having expressed reser-vations on the entry of nuclear non-proliferation treaty (npt) members like...

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A fter having expressed reser- vations on the entry of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) members like India in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), New Zealand on Wednesday conveyed to New Delhi that it would be 'constructively' engaged regarding India's application for NSG membership. During his bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his New Zealand coun- terpart John Key underlined that a process was underway within the NSG on the mem- bership issue and his Government will not act as a bar- rier but facilitator for India. "I am thankful to Prime Minister Key for New Zealand's constructive approach to the consideration of India's mem- bership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group," Modi said in his media address after the talks. During the NSG plenary session in June at Seoul, New Zealand along with some other countries, had raised technical queries with regard to granting membership to those nations that have not signed the NPT and called for having some clar- ity on it. "We are encouraged by the discussions on the NSG issue. New Zealand showed under- standing of India's clean energy needs and the importance of pre- dictability in global rules on nuclear commerce in enabling the expansion of nuclear energy in India," sources said after the talks. Modi also sought Key's sup- port on India's fight against ter- rorism and asked countries to unite against the menace. The two leaders agreed to strength- en security and Intelligence cooperation against terrorism and radicalization, including in the domain of cyber security. A n explosive letter by the ousted chairman of Tata Sons, Cyrus Mistry, to the Tata Sons Board members and Tata Trustees has exposed the ven- erable conglomerate to the charges of unethical corporate practice and also raised ques- tions about several decisions taken by former chairman and current interim Chairman Ratan Naval Tata in the past that might force the groups to write-down a whopping $18 billions. Soon after Mistry's letter became public, leading stock exchanges BSE and NSE sought clarification from various list- ed companies of Tata Group about the purported disclosure by the ousted chairman about the $18-billion possible write- down. The companies include Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Indian Hotels, Tata Teleservices, and Tata Power. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is also looking into the allega- tion made in the Mistry's let- ter about financial and other irregularities as well as issue raised by him on the corporate governance front, sources said. The letter is available in the public domain on several web- sites, including www.dailypi- oneer.com In the letter, Mistry not only questioned the sudden- ness of his removal and the fact that he was not presented an opportunity to defend himself, he also addressed some of the allegations that have been made against him over the past two days from sources close to Ratan Tata. Refuting charges that he did not have vision for the group, Mistry pointed out that he had presented a "Strategy 2025" vision docu- ment outlining the group's future direction. Mistry's main argument is that due to the poor decisions of the past, capital employed in key Tata Group companies has risen from Rs 1,32,000 crore to Rs 1,96,000 crore between 2011 and 2015. "These businesses could potentially result in a write-down over time of about 1,18,000 crore," the letter states. Mistry also lays bare sev- eral poor decisions made by Ratan Tata. These include his foray into aviation. He also mentioned that ethical con- cerns were raised towards certain Air Asia transactions and goes on to allege that fraudulent transactions to the tune of Rs 22 crore were made to non-existent parties in India and Singapore and these allegations were at first ignored. The controversial decision of the UPA II to grant licence to Air Asia India has been con- tested by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy, who has alleged wrong- doings on the part of the Tata Group in the airline. Mistry also alleges that he was pretty much forced to accept the Tata investment into the joint-ven- ture with Singapore Airlines (Vistara). He argues that Ratan Tata's passion for airlines has kept him involved in the sec- tor and that on his advice, the Tata Sons Board has increased capital infusion at multiple levels of the initial commitment into the airline. The other explosive alle- gations made by Mistry include the acquisition of the Searock Hotel in Mumbai, whose exces- sive costs have burdened the Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), operators of the Taj Group of hotels. He also says that many IHCL properties acquired in international mar- kets during Tata's tenure have been sold at a loss. Other questions raised by Cyrus Mistry in his letter include the "continuously haemorrhaging" telecommu- nications business and con- cludes that to exit the business would cost the company US$ 4-5 billion (Rs 25,000-30,000 crore). The ill-fated decision to invest in the Mundra power project, which has been mak- ing heavy losses and the impact that it has on the balance sheet of Tata Power, has also been questioned. Mistry also questions the propriety of Ratan Tata direct- ly when it comes to the com- mercial disaster of the Tata Nano. "Another challenge in shutting down the Nano is that it would stop the supply of the Nano gliders to an entity that makes electric cars and in which Mr Tata has a stake," Mistry says. The company in question is likely to be Coimbatore- based Ampere. Mistry assess- es that the Nano has been a constant loss-maker and loss- es on the small car project peaked at 1000 crore. F ormer cricketer turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu will have to face trial in a case challenging his election as Member of Parliament from Amritsar in the May 2009 elections, ruled the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The order by a Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Abhay Manohar Sapre came as a set- back to the former MP at a time when he is about to con- test in the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections. Sidhu was accused by his nearest political opponent of indulging in "corrupt prac- tice" by deliberately showing his election expenditure as below the prescribed limit of 25 lakh and also for receiving favours from several State Government officers who at his instance got transferred just before the start of elections. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had held on December 6, 2010 that Sidhu will have to face trial. Against this decision, Sidhu came to the SC, which stayed the trial in 2011 till the matter was finally decided on Wednesday. Dealing with three sets of allegations against Sidhu, the Bench sustained two allega- tions and rejected the third. On the incurring of election expenditure, the Bench was satisfied that the election peti- tioner, OP Soni, had produced evidence in the form of details of advertisements displayed in newspapers and television channels between April 22, 2009 (date of nomi- nation) and May 13, 2009 (date of polling)to justify his complaint. A CBI special court in Bengaluru on Wednesday acquitted former Karnataka Chief Minister and Lingayat strongman BS Yeddyurappa and his clan, of all charges in a case against him for allegedly showing favour to two compa- nies and receiving illegal grat- ification from them through Prerana Trust, managed by his sons and son-in-law. "The prosecution has been unsuccessful in establishing the guilt of the accused, of not only offences under the provi- sions of Prevention of Corruption Act, but also under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code, and hence this court acquits all the accused in the case," said 21st Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge and Principal Special Judge for CBI cases, RB Dharamagoudar while acquitting Yeddyurappa, his two sons, son-in-law and the steel company and its affiliates, in his more than 400-page verdict. D rinking liquor at public places will attract a fine and offender creating nuisance may even be arrested. The AAP-led Delhi Government has decided to strictly enforce the Excise Act post November 7 under which consuming alcohol at public places will attract a fine of 5,000 and if the offender creates nuisance than the fine will be up to 10,000 with a jail term of three months. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds charge of the Excise Department, issued a warning on Wednesday to the wor- shippers of Bacchus and said, "Public nuisance, violation of rules will be under the radar of teams which have been asked to immediately start these inspections. They will also inspect shops in the city to ensure whether terms and conditions of license are being followed." A pprehending arrest in SUM Hospital fire tragedy that has claimed lives of 27 persons so far, hospital owner Manoj Ranjan Nayak’s wife Saswati Das and sister Arati Nayak on Wednesday moved the Orissa High Court seeking anticipa- tory bail. Though the Khandagiri police were asking Saswati, Arati and two other trustees of the Siksha ‘O’ Anusandahan Charitable Trust, to cooperate in the ongoing investigation process, but they are yet to turn up. The Lookout Circular (LOC) notice issued against Saswati is still in force. Meanwhile, sources said the police are in process to issue summons against the duo for appear- ance. Notably, Manoj is now in judicial custody. His bail plea hearing would take place on Thursday. T he deadly Japanese Encephalitis (JE) virus claimed life of one more child in Malkangiri district on Wednesday, taking the death toll in the vector-borne disease to 72 in 48 days. The day’s deceased was identified as Sania Raba (2) of Kurusibeda village under Korakonda block. Three kids had succumbed to the disease on Monday while undergoing treatment at the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) here. Ironically, the Central team, which had visited the affected vil- lages in the district to take stock of the situation, had on Monday stated that Japanese Encephalitis is under control. Meanwhile, the State Congress organised a ‘Sisu Banchao Abhiyan’ (Save children campaign) in Malkangiri district with an aim to put pressure on the State Government to take prompt proactive measures to protect lives of innocent tribal children. A large number of party workers led by senior party leader and former Union Minister Bhakta Charan Das and former Nabarangpur MP Pradip Majhi took out a rally in the affected villages and organised a meeting near the district Collectorate. “We came to know that the CM is coming to Malkangiri on October 29. We demand that the CM bring adequate vaccines with him for the tribal kids to save their lives,” said Majhi. He decried the State Government’s failure to tackle the menace. F amily members of some deceased Maoists, who were killed in a joint encounter car- ried out by the Odisha and Andhra Pradesh police in the cutoff Chitrakonda area in Malkangiri district on Monday, took the bodies of their kin on Wednesday. The family members of 10 dead Maoists, who belong to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, along with revolu- tionary poet Varavara Rao, came to the Malkangiri SP office to receive the bodies. Besides, wife of top Maoist leader RK alias Ramakrishna also came to receive the body of their son Muna, who was also killed in the encounter along with 27 others. Disputing the police claim that Maoists were killed in an exchange of fire, RK’s wife said it was a deliberate attack dur- ing a Maoist meeting. Similarly, Varavara Rao also condemned the police action and termed it as a “culpable homicide” on the part of the security forces. Meanwhile, four more dead bodies, which were found during a search operation on Tuesday, were also brought to Malkangiri on Wednesday. Meanwhile, IG Operation RP Koche and South-Western Range DIG S Saini visited the Maoist-prone district and reviewed the situation at the Malkangiri SP office. Home Secretary Asit Tripathy said 18 bodies of the 28 deceased Maoists have been identified so far. “Following the killing of 28 Maoists in the encounter, there is a possibility of retal- iation by the Leftwing ultras. Hence, as a precautionary move, instructions have been given to the Central forces, the CRPF and its special CoBRA Battalion and the BSF, and the Special Operation Group (SOG) of the Odisha police in undi- vided Koraput and Kalahandi districts to remain on high alert,” said Tripathy. He said most of the slain Maoists were the State committee members belong- ing to the Ramakrishna alias RK group. E ven as the port town Paradip has turned to be highly crime-prone, the intra-ruling BJD bickering between Paradip MLA and Minister Damodar Rout and Jagatsinghpur party president and Rajya Sabha mem- ber Bishnu Das worsened in the wake of the murder of a steve- doring company manager on Wednesday. Criminal activities are on the rise in Paradip as they are pro- moting criminal elements, said Das indicating his bête noire Rout and the latter’s supporters. In reaction, Rout said he has nothing to do with the criminals. “I told police officers to ensure peace in Paradip. I too raised the law and order issue in the State Assembly. What can I do then?” Rout said and lamented that Paradip has become a criminal- infested town. When asked to comment on Das’ claim that criminal elements are being promoted in the port town, Rout said, “Se abaanch- chita loka sahita mote tulana kara nahin (Don’t equate me with that useless man).” Meanwhile, Central Range IG Soumendra Priyadarshi vis- ited Paradip to take stock of the situation. “Four teams have been formed to conduct investigations into the killing of the stevedor- ing firm manager. Investigations would be conducted from both personal and professional angles,” said Priyadarshi. See also Page 3: Firm manager shot dead in Paradip A day after the tragic bus accident that claimed six lives in Angul, the district administration on Wednesday held rash driving and over- loading responsible for the mishap. Based on the report of a three-member probe com- mittee formed by the admin- istration, Angul Collector Anil Samal also made the carelessness of the motorcy- clist, who was also killed after being hit by the bus, as another cause of the accident. He said the vehicle car- ried 69 passengers against the prescribed capac- ity of 46. Meanwhile, the Transport Department mulled some new guidelines to check the rising number of accidents. “The department has decided to make it mandato- ry that every bus mentions its seating and standing capaci- ty. The Government will launch a toll-free number soon through which any pas- senger can lodge complaint of overloading. The toll-free number will be written in all buses,” said Transport Minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi. The Minister added that steps would be taken to iden- tify the accident-prone areas, for which the department would soon convene a meet- ing with the NHAI and the Works Department. M aoists allegedly killed vil- lage guard of Katlanga in Kalahandi district Chemu Harijan on Tuesday by slitting his throat suspecting him to be a police informer. According to reports, the Red rebels killed Harijan near a bridge at Chemuku village. They also torched his bike. Notably, the Maoists had earlier kidnapped five persons of Katlanga village including Harijan protesting the death of their female cadre Sangita in an encounter with policemen at the Katlanga Reserve Forest on October 15. Holding Harijan captive, the Maoists had released rest of the vil- lagers. Harijan’s wife said the Maoists killed him suspecting him a police informer. She fur- ther stated that the Maoists took away Harijan’s Aadhaar card, ration card, voter card and bank passbook.

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After having expressed reser-vations on the entry of

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty(NPT) members like India in theNuclear Suppliers Group (NSG),New Zealand on Wednesdayconveyed to New Delhi that itwould be 'constructively' engagedregarding India's application forNSG membership.

During his bilateral talkswith Prime Minister NarendraModi, his New Zealand coun-terpart John Key underlinedthat a process was underwaywithin the NSG on the mem-bership issue and hisGovernment will not act as a bar-rier but facilitator for India.

"I am thankful to PrimeMinister Key for New Zealand'sconstructive approach to theconsideration of India's mem-bership to the Nuclear SuppliersGroup," Modi said in his mediaaddress after the talks.

During the NSG plenarysession in June at Seoul, NewZealand along with some othercountries, had raised technicalqueries with regard to grantingmembership to those nationsthat have not signed the NPTand called for having some clar-ity on it.

"We are encouraged by thediscussions on the NSG issue.New Zealand showed under-standing of India's clean energyneeds and the importance of pre-dictability in global rules onnuclear commerce in enablingthe expansion of nuclear energyin India," sources said after thetalks.

Modi also sought Key's sup-port on India's fight against ter-rorism and asked countries tounite against the menace. Thetwo leaders agreed to strength-en security and Intelligencecooperation against terrorismand radicalization, including inthe domain of cyber security.

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An explosive letter by theousted chairman of Tata

Sons, Cyrus Mistry, to the TataSons Board members and TataTrustees has exposed the ven-erable conglomerate to thecharges of unethical corporatepractice and also raised ques-tions about several decisionstaken by former chairman andcurrent interim ChairmanRatan Naval Tata in the pastthat might force the groups towrite-down a whopping $18billions.

Soon after Mistry's letterbecame public, leading stockexchanges BSE and NSE soughtclarification from various list-ed companies of Tata Groupabout the purported disclosureby the ousted chairman aboutthe $18-billion possible write-down. The companies includeTata Motors, Tata Steel, IndianHotels, Tata Teleservices, andTata Power.

The Securities andExchange Board of India (Sebi)is also looking into the allega-tion made in the Mistry's let-ter about financial and otherirregularities as well as issueraised by him on the corporategovernance front, sources said.

The letter is available in thepublic domain on several web-sites, including www.dailypi-oneer.com

In the letter, Mistry notonly questioned the sudden-

ness of his removal and the factthat he was not presented anopportunity to defend himself,he also addressed some of theallegations that have been madeagainst him over the past twodays from sources close toRatan Tata. Refuting chargesthat he did not have vision forthe group, Mistry pointed outthat he had presented a"Strategy 2025" vision docu-ment outlining the group'sfuture direction.

Mistry's main argument isthat due to the poor decisionsof the past, capital employed inkey Tata Group companies hasrisen from Rs 1,32,000 crore toRs 1,96,000 crore between 2011and 2015. "These businessescould potentially result in awrite-down over time of about�1,18,000 crore," the letter states.

Mistry also lays bare sev-eral poor decisions made byRatan Tata. These include hisforay into aviation. He alsomentioned that ethical con-cerns were raised towardscertain Air Asia transactionsand goes on to allege thatfraudulent transactions to thetune of Rs 22 crore weremade to non-existent partiesin India and Singapore andthese allegations were at firstignored.

The controversial decisionof the UPA II to grant licenceto Air Asia India has been con-tested by BJP MP SubramanianSwamy, who has alleged wrong-

doings on the part of the TataGroup in the airline. Mistryalso alleges that he was prettymuch forced to accept the Tatainvestment into the joint-ven-ture with Singapore Airlines(Vistara). He argues that RatanTata's passion for airlines haskept him involved in the sec-tor and that on his advice, theTata Sons Board has increasedcapital infusion at multiplelevels of the initial commitmentinto the airline.

The other explosive alle-gations made by Mistry includethe acquisition of the SearockHotel in Mumbai, whose exces-sive costs have burdened theIndian Hotels Company(IHCL), operators of the Taj

Group of hotels. He also saysthat many IHCL propertiesacquired in international mar-kets during Tata's tenure havebeen sold at a loss.

Other questions raised byCyrus Mistry in his letterinclude the "continuouslyhaemorrhaging" telecommu-nications business and con-cludes that to exit the businesswould cost the company US$4-5 billion (Rs 25,000-30,000crore). The ill-fated decision toinvest in the Mundra powerproject, which has been mak-ing heavy losses and the impactthat it has on the balance sheetof Tata Power, has also beenquestioned.

Mistry also questions the

propriety of Ratan Tata direct-ly when it comes to the com-mercial disaster of the TataNano. "Another challenge inshutting down the Nano isthat it would stop the supply ofthe Nano gliders to an entitythat makes electric cars and inwhich Mr Tata has a stake,"Mistry says.

The company in questionis likely to be Coimbatore-based Ampere. Mistry assess-es that the Nano has been aconstant loss-maker and loss-es on the small car projectpeaked at �1000 crore.

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Former cricketer turnedpolitician Navjot Singh

Sidhu will have to face trial ina case challenging his electionas Member of Parliament fromAmritsar in the May 2009elections, ruled the SupremeCourt on Wednesday. Theorder by a Bench of JusticesRanjan Gogoi and AbhayManohar Sapre came as a set-back to the former MP at atime when he is about to con-test in the upcoming PunjabAssembly elections.

Sidhu was accused by hisnearest political opponent ofindulging in "corrupt prac-tice" by deliberately showinghis election expenditure asbelow the prescribed limit of�25 lakh and also for receivingfavours from several StateGovernment officers who at

his instance got transferred justbefore the start of elections.

The Punjab and HaryanaHigh Court had held onDecember 6, 2010 that Sidhuwill have to face trial. Againstthis decision, Sidhu came tothe SC, which stayed the trialin 2011 till the matter wasfinally decided on Wednesday.

Dealing with three sets ofallegations against Sidhu, theBench sustained two allega-tions and rejected the third. Onthe incurring of electionexpenditure, the Bench wassatisfied that the election peti-tioner, OP Soni, had producedevidence in the form of detailsof advertisements displayedin newspapers and televisionchannels between April 22, 2009 (date of nomi-nation) and May 13, 2009(date of polling)to justify hiscomplaint.

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ACBI special court inBengaluru on Wednesday

acquitted former KarnatakaChief Minister and Lingayatstrongman BS Yeddyurappaand his clan, of all charges in acase against him for allegedlyshowing favour to two compa-nies and receiving illegal grat-ification from them throughPrerana Trust, managed by hissons and son-in-law.

"The prosecution has beenunsuccessful in establishingthe guilt of the accused, of notonly offences under the provi-sions of Prevention ofCorruption Act, but also underthe provisions of the IndianPenal Code, and hence thiscourt acquits all the accused inthe case," said 21st AdditionalCity Civil and Sessions Judgeand Principal Special Judgefor CBI cases, RBDharamagoudar while acquitting Yeddyurappa, histwo sons, son-in-law and thesteel company and its affiliates, in his more than400-page verdict.

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Drinking liquor at publicplaces will attract a fine

and offender creating nuisancemay even be arrested. TheAAP-led Delhi Governmenthas decided to strictly enforcethe Excise Act post November7 under which consumingalcohol at public places willattract a fine of �5,000 and ifthe offender creates nuisancethan the fine will be up to�10,000 with a jail term of three months.

Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia, who alsoholds charge of the ExciseDepartment, issued a warningon Wednesday to the wor-shippers of Bacchus and said,"Public nuisance, violation ofrules will be under the radarof teams which have beenasked to immediately startthese inspections. They willalso inspect shops in the cityto ensure whether terms andconditions of license are beingfollowed."

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Apprehending arrest inSUM Hospital f ire

tragedy that has claimed livesof 27 persons so far, hospitalowner Manoj Ranjan Nayak’swife Saswati Das and sisterArati Nayak on Wednesday moved the OrissaHigh Court seeking anticipa-tory bail.

Though the Khandagiripolice were asking Saswati,Arati and two other trusteesof the Siksha ‘O’Anusandahan CharitableTrust, to cooperate in theongoing investigation process, but they are yet toturn up.

The Lookout Circular(LOC) notice issued againstSaswati is still in force.

Meanwhile, sources saidthe police are in process to issue summonsagainst the duo for appear-ance.

Notably, Manoj is now injudicial custody. His bail pleahearing would take place onThursday.

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The deadly JapaneseEncephalitis (JE) virus

claimed life of one more child inMalkangiri district onWednesday, taking the death tollin the vector-borne disease to 72in 48 days. The day’s deceasedwas identified as Sania Raba (2)of Kurusibeda village underKorakonda block.

Three kids had succumbedto the disease on Monday whileundergoing treatment at theDistrict Headquarters Hospital(DHH) here.

Ironically, the Central team,which had visited the affected vil-lages in the district to take stockof the situation, had on Monday

stated that Japanese Encephalitisis under control. Meanwhile, theState Congress organised a ‘SisuBanchao Abhiyan’ (Save childrencampaign) in Malkangiri districtwith an aim to put pressure onthe State Government to takeprompt proactive measures toprotect lives of innocent tribalchildren.

A large number of partyworkers led by senior partyleader and former UnionMinister Bhakta Charan Das and

former Nabarangpur MP PradipMajhi took out a rally in theaffected villages and organised ameeting near the districtCollectorate.

“We came to know that theCM is coming to Malkangiri onOctober 29. We demand that theCM bring adequate vaccineswith him for the tribal kids tosave their lives,” said Majhi.

He decried the StateGovernment’s failure to tacklethe menace.

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Family members of somedeceased Maoists, who were

killed in a joint encounter car-ried out by the Odisha andAndhra Pradesh police in thecutoff Chitrakonda area inMalkangiri district on Monday,took the bodies of their kin onWednesday.

The family members of 10dead Maoists, who belong toAndhra Pradesh andTelangana, along with revolu-tionary poet Varavara Rao,came to the Malkangiri SPoffice to receive the bodies.Besides, wife of top Maoistleader RK alias Ramakrishnaalso came to receive the bodyof their son Muna, who wasalso killed in the encounteralong with 27 others.

Disputing the police claimthat Maoists were killed in anexchange of fire, RK’s wife saidit was a deliberate attack dur-ing a Maoist meeting.Similarly, Varavara Rao alsocondemned the police actionand termed it as a “culpablehomicide” on the part of thesecurity forces.

Meanwhile, four moredead bodies, which were foundduring a search operation onTuesday, were also brought toMalkangiri on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, IG OperationRP Koche and South-WesternRange DIG S Saini visited theMaoist-prone district andreviewed the situation at theMalkangiri SP office.

Home Secretary AsitTripathy said 18 bodies of the28 deceased Maoists have beenidentified so far.

“Following the killing of28 Maoists in the encounter,there is a possibility of retal-iation by the Leftwing ultras.Hence, as a precautionarymove, instructions have beengiven to the Central forces,the CRPF and its special

CoBRA Battalion and theBSF, and the SpecialOperation Group (SOG) ofthe Odisha police in undi-vided Koraput and Kalahandidistricts to remain on high

alert,” said Tripathy.He said most of the

slain Maoists were the Statecommittee members belong-ing to the Ramakrishna alias RK group.

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Even as the port town Paradiphas turned to be highly

crime-prone, the intra-rulingBJD bickering between ParadipMLA and Minister DamodarRout and Jagatsinghpur party

president and Rajya Sabha mem-ber Bishnu Das worsened in thewake of the murder of a steve-doring company manager onWednesday.

Criminal activities are on therise in Paradip as they are pro-moting criminal elements, saidDas indicating his bête noireRout and the latter’s supporters.

In reaction, Rout said he hasnothing to do with the criminals.“I told police officers to ensurepeace in Paradip. I too raised thelaw and order issue in the State

Assembly. What can I do then?”Rout said and lamented thatParadip has become a criminal-infested town.

When asked to comment onDas’ claim that criminal elementsare being promoted in the porttown, Rout said, “Se abaanch-

chita loka sahita mote tulana karanahin (Don’t equate me with thatuseless man).”

Meanwhile, Central RangeIG Soumendra Priyadarshi vis-ited Paradip to take stock of thesituation. “Four teams have beenformed to conduct investigationsinto the killing of the stevedor-ing firm manager. Investigationswould be conducted from bothpersonal and professionalangles,” said Priyadarshi.

See also Page 3: Firmmanager shot dead in Paradip

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Aday after the tragic busaccident that claimed six

lives in Angul, the districtadministration on Wednesdayheld rash driving and over-loading responsible for themishap.

Based on the report of athree-member probe com-mittee formed by the admin-istration, Angul CollectorAnil Samal also made thecarelessness of the motorcy-clist , who was a lso killed after being hit by thebus, as another cause of theaccident.

He said the vehicle car-ried 69 passengers against the prescribed capac-ity of 46.

Meanwhile, the Transport

Department mulled some new guidelines to checkthe r ising number of accidents.

“The department hasdecided to make it mandato-ry that every bus mentions itsseating and standing capaci-ty. The Government willlaunch a toll-free numbersoon through which any pas-senger can lodge complaint ofoverloading. The toll-freenumber will be written in allbuses,” said TransportMinister Ramesh ChandraMajhi.

The Minister added thatsteps would be taken to iden-tify the accident-prone areas,for which the departmentwould soon convene a meet-ing with the NHAI and theWorks Department.

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Maoists allegedly killed vil-lage guard of Katlanga in

Kalahandi district ChemuHarijan on Tuesday by slittinghis throat suspecting him to bea police informer.

According to reports, theRed rebels killed Harijan neara bridge at Chemuku village.They also torched his bike.

Notably, the Maoists hadearlier kidnapped five personsof Katlanga village including

Harijan protesting the death oftheir female cadre Sangita inan encounter with policemenat the Katlanga Reserve Foreston October 15. HoldingHarijan captive, the Maoistshad released rest of the vil-lagers.

Harijan’s wife said theMaoists killed him suspectinghim a police informer. She fur-ther stated that the Maoiststook away Harijan’s Aadhaarcard, ration card, voter cardand bank passbook.

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For the first time in Odisha’shistory, all the private tech-

nical education institutionswould remain closed onThursday protesting the arrestof SOA University’s SUMHospital owner Manoj RanjanNayak.

Significantly, the bandhhas been timed on Thursdaywhen the Khordha Districtand Sessions Court would hearthe bail application of Nayak.

The Technical/ProfessionalInstitutions’ Association, abody of 1,000 technical educa-tional institutions and anumbrella organisation of sixassociations, OPECA, OPESA,OITIA, OPCA, OMCA andOPMADCA, on Wednesdaycalled for the 12-hour closure.

“More than 10,000 employ-ees of these technical institu-tions will hold a processionfrom Master Canteen Square toLower PMG Square. Later, a

delegation would meet theChief Minister and submit amemorandum highlighting oursix-point charter of demands,”OPECA honorary secretaryBinod Dash told reporters here.

Holding the Governmentresponsible for the SUM firetragedy, Dash said if theenforcement authorities hadmonitored the compliance inthe hospital then such an inci-dent could have been avoided.

OPESA general secretarySaroj Sahu said seeing the fateof an entrepreneur like Nayak,programmes like Make inOdisha would suffer as anyprivate entrepreneur

would think twice beforeinvesting in the State.

The associations demand-ed an unconditional release ofNayak, not ot arrest any fur-ther arrest of SOA trustees,accountability to be fixed incase of SUM Medical College,Rs 15 lakh Government aid tothe kin of the deceased and Rs2 lakh to the injured, stoppingthe licence raj and creating alevel playing field betweenthe Government and privateplayers.

The association eventhreatened to close down theirinstitutes forever if harassmentcontinues.

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To streamline receipt ofapplications and their

accurate verification and dis-bursal/transfer of money incases of either loss of life,injury suffered or continuationof interrupted treatment inother private hospitals conse-quent upon the fire accident atthe IMS and SUM Hospital onOctober 17, the hospitalauthorities have set up a sep-arate SUM Relief Cell at the SOA UniversityAdministrative Building nearKhandagiri Square here.

A Press release by theSUM Hospital authorities onWednesday said bona fideclaimants who have recordsand documents to establishtheir identity and eligibilitymay contact telephone 0674-6003132 from 10 am to 5 pmexcept Sundays and holidaysor send an e-mail to [email protected].

In case of loss of life, thedocuments must be accom-panied by the postmortemreport issued by the hospital,where it was conducted, therelease said.

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India probably has the mostvoluminous Constitution on

the planet, the spirit of whichlawmakers keep merrily failingto figure out only because amajority of them are ineligibleand have entered the Legislatureby guile. The miniscule minor-ity of brainy ones loses thepower of speech or their neuronsfail as if brain jammers havebeen placed in the lawmakingtemple by the thugs in the gang.They make good laws withoutensuring the Executive framingappropriate rules that adminis-trators could use for smoothdelivery of services. Not sur-prisingly, they make bizarrelaws which the Supreme Court

strikes down from time to timeto keep the people safe andsecure.

The Supreme Court latelyhas wanted to know why the RBIhas not made public the namesof 57 debtors who have default-ed on repaying Rs 85,000 croreafter learning that big ‘billionairedebtors’ are being protected bythe Central Bank of India. Thecourt was firm that the names bedisclosed and put in the publicdomain accessible through Rightto Information applications. TheRBI counsel said the names ofdefaulters cannot be made pub-lic under the statutory law,adding that some ‘grand bur-rowers’ are good citizens whohave not defaulted on purpose.The counsel further said, ratherbrazenly, that the RBI as regu-lator was working in the inter-est of the banking sector. No per-son of substance cries foul thatsuch a move cannot be made ina democratic republic where theinterest of the ordinary citizen isto be treated on a much higherpriority than a commercial enti-ty. So, CJI Thakur reactedstrongly, "You must work in theinterest of the country first, notjust in the interest of banks only."

*It is public knowledge thatmost States have made laws toban rampant plastic use. Butappropriate rules have neverbeen framed. So, the adminis-

trators find it extremely difficultto swoop on the violators and fixthem. Even Lord Jagannath atPuri suffers from terribly ‘toxicplastic litter’ quite in the templepremises. The sacredMahaprasad (dry food itemsoffered to the deities) is pack-aged in unacceptable plasticbags that are considered healthhazard even for the street peo-ple. But no specific rules thatindicate penalty are in place.Tobacco products like gutkhabanned by law is sold in theopen market, though cautious-ly, to avoid being seen easily. So,even on complaint, authoritiesincluding police do not rush tonab the offenders exemplarily.

•The worst nuisance is noisepollution which causes hugedamage to the human bodiesand mind. Acts and rules havebeen made to prevent the men-ace and punish the offenders.The ‘night noise level’ issues areto be resolved with utmost careas people may lose sleep and fallsick. Law has come in place andgood rules have been framed forremedy. Under the NoisePollution Control andRegulation Rules under theEnvironment Protection Act of1986, the State Governments arerequired to categorise areas intoindustrial, commercial, resi-dential and silence zones forimplementation of different

noise standards as prescribed inthe Rules:

� Loudspeakers may be usedonly with the permission of therelevant authority. Loudspeakersor public address systems oramplifiers cannot be used in thenight time except in closedareas.�No horns to be used in silencezones or during night time inresidential areas except in caseof emergency.� Sound emitting firecrackerscannot be used in silence zoneor at night time.� Sound emitting constructionmaterials cannot be used duringnight time in residential areasand silence zones.

Remedies and consequences:� Any person violating theRules shall be liable for penaltyunder the Act. Section 15 of theAct provides that any personcontravening the provisions ofthe Act or the Rules thereundershall, in respect of each such fail-ure or contravention, be pun-ishable with imprisonment for aterm which may extend to fiveyears with fine which mayextend to one lakh rupees orwith both; and in case the fail-ure or contravention continues,with additional fine which mayextend to five thousand rupeesfor every day during which

such failure or contraventioncontinues after the convictionfor the first such failure or con-travention.� Rule 7 of the Rules providesthat a person may, if noise levelexceeds the ambient noise stan-dards by 10 decibels or more forany particular zone may make acomplaint to the prescribedauthorities as specified by theState Government, including aDistrict Magistrate, PoliceCommissioner or any otherofficer not below the rank of aDistrict Superintendent. Mostunfortunately, despite evenweeping appeals by affectedpeople, the authorities at themost offer lip service only andnothing more because the hap-less victims do not know theycan book callous officials fordereliction of duty.

*When the StateGovernment chose the CentralDivision RDC to inquire into theSUM Hospital fire disaster, manyconscious people got worried.This former teacher, who gotinto the IAS fold, is likely to keepgroping until people forget thereever was any smoke in the SUMcampus, let alone loss of invalu-able lives.

The SUM fire incident islikely to keep occurring at hun-dreds of clinical establishmentsacross Odisha. The wrath displayby the Fire God will be staged

again and again as long as tol-erating violation of safety andsuch other mandatory normsremains a commonly-acceptedphenomenon. Authorities don’tgive a dam, and the ordinarypublic doesn’t know the groundrules of preventing the offenceand awarding punishment.

In February of 2015, theDirector of Medical Education& Training, Odisha had rou-tinely intimated the CDMOsand the Rourkela CMO aboutthe mandatory prevention mea-sures to be taken in all hospitalsand clinical establishments:

Fire Safety ClearanceCertificate from the DirectorateGeneral, Fire Services is a mustfor a new registration or renew-al specifically when the buildings

— are higher than ninemeters;

— buildings have three ormore floors including under-ground, basement, stilt andmezzanine floors

— have 30 or more beds;—have one or more critical

or intensive care units.— further required manda-

torily are Approved BuildingPlans by the DevelopmentAuthority or RegionalImprovement Trust or SpecialPlanning Authority orMunicipal Corporation orMunicipality or NAC or suchother authority competent to

approve plans.If the clinical establishments

do not come under these cate-gories, they shall have to be self-regulators providing only a ‘FireSafety Self-Declaration’ in theform of an affidavit to theLicensing Authority ofH o s p i t a l s / C l i n i c a lEstablishments saying they haveprovided all fire prevention/safety measures as prescribed inthe National Building Code ofIndia, 2005 including the fol-lowing, namely:

— Minimum two 4.5-kgcapacity carbon dioxide extin-guisher for every 1,000 squarefeet floor area to be easily avail-able within a radius of 30 feet.

— Management mustensure all staff members aretrained in handling the devicesproperly and keeping them infitness.

Photocopies of the FireSafety Clearance Certificateissued by the Fire — PreventionWing of Directorate General orthe Fire Safety Self-Declarationnote shall be framed and dis-played at all conspicuous placesin the corridors and lobbies onall floors of the buildings forpublic information.

The DMET is only a mon-itoring and recommendingbody. It does not issue or grantlicence as is popularly perceived.The MCI is similarly authorised

only to monitor and recom-mend grant of licence to theGovernment, apart from whichno other entity has the author-ity to do so. The DMET, estab-lished in 1975, is expected onlyto improve the “Education” inthe field of Medical Scienceand impart training to medicalpersonnel in the State whichinvolves undergraduate, post-graduate students, dental andtraining of paramedical andnursing personnel (both indegree and diploma) and otherrelated health programmes bymonitoring the institutions asthe supervising Head of theDepartment.

Similarly, medical collegesshall be set up only on a plot ofland earmarked for that purposeas indicated by DevelopmentAuthorities in the respectiveregions.

People are getting smarterbecause of the smart devices.The authorities better beware!Erring hospitals be identifiedsoon and offenders be broughtto book.

Hopefully, the Diwali cele-brations will be fairly free ofnoise and toxic smoke. Andmaybe, the Chinese aggressionin fireworks war would bethwarted effectively!

(The writer is a core mem-ber of TransparencyInternational, Odisha)

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Ayouth allegedly hurled anegg at Chief Minister

Naveen Patnaik during a pub-lic meeting at the SuliapadaHigh School f ield inMayurbhanj district onWednesday.

The incident took placewhen Patnaik was present onthe dais at the meeting to layfoundation-stones of variousprojects in the district.

The youth in the gather-ing hurled the egg towards theChief Minister when the latter was getting ready todeliver his speech. The egg, however, missed thetarget.

The youth, identified asRushikesh Patra, a student of

the MPC AutonomousCollege here and a StudentCongress leader, was thrashedby BJD workers in the pres-ence of police after he hurledthe egg.

Patra was later taken topolice station and detainedthere for questioning.

The Chief Minister cutshort his speech at the meet-ing after the incident.

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Encouraged by the achieve-ments of State’s sportsper-

sons and making their presencefelt in international fora, theOdisha Government has decid-ed to adopt a multiprongedstrategy to boost the State’ssports profile.

The Sports and YouthServices Department haschalked out a roadmap forscaling up activities both forindividual and team sports.

Sports and Youth ServicesSecretary Vishal Dev held dis-cussions with senior officials ofthe Directorate of Sports hereon Tuesday on the strategy tobe adopted for development ofsports activities. The depart-

ment is in touch with variousnational associations in thisregard.

While in the individualsports front, athletics,weightlifting, archery, row-ing and badminton would bepromoted, hockey and foot-ball would be provided therequisite boost in the teamsports segment, said a senior Directorate of Sportsofficial.

In order to improve ath-letics, the Government hasstarted discussions with theAthletics Federation of India(AFI). Sports Authority ofIndia (SAI) Director GeneralInjeti Srinivas, an IAS officer ofthe Odisha Cadre, is under-stood to be taking personal

interest in promoting sportsprofile of the State.

To begin with, the StateGovernment has decided to putin place the required infrastruc-ture and improve the coaching facilities. The TalentIdentification Exercise wouldbe scaled up at the village levelto hone untapped skills, sourcesadded.

They said a number ofnational and internationalsports events would be organ-ised in the State to encouragethe budding talents. As theState has a huge concentrationof tribals, the Government isconsidering promotion of trib-al sports to make local talentsshine at national and interna-tional levels.

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The student unrests in col-lege campuses are increas-

ing day by day and it is spoil-ing the educational atmos-phere. Using the students, polit-ical leaders are trying to fulfiltheir personal benefits. Thepolitical leaders are also serv-ing the purposes of their par-ties by playing divide-and-ruletactics among students. This isthe biggest threat to the stu-dents’ unity, said DelhiUniversity Students’ Unionpresident Amit Tanwar andJNU student leader JahnaviOjha on Tuesday.

“We need a disciplinedcampus, not a political one,”they said at the Akhil BharatiyaVidyarthi Parishad (ABVP)State-level student leaders’ con-

vention here.They claimed that the

ABVP always believes in stu-dents’ unity.

Attending as chief guest,social worker Pravas Acharyadiscussed on the responsibili-ties of students towards thesociety.

ABVP State presidentDillip Das, national vice-pres-ident Prasanta Rout, State sec-retary Abhilash Panda andChiranjibi Nayak were pre-sent, among others, and con-gratulated the newly-electedStudents’ Union leaders owingallegiance to the ABVP.

More than 500 students’leaders were present. Theypromised to develop the collegecampuses, make a liquor-freeand clean campus and helpconduct examinations in time.

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The Earth is one family andthis is how it looks from

the space, said distinguishedWG and Astronaut RakeshSharma while addressing the6th Odisha Knowledge Hub(OKH) Lecture at the StateSecretariat on Wednesdaymorning.

“Anyone who goes tospace looks at his own coun-try first, but soon it appearsthat there is no boundarybetween the countries and theentire world is one family andour destinies are integrated,”Sharma said.

Speaking on the topic‘Manned Space Flight: Alearning Experience’. Sharmasaid environmental degrada-tion in the earth caused byvehicular and industrial pol-lution was clearly visible fromthe space.

He said unless pollutionissues are addressed appro-priately, the human racewould extinct from the earth.

The growing con-sumerism of a materialisticculture would be the cause ofthe extinction of human raceunless it is moderated by thewisdom of holistic living withnatural eco-system, heopined.

A large number of stu-dents attended the pro-gramme.

Sharma said, though inrecent days, green coverage insome parts of the country,including Odisha, hasincreased, yet all the countriesneed to work together formaintenance of a balanced

eco-system.Highlighting about out-

going maritime activities ofOdias, Sharma wished thatthe next space flight in searchof another home planet islaunched from Chandipur inOdisha.

Development Comm-issioner R Balakrishnan high-lighted about Sharma’s con-tribution to the country as afighter pilot in the Indian AirForce.

During Indo-Pak War,1971, Sharma, then only 23-year-old, had successfullylaunched 21 operational mis-

sions on a Mig-21 aircraft andwas the astronaut in jointIndo-Soviet Space Mission-1984, Balakrishnan men-tioned.

Finance Minister PradeepAmat presented a memento toSharma on behalf of the StateGovernment. Employmentand Technical Education andTraining Minister Sanjaya DasBurma, Information andTechnology Minister PranabPrakash Das, Odisha SkillDevelopment AuthorityChairman Subrato Bagchi,MLAs, Chief Secretary APPadhi were present.

Bhubaneswar: The Steel and Mines Departmenton Wednesday issued a notification inviting ten-ders for auctioning of four mines in the State.The notification was issued to e-auction threelimestone mines and a manganese mine. It invit-ed bids for Uskalvagau, Kottameta andGarraamora limestone mines and Laserda-Pacheri manganese ore mine. The mines arelocated in Malkangiri, Keonjhar and Nuapada.

The last date for purchase of tender docu-ments is December 5 and the last date for sub-

mission of bid December 12 this year, said thenotification.

It is expected that the e-auction process ofthe mines would be completed in January.

So far, the State Government has auctionedonly one iron ore mine under the amendedMines and Mineral Development and Regulation(MMDR) Act, 2015.

ESSAR Steel had bagged theGhorhaburhani-Sagasahi iron ore block, whichwas auctioned earlier this year. PNS

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In an unfortunate incident, a person diedafter sustaining bullet injuries as the gun of

a security guard at the State Bank of India’sKendupatana branch near Salepur went offaccidentally on Wednesday.

The deceased was identified as TrilochanSamal of Kendupatana.

According to reports, the trigger of the gunwas pressed inadvertently by security guardGajendra Malla, as a result of which Samal wasinjured on his left thigh and right hand.

He was initially admitted to the SalepurCommunity Health Centre (CHC) in a criti-cal condition and later shifted to the SCBMedical College Hospital in Cuttack as his condition deteriorated. He succumbed tohis injuries while undergoing treatment at thehospital.

The security guard was detained by theSalepur police for questioning and his gun wasseized.

Dhenkanal: The PalishreeMela organised during theLakshmi Puja celebrations atDhenkanal made a record busi-ness of Rs 10 crore in nine dayseven though the venue of thefair had been changed to a dis-tance of 2 km to the Mahisapatground. This year’s business isat least Rs 2 crore excess thanthe last year. The Mela made abusiness of Rs 5 lakh on thefirst day, Rs 1.5 crore on thethird day and Rs 2.7 crore onthe seventh day, official sourcesrevealed. Apart from 387 SHGgroups of the State, artisans of16 States displayed their prod-ucts in 295 stalls erected for thepurpose. Local MP TathagataSatpathy has assured to sanc-tion Rs 50 lakh from his MPLAD fund for development ofthe ground at Mahisapat.

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Of late, the NationalHighways and State

Highways have been com-pletely unsafe for human beingsin Jharsuguda district. The ris-ing numbers of accidentseveryday are now taking lifeand properties at a shockingmanner with rapid industrial-isation and concomitant trafficrush of the district.

The commuters are notsure nowadays to reach theirdestination points safely. Theaccidents are caused mainlydue to transportation of raw

materials of the industries andcoal from a number of opencast mines in the district.

The accident figures of thedistrict are: In 2010, 115 per-sons were killed, 96 injured and148 got minor injuries in sev-eral accidents, in 2010 the fig-ures are 108 death tolls, 124injured, 168 slightly injured; in2012 the figures are 98, 111,120, in 2013, the figures are112,112,132, in 2014, the fig-ures are 77, 135, and 114, in2015 the figures are 91, 141 and121, while in 2016 the numberof death was 52, seriouslyinjured was 88 and slightlyinjured is 110.

According to sources,rash driving in bad road con-dition also causes accidentsmany times. Besides, drivingin an intoxicated conditionwithout knowledge of trafficrules are also to some extentresponsible for the accidents.From 2010 till August 2016,road accidents in the districthave already claimed 653 liveswith 807 serious and 913slightly injured.

Sources said that during2010, the highest death toll was115, while it was 77 in 2014.But in 2016, as the death tollhas already reached 52 by theend of August, it might touch

91 by the year end. However,the district administration hasdevised plans not to touch thefigure beyond 86 this year.

The major accidents seenin the district are due to coaltransportation by trucks andheavy vehicles. This is alsocaused due to engagement ofuntrained drivers with lowpayment, driving in drunkencondition, issuance of fitnesscertificate without observingprocedures, roadside parking ofvehicles illegally and poor roadconditions.

Driving licences issued inthe district are also less in com-parison to the vehicles regis-tered. Jharsuguda RTO DKSingh said that till date a total93,452 driving licences have

been issued against 1,24,315vehicles registered, which clear-ly suggests that many driversare driving without any drivinglicence and responsible for thealarming figures of road acci-dents.

However, as per the guide-lines of the Supreme Court, theRoad Transport departmenthas carried out surprise checkswith the help of police and can-celled 256 driving licences,said RTO Singh.

To curb further accidentsin the coming days , it has beendecided by the district levelroad safety committee in ahigh level meeting to strictlyenforce no helmet no fuel rulebesides norms like driving withseat belt.

����� �����8 �

Amonth-long drive wasstarted from Wednesday

to make Brahmapur city poly-thene-free following theapproval of a proposal tomake the city polythene-freeat a BMC Counci l meeting recently.

After Ganjam CollectorPremchand Choudhury gaveemphasis on a cleanlinessdrive, the BMC and the dis-trict administration becameactive in this regard.

All the vending zoneswere declared as no-poly-thene areas.

Additional Collector BijayDash, Brahmapur Sub-Collector Laxmi Kanta Sethyand BMC CommissionerSusanta Kumar Mishra hadon Tuesday gone to the cityvending zones and instructedthe businessmen not to usepolythene.

Notably, the distr ict

administration has formed a15-member team to supervise the drive in differ-ent wards of the city. HigherEducation Minister Pradeep

Panigrahy, who belongs toGanjam, and local MPSiddhant Mohapatra had alsodiscussed on the issue onOctober 18.

����� �����8 �

Students of the Biju PatnaikHomoeopathic Medical

College and Hospital ,Brahmpur have been sittingon an indefinite relay hungerstrike since October 24demanding required infra-structure and filling up of allteaching and nonteachingposts in the college as per theHCC (MS) norms.

In a memorandum sub-mitted to the Health andFamily Welfare Secretaryrecently, the Students’ Unionapprised that their demands,made through peaceful agita-tion, to avail facilities in thecollege have fallen in deafyears only.

Due to the StateGovernment’s failure, the col-lege has now been disallowedadmission permission by the concerned Central

authorities.The union demanded that

an indoor hospital facility beopened soon and all vacanciesin teaching and nonteachingposts be filled up on regularbasis. Out of 35 sanctionedProfessor, Reader and Lectureposts, only eight are in posi-tion in the college, theyinformed.

Other demands includeestablishment of laboratory,construction of a boundarywall around the college, pro-vision of HMOs and HAs,increase in internees’ stipendand hostel accommodationfor girl students women staffs.

Meanwhile, the studentshave begun an indefinite relayhunger strike the demandswere not met, informedStudents’ Union presidentGopal Krushna Padhy and Secretarty Tulsi NarayanBehera.

��1��32�3�4 ���"�����������(��(���'�$�� ����������!�������&��������%���"(�����"���� ������������������!��������������<��&�������0�������������������������� ���"������!���6��'�!��"��'����!!�������������31.3�����������(���!���������6�'��!��������������������%�����%G.10111������!'0�%�����&��'�!'��'�������'�$����������&����&������"(�����"�����%�����'�������������!'6�2������/0�31.30���&���(��%����(������0���������$�����%����*����*����$����&�������������(���!�����������%��������&��'��������!�'�������"����������'��'������%�����'�����'��"����*��%��'����"�$����&�6��'���!!������������"�����'���$��������(������������!*������'��%�"����"�" �����%����*6�'�����'�����'��"�'�����������'���(��0�'���!������ ���'��:�" '������*�����%������'�����%�'����%�"����'�������������!����!����D�����6�:�" '���'������������'��������'��(������'���������'���'�����!�$�����%��"��'������D���6�'��.1��!!�����'�����%�"������(�������'��'�����'��"6�'�����'��"A����('�������D���*�'������&�����!�"(�������������(���!�����������������>031.3��%�����'�!'�(���!��'����&����������!�����������������$����&�����6������(���!��'���������������.1��!!���������'��%����������'�"����!����6��'���'�� ����������%����������(�����*0���D� ����*0�<�&����'����*0���'�����*0����*�����*0���*��D�����*0��D������*0�:��������*0������D���*������� ������*6������&��'������0��� ���'���%��������!*����D��������'����%����'�������6������&��'��!���0�����������������!���������������<��&����������8�����#�"�����3C��������������'������������(�������&�����6� ���

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Once again border disputehas emerged between

Odisha and West Bengal whena construction was undertak-en in Udaipur in Bhograi block.

It is alleged the officials ofBengal not only uprooted aconcrete pole but asked their

Odisha counterparts to stall thework alleging the constructionswere made in the former’sland. The incident took placeon Tuesday evening.

Following receipt of report,Baleswar Collector PramodDas on Wednesday sent a teamof officials to hold discussionswith the Bengal counterparts.

“The constructions weremade within our boundaryjurisdiction. A soak

pit was made for a toilet in

the place which was objectedby the Bengal officials. Theissue would be settled amica-bly,” said Collector Das.

While the construction wason progress, the Bengal offi-cials, including local BDO,police and forest personnelreaching the spot asked to stopthe construction. It is alleged

that not only did they broke aconcrete pole but filled a pitwhich was dug.

The West Bengal officials,besides stating that the con-struction was made in landunder their jurisdiction, alsoalleged that no constructioncould be made within 500metres from the sea coast.

��.�%��%�� � ��������

The Sundargarh police recov-ered decomposed body of a

four-year-old girl from an underconstruction house on Tuesdaynight who had allegedly beenabducted in front her mother ather house five days ago.

The police have conductedpost mortem of the deceasedgirl on Wednesday and wereinterrogating a suspected per-son. The police suspect that thegirl might have been raped andkilled. Deceased Chotu Oram

was abducted on Friday nightlast in front of her motherLaxmi Oram at DengibadiOram para under Town policestation. At that time, Laxmi’sother three children had gone totheir neighbourer’s house towatch television. At around 10pm, an unidentified miscreantsuddenly barged into her houseand forcibly lifted Chotu. Laxmiran behind that person to rescueher daughter, but in vain.

On Saturday morning,Laxmi had lodged an FIR in theTown police station. Police afterregistering a kidnapping casehad started searching for her. OnTuesday night, the police recov-ered the body near a rice mill atDengibadi.

“We are waiting for postmortem report. We are interro-gating a suspected person in thiscase,” said SP Nikhil Kanoria.

����� <��������8 �

Asymposium on the subject‘Panchayati Raj and Biju

Patnaik’ was held at the districtheadquarters here sponsoredby the district administrationon Tuesday.

Rajya Sabha MP BishnuDas inaugurated the one- daysymposium attended by MP DrKulamani Samal, the ZillaParishad President, the blockchairmen of Jagatsinghpur andRaghunathpur, ADM SaranKumar Jena, PD Biswajit Dasamong others.

Late Chief Minister BijuPatnaik’s role in strengtheningPanchayati Raj Institutions inOdisha was discussed. MP Das

lauded Bijubabu for imple-mentation of three- tierPanchayat Raj System in Odishain the year 1992. Odishabecame first State of countrygiving 33 per cent reservationto women participation inPanchayat raj elections in the

year 1992 and laid importanceon women empowerment,health, education and commu-nication in grassroots leveldemocracy, he added.

Minister Damodar Rout,MLAs Prashant Muduli,Rajashree Mallick, Chiranjib

Biswal, MP Ranjib Biswal,chairpersons of Paradeep andJagatsinghpur municipalities,all block chairpersons and DrBimalendu Mohanty wereinvited to grace the occasion asspeakers, but none of themturned up.

��� � ������

Allegations of illegal migrantlabourer supply from

Balangir to Hyderabad under thevery nose of the local police havesurfaced. To streamline the dis-tress migration from the district,the Bolangir administration hadheld a meeting of different dep-

artments to ensure more regis-tration of migrant labourers atpanchyat level and emphasisedon migration through licencedcontactors so that safety of themigrant workers could beensured.

However, according to acomplaint lodged by DadanGoti Surakhya Shramik Manchwith the Bolangir SP on Tuesday,a total of 11 migrant labourers ofYamuna Bahal were taken by

Dalal Sesha Bisi to brick kilns ofHyderabad on October 23 withthe knowledge of the local policeoutpost.

The Dalal paid Rs 20,000 tothe labourers before shiftingthem to Hyderabad, it said.

Tikrapada police outpostin-charge Shankarsan Mahakurdenied the allegations. “I willinquire into the incident and takeappropriate action,” said BolangirSP Ashis Singh.

������&�

Having attended a seminarin August last year on

“Safety best practices inindustries and constructionssites,” I feel like others safetymeasures matter the most inevery body’s life. Or else itinvites accidents, propertylosses and deaths, besidesunpleasant legal prosecutions.

The SUM fire incident,Kolkotta AMRI tragedy,Uphar blaze, Cocacola inci-dent in New Zealand,

Hamilton Icepack cool storeexplosion tragedy etc areman-made accidents whichwere caused due to humanlapses.

In India on an average25,000 die due to fire andrelated causes where femalesare the worst sufferers. It isestimated that about 42women and 21 men die everyday in India due to fire. Hadthe fire protection measurestaken, these deaths could havebeen prevented. There arehuge economic losses wherefire breaks out like in factorypremises, commercial com-plexes, residential buildingsand hospitals etc. As per thedata of Fire Risk Survey 2013carried out by Pinkerton andFederation of IndianChambers and Industry, firehas been rated as the 5thhighest risk in industry in theyear 2013.

Electric faults like shortcircuit, loose wiring and over-heating etc are attributed as

the major causes of fire.Salvage operation becomesmore tedious resulting inmany deaths and propertylosses. It is quite unfortunatethat we have not learnt fromour similar past experiencesfrom Kolkata AMRI hospitalblaze or Bhusan tragedy in therecent past.

It is often found that firebrigades are informed late.

Apart from fire hazards,the workers have a diverserisk profile such as injuriesfrom slicers, facing acid rainin the vicinity of plant sites,amputation of body part andillness caused by work relat-ed to stress etc. As safety andhealth governance is the keyfundamental part of an organ-isation’s overall risk manage-ment function, the responsi-bility should be undertaken atits highest echelons in theboard. There shouldn’t beany tolerance on breachingsafety regulations.

In construction site, good

planning and coordination isthe best step to avoid injuries.During the construction workin a remote area of Jharigaonblock of Nabarangpur district,a poor frame work of elevat-ed storage reservoir causedserious injury to a mason inconstruct ion site.Furthermore, many workerssuffered from malaria. It is adifferent thing that all theexpenditure was borne bysame contractor and themason and other workersrecovered after treatment.Safety and site specific healthplans must be monitoredkeeping in view methods forhazards identification, on-site emergency proceduresand sharing of information.

All organisational headsshould set the process inmotion by providing leader-ship for driving awarenessabout hazards and risksinvolved and promote greaterunderstanding of hazard con-trol methods and systems.

They must have appropriatepeople and system as well asequipment in place. The fire-fighting equipment is imper-at ive to be user friendly, portable, non toxic,environment- friendly whilekeeping them in shoppingmalls, hospitals and residen-tial buildings.

Performance aids shall bestudied precisely to knowabout operational procedurethat covers the extent of rangein temperature, performanceand service life. Fire in anyelectrical system brings seri-ous hazards to life and prop-erty.

Moulded rubber can beplaced near the openingwhere electric line is con-nected to curb blaze. Fireproof sealing materials needto be kept during cable instal-lation. Fire extinguishers invarious kinds of backpack aswell as trolley mounted isavailable for its effective usein case of fire.

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Senior Manager of SeawaysShipping and Logistic Ltd

Mahendra Swain alias Babuliwas shot dead by unidentifiedmiscreants at MadhubanChhak at Paradip onWednesday.

The firing incident tookplace when Swain was on hisway to his office by his car. Fourmiscreants came by two motor-bikes and hurled bombs at hisvehicle. Later, they fired tworounds of bullets at him, fol-lowing which he died on thespot.

The miscreants fled thespot soon after the incident.

On being informed, policerushed to the spot and started

investigation. Jagatsinghpurdistrict SP JN Pankaj also vis-ited the spot later with a policescientific team and collectedsamples from the spot.

This incident was suspect-ed to be the business rivalry ofthe Seaways with its competingstevedoring firms involved instevedoring works of the JindalSteel and Power Ltd at Paradip.

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The farmers demandedpension and adequate

sops from the Government ata district level farmers’ con-vention held here.

“Govt employees are paidsalaries for work, politiciansget pension even if elected fora term, defence personnel arealso given all facilities evenafter they retire, but themajority of population whoare farmers, in spite of doinghard work, lead a life of inse-curity,” complained AkhayaKumar, who is the State con-vener of Navanirman

Krushak Sangathan.Hundreds of farmers

attending the meeting allegedabout the apathy of theGovernment in providingagriculture loan, seed, fertilizer and crop insuranceetc. Although many farmersin the district had insuredtheir crops in the last season,they failed to get any com-pensation after their cropswere damaged due to scanty and erratic rainfall.The Government has failed inmaking prompt assessment of the crop dam-ages, they said.

The Government has toincrease the minimum sup-port price for procurement ofpaddy and other agriculture

goods, they demanded.While 70 per cent of the

voters are farmers in Odisha,why they will not be givenpension and other benefits,they added. Farmer leadersKulamani Jogachar ya,Bhabendra Sahoo, Tri lochan Panda andRabinarayan Sahoo dwelt atlength the problems faced byfarmers.

Some farmers also allegedregarding the irregularitiesin providing loan to only rul-ing party members, distribu-tion of seed and fertilizerand bungling of funds infinancing power tillers. AState wide mass agitation willbe soon held, the leadersannounced.

��� � � �������

Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik on Wednesday

urged Union Agriculture andFarmers’ Welfare MinisterRadha Mohan Singh to dis-burse the Central share ofcrop insurance claim of Rs795,31 crore so that the claimscould be released to 11.61 lakhfarmers.

In a letter to Singh,Patnaik said more than 21lakh farmers were coveredunder the National

Agricultural InsuranceScheme (NAIS) during

Kharif 2015. The AIC ofIndia, the implementingagency for the NAIS, approvedclaims of Rs 1,776.34 crore forKharif 2015 season for Odishaon October 5, 2016.

In order to help farmersovercome the adverse effect ofdrought last year, it is essen-tial that their insurance claimsare settled at the earliest with-out any further delay, the CMmentioned.

Out of total approved claim

of Rs 1,776.34 crore, the Stateand the Centre have the equalshare of Rs 795.31crore. TheState has already sanctioned itsshare which would be dis-bursed to farmers as soon theCentral share is received.

“Kindly accord approvalto the delayed submission ofthe crop yield data for Kharif2015 season and provideCentral share of Rs 795.31crore immediately, so thatclaims could be released to11.61 lakh eligible farmers,”Patnaik stated.

��� � � �������

The East Coast Railway(ECoR) has formed a spe-

cial squad to keep a strict vigilon carrying of inflammableitems in trains for the safety ofthe passengers during ensuingDiwali celebrations.

The ECoR has imposedrestriction on carrying ofexplosives and inflammableobjects like crackers, gas cylin-der, acid, petrol, kerosene, drygrass/leaves, thermic welding,sigri and stove in trains.

Carrying such inflamma-ble objects in trains is a pun-ishable offence under Section164 of the Railway Act 1989,whereby the offender may getan imprisonment upto threeyears, or a fine of Rs 1,000 or

both.It requested that, if any pas-

senger is seen carrying inflam-mable items, his or her co-pas-sengers should inform TTEs,Coach Attendants, Guards,Station Managers, RailwayProtection Force (RPF) andGovernment Railway Police(GRP) personnel immediatelyto save the train passengersfrom danger.

It too requested passengersto call Helpline Number 182 toreport any incident concerningto carrying of crackers in train.

Steps have been taken bythe Safety Department of theECoR to make the train pas-sengers and rail users aware ofthe dangers of carrying crack-ers and explosive substances, anofficial release said.

����� � ����:

On the allegation of pos-session of disproportion-

ate assets by Balangir DFOoffice senior clerk AnantaNarayan Panigrahi, theVigilance sleuths raided hisresidential triple storied build-ing at Chandrasekhar Nagar,Balangir Town, office room,paternal house at Kartang,under Binka police station inSubarnapur and residentialhouse of Siba PrasadPanigrahi (brother) onOctober 26.

His movable and immov-able assets have been detect-

ed to be worth �1,41,11,539 sofar. Panigrahi has got onebank locker at Bank of India,Bolangir, which had not yetbeen opened. The search wasin progress.

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The State Government hasdecided to spend over Rs

500 crore for welfare of con-struction workers and theirchildren under differentschemes this year.

Reviewing initiatives takenby the Odisha Building andOther Construction Workers’Board, Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik asked officials to dis-burse additional Rs 200 crore innext two quarters and ensurethat cumulative expenditurecrosses Rs 500 crore by March

31, 2017. While the NirmanShramik Pension Yojana and theNirman Shramik Pucca GharYojana started this year, theGovernment has announced askill development programmeto provide ITI and Polytechnicteaching to children of BOCworkers free of cost. Besides,assistance for education andtreatment of major ailments isprovided to BOC families.

Registered constructionworkers above 60 years arebeing provided pension.

Besides, the Governmenthas already taken initiative toset up labour helpdesks inStates like Tamil Nadu,Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,Telangana and New Delhi.

The Chief Minister advised

the Labour and ESIDepartment to enhance regis-tration and coverage of bene-ficiaries under different welfareschemes on war footing. So far,the Board has spent Rs. 185crore for benefit of workerssince inception.

Chief Minister said dis-bursement of benefits to work-ers would be significantlyenhanced while emphaisingon increasing beneficiaries cov-erage from present 4 lakh to 7.5lakhs. He asked to providesocial security benefits to allthose eligible.

Chief Minster said hewould review progress of thedepartment with districtCollectors through video-con-ferencing at regular intervals.

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The Vigilance convictionrate in Odisha is the high-

est in the country, claimedVigilance DIG AmitendraNath Sinha on Wednesdayduring his visit here.

Sinha also said 50 per centof the convicted persons areGovernment employees inOdisha. This rate is higher inOdisha than the other States,he added.

Vigilance investigation isa very lengthy procedure, forwhich many corrupt officersare yet to be convicted, saidSinha at a Press meet.

“For the investigation, weneed many proofs and we have to investigate thecomplaints in every step,” hesaid.

He also said the Vigilanceis always ready to investigateany complaints about cor-rupt officers.

“We have also createdawareness among villagersabout the works of theVigilance department. Peoplehave also started complainingagainst instances of corrup-tion,” Sinha said.

Brahmapur Vigilance SPAK Dash was also present atthe meet.

Sambalpur: Sambalpur LICDivision senior officer BishnuCharan Dansena died in a roadaccident at Ainthapali Chowkhere on Wednesday. The acci-dent took place when he wascoming to office from his resi-dence. Sources said Dansena,who was coming by a scooty, lostbalance of the vehicle and felldown. A truck coming frombackside ran over him crushinghis head to pieces. He died on thespot. Dansena is survived by hiswife, a daughter and a son.

Dansena was the LegalManager of the LIC’s SambalpurDivision. The LIC staffsexpressed deep condolence overthe death of Dansena. PNS

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With no signs of a thaw inthe ongoing game of one-upmanship among membersof the Samajwadi Party's firstfamily, Chief MinisterAkhilesh Yadav called onGovernor Ram Naik to discussthe political situation in UttarPradesh on Wednesday, whileState party president ShivpalYadav expelled Tej Pratap aliasPawan Pandey, Minister ofState for Forest, from the pri-mary membership of the partyfor six years.

Pandey was punished bythe party for his alleged role inmanhandling of SP MLC AshuMalik inside the official resi-dence of the Chief Minister onMonday evening. Malik, inci-dentally, is a confidant ofShivpal Yadav while Pandey isclose to the Chief Minister.

This, however, has led toan unprecedented situation inthe State's politics as Pandey,

despite having been expelledfrom the party, continues as amember of Akhilesh's Councilof Ministers.

Pandey is a key member of'Team Akhilesh' and was giventhe party ticket in 2012because of his proximity toAkhilesh after the party haddenied a ticket to his uncle JaiShankar Pandey fromFaizabad.

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Battling Pakistan-sponsoredterrorism in Jammu &

Kashmir, Defence MinisterManohar Parrikar said here onWednesday that cross-borderterrorism is one of the keysecurity challenges faced byIndia. He also said terrorismcannot be defeated with “dou-ble standards” and there is aneed for “zero tolerance.”

Making this observationwithout naming Pakistan duringhis meeting with visiting RussianDefence Minister Sergey Shoigu,Parrikar said both the countriesalso recognise the fact that thereis a need for collective efforts tocombat terrorism.

Appreciating Russia’s con-sistent and unwavering supportfor India in its efforts to elim-inate this menace, Parrikarsaid this phenomenon is amanifestation of the continuedpresence of terrorist groups inits neighbourhood. Both theleaders also took stock of thesecurity situation in the Indiansubcontinent and other parts ofthe world with Parrikar high-lighting Russia’s role in fightingterrorism in West Asia.

The Russian DefenceMinister said at times there isunacceptable “double or even,at times, triple standards” infight against terrorism. “Whatis absolutely unacceptable interms of the fight against ter-rorism is the use of the doubleor even, at times, triple stan-dards…The serious consoli-

dation of all reasonable powersis necessary to fight this 21stcentury’s evil,” he said.

Both the leaders held parleyson further strengthening timetested defence ties as part of the16th meeting of the India-RussiaIntergovernmental Commissionon Military-Technical Cooper-ation (IRIGC-MTC). Thesemeetings are held once a yearalternately in India and Russia.

Parrikar said the meetingtook place against the backdropof the highly successful annualSummit meeting between PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andPresident Vladimir Putin inGoa last week. The two coun-tries concluded important agree-ments including the supply of S-400 Triumf Air Defence systemsand four frigates. The share-holders’ agreement for the jointventure to manufacture Kamovhelicopters in India was alsosigned, he said adding this is thefirst major defence project underthe ‘Make in India, he said.

While Military TechnicalCooperation was progressingwell, Parrikar said the tradi-tional military-to-militarycooperation needs more focus.The pace and depth ofexchanges at the level of Chiefs,training of personnel in eachother’s institutions, joint mili-tary exercises between allarmed forces should beenhanced. Moreover, the twocountries could mutually workout the modalities of increasingthe military-to-military coop-eration and draw up a roadmapfor implementation, he said.

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Congress leader ShashiTharoor, the head of the

Parliamentary StandingCommittee on External Affairs,has expressed concern over theleak of the panel’s proceedingson the recent surgical strikes andsaid the issue will be discussedat the next meeting. He gave thisinformation to nominatedmember of Rajya Sabha, SwapanDasgupta, who had complainedthat the breach of confidential-ity in committee proceedingswere “wilfully and reckless vio-lated” when media reportedsome of Foreign Secretary SJaishankar’s remarks on thestrikes. Tharoor said he sharedhis concern and would raise theissue at the next meeting.

Dasgupta had written toTharoor saying that after ameeting of the committee lastweek several media houseshad reported about Jaishankar’sremarks that the September 29surgical strikes were not a firstwhich he said amounted to a“tendentious spin” used byCongress for “partisan politics”.

Tharoor said he had offeredto lift the confidentialityrequirements for Jaishankar toallow him to clarify any mis-

representation of his views. “Ihad also discussed the issue withMinister of External Affairs.Both EAM and FS replied thatit was not necessary and con-veyed their wish not to changethe existing policy on secrecy ofproceedings,” he said.

Tharoor said that all mem-bers of the Committee have aduty to ensure trust and can-dour in the proceedings. “Ishare your concern about thebreach of confidentiality thathas occurred... I will also raisethe issue at our next meeting,”he said.

Tharoor remindedDasgupta that he made it clearat the beginning and end ofmeeting that confidentialitymust be maintained in order forthe Committee to be effective inenacting its mandate. Officialsmust be able to give testimonywithout fear of leaks, he said.

“Due to media’s evidentinterest, I had repeatedlystressed that our aim must notbe to chase headlines, particu-larly with an issue as sensitiveas Indo-Pak relations, but to ini-tiate an in-depth examinationof the subject that would cul-minate in a report some monthslater. It is with that assurancethat we had conducted ourmeeting,” Tharoor said.

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The Government is working to reform the film certificationprocess so that the use of scissors is limited as much as pos-

sible, Minister of State for Information and BroadcastingRajyavardhan Rathore said on Wednesday,

Speaking at an event organised by the CII, Rathore, howeverclarified that there will be restrictions as anything that “you can’tspeak off camera, you can’t speak on the camera.”

The Minister further said the Government is clear that free-dom of expression must be encouraged and any restrictions shouldbe in line with the constitution. He pointed out news innovations,disruptions in the media and entertainment sector are happeningat a fast pace and there is a need to bring a change in rules. He,however, added it can be done only after wider consultation so thatthere is a well thought out policy and no knee-jerk reaction.

Speaking about the online media, he said the rules which arethere for broadcast and print media are not applicable to it, whichis an aspect that needs to be looked into.

Referring to the broadcasting sector, he said there are a mind-boggling number of 881 channels, including 349 in the news cat-egory, and more are coming up.

He also said as channels compete for ratings, it is importantthat news should be just news and is not created. He also saidthere are very few players in the Direct To Home (DTH)Television sector and the Information and Broadcasting ministryis soon going to bring in a new policy to help it spread.

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Aformer Squadron Leader ofIndian Air Force has been

booked by CBI for allegedlyamassing assets worth over�11.9 crore, with a suspicionthat he was covering purport-ed ill-gotten wealth of aTelangana-based ex-Memberof Parliament, who is alsonamed in the FIR.

It is alleged that duringJanuary 1, 2007 to December31, 2010, the then SquadronLeader Polu Sreedhar amassedassets to the tune of �11.9crore, which was 4,239 percent more than his knownsources of income in that peri-od, CBI sources said.

They said a case has beenregistered against Sreedhar, for-mer Lok Sabha MP of CongressBalashowry Vallabbhaneni andthe then manager of Axis BankNajafgarh branch in Delhiunder the Prevention of

Corruption Act.Sreedhar had deposited the

amassed amount in variousbranches of Axis bank duringthe period in three tranches,sources said.

He allegedly made hugetransactions at Axis Bank,Najafgarh amounting to �8.4crore through cash and wiretransfers, they said.

It is alleged that in anoth-er account maintained at thesame bank, transactions worth�1.2 crore were made throughcash deposits and in anothertransaction at a branch inBangalore, �2.3 crore weredeposited by him during theperiod, they added.

The agency has alleged thatSreedhar in connivance withManish Saxena, the thenBranch Manager of Axis Bank,Najafgargh helped the formerMP from Tenali constituency inTelangana, Vallabbhaneni, toprocure a land for �12.5 crore

in 2007-08 in Najafgarh areahere.

When contacted,Vallabbhaneni told PTI over thephone that he was introducedto Sreedhar as someone whoknew the area.

“The land purchase deal iscompletely legal and have pro-vided to CBI all the docu-ments related to the deal. I donot know what transactionshave been done by Sreedhar. Iknow him as someone whoknew the area where I wantedto purchase the land,”Vallabbhaneni said.

It is alleged that the branchmanager helped Sreedhar andVallabbhaneni in the monetarytransactions in Axis Bank.

The agency has carried outsearches at Guntur, Hyderabadand Noida in connection withthe case, they said, adding thatVallabbhaneni will soon becalled for questioning in con-nection with the case.

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With processed and fastfood rapidly making

their way to the dining table ofalmost every next household inthe country, a new study hasfound that Indians are eatingmore than double the recom-mended amount of salt,putting themselves at increasedrisk of cardiovascular diseaseand early death.

Published in a recent edi-tion of Journal of Hypertension,the study has said that theaverage daily salt intake was10.98 grams per day for Indiansaged above 19 against theWHO recommendation of fivegrams per person each day.

Researchers at The GeorgeInstitute for Global Health(GIGH) had reviewed datainvolving 2,27,000 peopleacross the country and found

the salt consumption was high-er in southern and easternstates of India. Tripura toppedthe list with an average dailysalt intake of around 14 grams.

With salt being a majorcontributing factor to highblood pressure — a leadingcause of cardiovascular disease

(CVD) — the researchers havecalled for urgent action in Indiato reduce salt consumption.

Lead author ClaireJohnson of the GIGH said,“Over the past 30 years theaverage Indian diet has beentransformed. They are eatingless pulses, fruits and vegeta-

bles and lots more processedand fast foods.”

“As a result their diets arenow full of salt, sugars andharmful fats which are drivingup rates of high blood pressure,obesity and cardiovascular dis-eases, such as heart attack andstroke.” Furthermore, excessintake of calories from energydense foods delivered in largeportions is driving a rapidlyevolving obesity epidemic, thestudy ‘Mean population saltconsumption in India: a sys-tematic review’ noted.

Vivek Jha, ExecutiveDirector of the GIGH said,India has to ramp up its effortsto meet the WHO target of a30 per cent reduction in saltconsumption by 2025. Hecalled for a country-wide edu-cational program teachingpeople what to eat and how toreduce salt in their diets.

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The Government has under-taken an ambitious project

“cattle genome” of genomesequencing of 40 breeds ofindigenous cattle to boost pro-duction and predict the breed-ing value of desi cow moreaccurately.

So far genome sequencinghas only been done forEuropean species like Jerseyand Holstein Friesians cows,but not for native cattle.

The project, to be carriedout by the Department of Bio-technology under the Ministryof Science and Technology, willalso see development of DNAchips of these breeds which willhelp understand various traitsof the cattle species.

“Genetic improvement oflivestock through traditionalselection for increasing pro-ductivity has major limitations.To overcome this, genomicselection has played a crucial rolein livestock industry globally.

“At present genomesequencing has only been donefor European species like Jerseyand Holstein Friesians cows,but not for native cattle,” saidMohd Aslam, senior scientistand Advisor with the DBT.

On the occasion, Scienceand Technology MinisterHarsh Vardhan also launchedBiotech-Kisan initiative, wherefarmers, scientists and scienceinstitutions across the countrywill work as a network that willidentify and help solve prob-lems in a cooperative manner.

The minister said, to startwith the Biotech Kisan projectwill be launched in four agro-climatic zones in the country,namely East and WestHimalayas, the Upper Gangeticregion and Southern plateauand hills.

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Women and ChildDevelopment Minister

Maneka Gandhi has written toMinister Of Development OfNorth Eastern Region, JitendraSingh, requesting him to put anend to illegal trade and con-sumption of dog meat in theNorth-East region and has alsosought the intervention of NIAin tracing these traders as theyindulge in drugs and armstrafficking.

The letter cites Food Safetyand Standards Regulation, 2011which doesn’t allow dogs, catsand other animals to be slaugh-tered for food. The letter addsthat dog meat consumption,therefore, is “illegal” and “cruel”.

“I am writing to requestyou to please look into the bla-tantly illegal dog meat trade inNagaland and Mizoram,” goesthe letter, which also describesthe brutal treatment metedout to the dogs while they arebeing smuggled.

“In Nagaland alone, morethan 30,000 dogs are illegallysmuggled from neighbouringStates in jute sacks where theyhave their mouth either tied orstitched shut. These animals arestarved with no food or waterand brutally beaten to deathbefore they are torched and

sold as meat to consumers,” theletter said.

The letter then talks abouthow the same set of smugglersalso indulge in drugs and armstrafficking.

“There is not only illegalsmuggling and slaughter ofdogs but also smuggling ofarms and ammunition alongwith narcotic drugs, blatantlycarried out by the same gangs.”

“This is a serious cause forconcern for the security of theregion and I suggest that agen-cies such as the NIA (NationalInvestigation Agency) must beasked to establish the personsinvolved in this thoroughly

organised racket,” Maneka wrote.The letter points out that as

per a survey in Nagaland car-ried out by Humane SocietyInternational (HSI)which esti-mates that at least 40 dogs perday and 15,000 dogs per yearare sold each in Kohima andDimapur.

One kg of dog meat costs�200 here and the consumptionpeaks during Christmas,according to HSI. No such esti-mates are cited for Mizoram.However, the letter mentionshow Mizoram Government hadissued orders in 2007 to stopillegal trade of dogs but that hasnot been implemented.

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Uniform Civil Code (UCC)will not be brought

through the back door andwithout a consensus, saysInformation and BroadcastingMinister M Venkaiah Naiduwho rejects the charge that con-tentious issues have been rakedup by BJP to polarise elections,especially in Uttar Pradesh.

Issues like triple talaq, civilcode and Ram temple will notbe used by BJP for politicalmileage in the upcoming elec-tions, says the Minister whoasserts that they will be foughton development agenda.

Holding that such crucialissues should not be lookedthrough prism of electoral ben-efit, the Chief Spokesperson ofthe Government also rejects

opposition criticism that surgi-cal strikes were being politicised.

“The Government doesnot consider it (triple talaq) asa religious matter. It is a ques-tion of gender sensitivity. It iswrong to say that we are inter-fering in Muslim issues.

“The same IndianParliament, the same politicalsystem had brought HinduCode Bill, Divorce Act, ban-ning Hindu Marriage Act, ban-ning dowry and Sati practice,all these things are done byIndian Parliament,” Naidu toldPTI in an interview.

Making it clear that broadconsensus will be required forbringing Uniform Civil Code,he said the allegations thatTriple Talaq is a backdoorentry for the UCC was unjustified.

“We are not discussingabout the common civil codeor uniform civil code as of now.The Law Commission hasissued a questionnaire andasked people to react.

“You cannot have a uni-form Civil Code without abroad consensus. You have towork and move in that direc-

tion,” he said hoping that theSupreme Court will come outwith the right decision on theissue of triple talaq.

Replying to a raft of ques-tions on Ram temple issue,Naidu said, “People of Indiawant a brilliant temple at thebirth place of Rama but how doyou go about it. You have tohave an agreement betweencontending parties or you willhave to abide by the legal ver-dict which is taking too long.

He maintained that as faras Government is concerned,Government and political par-ties have no role in construct-ing a temple.

“You can facilitate or removeobstructions or create obstruc-tions like what Mulayamji haddone earlier,” he said.

The Minister said as far as

government and BJP are con-cerned UP elections are notgoing to be fought on theRama Janambhoomi or com-mon civil code or triple talaq.“They are going to be fought ondevelopmental issue.”

To a question that focus wasnow sought to be brought onthese contentious issues, heshot back, “If you do not talkabout it then it is said you haveforgotten Ram. When you talkabout them, then it is said Ramis remembered because of UPelections.”

Naidu said BJP was goingto focus more on developmentand good governance in thecampaign for UP polls, addingit does not mean that the partyhas given up on issues likeUniform Civil Code and RamaJanambhoomi.

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The task force of Patna policesucceeded in rescuing two

Delhi-based marble traders inthe wee hours of Wednesdayfrom the jungles of Lakhisaraiwhich is also known as den ofMaoists.

The brothers Kapil Sharmaand Suresh Sharma had beenkidnapped for ransom onFriday the moment they cameout of Patna airport. The abduc-tors had demanded �4 crore asransom from their father andSouth Delhi-based constructionfirm owner Babulal Sharma fortheir safe release.

Patna SeniorSuperintendent of Police ManuMaharaaj, who led the opera-tion, said the gang of RanjitDon was involved in this highprofile abduction. Ranjit Donis also into politics and hadcontested Assembly elections.Police managed to arrest fiveculprits who were keeping thetwo brothers at gunpoint with-out food for four days.

Maharaaj said the traderswere rescued from ruggedShringirishi Dham near Mahua

Kol of Naxal affected Kajra andthe arrested persons were beingbrought to Patna. DirectorGeneral of Police PK Thakursaid police were looking for themastermind of the abduction.Sharma brothers, who are intheir 40s said they were tor-tured by the abductors and notallowed to answer nature’s calland four-five people with gunswere always with them.

Sharma brothers were luredto visit Patna by the abductorson the pretext of signing a �200crore contract for supply ofmarble to IIT-Kharagpur.Earlier a Patna police teamhad been sent to Delhi where itquestioned employees of theconstruction company ownedby Babulal Sharma. One of theemployees who hailed fromMunger in Bihar provided someclues on the basis of which thetask force reached Lakahisarai.

The brothers said that theywere not given food for fourdays and very little water wasgiven. When the police reachednear the place where they werekept, the abductors attemptedto inject them with sedativesbut the two resisted their move.

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In yet another gruesome inci-dent related to Kerala’s unend-

ing stray dog menace, a 90-year-old man was killed in an attackby a pack of dogs in Varkala,Thiruvananthapuram onWednesday even as politiciansand anti-stray dog campaignersunleashed scathing criticismsagainst Union Minister ManekaGandhi for her statement thatpeople killing the canines shouldbe booked under Anti-GoondaAct.

Raghavan of Mundayil inVarkala was attacked by a packof six or more stray dogs at about4.30 am on Wednesday when hewas asleep on the verandah of hishouse. He was first taken to theTaluk Hospital in Varkala withserious bite injuries to his head,face and legs but had to be shift-ed to the Government MedicalCollege Hospital,Thiruvananthapuram where hedied in the afternoon.

The 90-year-old man wasthe second person to be killed inan attack by stray dogs in Keralain less than 70 days. A 65-year-old woman, Siluvamma ofChembakaramanthara, Pulluvilain Thiruvananthapuram, waskilled on the night of August 19in an attack by a large pack of

stray dogs on the beach near herhouse.

Anti-stray dog campaignersin Kerala have renewed their callfor culling ferocious and aggres-sive stray dogs in the context ofthe Raghavan’s death. They, inassociation with some localadministration bodies in centralKerala, had killed scores of straydogs using brutal means after thehorrible death of Siluvamma.

Meanwhile, Kerala LocalAdministration Minister KTJaleel came down heavily onManeka Gandhi for her state-ment that the State’s DirectorGeneral of Police should chargethose who were continuouslykilling stray dogs and inciting

others to do the same under theKerala Anti-Social ActivitiesPrevention Act (KAPA).

“Such people do not knowabout the dangers the people ofKerala are facing because ofstray dogs. They are not seeingor hearing what is happeninghere. Sitting in Delhi, they cansay anything,” Jaleel told news-men in response to the statementmade by the Union Minister inan interview given to a KeralaTV channel.

“We cannot accept the argu-ment about booking peopleunder KAPA (for dealing withstray dogs). What is important isthe human life. It is the StateGovernment’s duty to provide

protection for the lives of thepeople. To say that we are beingcruel to animals when we are try-ing to fulfill our duty will becounter-productive,” Jaleel said.

“I don’t think even the BJPwhich is in power in the Centrewill share this (Maneka Gandhi’s)view… The Kerala Governmentis going ahead with steps toachieve the goal of making theState stray dog-free in the nextfive years,” the Minister said,adding that the programme willbe implemented with the activeparticipation of the local admin-istration bodies.

State Congress presidentVM Sudheeran said that theUnion Minister’s opinion thatKAPA should be imposed onthose who were behind theculling of stray dogs did notreflect balance of mind. “Thereshouldn’t be a situation where thelife of a dog is considered as moreimportant than human life,” hesaid.

“Such statements should notcome from a Minister likeManeka Gandhi… The straydog menace is very serious inKerala. Let her come to Kerala tounderstand it. It is not appro-priate for a person of her posi-tion to pass philosophical com-ments without seeing the groundreality,” he said.

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The mystery over two miss-ing Pakistani women mar-

ried to Indian men was solvedon Wednesday, as both thefemales were found in Jodhpurwith their children.

Saira Begum and NasirBanu, both cousinsisters and origi-nally residents ofKarachi, Pakistanwere married totwo residents ofAhmedabad andwere residing inPaladi area. Theirsudden disappearance createdlots of doubts in the wake of thetense situation on the Indo-Pakistan border.

According to police thewomen left their homes due todomestic problem. Gujaratpolice have brought them backto Ahmedabad and initiatedfurther investigation in thecase. The police said, Sairawas married four years ago andwas mother of a two-and-a-halfyears old boy while Nabira wasmarried about a year-and-a-

half ago and has a two monthold daughter. According to thecomplaints lodged with thepolice, the two women lefthome on Sunday evening tak-ing their children along withthem and did not return. Thepolice was told that the womenhad also taken their mobile

phones, Pakistanipassports, long-term visa issued fortheir stay in Indiaafter marriage andall other relevantdocuments in orig-inal.

The two womenwere seen boarding anautorickshaw in the CCTVfootage available at the streetcorners and the police ques-tioned the drivers of the vehi-cle used by them to trace themto Jodhpur.

The family members saidthere were no family feudsand that they were clueless whythe women left. Police believethat the women could haveescaped to Pakistan but wereunable to fathom the reason fortheir wanting to leave.

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With a dip in mercurylevel, the people of

Wokha district in Nagalandhave started welcoming theirwinged guests, who visits themevery year.

The villagers of Pangti,Ashaa and Sungro villageslocated near the Doyang reser-voir in Nagaland’s Wokha dis-trict not only welcome theAmur Falcons but have alsoformed Pangti village AmurFalcons protection Committeethis year with over 300 strongvolunteers to protect the birdsduring their two months ofroosting there.

It may be mentioned herethat the Amur Falcons are thelongest travelling raptors in theworld and come to Doyangevery year in millions. Untilrecently, Naga tribesmen usedto hunt thousands of Amur fal-cons for meat.

However, after a vigorouscampaign by wildlife activistsand some NGOs, they pledgedto protect the bird in 2014 and

since then, not a single bird hasbeen hunted in the area.

“About 80 percent of thebirds have already arrived forroosting. Like last two years, wehave formed the protectioncommittee with over 300 vol-unteers to protect the birdsduring the two months,’ saidZanthungo N Shitio, a local ofPangti village and one of thevolunteers.

These amazing raptorstravel one of the longest migra-tion routes of all birds, doing up

to 22,000 km in a year and theyarrive in Nagaland—particu-larly in Doyang Reservoir—itslargest roosting site in thecountry from Siberia en routeto their final destinationSomalia, Kenya and SouthAfrica.

Zanthungo and other vol-unteers will be on their toes forthese two months to protect theavian guests. All the volunteerswill deployed in shifts acrossthe villages so that not a singlebird can be harmed before

their departure towards end ofnext month.

“It is the hard work of thevolunteers that there is not asingle hunting of the birds inlast two years,” he said addingthat they were trained by sev-eral wildlife NGOs on how tomonitor and protect the birdsduring this roosting period.

The volunteers were paidan amount of �200 each perday for their service for close to

two months by the State forestdepartment. The conservationefforts by the villagers have alsoopened up new opportunitiesfor the locals as most of them have started home stayfacilities in their houses toaccommodate hundreds ofconservationists and bird watchers from differentparts of the world, who throngthe villages to see the AmurFalcons.

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Gujarat Police detainedabout 31 Patidar Anamat

Andolan Samiti (PAAS) work-ers on Wednesday when theyhad gathered in numbers tosubmit a formal application toGujarat OBC Commissionwith the demand to accordOBC status to Patels.

As per the statutoryrequirement, it is the OBCcommission that entertains,examines and recommendsupon requests any inclusions orexclusions from the list ofcommunities notified as back-ward. The State of Gujarat has146 notified OBCs.

More than 50 PAAS mem-bers assembled outside theoffice of OBC Commission tomake a formal application seek-ing OBC status for Patels.

The trouble began whenPAAS members sought to enter

the office of Gujarat OBCCommission head Justice (retd)Sugnyaben Bhatt.

While the Commissionhead accede to meet five PAASrepresentatives, all those present insisted on meeting theCommission head and beganarguing with the police. They were led by PAAS con-veners Dinesh Bambhaniyaand Lalit Vasoya and sitting leg-islator from Dhari, NalinKotadiya.

PAAS has been spearheading the 14-month-old agitation seeking OBC status for the socially and economically powerful Patelcommunity in the State.Reacting to police action, PAASleader and face of Patel quotastir Hardik Patel in his videomessage on social media hit outat the state government sayingthat it was trying to suppresstheir voice.

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Aday after Mulayam Singhdeclared that Chief Minister

will decide over the re-inductionof Shivpal Yadav in the Cabinet,the State president of the partyon Wednesday vacated his offi-cial residence on Kalidas Marg,close to the official residence ofAkhilesh Yadav.

The move of Shivpal Yadavis a clear indication that rap-prochement between the uncleand the nephew is unlikely.Earlier in September ChiefMinister had stripped ShivpalYadav of important portfolios

like PWD and irrigation andlater he was dismissed from thecabinet on October 23.

Light commercial vehicleswere used to ferry the house-hold goods of Shivpal Yadavfrom Kalidas Marg to his pri-vate residence on VikramadityaMarg near the State office of theparty. Earlier in the morning,in an indication that he doesnot want to be taken back inthe State Government, Shivpal’sstaff began removing hisMinisterial name plate from hisofficial residence. Later in theday Shivpal Yadav also met hiselder brother and party presi-

dent Mulayam Singh Yadav.Shivpal, the senior minister

in the four-and-a-half years-oldSamajwadi Party Government,had surrendered his official vehi-cle fitted with red beacon lightson Sunday itself. The move isbeing seen in political circles asShivpal’s snub to attempts by hisnephew Akhilesh to broker adeal with party chief MulayamSingh Yadav, in which he hadreportedly sought revocation ofRam Gopal Yadav’s expulsionfrom the party in lieu of the re-entry of Shivpal and three oth-ers — Om Prakash Singh, NaradRai and Shadab Fatima—into hisCabinet.

While Mulayam had ini-tially asked Akhilesh to reinstatethe sacked ministers, CM

refused to yield to the diktatforcing the SP supremo to tellreporters on Tuesday that hehad left the matter to the dis-cretion of Akhilesh Yadav.Former Tourism Minister OmPrakash Singh, one of the min-isters shown the door, who wassitting by the side of Mulayamduring his Press Conference onTuesday, left in a huff when theSP chief made this statement.

Shadab Fatima, the minis-ter of State who was alsoexpelled along with shivpalYadav on Sunday alsoannounced to vacate her offi-cial bungalow on Thursday.

Meanwhile Shivapl Yadavleft for Delhi on Wednesday. Heis likely to hold talks with theRashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit

Singh to carry forward thenegotiations already underwayfor the pre-poll alliance for the2017 Assembly elections. He isalso likely to meet the Congressleaders in Delhi to explore thepossibilities of the alliance. TheCongress has already clarified itsposition to support AkhileshYadav Government if the needarises for the floor test to proveits majority in the Assembly.

SP sources said Shivpal willalso visit Saharanpur on Fridayto participate in the first deathanniversary of the former partyMLA from Deoband andMinister of State Rajendra SinghRana. In the by election held inDeoband seat, the seat waswrested by the Congress fromthe SP in February this year.

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Former State Congress chiefRita Bahuguna Joshi, who

joined the BJP recently, saidthat since the existence ofCongress in UP is under cloud,several senior leaders havestarted quitting the grand oldparty of India.

“It is not easy to quit aparty after being associatedfor 24 long years. There has tobe strong reason which forcedme to quit. The fact is that thereis a big question mark onCongress’ existence in UP,”Joshi said while addressing hermaiden meeting at state BJPoffice in Lucknow onWednesday.

She said tha there is a cor-porate culture in Congressnow. “The reign of the partyhas been handed over to amanager and senior leaderswith years of political experi-ence work at his whims andfancies,” she alleged.

Dismissing that she hadjoined the BJP for personalinterest, Joshi said “I have notput any pre-condition for join-ing the BJP. I am impressedwith Prime Minister NarendraModi as he means what he says.In the last two years, the PMhas not uttered a controversialword which shows his under-standing of the current nation-al and global scenario,” she said.

Joshi also hailed the surgicalstrikes carried out by the IndianArmy across Pakistan OccupiedKashmir under the directives ofthe NDA Government. “This hasincreased India’s military capa-bilities across the world. Peopleacross India are now full of pridethat the Indian Army hasavenged the Uri attack andtaught Pakistan a lesson,” shesaid.

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Projecting himself as themessiah of Muslims,

Samajwadi Party leader andMinority Affairs MinisterAzam Khan said that the darkfuture stares the communityfollowing the internecine bat-tle in the ruling SP. Khan saidthat the minority communityis worried over the presentpolitical situation in the Stateand the country as they findtheir dreams being shattered.

In a veiled warning to theruling SP, he said, “There isenough time to take a decisionand that should be to ensurethat tahe BJP is prevented fromforming the next Governmentin UP.’’ “The Muslim intelli-gentsia and common folksknow where their interest lie

and who can protect theirinterests. Muslims are hencewatching leaders and partieshaving a firm grip on Muslimsand their issues,’’ said Khan.

Without naming the BSPwhich has emerged as a chal-lenge to the SP in retainingMulsim support, Khan said,“Muslim leadership andMuslims at large want to walkalong with secular Hindus. Butthey don’t want to fight a bat-tle which has been lost. Theyalso do not want to ally withforces which are unreliable.”

Khan in his guarded lan-guage took care to not toname the SP but sent a warn-ing loud and clear not to takeMulsim support for grantedand that the SP was steadilylosing their support due to theintra-family feud.

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Ahead of festival of lightswhen people usually dec-

orate their homes with brightlights, and if possible, also adda splash of colours on their fourwalls, hundreds of border res-idents living in forward villagesof RS Pura sector are helpless-ly staring at battered walls oftheir houses. Tell tale signs ofdestruction done by the con-tinuous Pak shelling is visibleall over the place.

In some cases even the rooftops have been pierced by 82 mmmortar shells and in other casesthe habitants have been hit hardby the splinter injuries while rest-ing in their courtyards. Even thewater reservoirs, parked carshave been blown over in heavyexchange of firing between thePakistani rangers and Indianborder guards. More than 300animals including large numberof cattle have been perishedafter receiving bullet injuries.

As they come under the

direct line of fire, the villagershave been taking shelter insidebunkers every night.Those whocan afford to shift to saferlocations at their realtivesplaces spend long nights thereand return home in the morn-ing to perform routine household work. Whenever theyhave to step out they move cau-tiously to save themselves fromthe enemy fire. The localauthorities have even restrict-ed movement of outsiders tothese forward villages

Pointing towards a big holeon their roof top Nagarmal, aresident of village Abduliantold The Pioneer, “How can weeven think of celebratingDiwali when our houses arebeing targeted by the Pakrangers. My son was barelysaved as he was sleeping in theroom when it was hit by a mor-tar shell. I thank god none ofmy family members were hurtin the mortar blast. But onTuesday six women of a fami-ly were injured while they werestepping out of their house in

Suchetgarh to attend a mar-riage function.”

Balvinder hailing from vil-lage Abdullian shifted his fam-ily to his relatives place onwednesday evening as he fearedPak rangers would once againtarget the area with heavy cal-ibre of weapons. He told ThePioneer, “We are going to cel-ebrate dark diwali away fromour homes”. He said peopledecorate their houses andswitch on the lights seekingblessings of Goddess Lakshmiand we lesser mortals have tostep out of our own houses toensure our safety”.

Another resident of thesame village Kuldeep said,“How can we think of cele-brating Diwali when tension isprevailing in the area. We havebeen directed by the BSF sol-diers to shift to safer places andswitch off the lights beforestepping out.”

Meanwhile, the Arnia townin RS Pura sector, which bore themaximum brunt of Pak shellingon Tuesday wore a deserted

look despite peak festive season.Deputy CommissionerSimarandeep Singh said, “at leasteight houses in Arnia tehsil suf-fered during Pak shelling lateTuesday night”.

Local businessmen in thearea cursing their fate said,“instead of earning profits wehave been earning losses for last

three years. As Pak rangers openfire on forward villages in thearea every festive season and weend up losers”. The owners ofsweet shops in the area had noteven prepared traditional sweetsfearing they may incur losses dueto poor sales.

The mood in the entire bor-der belt was subdued and peo-

ple wore tense looks anticipatingcross border firing during Diwali.On the other hand the BSF andIndian army are maintaining atight vigil along the Internationalborder across Jammu frontierand along the line of control inRajouri and Poonch districts toprevent any infiltration bid aheadof Diwali.

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Mamata Banerjee is sendinga “strongly worded letter”

to the Centre reminding it ofthe virtues of “federal system”and the vices of ignoring it by“bypassing a StateGovernment” when it comes tocash disbursal to various pro-jects funded by New Delhi butearmarked and supervised bythe State.

Banerjee has taken a strongnote of the “recent develop-ments when the CentralGovernment has been dis-bursing funds to the respectivedepartments concerned underwhich projects are taking shapeinstead of routing the samethrough the FinanceDepartment which is the nodalagency for such purposes,” asenior official quoting BengalFinance Minister Amit Mitrasaid.

Mitra and other seniorCabinet Ministers includingPartho Chatterjee reportedlymade the comments onWednesday after emergingfrom a high-level meeting withthe Chief Minister where waysto streamline projects for peo-ple’s benefits was discussedthreadbare.

“During the meeting it was

found that in a host of casesincluding the 100-days’ workscheme the Centre has beensending the funds directly tothe departments instead of theFinance Ministry which isgravely inappropriate consid-ering our federal system,” Mitrasaid adding, the Chief Ministerhad asked for a “strongly word-ed letter” to be shot off to NewDelhi.

Chief Minister is alsoannoyed with Centre’s plans totransfer funds directly to thejob-holders’ accounts in the100-days’ work and otherschemes. This, against thebackdrop of rising number of

complaints of nepotism andmisuse of funds earmarked forsocial projects.

“In a federal structure youcannot take such steps by-passing the State Governmentsbecause it is the StateGovernments that earmark andsupervise projects and thefunds are sent to the StateGovernments and not a par-ticular department.This isdirect attack on our federalstructure. A State Governmentcannot be kept in the dark onsuch issues. This is a clear signof the Central Government’sgradual tilt towards imposingeconomic dictatorship,”

Banerjee has said adding, boththe State Government and theTrinamool Congress will takeup the issue at appropriate lev-els as and when required.

The Bengal opposition par-ties have of late complained oflarge-scale nepotism and mis-use when it came to the uti-lization of central funds ear-marked for projects. Reports ofcorruption and discriminationin spending central funds camefrom districts like Howrah,Birbhum, East and WestMidnapores and Coochbeharsources said.

Large-scale misuse of 100-days’ funds was reported earlythis month from the Mayor’sown ward in Howrah beforethe case was hurriedly hushedup, insiders said welcoming thecentral move to directly sendfunds to the job-holders’accounts.

Interestingly the opposi-tion-run municipal boardshave attacked the ChiefMinister for the same reasonaccusing of withholding fundsrequired for providing civicprojects. Siliguri Mayor andformer Bengal Minister AsokBhattacharya recently attackedBanerjee saying, “before attack-ing others Chief Ministershould retrace her own steps.”

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Why is the CBI, which hadbeen unwilling to probe

even the very serious cases inKerala citing shortage of per-sonnel and excess of cases athand as reasons, keen on inves-tigating a case of an IPS officergoing on leave to teach in a pri-vate college? The KeralaGovernment which thinks thatthe move is suspicious and theprobe agency have lockedhorns over the issue.

The CBI had the otherday told the High Court that itwas willing to hold a probe inthe allegation against JacobThomas, presently Director ofthe Kerala Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, that hehad taken leave to teach in aprivate college when he wasManaging Director of theKerala Transport DevelopmentFinance Corporation in 2009.

In an affidavit filed inresponse to a petition seekinga probe against Thomas, theagency also wanted the case tobe handed over to it for inves-tigation. According to the CBI,it was serious lapse on the partof the IPS official, now in therank of DGP, to go on leave forteaching in an institution out ofpersonal interests and that thematter should be probed by anagency like it.

Following this, JacobThomas wrote to the CBIDirector saying that the agency

had filed the affidavit withoutfollowing the proceduresrequired to be complied withwhen acting against an officerwith the rank of DGP andwanting to know whether theaction had been taken with theknowledge of the agency’s chief.

The Kerala Governmentopposed the agency’s action inthe court when it considered thepetition on Wednesday. It saidthat the CBI act of submittingan affidavit expressing willing-ness to investigate the chargeagainst the IPS official in a case,in which even the primaryarguments had not yet started,was strange and suspicious.

It also argued that it wasquite unnatural that the inves-tigating agency, which hadshown lack of willingness toprobe serious cases like thosepertaining to the 2003 Maradmassacre and the brutal mur-der of rebel Marxist TPChandrasekharan in 2012, wasexpressing interest in taking upthe case against the VigilanceDirector.

The Government, whichpointed out that the allegationagainst Jacob Thomas hadalready been looked into, ques-tioned the purpose of holdinganother investigation over thesame issue. It also pointed outthat Jacob Thomas hadreturned the money he hadreceived from the institutionfor the services he had ren-dered there.

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Chief Minister AkhileshYadav called on Governor

Ram Naik on Wednesday and

is believed to have briefed himabout the volatile political sit-uation prevailing for the last 38days in Uttar Pradesh follow-ing his ouster from the post of

State president of SamajwadiParty. The meeting lasted foraround 30 minutes.

There were speculationsthat the CM presented a list oflegislators supporting him buthighly placed sources in the RajBhawan dismissed it sayingthat it was a courtesy call inwhich the CM and theGovernor exchanged Diwaligreetings.

“As it was a one-on-onemeeting, it is believed thatYadav briefed the Governorabout the political situation inthe State. Please do not readmuch into this meeting,” thesource said.

The meeting assumedimportance as Akhilesh Yadavleft for Raj Bhawan withoutconcluding a meeting with hisloyalists over the proposedRath Yatra from November 3.

It is also believed that theCM might have discussed pos-sibility of filling vacancies cre-ated after he sacked four min-isters from his Cabinet on

October 23.The Governor, however,

said that whatever was hap-pening in ruling SamajwadiParty family was their internalmatter and there was noConstitutional crisis in theState.

“I am closely monitoringthe developments and will doaccordingly as per the require-ment,” Naik said.

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In a gesture of philanthropy,Bollywood actor Akshay

Kumar on Wednesday offered topromote the cause of the farmersuicide-hit families in Yavatmaldistrict in the backwardVidarbha region, where a max-imum number of agriculturistshave committed suicides havebeen reported in recent years.

The “Khiladi”-series actorgave an assurance to this effectto Maharashtra FinanceMinister Sudhir Mungantiwarwhen the latter met him inMumbai and sought his assis-tance in prompting the cause ofthe families of agriculturistswho have committed suicide inYavatmal district, which is con-sidered one of the worst far sui-cide-hit districts in the State.

“During the meeting, theMinister briefed the actor aboutthe plans lined up by theMaharashtra Government tocelebrate the SwabhimaniShetkari Varsh (self-respectingfarmers’ year) declared this year.The actor, who has in the pasthelped farmers in the State,offered to promote the cause offamilies of suicide-hit farmers inYavatmal district,” a senior asso-ciate of Mungantiwar said.

Though Askshay volun-teered to help the families of sui-cide-hit farmers financially, theMinister told the actor, “At thisjuncture, we do not want anyfinancial help from your end. Wewould like to support the cause

of families of farmers who havecommitted suicide on a maxi-mum scale in Yavatmal district”.

Akshay, whose recent films“Äirlift” and “Rustom” have notonly won him critical acclaimbut also proved to be successesat the box office, readily agreedto promote the cause of farmersuicide-hit families in Yavatmaldistrict.

The actor assuredMungantiwar that he wouldvisit the farmer suicide-hit vil-lages in Yavatmal district short-ly. “After visiting the affectedareas, he would work closelywith the Maharashtra govern-ment in promoting the affectedfamilies’cause. He may also adopta few of the farmer suicide-hitvillages in Yavatmal district,”Mungantiwar’s associate said.

On its part, the MaharashtraGovernment has chalked out at h r e e - p o i n tprogramme to help and makethe farmer suicide-hit familiesself-sufficient and have a sus-tainable livelihood. “Amongother things, the StateGovernment will be giving themsolar charakas to the wives andother female members of farmersuicide-hit families and buyingcloth produced by them,” a StateGovernment official said.

This is not the first time thatAkshay has associated himselfwith the activities of the StateGovernment. In the past, theactor had donated �90 lakh tothe drought-hit people inMarathwada region.

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Lucknow: In what is seen as a move to project the human faceof UP Police, DGP Zaveed Ahmed asked his junior colleaguesto bring smiles on the faces of orphans and senior citizens bycelebrating Deepawali with them.

“Identify orphanages and old age homes in your jurisdic-tion and distribute safe crackers (sparkle etc) and sweets andcelebrate the festival of light with them so that they too enjoythe occasion even in the absence of their family members,” saidthe DGP’s directive issued to all SSP/SPs, Additional SPs, CircleOfficers and Station House Officers on Wednesday.

Ahmed pointed out that such persons feel sad as they donothave any one to could celebrate festivals and hence it wasdecided that cops should spare some time from their schedule,and bring smiles on their faces.

The DGP further said that this would also help the policepersonnel, who were away from their families in ensuring lawand order during festivals, to enjoy the occasion.

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From its very inception inJuly 2014, the IslamicState in Iraq and Syria(ISIS)/Daesh utilisedcyberspace for propa-

ganda and recruitment in a man-ner that was both innovative andextremely hard to counter. Thereis an active digital jihadi groupwithin the IS which has designedeffective Android Apps, and usedthe comparatively secure end-to-end encrypted instant messagingapp Telegram, (and to a lesserdegree, WhatsApp) for propagan-da, weapons procurement, and todirect and publicise lonewolf/wolf pack attacks. As entryinto its communication networksis difficult, prevention and coun-tering of such terrorist acts is oneof the most challenging tasks con-fronting intelligence and lawenforcement agencies.

The cyber jihadis (severalgroups such as the CyberCaliphate, and three UnitedCyber Command have been iden-tified) have proved their expertiseon the dark web and have set upseveral websites for recruitmentand tutorials on weapons-mak-ing, which can be entered only oninvitation. The UCC has beenable to hack (April 2016) into thePentagon, the Department ofHomeland Security, and severalother federal agencies in the US,and has obtained data of around43 personnel and put them on aso-called Kill List, which was cir-culated through a channel on theTelegram, Al Nashir. While the IShas not acted on the Kill List sofar, the expertise of the hackers iscause for disquiet. Also, seriousattempts have been made in thepast one-and-a-half years toestablish covert secure, encrypt-ed financial networks.

The Paris (November 13,2015) and Belgium (March 22,2016) attacks underscored thedanger of encrypted messaging.In both cases, security agencieswere unable to get any advanceinformation of the terroriststrikes, despite several perpetra-tors being on their watch-lists.

In September this year, an IS-affiliated group, Cyber Kahalifah,began to advertise the use of alesser known technology, theZeroNet, as the safest mode ofcommunication. The Zero Net,which is in the public domain andcan be downloaded free of chargefrom https.zeronet.io, is a web-hosting platform which decen-tralises the hosting of content andallows for asymmetric encryptionof domain names and addresses.It offers an unprecedented degree

of anonymity. For instance, nor-mally, a website is hosted at aserver, and is allotted an IPaddress, or a series thereof. Users,identifiable by their own uniqueIP addresses, communicate andinteract with the website by spec-ifying the web address (url).Then, a DNS (Domain NameServer), directs the user to the IPaddress of the website the userwishes to access. Data can then beexchanged between the user andthe website. The ZeroNet, on theother hand, can host a single web-site in a number of locations (forexample, user computers), byleveraging Peer-to-Peer (P2P)networks, the most notable ofwhich is BitTorrent.

In P2P networks, users(called peers) communicate andshare data directly between oneanother, as opposed to commu-nicating via a central server, as isthe case with most websites. Aserver, called Tracker, connectspeers to one another and handlesrequests for transfer(s) of data.

Other differentiators are thatZeroNet ensures the fidelity of thewebsites themselves is main-tained through asymmetric two-

way encryption. Authors of awebsite receive a private key,which enables only he/she tomake changes to the website,while interested peers receivethe public key (analogous to awebsite url) which allows them toaccess the site. This has two con-sequences: First, the entire buildof the website remains on theauthor’s computer, and not on anyserver; and second, there is guar-anteed verification of the creatorof the website and any files down-loaded therefrom.

The ZeroNet also offers fullTor compatibility, which meansthat IP addresses can be masked,adding another layer of securi-ty. Moreover, ZeroNet claimsthat it can be used over non-Internet networks as well, suchas Bluetooth, which would be avaluable enabler for jihadi net-works. Finally, content can bedistributed remarkably quickly,and very likely scales with thenumber of visitors and seedersof the site.

Cyber Kahalifah has set upa website on ZeroNet, which inlate September gave calls for lonewolf attacks in various countries,

and directed visitors to an appli-cation called ‘Alrawi’, designedby the IS, which works onAndroid platforms for logisticand monetary help. The IS’sEnglish online magazine, whichhad been called Dabiq, has beensuspended and the group hasbrought out a replacement,Rumaiyah(Rome). TheRumaiyah contains explicitexhortations for violent action inthe Dar ul-Harb and unsur-prisingly has been posted on theZeroNet.

Given the above backdrop,the use of ZeroNet by the IslamicState terror organisation andother terrorist groups is of greatconcern. With the IS facing inter-national bludgeoning in Iraq andSyria, it is likely that it will loseMosul and Aleppo sooner ratherthan later — and possibly Raqqawill follow. The exodus of foreignfighters from the region is nowvery evident, and the re-migra-tion of a sizeable section to theAf-Pak region is a possibility.

The IS is attempting toestablish itself in Afghanistanthrough its franchise, theWilayat Khorasan, and has beenable to attract some Indiansthere, notably the group of 21young people from Kerala. Oneof them, Sajjer MangalachariAbdullah, from Kozhikode, hasnow been identified as a key ISrecruiter, and is reportedly func-tioning from Nangarhar inAfghanistan. Attempts to radi-calise vulnerable sections areongoing in India, and theNational Investigation Agencyhas been able to intercept scoresof such individuals.International jihadi inter-con-nectivity could result in theZeroNet gaining traction inIndia through these networks.

From an Indian securitystandpoint, this is of particularconcern: Local franchises of ter-rorist organisations with accessto even meagre Internetresources, could increase thescale of propaganda and trainingcontent, and make preventionand anticipation of terror attacksa Herculean task. Agenciesinvolved in monitoring and lawenforcement need to urgentlyfamiliarise themselves with theworking of ZeroNet, as jihadigroups have shown considerablefleet-footedness in adapting totechnological challenges. TheIndian state cannot afford to beout of sync on this issue.

(The writer is senior fellow atthe Delhi-based Institute forDefence Studies and Analyses)

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Sir — This refers to the report,“MSY calls truce but CM defiant”(October 26). In a damage limita-tion exercise, Samajwadi Partysupremo Mulayam Singh Yadav hassuccessfully prevailed upon hisparty leaders as well as membersfrom the first family to bury thehatchet and gird them up for theelection due early next year.

In fact, there can be no denialof the fact that the Samajwadi Partyowes its political heights to the oldguard while young Chief MinisterAkhilesh Yadav has successfullyshed his party’s Luddite image, andthis endeared him to the younggeneration of the electorate. Butinternecine bickering in the party,that too at a crucial moment whenthe political clock in Uttar Pradeshis ticking loud and fast, might pushits monolithic vote-bank into afloating one, and have an adversebearing on the party’s prospects inthe ensuing Assembly election.

Azhar A KhanRampur

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Sir — This refers to the article, “Inmemory of India’s little sister”(October 26) by Anirban Ganguly.

On Sister Nivedita’s sesquicen-tennial birthday this year, we mustfeel the fire that she was asdescribed by Sri Aurobindo. Onbeing asked if she was a revolution-ary, Sri Aurobindo said, “What doyou mean? She was one of the rev-olutionary leaders. She went aboutvisiting various places in India tocome in contact with the people.She was open and frank andtalked about her revolutionaryplan to everybody. When she usedto speak on revolution, it was hervery soul that spoke, her true per-sonality used to come out. Yogawas yoga of course, but it was as ifthis work was intended for her:That was fire if you like.”

Sujit DeKolkata

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Saving the green lung of capital”(October 25) by Manjula Pal.The writer has rightly said thatconstruction activities in parks,less than three to four acres ofland, must be banned, as this willreduce green area substantially.However, as someone who hasworked with the horticulturedepartment, I can confidentlysay that all MCD-maintained

parks have enough benches.On the other hand, many

senior citizens have supported theconstruction of gazebos withshades, as these huts will be acomfortable place for them tosocialise and gossip.Unfortunately, in the absence ofnight guards, these structures arebeing misused. Parks are meantfor walkers and other healthactivities, and construction activ-ities must not be allowed.

RS Sharma New Delhi

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Sir — As the feud within the rul-ing Samajwadi Party’s first familyapproached crisis point monthsbefore the Assembly election,patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, isthought to have favoured brotherShivpal Yadav over son AkhileshYadav so far. If the hara-kiri nowunderway within the party doesnot end in a compromise and cul-minates in a split, it has the poten-tial to hand the BJP the biggestadvantage it could have hoped forin the run-up the polls.

Jayatheertha SAHyderabad

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Exactly one month ago,India declared itself tobe free from avian

inf luenza H5N1 virus.However, the death of ninewater birds in Delhi over thepast one week has confirmedthe worst fears of the return ofbird flu. For a city that is stillreeling under the combinedattack of dengue and chikun-gunya, the virus couldn’t havecome at a worse time. Therecurrence of the virus showsthat it is firmly entrenched inour ecosystem and can resur-face anytime.

Avian influenza, especial-ly the H5N1 strain, has thepotential to cause a healthcarecrisis of unprecedented dimen-sions in India. A larger anddenser population, coupledwith modern transportationsystems of both goods andpeople, helps the virus travelfaster, thereby increasing casu-alties. The consequences of

such a pandemic would stretchbeyond just public health andcan adversely impact com-merce, politics, travel, medi-cine, and economic and socialinfrastructures as well.

According to the UnitedStates Agency for InternationalDevelopment, Federation forEnvironmental Security andSustainability, due to the knownassociation of the virus withboth migratory and domesticbird populations, it is highlylikely for the environmental fac-tors to play a significant role inthe spread of the disease.

Effects on habitats throughurbanisation and deforestationare causing the birds to adoptalternate migratory routes,resulting in increased contactbetween wild and domesticbirds, therefore, enabling thevirus to spread faster. Add tothis, rapid rise in urbanisationprovides a favourable breedingground for the virus, as it is able

to spread through respiratorydroplets throughout the dense-ly populated urban areas.

In the next 25 years, Asiais expected to have the high-est rate of urbanisation in theworld. According to the UrbanLand Institute, the urban pop-ulation of Asia is expected toreach 4.9 billion people in2030. The pace and rate ofurbanisation in India too isnow becoming a matter ofconcern with nearly 30 percent of the population residingin urban India. This is result-ing in the urgent need forexpanded housing and farm-land that in turn is causinghigh rates of deforestation.

The destruction of naturalhabitats such as forests and wet-lands, thanks to burgeoningpopulation and rapid urbanisa-tion, is diverting the bird flocksto look for other places to restand refuel. Farms and cities areoften the alternative, as they can

provide shelter and food. The utilisation of farms as

stopover points for migratorybirds increases the contactbetween wild and domesticbirds, allowing more opportu-nity for the disease to infectpoultry and other domesticbird populations. The infectedpoultry eventually finds its wayto the human inhabitation.

Rising temperatures toohave been a major cause for theincreasing frequency of bird flu.According to studies, climatechange has been found to be asignificant risk factor for theoccurrence of H5N1 outbreaksin the domestic poultry. Infact, the World HealthOrganisation too has warned ofan increase in climate sensitivecontagious diseases such asmalaria, dengue and bird fludue to rising temperatures.

The Government mustrecognise the role played by cli-mate change in spreading the

disease and adopt suitable cli-mate change mitigation mea-sures as a part of the largerstrategy to effectively counterthe bird flu outbreak.

The avian influenza is aserious disease that can quick-ly spiral out of control andassume dangerous scale unlessit is checked on time. The han-dling of the recent bouts ofdengue and chikungunya by theGovernment, especially inDelhi, leaves a lot to be desired.

In order to effectivelycounter these diseases, it isessential to follow a stringentstandard operation procedure(SOP) that confirms to interna-tional practices and bench-marks. As a part of the SOP, theconcerned health departmentsmust focus on determining thefactors causing the H5N1spread and estimating risk prob-abilities of further outbreaks.

The Government mustalso commission research and

development projects that canstudy the root cause factors thattrigger bird flu. These measurescan help in improving surveil-lance, establish better controlmeasures, and allow improveddisease prevention planningto ultimately reduce losses.

In addition, adequateantiviral medication therapystockpiles need to be main-tained and vaccine productionneed to be increased. TheGovernment must also launchbird surveillance programmesand implement poultry importbans so that effective controlon disease is established.

These measures can enableIndia to move in the rightdirection and develop aware-ness among people regardingthe virus, which in turn willhelp in the prevention andmitigation of a potentially cat-astrophic pandemic.

(The writer is an environ-mental journalist)

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There is a paradox here,though I cannot quite getmy head around it fully.Suddenly, a host of politi-cians, journalists and ana-

lysts seem to have suddenly trans-formed themselves into a unique mixof professional surgeon and baseballplayer. All they seem to be talkingabout are the surgical strikes conduct-ed by our Special Operations Forces(SOF) in the recent past.

If for a moment, we are to believeall that is being said by them, youcould be excused for thinking thatthese strikes were akin to keyholesurgery with robotics, LCD screensand all.

The truth of the matter is that therewere never any surgical strikes con-ducted at all, at least none in the man-ner they have been portrayed. True, ourforces certainly infiltrated intoPakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).We are not quite sure how deep theypenetrated, but certainly more than the200 metres that Pakistani authorAyesha Siddiqa suggests in The Wire.

You don’t actually have to be agenius to figure out that it is easier toengage targets 200m in depth fromour own side of the Line of Control(LoC) without committing SOF on theground. They then raided positionsoccupied by jihadi elements and thoseof the Pakistan Army protecting themcausing unspecified damage.

The special operatives involvedwere not sterilised surgical instru-ments but human beings, undoubted-ly well trained and motivated, but notimmune to fear and stress that oper-ating in life-threatening environ-

ments entail. They were lucky thistime to return to safety of our lineswith no casualties except for an oddindividual suffering unspecifiedinjuries due to a mine blast.

But, what are we to believe aboutthese tough youngsters 10 years fromnow if any of them then suffer anxi-ety attacks, flashbacks or insomniaand find it difficult to relate withfriends or family? Not just these boysbut others exposed to danger on a reg-ular basis at Siachin, in insurgencyoperations and a myriad other placesand tasks that only a few have everheard of, let alone seen.

Neither our Government nor ourmedical authorities seems to haveheard about Post Traumatic StressDisorder (PTSD) and would have isbelieve it is the figment of someone’simagination. Never mind that the restof the world seems quite conversantwith this syndrome and considers itas debilitating as any physical injuryand treats it as such.

The US military, for example,believes that between 12 per cent and15 per cent of those who have partic-ipated in combat are impacted by it inany year and has a centre for assist-ing veterans in combating thisscourge. As a matter of fact those inthe medical profession or Governmenthere are neither ignoramuses norlacking professional acumen.Unfortunately, they lack empathy andare utterly callous, simply because theyhave never been exposed to it in theirair conditioned environs.

Is it any wonder then that mem-bers of the Seventh Central PayCommission, the Government and

even some ignorant quacks, includinga former Director General of theArmed Forces Medical Services,believe that there is a necessity to cur-tail the allowance authorised to mil-itary veterans who retire with disabil-ities. The shamelessness of this is notin the fact that the allowance is beingcurtailed, but that he would receivejust about a quarter of what a bureau-crat would receive, if say, he slippedand fell in the bathroom and fracturedhis hip or whatever. Danger it appears,comes in many forms and those clos-er to Delhi seem more exposed to itor why else are they eligible to getmore money?

Prime Minister Narendra Modiand his Defence Minister ManoharParrikar have lately been attemptingto change perceptions about theirshoddy treatment of the military andset the record straight about the issueof disability pension, other outstand-ing sixth and seventh Central PayCommission anomalies and evenone-rank-one-pension.

But like most, if not all, politicians,they have been less than truthful in allthat they have claimed. Their motiva-tions are not difficult to understand,given the forthcoming State elec-tions, and being human their attemptsto mislead may not be forgiven, butcan be overlooked.

While surgical strikes may be anelection winner for Modi and the BJPand attempt to forcibly claim it as theirown, the future for the special oper-atives who actually made it happenand the rest of the military gets onlybleaker. The vast majority of them willcontinue to be forced to retire between

the ages of 35 and 40 years with littleprospect of a decent second career andlower pensions than their compatri-ots who joined the police or theCentral Armed Police Forces.

As for those who retire withhealth issues, they may all not be luckyenough to receive disability pensions,especially those suffering psycholog-ical injury and will have to live withthe reality that their sacrifices was notgood enough as that of their civiliancounterparts.

Only dead soldiers get treated bet-ter, but that too not in all our States,as the kin of those from West Bengalwill sorrowfully tell you, if you care toask them. An individual who dies afterconsuming illegal hooch there gets thesame compensation that was offeredto a martyr of the Uri terror attack.Clearly, a sad reflection of the dark-er side of vote-bank politics and theChief Minister’s untrammelled hungerfor power at any cost.

Amongst all the gung-ho patrio-tism, it is time you asked yourself as towhy, among all Government services,it is only the military that needs toadvertise for volunteers on televisionand radio, and is yet unable to over-come the 25 per cent shortfall in offi-cers. That tells us a whole lot moreabout the attractiveness of the militaryas a career, than any of the speeches thatModi can give extolling their braveryand sacrifice. Until the Governmentdoes something concrete to change thisstate of affairs, his speeches about themare really all hot air.

(The writer is a military veteranand consultant with the ObserverResearch Foundation)

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Despite the continuing pricewar by mobile operators inthe country, India will see a

significant growth of 12-foldincrease on mobile data traffic in thenext three years. Though China willremain at par with India, the UnitedStates will see its data growth up byonly 6-fold by 2020, according to atop official of a global industry bodyGSMA.

“As per Cisco survey, India’’smobile data traffic will see a signif-icant rise of 12-fold from 2015 to2020 with a compound annualgrowth rate (CAGR) of 63 per cent,while China will realise the same 12-

fold increase by 2020 at 64 per centof CAGR,” GSMA Asia HeadAlasdair Grant told The Pioneer, ata sideline of an event while unveil-ing its new ‘’GSMA Intelligence’’report here on Wednesday.

Comparing with the US market,Grant further said, “In the US,mobile data traffic will grow 6-foldfrom 2015 to 2020, a compoundannual growth rate of only 42 percent. In India, he said mobile datatraffic will reach 1.7 Exabytes permonth in 2020, up from 149Petabytes per month in 2015, whileChina will reach 4.6 Exabytes permonth in 2020, up from 385Petabytes per month in 2015. “Forthe United States, the traffic willreach 2.9 Exabytes per month in

2020, up from 504 Petabytes permonth in 2015,” he added.

As far as mobile smartphonemarket is concerned, India sur-passed the US and remained world’’ssecond largest smartphone markettill 2016, though China claimed tobe on the top of the chart. As persurvey done by the GSMAIntelligence study in world’’s top fivesmartphone markets - India, China,US, Indonesia and Brazil - in lastfive years, the report found thatIndia’’s smartphone grew to 275 mil-lion in 2016 from 46 million in 2012.“China remained at the top slot with910 million connections in 2016from 231 million in 2012 and the USslipped to third position in 2016with 259 million connections in

2016 from 165 million in 2012,” thereport said.

As per the GSMA report, Indiais expected to have nearly 1-billion‘’unique’’ mobile subscribers by2020 up from 616 million such usersin June 2016, projecting a spike inadoption of 4G services in thecountry in which the number of 4Gconnections would grow to 280 mil-

lion by 2020 from just three millionat the end of 2015.

Unique subscriber refers, thereport said, to one individual whohas subscribed to mobile service andthat person may have multiplemobile connections. “India isexpected to see a significant uptakein mobile subscriptions, broadbandand connectivity by 2020, marking

a period of rapid development of thecountry’’s mobile economy,” it said.

The GSMA report forecastsimproving affordability, fallingdevice prices, operator investmentsin network coverage and quality willhelp deliver an additional 330 mil-lion unique subscribers in India by2020. This will lift the country’’spenetration rate to 68 per cent ofthe population by 2020, up from 47per cent in 2015.

The report, however, said thatthe number of 3G and 4G mobilebroadband connections is project-ed to cross 670 million by 2020, or48 per cent of the total connectionbase. “In addition, the industry isset to invest heavily, with operatorcapex growing to $34 billion (�2.3

lakh crore) for the period 2016 to2020.

The Indian mobile industry’’scontribution to GDP is expected togrow to �14 lakh crore ($210 bil-lion) by 2020, from �9 lakh crore($140 billion) in 2015. The figureaccounts for both the direct eco-nomic activity generated by mobileoperators and the ecosystem ofmobile industries in India.

“With this report, all signspoint to a period of tremendousgrowth for India’’s mobile economy,which will strongly support andenable the Government’’s ‘’DigitalIndia’’ initiative aimed at providingbroadband connectivity to all,”said Mats Granryd, DirectorGeneral, GSMA.

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The GST Council comprisingof the Finance Ministers’’ of

the Union and the StateGovernments has had threedetailed meetings spread overseveral days. Two more meet-ings are proposed postDeepawali. The meetings havewitnessed an intense debate onseveral issues, which has been anexcellent example of ‘’deliberativedemocracy’’. Opposing view-points have ended up in con-vergence and so far all issues havebeen decided by a consensus.Some critical issues are pendingbefore the GST Council for afinal decision. Comments havebeen made in the public spacewith regard to two of theseissues. Even though the finaldecision with regard to these twoissues is yet to be taken by theGST Council, the rationalebehind the proposals placedbefore the Council needs to beexplained.

(1 The Multi Rate Structure

It has been proposed to theCouncil that there should be afour slab multi-rate tax structure.Items constituting nearly 50 percent of the weightage in theConsumer Price Index basket(mainly food items), are pro-posed to be exempted from thelevy of the GST. There will be azero tax on such items. Theobject of this is to ensure that theGST structure is not regressiveor burdensome on the commonman.

Of the balance items, a taxrate of 6 per cent, 12 per cent, 18

per cent and 26 per cent has beensuggested. The principal ratio-nale behind this tax structure isthat items which are presentlytaxed at rates closer to the rangeof each of the slabs will be fittedinto the particular rate of the slab.Those presently taxed below 3per cent as the total tax of theCentre and the States will betaxed at a zero rate. Thosebetween 3-9 per cent will betaxed at a 6 per cent rate, thosebetween 9-15 per cent will betaxed at 12 per cent and therewould be a standard rate of 18per cent. Some have suggestedthat multiple tax rate is disad-vantageous to the GST andwould neutralise some of theadvantages of a uniform taxstructure. The reality is that amultiple tax rate in India isinevitable for several reasons.

Different items used by dif-ferent segments of society haveto be taxed differently.Otherwise the GST would beregressive. Air conditioners andhawai chappals cannot be taxedat the same rate. Total tax even-tually collected has to be revenueneutral. The Governmentshould not lose money necessaryfor expenditure nor make awindfall gain. The tax on someproducts in a narrow slab regimewill substantially increase. Thiswould be highly inflationary. Acommodity being taxed by theCentre and the State at 11 percent at present will be taxed at 12per cent. If it’’s taxation is sud-denly raised on standard rate of18 per cent, it would disrupt themarket and would be highlyinflationary.

There are presently several

items mainly used by the moreaffluent which are currentlytaxed at a VAT of 14.5 per centand an excise of 12.5 per cent. Ifthe cascading effect of thesetaxes and octroi is added, thenrange of taxation of these prod-ucts is between 27-31 per cent.It has been proposed to theCouncil to fix the rate of theseitems at 26 per cent. Some of theitems which are now being usedby the lower middle classes willeventually be proposed to beshifted to the 18 per cent brack-et. With regard to demerit andluxury goods which are taxedglobally at a higher rate, norebates are contemplated. Eachgood would be taxed on the basisof its own demerit.

The gains of GST wouldnecessarily involve that therewould be a seamless transfer ofgoods and services across thecountry. The biggest advantageof GST actually lies in the GSTdesign itself which provides forseamless transfer of input taxcredit across the value chain.Most commodities would betaxed at lower than present lev-els. On some cases because ofthe tax rate going down and cas-cading of tax on tax going away,higher compliance levels whichwould reduce the level of non-compliance. The net gains of amore efficient tax would be feltover a longer period of time oncethe implementation glitches areall resolved. Hopefully with

higher compliances and morerevenue after the initial period,the GST Council would contin-ue to have a look at the expen-diture requirement and the taxlikely to be collected and ratio-nalise the tax rates and thestructures in future.

It may be noted that somedeveloped countries which donot have any section of the pop-ulation below the poverty levelsand where economic standardsare high, have fewer tax slabs butmany of them have 3-4 slabs. Iam annexing to this blog an illus-trative list of some of the coun-tries which fall in this category.

(2) Compensation PayableThrough Cess

The GST will result in theconsuming States increasingtheir revenues from the very firstyear onwards. The GST Councilhas fixed a 14 per cent revenuegrowth as a uniform, seculargrowth rate for all States. Therevenue loss, if any, of a State hasto be calculated on this basis.Some producing States may losemarginally in the initial years.The Constitutional amendmentguarantees a five year compen-sation to these States. The mootquestion is as to how is this to befunded by the CentralGovernment? If the CentralGovernment has to borrowmoney to fund the compensa-tion, it would add to its liabilityand increasing the cost of bor-rowing by the Centre, the StateGovernments and the privatesector. There is no rationale forincreasing direct tax for this pur-pose. Theoretically it has been

argued that the compensation befunded out of an additional taxin the GST rather than by cess.Assuming that the compensationis �50,000 crores for the first year,the total tax impact of fundingthe compensation through a taxwould be abnormally high. Arupees 1.72 lakh crore of taxwould have to be imposed for theCentral Government to get�50,000 crores in order to fundthe compensation. 50 per centof the tax collected would go tothe States as their GST share andof the balance 50 per cent in thehands of the CentralGovernment and 42 per centmore would go to the States asdevolution. So out of every 100rupees collected in GST only 29per cent remains with the Centre.The tax impact of this levywould be exorbitantly high andalmost unbearable. The alterna-tive proposal is to have a cessaccount and continue same exist-ing levies as cess for a period offive years before subsuming themas tax. This would include cleanenergy cess and cesses on luxu-ry items and tobacco products,which in any case, presently alsopay levy higher than 26 percent. This would ensure no addi-tional burden on the tax payerand yet be able to compensate thelosing States. It may further benoticed that benefitting States arenot compensating the losingstates. The Centre, as a non-ben-eficiary, has to compensate andthe proposal for continuing exist-ing cesses for five years to theextent of compensation requiredis the more benign way of com-pensating the losing States with-out burdening the tax payer.

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��#� ��.� 4� Axis Bank sharesslumped 8 per cent on Wednesdayay, eroding �10,133 crore from itsmarket valuation, after the com-pany reported an 83 per centplunge in its September quarter netprofit.

The stock tanked 8.04 per centto close at �486.50 on BSE. Duringthe day, it plunged 8.42 per cent to�484.50.

At NSE, shares of the com-pany plummeted 7.85 per cent toend at �487.55.

Following the sharp decline inthe stock, the company’’s marketvaluation tumbled by �10,132.93crore to �1,16,297.07 crore.

On the volumes front, 26.99

lakh shares of the company weretraded on BSE and over 3 croreshares changed hands at NSE dur-ing the day.

The stock was the worst per-former among the blue-chips onboth Sensex and Nifty.

“If recent gains in banks rodeon hopes that we were at the endof the NPA cycle, Axis numbershave forced a rethink on thesame. “Unsurprisingly, banks ledthe fall today, and with more banksabout to announce Q2 figures,investors are waiting to see if Axisnumbers can be dismissed as a oneoff case,” said Anand James, ChiefMarket Strategist, Geojit BNPParibas Financial Services Ltd.��

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���� 4� Tata Motors hasbeen unable to shut downthe loss making small carNano due to “emotional rea-sons” and doing so wouldalso stop the supply of “glid-ers” to an entity that makeselectric cars in which RatanTata has a stake, Tata Sons’’ousted Chairman CyrusMistry has alleged.

In clear indications thatnot all was well between himand Tata, Mistry in his let-ter to Tata Sons board mem-bers said for the group’’sautomotive venture TataMotors to make a turnaround the company need-ed to shut down the Nano -- a pet project of his prede-cessor.

“ T he Nano pro du c tdevelopment required con-cept called for a car below�1 lakh but the cost werealways above this . Thisproduct has consistently lostmoney, peaking at �1,000crore,” Mistry said in his let-ter written a day after hewas ousted as the Chairmanof India’’s largest conglom-erate.

He further said: “Asthere is no line of prof-itability for the Nano, any

turnaround strategy for thecompany (Tata Motors)requires to shut it down.Emotional reasons alonehave kept us away from thiscrucial decision.”

Moreover, raising issuesof conflict of interest, Mistrysaid: “Another challenge inshutting down Nano is thatit would stop the supply ofthe Nano gliders to an enti-ty that makes electric carsand in which Mr Tata has astake.”

Tata’’s dream projectNano came alive in January2008 when it was launchedat a ‘’promised’’ price tag of

�1 lakh, which was thenthe cheapest car in theworld.

However, the car facedsetbacks one after another.Tata Motors had to shiftthe manufacturing plant ofthe car from its original siteat Singur in West Bengaldue to farmers’’ oppositionled by Trinamool Congressto Sanand in Gujarat.

Although the companyhad managed to roll out thecar from its new location,initial instances of the carcatching fire raised manysafety issues. It could neverlive up to its potential, with

Tata even admitting thatTata Motors had made amistake of marketing Nanoas the cheapest car.

He had insisted that that“Nano should have beenmarketed towards the ownerof a two-wheeler because itwas conceived giving thepeople who rode on two-wheels with the whole fam-ily an all-weather safe formof affordable transportation,not the cheapest”.

Highlighting problemsfaced by Tata Motors, Mistrysaid in his letter that an evenmore challenging situationarose for the company onthe commercial and vehiclesfront.

“Before 2013, in order toshore up sales and marketshare, Tata Motors Financeextended credit with laxrisk assessment. As a resultthe NPAs mounted to beingin excess of �4,000 crore,” hesaid.

Besides, historically, thecompany had employedaggressive accounting tocapitalise substantial pro-por t ion of the productdevelopment expenses cre-ating a future liability, headded. ��

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India has notif ied therevised double tax avoid-

ance agreement with SouthKorea under which capitalgains tax will be levied at thesource with effect from April1, 2017. The existing DoubleTaxation AvoidanceConvention, which has beenin vogue for three decades,provides for residence-basedtaxation of capital gains onshares, which means taxeswere to be paid where theinvestor was a resident.

“The revised DTAA aimsto avoid the burden of doubletaxation for taxpayers of twocountries in order to promoteand stimulate flow of invest-ment, technology and ser-vices between India andKorea,” a CBDT statementsaid. It will provide tax cer-tainty to the residents of Indiaand Korea, it added.

In order to promote cross-border flow of investmentsand technology, the revisedDTAA provides for reductionin withholding tax rates to 10per cent on royalties or fees fortechnical services from 15 percent and to 10 per cent oninterest income from 15 percent. “The existing DTAAprovided for residence-based

taxation of capital gains onshares. In line with India’spolicy of taxation of capitalgains on shares, the revisedDTAA provides for source-based taxation of capital gainsarising from alienation ofshares comprising more than5 per cent of share capital,”CBDT said.

The treaty also allowsinvestors to invoke MutualAgreement Procedure (MAP)in transfer pricing disputes aswell as apply for bilateralAdvance Pricing Agreements(APAs). It provides forexchange of information,including by financial institu-tions. “Information exchangedunder the revised DTAA cannow be used for other lawenforcement purposes withauthorisation of informationsupplying country.”

The revised DTAA wassigned on May 18, 2015, dur-ing the visit of Prime Minister

Narendra Modi to Seoul andwas notified on September 12,2016, on completion of pro-cedural requirements by boththe countries. “Provisions ofnew DTAA will have effect inIndia in respect of incomederived in fiscal years begin-ning on or after April 1, 2017,”the statement added.

To facilitate movement ofgoods through shipping betweentwo countries and in accor-dance with international prin-ciple of taxation of shippingincome, the revised DTAA pro-vides for exclusive residence-based taxation of shippingincome from international traf-fic. The reworked DTAA insertsnew Article for assistance in col-lection of taxes between taxauthorities. It also inserts newLimitation of Benefits Article i.E.anti-abuse provisions to ensurethe benefits of the agreement areavailed only by the genuine res-idents of both the countries.

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NEW DELHI: Expressing dis-appointment at India’s rankremaining low in terms of easeof doing business, UnionMinister Nirmala Sitharamanon Wednesday said the effortsand reforms undertaken by theCentre and States have not beenadequately captured in the rank-ing released by the World Bank.

“I am a bit disappointed. Notonly the Government of India,but every state is so activelyengaged and wants to ease the sit-uation. But for whatever reason,it has not been adequately cap-tured in the ranking,” Commerceand Industry Minister NirmalaSitharaman told reporters here.

“Collectively, Team Indiahas been doing quite a lot ofwork.” At the same time, the min-ister said she is not criticising thereport and now they will workwith renewed focus and speed toimprove India's ranking. “It (therankings) gives me the messagethat we have to be even more

focused now and even speedierin doing ahead what we aredoing,” she said. In the WorldBank’s latest 'Doing Business'

2017 report, India's placeremained unchanged from lastyear’s original ranking of 130among the 190 economies that

were assessed on various para-meters. But the last year’s rank-ing has been revised to 131 fromwhich the country has improvedits place by one spot. Sitharamansaid the ministry will engagemore with states and businessesin communicating the reformsmeasures. She also said certainreforms like setting up of com-mercial courts may not have goneinto the systems of the WorldBank as it has happened on dif-ferent dates and states.

“Some of the steps do taketime. So the trickle-down effectof certain reforms have takentheir due time because India is alarge country,” she reasoned.“While I am not really discour-aged, it is disappointing. This isat a time when you want every-thing to reflect the various mea-sures that the Centre and statesare taking should impact theranking system,” she added.

On the target fixed by thePrime Minister to get within the

50th spot, she maintained thatthis goal is intact. About steps tobe taken in future to improve theranking, the minister said thegovernment has taken the rightroute in reforming and makingease of doing business a veryimportant agenda for the Centreand states.

“Now, it is important for usto interact with states evenmore to quickly identify manysuch things which are impor-tant so that its impact is visibleat the ground level,” Sitharamansaid. Unless the beneficiaries orthe user industry get the ben-efit of all the reforms, ‘there isno advantage’ of taking steps. “Iwill talk to all the states to seehow best actual beneficiaries getthe benefit,” she said. She saidfurther that certain reformsare not properly communicat-ed to the businesses and thereis my communication incapa-bility that I should improve onmy communication.” PTI

NEW DELHI: Trade Ministersof 16 countries, including India,China and Japan, will meetearly next month to review theprogress in RegionalC o m p r e h e n s i v eEconomic Partnership(RCEP) and resolve issuesholding back the talks.

“There is going to be aministerial meeting earlyNovember in thePhilippines,” Commerce andIndustry Minister NirmalaSitharaman told reporters here.

She said that in the lastround of talks in China, all thecountries discussed in detailgoods, services and investmentchapters. “In RCEP, we havegone into greater details, we are

looking at offers made by othercountries,” she added. There areseveral issues, including theproposed single-tier system oftariff relaxation and matters

pertaining to servicessector, which need inter-vention at the minister-ial level. RCEP is a megatrade deal which aims tocover goods, services,investments, economic

and technical cooperation,competition and intellectualproperty rights.

The talks for the pact start-ed in Phnom Penh in November2012. The 16 countries accountfor over a quarter of the world’seconomy, estimated to be morethan $75 trillion. PTI

NEW DELHI:India’s global rank-ing in terms of protection ofminority investors has slippedthree notches to 13th, but remainsmuch higher than the country’soverall 130th rank for ease of doingbusiness. The sub-ranking forprotection of minority investors istopped jointly by New Zealandand Singapore.

Others that ranked higherthan India are Hong Kong,Malaysia, Kazakhstan, the UK,Georgia, Canada, Norway, theUAE, Slovenia and Israel. In theWorld Bank’s latest ‘DoingBusiness’ report, India’s placeremained unchanged from lastyear’s original ranking of 130among the 190 economies thatwere assessed on various para-meters. However, the last year'sranking has been now revised to

131 from which the country hasimproved its place by one spot. Thelist of countries in the DoingBusiness 2017 is topped by Kiwiswhile Singapore is ranked 2nd.

The report said protection ofminority investors indicator mea-sures the protection of sharehold-ers against directors’ misuse of cor-porate assets for personal gain andthe rights and role of shareholdersin corporate governance. As per thethe report, India carried out anambitious, multi-year overhaul ofits Companies Act, bringing Indianfirms in line with global standards,particularly in respect of account-ability and corporate governancepractices while ensuring business-es contribute more to shared pros-perity through a quantified and leg-islated corporate socialresponsi-bility requirement. PTI

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NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank may be going all-out to bring down inflation to 4 per cent, but it prob-ably ‘cannot do so sustainably’ as health and edu-cation prices will keep the consumer price index(CPI) above the targetted level, says a report.According to HSBC, even if food inflation settlesat a lowly 4 per cent, it will not be enough to takeheadline inflation all the way down to 4 per cent.“Something more is needed”, it said.

“Supply side bottlenecks in health and educa-tion may not allow inflation to fall to 4 per cent,”HSBC said in a research note adding that theGovernment will have to drive meaningful reformsin these sectors. On RBI’s policy stance, the reportis clear that “if only RBI is convinced that inflation

continues to fall gradually, it will find space to cutrates.” Three Government decisions over the nextfew weeks the GST rate, 7thh Pay Commissionhousing allowance and the fiscal trajectory progresson food reforms and the pace of recovery will deter-mine if ‘the direction is comforting’, the report said.

For now, HSBC expects RBI to deliver a 25-bps rate cut at its December meeting on the backof growing comfort that 5 per cent by March, theintermediate inflation target, is likely to be met.The MPC) which has three members nominatedby the Government and the rest from RBI, low-ered repo rate to 6.25 per cent from 6.50 per centat the end of two-day deliberations on October 4.Its next meeting is due on December 6-7. PTI

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Citing Reliance Jio’s roll-out of4G coverage in India, Apple

CEO Tim Cook has said hiscompany ‘couldn’t be more excit-ed’ about the enormous invest-ments being made in high-speed telecom networks, even ashe conceded that Apple smart-phone has ‘not done as well’ inthe country. “Looking ahead,we’re seeing some very excitingdevelopments in India. RelianceJio is rolling out a first of its kindall-IP network in India with 4Gcoverage in 18,000 cities and200,000 villages across the coun-try,” Cook said in the company’sfourth quarter earnings call onTuesday.

Cook said Apple is partner-ing with Reliance Jio, which isoffering a free year of service topurchasers of new iPhones, toensure ‘great iPhone perfor-mance’ on their network.

“Our iPhone sales in Indiawere up over 50 per cent in fis-cal 2016 compared to the prior

year, and we believe we’re justbeginning to scratch the surfaceof this large and growing marketopportunity,” Cook said. He,however, noted that Apple'ssmartphone has ‘not done aswell’ in India in general and oneof the key reasons for that is the‘(high-speed telecom networks)infrastructure hasn't been there’.

“But this year or this yearand next year, there are enor-mous investments going in on4G and we couldn't be moreexcited about that because it real-

ly takes a great network workingwith iPhone to produce thatgreat experience for people,”Cook said.

“And so I see a lot of the fac-tors moving in the right directionthere,” Cook said. The Apple chiefalso sounded an optimistic note onthe efforts being made by theNarendra Modi-led Governmentto create jobs and develop infra-structure. “I also think theGovernment is much morefocused on the infrastructure andon creating jobs, which is fantas-

tic, because you really need thekind of infrastructure and the tech-nology to do that,” he said.

When asked whether Indiacould in future be as big of anopportunity as China for Apple,Cook said it is important tolook not only at per capitaincome in India but also thenumber of people that are orwill move into the middle classover the next decade. He alsoemphasized that India’s ‘very,very young population’ holdstremendous advantages.

“Will it be as big as China? Ithink it's clear that the populationof India will exceed China some-time in probably the next decadeor so, maybe less than that. I thinkit will take longer for the GDP torival it, but that's not critical forus to have a great success there,”he said. Cook said what is impor-tant for Apple in India is that thereare going to be a lot of people inthe middle class who will ‘reallywant a smartphone, and I thinkwe can compete well for somepercentage of those’.

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MUMBAI: India has emergedas the third largest start-upbase and such ventures arepoised to grow 2.2 times toreach 10,500 by 2020 despite aperception that the ecosystem inthe country has slowed down inthe last year, says a report.

India is in the third positionjust behind US and UK, and near-ly 1,400 new start-ups are expect-ed by end of 2016, up by 8-10 percent from last year, revealed the“Indian Startup EcosystemMaturing - 2016” report byNasscom-ZINNOV. The reportalso finds that Bengaluru, NCR,and Mumbai continue to lead asthe major start-up hubs in thecountry. In terms of verticalgrowth, investors are looking atdomains like health-tech, fin-tech, and edu-tech. With a totalfunding of approximately $4 bil-

lion, close to 650 start-ups werefunded signifying a healthygrowth of the ecosystem, thereport said. “The start-up land-scape in the country is becomingthe epitome of innovation, withcompanies bringing out solu-tions that are aimed at solvinglocally relevant issues.

Nasscom believes that thecontribution by start-ups havebeen growing at a rapid rate andthe landscape has a huge potentialin terms of business stability, rev-enue growth and further innova-tion,” said Nasscom chief CPGurnani. As per the report, thenumber of tech start-ups in India isexpected to grow by 10-12 per centto over 4,750 by the end of 2016.With this impetus, India will becomehome to over 10,500 start-ups by2020, employing over 2,10,000 peo-ple, reveals the report. PTI

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Having already bought �1,400crore of mortgage portfolio

in the first half of this financialyear, Federal Bank onWednesday said it will continuewith such purchases and is clos-ing in on another transaction.The bank purchased a �100-crore portfolio from a non-banking lender in the June quar-ter and followed it up withanother �1,300-crore deal in thefollowing quarter.

“We are working on anoth-er such transaction and theamount is meaningfully high, ifnot as big as the previous one,”managing director and chief

executive Shyam Srinivasan toldreporters here. He explained thatapart from giving a spread onthe margin, such purchases ofportfolios help the lender inbuilding newer customer rela-tionships. He also said that thedearth of capital in many lend-ing entities and the bank’s com-paratively stronger buffers areresulting in such deals.

The bank bought the �1,300-crore portfolio from atriple A-rated NBFC, whichwill minimise the risk ofdefaults. It posted a retail loangrowth of 21.7 per cent for thereporting quarter, which wouldshoot up to 27 per cent if theportfolio buy is also included.

NEW DELHI/STOCKHOLM:Swedish telecom gear makerEricsson on Wednesday said thatits board of directors has appoint-ed Borje Ekholm as President andCEO, effective January 16, 2017.Ekholm joins Ericsson from hiscurrent position as CEO ofPatricia Industries, a divisionwithin Investor. His appointmentcomes almost 3 months after thefirm ousted global CEO HansVestberg, “I’m very pleased toannounce the appointment ofBorje Ekholm. Having served onEricsson’s Board of Directors forthe past 10 years, he has fullunderstanding of the challengesand the scopes Ericsson current-ly faces,” Ericsson Chief said. PTI

1��� ����� ����- � �1�� ����(�'�����������14 LAS VEGAS: Technology giant IBM is placing big

bets on the Indian market for its cognitive artifi-cial intelligence platform Watson, driven by factorslike a rich talent pool and fast pace of growth inuptake of technology products and solutions.Watson, which shot to fame after winningtelevision game show Jeopardy in 2011,is now being used across sectors, includ-ing assisting in treatment of cancer. IBMWatson GM David Kenny said India isan important market for the company forWatson deployment.

“The biggest developer conference that hap-pened (for the company) this year was in Bengaluru(rpt) Bengaluru. We see a lot of innovation com-ing out of India. The whole region is growingbecause the technology is growing at a faster rate,there isn't much legacy that needs to be adopted,so people are immediately deciding cognitive sys-tems,” he added. He further said: “There is justamazing talent that we see, so I am very excitedabout it (India).” In India, IBM will work with enti-

ties like Manipal Hospitals. It uses the Watson plat-form for oncology to help its physicians identify per-sonalised, evidence-based cancer care options. IBM,which is hosting the second edition of its World ofWatson event here, showcased a number of prod-ucts that its partners have created using Watson.

These include Ollie a self-driving 3D print-ed mini bus that talks to people and a 'cogni-tive dress'. The US-based firm said it is work-ing with companies like Pearson, Udacity,

Adobe, GSK and Staples for embeddingWatson across their products and services.

Under its partnership with Pearson announcedtoday, IBM will make Watson's cognitive capabil-ities available to college students and professors.While this will allow students getting a more immer-sive learning experience with their college cours-es, instructors will get insights about how well stu-dents are learning. Watson will be able to answerstudents’ queries as well as assess their responsesto guide them with hints, feedback, explanationsand help identify common problems. PTI

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Washington: Republican pres-idential nominee DonaldTrump has said he would“investigate the investigation”into the email scandal of hisDemocratic rival HillaryClinton when she was the sec-retary of state.

President Barack Obamahad claimed to have no knowl-edge whatsoever of Clinton’sillegal email server that jeop-ardised national security,Trump, 70, said.

“A Clinton spokesman JoshSchwerin sent an email saying —‘looks like the President just saidhe found out Hillary Clinton wasusing her personal email whenhe saw it in the news’, to whichCheryl Mills, Clinton’s chief ofstaff at the State Departmentreplied that —’We need to cleanthis up, he has emails from her,they do not say StateGovernment’,” he said at an elec-tion rally yesterday.

Trump said that in otherwords, Mills was saying Obama

had to know Hillary, 69, wasusing an illegal server butclaimed otherwise in public.

“We have to investigate theinvestigation. Hillary bleachedand deleted 33,000 emails, lied toCongress under oath, made 13phones disappear — some witha hammer — and then told theFBI she could not remember 39times,” Trump said.

“We have also just learnedthat one of the closest people toHillary Clinton, with long-standing ties to her and her hus-band, gave more than USD675,000 to the campaign of thespouse of a top FBI official whohelped oversee the investigationinto Clinton’s illegal email serv-er.

“This is disgraceful andshameful and should never hap-pen in America. It is corruptionof the highest order. The crimi-nal conduct of Hillary threatensthe Foundations of ourDemocracy. We are going to turnit all around,” he said. PTI

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Donald Trump’s electioncampaign has spent more

on hats than on polling,shelling out a whopping $3.2million on his signature ‘MakeAmerica Great Again’ headgear.

According to the FederalElection Commission filings,Trump’s presidential campaignhas spent $1.8 million onpolling from June 2015 throughto September this year.

The report lists $3.2 mil-lion spent on hats, TheWashington Post reported.

Overall, Trump’s spentabout $15.3 million on collat-eral — shirts, hats, signs, etc.—more than he has spent on fieldconsulting and voter lists anddata. He has spent at leasttwice as much on collateral ashe has on payroll.

In one apparent concessionto the traditions of running apolitical campaign, Trump hasspent more on ads. The major-ity of his recent spending wason ads.

Nothing encapsulatesTrump’s primary and generalelection campaigns more neat-ly than his spending on collat-eral generally, and hats specif-ically, the report said.

His spending on pollingwas reported only in the lasttwo months, a period thatoverlapped with his hiringKellyanne Conway, a pollster, ashis campaign manager. Shehas tried to get Trump’s cam-paign to look more like a tra-ditional one, with mixed suc-cess. But Trump has still spentmore on hats than polls andmore on collateral than get-out-the-vote tools.

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Donald Trump is attackingeverything that has set the

US apart for 240 years and afterspending his entire campaigntargeting various groups ofAmericans his final target isdemocracy itself, Democraticpresidential candidate HillaryClinton has said.

“There is a reason whyAmerica is the greatest andlongest lasting democracy theworld has ever known, becausewe believe that no matter whatyou look like or where yourparents were born or who youlove, you have the right to be

treated equally and fairly in theUnited States,” Clinton said atan election rally in Florida.

“(Republican presidentialcandidate) Donald Trump isattacking everything that hasset our country apart for 240years. Now, after spending

his entire campaign attack-ing one group of Americansafter another — immigrants,African Americans, Latinos,women, POWs, Muslims, peo-ple with disabilities — now hisfinal target is democracy itself,”she alleged.

Clinton promised hercountrymen to strengthen thedemocratic values.

Washington: The results ofthe American presidential elec-tion can be challenged only atthe state level and could be atime-consuming process, astudy has shown amid appre-hension by Republican nomi-nee Donald Trump of massscale voter fraud and electoralmalpractice.

“It is an individual statethat has the initial responsibil-ity for resolving a challenge,recount, or contest to theresults of a presidential electionwithin that jurisdiction,” said areport of the CongressionalResearch Service (CRS), anindependent research wing ofCongress.

And if Trump decides tochallenge the results, the bur-den of proof would be on him,it said. Authored by legislativeattorney Jack Maskell, the briefreport running into less than 10pages notes that under the US

Constitution, the States aredelegated the initial and prin-cipal authority for the admin-istration of elections withintheir jurisdictions, includingelections to federal office.

“Such election administra-tion in the states would gener-ally include provisions forrecounts, challenges, or con-tests to the results of suchelections in the state that maybe filed by the appropriateparties within a specific timeframe and procedure estab-lished by state law,” it said.

CRS reports are not officialreports of the Congress but areprepared by eminent expertsfor lawmakers to haveinformed decisions on issue oftheir concerns. Over the pastfew week, Trump has beenalleging that there could belarge scale voter fraud againsthim in the November 8 gener-al election. PTI

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It is not only the size, but theshape of a tube that deter-

mines whether a liquid will spillout of it when tipped over, newresearch has found.

Glasses of liquid, whenturned horizontally, inevitablyspill. This is not necessarily thecase however with very thinstraws, which, when turned ontheir sides, can retain liquid inthem.

This simple relationshipwas thought to be based pure-ly on the size of the tube open-ing, but by investigating moreclosely, researchers, includingthose from University ofOxford in the UK, have deter-mined that this rule of thumbdoes not always hold true.

The shape of the tube turnsout to be important too, and ifit is squashed enough - form-ing an elliptical shape - then nomatter how thin the straw is theliquid will always spill out.

Kabul: ISIS militants abduct-ed and killed around 30 civil-ians, including children, inAfghanistan, officials saidtoday, raising concerns aboutthe group’s expanding presencebeyond its eastern stronghold.The killings occurred late yes-terday north of Firoz Koh, thecapital of Ghor province, withthe local government calling ita revenge attack after a local IScommander was gunned down.

AFP

Calais: French authorities werewrapping up on Wednesday adramatic operation to clearthousands of migrants from thenotorious "Jungle" camp asfires engulfed the sprawlingslum.

"It's really the end of theJungle today," said top region-al official Fabienne Buccio. "Apage has been turned."

Riot police were massedoutside the main entrance tothe camp near the port ofCalais, barring migrants whohad fled the blazes from goingback in to retrieve their belong-ings. Around 100 people couldstill be seen inside the Junglelate today afternoon as volun-teers tried to persuade themigrants to leave. AFP

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Hostages were forced to eatmice, scorpions and cen-

tipedes to survive during thenearly five years they wereheld by Somali pirates, accord-ing to a Taiwanese seafarer whoarrived home on Wednesday.

Shen Jui-chang, among 26hostages freed from the crew ofNaham 3 seized south of the

Seychelles in March 2012,added he had constantly had agun pointed at his head duringhis ordeal.

Shen, the chief engineer onthe fishing boat, was reunitedwith his wife and daughter yes-terday in Guangzhou, southernChina, after a long flight fromKenya with Chinese crewmembers after they were freedSunday.

Wa s h i n g t o n : N u d g i n gPakistan to take action againstterror safe havens, the US hassaid Pakistan can contribute toregional stability by actingagainst militants on its soil whoattack its neighbours.

“We believe that Pakistancan directly contribute toregional stability by actingagainst militants on its soil whoseek to attack its neighbours,”State Department SpokesmanJohn Kirby told reporters yes-terday. Kirby also said fightingterrorism in South Asiarequires common, compre-hensive and collaborative solu-tions. “It is a regional issue. Weare going to continue to workwith regional countries, region-al partners, to deal with thisbecause it is a common threatto everybody. And it requirescommon, comprehensive, col-laborative solutions,” Kirbysaid. PTI

Moscow: Moscow has said thatRussian and Syrian warplaneshave not conducted any airstrikes on Aleppo for the lastseven days and are upholdinga moratorium on bombing.

“All flights by Russian andSyrian air forces have beencompletely halted in a 10-kilo-metre zone around Alepposince October 18,” militaryofficial Sergei Rudskoi said.

“The moratorium on air

strikes by Russian and Syrianplanes around the city will beextended,” he added, withoutspecifying a timeframe.

A so-called “humanitarianpause” declared by Damascusand Moscow ran out at 1600GMT on Saturday, and theSyrian Observatory for HumanRights reported there were airstrikes afterwards against theopposition-controlled districtof Sheikh Saeed. AFP

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Sharbat Gula, the famedgreen-eyed ‘Afghan girl’ who

was immortalised in 1985when the National Geographicmagazine published her haunt-ing picture on its cover, wasarrested here on Wednesday forstaying in Pakistan with fakeidentity documents.

Confirming her arrest, theFederal Investigation Agency(FIA) authorities said Sharbat,now in her 40s, was arrested

from the Nothia area for ille-gally possessing a PakistaniID card.

Dubbed as ‘Mona Lisa ofAfghan war’, Sharbat catapult-

ed into global prominence afterNational Geographic photog-rapher Steve McCurry cap-tured her iconic photographwhen she was a 12-year-old girlat the Nisar Bagh refugee campon the edge of Peshawar in1984.

She had migrated toPakistan after situation inAfghanistan became worse andmarried to a Pakistani man.

Sharbat was arrested forfraud from her home followinga two-year-long investigation.

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The US has said it was “trou-bled” by Iran’s reported 18-

year sentence of an IranianAmerican accused of spying, aweek after two other dual cit-izens were sentenced amidtense bilateral relations.

In an interview from aprison in northeast Iran withthe Los Angeles Times,Gholamrez Reza Shahini, 46,said yesterday he was being sentto prison for “collaborating

with a hostile Government,” areference to the United States.

The San Diego man, whogoes by the nickname Robin,said he was arrested July 11when he was visiting his moth-er and other family members inIran.

“We are troubled by reportsthat Robin or Raisa Shahini, aperson reported to be a US cit-izen, may have been convictedand sentenced to 18 years inprison,” said State Departmentspokesman John Kirby.

Khazer: Iraqi special forceshave moved over 1,000 peoplefrom villages near the frontlines of the battle to retake theIslamic State-held city of Mosuland surrounding areas, wherethe UN says militants havecommitted a number of atroc-ities in recent days, officials saidon Wednesday.

Special forces Maj. Gen.Haider Fadhil said residents ofTob Zawa and other villages

were taken to a camp in thenearby Khazer region for theirsafety. The InternationalOrganisation for Migrationsays at least 8,940 people havebeen displaced since the oper-ation to retake Mosul began onOctober 17.

The special forces wereundertaking cleanup opera-tions in areas retaken from themilitants to the east of the city,where troops uncovered a vast

tunnel network used by IS toshuttle fighters and supplies bymotorcycle, Maj. Salam al-Obeidi said.

Iraqi forces have beenpushing toward Mosul fromseveral directions since thelaunch of the wide-scale offen-sive, which involves more than25,000 Iraqi soldiers, Kurdishforces, Sunni tribal fightersand state-sanctioned Shiitemilitiamen. AP

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Donald Trump, who hasbeen fighting with his back

to the wall in the face ofadverse polls over the past fewweeks, has seized on the sud-den big spike in Obamacarehealth insurance premiums inan all-out bid to use the pub-lic angst on this key issue as aspringboard for his own come-back in the presidential race.

As soon as the Obamaadministration conceded thatthe health insurance premiumswill go up by an average 25 percent, the Republican presiden-tial nominee went hammerand tongs at three campaignevents across Florida onTuesday, claiming thatObamacare was “blowing up”and vowing that he wouldintroduce legislation on hisfirst day in office to replace it.

“Repealing Obamacare andstopping Hillary’s health-caretakeover is one of the single mostimportant reasons that we mustwin on November 8,” Trump

declared, adding: “HillaryClinton wants to keep it. Shewants to spend a fortune on it….She wants to double-down onObamacare and make it evenmore expensive and worse.”

Clinton, who was also inFlorida on Tuesday, promisedto address Obamacare’s short-comings, such as highdeductibles and prescriptionmedicine costs, but made itclear that a programme whichhas provided access to millionsof uninsured just cannot beallowed to be ripped apart.

The landmark AffordableCare Act, popularly known asObamacare, has been regardedas President Barack Obama’sbiggest domestic policy achieve-ment. But public opinion hasremained divided on Obamacarethat was pushed through the USCongress in 2010 in the face ofoutright rejection by theRepublicans who, after gainingmajorities in both chambers insubsequent years, have votedrepeatedly for its repeal, only tobe vetoed by President Obama.

Trump said the 25 per cent

hike was only an average figure,with the 2017 premiums set togo far above that in many States.In Arizona, for instance, the pre-miums are projected to increaseby 116 per cent. AlthoughTrump has not outlined a viablealternative thus far, he promisedto replace it with a much cheap-er programme.

“The rates are goingthrough the sky,” Trump said ata rally in Sanford, Florida, assert-ing that the rates would go up“60, 70, 80, 90 per cent” in var-ious States, even as theDepartment of Health andHuman Services put the averageincrease at 25 per cent and wenton to say that the increaseswould be cushioned by govern-ment subsidies for most people.

Clinton, admitting that theObamacare premium costs have“gone up too much”, said in aMiami radio interview: “So we’regoing to really tackle that. We’regoing to get copays and premi-ums and deductibles down.We’re going to tackle prescriptiondrug costs. And we can do thatwithout ripping away the insur-

ance that people now have.”“We’re going to win Florida,”

Trump exulted as he targetedObama and Clinton at his ral-lies. Obamacare apart, he tappedthe latest instalment of hackedemails put out by WikiLeaks toallege that a political actioncommittee of Virginia GovernorTerry McAuliffe, a close friendof the Clintons, and a few otherentities under his influencedonated nearly $700,000 to theelection campaign of the wife ofan FBI official who was over-seeing the investigation intoClinton’s email saga.

Meanwhile, Trump’s daugh-ter-in-law Lara Trump visited theRajdhani Temple, a popularVirginia shrine on the outskirtsof the national capital, to cele-brate Diwali and make a push forIndian-American votes.

Wife of Eric Trump, thesecond son of the Republicannominee, she said US-Indiarelationship will reach newheights if her father-in-lawgets elected. “I really like Hinduculture and I respect it,” sheadded.

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An Ajay Devgn film cannot beimagined without someaction in it. Barring his few

comedy films, the actor has done alot of high-octane stunt sequencesthat left us breathless.

Ajay Devgn’s Shivaay hasalready generated a lot of buzz. Beit for its blood-curdling stunts or itsstunning locales or Kamal R Khan’salleged controversy where he men-tioned that he was paid by directorKaran Johar to write negativereviews about the film on socialmedia.

The trailer of the film has AjayDevgn narrating shlokas from VedicHindu scriptures describing thetransformative capabilities of thedeity Shiva. Despite some of thesereference points, Shivaay is not areligious or mythological movie,explained Ajay.

“Shivaay is essentially an emo-tional drama. It’s a father-daughterlove story, it talks about family val-ues. To what length a parent, (in thiscase, a father) can go to protect achild and in that scenario how achild will behave towards the par-ent,” he told us.

The actor turned director isknown to pull a lot of pranks on hisco-stars. “I have not pranked any-one this time as I was the director,actor and was the producer as well.I had to handle everything myselfso I was too occupied. I was work-ing 18 hours a day, so had no timeto prank people this time,” helaughed.

Shivaay is Ajay’s second direc-torial venture after the 2008 rom-com U Me Aur Hum. What tookhim this long?

“You need to have a thoughtwhich really touches your heart tomake a film and this was thethought that touched my heart andI feel strongly about a father-daugh-ter bond. I started weaving thisbond into a story. It took me so long

because I was quite occupied with othercommitments,” said he.

“I think nothing works withoutemotions. Action is something whichis very interesting, people like it butonly when done in a right way. If I amdoing an action sequel just for the sakeof it, you will not like it however goodit is,” he further added.

The movie is all set to release onOctober 28, what is that one thing hewants the audience to take away fromShivaay, “Lot of people have seen myfilm now and I have got the exact reac-tion that I wanted. They had tears intheir eyes and a smile on their face.When you see the film, you will knowthat it’s totally performance orientedand that’s why it took so long for meto cast. The child actor (Abigail Eames)is fab. I can promise you when you seethe film; you will definitely agree withme that she is one of the best actors wehave, compared to all of us,” he gushed.

The film was supposed to be shotin Canada but not many know that thefilm has been shot in the virgin loca-tions of Bulgaria and Landour. Whenasked about it, Ajay said, “We were allset to shoot in Canada but then therewas some problem. It didn’t snowthere and snow is very important ele-ment in our film so I didn’t want tocompromise. Later I got better loca-tions in Bulgaria.”

Kajol who has been very activelypromoting the film will not be seen inthe film. “Kajol is the producer of thefilm. You won’t see her in the film. I amstarting a film with her in Januarythough.”

But will we see the couple togeth-er again? “I am not a part of that film.The day we get a script, where we bothget our roles right, we will definitelyjump at it,” he smiled.

Talking about his forthcomingprojects he said, “I am doingBaadshaho which I will start nextmonth and then there is Golmaal 4.”

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Many versions of theRamayana, the story of

Ram, have been written overtime. The original story, told bysage Valmiki in Sanskrit, hasbeen recast in numerous formsand languages. While many ofthose versions have been lost,one of them, The MewarRamayana, which is not onlythe finest surviving illustratedmanuscript of the Ramayanabut also one of the most beau-tiful manuscripts in the world,had been digitalised two yearsback. And now it has beenpenned down by authorSumedha Verma Ojha alongwith JP losty who curated thepaintings and helped with theintroduction part.

Dating back to the 17thcentury, the manuscript con-tains over 400 paintings andwas commissioned by RanaJagat Singh of Mewar in 1649and produced in his court stu-dio at Udaipur. It was eventu-ally completed during the reignof his successor, Raj Singh in1653. Out of these 400 paint-ings, 370 have been digitalisedand around 125 of them havebeen published in the book.

Clad like she always is in asilk sari, Sumedha personifiedunderstated elegance with herminimal make-up-and-acces-sories look. She talked abouther journey, resigning fromthe Indian revenue service topenning down her passion forancient India. “Ancient Indiawriting is rooted to my child-hood. I started readingRamayana and Mahabharatavery early, probably at the ageof 10. Then I was fascinatedwith the arthashastra followedby the Sanskrit literature. Theinfluence of past can be vivid-ly seen in all my work,” she said.

The beauty of MewarRamayana lies in its intricacy,style, size; it is small, intricateand exquisite. One could see hisimagination of the Ram-Sitastory on the canvas. Elaboratingon The Mewar Ramayana, shesaid, “The original manuscriptrepresents the pinnacle of JagatSingh’s patronage of paintingand is the grandest projectever undertaken by his courtstudio. The text that formed

part of the manuscript wascopied in the Nagari script bya Jain scribe, MahatmaHirananda. Several accom-plished artists of that era con-tributed their talent to themaking of the manuscript, vis-ible in the intricate paintings ofGods, battles and landscapes.Over 800 pages of text inSanskrit, copied by a singlescribe, complete the work.” Shefurther added, “This book isthe recreation of The MewarRamayana. It has abridged texttranslated in English and thepaintings accompany the text.”Also, the paintings are part ofRajput school of miniaturepaintings. “He did the artisticpart and I did the text part. Wegelled really well and it cameout beautifully,” smiledSumedha sharing about JPLosty, who curated paintingsfor the book which took oneand a half year to completeentirely.

The Ramayana is dividedinto seven kanda, starting fromthe Bala Kanda which talksabout Ram as a child, grown upman and it ends with his mar-riage, the book takes its read-ers from all seven divisionsillustrated with the help ofpaintings. Describing one of thepaintings from the seventhdivision, Uttara Kanda, shesaid, “As Ram and the proces-sion reach the banks of the riverSarayu, Brahma and the godsappear to witness Ram’s ascentand light the sky with an efful-gent glow. Accompanied bychants of Hail Vishnu, Ramenters the waters and ascendsto heaven. He is accompaniedby Sugriva, his brothers, mon-keys, bears and other humans.They willingly sacrifice theirlives in order to ascend toheaven with him. The entirepopulace of Ayodhya witness-es the heavenly event, someplunging into the waters inorder to attain moksha (releasefrom rebirth). They are shownascending to the celestial realmwith Ram.”

She also threw light on thedigitalised version of MewarRamayana paintings, “Thepaintings are posted online foranyone to see by the British

library. The difference betweenthat collection and this book isthat we went some extra mileto get undisclosed paintingsillustrating the Aranya Kanda.There are 11 extra paintingswhich we fetched from OrientalResearch Institute, Rajasthan.”

Highlighting the researchelement, she added, “The mainthing to be done was to read theValmiki Ramayana in Sanskritwhich is quite a big task. I hadread it before the publishinghouse had approached me forthis project. But then I read itagain and translated it. Since, Iwas always reading many dif-ferent versions and I havealways been reading about thehistory of Ramayana all my life,I didn’t have to do anythingspecial. Moreover, there is nointerpretation, what the booktalks about is just the ValmikiRamayana.”

Talking further about cre-ating interest among the youthsfor Indian mythology, shechuckled, “We really need tointroduce mythology to theyoung generation being as cre-ative as we can. During ourdays, it used to make good bedtime stories narrated by ourgrandmothers. But that oldworld charm has passed; no

one has time to tell stories now.Considering this, I believe,illustrated epics will surelybreak the ice."

Sumedha also has twoother books in the pipeline tobe published next year. One ofthem is about women ofancient India. The issue ofgender in scriptures, in Prakritand Sanskrit literature andwomen from the Rigveda,Ramayana and Mahabharatawill be talked about. The otherbook is the sequel of Urnabhihwhich was set in Patiliputra ofChandragupta Maurya.Through Urnabhih shebrought together devoted

scholarship and rich imagina-tion to weave a riveting nar-rative about the adventures ofa fiery Ganika-Misrakesi.When asked about her viewon the position of women inRamayana, she said, “Womenthen were very strong, power-ful, learned, intelligent andexplored a lot of field, theywere warriors, doctors, schol-ars and also householders.Moreover, they performed aspectrum of roles. Comparingwith today’s time, women’spositions were better then.”Besides, she is also giving athought to explore writing inHindi.

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For celebrating the art and culture ofthe north-eastern part of India withthe people of the capital, the fourth

edition of the North East Festival—Connecting People, Celebrating Life—will be organised from November 4 to6 at the Indira Gandhi National Centre forthe Arts. The three-day fiesta will show-case the entire northeast India and its var-ious hues via art, crafts and culture, songs,dance and movies, food, sports and fash-ion. Speaking about the reason for whichthe festival came up, Shyamkanu Mahanta,chief organiser of the festival, said, “Somethree years back, there were racial violencecases that people of north-east experi-enced in the capital. To reduce this westarted the festival as a friendly gesture.”

Before the festival, a rock competi-tion titled North East Festival Rock

Battle will be

held on October 28 and 29 at Dilli Haatamongst the colleges and bands of Delhi,wherein 60 bands will perform. Thewinning band will stand a chance of win-ning a trip to Dubai. Popular artistes likePapon, Zubeen Garg, rapper BorkungHrangkhal, DJ Zaeden, rock bands TrafficJam, Fourth Element, Mo & The ShootingStars, and Reverse Tragedy will also beperforming at the festival.

“It is not just about the music, we willalso host food stalls from the north-eastregion. And let me tell you it’s more thanjust momos,” laughed Mahanta. For thefoodies, a collection of delectable cuisinesfrom the northeast with around 30 foodstalls will be on offer.

Talking about the main agenda of thefestival, Mahanta shared that this time thefestival focus on the prime issue offloods, which has haunted the state for thelong time now. “This year we will be hold-ing a seminar dedicated to flood and ero-sion that affects the region, which wouldsee experts from IITs across the countrydiscussing about the Brahmaputra tofind a permanent solution to flood anderosion issues along with stakeholders ofNER,” he said.

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The Telecom WomenCentral Organisation

released an in-house maga-zine, Sancharika, in presenceof Ashima Deepak wife of J.S.Deepak, Secretary, DOT. Ateam of women officers fromDelhi Police Women cell werealso present as ACP Laxmiand ACP Sashibala of SpecialPolice Unit for Women andChildren delivered a lecture

on women issues. All womenemployees of BSNL attendedthe function. Being a non-profitable organisation forwomen of BSNL, MTNL,DOT and TCIL, the objectiveof TWCO is to bring aware-ness amongst the womenabout their rights and othercurrent issues faced bywomen. They also undertakewelfare activities.

This is the first time that tribal groups from across thecountry would be in Delhi at the time of the festive

occasion of Diwali. The tribal carnival would showcasethe capabilities of the tribal communities, in the nation-al capital,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi whileinaugurating First National Tribal Carnival-2016 in NewDelhi. Speaking on the occasion he also said, “The lifeof the tribal communities was marked by intense strug-gle. Yet, the tribal communities had imbibed the idealsof community living, and of living cheerfully despite trou-bles.” The Prime Minister also said the Government wascommitted to using modern technology such as under-ground mining and coal gasification, which would min-imise disturbance to tribal settlements. He also spoke ofthe Rurban Mission, which would focus on developmentof rural growth centres.

Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram, in his wel-come address said “The ministry is committed for theall round development of tribals in the country. We arealso concentrating on the education of tribals throughEklavya School and scholarships for the tribal youth.” Healso added, “Van Bandhu Kalyan Yojana is anotherimportant scheme of the ministry which has proved ben-eficial for the tribals.”

Also present at the event were Union Minister for

Environment, Forest and Climate Change Anil MadhavDave, Union Minister of State for Tribal AffairsJaswantsinh Sumanbhai Bhabhor, Union Minister of Statefor Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Sudarshan Bhagat,Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijijuand Union Minister of State for Steel Vishnu Deo Sai.About 1200 tribal artists from the various states and UTsperformed carnival parade in their traditional attire dur-ing the inaugural ceremony.

The four day long carnival organised by Ministry ofTribal Affairs to promote a sense of inclusiveness amongstthe tribals. The carnival showcase and promote variousfacets of tribal culture on a large scale. The underlyingidea is to preserve and promote various facets of the trib-al life relating to culture, tradition, customs and their skillsand to expose it to the general public with a view to uti-lizing the potential for overall holistic development ofthe scheduled tribes. Activities like displaying documentson traditional socio-culture aspects, exhibition ofart/artifacts, cultural performances, demonstration ofskills like sports, paintings, traditional healing practicesetc. will be part of the four day event. This carnival willprovide the stage for deliberations on important subjectsaffecting tribal development. It will also give an expo-sure of marketability of tribal products like textiles, paint-ings, artefacts so that it has a catalytic effect on income-generating activities and tribal livelihood.

Under the chairmanship of Union HumanResource Minister Prakash Javadekar, the

64th meeting of the Central Advisory Boardof Education (CABE) took place recently.Addressing the meeting, the minister empha-sised on education being a national agendawhich touches the lives of each and everyindividual. He also referred that in the pastthe country had a glorious contribution to theworld both in terms of GDP and economictrade because of the world renowned edu-cational institutions. He also underscored theneed to focus on improving learning out-comes and the quality of education.

Rajiv Pratap Rudy, union minister for skilldevelopment and entrepreneurship pointedout that there is a challenge for integratingskills and education in such a manner that theeducational infrastructure which has beenalready created can be optimally utilized for

providing skill based education. “There is aneed for aligning the NSQF rationally so thatskills acquired can enable pursuit of highereducation,” he said. The union minister foryouth affairs and sports, Vijay Goel, empha-sised that sports and education must move

in a synchronised manner as that will pro-mote physical fitness of children.

Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey and UpendraKushwaha, the Ministers of State for HRD,and Amitabh Kant, CEO Niti Aayog were alsopresent at the meeting.

The secretary of the social ser-vice organisation, Tapsil Jati

Adibasi Praktan Sainik KrishiBikash Kendra in Kolkata, SoumenKoley said that they have success-fully implemented various welfareprojects of the government like Beti

Bachao, Beti Padhao, SwacchBharat Abhiyan, Kanyashri,Nirmal Bangala Abhiyan on stateas well national level. “We are com-mitted towards the implementa-tion of welfare schemes of the gov-ernment,” he said. He added that

the government is supportivetowards all their endeavours.

Soumen also said that somepersons are using the name of theorganisation not for commoncause but for self gratification. Healerted common people from such

persons. More than seven lakh active

members of this organisation iscontinuously working for the bet-terment of the society in the 204blocks of the 18 districts of theWest Bengal for around 35 years.

Prime Minister NarendraModi dedicated the

765/400 kV Banaras GIS sub-station of POWERGRID tothe nation in a grand functionheld at Banaras. To meet thegrowing power demand ofUttar Pradesh in general &Varanasi in particular, a highcapacity 765/400kV, 3000

MVA sub-station has beenestablished at Varanasi. 40 percent less land has beenutilised in this state-of-the-artGIS sub-station in compar-isons to a conventional one.This sub-station will not onlyensure supply of qualitypower in Banaras but in thewhole Poorvanchal.

�What is the potential of hydro-electric power in India?

Our country has been gracedwith abundant hydroelectric poten-tial. India has economicallyexploitable and viable hydropowerpotential of 1,45,320 MW (above 25MW capacity). However, we havenot been able to exploit the samefor benefit of our people. The totalinstalled capacity in hydro sector,including pump storage, is around43112 MW. As of now totalinstalled capacity of the country isaround 306358 MW and the shareof Hydropower in country's gen-eration capacity is only 14%.Thusyou see there is a lot of hydropotential to be tapped.

�What has been the contributionof hydroelectric power to thegrid? What holds in the future forthe same?

During the last financial yearHydro Power Stations generatedaround 121341 MUs out of totalgeneration of 11,07,386 MUs i.e.around 11% of total generation.However, it would not be appro-priate to view the role of Hydropower in terms of absolute gener-ation alone. The role of hydropower in meeting peak loaddemand as well as a spinningreserve at the time of grid instabilityis what makes it such a crucial cogin overall energy portfolio.

We have to appreciate thatdevelopment of Hydro PowerSector is not about electricity gen-eration only but it is also aboutdeveloping assets of strategicimportance and gaining from theinherent virtues of a clean andgreen source of energy, to meet theneeds of our country.

We are living in times wherethe concerns about impact ofhuman activities on environmenthave become a part of our con-science. Therefore Hydropower,which has negligible environmentimpact, negligible generation of

greenhouse gases and rapidlyramping characteristic, shall havean important role to play.

�Are there any contingency plansin case of rainfall deficit? Whatare the measures been taken?

We have optimised our opera-tion for gaining maximum out ofavailable water for generation. Byadopting the industry best prac-tices, our generation has improved

continuously, despite the fact thatthe last two years were overall raindeficient years. However, there is alimit to what one can achieve inthese conditions. Storage typeplants can save the water to meetthe requirement at the time of rain-fall deficiency. It can be utilized aswater reserve as well as spinningreserve.

�Do you think inter linking riversacross India will help the cause of

hydroelectric generation and willriver linking ever happen?

When we talk about inter link-ing of rivers, the impact and ben-efits of it goes beyond hydropow-er. This will be a game changer forthe economy of the country. Thetask ahead is gigantic in nature butI do believe that it is possible to doit and also it is very necessary fora country like ours.

�Are there any environmentalconcerns when it comes to hydro-electric power?

You see despite the fact thathydropower is environmentally themost benign source of power it hasfaced most hurdles from environ-mentalists and civil society. Theissues raised need to be tackled andaccepted with a scientific approachand should not be held ransom toperceptions.

Progress of many projects hasbeen delayed on account of envi-ronmental issues. The projectscome under public and judicialscrutiny even after having obtainedall the requisite clearances. Thiscauses hindrance in the imple-mentation and increase in the pro-ject costs, which ultimately resultsin higher tariff to the con-sumers.We have had our own shareof environmental & R&R issues atNHPC. However by engaging andtaking into confidence all thestakeholders, we have been able toget over most of them to the satis-faction of all stakeholders. Butevery situation is different andyou need to tackle it differently andit may require out of the box solu-tions. There can be no tailor madesolution for every project.

I personally consider that com-munities residing in and around theproject areas should be made a keystakeholder in the future projects.This will go a long way in address-ing the environmental and R&Rconcerns of the project affectedcommunities.

Launched in 2007, Tata Power —DDL’s Ujjwal programme is

focusing on SC & ST students,whose economic condition is notconducive for sustaining studies,studying in various DelhiGovernment schools. During theevent, a total of 1100 students from46 Government Senior SecondarySchools received scholarships inthe form of Reference Books,Stationery Items and School Bags.These students are constantlymonitored and mentored by thecompany so that they do not dropout and improve on their educa-tional performance instead.

Addressing the students atthe event, Praveer Sinha, CEO &MD, Tata Power — DDL said,“Under our Ujjwal Programme, wefocus on four critical areas - edu-cation, employment, employabil-ity and entrepreneurship witheducation being the most critical.As a responsible corporate citizen,it is our endeavour to help meri-

torious students in creating abrighter future through education.Providing scholarships is a step inthe same direction and we are con-fident our efforts will brighten upyour future.”

The programme, whichfocusses on affirmative action forschool students and entrepre-neurship development assistancefor youth belonging to the SC &ST communities, Tata Power-DDL organised an AnnualScholarship Distribution event atGovernment Boys SeniorSecondar y School, Badli .Subsequently, the same set of stu-dents are taken through a cus-tomized personality developmentprogramme covering interper-sonal skills, career counsellingand competency testing throughexpert NGOs. The initiative hasso far benefitted 2165 students ofClass- X- XII and 900 studentswho are pursuing professionalcourses currently.

The city’s annual gold extrava-ganza, MMTC’s Festival of

Gold, continues to be the hottestdestination for all of Delhi’s festiveshopping this Dhanteras season. Avisit by Padmashri awardee Tabuat the Festival of Gold added to theglitter of the grand event. Theactress took a round of the exhi-bition-cum-sale and expressed herdelight at the wide variety of jew-ellery, medallions, and silverware

on display. She was particularlyenthusiastic about the traditionaldesigns from southern states,exhibited at the gold fest alongsidehallmarked gold and certified stud-ded jewellery from other regions ofthe country, gold & silver medal-lions in guaranteed purity,MMTC’s latest range of Sanchi sil-verware items, and the Govt. ofIndia’s sovereign gold coin offeringthe Indian Gold Coin.

P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju,Union Minister of Civil

Aviation launched AAI CargoLogistics & Allied ServicesCompany Limited at Hotel TajPalace New Delhi. The com-pany is an independent cargosubsidiary company by cor-poratisation of AAI’s cargodepartment. Neera Rawat hasbeen appointed as the MD ofthe subsidiary and BKMehrotra would be ChiefExecutive Officer ofAAICLAS. The Vision of the

Company is to become theforemost integrated LogisticsNet Work operator in Indiawith primary focus on AirCargo handling and alliedservices.

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India paid the price for some poorshot selection as New Zealandclinched the fourth cricket ODI

by 19 runs to level five-match series2-2, here on Wednesday.

Chasing a target of 281 on aslowish track, India were on courseat 128 for 2 before a sudden middle-order collapse saw them lose fourquick wickets as they were finallyall-out for 241 in 48.4 overs.

This was India's first loss at skip-per Mahendra Singh Dhoni's homeground in all the internationalmatches that they have played so far.

India's No 1 batsman ViratKohli (45) and opener AjinkyaRahane (57) added 79 runs for the

second wicket while skipper Dhonidisappointed the local fans manag-ing a sedate 11 off 31 balls beforeJimmy Neesham cleaned him up.

He played 22 dot balls onWednesday as he has now playedmore than 100 dot balls in his lastthree ODIs. Especially against left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner (1/38)who bowled 34 dot balls in all andquite a few to Dhoni.

It was Rahane's leg before offNeesham that triggered a collapsewith Dhoni following the suit. TimSouthee then dealt a telling blow byremoving Manish Pandey (12) andKedar Jadhav (0) off successivedeliveries — both out to poorchoice of shots. From 128/2, Indiaslumped to 154/6 in just five overs

and it became the turning point ofthe match.

Pandey trying to clear mid-onwas out when situation demandeda bit of discretion while Kedar wasguilty of trying to hit across the linebeing adjudged plumb in-front.

Hardik Pandya's (9) inexperi-ence also showed as he tried to hitan inside out lofted shot despite afielder being placed at the extracover boundary.

Axar Patel (38) and DhawalKulkarni (25) did try but that wasnever going to be enough for the'Men In Blue'.

Southee (3/48) and Boult (2/40)were again on the money, so wasNeesham (2/38) donning the thirdseamer's role to perfection.

The spinners gave away 102runs in their 24 overs and bowled70 dots which is equivalent to 11.4overs without runs. Locked 2-2, thefinal one-dayer in VisakhapatnamOctober 29 will determine the win-ner of the five-match series.

In pursuit of 261 on a pitch withvariable bounce, India started offpositively with Rahane returning toform in his 57 from 70 balls that hadfive fours and a six.

Once Pandey and Kedar weregone, India required 94 off 84 balls.

Axar and Amit Mishra(14)revived their hopes in a 38 part-nership from 37 balls. But Mishrawas run out after a poor judgmentas it was all but over for India.

The match was interestingly

poised for both the teams tillNeesham got into the act.

Opting to bat, New Zealandwere off to their best start on thetour with Guptill slamming an 84-ball-72 studded with 12 boundaries.

Along with Tom Latham (39from 40 balls; 4x4) he laid a solidfoundation putting together 96 from93 balls for the opening wicketbefore left-arm spinner Axar Patel(1/38) gave the much-needed break-through. With 184/2 after 35 oversand a set Kane Williamson in themiddle, New Zealand were still insight of 300. But Amit Mishra (2/41)took the crucial wickets ofWilliamson (41 from 59 balls; 4x4)and James Neesham (6) in successiveovers to derail the visitors gameplan.

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England have announced a16-member unchanged

squad for the five-Test seriesagainst India with fast bowlerJames Anderson set to miss thestart of the team's tour afterfailing to recover from a shoul-der injury.

The squad is the same asthe one currently touringBangladesh.

Anderson, who was forcedto miss England's ongoingseries in Bangladesh, hasalready been ruled out of nextmonth's opening Test in Rajkot,starting on November 9.

But the 34-year-old pacer,who has taken a record 473Test wickets for England, could

join the squad for the remain-ing four Test matches againstIndia. "It is hoped he will stillplay some part in the series inIndia," England and WalesCricket Board (ECB) said in astatement.

England will also be with-out paceman Mark Wood dueto an ankle injury, but ECBchose not to draft in anotherseamer.

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Having ticked off all theboxes during an eventful

2016, a 'hungry' Leander Paesis in search of a new partnerwith an aim to take his covet-ed Grand Slam titles tally to 20.

The 43-year-old veterancompleted a career Grand Slamin mixed doubles when hewon the French Open withSwiss great Martina Hingis,early this year. "I have hit all mytargets in a tough year. It's beena rough one. To be able to hitmy targets, I am very happy.

Now, I will take a couple ofweeks off and spend time withmy daughter and dad. Mybenchmark is to get 20 GrandSlams. Once you keep hittingyour goals, there is not muchto play for. You add some-thing," Paes said after winninghis first round match in PuneChallenger alongsideRamkumar Ramanathan.

Paes revealed that he won'tbe playing Andre Begemannwith whom he won twoChallenger titles (Busan andBiella) and ended runners-upin two ATP 250 events.

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MS Dhoni's latest move to bathigher up in the order will result

in the India captain making moreimpact in the game, believes formerNew Zealand skipper BrendonMcCullum.

McCullum not only has had manyon-field battles with Dhoni, he hasspent lot of time with his Indian coun-terpart in the Chennai Super Kings

dressing room.Was McCullum surprised after

Dhoni silenced his critics, at least fora while, by scoring a crucial 80-runknock at number four in the thirdODI against New Zealand in Mohali?

"I am definitely not surprised. Heis a terrific leader. I think now that hedoesn't play Tests and his focus issquarely on limited overs means hecan have more impact in the game.That is why probably he has pushed

himself up in the batting order. Andhe has delivered. That is what worldclass players do," said McCullum, whois accompanying the New ZealandPrime Minister John Key on his four-day visit to India.

He also praised India's batting starVirat Kohli, who is in the form of hislife. "Yeah, definitely he is among thecurrent top three (batsmen). I thinkhe has been for a number of years now.With what he does in Tests and one-

day cricket, he also had a fantastic IPLthis year as well. His ability to be con-sistent in what is quite an inconsistentgame, is a mark of how world class heis. And he is just 27. I think we shouldjust enjoy the fact that we have got oneof the geniuses at work over the nextfew years," said McCullum.

Considering that Kohli is amass-ing runs across formats, compar-isons with Sachin Tendulkar areinevitable.

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��� 4 The Indian cricket teamand its premier spinnerRavichandran Ashwin held on totheir numero uno status in the lat-est ICC Test rankings for teamsand bowlers.

India led the team's table with115 points ahead of arch rivalsPakistan (111) and Australia (108).England were at fourth place fol-lowed by South Africa, Sri Lanka,New Zealand, West Indies withBangladesh and Zimbabwe com-pleting the list. Off-spinnerAshwin, who became the secondfastest to 200 wickets during theTest series against New Zealand,

maintained his position with 900points, with South African pacespearhead Dale Steyn (878) andEngland's James Anderson (861)completing the top 3. Ashwin'sspin partner Ravindra Jadeja wasat seventh place with 805 points.

Going through a purple patch,Ashwin was also leading the all-rounders' table with 451 points,with Jadeja occupying the fifthplace position with 292 points.

Ajinkya Rahane was the top-ranked Indian batsman at sixthwith 825 points, while CheteshwarPujara and skipper Virat Kohliwere holding the 15th and 17thspots respectively. PTI

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Delhi Dynamos coach GianlucaZambrotta has urged his strik-ers to start firing and get the

campaign back on track as they facestruggling FC Pune City in the HeroIndian Super League clash atJawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi, onThursday.

Delhi Dynamos made everyonetake notice with a 3-1 demolition ofdefending champions Chennaiyin FCin their opening game but have sincethen remained without a win in fourmatches, including the last gameagainst a 10-man Atletico de Kolkatawhich they lost after missing a penal-ty. Dynamos' winless four-match runthis season is increasingly becominga cause of concern for the club andcoach Zambrotta should know that noteam has ever qualified for ISL semisstages after enduring a back to backfive winless results. For records, in ISL2014 - Dynamos had suffered thelongest six match winless run.

"In the last match (against ATK)we had opportunities to score but did-n't kill the match. We are able to cre-ate a lot of chances; that's no problemfor us. Unfortunately in the lastmatch, there were some mistakes.Football is like this, sometimes it mayappear cruel. It is important for us tothink positively," said Zambrotta.

The Italian coach feels his side hasbeen making progress since he tookcharge in September for pre-seasonbut today called for improvementfrom his attackers. "We have very goodplayers and at the moment they arenot at their best. They have toimprove," he said.

Zambrotta can take heart fromDynamos' clean sheet results againstFC Pune City since the start of ISL.The capital city club has never lostagainst Pune in four encounters, win-ning three of them and theother match ending in a goal-less draw.

On other side, Punecoach Antonio Habas too, isstruggling with his team's form andwould want to change the fortune.Pune got just one win to their namewhile he was serving a four-match sus-pension and since returning back onthe bench he has earned just a drawagainst Chennaiyin FC.

"Pune City is a very good team. Ihave respect for Delhi but we will tryand win this game. Delhi should be

the favourites since they are playingat home," said Pune midfielderJonatan Lucca.

Pune will need to not just startgetting the goals but also shore up

their defence. They arethe only team in this edi-tion of ISL who not havekept a clean sheet so far,despite having last sea-

son's best goalkeeper Edel Bete, whowon the title with Atletico de Kolkataand Chennaiyin FC in successiveyears. A win for Delhi Dynamos willhelp them move back to the top fourwhile Pune City also have a chance tobe among the top four teams shouldthey score three or more goals againsttheir rivals, who they have neverdefeated in the past.

A� ,, ���. ���'���.%��0���� 4� Arsenal legend ThierryHenry is no alien to the Hero IndianSuper League and believes the three-month league which attracts some bignames from across the world can helpmassively in the development ofIndian football.

The former Arsenal striker andnow assistant coach of the Belgiannational team is currently on a two-day visit to India but needs no intro-duction to the ISL. He was among theearly marquee names discussed to takepart in the inaugural edition of the ISLin 2014, but while he could not makeit to India, his former teammates -Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg- were the marquee players for Goaand Mumbai City FC respectively.

Since the start of the ISL in 2014,several leading names from worldfootball have plied their trade inIndia and Henry believes the arrivalof stars from around the world cangive a fillip to Indian football. "It helpsmassively when you have such peoplein the league," said Henry.

The ISL since its inception in 2014has attracted top names like Zico,Roberto Carlos, Lucio, Robert Pires,Freddie Ljungberg, David Trezeguet,Alessandro Del Piero, Elano Blumer,Helder Postiga, Adrian Mutu andNicolas Anelka to name a few.

Henry however, asked the orga-nizers to ensure that more youngIndian players come through theranks and get a chance to rub shoul-ders with the best.

For Brazilian great Lucio, the intensity and frequency of match-es In the Indian Super League is amazing. He tells KARTHIK

RAMAN that in order to survive, in this quick format, adapt-ability is crucial. He also talks about how he regrets not havingplayed with Lionel Messi, how conditions in India are similar toBrazil and how he hankers for one Indian delicacy

� How different is this move from European and SouthAmerican leagues to India?

It's a different experience for sure. The leagues in Europeand South America are of a higher level as per my opinion buthere the intensity of the games and playing frequency is muchmore. And the ISL is more of a quick format so obviously youhave to condition and program yourself differently. And it did-n't take long for me to settle in here because we have a good groupof guys here. We interact well with each other and certainly hav-ing some Brazilians in the team also makes it that much faster. � How much do you enjoy playing in India?

I have really enjoyed the experience of playing in India sofar. Last year, when I came here I was received very well and thepeople of Goa showed us a lot of love and support. So when theopportunity was given to come back here, I decided to take itbecause I enjoyed my experience here in ISL 2. � What do you make about India in terms of food, climate,surroundings, etc.?

I enjoy the food here in India. Every state we travel to I makeit a point to taste a bit of the cuisine of that state. And in termsof the climate it is almost similar to Brazil. The humidity is high-er here but Goa is a beautiful state and the people are so warmand affectionate. � How disappointed were you to narrowly miss the chanceto win the title against Chennaiyin FC in last year’s final?

I think we had an excellent campaign last year and wereunlucky to not win the trophy. I think there were a lot of posi-tives for us to take from last year which we will look toimprove/replicate upon this year. We have a squad that has a lotof potential this year and we will try our best. � What do you make about your squad this season?

We have retained a lot of the players from last year whichis always a good thing. Additionally, we have added some youngplayers to the squad like (Rafael) Dumas and Trindade

(Goncalves) who are filled with talent and potential and are veryexciting players. We also have Richarlyson (Felisbino) and JulioCesar who are great players with a lot of experience which willcome handy in the tournament. �What do you make about playing under the Brazilian Zico?

It's a good feeling to play for him. He's a very good coachwho the whole team holds in high regard and has the best pos-sible manner in which he conducts himself and goes about hiswork. He really does unite the team at all levels and we are alwaysmotivated to play for him.�Can you please name the player who you have enjoyed play-ing the most and the one you regret never being able to playwith?

Ronaldo (Brazilian) the phenomenon was someone who Ienjoyed playing a lot with. He was someone who was a real greatof the game. I also enjoyed playing with Maicon at Inter Milan.And in terms of someone who I've never played with but alwayswanted to, it would have to be (Lionel) Messi. �What are your future targets and how long do you plan tocontinue playing football? Any idea of returning to coachingwith a major European/ South American club or country?

I am taking things as they come. I have always been some-one who is a keen trainer and I keep my body in shape in casean opportunity arises. In terms of how long I'm going to be play-ing, I don't have a definitive answer. It will depend on the oppor-tunities that are in front of me. After playing, coaching is some-thing I would definitely be interested in. Whether it be a man-ager or a technical director or otherwise remains to be seen butI'm certainly keen to stay on in football.�Where do you see Indian football going and what else stillneeds to be done for India to match the big boys in football?

I think India has the potential to do well. They are a big coun-try and there is room for football to grow as a sport within thiscountry. But what it needs is sustained efforts from the peopleto go out there and provide a platform and opportunity to thekids to make use of their talent. It is not something that will hap-pen overnight but there is a possibility, yes.

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Liverpool striker DanielSturridge and Arsenal

winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain both scored twiceas the experienced playerssecured passage for theiryouthful teams into the quar-terfinals of the League Cup.

Sturridge, who has failed toscore in seven Premier Leaguematches this season, has onlyfound joy in front of goal inEngland's second-tier knockoutcompetition when top-flighttypically deploy weaker teams.

Sturridge's double elimi-nated Tottenham with a 2-1victory at Anfield, his firstLiverpool goals since also net-ting twice in the League Cup in

August. After firing into theroof of the net from MarkoGrujic's cross in the ninthminute, the England strikertucked the ball underTottenham goalkeeper MichelVorm in the second half.

Vincent Janssen pulled oneback from the penalty spot butTottenham couldn't force extratime against its Premier Leaguetitle rival.

It was a smoother night forArsenal against Reading,despite only beating the sec-ond-tier League Championshipclub 2-0.

Oxlade-Chamb er la inpoked the ball through defend-er Tyler Blackett's legs into thecorner of the net to put Arsenalahead in the 33rd minute. A

deflected shot from theEngland international doubledArsenal's lead in the 78th.

Premier League side Hullsurvived a late scare againstBristol City of the LeagueChampionship to win 2-1.

Harry Maguire andMichael Dawson scored eitherside of halftime but City for-ward Lee Tomlin grabbed agoal in the third of seven min-utes of stoppage time.

The biggest win of thenight saw second-tier leaderNewcastle rout 10-man Preston6-0. Leeds-Norwich went toextra time after a 1-1 draw.

� .���.&��&��4�Three days after beatingJuventus, the inexperience of

AC Milan's young squadshowed in a 3-0 loss at Genoaon Tuesday that saw the 10-man Rossoneri waste a chanceto take the Serie A lead.

Nikola Ninkovic put thehosts ahead 11 minutes inafter being left unmarkedinside the area for a header.Milan center back GabrielPaletta was sent off in the 56thminute and his teammate JurakKucka scored an own-goal latein the second half before Genoasubstitute Leonardo Pavolettisealed the result in the 86th.

Milan remained third, levelon points with second-placeRoma, two points behindleader Juventus. Genoa, whichbeat Inter Milan on Sunday,moved up to seventh.

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Olympic silver medallist P VSindhu and HS Prannoy

advanced to the second roundwith straight-game wins but itwas curtains for Ajay Jayaramin the $300,000 French OpenSuper Series badminton tour-nament here on Wednesday.

In a 45-minute gruellingcontest, Sindhu, who had suf-fered a loss in second round inDenmark Open last week,dished out a gritty perfor-mance to prevail 21-9, 29-27over Hong Kong's Yip Pui Yinin a women's singles match.The second game, in particu-lar, turned out to be an edge-of-the seat thriller.

The two-time WorldChampionship bronze medal-list Indian will next take on thewinner of the match betweenChina's He Bingjiao andDenmark's Mette Poulsen.

Swiss Open championPrannoy also disposed offThailand's Boonsak Ponsana21-16, 21-18 in a 41-minuteclash to set up against ChineseTaipei's Chou Tien Chen, seed-ed fifth.

However, it turned out toa disappointing day forJayaram, who squandered afirst game advantage to godown fighting 22-20, 10-21, 18-21 to Anthony SinisukaGinting of Indonesia in anoth-er men's singles match.

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Ace drag-flicker Rupinder Pal Singhcontinued to stamp his authority in theongoing 4th Asian Champions Trophyhockey tournament as he converted twopenalty corners to clinch India a 2-1 vic-tory over hosts Malaysia here onWednesday.

Opening the scoring in the 12thminute, Rupinder saw Malaysia equalisethrough Razie Rahim's drag flick in the18th minute, but got into the goal-scoringact again two minutes from the end toclinch India a win in the crucial outing andtop the league standings.

India survived some anxious momentsas hosts Malaysia posed a serious challengeand had their citadel under pressure in thesecond half and even got a penalty cornerin the dying seconds, but the defenders heldtheir ground.

Rounding off their five outings withfour wins and a draw, India topped theround-robin league standings with 13points and now await the results of the lastcouple of games tomorrow to find out whothey play in semi-final.

Malaysia, with nine points from fourmatches, take on South Korea on Thursday,while defending champions Pakistan playChina.

Indian captain PR Sreejesh was restedfor another game to help recovery from hisfoot injury, giving the chance to reservegoalkeeper Akash Chikte to play this

important match. Chikte justified the faithreposed in him and brought off some finesaves.

Starting with a couple of brisk raids,India forced their first penalty corner in thethird minute, but Rupinder's rising drag-flick was deflected out by a defender's stick.

Ace Malaysian striker Faizal Saari hada view of the Indian goal in the sixthminute, but shot wide trying to find anangle past the goalkeeper and under pres-sure of time from the Indian defenders.

Rupinder put India into the lead in the12th minute off their second penalty cor-ner, when he slammed the rebound into the

net from close range.His initial drpions Trophy ag-flick went

off a defender's stick and hit the cross-barbefore bouncing back to Rupinder, who hadmoved up several steps.

India had another chance to score inthe seventeenth minute when AkashdeepSingh drew the goalkeeper out and squaredthe ball to Yusuf Affan, who had an opengoal

Malaysia's brisk attacks were posingdanger to the rival citadel when Indiaearned their fourth penalty corner thatRupinder Pal Singh converted with a rasp-ing drag-flick into the roof of the cage.

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