excursion tour inRajgir and Nalanda in Bihar, camping inShimla, village experience in Sikkim, bikeride to Ladakh are some things that trav-ellers want to explore now.” The travelcompany is also offering cash benefits tothe users through their ClubPass.

Jay Kantawala, WIYO Travel, feelsthat due to an increase in disposableincome and Indians willing to explorenew destinations and cultures, therewould be a significant rise in the num-ber of people opting for a few short trips.Says he, “A substantial number of Indianvacationers are opting for two to threeshort breaks in a year as compared tovacationers choosing a single vacation.The year has just begun with the RepublicDay round the corner.”

Manmeet Ahluwalia, MarketingHead, Expedia India, also feels that overthe past two to three years, the Indiantravel scenario has changed to a greatextent. “The millennials and even GenZare fuelling their travel plans by utilisingthe weekends for short vacations. Weoften see them clubbing their long week-ends with a day off and exploring near-by areas or for an adventure activity trip.Since 2019 has 11-14 long weekends, thequeries around extended weekend areexpected to grow by 30 to 35 per cent thisyear,” says he.

DINK (double income, no kids),young couples, nuclear families alsocash these opportunities to take a breakfrom their schedule and travel. Hebelieves, “Now, short trips have becomea very popular format of taking vacationswith friends, family, co-workers or attimes even solo. Domestic destinationslike Narkanda, Chail, Jaisalmer, Hampiand international destinations like GiliIsland, Bali, Kandy, Dubai, Qatar, Bhutanstand among the most preferred destina-tions.”

In the recent past, inspirational sto-ries of sport stars like MahendraSingh Dhoni and Milkha Singh, and

freedom fighters such as SubhasChandra Bose and Bhagat Singh, havebeen told on the big screen. Soon, cin-ema halls will be taken over by biopicson women achievers, starting withKangana Ranaut’s Manikarnika - TheQueen of Jhansi based on the warriorqueen.

Eminent film and trade businessanalyst Girish Johar said Manikarnika...,in which Kangana plays the title role, iscurrently trending in the country andthat it has got a “good buzz.”

“A popular face does help reach awider audience because they have theirown fans and fan clubs. They are wellestablished and their craft is alreadyrecognised. Everyone knows thatKangana does different kinds of films,”Girish said.

So, he thinks Manikarnika... wouldhit the jackpot at the box office whenit releases later this month.

Director Indrajit Lankesh is com-ing out with a biopic on southern filmindustry’s adult film star Shakeela.

Talking about biopics made oninfluential women, he said, “Finally, thefilm industry is opening up to womenbecause maybe in the 1970s or 1980s,they thought that women were only forsongs and dancing around the trees; butbiopics getting made on women showthat there are a lot of women achieverswho can stand on their own and it’sgreat.

“I always thought that whenShakeela was dominating in the male-dominated industry in mid 1990s, it wasvery difficult; but today, the scenario isslowly changing. I can’t say that it’s com-pletely changed, but I am proud andhappy that there are a lot of biopicsbeing made on women,” he said.

On his film, he shared, “It is a storyabout an actress who has seen a life fromrags to riches to rags. Her life itself is avery good learning path for anywoman.”

His film will star actress RichaChadha as Shakeela. However, Richaherself doesn’t see biopics on women asa trend.

“Reality is stranger than fiction. As

long as there are interesting stories,these films will be made becausewomen won’t stop achieving now,” shesaid.

For Richa, it was the story ofShakeela’s life, “with all the trials andtribulations,” that she found very dra-matic.

“When I first heard it, I wonderedhow it hadn’t been adapted into ascreenplay already. I am happy I got toact in this film because I really grew alot with it,” she said.

Actress Deepika Padukone is alsoset to take the story of acid attack sur-vivor Laxmi Agarwal from real to reel.Deepika had said, “It’s a very importantstory and it’s a true-life incident, sohopefully good things will come out ofit.”

The film, titled Chapaak, will alsostar Vikrant Massey opposite Padukone.

Actress Shraddha Kapoor will beshowing her sporty side by essaying therole of ace badminton player SainaNehwal.

Even down south, filmmakers areopening up to the idea of biopics onwomen. If last year’s Mahanati, a filmabout the rise of female south Indiansuperstar Savitri, won the hearts ofmany, people can’t stop praising popu-lar south Indian actress Nithya Menenfor her look in the new poster of the filmThe Iron Lady, based on late politicianJayalalithaa.

“The film on Jayalalithaa is veryheavy. I was very impressed when thefilm’s director Priyadarshini came withthe film to me. She was so focused. I toldher that if we are doing a biopic, weshould ensure complete justice to thecharacter. She was going in the rightdirection and was extremely confi-dent. I am really looking forward todoing that film. That will be interestingto explore as an artiste,” Nithya said.

It’s not just established actresseswho are pumped up about playing reallife characters. One-film-old actressJanhvi Kapoor has reportedly taken upa biopic on Gunjan Saxena, an IndianAir Force combat pilot.

There were also reports that actressJacqueline Fernandez will play aceIndian cyclist Deborah Herold in a film.

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Established on November 11,1919, in Mumbai, the UnionBank of India (UBI) has turned

100 years old with over 4,000 branch-es across the country. In the series ofcelebratory events in key cities ofIndia, UBI hosted the first event inMumbai on November 11, where thewho’s who of the banking sectormarked their presence along with keystakeholders of the governmentincluding the Union Minister ofFinance Arun Jaitley, the Minister ofState for Finance Shiv Pratap Shuklaand the Chief Minister ofMaharashtra Devendra Fadnavis.

A cultural evening was hosted inthe capital recently, where the man-aging director and the chief execu-tive officer of UBI Rajkiran Rai G andthe executive director of UBI RajKamal Verma, attended as the guestsof honour. The event also saw thepresence of the general manager of

Delhi Zone Sanjay Sharma alongwith the regional heads of the DelhiZone. The executive director of UBIGopal Singh Gusain, said, “Theseevents are not just for the customersbut also the employees and their fam-ilies, who have been an integral partof the organisation and have con-tributed to its growth over the years.”

According to Gusain, UBI is ina unique position in the banking sec-tor and the organisation is playing itsrole very effectively. “At a time wherebanks are taking about capital deficitand PCA norms, we are self-suffi-cient and have been growing. In fact,recently, there was a crisis in the non-banking finance sector (NBFC) andUBI came out with strong support to

the sector. It is important to note thatUBI is one of the banks in the pub-lic sector undertaking (PSU) spacewhich has an availability of growthcapital. We do not need any supportfrom the government. Of course,government capital is needed in thesector but the bank in itself hasbecome self-sufficient to grow,” saidGusain.

UBI has well-positioned itself inthe market by introducing some keystructural changes a year ago. Gusaininformed that the bank adopted thehub-and-spoke model and madeseparate verticals like the large cor-porate segment and the mid-corpo-rate segment, introduced the deliv-er y system called—SARAL

(Systematic Appraisal and RiskAssessment of Loan), the UnionLoan Point for retail and the UnionSamruddhi Kendras for agriculturalloans, which has made the bankingservices easy, fast and hassle free. “Itis now a one-point contact system aswe have centralised the system of pro-cessing for efficient and standardiseddelivery. Most of the mid-corporatesector doesn’t require exotic productsor structured financing as in the caseof the large corporate sector. This sec-tor depends largely on the plain,vanilla products, but the problem hasbeen the efficient delivery of servicesand a banking system which under-stands their needs well,” he added.

The executive director also

stressed that he believes that theIndian economy is about to take offnow, that all the structural changesthat were brought in like demoneti-sation and GST, which have settleddown and have been streamlined.“Those banks that have the capital togrow and at the same time have aframe to capture the changes of thetime will do well. UBI has beenresilient and has maintained its posi-tion in the times of crisis and has beena fore runner in adopting the changes.We have been flexible in the times ofchange,” said Gusain.

He further explained the corner-stones of growth in the future andsaid that the bank has set its plan tobe a customer centric organisationwhich is known for its service; itoffers a comprehensive range ofproducts to meet all financial needsof customers and the bank will strivehard to be a top creator of share hold-er wealth through focus on profitablegrowth. UBI aims to leverage on tech-nology and its experienced workforceto be a leader in the area of financialinclusion.

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The managing director of the Life InsuranceCorporation (LIC) of India, Hemant Bhargava,

has taken additional charge as Chairman of theorganisation in place of V K Sharma, who retiredon December 31, 2018. Bhargava had taken chargeas managing director of LIC of India in February,2017. A true leader, he was instrumental in com-pleting the design and setting up a separate MicroInsurance vertical which was LIC’s first compre-hensive enterprise-wide initiative infinancial inclusionspace. He also setup a new joint ven-ture in collaborationwith the bankingindustry, and found-ed LIC CardsServices Limited,launching the ‘LICCard’ in 2009. Healso set up the newlyformed SBU International Operations to manageLIC’s operations in about 11 countries. He has alsobeen instrumental in finalising the first memo-randum of understanding (MOU) for LIC to forma composite insurance company in the Kingdomof Saudi Arabia. Bhargava founded the ‘IndianBusiness Group’ in Mauritius for promoting thebusiness interests of the companies of Indian ori-gin with the High Commissioner of India beingthe Patron. Bhargava has also headed differentZones, viz. Northern Zone comprising of Delhi,Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu andKashmir, Haryana and the Union Territory ofChandigarh and the Eastern Zone comprising ofArunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram,Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, West Bengaland the Union Territory of Andaman and NicobarIslands.

Hearing loss impacts one throughout life.While people with mild to moderate

amount of hearing loss can cope with this dis-ability with the help of hearing aids, the ones whosuffer from severe to profound hearing loss,require cochlear implants to deal with the deaf-ness. If the hearing loss is not treated early

enough, the children born with this problem arehighly likely to not develop normal speech andlanguage. On the same lines, a case was recent-ly reported at the Indraprastha Hospitals in NewDelhi, where an eight months-old baby boy wasdiagnosed at birth with severe hearing loss inboth his ears.

Treated by a senior consultant, ENT andCochlear Implant Surgeon at the hospital, DrAmeet Kishore, and assessed by the audiologistsat SpHear Speech and Hearing clinic (which sup-ports the Apollo Cochlear Implant programme),the baby boy was initially fitted with hearing aidsto ascertain the level of benefit, as per interna-tional protocol. The team eventually confirmedthat the child would not get normal hearing withhearing aids and thus with the consent of par-ents, a cochlear surgery was successfully per-formed.

Dr Kishore said, “When dealing with hear-ing loss in children of such a young age, the mostimportant part is to restore the hearing of thechild as early as possible. In this child’s case, thetreatment of choice for good hearing restorationwas cochlear implant, and on top of that, it wasimportant to restore hearing in both his ears(bilateral simultaneous cochlear implant), whichmeans that implantation was done in both earsat the same time. It requires extensive surgicalexpertise and efficiency to safely handle a smalleight months-old baby, weighing just 10kg,which is why many people would hesitate to dothis surgery. With our experience of close to1,000 cochlear implants, this was not a concernas we have operated on many small babies safe-ly and efficiently.”

The baby boy has become the youngestpatient in the country to get a bilateral simul-

taneous cochlear implant using the Nucleus 7(N7) device. “This has also been verified by theCochlear Corporation Company. He is proba-bly one of the youngest children to have bilat-eral simultaneous cochlear implant in India, andcertainly one of the youngest in Apollo’s bilat-eral cochlear implant programme,” added DrKishore.

He further elaborated that the Nucleus 7(N7) devices are the most recent cochlearimplant devices in the world right now. DrKishore said, “The N7 implants have a betterchip and connectivity with digital devices.Such improvement in the quality of hardwareand software, further enhances the quality insound that the patient gets, making it extreme-ly good and clear. Getting the latest and mostsophisticated cochlear implant will help the babyto do very well in the future.”

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If a winter getaway is on your mind thenlook no further as Greece will leave you

spellbound with various possibilities forthe perfect holiday. Macedonia, Thrace,Epirus, Thessaly, Central Greece,Peloponnese, Western Greece, and well-known islands in the Aegean, the Ionian,and Crete are easily accessible by air, andhave a very authentic atmosphere in thewintertime.

The advantage of visiting Greece inthe winter is that it allows you enoughtime to admire its ancient landmarkswithout having a lot of people around.There are more than 100 archaeologicalsites, numerous monuments, and hun-dreds of museums that successfully keeptrack of a historic course that has beenboth continuous and amazing, over a spanof 5000 years. Here are some of the bestplaces and activities to enjoy:

���&��))���� ����������$$Along with enjoying the view of the

snow-capped landscape, enjoy the thrillof some sporting activities. The biggest skiresorts in the country are on Parnassos,Kalavryta, Kaimaktsalan, Vasilitsa, Tria-Pente Pigadia, Pelion and MainaloMountains, that offer unforget-table adventures against an

all-white setting. One must go hiking,horse riding, mountaineering or moun-tain biking to discover the off roadroutes, wide network of sign postedtrails and numerous cloud-capped peaksthat will lead you deep into the heart ofGreek nature.

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The New Year celebrations are fol-lowed by the Epiphany on January 6 andthen the local festival— Ragoutsaria,celebrated in the Kastoria town. The fes-tive season only ends with the grandApokreas Carnival that usually happenstowards the end of February. If you loveto eat, drink and meet people thenApokreas, is one of the most excitingtimes to be in Greece.

���������$$���� $$�� �$� �Dotting the countryside, partly cov-

ered in clouds or lying under a cloak ofwhite snow, these villages are a meetingpoint for those jet-setters who wish toenjoy their trip to the countryside, playwinter sports in style and at the same timeenjoy the great nightlife. Arachova inCentral Greece and Palaios AgiosAthanasios, a picture-perfect traditionalvillage in Macedonia, are the most pop-ular destinations at a stone’s throw fromthe ski resorts.

��� ��G�������Virgin forests, majestic mountains,

impressive caves, deep shaded gorges, wet-land habitats and other remarkable ecosys-tems enhance the loveliness of the Greekcountryside. You will see the grandeur ofGreek nature unfold in the NationalParks on Pindus, Parnassos, Vikos,Parnitha, Olympus, Mainalo mountainsand the Forest of Dadia, as well as in habi-tats such as the ones in Lake Kerkini,Prespes, Vegoritida and in Nestos River.

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Saurabh Kumar, IOFS, took overfrom P K Shrivastava, IOFS,

Director General of OrdnanceFactories (DGOF) and theChairman of the Ordnance FactoryBoard (OFB) upon the latter’ssuperannuation at the OFBKolkata. Kumar, an IOFS officer ofthe 1982 batch, is an MTech inmechanical engineering from theIndian Institute of Technology(IIT) Kanpur. An expert in themanufacture of ordnance, Kumarwas on deputation to the Ministryof Defence at Delhi as the Directorof Planning and Coordinationfrom 2002 to 2009. During thisperiod, he was involved in draftingthe Indian offset policy for defencepurchases and the ‘Make’ procedurein the Defence ProcurementProcedure of 2003-04, which incor-porated the recommendations ofthe Arun Singh Committee.

He was also instrumental inpiloting the proposals and obtain-ing the approval of the governmentfor setting up two, new greenfieldOrdnance Factories at Nalandaand Korwa in Bihar and UttarPradesh respectively.

As the general manager of theEngine Factory at Avadi (2012-13),he was involved in operationalisingthe project and initiating an indi-genisation programme which cul-

minated in the handing over of thefully indigenous engines of T-90‘Bhishma’ and T-72 ‘Ajeya’ tanks tothe Minister of Defense in July2018.

His tenure saw the establish-ment of the vendor base that led tothis achievement and an increasein production of new engines by 30per cent. As the general managerof the Ordnance FactoryAmbajhari, near Nagpur inMaharashtra, Kumar spearheadedthe modernisation programmewhich included the induction of therobotic forging technology, newgeneration CNC machines andthe predictive maintenance, whichnot only increased productivity andquality but also led to the success-ful productionisation of the ‘Pinaka’rockets.

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When Manchester City andLiverpool last met in the PremierLeague, a fixture usually bulging

with goals failed to live up to its billing asthe most entertaining in English soccer.

A 0-0 draw at Anfield in October lefta worldwide audience somewhat under-whelmed.

Expect a return to normal when the twomeet again on Thursday with so much moreriding on the result.

In the first meeting, it felt like the teamswere sizing each other up. There wasnothing between them in the standings —they were tied on points after seven games— and plenty of respect was shown on bothsides.

Now it's different as Liverpool leads sec-ond-placed Tottenham by six points andCity by seven. Liverpool is not only unbeat-en and on a nine-match winning run, butis blowing away the competition as evi-denced by its two wins since Christmas: 4-0 over Newcastle and 5-1 over Arsenal.

City manager Pep Guardiola's procla-mation that if his side drops points it wouldleave the title race "finished" suggests thechampions will go all out for a win at EtihadStadium.

With its dynamic front three ofMohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and RobertoFirmino, Liverpool is never more danger-ous than on the counterattack.

So, a City side going for broke againsta Liverpool team looking to hit on the breakmeans something has to give.

"Our pride has been hurt over recentweeks but we have everything to play for.It depends on us," said City captain VincentKompany, a player never afraid to build up

matches and tell it like it is."Every living soul that comes into the

stadium has to be ready to fight."Guardiola has previously spoken of how

Liverpool's attackers "scare" him. Andthere's a sense he struggles to set teams upagainst managerial counterpart JuergenKlopp. Klopp has won seven of his 15 meet-ings with Guardiola over the years, losingonly once in seven while both have been inEnglish soccer.

Dating back to before Klopp arrived in2015, Liverpool has lost just one of its past11 meetings with City, and that was a 5-0defeat early last season after Mane was sentoff in the first half.

Guardiola, not Klopp, has been the onetinkering with tactics heading into their

matchups. In last year's league game atAnfield, he played an extra midfielder inIlkay Gundogan instead of a winger,Raheem Sterling, and it left the team lop-sided. In October, he reined in his fullbacksand kept the central midfield compact andclose to his wingers.

In a way, Guardiola went against hisown unwavering belief in an attack-mind-ed approach, showing he had learned hislessons from three straight losses toLiverpool toward the end of last season —two of which came in the ChampionsLeague quarterfinals.

In the second leg, City needed to winand Liverpool kept it tight before pickingthe hosts off with second-half goals by Salahand Firmino at the Etihad.

Those will likely be Klopp's tactics againwith Liverpool defender Andrew Robertsonacknowledging City will "go full throttle intous."

Guardiola knows the size of his team'stask, however, against an opponent oncourse to match Arsenal's achievement in2003-04 of going unbeaten in the PremierLeague season. Liverpool is seeking its firsttop-flight title since 1990, and its 19th over-all.

"Maybe the best team in Europe or theworld right now," was how Guardioladescribed Liverpool after City's 3-1 win atSouthampton on Sunday, which came aftera run of three losses in four games.

City is unlikely to be able to call on mid-fielder Kevin De Bruyne, who missed theSouthampton game because of a "muscu-lar problem." Crucially, midfield anchormanFernandinho is fit and available.

Liverpool midfielder James Milner is incontention to return after a minor muscu-lar injury.

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Chelsea made an early splash in theJanuary transfer window on

Wednesday by making ChristianPulisic the most expensive USA foot-baller as clubs across Europe geared upfor business.

The Premier League club signedPulisic — regarded as one of thehottest properties in European football— on a five-and-a-half year contractfor a reported fee of £58 million($74m) from German Bundesligaleaders Borussia Dortmund a dayafter the winter window opened.

The sum smashed the previoushighest transfer for an American, thereported 20m euros German clubWolfsburg stumped up for JohnBrooks in 2017.

"It's a privilege to have signed forsuch a legendary club and I look for-ward to working hard towards beinga contributor to their team of worldclass players," said Pulisic in a state-ment published on the Chelsea web-site.

Dortmund will keep the 20-year-old right winger on loan until the endof the season as part of what theydescribed an "extraordinarily lucrative

offer from Chelsea" as they look to wintheir first league title since 2012.

Pulisic made his Bundesliga debutfor Dortmund aged just 17 after rapid-ly progressing through the team'sacademy and quickly established him-self as one of the most excitingprospects in Europe. In November hebecame the youngest player to captainthe United States' senior side, aged 20years and 63 days.

In France, Ligue 1 club Montpelliersigned promising Uruguay interna-tional defender Mathias Suarez, choos-ing to reveal neither details of thetransfer fee nor the player's contract.

The 22-year-old arrives in Francefrom Defensor Sporting, a club basedin the Uruguayan capital Montevideowhere he played more than 100 match-es since making his debut as a teenag-er in 2013.

"It was a dream of mine to comeand play in Europe and today I havemade this dream a reality by signingfor Montpellier," the player said on theclub's website.

Suarez made his debut for thenational team in a 1-0 loss againstBrazil in November, before playing thefull 90 minutes days later in anothersingle-goal defeat against France.

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Russia's Daniil Medvedev showed Andy Murrayjust how much work he still has to do, when

he beat the former world number one in straightsets in the Brisbane International on Wednesday.

Murray is making a comeback to the sportafter a disastrous 2018, during which he playedjust six tournaments and was out of the game for11 months with a hip injury.

He had a comfortable first round win overJames Duckworth but found the step up in classtoo much against Medvedev, the 22-year-oldRussian cruising to a 7-5, 6-2 win in just 80 min-utes.

Medvedev is a rising star of the sport, win-ning seven titles in 2018 on his way to a worldranking of 16.

He broke Murray early in the first set andalthough Murray got back on level terms,

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Medvedev broke again late in the first setto gain the advantage.

Murray was broken twice at the startof the second to fall behind 0-4 and therewas no way back for the 31-year-old Scot.

"In the second set I made a few toomany mistakes, and obviously therewas a period in the match from 5-5 whereI lost six games in a row," Murray said.

"And I think when you obviouslyplay better players, I mean he's 15 in theworld or so, they will expose any errorsthat you make in your game or any shotsthat you're not hitting particularly well.

"And he did that tonight."Medvedev will meet Canada's Milos

Raonic in the quarter-finals.The huge-serving Raonic fired down

21 aces in his 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) win overSerbian qualifier Miomir Kecmanovic togo with the 18 he served in the firstround.

Earlier, Japanese star Kei Nishikorieased past American Denis Kudla 7-5, 6-2.

Dimitrov played some sublime ten-nis to down local favourite John Millman6-3, 6-4.

Page 16: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in ...€¦ · Janata Dal (BJD), which for the ... Analysis of various ther-mo-diagnostic parameters and indices indicated that

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India's unwavering pursuit of his-tory hit a minor glitch in 11th hourinjury concerns but Virat Kohli's

men will still walk in as overwhelm-ing favourites against a falteringAustralia in the fourth and final Teststarting on Thursday.

Leading 2-1 in the four-matchseries, India remain firm favourites tomake it 3-1 at the Sydney CricketGround despite the injury-forcedomission of premier spinnerRavichandran Ashwin and seniorpacer Ishant Sharma, who has notbeen named in the 13-member list.

Australia have hosted India since1947-48, and barring three occasions- in 1980-81, 1985-86 and 2003-04which were drawn - the visitors havelost the Test series on seven occasions— 1967-68, 1977-78, 1991-92, 1999-2000, 2007-08, 2011-12, 2014-15.

Virat Kohli, thus, is in a uniqueposition as the only Indian captain togo into the final Test on the Australiansoil with the cushion of a series lead.

A series win in Australia will cer-tainly put Kohli on a different pedestaleven though the quality of the hometeam's batting line-up suffered due tothe ball-tampering bans on formerskipper Steve Smith and his deputyDavid Warner.

Kohli will also need to fret over histeam combination as the skipperrevealed that senior off-spinner has-n't adequately recovered from hisinjury despite being named in the pre-liminary 13-member squad.

With spin considered a traditionalfactor in any Sydney Test, India wereleft fretting over the fitness of off-spin-ner R Ashwin, who is yet to recoverfrom left abdominal strain that laidhim low after the first Test in Adelaide.

Ishant is out after experiencingdiscomfort in his left rib cage and theteam management didn't want torisk him by playing him in thedecider.

While Ashwin had played on inNottingham and Southampton(despite a groin injury as revealed bythe team management only at theOval), he has already missed two Tests- in Perth and Melbourne - in the on-going series.

"It's unfortunate that he's had twoniggles that are quite similar in the lasttwo away tours," said skipper Kohli.

In a strange u-turn, after he wasruled out at the time of Kohli's pre-

match press conference, Ashwin wasnamed in the 13-man shortlist for thisfourth Test.

A final decision on his fitness andavailability for the match will betaken at toss-time.

Additionally, India have included

left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadavas cover, in case the skipper decidesto go in with two spinners.

Umesh Yadav has been includedin place of Ishant, along withMohammed Shami and JaspritBumrah.

In Rohit Sharma's absence, out-of-favour opener KL Rahul could be slat-ed for a comeback after missing outin Melbourne, with Hanuma Viharislotting down to his number six spot.

This is on assumption that regard-less of Ashwin's fitness, India will optto play four bowlers, whether in a two-pacer-two spinners or three-pacers-one-spinner combination.

There is no option of playing anall-rounder as Hardik Pandya con-tinues to be ignored, despite a hecticpre-match workout in the nets withboth bat and ball.

Kohli has described Vihari as an"exciting" spinner and he will be thesecond spin option, if India retaintheir bowling combination from theMCG Test.

Additionally, this 13-man short-list can also be seen as a ploy to keepAustralia guessing, for the hosts madea departure from norm and decidednot to name their playing eleven forthe first time in this series.

Skipper Tim Paine said that theywould wait to announce the team untilthe toss, taking into consideration ifIndia opt to play two full-time spin-ners.

While they need at least a draw inSydney to win the series outright,India will retain the Border-GavaskarTrophy irrespective of the result.Kohli will join Ganguly as the onlyIndian captain to have achieved thisfeat in Australia.

Additionally, one more win willtake Kohli ahead of Ganguly, who ledIndia to 11 wins in 28 overseas Tests.Kohli has matched that record in 24away Tests.

For Australia, batsman PeterHandscomb is expected to make acomeback for Mitchell Marsh, whohas come under severe criticism afterhis poor shot selection in Melbourne.

The other toss-up is betweenopener Aaron Finch and leg-spin all-rounder Marnus Labuschagne. IfFinch is left out, Usman Khawaja willopen with Marcus Harris, andLabuschagne slotting in the middle-order.

It remains to be seen if thiswould solve any of Australia's battingproblems, with not a single batsmanscoring a century so far in this Testseries.

H ��India (Final 13): Virat Kohli

(capt), Mayank Agarwal, HanumaVihari, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara,Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk),Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah,Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav,Kuldeep Yadav, R Ashwin.

Australia: Tim Paine (capt & wk),Marcus Harris, Aaron Finch, UsmanKhawaja, Travis Head, Shaun Marsh,Mitchell Marsh, Nathan Lyon,Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, JoshHazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne,Peter Handscomb, Peter Siddle.

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History doesn't matter tohim, asserts India skipper

Virat Kohli but says winning amaiden Test series in Australiaat the SCG would "definitely bebig" because that's where thetransition started for the teamunder his captaincy.

Kohli took over as India'sTest captain four years ago atthe same venue after M SDhoni's shock retirement.

Ranked 7th at that point,India are now world No 1 in theformat and have retained theBorder-Gavaskar Trophy aftertaking an unassailable 2-1 leadin the four-Test series.

"It's only been four years(since I have been a captain). Ifit happens, it's great because Ihave come here the third timeon a Test tour and I know howdifficult it is to win here," Kohlisaid on the eve of the fourth andfinal Test starting Thursday.

"... At times, you can put ina good performance inAustralia but to win as a teamhas been the biggest challengefor us. Individual performances,honestly, are something thatyou don't even remember in thelast two tours," he stressed.

Kohli said winning thefinal Test would be like steppingup another notch in pursuit ofconsistency.

"You might have your nameup on the honours board but ifyour team doesn't win, it does-n't really matter. Till now itwould definitely be a big, bigseries' win, not just for me, butalso for the whole team purelybecause of the fact that this isplace where we started ourtransition to be honest," heexplained.

"At this particular venuewhen MS Dhoni gave up cap-taincy (2014) and we had atotally young side starting at sixor seven (Test ranking) in theworld. We have come backhere as the number one side inthe world, and we want to takethat legacy forward."

Kohli said India will take

the fourth and final Test as astandalone match and intensi-ty won't be lacking.

"Our year ended very welland we will try to make surethat we start this year well too.We are taking this as a stand-alone Test, which we must playwith full intensity and effort,"Kohli said.

"We have seen in the pastthat the SCG wicket is goodfor batting for the first 2-3 daysand after that reverse-swingand spin come into play. Ithink given the heat, the wick-et will play to its true naturefrom day three onwards."

Kohli said his team is"obsessed" about winning.

"If you see after the lastwicket fell in the last gameeveryone's emotions came out,even the quietest guys...Because we understand that asa team when you push in onedirection, things go well. Andit has to be an obsession," hesaid.

"If it is an obsession itwon't stop at 1-2 games. If it'ssomething that was a goal,then it stops at one or twogames."

But Kohli said historydoesn't matter and every onein the team is just simplyfocused on the job at hand.

"If you ask me very hon-estly, no (history doesn't mat-ter). We need to stay in thepresent and focus on thethings we can do," he said.

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Australian skipper Tim PaineWednesday said his "work-in-

progress" team is unfazed by theprospect of losing a home Testseries to India for the first time andwill only be focussed on being com-petitive in the fourth Test here.

India have never won a Testseries on Australian soil, but go intothe series-finale starting onThursday with a 2-1 lead. The vis-itors need only a draw to claim apiece of history.

"My focus has been on usimproving and us playing the bestpossible cricket we can. We want towin every Test we play. At times it'snot possible. We're playing thebest Test team in the world at themoment who are playing reallywell," Paine admitted in the pre-match press conference.

Australia lost the third Test by137 runs in Melbourne.

"I haven't thought too muchabout losing the series, that's forsure...Some guys will use differentthings to motivate them. My moti-vation is making sure we're improv-ing, competitive at all times and putup a really good fight againstIndia," he said.

Paine said Australia's inexpe-rienced batting line-up failed to getgoing in Melbourne, but will slow-ly learn from mistakes. NoAustralian batsman has scored ahundred yet in this series and it issomething the skipper hoped wouldbe remedied in this final match.

"We are constantly a work inprogress...As I said before, it isabout trying to keep a bit of per-spective, a reality about where weare at. I think we are showing signsof getting better," he said.

"I think in the last Test whileour batters didn't set the world onfire, most guys got a start andshowed that they can succeed at thislevel. So in this Test there is goingto be a real focus from our battinggroup," he added.

Australia are expected to makea couple of changes, with AaronFinch making way for UsmanKhawaja at the top and PeterHandscomb coming in for MitchellMarsh. But the hosts haven't namedtheir playing eleven for the firsttime in the series. Paine shruggedoff suggestions that he could moveup the order.

"We want to try and settleguys who we think will play long-term in their positions looking for-ward into the next series and theninto the Ashes. But at the same timewe've got to find the best eleven towin this Test as well, so it's a bit ofa balancing act," he explained.

"We'll have a quick look at thewicket again today an probablydecide later on this afternoon. It isabout team balance really.

"We'll be looking to pick thebest eleven that we think is the bestcombination to win this Test.Obviously the wicket will play a partin that," he signed off.

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New Zealand have put a line under their Testseries win over Sri Lanka and switched to

World Cup mode with the first of three one-day internationals in Tauranga on Thursday.

"It's really now about looking ahead to theWorld Cup, being clear on the game plans wewant to use," coach Gary Stead said after NewZealand beat Sri Lanka 1-0 in the Test seriesto move up to third in the rankings behindIndia and England.

New Zealand, who are also third in theODI rankings, face eighth-ranked Sri Lanka inthe opening round of the World Cup in Cardiffin June.

Stead described the home ODI seriesagainst Sri Lanka as being "about tweaking,looking at the style of play and how we wantto play and looking at the options who fit thoseroles as well.

It's definitely a trial period still".Both sides have made a number of changes

from their Test line-up, with Sri Lanka bring-ing in six new faces including Lasith Malinga,while New Zealand have brought back big-hit-ting Martin Guptill and are resting regularsTom Latham and Colin de Grandhomme.

With de Grandhomme out and CoreyAnderson injured, Jimmy Neesham and DougBracewell have been recalled as all-rounderoptions.

At the World Cup in England and Wales,300-plus totals are expected to be the norm andStead wanted "to see more of the all-rounders"as well as back up wicketkeeper Tim Seifert.

It's been a year since Guptill last played forNew Zealand and four years since he lit up the

last World Cup when he blasted an unbeaten237 off 163 balls against the West Indies.

The tall opener said he doubts his role willchange under new coach Stead and he will betasked with "having a bit of fun" at the top ofthe order.

"Pretty much business as usual to be hon-est, I don't see my role changing too much inthe side," he said.

"I haven't played for New Zealand since lastsummer which is quite a long time ago so tobe back here is extremely exciting and I'm look-ing forward to getting back into it."

Sri Lanka have bolstered their side withreturn of the unorthodox seamer Malingaalong with Kusal Perera, Asela Gunaratne,Seekkuge Prasanna, Thisara Perera and DasunShanaka.

The 35-year-old Malinga will captain thelimited-overs side for the first time in two yearsafter injuries cost him his place in the squad.

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Astrong domestic struc-ture is key to India's Test

success and Pakistan can notexpect a similar performancefrom their players when mosttend to avoid the four-daycricket in the country, said for-mer Test captain Salman Butt.

Last month Pakistan lostthe three-Test series againstNew Zealand 1-2 and also suf-fered a six-wicket defeatagainst South Africa in thefirst Test at Centurion lastweek.

India, on the other hand,defeated Australia by 137runs in the third Test atMelbourne to take an unas-sailable 2-1 lead and retain theBorder-Gavaskar Trophy.

"Look when India wonthe recent Test against

Australia, Virat Kohli credit-ed India's domestic cricket forthe success in bowling andbatting," said Butt, who played33 Tests and 78 ODIs in hisinternational cricket career.

"India is doing wellbecause their players are onlyallowed to play in the IPL T20cricket and have to play RanjiTrophy unlike us where mostplayers tend to avoid four-daydomestic cricket.

"Look most of them(Pakistani players) have noteven played 50 first classgames. Not many of themhave spent time in domesticfour-day cricket. Worse theyhave played all their cricketmostly in UAE conditions," headded.

Pak will take on SA in thesecond Test beginning onThursday at Cape Town and

Butt said changing the playingXI will not make much of adifference.

"Even if changes are madein the Pakistan team for thesecond Test in South Africa,I don't think it will make a dif-ference," he said.

"We just don't have play-ers who can be expected tocome up with a big inningsafter every three or fourinnings.

"What we need to do issomehow get to 300 in thesecond Test and ifMuhammad Abbas plays westand a good chance of win-ning."

He also questioned ingeneral that when playerswere defined as being fit forone or more formats, thesame rule should also apply tothe head coach.

"I think we need to see ifMickey Arthur or for thatmatter any coach has thetemperament like a player toadjust to all formats or whichformat," he said. "Because acoach can't expect to have thesame approach or expecta-tions for all formats. That isnot practical. I wonder if thehead coach has the penchantto handle all three formats ortest cricket."

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South African captain Faf du Plessis saidon Wednesday that fast bowler Duanne

Olivier would be used in an "enforcer" roleas part of a pace barrage in the second Testagainst Pakistan starting at Newlands onThursday.

Du Plessis said he wanted to keep thepressure on the Pakistan batsmen afterOlivier took 11 wickets in South Africa's six-wicket win in the first Test in Centurion.There had been speculation that Oliviermight have to sit out at Newlands becauseof the return to fitness of Vernon Philander.But Du Plessis said he would definitely play.

"He brings variety to our attack," saidDu Plessis, adding that Olivier provided acontrast to the skill and control of SouthAfrica's other fast bowlers, Kagiso Rabada,Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander.

"Duanne is more of an enforcer whoputs you on the back foot and can be a bitchallenging for batters, especially when theycome from the sub-continent where the balldoesn't bounce as high," said Du Plessis.

"He's a fit guy and he can bowl longspells. He's different, he runs at you, he'saround your head most of the time, it's notcomfortable."

Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmedacknowledged that Olivier had causedproblems for his batsmen in Centurion.

"We will definitely talk about him. He'sa different type of bowler with a fast bowl-ing action," he said.

Sarfraz said Haris Sohail had notrecovered from a knee injury that kept himout of the first Test and was unlikely to playagain in the series. He said Pakistan wouldkeep the same batting line-up that playedin Centurion.

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