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In view of the annual Rath Yatrabeing celebrated across the

globe on separate dates, theauthorities have now decided toconduct the world famous festival of Lord Jagannath on onedate in the country to be fixed as per the Hindu almanac.

The decision was taken at ameeting of the temple ManagingCommittee chaired by ShreeJagannath TempleAdministration (SJTA) ChiefAdministrator Krishan Kumarheld here on Friday.

The committee came out insupport for holding the RathYatra nationwide on the same day(2nd day of Ashadha monthSuklua Paksha) when the nine-

day sojourn of the LordJagannath, Lord Balahadra andDevi Subhadra outside the tem-ple is celebrated in the pilgrims-ge town of Puri.

A letter would be written inthis regard to the administrationsof other States in the countrywhere the Rath Yatra is being cel-ebrated every year.

Besides, the members of thecommittee decided to expeditefunctioning of AdarshGurukulam, a proposed modelschool meant for the children ofthe Shreemandir servitors.

A sub-committee was con-stituted for preparing plan anddesign of the proposed Gurukul,informed Krishan Kumar. Thechildren of servitors who areenrolled in other schools wouldget scholarship, he said.

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Union Minister Pratap ChandraSarangi on Friday appeared

before a special court here in con-nection with the cases pertaining tothe cremation of a dead body in 2004and his alleged involvement in aprotest in 2011.

Reports said the cases againstSarangi were filed under the SC andST Act.

Terming the allegations baseless,Sarangi said he has respect for lawand that’s why he decided to appearbefore the court.

“These cases against me arecompletely baseless; and as the mat-ter is sub-judice we shouldn’t discussabout them. Only the complainantscan say on what basis they lodged thecases,” said Sarangi.

Sarangi’s lawyer said, “The Ministerappeared before the court in connection

with two cases. Both the cases were filed outof political vendetta.”

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A day after a Plus III girl student of the RavenshawUniversity here was run over by a truck in front of

the campus on Thursday, Cuttack DCP AkhileshwarSingh on Friday hinted at dereliction of duty by the traf-fic cops who were present near the spot.

The DCP told reporters that prima facie, there seemsto be dereliction of duty on the part of the three trafficpersonnel. However, an investigation into the incidentis underway by an ACP-rank traffic official and the probereport would be submitted by evening on the day, headded.

Earlier on the day, a group of students hadstaged aprotest in front of the university campus demandingcompensation to the family of the deceased girl. Theyalso demanded imposition of restrictions on plying ofheavy vehicles inside the city.

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The Sivananda Centenary Boys’High School is providing spir-

itual and value-based education.The unique teaching not onlyhelps students for their develop-ment but is also instrumental inthe betterment of society,

Union Petroleum andNatural Gas and Steel MinisterDharmendra Pradhan said thisinaugurating an academic blockand a hostel building of theschool located on the foothills ofhistoric Khandagiri hills here onFriday.

He said, “To make Odisha a

developed State in the country,we have to provide quality edu-cation to our Odia students. TheInternational Divine Life Societyhas been instrumental in pro-viding quality education to stu-dents in Odisha.”

Pradhan laying the founda-tion stone of the Swami

Sivananda Activity Centre saidthe institution will be a laboratoryof imparting education with yoga.He also said the academic blockand hostel has been constructedby the Oil and Natural GasCorporation Limited (ONGC)under its CSR initiative.

Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita

Sarangi, school managing com-mittee secretary SwamiSivachidananda Saraswati, jointsecretary SwamiJagannathananda Saraswati,members SN Tripathy and RajeebSekhar Sahoo and architect BSMishra also spoke on the occa-sion.

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The Odisha police have decid-ed to act tough against drunk-

en driving; and a drive of check-ing of the offence was launched at14 tollgates in the State fromFriday.

The checking would be carriedout at the Sheragarh, Panikoili,Dhenkikote, Palaspanga,Ramachandrapur, Pipili,Masunikani, Rajgangpur, Tapanga,Langaleswar, Sasan, Attabira,Balichandrapur and Manguli tollgates by using breath analysers.

DGP BK Sharma on the day

issued an elaborate circular defin-ing modalities of enforcementagainst drunken driving.

The Supreme Court had con-stituted a Committee on RoadSafety under the chairmanship ofJustice KS Radhakrishnan to mon-itor all road safety activities takenup by the States.

The committee has directedOdisha to reduce road the accidentfatality by 10 per cent every year.

Drunken driving is one of themajor factors responsible for mostof the fatal as well as grievous roadaccident cases. The committeehas categorically directed to pros-ecute offenders so as to convictthem by imprisonment and/orimposition of fine as prescribedunder Sections 185 of the MV Act,

1988. In compliance to the direc-tion of the committee, the HomeDepartment had directed police toinvoke legal provisions contem-plated under Section 202 andSection 203 of MV Act, to containdrunken driving including arrestof offenders indulging in drunk-en driving.

If alcohol contents exceeds 30mg per 100 ml of blood or the drugconsumed makes him incapable ofexercising proper control over thevehicle, the person concernedshall be arrested. Arrest Memoshould be prepared by the officerin accordance with legal provisionsenshrined under CrPC.

Within two hours of arrest, thearrestee should be subjected tomedical test by a registered med-

ical practitioner for the purpose ofcollection of specimen of hisblood. Where the arrestee isrequired to provide blood speci-men is a woman, the specimenshall be taken by a woman med-ical practitioner only or in pres-ence of woman, whether a medicalpractitioner or not.

While arresting the offender,the police officer should takeappropriate steps for temporarydisposal of the vehicle. The offend-er would be arrested on detectionof alcohol beyond 30mg per 100mlblood. If the arrestee does not fur-nish required surety or security forbail, he shall be forwarded to thejurisdictional court along withthe Prosecution Report with sig-nature of two witnesses.

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Odisha has collected thehighest amount of fine

amounting to �88.90 lakh injust four days while imple-menting the amended MV Actfor traffic rule violations.

Reports said the OdishaMotor Vehicles departmenthas issued a total of 4,080challans against violators oftraffic rules collecting �88.90lakh as fine during the period.In addition, total 46 vehicleshave been seized so far.

On September 1, total

1,138 challans were issued and�19.4 lakh was collected while499 challans were issued onSeptember 2 and �15.5 lakhpenalty amount was collected.On September 3, a total of 895challans were issued againsttotal fine of �24.5 lakh while1548 challans were issued onSeptember 4 with collection of�29.5 lakh.

After Odisha, the HaryanaGovernment collected the sec-ond highest fine amount of�52.32 lakh by issuing 3,900challans against traffic viola-tors.

BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister DharmendraPradhan on Friday thanked Chief Minister NaveenPatanik for the State Government agreeing to pro-vide 10 acres of land for construction of a PaikaBidroh memorial at the Barunei foothill at Khurda.

“The State Government’s consent has taken theproposed ‘Paika Bidroh’ memorial project a step for-ward. The Union Government has already allocat-ed funds for the project, which will come up at theBarunei foothill to mark the 200 year completionof the Paika Revolt, the country’s first armed strug-gle against the British,” Pradhan mentioned in thesocial media.

Pradhan said that the memorial would be con-structed very soon. PNS

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BHUBANESWAR: The State Government on Friday conferredMinister of State (MoS) and other ranks to its 11 advisors appoint-ed from among BJD leaders recently.

Six Advisors were provided the MoS rank. They are MissionShakti Advisor Lopamudra Buxipatra, Biju Swasthya KalyanYojana Advisor Sudhir Das, Minorities Affairs, ST and SCDevelopment Minorities and Backward Classes WelfareDepartment Advisor Mujibulla Khan, ET and IT AdvisorAnubhav Pattnaik, Agriculture and Farmers EmpowermentDepartment Advisor Krutibas Patra and Odisha State AgricultureMarketing Board Advisor Ramachandra Panda.

Ranks of Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary were pro-vided to five other Advisors. PNS

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Former Bali (Indonesia) Governor I Made MangkuPastika met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the

Lok Seva Bhawan here on Friday. In the meeting, discussions were held on

strengthening of the cultural ties between Kalinga(Odisha) and Bali. Pastika also recalled BijuPatnbaik’s contribution to the freedom struggle ofIndonesia.

The Chief Minister presented a silver filigree boatto Pastika and a IKTAT Sambalpuri saree toPastika’s wife.

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The BPUT Students’ Union (BSU) on Fridaydemanded that the State Government set

up a BPUT camp office in Bhubaneswar asabout 80 per cent of engineering colleges of theState are in coastal districts.

Union president Manas Ranjan Swain saidthat a student is now forced to travel toRourkela camp office, more than 400 km fromBhubaneswar, to get any problem solved.

Stating that the BPUT authorities are col-lecting arbitrary fees, Swain said that while stu-dents are required to give registration fees twicea year, the authorities are taking the fee morethan twice and are imposing late fee of Rs 500per day.

Union working president Abinash Swainalleged that that BPUT authorities have a nexuswith the middlemen and different collegeauthorities. He said that middlemen lure the

students and their parents with an affordableamount of course fee for admission in a BPUT-affiliated private college. But later, the collegeauthorities give a bill of a huge amount.

Basantia alleged that the private collegesand the BPUT authorities are solely respon-sible for question paper leaks occurringoftern.

The union also demanded that the

Government stop collection of arbitrary feesand probe the nexus between the BPUTauthorities, middlemen and different collegeauthorities.

Among others, former union presidentAbhisekh Champatiray, members SujitRoutray, Sabyasachi Sahu, Amulya Kar, AmarSethi, Nitish Nayak, Pabitra Nayak, BichitraSethi and Sekhar Biswal were present.

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Communication skills,organising skills and IT

skills are the three core require-ments that every studentshould possess in today’s date,said CESU Senior GeneralManger (HR) Subrata KumarMishra, who as chief guestaddressed students of the DAVSchool of BusinessManagement (DSBM) onFriday. He also advised the stu-dents to pursue their studiesthrough a case-study approach.

The occasion was swear-ing-in of BBA and B. Com stu-

dents of the 2019-20 batch.Unit-8 DAV Public School

Principal Ipsita Das as anoth-er guest educated the studentsabout the oath as a responsi-bility and how they shouldimplement it in every step oflife.

The new batch of BBAand B. Com students took thepledge to follow quality edu-cation.

DSBM President MMPanda urged the students toacquire knowledge and use itfor the betterment of the soci-ety. DSBM Principal Dr DNMishra, in his welcome

address, briefed the studentsabout self-motivation, pos-sessing updated skill sets andhaving an optimistic attitude.

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Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik, who is known to

prefer to stay away from mediaglare, once again caught thephotographers’ attention whenhe abided by law relating toimplementation of the amend-

ed Motor Vehicle (MV) Act onFriday.

Patnaik was found seatedin his official vehicle with theseat belt fastened on his way tothe Lok Seva Bhawan (StateSecretariat).

Several MLAs, however,were seen coming to the Lok

Seva Bhawan for their workflouting the rules. Interestingly,a senior BJD MLA, when askedby mediapersons on notputting on the seat belt, naive-ly replied: “I am wearing twobelts.” (He was seemingly refer-ring to his trousers belt and thevehicle seat belt).

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In a sigh of relief for commuters, the Transport

Department on Friday relaxedthe ‘Pollution under Control(PUC)’ norms for a period ofone month.

Informing about the relax-ation, Transport Secretary GSrinivasan urged police per-sonnel not to harass or penalisevehicle owners for this partic-ular traffic violation under theamended Motor Vehicles Act2019.

Srinivas also warned theofficials not to unnecessarilypenalise heavily the offenders.He warned that any official

wrongly penalises any offender , he would have to paydouble the amount.

The move came after chaosprevailed as huge queues werecreated as people lined up toconduct PUC tests after failingto do it on online.

Besides, as the necessaryinfrastructure was not in placeand there were veryfew PUC centres people had tostand in queues for hours orhad to run from pillar to post to get the tests conducted.

Besides, they had to shellout �10,000 for not having thePUC certificate. This triggeredhuge resentment.

BHUBANESWAR: Even asresentment is brewing amongcity denizens over the collec-tion of hefty fines following theimplementation of the amend-ed Motor Vehicle Act, theCommissionerate police (CP)on Friday clarified that they areyet to impose heavy penaltyunder the Act which cameinto force from September 1.

Commissioner of PoliceSudhanshu Sarangi said that sofar they have penalised asmany as 1,113 violatorsbetween September 1 andSeptember 5 in Bhubaneswar.

“Except for two incidents

we have not penalised anyonewith a penalty of more than�1,000. Heavy penalties havebeen only collected by theRTO officials. Two violatorshave so far been penalised�5,000 each for driving whileusing mobile phones. However,we would be tough againstdrunken driving,” said Sarangi.

Sarangi also said that theywould continue with the aware-ness drive in the city. “Our aimis not to generate revenue bypenalising offenders. We arealso aware of the hardshipfaced by people to get theirvehicles tested for pollution. Wehave not penalised anyone fornot having a PUC certificate sofar,” added Sarangi. PNS

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The Jagannath TempleManaging Committee

(JTMC) on Friday extended itssupport to the proposedHeritage Corridor near theJagannath Temple, which ispresently in execution amidstprotests by land losers.

A meeting chaired byGajpati Maharaja DibysinghaDeb, in the presence SJTAChief Krishan Kumar, okayed as many as five pro-posals, which would be sent toLaw Department for approval.

Those include makingBadadanda a heritage corridor,development of the templesurrounding areas, beautifica-tions of Gundicha Temple andmaking Jagannath Balabh Mutt

area to a heritage garden.A decision was taken for e-

auctioning of the Lord Jagannatlands under a uniform policymade by the Shree JaganathTemple Administration (SJTA).Besides, a decision was taken todevelop mutts and monasteriesand restore centuries old cul-tures and tradition liking to theJaganath Temple.

Committee members willmeet Amicus Curiae RanjitKumar and Solicitor GeneralTusar Mehta who were sched-uled to visit Puri at about 10pm on Friday.

The members will holddiscussions on the 12-pointagenda, which is under execu-tion under the guidance ofSupreme Court.

The Amicus Curiae andthe Solicitor General are alsolikely visit the Jaganath Templeon their arrival.

During their two-day stayin the pilgrim city, they wouldmeet the ShankarcharyaNischalananda Saraswati andGajapati Dibyasingh Dev.

They would also hold sep-arate discussions with variousstakeholders of the temple onvarious reform initiatives.

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The stage is set for the returnof conjoined twins Jaga

and Kalia to Odisha onSaturday as they boarded theRajdhani Express in New Delhion Friday along with theirparents and a team of special-ist doctors.

The SCB Medical CollegeHospital in Cuttack has madeall arrangements for furthertreatment of the twins. Thehospital has formed a six-member team of doctors led bythe Neurosurgery Professorfor their treatment. The hospi-tal has also kept a two-bed ICUcabin ready for the twins.

“All necessary steps will betaken to provide treatment toJaga and Kalia. If need be, doc-tors from other departmentswill be included in the team,”said SCB HospitalSuperintendent CBK Mohanty.

Health Secretary PramodKumar Meherda on Friday vis-ited the hospital and reviewedthe arrangements.

A two-member team ofdoctors of the SCB Hospitalhad reached the AIIMS, New

Delhi on Thursday to hold dis-cussions with the AIIMSauthorities for return of the

twins.Dr Bibhuprasad Naikand Dr Shiba Shankar of theSCB had arrived in the AIIMSand enquired about the condi-tions of the twins. Both thedoctors are accompanying Jagaand Kalia during their trainjourney. Notably, the cran-iopagus conjoined twins hail-ing from Milipada village inKandhamal district were sep-arated by a team of doctorsafter a marathon 21-hoursurgery in October 2017 inAIIMS, New Delhi.

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The Supreme Court onFriday came down heavily

on the Delhi Government forits ambitious proposal to makemetro travel free for women.The Court also said the oper-ational loss, if any, in the 104 -km-long Phase IV of the DelhiMetro project would be borne by the DelhiGovernment.

The court, however, direct-ed that the land cost for PhaseIV project would be borne bythe Centre and the DelhiGovernment equally, in 50:50ratio.

The Court asked theauthorities concerned to ensurethat no delay is caused in thePhase IV metro project and thetotal land cost of Rs 2,447.19 crore is releasedimmediately.

A Bench of justices ArunMishra and Deepak Guptaobserved that the DelhiGovernment should refrainfrom giving freebies from “pub-lic money” and warned that itwould stop them from doing soas courts are not “powerless”.

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Asilly mistake by a couriercompany has left the fam-

ily members of a deceased shocked as theyreceived an unidentified bodyin the coffin while waiting toperform the last rites for their deceased family mem-ber.

Seetaram Purohit, a resi-dent of Shri Dungargarh inBikaner, passed away after suf-fering a heart attack in Mumbaion Wednesday.

His family members trav-elled to Bikaner in a planealong with his body, which hadbeen packed in a coffin by acourier company, people with knowledge of theincident said.

On arriving back home onThursday morning, the familywas shocked to see anunknown body, and contacted the courier whichhad booked the coffin on theflight.

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As Chandrayaan-2 landednear the Moon’s uncharted

territory in the early hours ofSaturday, it was not only Indiabut the entire world waitedwith bated breath for the soft-landing of the “Vikram” lander on the south pole of thelunar surface, the first attemptby any country.

The euphoria was visibleamong domestic and interna-tional scientist community.

Former NASA astronautJerry Linenger — who flew onRussian space station Mir thatoperated in low Earth orbitfrom 1986 to 2001 for fivemonths — said, “It’s a fantas-tic mission, everybody shouldbe so excited. And I’m going tobe sitting on the edge of myseat. And it’s a privilege for meto be here, lending some exper-tise to that live broadcast.”

The US space communitybelieves that the landmark mis-sion would help them enrichtheir understanding of themoon’s geology. The IndianEmbassy in Washingtonarranged a live screening andpresentation on Chandrayaan-2’s landing.

Now moon’s south pole islikely to become one of themost important places on thelunar surface, said Space.Com,adding that it will become thesouthernmost spot on themoon to be visited by a space-craft. “It will be in completelynew terrain,” Brett Denevi, aplanetary scientist at JohnsHopkins University AppliedPhysics Laboratory, told scien-tific journal Nature.

Prime Minister NarendraModi arrived at the Yelahanka

Airbase on Friday night towitness from an ISRO centre inBengaluru the planned landingof Vikram on the lunar surface.“I am extremely excited to beat the ISRO Centre inBengaluru to witness the extra-ordinary moment in the histo-ry of India’s space programme,”Modi tweeted.

A few hours after Vikramtouches down on the moon,rover “Pragyaan” will emergefrom the lander and roll outonto the lunar surface between5.30 am and 6.30 am.

In a short video, ISROexplained about Pragyaan. Thecubical vehicle, exclusivelydesigned for travelling on themoon, is fitted with a solarpanel.

Two navigation cameras,which could be called as its leftand right eye, are mounted ontop of it besides an Alpha par-ticle X-ray spectrometer,receive and transmit antennaand rocker bogie assembly.

Soon after rolling on themoon soil, Pragyaans batterywill be activated to release itssolar panel.

The scans of the rover willbe relayed to Vikram and thenearth and it will be processedat mission control for pathplanning. Subsequently,instructions for the roversmovement will be transmittedback to it. The six wheels of therover are attached with “rock-er bogie” to overcome obstaclesas it moves forward.

It can even cross obstaclesat ease with a movement rangeof 50 mm upwards and down-wards, according to ISRO.

While controlling its move-ment, the Mission ControlStation of the ISRO will pass oninstructions to Pragyaan to

stop and determine the ele-mental composition of lunarrocks and soil using a payloadcalled APXS on the front, rightbelow the two cameras.

There will be another pay-load called LIBS just belowPraagyaan near the right sidefrontal wheel to derive the ele-mental composition of the

lunar surface.The rover will move

around at a maximum range of500 metres from Vikram. Itsmission period is of 14 earthdays during which time, vari-ous tests will be conducted. Themission objective is to locatepresence of water and miner-als on the lunar surface.

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In view of incessant rain causing flood-like situations

in Ganjam and Kandhamal, theCollectors declared holiday forschools and AnganwadiCentres in the districts onFriday.

However, the teachers wereon duty as they were asked notto take leave and, instead, helpthe flood victims. If required,the schools and AngwanwadiCentres would be used as shel-ter homes for the victims, offi-

cial source said.According to reports, sev-

eral areas in Ganjam districthave been severely affected bythe flash floods triggered byincessant rain on Thursdayunder the influence of a lowpressure over Odisha andneighbourhood.

The rain left several urbanareas of the district water-logged, affecting normal life.The roads and streets wereinundated with rainwater, fol-lowing which vehicular move-ment was disrupted.

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K E N D R A PA DA :Four police person-nel, including anAssistant Sub-Inspector (ASI), of apatrolling team wereinjured in an attackby a group of youthsat Gouda PatnaSquare at Aul inKendrapara districton Thursday evening.

Sources said thatwhen the policepatrolling team askeda Ganesh Puja com-mittee to stop playingthe blaring music, 30to 40 irate youths attacked thepolice personnel, injuring the

ASI and three constables. Theinjured cops were admitted to

the Aul Government hospitalfor treatment. PNS

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The Manav Adhikar SurakshyaManch held its 104th “Ghanta

Yatra” here on Thursday in protestagainst various irregularities in theMKCG Medical College Hospitalunder leadership of Manch con-venor Abani Kumar Gaya.

The Manch submitted amemorandum to the BrahmapurSub-Collector addressed to theHealth Minister demanding prop-

er implementation of the bio-metric attendance, stringent action the doctorsflouting the rules and openingsecond gate of the hospitalsoon.

Gaya alleged that even ifthe CCTVs and biometric sys-tem has been installed in thehospital but are not function-ing properly.

Among others, MaheswarBadatiya, Shyam SundarKhadanga, Maguni Nahak,Raja Suresh, K Srinivas, Rao,Rabindra Kumar Nayak, LaxmiNarayan Rout, Triloknath Aptaand Hrushikesh Patro werepresent.

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ALecturer was found deadunder mysterious circum-

stances in his house under theSason police station in the districton Friday.

The deceased was identified asHrudananda Pradhan, a native ofBalianali in Deogarh district. Hewas working as a Lecturer in theMura College here.

The matter came to light aftersome neighbours found Pradhanlying in a pool of blood inside hishouse with injury marks on hisbody in the morning.

On being informed, policereached the spot and sent the bodyfor post-mortem.

Prime facie it is suspected thatPradhan was murdered. But theexact reason behind the death isyet to be ascertained, police said.

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Despite supply from three grids, unscheduled power cutsin Pallahara have been an endemic problem. At times,

the town remains dark for days together.It is alleged that the supply line and equipment have

gone old without regular repair causing interruptions inpower supply to the town.

Four days ago, the electricity supply was stopped fortwo days and with the pressure of local public as well asthe local MLA, it was restored. MLA Mukesh Kumar Palhas threatened to launch a hunger strike if the situation doesnot improve soonest.

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Ameeting of the PATA IndiaChapter Executive

Committee was held hereunder the chairmanship ofUnion Tourism SecretaryYogendra Tripathi here onThursday.

After the meeting, Tripathyalong with Chief Secretary AsitTripathy, IAS, TourismSecretary Vishal Dev andTourism Director NirmalChandra Mishra held a meet-ing with the travel trade ofOdisha where the travel trademade some suggestions.

It was suggested that the

potential of Odisha Tourismhighlighted in all presenta-tions of the Incredible IndiaCampaign and brochures madeavailable in all India Tourismoffices abroad. The Ministry ofTourism should examine devel-opment of 1,100 sq km Chilikalake as a place for water sportsand other activities.

The travel trade suggestedthat infrastructural develop-ment activities be undertaken atthe State’s Buddhist circuit anda mega convention centre comeup in Bhubaneswar.

Goods and Service Tax(GST) for hotels with a roomtariff of �7,500 should be less-

ened from 28 per cent to 8 percent for making hotel industrytourist friendly for this GST rate.

Hotels should be includedin infrastructure categoryunder section 80-IA of theIncome Tax Act to avail deduc-tion of 100 per cent profits andgains obtained from the busi-ness for a time period of 10consecutive years out of 15years from the date of its com-mencement like projects suchas airports, bridges, highways,sanitation, telecom sector,power plants etc.

The Union Secretaryassured the travel trade ofOdisha to take these sugges-tions forward with theMinistry, informed Hotel andRestaurant Association ofOdisha (HRAO) Chairman JKMohanty.

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The Vigilance police arrest-ed Ganjam district’s Sorada

tehsil Asurandnda circleRevenue Inspector BasantMallick for demanding andaccepting bribe of �40,000from Dhukhi Mallick ofGajalbadi to provide inspectionreport in support of her hus-band’s death in Cyclone Titili ayear back.

According to the com-plainant, she had to get �10lakh assistance for death of her

husband from theGovernment. For this, the RIhad to submit an inspection report to theGovernment.

But RI Mallick asked her topay 40,000 for the inspectionreport. With no other optionleft, the victim informed theVigilance.

Accordingly, the Vigilancesleuths laid a trap and caughtRI Mallick red-handed whiletaking bribe money from thecomplainant, informedVigilance SP.

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Three civic projects builtunder the CSR initiatives of

the Rungta Sons were inaugu-rated by MP ChandraniMurmu in the Champua sub-division area in Keonjhar dis-trict on the occasion of Self-Governance Day held recently.

While two projects,

Sitaram Rungta MunicipalSports complex and SitaramRungta Open Gymnasium-cum-Children Park, wereopened in the JodaMunicipality, the third projectSitaram Rungta Open Gymnasium-cum-Children Park inauguratedhere.

MLA Meenakshi Mohanta,Sub-Collector Parul Patwari,

Joda Municipality ExecutiveOfficer Suryamani Patjoshi,Champua Municipality EOSapan Kumar Sahu and com-pany VP Ramu Agrawala werepresent. Company GM (Civil)Gyanendra Paul, DGM(HRand CSR) Lalit Narayan Rout,DGM(P) SK Acharya andManager (Civil) ChinmayaMohanta coordinated the pro-gramme.

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Atwelve-year-old orphan girl, who studies inclass VII in a Sevashram school of

Sundargarh district, has reportedly become preg-nant.

The matter came to light on only after elderbrother of the victim girl lodged an FIR in theBonei police station on Friday. The police haveregistered a case and started an investigationwhile the District Welfare Office of Sundargarhhas started an initiative to rehabilitate the vic-tim girl.

The victim girl is a native of a remote vil-lage under Bonei sub division. Her parents haddied about one and a half years back in close suc-cession, after brief illness. They were twobrothers and two sisters and the victim girl wasthe third child of the deceased couple. She wasadmitted in the Shevashrama school and wasstaying in the school hostel, since then.

Recently, she complained of some health

problems, following which her pregnancy wasrevealed during a health checkup. The matterwas brought to the knowledge of the Bonei Sub-Collector, following which he had directed theDistrict Welfare Officer to conduct an inquiryinto the matter.

"I have directed the District Welfare Officerto conduct an inquiry and take necessary stepsfor her care and protection," said Sub Collector,Bonei, Pradeep Dang.

"A case has been registered by us on thebasis of an FIR and we have started investigat-ing into the matter." said IIC Bonei Police sta-tion, RK Patra.

The girl reportedly had come in contact withone of their distant relation boys about fivemonths back. She reportedly has been carryinga five months' old pregnancy.

"We are in touch with the girl, her familymembers and her school headmistress and tak-ing all measures to provide her necessary sup-port," said District Welfare Officer Sunil Tandi.

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Water supply to theGopinath Dev Nodal

School at Padmabati underNayagarh district’s Fategarhpolice limits has been disrupt-ed after a water pump wasstolen by miscreants three daysback.

The pump was lifting waterfrom a dug well in the schoolpremises

School HeadmistressManorama Mishra has lodgeda complaint at the Phategarhpolice station in this regard.The police have registered a case and startedinvestigation.

The school has a total of362 students studying inClasses-I to X now. Due to theftof the water pump, students arenow facing problems to getwater.

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The Aryabhatta Trust inassociation with the

Kalinga International YouthFoundation organised KalingaBali Sangam, a culturalexchange programme on theoccasion of official visit of for-mer Governor of Indonesia IMade Mangku Pastika alongwith his ten delegations toOdisha.

Governor Prof Ganeshi Lalgraced the occasion as chiefguest. Speaking on the cultureof India and Indonesia, Prof Lalsaid, “India is a country avail-able for all human beings,whether good or bad, pure orimpure, a brahman or a nonbrahman, a living or a dead.And that is the philosophy ofIndia.”

“Indonesia and India sharesame culture. We might wor-ship differently but virtually weare same. The inner being of

Indonesia is Indian," Prof Laladded.

The eminent personalitiesconferred ‘Kalinga Bali SangamSamman’ include JitendraKumar Mohanty, Chairman

Swosti Group of Hotel –Hospitality Industry, SanjayaKumar Biswal- RTO, Ganjam,Public Service, Sri Agus,Chairman, Asram Gandhipuri,Bali, International Relationship,

Dr Akshya Rout, Plastic andCosmetic Surgeon, Director,OCSC, Medical Tourism,Arvind Agarwall, Trustee, SoAm I Foundation Trust SocialService, Dillip Kumar Nayak,

Social Work (Rural HealthCare) and Dr Sanjiv KumarMishra, MD, RadiationOnchology. A scintillating cul-tural programme was organ-ised.

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BHUBANESWAR: A group of miscreants in ine-briated state misbehaved with an actress andassaulted her on road near Chakeisiani under theMancheswar police limits in the city late onThursday night. Reports said the actress was return-ing home from Salepur in Cuttack district with someof her co-artists by a car when four miscreants inter-cepted the vehicle around 2 am. They dragged thedriver out of the car and thrashed him.

Occupants of the vehicle immediately alightedfrom the car to rescue the driver. However, the mis-creants attacked them too. The actress then tele-phoned police for assistance, following which theassailants attacked and misbehaved with her.

Acting on a complaint lodged by her, policedetained two persons for their alleged involvementin the offence. PNS

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The abrogation of Jammuand Kashmir's special sta-

tus under Article 370, the cur-rent situation in the Valleyand the Ram Temple issue willtop the agenda of the RSS'scoordination meeting, begin-ning at Pushkar, Rajasthan, onSaturday, with its affiliates,including the BJP.

The slowdown in the econ-omy in the country will alsocome up for deliberations,sources said. This is the firstcoordination meeting of theRSS after the BJP's victory inthe 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The annual discussionswill be held on a wide-rangingissues including national secu-rity, the situation in the coun-try's border areas and environ-ment conservation, the RSS'spublicity in-charge Arun Kumarsaid at a press conference in theRajasthan city on Friday. He saidno union ministers will beattending the meet as it is acoordination meeting of theRSS, its affiliates and allies.

RSS-affiliate 'Seema

Jagran', which works in theborder areas, may give a pre-sentation on the abrogation ofcertain provisions of Article370 and the situation inKashmir that will be part of dis-cussions at the meet.

The three-day 'SamanvayBaithak' will be attended byRSS chief Mohan Bhagwat andits top functionaries besides BJPworking president JP Nadda ,general secretary (organisa-tion) B L Santhosh and gener-al secretary Ram Madhav.In thepast, Prime Minister NarendraModi had been regularlyattending the discussions.

RSS outfits ,the SwadeshiJagran Manch and the BharatiyaMazdoor Sangh , will brief del-egates on the overall economic

slowdown in the country,sources said.The Vishwa HinduParishad will share details of theongoing judicial proceedingson the disputed Ayodhya tem-ple issue, the sources said.

"Over 200 delegates of 35affiliates and allied organisa-tions of the Sangh will attendthe coordination meeting inwhich discussions will be heldbroadly on national security,the situation in borders areas ofthe country and environmentconservation," Kumar said.

Besides, issues aroundwomen empowerment, SC/STs,the issues of water conserva-tion, development, employ-ment opportunities and migra-tion from border areas wouldbe taken up, Kumar said.

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The Supreme Court onFriday refused to release for

three more months the �10crore deposited by KartiChidambaram with the apexcourt's registry for travellingabroad.

A bench headed by JusticeDeepak Gupta said the amountwill continue to remain infixed deposit for another threemonths.

Karti, who is facing pro-ceedings in cases like Aircel-Maxis and money launderingmatters, had deposited Rs 10crore pursuant to the conditionimposed by the apex court fortravelling abroad.

The apex court had in Maytoo dismissed his plea seekingreturn of the Rs 10 crore. Karti,who is the son of former Unionfinance minister PChidambaram, had earlier

claimed in court that he hadtaken the money on loan andwas paying interest on it.

On May 7, a bench head-ed by the CJI had allowedKarti to travel to the UnitedKingdom, the US, France,Germany and Spain in Mayand June this year.

The apex court had inJanuary also granted Karti per-mission to travel abroad

after depositing Rs 10 crorewith the secretary general ofthe Supreme Court.

The court, on theEnforcement Directorate'srequest, had earlier asked Karti to file an undertaking thathe would return to India andcooperate with the investiga-tion, and warned that if he did not do so it would "comedown heavily" on him.

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The Supreme Court Fridayasked the Delhi High Court

to expeditiously decide on therequest of a special judge forsetting up a temporary court atthe AIIMS hospital to recordthe statements of the Unnaorape survivor, who has sus-tained injuries in an accident.

The special judgeDharmesh Sharma, who isholding trial in the cases relat-ed to the Unnao incident, hadrecently written a letter to theDelhi High Court seeking per-mission to hold in-camera pro-ceedings at AIIMS for record-ing of the statement of thewoman after doctors said it was"not advisable" to bring her tothe court premises.

Sharma has informed theRegistrar General of the highcourt that the CBI, the womanand her family have "no objec-tion" to such deposition.

A bench of Justices DeepakGupta and Aniruddha Bose,also directed the CBI to com-plete within two weeks itsprobe and file the charge sheetin the road accident case, inwhich the rape survivor wasinjured.

It also indicated that if thespecial judge needed morethan 45 days to complete theproceedings, then it may con-sider the request.

While transferring thecases related to Unnao incidentto Delhi, the apex court hadfixed a time limit of 45 days forthe trial court to complete theproceedings.

The bench also sought sta-tus report from the Centrewithin three weeks on settingup of Protection of Childrenfrom Sexual Offences(POCSO) courts in districts,where over 100 cases under theAct have been registered.

The top court had on July25 directed setting up of a cen-trally-funded designated courtin each district having morethan 100 FIRs under thePOCSO Act to deal exclusive-ly with cases of sexual offencesagainst children.

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The Supreme Court onFriday sought a response

from the Centre on petitionschallenging the constitutionalvalidity of the amendmentsmade in the UAPA.

The petitions challengesthe changes to the UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act onvarious grounds, including thatthese infringed upon funda-mental rights of citizens andempowered agencies to declarea person a terrorist.

A bench comprising ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi andJustice Ashok Bhushan issuednotices to the central govern-ment on petitions filed by SajalAwasthi and an NGO,Association for Protection ofCivil Rights (APCR).

The bill for amendments tothe UAPA was passed by

Parliament on August 2 and itreceived the President's assenton August 9. The amended Actallows the Centre to designateindividuals as terrorists andseize their properties.

The Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Amendment Act,2019 also provides for puttinga travel ban on such individu-als once they are declared asterrorists.

The petition filed by APCRsaid the amendments infringedupon the fundamental right toreputation and dignity underArticle 21 of the Constitution,without substantive and pro-cedural due process.

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If you are exposed over a longtime to two air pollutants,

'particulate matter 2.5' and'nitrous oxide', which are bothcommonly found in citiesaround the world, there is ahigh chance that you risk ofdeveloping dementia later inlife, according to a study pub-lished in the Journal ofAlzheimer's Disease.

"This is concerningbecause the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) estimates91 per cent of the world's pop-ulation lives in places where airquality exceeds WHO guide-line limits," Study co-authorNeuroscience ResearchAustralia's Dr Ruth Peters said.

He added that it's difficultfor people to reduce exposureif they live where pollution lev-els are high.

Dementia is a neurode-generative disease — charac-terized by a decline in perfor-mance and cognitive impair-ment in multiple domains andaffects a person's indepen-dence in doing activities ofdaily living.

"This research shows thatgovernment regulation thatreduces our exposure to air pol-lution has a huge potentialhealth and economic benefit."'

Researchers believe air pol-lutants can increase inflam-mation in bodies and raise therisk of having a stroke, whichincreases the likelihood ofdeveloping dementia.Preventing dementia is a focusbecause it has become a grow-ing health problem, whichaffects some 50 million peoplearound the world.

The WHO estimates thatnearly 10 million people eachyear develop the condition.

The study brought togeth-er research on people living in

Canada, Sweden, Taiwan,United Kingdom and theUnited States.

The study is important inthe context of India which ishome to 15 of the 20 most pol-luted cities in the world withsome studies indicating near-ly 700 million Indians areexposed to unhealthy air.

Moreover, with theincrease in the elderly popula-tion, there would be a propor-tionate rise in elderly sufferingfrom dementia as the preva-lence of dementia in the elder-ly is 5 per cent-7 per cent.

In absolute terms, there areabout 35.6 million people liv-ing in the world currently withdementia and 7.7 million newcases of dementia added everyyear, i.e., nearly one case every 4 with highest projectionsin South Asian nations such as

India and China.Over a million Indians

died in 2017 because of the country's dirty air, accord-ing to the Global Burden ofDisease Study.

However, not much isbeing done by the world governments who are failing toaddress the dementia crisis, asper Alzheimer's DiseaseInternational (ADI).

Globally only 31 nation-al plans exist, including just26 WHO Member States,while up to 34 are in devel-opment.

In the last two years onlytwo countries (Chile andQatar) have created plans,meaning at thecurrent rate the 2025 target ofdeveloping plans will not bereached, said Paola Barbarino,CEO of ADI.

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Ignored for years, wetlands inthe country are now all set to

get their much-needed duewith the Centre identifying asmany as 100 of them to berestored within the next fiveyears to help combat landdegradation. Nearly 30% ofcountry's land area has beendegraded through deforesta-tion, over-cultivation, soil ero-sion and depletion of wetlandsincreasing climate changeimpact.

Speaking at the 14th ses-sion of the Conference ofParties to United NationsConvention to CombatDesertification (UNCCD)(COP 14), Manju Pandey, JointSecretary, Union EnvironmentMinistry, said the role of wet-lands is very important inachieving the sustainable devel-opment goals (SDG). TheSDGs are collection of 17 glob-al goals for the year 2030 set bythe United Nations GeneralAssembly in 2015. Of these, 11goals have direct linkages towater.

"Wetlands are finally beinggiven due importance. Theirrole has now been realised.Under the government'sscheme of 'har ghar main jal'(water in every house), weneed to focus not only onbringing water to householdsbut also get to the source and

conserve it."We have identified 100

wetlands across the countrywhich are under pollutionstress, tourism pressure. Wewill keep updating the num-ber," Pandey said.

A wetland is a land areathat is saturated with water,either permanently or season-ally and it takes on the charac-teristics of a distinct ecosystem.According to the the Uniongovernment publicationNational Wetland Atlas, Indiahas 7.5 lakh wetlands.According to data, wetlandshold close to 5% of freshwater.

The official said states havebeen asked to prepare inte-grated management plan indi-cating "where exactly the wet-land is, what are its character-istics".

"We are mostly unaware ofthe size and location of the wet-lands. So we have asked thestates to prepare documents inthis regard so that we canwork for wetlands in the nextfive years.

"Most of the villages havesmall ponds, wetlands whichneed to be protected and anodal officer will be nominat-ed for each wetland and theywill talk to people about wet-lands," the official said at theside event hosted by the WorldWildlife Fund (WWF) at theCOP 14.

She also said the govern-ment has devised wetlandhealth cards to give informa-tion on the wetland, includingthe boundaries defined, oxygencontent and other basic para-meters.

Suresh Babu, Director ofRivers, Wetlands and WaterPolicy at WWF India, empha-sised on the importance ofwetlands in combating deser-tification. "Wetlands are dis-appearing three times fasterthan forests and half of India'srivers are water stressed. Weneed to reverse this trend tofight land degradation," Babusaid.

Brij Gopal, FounderDirector, Centre for InlandWaters in South Asia said thatthe British treated wetlands aswaste lands. The importance ofwetlands is such that theSupreme Court and NationalGreen Tribunal have directedthat even a half hectare ofthese have to be protected.The wetlands are also impor-tant for the water security.

As per estimates, 15 percent of India's flora and 18 percent of the country's faunacomes from the fresh water. Itis estimated that if the shallowwaters disappear, 80 per cent ofthe insect population willbecome extinct.

Manu Bhatnagar, PrincipalDirector of the Indian NationalTrust for Art and CulturalHeritage (INTACH), said that"Everybody wants a piece ofland, but not a land with water.The country has had threewater management policies butthey do not address the prob-lem of basin management."

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Besides providing weatherforecast, the India

Meteorological Department(IMD) has on an experimen-tal basis started a system topredict the likely impact of therainfall in the said region. Theimpact forecast will be basedon the inputs received fromagencies like Ministry of EarthSciences, ISRO, Surveyor ofIndia, Municipal Bodies andPublic Works Department.

The impact of rainfallforecast will include details onflooding of roads, closure ofunderpasses, water logging inlow lying areas, occasionalreduction in visibility, soil ero-sion, disruption of traffic flowin cities, localized mud-sliding

and damage to vulnerablestructures. At present, theIMD provides only weatherupdates with colour coding.

IMD Director General DrMrutyunjay Mohapatra saidthat the target has been set toprovide impact-based weath-er forecast across the country.As a pilot project, he said thatthe IMD on Friday started pro-viding rainfall impact forecaston a host of services in fourcities- Bhuvneshwar,Guwahati, Ahmedabad andSrinagar.

Dr Mohapatra said that theinformation related to rainfallwill also include latest updateon condition of roads, trafficjams, localised flooding ofroads and drains, soil ero-sion, possibilities of damage to

vulnerable structures, waterlogging, closure of under-passes, damage to kutcha roadsand horticulture crops. Hesaid that the IMD will workwith the state departments,disaster management author-ity and national space agencyand collate geographicalinformation system andgeospatial information sys-tem, along with other socio-economic data, including pop-ulation and distribution ofhouses.

The primary aim of theexercise is to provide weatherinformation on a digital plat-form, with geographical co-ordinates giving locations forresidential areas, hospitals andschools. "Instead of just givingweather information, we want

to provide impact-basedweather information and riskbased warnings, not only formeteorological hazards, butgeo-physical hazards," he said.

Dr Mohapatra said thatthe accuracy in climate mon-itoring and forecasting hasgone up over the years. Hesaid the main challenge was"not only to tell about weath-er conditions, but also aboutit direct implications. "Atpresent, we provide forecastonly up to district level andnow we need to go deeper tothe block level. Har blockmausam, har ghanta mausam(Hourly weather informa-tion for every block), that isthe goal for all the 7,000blocks."

On the extreme rainfall in

some parts of the country, theIMD chief said that extremerain events are rising global-ly. India is seeing fewer rainydays, but more extreme rain-fall events. Climate change isa factor, but each monsoonhas inter-annual variations.

The IMD has also pre-dicted heavy downpour overKonkan, Goa and Telangana."Heavy Rainfall at isolatedplaces over Uttarakhand, WestUttar Pradesh, East Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh, Assam andMeghalaya, Nagaland,Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura,Coastal Andhra Pradesh,coastal and South InteriorKarnataka, Kerala and Mahe,"the IMD stated in its AllIndia Weather WarningBulletin.

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Srinagar: Asserting thatPakistan is sustaining terrorismin Jammu & Kashmir, Statepolice chief Dilbagh Singh onFriday said the neighbouringcountry's use of social media toradicalise the youths in theValley remains a "big chal-lenge".

He, however, exuded con-fidence that the police and thearmed forces will rise to thechallenge as they had donemany times in the past.

The director general ofJammu & Kashmir Police wasinteracting with a group oftrainee officers from theCollege of Air Warfare,Secunderabad, at the policeheadquarters here.

"Pakistan has been sus-taining terrorism in Jammu &Kashmir and a large number ofterrorists have been moved tothe launch pads across theborder," Singh said.

He said social media wasbeing used by Pakistan to rad-icalise the young minds in theValley, which remains a "bigchallenge for all of us".

The DGP expressed confi-dence that the police and thesecurity forces together will be

able to meet the challenge."The police enjoy a very

cordial relationship with allforces. There is perfect syner-gy between the security forcesand the police in the state. Thisfact has been recognised evenby the senior functionaries inthe Ministry of Home Affairsand Ministry of Defence," hesaid.

He added that the policealso share a good rapport withthe state's residents, whichhelps in management of lawand order.

During the interaction,Additional Director General of

Police (ADGP) CID B Srinivas;ADGP Armed SJM Gillani;ADGP Security, Law andOrder Munir Ahmad Khanand Inspector General ofPolice, Kashmir, SP Pani,responded to different queriesfrom the visiting officers, apolice spokesperson said.

Earlier, ADGPCoordination, PoliceHeadquarters, A K Choudharywelcomed the visiting officers,the spokesperson said.

As part of their one-yeartraining, the officers are takento the forward areas of Jammu& Kashmir and northeast. PTI

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Sleuths of both the Centraland State intelligence agen-

cies have been directed toclosely monitor suspiciousactivities of over ground work-ers (OGWs) in frontier dis-tricts of Rajouri and Poonchfollowing restoration of mobilecalling facilities in the region.

Following fresh reports ofmovement of Pakistani troopsclose to the line of control(LoC) in Bagh and Kotli sec-tors, the Indian army too hasbeefed up its defences whileremaining in a state of 'high'alert to thwart any nefariousdesigns of the enemy fromacross the line of control.

Highly placed officialsources maintained, "followingrestoration of mobile callingfacility in the region after a gapof 30 days, the sleuths of boththe central and state intelli-gence agencies have beendirected to closely monitorthe activities of the overground workers in their areasof jurisdiction".

Besides tracking theirphysical movement, sleuthsof these intelligence agencieshave been directed to mount'electronic surveillance' onthem so as to prevent themfrom networking with theirhandlers sitting across the lineof control. It has been seen inthe past that Pakistan armymanages to target civilianareas with accuracy on thebasis of inputs shared by theover ground workers of ter-rorist outfits.

Intelligence agencies arealso keeping a close watch onfamilies, whose relatives liveacross the line of control andregularly visiting each other viaKarvan-e-Aman peace bus ser-vice (Between Poonch-Rawlakote) via Chakan-da-Bagh in Poonch.

Efforts are being made toorganise interaction sessionwith the senior members ofthese families to convey themthe circumstances and the pre-vailing security situation whichprompted security agencies totake these measures.

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Hours before Vikram — theChandrayaan–2’s moon

lander— was to make a land-ing on the surface of the moon,Bengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee on Friday landed astraight blow on the CentralGovernment’s face saying the“much hype” over lunar vehi-cle’s maiden touch-down onmoon’s north pole was intend-ed at diverting the nation’sattention from the unprece-dented economic crisis thatIndia was passing through.

Starting with a blisteringattack on the Narendra ModiGovernment for trying tohijack all the credit for thedevelopment of India’s spacescience Banerjee said, “as if theChandrayaan launch is first inthe country. As if before they(BJP) came to power no suchmissions were taken up,”. The“much-manoeuvred” hype onthe moon mission was beingdone to divert the nation’sattention from the “economicdisaster that we are in,” sheadded.

Banerjee, who was giving aspeech on the “maliciousimplementation” of NationalRegister for Citizens in Assamand what her ruling TrinamoolCongress called a “diabolicdesign” to repeat an Assam-likeNRC in Bengal, also said thatthe “BJP leaders are trying totake all the credit for India’ssuccess in space technologyand its mission to moon.”

She said “if the BJP leadersare so much interested in whatis happening in the moon thanin Indian economy then theyshould acquire lands up there,construct their own apart-ments to reside their perma-nently.”

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Kolkata: West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeewrote to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Fridayprotesting against the Centre'sunilateral decision to mergetwo public sector banks head-quartered in the city withoutconsult ing the StateGovernment.

Expressing concern, shesaid the merger and the threatof shifting of the banks' head-quarters will affect the devel-opmental momentum of thestate.

Banerjee in her letterurged Modi not to go for thebank merger, which wasannounced on August 30.

"Im deeply concerned tolearn that two public sectorbanks headquartered inKolkata are being mergedwith banks headquartered inDelhi and Chennai respec-tively without any consulta-tion with the state govern-ment or with the managementof these two banks," Banerjeesaid in her letter to Modi.

The unilateral decisionof merger of banks and threatof shifting headquarters fromWest Bengal will adverselyaffect the developmentalmomentum of the state, sheadded.

Banerjee, who is also the TMC supremo and a stri-dent critic of the BJP, in herletter expressed her concernover the future of thousandsof employees of the twobanks.

I strongly urge you not tomerge UBI with PNB andAllahabad Bank with IndianBank and thereby also raisethe spectre of moving theheadquarters of these twoleading banks out of Kolkata,she wrote in her letter toModi.

The BJP-led central gov-ernment had on August 30announced four major merg-ers of public sector banks,bringing down their totalnumber to 12 from 27 in2017, a move aimed at mak-ing state-owned lenders glob-al sized banks.

United Bank of India andOriental Bank of Commercewill be merged with PunjabNational Bank, making theproposed entity the secondlargest public sector bank(PSB). PTI

Lakhimpur Kheri (UP): A 23-year-old Dalit officer has com-mitted suicide in Uttar Pradesh'sLakhimpur Kheri district, alleg-ing humiliation and mentalharassment by a village head, aleader of a farmers' outfit andothers, police said on Friday.

Trivendra Kumar Gautam,who had started his service as avillage development officer(VDO) last year and posted atKumbhi block, hanged himselfto death at his home onWednesday night. His body wasrecovered on Thursday from therented accommodation atShivsagar locality of Lakhimpurtown, 130 km north of Lucknow,police said.

In a hand-written suicidenote addressed to his father,Gautam blamed the districtpresident of a farmers' outfit, thehead of Rasoolpur village andthe son of another village head

behind the decision to end hislife. A video has gone viral on thesocial media, purportedly show-ing the young officer beinghumiliated at a public meeting.

A man could be heard in thenoisy video questioningGautam's professionalism andcalled him a 'kaamchor' (shirk-er), adding that such officersshould be thrashed with shoesand kicked out.

In the note recovered fromhis room, Gautam alleged thatthey were humiliating and men-tally harassing him. The officeralso stated that he was subject-ed to abuses and targeted overreservation, which, he said, iswrong. Gautam also stated thathe is troubled and feels that heis a failure. He called for pun-ishing the farmers' party presi-dent and the village head afterhis death. Five people, includingthe three from the farmers' out-

fit, have been arrested,Additional Superintendent ofPolice Shailendra Lal told PTI.

An FIR had been lodgedunder Section 306 (abetment tosuicide) of the Indian PenalCode and various sections of theScheduled Castes and ScheduledTribes (Prevention of Atrocities)Act, and the InformationTechnology Act, the ASP said.

"Investigations are on andno one found involved will bespared," Lal said. Meanwhile,agitated over their colleague'ssuicide, dozens of village devel-opment officers held a demon-stration at the Vikas Bhawan onThursday. The protesters, underthe aegis of the Gram PanchayatAdhikari Sangh, threatened toboycott work if the guilty werenot held within three days.The officers also handed amemorandum to the districtmagistrate. PTI

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Inscription of pictures of ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar

Rao and TRS party symbolbesides various welfare schemesof the TRS Government onfamous Yadadri temple pillarshas created a storm.

While the TRS and StateGovernment are trying to dis-tance themselves from the con-troversy by staying mum on theissue, the Opposition Congressand BJP have accused KCR oftrying to project himself as a'demi God' with this act at thecost of public money in thename of Yadadri temple reno-vation works.

Tension prevailed atYadadri temple premises onFriday as scores of activisitsbelonging to Vishwa HinduParishad, Bajrang Dal andHindu Parirakshana Samithitried to enter into the temple toprotest ‘politicisation’ of Yadadritemple by TRS Government inthe name of temple renovation.

Heavy police force wasdeployed to prevent them fromentering into the templepremises, which led to scufflebetween the police and theactivists.

The activists raised slongansagainst KCR and TRS anddemanded removal of politicalsymbols from the pillars imme-diately and conduct a thor-ough enquiry to find out theculprits behind this ‘unholy act’.

Officials of endowmentsdepartment and YTDA

(Yadadri Temple DevelopmentAuthority) went into oblivion assoon as the news broke outabout inscription of politicalsymbols on Yadadri pillars onFriday. Endowments Minister AIndrakaran Reddy, top offi-cials of endowments depart-ment who include secretaryand commissioner remainedinaccessible , apparently fromthe directions of ‘governmentheads’, who asked them not toreact on this issue. Strictinstructions were also issued to

TRS party leaders not to reactor give media statements on thisissue. With this, there was noresponse either from the gov-ernment side or from TRS sideon this issue.

However, the issue trig-gered sharp protests and criti-cism from Opposition parties.

The Congress alleged thatKCR has been trying to portrayhimself as a 'Demi God' ofTelangana State. TPCC treasurerGudur Narayana Reddy saidm"This is highly condemnable asthe expansion of Yadadri tem-ple is being done with publicmoney and not with the per-sonal wallet of KCR. He mustrealise that he is just a publicrepresentative and not a king.No one can tamper with thesantity of temples and equatethemselves with Gods," he said

BJP warned KCR with direconsequences, if he doesn'timmediately take down thosepillars and replace them withacceptable ones, as per theHindu temple norms.

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Severing its links with thePrakash Ambedkar-led

Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi(VBA), the Hyderabad-basedAll India Majlis-e-IttehadulMuslimeen (AIMIM) on Fridayannounced that it would go italone in the State Assemblypolls to be held next month.

In a statement issued here,AIMIM’s Maharashtra presi-dent Imitaz Jaleel said that theVBA had — in the seat sharingarrangement for the StateAssembly polls — allotted mereeight seats out of the total 288seats. “This is simply unac-ceptable and unjustified as thelist does not include the sittingseat AIMIM — AurangabadCentral,” Jaleel said.

“After prolonged discus-sions with Prakash Ambedkarjilasting for two months, wecould not reach a respectablefigure in the seat distributionbetween my party and VBA,”Jaleel said.

Announcing that his partywould contest the polls on itsown strength, Jaleel — who isthe lone AIMIM MP fromMaharashtra — said that hisparty would soon hold inter-views for the prospective can-didates in Aurangabad.

The VBA is a merged enti-ty of political political outfitsand groups representing Dalits,Tribals, Dhangars, Kolis, Agris,Banjaras, Malis, Kaikadis andother communities. TheAIMIM was part of the VBAduring the Lok Sabha polls.

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Ascientific study carriedout in the Western Ghats

shows that deforestationincreases human-elephantconflict. The study conductedin Bhadra Tiger Reserve in thenorth and the NilgiriBiosphere Reserve in the southand spanned over 47,000 km2across Karnataka, Tamil Naduand Kerala States. This areahosts one of the highest den-sities and abundance of wildAsian elephants in the world.One can see more than 6000elephants in Nilgiri Biospherewhich is one of the endangeredecological hotspots in theworld.

The study conducted bywildlife biologists Jean-Philippe Puyravaud, SanjayGubbi, H. C. Poornesha and

Priya Davidar and also pub-lished in the in the journal“Tropical ConservationScience” using maps from the1960s and satellite imagery,compared past forest cover tothe recent agricultural mosaicsfor a period of 44 years andfound a severe loss of elephanthabitat.

According to the studydata shows that between theyears 1960 and 2004 a total of4,023 km2 of forests and 2,738km2 of scrub amounting to6,761 km2 (1,67,0679 acres) ofelephant habitat have beenlost to agriculture, infrastruc-ture development, and otheractivities. The lost elephanthabitat is nearly equivalent toten times the current size ofBengaluru city.

“In the same region, theagricultural mosaic increased

by 7,123 km2 of which 88%was outside protected areas(6,266 km2) while 12% (857km2) was inside protected

areas which was largely in thestate of Kerala and in Gudalurregion of Tamil Nadu. Theannual deforestation rate was

estimated at 0.85% per year”,the study reveals.

The authors further usedrecords of conflict incidences

and correlated the incidentswith the intensity of defor-estation. The results showedthat human-elephant conflictincidents occurred at loca-tions where deforestation ratewas high and such incidentsdid not occur at random. Thedistricts of Kodagu andHassan witness some of thehighest human-elephant con-flict incidences in the country.A total of 64 people have diedin Kodagu and Hassan due toelephant conflict in the last 10years.

“Elephants have continuedto survive in this deforestedarea possibly relying only insmall refugia of forests thusleading to a situation whereisolated elephant populationsare struggling with the landtransformation. Elephantscome in frequent contact with

humans in areas where theirhabitat vanishes which is arecipe for disaster”, the studypoints to the disaster.

In its interesting revela-tions the study points out thatthis deforestation severed theelephant habitat link betweenNilgiri Biosphere Reserve andthe Bhadra Tiger Reserve andmost notably in Hassan andKodagu districts. The defor-estation in the two districtsmostly occurred in areas thatexisted in private lands.

The study emphasizes theimportance of proactivelyreducing deforestation, loss,and fragmentation of elephanthabitats to reduce the loss ofhuman lives and livelihoods,and at the same time negativeattitudes towards wildlife.Development can be achievedwith conservation for the ben-

efit of humans and wildlife.“But requires an optimizationof the landscape organizationby zoning of activities, inother words, by allowing theright economic activity at theright place. The study alsohighlights the importance ofprotected areas in reducingdeforestation, as the highestloss of elephant habitats wasoutside protected areas” thestudy suggests .

The study also found thatthe number of incidences washighest within four-kilometerof the protected area bound-ary. The study suggests theidea of zonation which is par-ticularly appropriate in thiscase: Also better land useplanning, awareness and ade-quate activities within thiszone can help reduce impactfor both people and animals.

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Guwahati: Senior Congressleader Tarun Gogoi has writtento Chief Justice of India RanjanGogoi alleging that NRC StateCoordinator Prateek Hajela didnot discharge his duty effi-ciently while preparing thefinal list published last week,and requested him to review thematter.

The National Register ofCitizens in Assam was updat-ed under the monitoring of theSupreme Court and the final listwhich validates bonafide Indiancitizens of the state, excludedover 19 lakh applicants.

In a letter to the CJI, TarunGogoi alleged that Hajela didnot follow the direction of theapex court although over50,000 Government officialswere engaged in the NRCupdation job and around�1,200 crore was spent at thecost of development work ofthe state.

"Now the question arises

about the fates of several lakhpeople who have been left outof the NRC and have to moveto Foreigners Tribunals to provetheir citizenship and faceharassment, not due to theirfaults but due to the callousnessand inefficiency of the NRCauthority," he said.

In the letter written onThursday and made available toPTI on Friday, the three-timeCongress chief minister said anumber of people were exclud-ed though their names werethere in the voters' lists of both1966 and 2019.

March 24, 1971, is the cut-off date for making a legitimateclaim to Indian citizenship.

"The (voters') list was pre-pared by Election Commissionof India, a constitutional body,and so how could the names ofpeople in it be excluded fromthe NRC," Gogoi said.

The final NRC has beenrejected by all political parties,

social organisations and intel-lectuals of the state, TarunGogoi said.

He also claimed that BJP-headed governments at thestate and the Centre are con-tradicting each other on thefinal NRC.

State Finance MinisterHimanta Biswa Sarma andAssam BJP president RanjitDass rejected the documentclaiming it has anomalies,whereas a statement of theMinistry of External Affairsmaintained that the NRCupdate was statutory, transpar-ent and a legal process, man-dated and monitored by theSupreme Court, the Congressleader said in the letter.

"The state government, if Iam not wrong, is trying toblame the Supreme Court bymaking allegations that theyhad their limitations due to theinterference of the highestcourt," he wrote to the CJI. PTI

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Kolkata: West Bengal Assemblyon Friday passed a resolutiondenouncing the NRC in Assamand Chief Minister MamataBanerjee asserted that she willnever allow such an exercise toever take place in the State.

The resolution movedjointly by the ruling TrinamoolCongress and OppositionCongress and CPI(M) waspased by voice vote while theBJP boycotted it.

"We will never let BJPimplement the NationalRegister of Citizens in WestBengal," Banerjee said at theAssembly during a discussionon the motion on the NRCwhich is a validation of Indiancitizenship in Assam.

"The Assam Accord wassigned during Rajiv Gandhi's

regime so that peace and tran-quility return to Assam. Thiswas not acceptable to any otherstates," she said during the dis-cussion on the motion underRule 185.

She went on to add "I wel-come Nitish Kumar's statementthat they (his party the JD(U))will also not implement NRC inBihar".

The NRC in Assam wasupdated under the monitoringof the Supreme Court and thefinal list, published on August31, excluded over 19 lakh appli-cants. The cut off date wasMarch 24, 1971.

The BJP has often said it willimplement the NRC in WestBengal and has accused Banerjeeof opposing it for the sake ofminority vote bank. PTI

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Prime Minister NarendraModi will lay foundation

stone for the development ofthree metro lines, inaugurate ametro station and state-of-the-Art metro coach in Mumbai.He will also address a women’srally at Aurangabad during hisdaylong visit to Mumbai andMaharashtra on Saturday.

During his visit to themetropolis, the Prime Ministerfoundation stone for the devel-opment of three metro lines,which together will add morethan 42 km to the metro net-work of the city.

The three corridors are: 9.2km-long Gaimukh to ShivajiChowk (Mira Road) Metro-10corridor, 12.7 km-long Wadala

to Chhatrapati Shivaji MaharajTerminus Metro-11 corridorand 20.7 km-long Kalyan toTaloja Metro-12 corridor.

Modi will also lay founda-tion stone for a state-of-the-artMetro Bhavan, a 32-storey cen-tre that will operate and con-trol 14 metro lines measuringaround 340 km.

He will inaugurateBandongri Metro Station atKandivali East and a state-of-the-art metro coach, the firstmetro coach manufacturedunder “Make in India”. He willlater release a Brand Vision

Document for Maha MumbaiMetro.

While in Aurangabad, thePrime Minister will address astate-level Mahila SakshamMelava or EmpoweredWomen’s Meet of Self HelpGroups, being organized byMaharashtra State RuralLivelihood Mission (UMED).

Modi, who was to kickstarta host of projects in Nagpur,cancelled his visit to Nagpur.""As IMD has declared 'RedAlert'of extremely heavy rain-fall warningin Nagpur andVidarbha region, the proposedvisit of the Prime Minister toNagpur tomorrow has beencancelled," a statement issuedby the Press InformationBureau (PIB) stated late onFriday night.

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The MaharashtraGovernment’s move to con-

vert 25 forts across the Stateinto heritage hotels and wed-ding venues to promote privateinvestments has sparked a con-troversy, with the Oppositionleaders strongly opposing themove on the ground that sucha move would deprive thecommon people of access tothe historic forts.

The Opposition parties’anger should be seen in the lightof the fact that most of the fortsin the state have emotionalconnect with Maratha warriorChhatrapati Shivaji and anyeffort by the state governmentto tamper with these forts is nottaken kindly by people fromvarious walks of lives, includinghistorians.

Hitting out at the DevendraFadnavis dispensation for avoid-able decision to convert 25 fortsin the state into heritage hotelsand wedding venues, seniorCongress leader and formerchief minister Ashok Chavansaid: “On one hand, the BJP garners votes in the electionsusing the name of Marathawarrior Chhatrapati Shiv Sena,while it is on the other hand itis now out to sell the forts. Theseforts portray history and cultureof Maharashtra. Convertingthem into heritage hotels isdepriving their access to thecommon people”.

“The decision is a big blun-der. Instead, the state govern-ment should have taken steps topreserve these forts,” the formerchief minister said.

Without mincing words,NCP MP Surpriya Sule tweet-

ed: “ The forts in Maharashtrahave historical connect withChhatrapati Shivaji. We strong-ly oppose the state govern-ment’s move to convert fortsinto heritage hotels and restau-rants. If anything, the state gov-ernment should take steps topreserve the forts based on theopinion from internationalexperts”.

Slamming the state gov-ernment’s questionable deci-sion, MNS spokesperson AnilShidore said: “The people areupset with the state govern-ment’s decision to convert 25forts into heritage hotels andwedding venues. Maharashtrahas rich history of which weshould all be proud. Pleasedon’t market our history”.

Meanwhile, TourismMinister Jaykumar Rawal, whohimself is from a royal family,defended the state government’sdecision and: “We are not goingto touch any of the forts withwhich Shivaji is involved. “Aneffort is being spread rumoursabout the decision relating tothe promote heritage tourismthrough private investments inforts. The state government hasnot taken any decision relatingShivaji-linked forts in the state.They would neither be con-verted into hotels or used aswedding venues”.

“There are three kinds offorts in Maharashtra. The onesassociated with ChhatrapatiShivaji Maharashtra, thosecoming under the ASI or theDirectorate of Archaeologyand Museum and other smallforts coming under Revenue,Forest or Tourism depart-ments,” Rawal said.

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The All India Congress Committee (AICC) on Fridayappointed senior party leader Eknath Gaikwad as

the acting president of Mumbai Regional CongressCommittee (MRCC), following the resignation ofMilind Deora from the post.

Deora resigned from his post as the MRCC presi-dent owning moral responsibility for the dismissal per-formance of the Congress in the recent Lok Sabha pollsin which the party failed to even one of the six seats inMumbai.

In a statement announcement appointing Gaikwadas the acting president of MRCC, AICC general secre-tary K C Venugopal appreciated the contribution madeby Deora as the outgoing Mumbai unit president.

Gaikwad is currently the working president ofMRCC.

Gaikwad's appointment as the MRCC’s acting pres-ident comes in the run-up to the State Assembly pollsto be held next month. PTI

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Mangaluru: A Karnataka IASofficer resigned on Friday, claim-ing that the fundamental build-ing blocks of democracy arebeing compromised in anunprecedented manner, a movethat immediately took on apolitical colour with theCongress seeking to target theNDA Government on the issue.

Dakshina Kannada districtDeputy Commissioner (DC) SSasikanth Senthil tendered hisresignation from the IAS andclarified that the decision waspurely a personal one.

"I have taken this decision asI feel that it is unethical for meto continue as a civil servant inthe government when the fun-damental building blocks ofour diverse democracy are being

compromised in an unprece-dented manner", Senthil said ina letter to his 'friends'.

He also said he feels strong-ly that the coming days will pre-sent extremely difficult chal-lenges to the basic fabric of thenation and that he would be bet-ter off outside the IAS to con-tinue with his work at makinglife better for all.

"It simply cannot be busi-ness as usual anymore," heremarked.

Meanwhile, Congress lead-ers, including LegislativeCouncil member Ivan D'Souzaand party workers staged aprotest in the DakshinaKannada district headquarterstown of Mangaluru againstSenthil quitting from the IAS.

Veteran Congress leader MMallikarjun Kharge termed theresignation as an "indicator ofthe way India is moving".

"The democratic values arein danger and things are nothappening according to theconstitutional provisions. Hencethere is dejection. These IASofficers function directly comeunder the Central government.

That's the reason thathe(Senthil) has resigned,"Kharge claimed while talkingreporters. He also alleged thatinstitutions like the Income Tax,Central Bureau of Investigation,Central Vigilance Commissionand the judiciary were losingtheir "independence" due to the'interference' of the CentralGovernment. PTI

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Kolhapur: Three more suspectswere on Friday arrested by aSpecial Investigation Team (SIT)in connection with the 2015killing of veteran CPI leaderGovind Pansare here inMaharashtra, police officialssaid. With this, the number ofaccused arrested in the Pansarecase has gone up to 12.

The trio - Sachin Andure,Amit Baddi and Ganesh Miskin- was lodged in jails in Mumbaiand Pune under judicial custodyin different cases, they said.

They were formally arrest-ed from jails in the Pansare caseby the SIT of the state CID, theofficials said.

Andure, an alleged sharpshooter, was lodged in Pune'sYerawada Jail in the NarendraDabholkar case, while Baddi andMiskin were under judicial cus-tody in Arthur Road jail ofMumbai, they said.

Baddi and Miskin areaccused in the Gauri Lankeshcase of Karnatka and also in theNallasopara arms haul case ofMaharashtra. Pansare was shotat on February 16, 2015 inKolhapur and succumbed to hisinjuries on February 20.Narendra Dabholkar, a notedrationalist, was shot dead onAugust 20, 2013 in Pune whilehe was on a morning walk. PTI

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Aizawl: The Centre has approved anamount of �350 crore for the ninthphase of Bru repatriation from sixrelief camps of neighbouring Tripura,a senior home department officialsaid.

The approval came during aJoint Monitoring Group meeting onBru repatriation, chaired by SpecialSecretary (internal security), Ministryof Home Affairs, A P Maheswari, inDelhi on Friday, Mizoram HomeSecretary Lalbiakzama said.

The state had last month identi-fied 4,447 Bru families for the exer-cise, scheduled to begin on October1, he said.

"The approved amount of �350crore would cover transportationand rehabilitation package expenses,

which includes �5,000 per month foreach resettled Bru family in Mizoramand free ration for two years,"Lalbiakzama, who represented thestate in the meeting, told PTI overphone.

Among others who attendedFriday's meeting were senior officialsof the Ministry of Home Affairs, rep-resentatives of home departments ofTripura and Mizoram and organisa-tions representing Brus.

The Bru community, also calledReangs, is among the 21 scheduledtribes in the country.

Thousands of Brus had fled toTripura in 1997 in the wake of acommunal tension triggered by thekilling of a forest guard by militantsinside Dampa Tiger Reserve. PTI

Coimbatore: With increase inthe inflow water into theMettur dam in Salem dis-trict, authorities on Fridayissued a flood warning to 12districts of Tamil Naduthrough which the Cauverywater courses.

In its first flood warning,the public works departmentcautioned people living on thebanks of the Cauvery andlow lying areas to move tosafer places.

It also asked the districtadministration to take neces-sary precautionary measuresin the downstream of Cauveryand also for safety and secu-rity of people and properties.

Stating that the water levelin the dam has reached 117.590 feet as against full level of120 feet, authorities said theEllis saddle sluice gates will beopened soon. PTI

Jammu: After nearly 30 years,trial in the killing of four IndianAir Force personnel in Kashmirwill begin next week as a spe-cial court has issued productionwarrant against JKLF chief andmain accused in the case YasinMalik, officials said.

Besides Malik, who is atpresent in judicial custody afterhe was placed under arrest bythe National InvestigationAgency (NIA) in connectionwith a terror funding case,warrants have been issuedagainst three others.

The officials said that Malikwas likely to be producedthrough video conferencingand requisite permission wasbeing sought for that.

Besides the killing of IndianAir Force officers on January25, 1990 on the outskirts ofSrinagar city, Malik is also anaccused in the kidnapping ofthe then union home ministerMufti Mohammed Sayeed'sdaughter in 1989.

Two charge sheets werefiled by the CBI in August andSeptember 1990 against Malikbefore the designated TADAcourt in Jammu.

In 1995, he was granted astay on trial by a single benchof the Jammu & Kashmir HighCourt as there was no TADAcourt in Srinagar.

In 2008, Malik approacheda special court saying that thetrial should be shifted toSrinagar as he was facing lot ofproblems of security in view ofthe Amarnath row — an agita-tion which had divided peopleof Jammu & Kashmir on reli-gious lines over the issue of leas-ing out land to outsiders duringthe annual pilgrimage. PTI

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The terms “Right-wing” and “Left-wing” are now a recurrent part ofour discourse. They are used aslabels for “conservatives” and “lib-erals” and collectively those who

have a view on both cultural and economicpractices of a State. Originally, the two termswere coined during the French Revolutionwhen, in the summer of 1789, members ofthe French National Assembly met to begindrafting a new Constitution. Delegates pri-marily debated on the kind of authority KingLouis XVI should have. The faction that sup-ported the monarchy and who were moreconservative, the aristocratic section, seatedthemselves on the right of the room whileother “anti-royal” revolutionaries seatedthemselves to the left.

The difference between the Right and theLeft wing is no longer about debating the roleof the monarchy. However, stemming fromthis accidental birth, the principles on whatessentially constitutes “right” and “left” winghave become more established over time.Right-wingers or conservatives are typicallycharacterised with a social policy of machonationalism with a strong emphasis onthings like limiting immigration. In terms ofeconomic policy, the Right-wing is typicallycharacterised as one which focusses on min-imum governance, where the role of the Stateis less of a grandfather and where business-es are allowed to channel and give effect tothe demands of the economy.

On the other hand, in terms of social pol-icy, the Left-wing is characterised as a pro-ponent of minority rights, more economicequality and plays the larger role of the Stateto step in for those who need them. This isstill a rather relaxed characterisation but I hopeit captures the essence of the two sides.

These terms are often liberally used todescribe parties in our country. To cite anexample, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) isoften identified as the Right-wing party andthe Congress as more Left of Centre. Suchsimple classification, however, does injusticeto the complex political party system andethos in India. The BJP loves to portray itselfas India’s Right-wing or conservative option.It furthers this idea through statements to themedia. For example, in 2014, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi declared that the BJP believesin “minimum Government, maximum gov-ernance” and will execute these values. Thesestatements got the response the party desiredas it tried to establish and strengthen its holdamong middle class urban businessmentired of the overbearing role of the State.

While the BJP identified the right painpoint — that the State often turns out to bean inhibitor of entrepreneurial spirit — thepast five years have shown just how disingen-uous the party has been in tackling the actu-al problems of an overbearing Government.Instead, it has taken it one step further. Froma social point of view, the role of “State” in oureveryday lives could not be higher. Today, itdirectly (through laws) tells its people what

they can eat, where they can go,how to dress and who to marry,among other things. If this is notdone directly, it is done indirect-ly through instruments of theState like the police or throughmore informal means by allow-ing non-state bodies to get awayfor attacking people who dress acertain way or eat certain things.

This is hardly the brand of a“Right-wing party.” On the aspectof macho nationalism, the BJP isan extreme form of the Right-wing. It would be acceptable,even encouraged, if it advocateda strong India where its peopleare steadfast about their beliefsand there is pride among Indiansabout the country. However, thatis not the version of nationalismwe see today.

Instead, what we have is achest-thumping form of nation-alism. One that is so loud thatone cannot even hear a murmurof dissent. This form of machonationalism displays a strongouter core but at the same timebetrays a weak inner belief, onethat is scared of editorials and ofprotest. This form of national-ism is less about building astronger India and more aboutmanaging the Government’sperception. In its social policy,the BJP, therefore, appears tohave borrowed the worst partsof the Right-wing and foregonesome of the better ones.

On the economic front,too, it appears we have been lied

to. When the Prime Ministersaid that he believed in “maxi-mum governance and mini-mum Government”, Indiansassumed that this meant that theBJP would reduce the retardingeffect of bureaucracy and Indianlaws on a doe-eyed entrepre-neur. However, this has not beenthe case.

Instead, the notion that thebusiness and entrepreneurialcommunity would gain from a“minimum Government” hasbeen shattered. One had hopedthe State would have a lesser roleto play in terms of approvals ortax compliances. Instead, whatwe have been given is a scariermonster where direct taxauthorities harass tax-payingcitizens and exercise their wideberth of powers without anychecks and balances.

Similarly, in terms of indi-rect taxes, the way in which theGoods and Services Tax (GST)was implemented has made itmore intrusive than ever. Theeffect of this can be gauged bythe comments made by manybusinessmen, who previouslysupported the BJP Governmentbut have now come to realisethat things are much worseunder its stewardship.

Another hope from a con-servative Government is stabili-ty of policy. This means that peo-ple, who are governed by a con-servative Government, expect itnot to change or alter its policies

as per its own whims and fanciesand ensure businesses are notaffected. An extension of this pol-icy, although it should really notrequire saying, is that a “conser-vative Government” should notattack or wear down a sector ofthe economy that contributes tothe country’s growth.

However, this is exactly whathas happened. In a recently pub-lished article in The Mint, thewriter argued how throughdemonetisation and a shoddyGST programme, theGovernment essentially waged awar on the informal sector eventhough more than 30 per cent ofthe economy is completely infor-mal and over two-third of theworkforce is employed in infor-mal enterprises.

Therefore, this has madethe “BJP’s war on informalityessentially a war on the economy.”The ironic bit is that the currentversion of the BJP, with its Right-wing social policies and far Lefteconomic policies, is closer to acommunist State (like China inthe 1980s) and fails to neither bea good socialist State that takescare of those who cannot takecare of themselves, nor a conser-vative role model with morefree markets and minimum inter-ference. Maximum governance,Minimum Government? Youmust be having a laugh.

(The writer is former presi-dent of Jharkhand PradeshCongress Committee)

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Auto shutdown” (September6). A dip in sales of passengercars and commercial vehicles isa fair indicator of the directionand growth of the Indian econ-omy. And it is not just these twosegments but sales of two andthree-wheelers, too, have consid-erably slowed down in the lastfew quarters.

Major transport associationsthreatening to stop buying newtrucks is more bad news for theeconomy. In general, the entireauto sector is going through atroubled phase. The Governmentcannot be a mute spectator to thisslowdown.

While all demands cannot bemet, some, like the reduction inGST rates and two per cent TDSon cash withdrawal should beheard. When the Bharat-VI stagevehicles will roll out in sevenmonths, the Government as alsoother stakeholders need to be onthe same page and resolve all con-cerns. Like auto sales, commer-cial vehicle sales are equally crit-ical for perking up the economy.

Bal GovindNoida

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Sir — It was heartening to watchAustralian cricketer Steve Smithplay exceptionally well on day twoof the fourth Ashes Test played atthe Old Trafford Cricket Ground,Manchester. Smith, who is nowranked at No 1 position once

again in the ICC Test rankings,made a massive comeback in redball cricket after being banned fora year. It is interesting to note thatSmith completed his 500 runs inonly three Test Matches after hit-ting his 26th century and thirddouble century on the second dayof the fourth Test.

Smith is inarguably one of the

most accomplished batsmen ofmodern-day cricket as far as thefive-day form of the game is con-cerned. After a continuous failedopening from David Warner inthis series, it would be wise if heis made to open in forthcomingTest Matches.

Tushar AnandPatna

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Do the crime, pay fine”(September 4). Just a few dayshave passed since the implemen-tation of the newly-amendedMotor Vehicles Act and peoplehave raised a lot of hue and cryover the huge penalties the newlaw imposes for petty offences.

These are the very peoplewho are least bothered aboutendangering human lives onroads. And they are also the oneswho are more worried aboutcash settlement when they arebooked for committing a trafficoffence.

The Act has the potential tobring down the number of roadaccident deaths, and mostimportantly, bring about abehavioural change. For the Actto be a success, it is also essen-tial that traffic police is deployedin sufficient numbers andwrong-doers hauled up. Thereshould be no room for corrup-tion or bribery.

M Pradyu Kannur

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One of the most challenging problems of ourtimes is homelessness. While we contin-ue to record improvements in dealing with

poverty, homelessness has elicited but an unimag-inative response from policy doctors. The apathet-ic approach of successive Governments is symp-tomatic of the disease that ails India’s housing sys-tem.

A decent habitat and shelter for the under-privileged can contribute not just to their well-being but also catalyse overall economic growth.It is thus critical to recognise housing investmentas a basic, fundamental building block of econom-ic activity. There is nothing more critical to a fam-ily’s quality of life than a healthy, safe living space.Sustainable and inclusive housing solutions couldbolster economic growth quickly and efficientlyand hence should be given priority over educa-tion and health.

Housing is not a standalone issue: It is close-ly intertwined with and often the cause of a slewof health and developmental problems. Poor ven-tilation and inability to maintain basic hygiene aremajor causes of poor health. Fragile building struc-tures undermine safety and vastly increase vul-nerability to disaster. Lack of lighting and spacelimits the ability of children to study. Inadequateprivacy and lack of sanitation contribute to a hostof diseases, thereby perpetuating poverty.

For many people in the developing world, theland on which they live is their only asset. If thatproperty is not publicly recognised as belongingto them, they lose out on social benefits.

Land ownership is often the bedrock of otherdevelopment interventions: Owning land boostsnutrition, educational outcomes and genderequality. The converse is equally true. Where landsecurity is absent or weak — that is, when menand women do not receive recognised legal rightsto their land and can thus be easily displaced with-out recourse — development efforts flounder,undermining conservation efforts, seeding injus-tice and conflict and frustrating efforts to escapepoverty.

For most of India’s poor and the vulnerable,secure property rights, including land tenure, makefor a rare accessible luxury. Many who live in slumshave little to no control over or ownership of theproperty they live on. The lack of official land titlesis a major impediment to the acquisition of hous-ing finance. People do not have documentaryproof of being owners of the piece of land on whichthey live and are, therefore, legally insecure. Manylow-income villagers have owned their land forgenerations. The formal financial sector is unableto serve them. Once titled, they could obtain accessto several public benefits including loans.

Lack of ownership rights deprives people ofbasic amenities. Once titled, they can obtain accessto several Government benefits. Even a small plotcan lift a family out of extreme poverty.

Millions of urban citizens remain off the map,with the Government failing to extend basic ser-vices to slum residents by using the concept ofopportunistic influx—the idea that the provisionof services might encourage greater migrationfrom rural areas — thereby paradoxically increas-ing urban deprivation.

Traditional housing finance has not offeredproducts tailored to low-income people but a rangeof financial institutions is applying good micro-

finance practices to housing finance.This is allowing them to successfullydeliver much-needed services to eco-nomically weaker customers. Successfulhousing micro-finance providers havemarried the core principles of themicro-credit movement — peer-basedborrower selection and repaymentenforcement, close follow-up on repay-ment and so on — with the technicalexpertise required to investigate landownership.

In response to the non-availabilityof tangible collateral from low-incomehouseholds, as required by the formalfinancial sector, a new stream of lend-ing has emerged, called housing micro-finance. Institutionalised micro-financesystems have come up with innovativesolutions.

These draw on the best practices inmicro-finance but remain adapted to theclassical housing finance paradigm.This has been highly successful wher-ever Governments are offering long-term tenancies and shared-ownershiphousing in a supportive context. But thesector is still in need of a more sustain-able business model to grow.

Housing micro-finance is broadlydefined as small, non-mortgage-backedloans dedicated to housing activities,offered in sequences to support theincremental building practices of low-income populations. It can include arange of financial services that supportimproving or upgrading housing suchas home repair and expansions, addi-tional cooking space, water and sanita-tion services, energy efficiency upgrades,the purchase of inhabitable land or per-manent structures and the constructionof new housing.

The demand for housing micro-finance is high. Clients already chan-

nelise a good portion of micro-enterpriseloans to home improvement. Micro-entrepreneurs often use their homes asproductive assets in generating income.A home can be a place to store inven-tory, produce goods and run a business.A home is a personal asset that usuallyappreciates in value over time. Homeimprovement, thus, not only enhancesliving conditions but is also an invest-ment.

The housing sector demands a highlevel of creativity. There is a lot to bedone across a range of policy areas toimprove the functioning of differentaspects of our housing system. The con-ventional bureaucratic approach andthinking of business-as-usual can mere-ly scratch the surface of the problem. Thestresses are mounting fast and Indianeeds to start talking very seriouslyabout the elephant in the room. For anyplanned interventions to be successful,hard-coded timelines are required.These timelines should be insulated frompolitical turbulence.

One major cause of India’s aggravat-ing problem is the weak legal structurefor handling rental housing. Accordingto census data, the share of rental hous-ing in total housing fell from 54 per centin 1961 to 28 per cent in 2011. That year,despite a severe shortage of rental hous-ing, 11.09 million urban propertiesremained vacant across India. In mostStates in India, traditionally, rent con-trol laws have disproportionately protect-ed the tenant. Consequently, we have theparadoxical situation of unsatisfieddemand for rental housing while manyunits lie vacant.

It is time the Government putsrental housing to use. Its share in over-all housing has been steadily declining.There is clearly need for replacing cur-

rent rent control laws with a modern ten-ancy law, which would give full freedomto tenants and owners to negotiate therent and the length of the lease. Ruleswith respect to eviction also need to bereformed to restore balance between therights of tenants and the owners.

We need a differently structured andmore professional market rental sector.A Model Rent Act is needed to promoterental housing. A unit should be fixedby mutual agreement between the land-lord and the tenant for a stipulated leaseperiod prior to which the tenant will notbe allowed to be evicted and after theexpiry of the lease period, the tenant willnot be permitted to continue in thehousing unit.

The leadership class repeatedlyturns to policies that sound appealingbut are doomed to fail. Then their fail-ure ensures that the country won’t facethe issue head on. The lack of enthusi-asm and attention from actors in theecosystem that has surrounded afford-able housing has been quite dispirited.There have been remarkably lukewarmendorsements from many of the verypeople who dreamed up the new poli-cies.

Policy-makers, financial institu-tions and housing experts need to eval-uate their current policies, cultures, andways of working. With a thoughtfulapproach, they can be better preparedto tackle this humongous problem. Thecountry’s impressive economic growthmust translate to faster progress in thiscritical area. The Government will haveto change course and shift away from thelegacy mindset before the problem getsout of hand.

(The writer is Member, NITI Aayog’sNational Committee on Financial Literacyand Inclusion for Women)

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The passing away of Arun Jaitleyat the age of 66, when mostIndian politicians are consid-

ered mature enough to soldier topconstitutional posts, is a severe blowto the intelligentsia and the politicsof understanding.

Though few can dispute that theformer Finance Minister was anastute politician, a brilliant legalmind and a wonderful orator, whatmade him even more remarkable wasthe fact that he kept his razor-sharpmind active through his blogs till thevery end of his life, knowing fully wellthat his days were numbered.

Despite his protracted illness, henever showed any inkling of nervous-ness in his writing and kept on serv-

ing his party, the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP), the Government and thecountry with aplomb.

It is a matter of sadness that theBJP in less than two years has lost itsfour top articulate leaders in ArunJaitley, Sushma Swaraj, ManoharParrikar and Ananth Kumar, all at rel-atively young ages. Jaitley joined theBJP during his college days in theearly 70s through the Akhil BharatiyaVidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) whenmost of his peers were making a bee-line for the Congress offices. Ayoung man at that time, he dogged-ly fought and went to jail during theEmergency. Later, he joined the legalprofession and for years on end, hebecame one of the best and mostarticulate lawyers ever seen in theDelhi High Court and the SupremeCourt.

A self-made man, Jaitley rose inpolitics solely by dint of his hard workand due to sheer merit, intelligenceand his persuasive ways in dealingwith conflicting issues. Over theyears he became an indispensible partof the BJP’s politics and his formida-ble talent was recognised not just by

his peers and con-temporaries but alsoby his opponents inlaw and politics.

He was deeplyinvolved in support-ing his long-timefriend NarendraModi and AmitShah when all weredetermined to finishthem off in the after-math of theFebruary 2002Godhra train car-nage and during their incarcerationin the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encountercase and other cases slapped by theUnited Progressive Alliance (UPA)regime through the Central Bureauof Investigation (CBI).

He wrote a detailed letter asLeader of Opposition in the RajyaSabha to the then Prime MinisterManmohan Singh narrating how theCBI was being used to target Modiand Shah.

Though Jaitley’s erudite accountin the letter of the misuse of the CBIdid not have a major impact on the

ruling establish-ment, it did exposethe fact that a suspi-cious case was beingpursued vigorouslyto finish the politi-cal careers of thefuture PrimeMinister and HomeMinister of India.Ironically, today thewheel of time hasrun a full circle andformer FinanceMinister P

Chidambaram finds himself in thesame position he brought these twopoliticians to, through CBI cases.

Jaitley’s name will remain in thehistory of the BJP and the country asthe man who promoted NarendraModi as the BJP’s face for the 2014parliamentary elections. Togetherwith Manohar Parrikar, he wove thenarrative with a vision and in a per-suasive manner to declare Modi asthe BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.The rest, as they say, is history. It washis eloquence, oratory skills andirrefutable arguments that silenced

Modi’s critics. For a long time, Jaitleywas the chief troubleshooter for theBJP and Modi during his first stint inthe Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

There’s no doubt that Modi willmiss Jaitley’s articulated voice andwisdom as he was the man on whomthe Prime Minister used to fall backupon for counsel.

The implementation of theGoods and Services Tax (GST) willbe remembered as Jaitley’s greatestgift to the tax structure and financialreforms in country. With his master-ly capability for forging bridges withopponents, he was able to synchro-nise the diverse interests of the BJPand Opposition-ruled States.

He made GST implementationsmooth and later ironed out some ofthe difficulties that came in its way.As a Finance Minister he resolved theproblem of insolvency of PublicSector Banks (PSBs) and finalised theInsolvency and Bankruptcy Code.These were not mean achievementsgiven that Indian banks were involvedin multi-crore scams.

I got an insight into Jaitley’s wis-dom in 2004 when he was Law

Minister in the Atal Bihari VajpayeeGovernment and I was Inspector-General of Forests in the Ministry ofEnvironment and Forests. There wasa proposal at the behest of the PMOjust before the Madhya Pradesh andLok Sabha elections to frame aroadmap for correcting the histori-cal injustice done to tribals.

Jaitley corrected the Ministry’snote in the presence of the PrimeMinister and made it not only legal-ly sound but had the foresight to seethat this roadmap did not become atool for increasing encroachments onforest lands.

Such was his vision that he couldforesee events effortlessly. Later,after the defeat of the BJP in 2004, theUPA Government enacted the ForestRight Act 2006 and today it hasbecome a political narrative for allparties. Jaitley, the tallest and bright-est BJP leader born postIndependence, will be rememberedfor a long time for what he has donefor the party and for the nation. Restin peace Arun Jaitley!

(The writer is a former civil ser-vant)

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The Government is expect-ed to soon announce mea-

sures for certain sectors, includ-ing gems and jewellery, toboost the country's subduedexports, an official said.

Finance and commerceministries have held severalround of talks on these mea-sures, the official said.

As part of a proposal thatis under consideration, thegovernment may extend thedeadline for removal of taxbenefits to units in the specialeconomic zones (SEZs).

In the Union Budget 2016-17, it was announced thatincome tax benefits to new SEZunits would be available to onlythose entities that commenceactivity before March 31, 2020.

For the labour-intensivegems and jewellery sector, thegovernment is looking at cut-ting import duty on colouredgem stones and polished dia-monds from the current 7.5 percent.

There is also a considera-tion to increase the insurance

coverage by the Export CreditGuarantee Corporation ofIndia for export credit from thecurrent 60 per cent to 90 percent.

This would enable banks toprovide more export credit atcompetitive rates.

To promote domestic man-ufacturing and cut imports,there is a plan for strict imple-mentation of rules of origin cri-teria to check diversion ofimports via free-trade agree-ment countries.

A standard operating pro-cedure could be implementedfor faster clearance of import

and export consignments.Exporters are demanding

several other measures such asenhancing benefits of theMerchandise Exports fromIndia Scheme (MEIS) for sec-tors like non-basmati rice andtextiles, besides interest sub-vention for large pharmaceuti-cal companies.

"Because exports are pass-ing through tough times amidstglobal contraction in demanddue to economic uncertainties,support measures for exporterswould help in imparting fur-ther competitiveness to it,"Federation of Indian ExportOrganisations (FIEO) Director-General Ajay Sahai said.

S C Ralhan, president ofthe Ludhiana-based HandTools Association, said refundof indirect taxes such as on oiland power, and state levies suchas mandi tax would help indealing with liquidity issue.

India's exports haverecorded 2.25 per cent growthin July. Cumulatively duringApril-July this fiscal, theexports dipped by 0.37 per centto $107.41 billion.

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Jet Airways founder NareshGoyal was on Friday ques-

tioned here by the EnforcementDirectorate in a case of allegedcontravention of the foreignexchange law, officials said.

This is the first time thatthe central agency is grillinghim after it conducted search-es against him last month.

Goyal's statement has beenrecorded under the ForeignExchange Management Act(FEMA) at the agency's zonaloffice here, they said.

A dozen premises, includ-

ing Goyal's Mumbai residencein Mumbai, his group compa-nies, their directors and officesof Jet Airways, were searchedby the Enforcement Directorate(ED) on August 23.

According to agencysources, the businessman'sempire had 19 privately-heldcompanies, five of which wereregistered abroad. The agencyis probing charges that thesefirms allegedly carried out"doubtful" transactions underthe guise of selling, distributionand operating expenses.

The ED suspects thatexpenses at these companies

were allegedly booked at fakeand high costs and as a result,they "projected" huge losses.

Alleged shady aircraft leasetransactions with non-existentoffshore entities are also underthe ED scanner and it is sus-pected that Jet Airways madepayments for lease rental to"ghost firms", which purport-edly routed the ill-gottenmoney in Goyal's companies.

Goyal, along with his wife,were barred from flying out toa foreign location from theMumbai airport in May aspart of the vigil mountedagainst him by probe agencies.

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The Indian rupee continuedits winning momentum

for a third session in a row onFriday, rising 12 paise to set-tle at 71.72 against the US dol-lar as signs of easing tradetensions between the US andChina enthused investors.

On a weekly basis, thedomestic currency, however,lost 30 paise to the US dollar.

The Indian currency has

appreciated by 67 paise in thelast three trading sessions.

At the interbank foreignexchange market on Friday,the local unit opened on astrong note at 71.87 and final-ly closed at 71.72, higher by 12paise over its previous close.

During the day, thedomestic unit shutt ledbetween a high of 71.59 andlow of 71.89 during the day.

The rupee had settled at71.84 against the US dollar on

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The NCLAT on Friday saidthe Enforcement

Directorate needs to be satisfiedthat Sterling Biotech promoters'payment to settle dues with thelenders are coming from cleansources.

It also said the promoterswill have to settle their casewith the creditors within aspecified period.

Promoters of the companyinclude absconding NitinJayantilal Sandesara andChetankumar JayantilalSandesara. A three-memberNCLAT bench observed that itsorder on August 28 is "condi-tional" as debt-ridden SterlingBiotech may "revert back to liq-uidation" and judgement would"stand reversed" if clean moneyis not paid within the period.

The appellate tribunal has

also directed the liquidator towork as resolution profession-al (RP) of Sterling Biotech tillits further orders.

"ED has to be satisfied thatit has to be clean money," thebench headed by ChairpersonJustice S J Mukhopadhayaobserved.

The NCLAT further said toSterling Biotech counsel: "Youwill have to get the verificationdone as to whether the moneyis genuine nor not".

During the hearing, thebench clearly told the counselappearing for promoters that itwas not the work of bank todecide whether the individualmoney is clean or not.

"We want clean money tocome back to India, the moneywhich will come from person-al sources," it said.

The tribunal has also askedthe counsel of ED along with

Andhra Bank to be present onthe next hearing.

"It is also desirable that thecounsel of ED remain pre-sent," it said.

Earlier, in August 28 order,the NCLAT had set asideNCLT order to liquidateSterling Biotech, and directedthat the management should behanded over to its promoters ifthe dues of creditors are settled.

The National CompanyLaw Appellate Tribunal(NCLAT) had said it will notcome in the way of the indi-viduals such as promoters anddirectors, if they pay back to thecreditors in their individualcapacity, and not from pro-ceeds of crime.

The appellate tribunaldirection came over hearing ofan application moved by theliquidator of Sterling Biotech,seeking clarification on the

New Delhi: The finance min-istry on Friday asked largecentral public sector enter-prises (CPSEs) to stick to theircapital expenditure plan whichwill increase liquidity in themarket and boost economicgrowth. This was emphasisedduring a meeting betweenfinance ministry officials andheads of 'Maharatna' and'Navratna' CPSEs. The meeting,co-chaired by economic affairssecretary Atanu Chakrabortyand expenditure secretary G CMurmu, was also attended byfinancial advisors of infra-structure ministries. PTI

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62nd Annual General Body Meeting(AGM) of National Agricultural

Cooperative Marketing Federation ofIndia Limited (NAFED) was held atNew Delhi on Friday.

Welcoming the delegates BijenderSingh, chairman of Nafed expressed hisgratitude and thanked Minister ofAgriculture, Narendra Singh Tomar ji,MOS for Agriculture, ParsottambhaiRupala Ji, Secretary (A&C), AdditionalSecretary (A&C) and other SeniorOfficers in the Ministry of Agriculture andFarmers Welfare for their guidance and supportto Nafed from time to time. Chairman alsoexpressed his deep sense of gratitude andthanked Hon'ble Prime Minister for his kindintervention as a result of which NAFED couldarrive at One Time Settlement with the banks.He also thanked Senior officers in PMO,Ministers of Agriculture, Secretary (A&C) andother senior officers of Ministry of Agriculture

and Farmers' Welfare, members of GeneralBody who extended their helping hand in OneTime Settlement with the banks. On this occa-sion Chairman also recalled the key role playedby Late Arun Jaitley, the then Finance Ministerfor the same. Chairman also mentioned thatNAFED would be willing to take up the respon-sibility entrusted by the Ministry of Agriculture& Farmers' Welfare to protect the interest of farmers.

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New Delhi: Expanding itssocial initiatives in Teachers’Day and the InternationalLiteracy Day week, ITC cele-brates spirit of such parentsthrough the narration of theirown stories of transformationin a small video thanking ben-eficiaries of its large-scale socialinvestment programmes whohave toiled hard to secure abrighter and more sustainablefuture for their children. PNS

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The National Company LawAppellate Tribunal

(NCLAT) Friday directed G RK Reddy, the promoter ofChennai-based infrastructuredeveloper Marg Ltd, to submita revised resolution plan tocreditors by September 12toBring the company out ofinsolvency proceedings.

A three-member NCLATbench headed by ChairpersonJustice S J Mukhopadhaya said it

would not grant any furthertime and failing to which itwould proceed ahead in theinsolvency matter. The NCLATalso directed the Committee ofCreditors (CoC) to consider anddecide over the revised resolutionplan by September 26, 2019.

The appellate tribunal alsosaid the CoC would ensure that"no discrimination is madebetween equally situated finan-cial creditors, operational cred-itors and creditors" of the com-pany.

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order passed by the NCLAT."For the present period,

liquidator appointed by theadjudicating authority (NCLT)would function as ResolutionProfessional of the companyuntil further orders," said theNCLAT.

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Thursday.In a major boost to

investor sentiment globally,China and the US have agreedto hold the next round oftrade negotiations inWashington in early Octoberto end the bruising trade war.

"Indian rupee appreciatesfor the third day in row as riskappetite is back with US-China trade optimism. StrongEquity markets across Asiaand weakened US dollar over-seas have been supportingthe rupee," said V K Sharma,Head PCG & Capital MarketsStrategy, HDFC Securities.

Sharma further said thatUSD/INR is expected to gainin coming holiday truncatedweek with downside supportat 71.40 and resistance at72.25.

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Automotive industry bodySIAM on Friday sought

government intervention tohelp the sector in smooth tran-sition to BS-VI emission normsfrom April next year, saying theprospect of abrupt stoppage ofmanufacturing and sales ofBS-IV vehicles overnight poseda “monumental” challenge.

Speaking at the annualconvention of the AutomotiveComponent ManufacturersAssociation of India (ACMA),SIAM President RajanWadhera said vehicle manu-facturers and component sup-pliers were on track to meetstricter emission norms, butexpressed concern over avail-ability of BS-VI fuel across thecountry.

“The transition is veryabrupt on March 31, both man-ufacturing and sales (of BS-IVvehicles) stop. This has neverever happened in anywhere inthe world,” Wadhera said.

It is extremely difficult topredict sales and plan invento-ries in such a way to have zeroinventory on end of March, headded. “This itself is givingspeculation and confusion incustomers and in huge loss forthe entire auto fraternity,”Wadhera said.

Turning to Minister ofState for Finance Anurag

Thakur and MoS for HeavyIndustries and PublicEnterprises Arjun RamMeghwal, he said, “So sir, werequest you to please look atthis, and from time to time overthe next few weeks we shallinteract with you to give us apossible solution to this verybig complex thing which iscoming.”

Last year, Supreme Courthad ruled that no Bharat Stage(BS) IV vehicle shall be soldacross the country with effectfrom April 1, 2020.

Terming the transition as “avery monumental phase of theentire auto industry”, theSociety of Indian AutomobileManufacturers (SIAM) presi-dent said, “All eyes are on us.Together we have to ensure thatwe execute this transition verywell.”

Lots of investment andhard work have already beenput in by both OEMs (originalequipment manufacturers) andsuppliers, he added.

Wadhera also drew theattention of the government totake a swift decision on GSTreduction on automobilesahead of the festive season.

“We have an issue at handwith the festival season aroundwhere 15 to 20 per cent of thesales happen during this festivetime. The revival of sentimentis very important,” he said.

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Benchmark indicesmarched higher onFriday amid expectations

of more measures from thegovernment to prop up theauto sector, while hopes of atrade truce between the US andChina buoyed global markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensexended 337.35 points, or 0.92per cent, higher at 36,981.77.Similarly, the broader NSENifty spurted 98.30 points, or0.91 per cent, to finish at10,946.20.

During the holiday-trun-cated week, the Sensex lost351.02 points or 0.94 per cent,while the Nifty shed 77.05points or 0.69 per cent.

Amid clamour from theauto industry for a GST ratecut, Minister of State forFinance Anurag Thakur onFriday asked players to alsotake up the matter with statefinance ministers who are partof the GST Council, andassured all support from theCentre.

Road Transport MinisterNitin Gadkari has also assuredthe crisis-hit automobile sectorof all possible support from thegovernment, including takingup the demand of GST reduc-tion with Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman.

All the auto stocks in the

Sensex pack ended in the greenon Friday, led by Maruti Suzuki(3.61 per cent), Bajaj Auto(2.90 per cent), Tata Motors(2.58 per cent), Mahindra andMahindra (2.34 per cent) andHero MotoCorp (2.14 percent).

Other gainers includedTech Mahindra, NTPC, AxisBank, Tata Steel, Bajaj Financeand Kotak Bank, which rose upto 3.77 per cent

On the other hand, YesBank, Sun Pharma, TCS, HCLTech, HUL and ITC declinedup to 2.42 per cent.

“Expectation of sops tothe falling auto sector liftedmarket sentiments today, whilegain across Asian markets on ahope of ease in trade tension

supported the upside.Continuous selling by FIIsremained as a concern, butmarket may trade positively inthe short-term in anticipationof policy actions,” said VinodNair, head of research, GeojitFinancial Services.

Sectorally, BSE auto, power,metal, utilities, energy, bankex,consumer durables and financeindices gained up to 2.54 percent.

However, realty andFMCG indices ended in thered.

Broader BSE midcap andsmallcap indices followed thebenchmarks to settle up to0.79 per cent higher.

On the global front, equi-ties advanced following reportsthat China and the US wouldresume their trade negotia-tions next month.

In Asia, Hang Seng,Shanghai Composite Index,Nikkei and Kospi settled in thegreen.

Exchanges in Europe werealso trading in the positive zonein their respective early ses-sions.

Meanwhile, the Indianrupee appreciated 16 paise(intra-day) to trade at 71.68 perUS dollar.

Global oil benchmarkBrent crude was trading flat atUSD 60.94 per barrel (intra-day).

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Auto components industryon Friday sought uniform

18 per cent GST in order tohelp companies with theirworking capital borrowingswhich could be used to investin long-term assets.

The auto componentsindustry currently employs 50lakh people and contributes2.3 per cent to India’s grossdomestic product (GDP).

“While the captains of ourdomestic original equipmentmanufacturers (OEMs) are ablyrepresenting the interventionsthat would be required to stim-ulate demand, we in the com-ponent sector seek assistance byway of a uniform goods and ser-vices tax (GST) rate of 18%,”Automotive ComponentManufacturers Association ofIndia (ACMA) President RamVenkataramani said.

While speaking at ACMAAnnual Summit here, he saidthat about 60 per cent of com-ponents were taxed at 18% cur-rently, while the remaining highvalue parts attract a duty of 28%.

“Since we are largely a B2Bbusiness, this would not have animpact on the governmentexchequer, but would help ourmembership in managing theirworking capital borrowings,which could be better used toinvest in long-term assets,”Venkataramani said.

He added that a limited sur-vey of 70 listed companies forthe first quarter of FY20 indi-cates that companies with welldiversified portfolios — be itacross vehicle segments, marketsegments, product groups ordifferent geographies — haveperformed better than others.

“Exports form a significantcomponent of this portfolio, andtherefore we request that exportincentives are encouraged,”Venkataramani said.

The current MerchandiseExports from India Scheme(MEIS) is being recast keepingWorld Trade Organization

(WTO) regulations in mind,and ACMA’s request is to lookat enhancing these benefitsthrough the new input tax cred-it scheme being proposed sothat the industry can becomemore export competitive, headded.

Venkataramani said,although fast-forwarding imple-mentation of BSVI emissionstandards and introduction ofnew safety features within ashort period of time has causedpain, it also allows the Indianauto component industry to betreated at par with global sup-pliers.

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New Delhi (PTI): Amid clamour from the auto industry fora GST rate cut, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur onFriday asked players in the sector to also take up the matter withstate finance ministers who are part of the GST Council, andassured all support from the Centre. “You are aware that any ratecut on GST needs to be approved first by the fitment commit-tee then by the GST Council. I request all of you to also reachout to the state finance ministers who are part of the GST Council,”Thakur said while speaking at the annual convention of theAutomotive Component Manufacturers Association.

He said the Finance Ministry had received multiple repre-sentations from car manufacturers, dealers and many of the stake-holders regarding the GST rate cut. “Various OEMs (originalequipment manufacturers) are based out of various parts of thecountry. The issue is whether they (the manufacturers) are tak-ing these issues with their finance ministers or not,” Thakur latersaid while speaking to reporters on the sidelines.

,��!��#��%��New Delhi (PTI): Gold

prices fell by �372 to �39,278per 10 gram in the nationalcapital on Friday due to weakdemand and strong rupee,according to HDFCSecurities. In tandem withgold prices, silver alsodropped by �1,273 to �49,187per kilogram here.

In the international mar-ket, gold prices fell to USD1,510 per ounce in New York,while silver also dropped toUSD 18.30 an ounce.

Script Open High Low LTPIBULHSGFIN 420.70 438.80 406.20 425.75YESBANK 61.40 62.15 59.55 60.40RELIANCE 1205.00 1229.00 1196.25 1222.50IDEA 5.15 5.36 5.11 5.18IBVENTURES 158.00 167.80 146.55 155.55TATAMOTORS 118.60 122.20 116.65 121.10DLF 159.30 159.30 148.20 154.20MARUTI 6000.00 6219.00 5965.65 6185.85RBLBANK 324.90 339.50 316.80 336.75SUNPHARMA 417.00 426.90 414.60 424.90TECHM 714.00 734.00 714.00 721.55SHANKARA 316.25 369.65 316.25 368.00WIPRO 255.00 257.35 248.80 251.95TATASTEEL 346.95 357.80 342.85 355.30ONGC 127.00 128.40 124.50 127.85AXISBANK 651.20 672.90 651.20 671.00BAJFINANCE 3317.20 3387.20 3298.60 3371.45ICICIBANK 391.90 394.50 389.20 391.50JINDALSTEL 96.90 96.90 92.55 95.60SBIN 275.35 277.00 272.25 273.95COALINDIA 195.80 199.35 192.85 198.50SPICEJET 129.90 131.65 129.25 129.90HDFCBANK 2233.00 2256.00 2221.05 2245.15LICHSGFIN 395.05 402.00 395.05 398.85ESCORTS 470.85 487.95 460.50 485.50SUZLON 3.55 3.57 3.10 3.20ASHOKLEY 62.70 64.45 62.30 63.90BOMDYEING 86.15 89.70 85.60 87.65RPOWER 3.48 3.52 3.25 3.27LT 1324.55 1334.00 1320.55 1328.40STRTECH 115.85 124.70 115.15 123.20IFCI 7.10 7.20 7.06 7.15IBREALEST 63.50 66.10 62.60 65.30MCX 875.00 893.00 858.35 884.35TCS 2215.00 2231.70 2190.85 2197.65ICICIPRULI 428.20 444.20 428.20 440.80MUTHOOTFIN 566.00 588.50 557.00 585.30

INFY 838.00 847.40 835.15 840.15CROMPTON 230.55 234.85 230.15 233.80HDFCLIFE 533.00 535.90 528.25 529.95VEDL 139.95 142.75 138.85 141.75BANKBARODA 94.00 94.85 93.25 94.30HDFC 2061.00 2061.00 2024.05 2041.95RECLTD 145.20 151.35 144.55 150.70INDUSINDBK 1316.00 1340.10 1313.45 1331.15RELINFRA 37.50 38.15 36.50 37.65BHARTIARTL 349.50 354.10 345.40 349.20PFC 106.50 109.20 105.85 108.50RELCAPITAL 35.30 35.65 34.55 35.20JAICORPLTD 76.60 80.50 76.05 78.15DBL 371.05 393.20 368.80 384.60DISHTV 22.35 24.30 22.20 22.75DHFL 47.90 47.95 45.65 46.55HINDPETRO 264.50 266.10 258.20 261.85PNB 61.50 61.65 60.85 61.25MOTHERSUMI 100.00 100.85 97.40 98.80NOCIL 86.00 93.20 85.25 92.25NTPC 123.35 127.75 123.35 127.00BEL 107.55 109.45 106.95 109.05FORCEMOT 1207.00 1265.00 1188.65 1212.50IOC 125.00 127.55 123.55 126.85L&TFH 92.00 93.45 90.95 91.85TATAPOWER 55.40 59.35 55.25 58.00CANBK 193.60 195.85 190.85 191.65ZEEL 361.30 366.60 358.80 361.35HDFCAMC 2615.00 2640.00 2597.80 2610.85ITC 245.80 245.80 243.30 243.95EQUITAS 115.80 117.45 113.85 116.00UJJIVAN 307.80 312.75 303.90 310.10JSWSTEEL 217.40 219.35 212.25 217.95AUROPHARMA 614.50 620.80 611.80 619.15PEL 1957.90 1963.85 1861.05 1881.90ULTRACEMCO 3939.00 3971.95 3886.15 3908.50BBTC 973.40 997.00 966.00 979.40NCC 55.95 57.45 55.60 56.85DRREDDY 2651.00 2745.55 2651.00 2739.95HEG 1015.00 1036.00 1015.00 1025.55EDELWEISS 106.25 107.00 103.50 104.65BIOCON 230.05 237.00 228.75 236.45BPCL 379.00 382.00 373.40 379.05PETRONET 270.00 270.00 261.60 264.25TATAMTRDVR 53.30 55.60 52.35 54.90ADANIPORTS 369.50 369.50 364.05 365.70

JUBILANT 454.90 478.00 451.25 472.60M&M 518.00 530.70 515.30 529.05BAJAJ-AUTO 2770.00 2861.50 2750.00 2839.80ADANIENT 137.00 138.45 135.05 137.90KOTAKBANK 1413.25 1444.35 1411.25 1441.60MANAPPURAM 119.25 119.70 114.80 118.05WOCKPHARMA 238.00 242.00 235.00 238.40AVANTI 334.90 348.50 328.00 346.55TVSMOTOR 372.40 384.30 365.85 381.40LUPIN 767.00 774.85 757.50 772.50GODREJIND 397.15 402.10 397.10 399.95NBCC 34.90 36.25 34.45 35.85SAIL 32.45 33.25 32.05 33.05ADANIPOWER 58.00 59.30 57.45 58.35INDIANB 167.40 169.80 163.45 164.20TATAELXSI 620.10 638.00 620.10 629.55GAIL 131.65 132.05 129.35 131.25SPARC 146.00 151.80 145.05 149.05EICHERMOT 15990.00 16510.50 15750.00 16417.05TITAN 1048.70 1070.10 1042.50 1068.20GRASIM 698.10 711.55 698.10 703.35HEROMOTOCO 2613.00 2668.00 2592.00 2659.45BRITANNIA 2682.00 2720.00 2647.65 2667.05HINDUNILVR 1830.00 1842.65 1813.25 1818.65DMART 1529.30 1543.20 1515.15 1529.80RAIN 84.60 89.00 83.55 88.55GNFC 179.00 186.15 178.20 183.90SBILIFE 833.55 836.80 824.60 835.00ACC 1461.40 1477.65 1454.30 1462.70BAJAJFINSV 6938.05 7185.25 6938.05 7172.15BEML 818.20 825.80 806.60 812.70APOLLOHOSP 1500.00 1536.65 1486.00 1496.30M&MFIN 321.95 328.65 316.30 324.15HCLTECH 1112.00 1120.10 1097.40 1101.50BHEL 51.50 52.10 50.75 51.75IDBI 27.80 28.15 27.05 27.85ASIANPAINT 1518.50 1540.00 1518.50 1532.65IRB 71.10 73.25 69.45 71.90GRAPHITE 272.00 275.00 271.00 272.40PVR 1515.00 1575.45 1510.00 1568.40CEATLTD 909.55 910.00 886.00 892.15NATIONALUM 42.65 43.70 41.80 43.25JUSTDIAL 713.00 715.65 703.90 706.80HINDALCO 184.25 189.70 182.05 188.20GODFRYPHLP 981.00 992.00 972.35 981.25TATAGLOBAL 270.00 270.00 259.65 262.55UNIONBANK 55.15 55.90 54.20 55.00BANKINDIA 63.10 64.85 62.90 63.70GRUH 251.00 251.00 242.00 246.05ABCAPITAL 92.35 93.00 92.05 92.60HEXAWARE 394.00 395.45 384.60 386.65NMDC 81.00 84.20 80.75 83.60HSCL 75.60 76.25 72.60 73.00IGL 327.60 331.40 324.60 328.30OBEROIRLTY 519.35 523.60 496.70 499.65UPL 570.25 573.05 563.40 567.70BANDHANBNK 450.75 450.75 447.00 449.20HFCL 18.55 19.10 18.45 18.90DELTACORP 171.50 177.45 171.50 175.95LALPATHLAB 1244.10 1275.30 1240.80 1263.85CONCOR 519.90 519.90 502.60 504.45JUBLFOOD 1203.95 1222.20 1194.95 1204.65SUNTECK 454.75 459.35 444.50 449.55CUMMINSIND 565.45 580.40 565.40 574.50MMTC 20.70 20.85 20.30 20.55AMBUJACEM 193.25 196.65 193.25 194.80POWERGRID 201.50 204.25 201.00 203.50JINDALSAW 69.85 72.00 69.40 71.70IDFCFIRSTB 42.90 43.15 42.70 43.00SRTRANSFIN 979.95 997.50 978.25 994.10INDIGO 1649.90 1654.10 1638.10 1647.00UBL 1330.00 1330.00 1292.90 1298.65BALMLAWRIE 175.45 177.00 173.70 176.25STAR 384.35 393.70 382.45 392.25GODREJCP 599.00 605.00 588.00 599.70CANFINHOME 395.60 399.90 389.05 391.75HAVELLS 653.50 665.30 653.50 659.95VIPIND 398.55 400.45 392.60 397.10JPASSOCIAT 2.60 2.63 2.51 2.56ICICIGI 1182.00 1202.00 1177.00 1198.70ENGINERSIN 108.00 110.05 106.95 108.55MINDACORP 103.00 103.00 95.20 96.95CHOLAFIN 270.60 271.90 268.00 269.35COFFEEDAY 60.95 60.95 60.95 60.95ITI 70.75 71.60 69.55 70.35NAUKRI 2175.00 2175.00 2030.00 2062.15LTI 1665.00 1698.00 1665.00 1694.40UFLEX 205.05 207.00 204.00 206.50SRF 2730.00 2787.05 2730.00 2764.35ADANIGAS 138.00 139.20 136.00 137.30KEC 250.90 250.90 243.25 244.85MGL 860.00 860.00 842.30 846.15GODREJPROP 891.00 891.00 881.90 886.35DIVISLAB 1646.20 1654.90 1622.10 1637.35SCI 29.55 31.35 29.45 31.15FEDERALBNK 81.85 83.35 80.90 83.10INDIACEM 74.50 75.70 74.05 74.45NESTLEIND 12355.00 12714.85 12355.00 12572.20PTC 57.70 59.90 57.15 59.70HATHWAY 31.50 31.50 28.25 28.40PCJEWELLER 32.90 32.90 32.00 32.20CIPLA 475.25 482.55 473.75 475.00DEEPAKFERT 80.55 83.40 80.05 81.40RNAM 279.55 286.25 275.25 282.90SUNTV 434.00 439.35 431.00 435.70CADILAHC 236.05 240.50 232.95 238.85TRENT 462.50 464.50 456.00 460.85HEIDELBERG 196.00 196.90 189.50 190.40MAHINDCIE 151.10 154.40 148.50 152.95

SUVEN 255.10 263.25 252.05 258.35WABAG 277.85 290.50 274.00 286.40INTELLECT 210.00 211.50 207.60 208.65APOLLOTYRE 175.00 176.90 174.75 175.30GICRE 172.00 174.75 171.00 173.35CREDITACC 585.00 608.00 583.20 599.45TORNTPOWER 274.20 275.75 273.00 273.60GREAVESCOT 124.80 130.70 124.40 127.80SWANENERGY 109.40 113.70 107.10 111.60PIIND 1207.50 1213.95 1183.95 1209.65BERGEPAINT 362.65 364.80 359.25 364.40CHOLAHLDNG 441.80 453.00 439.00 449.55LAKSHVILAS 36.40 37.00 36.40 36.40GLENMARK 390.50 393.70 382.80 391.25BHARATFORG 396.40 397.60 391.50 394.85HUDCO 35.60 35.95 35.30 35.80RELAXO 469.00 487.20 461.05 483.40JKTYRE 61.65 62.70 61.00 62.05WELCORP 124.85 131.60 124.85 130.05JSL 30.00 31.85 29.75 31.45PHILIPCARB 110.00 111.50 109.10 110.10QUESS 454.90 457.00 448.15 452.40VENKYS 1410.65 1424.00 1395.25 1404.30VOLTAS 633.90 633.90 624.50 629.55INDHOTEL 132.50 133.75 131.50 132.85RAYMOND 570.60 575.95 558.80 563.60INOXLEISUR 281.80 283.75 276.80 281.95SOUTHBANK 10.86 10.95 10.75 10.87RAJESHEXPO 675.00 680.70 673.30 674.75MARICO 385.50 388.20 381.10 382.65THOMASCOOK 145.00 148.80 145.00 148.30RCF 41.10 41.95 41.10 41.65LEMONTREE 53.10 53.95 52.75 53.05TATACHEM 580.00 582.45 575.15 579.15CHAMBLFERT 160.75 163.60 156.10 157.65MAGMA 55.05 60.70 55.00 58.60FSL 48.40 48.65 48.00 48.30PIDILITIND 1372.85 1377.25 1361.00 1372.55KTKBANK 76.15 76.75 74.90 75.95BATAINDIA 1520.25 1544.20 1512.05 1540.95AJANTPHARM 1035.00 1039.60 1021.40 1033.45OMAXE 193.45 195.80 193.30 193.40RITES 227.95 230.40 219.30 228.30ABFRL 189.15 195.00 189.15 194.30NIITTECH 1460.00 1464.45 1438.10 1449.45THERMAX 991.00 1019.45 991.00 1008.75HINDCOPPER 34.00 34.35 33.25 33.95CASTROLIND 120.70 121.55 120.00 120.20KAJARIACER 496.00 496.00 480.65 489.45ASHOKA 90.75 98.65 90.75 97.00J&KBANK 39.50 40.30 39.30 39.50NIACL 107.70 111.90 106.90 109.25NAVINFLUOR 709.25 723.20 709.25 717.25HINDZINC 215.20 217.90 212.65 216.85AEGISLOG 185.10 191.90 184.50 190.35GLAXO 1262.00 1288.10 1255.80 1278.70JYOTHYLAB 142.05 145.50 139.00 144.35TRIDENT 57.15 57.50 56.40 56.60CARBORUNIV 282.00 292.80 282.00 286.85GSFC 76.25 76.90 75.40 76.15COLPAL 1240.25 1253.15 1239.00 1251.90GMRINFRA 15.00 15.65 14.90 15.55FRETAIL 403.80 407.60 398.80 406.05EXIDEIND 179.00 181.15 177.50 180.05FDC 162.95 163.85 159.50 162.65MINDTREE 699.20 701.00 682.30 686.10MINDAIND 330.05 336.40 323.40 331.60ENDURANCE 922.00 963.45 918.00 948.20MEGH 46.25 48.00 46.10 47.45HIMATSEIDE 134.00 140.00 133.55 137.85MFSL 413.95 414.05 402.75 405.25VINATIORGA 2179.90 2221.00 2179.90 2206.40CHENNPETRO 185.90 188.60 185.20 185.80LUXIND 1117.70 1198.10 1117.70 1184.00BDL 277.00 290.00 276.00 276.60TNPL 195.00 196.35 189.50 190.15ELGIEQUIP 245.00 250.00 245.00 248.75GICHSGFIN 170.90 171.20 168.50 170.00TORNTPHARM 1715.30 1748.25 1715.25 1739.00DCMSHRIRAM 383.50 385.00 378.00 380.20SHREECEM 17626.30 17948.65 17506.75 17835.90RCOM 0.73 0.77 0.73 0.73ISEC 212.35 215.00 208.60 213.00ORIENTCEM 82.00 86.65 82.00 86.15RADICO 302.95 302.95 297.10 298.75DCBBANK 200.25 201.20 197.95 198.25REDINGTON 109.95 110.25 108.65 109.65DCAL 174.00 183.00 174.00 176.70LTTS 1612.05 1640.10 1612.05 1626.70JSWENERGY 66.25 66.85 65.05 65.45DABUR 441.20 442.20 437.35 441.10SONATSOFTW 303.00 303.00 293.50 294.35PARAGMILK 135.90 139.10 135.65 136.85CENTURYTEX 848.05 854.10 843.50 850.20ASTRAZEN 2002.15 2043.55 1982.65 1994.05EIHOTEL 157.10 157.50 155.50 156.55TATACOFFEE 74.25 74.50 73.60 74.35MHRIL 204.65 222.00 204.65 217.80ADANITRANS 239.35 239.65 234.00 237.95TATACOMM 428.30 428.30 414.00 419.85GDL 102.40 107.25 101.40 105.90ABBOTINDIA 9496.60 9790.00 9471.30 9705.40KRBL 216.10 220.95 215.40 217.90GUJALKALI 421.40 422.85 413.20 419.15FINOLEXIND 502.85 518.80 500.00 515.05SIEMENS 1169.85 1194.10 1164.00 1188.75JAMNAAUTO 35.50 36.95 34.85 36.00BLUESTARCO 710.00 744.75 709.00 738.85MRPL 46.45 47.00 45.55 46.65

RALLIS 157.20 161.10 155.15 159.30ORIENTBANK 65.05 65.60 64.50 64.90BLISSGVS 109.95 109.95 106.30 107.95IPCALAB 955.90 957.25 932.00 935.40VGUARD 223.25 223.25 220.15 221.20ERIS 384.90 390.00 384.90 389.00GRANULES 92.00 93.65 91.25 92.45VARROC 418.35 446.55 418.30 444.70SYNGENE 315.10 323.80 315.10 321.55DEEPAKNI 276.15 276.80 273.95 276.15ABB 1319.50 1338.50 1312.00 1320.70OIL 150.20 152.75 148.20 151.60

PNBHOUSING 635.00 642.65 630.00 639.25ALBK 33.20 33.70 32.85 33.00SJVN 24.80 25.50 24.80 25.30JISLJALEQS 18.95 19.30 18.90 19.05BALKRISIND 731.30 731.30 716.20 724.45CYIENT 436.00 438.50 429.00 436.60BIRLACORPN 547.00 554.50 541.00 551.00GSPL 221.00 221.00 217.70 218.75ESSELPRO 104.00 106.65 101.60 105.95LAXMIMACH 3645.00 3699.00 3585.00 3674.90TIINDIA 330.00 349.30 330.00 342.05FCONSUMER 26.45 26.80 26.15 26.25EVEREADY 76.25 76.45 73.45 74.20KEI 470.65 472.75 463.00 468.85PGHL 4064.85 4074.90 4030.10 4050.10CUB 194.30 198.50 193.90 197.95NHPC 24.00 24.15 23.95 24.05NATCOPHARM 558.00 566.00 557.00 564.70ADANIGREEN 45.25 45.85 44.75 45.00TAKE 123.20 125.90 121.20 124.05ADVENZYMES 149.35 155.70 148.65 153.25GPPL 78.45 84.50 78.45 83.20FINCABLES 364.65 371.55 364.00 370.00SREINFRA 11.20 11.76 11.20 11.52KALPATPOWR 441.65 454.20 441.65 448.50SCHNEIDER 78.90 78.90 75.65 76.50JMFINANCIL 72.35 76.00 72.35 75.25TVTODAY 298.80 298.80 289.30 296.15JETAIRWAYS 40.20 40.50 38.50 38.80HAL 667.25 677.00 665.00 673.50TEJASNET 79.50 81.10 78.40 80.20IDFC 35.55 36.00 35.15 35.65SADBHAV 139.90 145.50 138.00 145.25PAGEIND 18010.70 18106.40 17850.40 17961.20IBULISL 81.40 86.50 81.40 81.40DBCORP 135.55 138.00 133.70 137.45NLCINDIA 55.95 56.30 53.90 55.55CARERATING 539.30 540.00 532.85 536.10SUPREMEIND 1094.15 1102.95 1089.00 1100.65GAYAPROJ 110.80 111.15 108.05 110.60WHIRLPOOL 1649.95 1652.00 1640.00 1646.65GUJGAS 174.15 174.70 171.55 172.95PRSMJOHNSN 87.50 88.35 86.75 87.10MOIL 122.85 123.75 121.75 123.00CAPPL 418.50 435.00 417.70 425.75ATUL 3474.25 3496.45 3461.00 3469.30SOBHA 527.55 531.55 522.15 524.40PNCINFRA 182.40 182.40 175.50 180.05GODREJAGRO 449.95 464.00 449.95 462.40AAVAS 1560.70 1573.40 1550.00 1560.70UCOBANK 14.95 15.20 14.90 15.05EMAMILTD 297.45 298.90 294.10 294.65COCHINSHIP 346.65 348.00 341.25 344.65RAMCOCEM 703.00 710.10 702.90 705.20MAHSCOOTER 3882.35 4010.00 3852.00 3992.40TATAMETALI 515.90 528.50 508.60 524.15BOSCHLTD 13748.50 14023.55 13680.30 13812.85ASTRAL 1310.15 1319.00 1294.65 1304.75REPCOHOME 314.05 318.00 312.80 316.95GALAXYSURF 1286.80 1313.00 1275.25 1278.75KANSAINER 465.00 465.00 459.00 461.50TV18BRDCST 20.95 21.10 20.60 20.80INFRATEL 249.75 251.55 245.75 250.20WELSPUNIND 51.35 51.50 50.25 51.20MRF 58001.05 58950.00 57982.00 58681.25MPHASIS 970.00 972.60 963.00 970.55ANDHRABANK 19.45 19.45 18.80 18.90PHOENIXLTD 647.55 686.80 647.55 683.10CENTRALBK 19.35 19.35 18.90 18.95AMARAJABAT 623.70 627.90 620.60 625.35VTL 863.70 900.00 863.70 888.45SUPRAJIT 160.20 172.05 158.55 164.10MOTILALOFS 570.50 582.00 568.00 579.75ECLERX 465.70 474.90 459.00 465.75INFIBEAM 39.00 40.05 39.00 39.40SYNDIBANK 31.80 31.95 31.35 31.45PFIZER 3000.00 3027.10 2995.70 3018.15OFSS 3044.25 3077.05 3033.10 3044.10GMDCLTD 63.80 66.40 63.80 65.95

PERSISTENT 569.00 571.65 555.95 569.40KNRCON 216.65 227.90 216.00 223.90NETWORK18 22.50 22.65 22.15 22.25SKFINDIA 1880.80 1892.00 1865.45 1879.30JBCHEPHARM 377.15 381.85 375.65 378.90BAJAJELEC 374.10 377.30 368.50 375.90FLFL 417.70 432.90 415.00 427.50SHILPAMED 225.15 260.70 225.15 259.65SUNDRMFAST 428.05 433.70 425.00 428.95FINEORG 1427.40 1529.90 1427.40 1484.10TATAINVEST 753.60 770.00 753.60 767.10NH 237.70 249.90 237.70 248.05GRINDWELL 551.00 560.25 551.00 557.85IOB 10.14 10.19 9.95 9.98FORTIS 124.55 127.65 124.20 126.80JSLHISAR 59.55 60.80 59.45 60.45JAGRAN 69.00 70.00 67.40 69.65IEX 135.75 135.75 132.40 133.50SHK 129.25 130.85 129.05 130.40MAHLOG 334.95 342.00 332.60 339.00TIMETECHNO 60.05 62.75 59.20 62.35IFBIND 703.80 710.95 676.15 691.15HERITGFOOD 379.95 384.75 375.00 378.15MAHSEAMLES 382.50 383.55 372.00 376.65PRESTIGE 297.95 299.85 293.05 299.00JKCEMENT 999.00 999.00 980.00 981.25WESTLIFE 280.00 286.95 279.30 284.85GEPIL 751.15 761.75 745.00 749.70COROMANDEL 382.60 383.85 380.85 382.05BAJAJHLDNG 3317.00 3325.00 3272.00 3305.40MAHABANK 12.05 12.18 11.92 11.98GILLETTE 7141.00 7141.00 7084.95 7103.60CORPBANK 17.25 17.40 17.00 17.05AUBANK 674.00 674.00 665.15 666.75BASF 1015.75 1017.05 1008.00 1009.15TIMKEN 693.50 709.95 689.00 697.50CRISIL 1287.00 1289.00 1272.00 1279.75ALKEM 1841.60 1854.00 1815.00 1834.10TRITURBINE 102.00 102.00 97.00 97.15ORIENTELEC 153.75 154.75 151.80 152.35ITDC 169.80 172.80 169.00 171.30SOMANYCERA 289.65 290.00 283.00 285.95AIAENG 1508.65 1518.05 1500.00 1508.15INOXWIND 34.00 34.65 32.75 32.95VMART 2036.50 2049.00 2016.80 2045.90GESHIP* 241.60 246.55 241.00 244.95LAURUSLABS 336.50 342.65 336.50 341.45ZENSARTECH 219.05 220.00 217.00 219.05GSKCONS 8079.00 8079.00 7840.00 7853.30GHCL 191.15 193.15 191.15 192.75JKLAKSHMI 318.10 322.35 318.05 320.35CCL 236.20 239.95 235.05 238.55BAJAJCON 253.20 253.20 249.80 252.40MONSANTO 2046.05 2112.95 2034.65 2061.75LAOPALA 175.90 178.75 173.55 175.10APLLTD 492.00 498.20 492.00 493.65ASTERDM 116.25 119.00 115.60 118.15LINDEINDIA 501.80 504.60 500.00 501.10APLAPOLLO 1277.60 1299.05 1270.00 1294.40MAHLIFE 378.50 391.05 378.50 387.70TCNSBRANDS 665.00 665.00 648.85 653.60CERA 2419.75 2450.00 2362.00 2423.00GULFOILLUB 859.30 862.00 850.05 852.65CENTURYPLY 134.05 134.75 133.65 134.00TVSSRICHAK 1804.00 1804.00 1748.30 1753.95VBL 628.00 634.55 621.40 631.55EIDPARRY 148.15 150.10 147.90 149.20UNITEDBNK 9.80 10.08 9.80 9.84SYMPHONY 1241.50 1250.50 1210.00 1237.70CENTRUM 25.45 25.45 24.70 24.80JCHAC 1594.00 1607.85 1567.05 1593.00IRCON 341.35 345.90 341.35 345.15SCHAEFFLER 4025.50 4155.00 3990.00 4113.65RATNAMANI 916.90 916.90 900.00 900.25GET&D 154.20 160.00 154.05 156.55TTKPRESTIG 5630.00 5648.70 5593.80 5629.10SUDARSCHEM 318.05 319.20 313.50 314.75TEAMLEASE 2856.30 2875.70 2821.00 2858.75ZYDUSWELL 1677.00 1684.00 1673.25 1677.65ITDCEM 67.85 68.15 67.80 68.00MASFIN 621.60 621.60 615.35 617.65NILKAMAL 987.25 993.05 981.45 983.703MINDIA 20520.75 20681.00 20400.00 20451.20ALLCARGO 89.90 92.15 89.90 91.90DHANUKA 321.00 321.00 315.20 317.55NESCO 532.00 535.00 530.35 532.80NBVENTURES 85.00 85.90 84.85 85.45CGPOWER 12.63 12.63 12.63 12.63SANOFI 6223.80 6223.80 6159.80 6178.75MAXINDIA 60.50 62.60 60.00 62.40SIS 774.80 800.00 774.80 779.75PGHH 10103.00 10159.00 10095.00 10150.75HATSUN 597.95 631.35 597.95 623.95HONAUT 25000.00 25450.00 25000.00 25370.40JSWHL 2725.00 2746.80 2692.80 2713.55BLUEDART 2191.90 2237.80 2188.15 2222.25BAYERCROP 3130.00 3130.00 3090.00 3104.30APARINDS 534.65 536.00 531.00 531.40INDOSTAR 274.00 285.00 274.00 283.50SOLARINDS 1084.95 1084.95 1076.30 1077.30SHOPERSTOP 400.10 401.35 396.00 397.95SFL 1200.00 1233.05 1198.80 1228.40SHRIRAMCIT 1351.70 1353.70 1336.10 1342.30THYROCARE 468.00 469.00 463.95 468.00AKZOINDIA 1711.20 1711.20 1701.60 1701.90WABCOINDIA 6095.60 6095.60 6081.80 6081.80KPRMILL 556.15 565.95 553.70 557.10ASAHIINDIA 183.05 185.00 183.05 185.00STARCEMENT 93.55 93.70 93.00 93.00

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 10883.80 10957.05 10867.45 10946.20 98.30MARUTI 5997.70 6220.00 5962.10 6199.90 231.25TECHM 716.35 734.45 716.35 722.25 26.80TATASTEEL 347.00 357.85 342.85 357.00 11.85NTPC 123.45 127.80 123.30 127.50 4.05AXISBANK 653.10 672.75 653.10 670.55 20.95BAJAJ-AUTO 2772.90 2864.80 2745.50 2838.70 79.50EICHERMOT 15815.65 16499.00 15731.70 16199.00 444.80TATAMOTORS 118.35 122.30 116.55 121.25 3.20M&M 519.45 531.00 514.60 530.80 13.80HINDALCO 184.90 189.70 182.00 189.00 4.40BAJFINANCE 3330.00 3388.00 3298.00 3370.00 77.30KOTAKBANK 1412.50 1444.60 1412.50 1441.50 31.35BAJAJFINSV 7023.50 7187.95 7023.50 7156.30 155.25POWERGRID 200.35 204.35 200.05 203.70 4.35VEDL 140.30 143.00 138.85 142.00 2.70IOC 125.15 127.75 123.50 127.10 2.40RELIANCE 1203.00 1229.00 1195.25 1220.50 21.90TITAN 1054.00 1070.95 1042.45 1067.85 19.20HEROMOTOCO2612.40 2670.00 2590.10 2653.20 47.30DRREDDY 2684.10 2746.95 2675.05 2730.65 48.20ONGC 126.40 128.55 124.50 127.25 2.10COALINDIA 196.15 199.50 192.80 198.10 3.25INDUSINDBK 1321.10 1340.00 1311.30 1330.00 21.90INFRATEL 249.50 251.85 245.00 250.50 2.30ICICIBANK 391.00 394.50 389.20 392.05 3.05INFY 843.30 847.00 835.05 840.25 6.20ASIANPAINT 1524.00 1539.45 1519.75 1530.60 10.85GRASIM 702.15 711.45 699.65 701.35 4.25BHARTIARTL 350.20 354.00 345.10 349.65 1.95LT 1328.45 1334.00 1320.35 1326.85 6.55JSWSTEEL 217.40 219.35 212.25 217.30 1.05ULTRACEMCO 3905.00 3972.00 3883.10 3907.45 18.65GAIL 131.70 132.05 129.25 131.35 0.40HDFCBANK 2228.00 2256.60 2221.30 2241.75 6.60SBIN 275.05 277.00 272.10 273.50 0.20HDFC 2056.45 2056.45 2023.00 2044.00 -0.15ITC 244.30 245.85 243.25 244.00 -0.25ZEEL 361.75 366.80 358.65 360.10 -0.70BPCL 377.00 382.35 373.50 379.50 -1.30BRITANNIA 2695.40 2721.30 2646.20 2665.00 -13.65ADANIPORTS 368.00 368.70 363.80 364.50 -2.05UPL 573.75 573.75 563.10 565.55 -4.10TCS 2216.00 2233.50 2192.60 2198.00 -17.30HINDUNILVR 1831.00 1843.35 1814.20 1815.00 -14.75CIPLA 479.00 482.50 473.75 474.20 -4.20HCLTECH 1115.50 1121.15 1096.95 1097.05 -14.90WIPRO 255.35 257.30 248.80 251.75 -3.85SUNPHARMA 416.70 427.20 414.45 425.00 -6.80YESBANK 61.30 62.15 59.60 60.75 -1.20IBULHSGFIN 422.00 438.00 405.00 427.50 -20.45

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 26025.20 26082.35 25883.95 26053.95 118.90NMDC 81.00 84.20 80.70 83.85 2.80ICICIPRULI 428.00 444.40 427.00 439.00 12.25BIOCON 230.55 237.00 229.35 236.00 6.45ICICIGI 1180.50 1205.00 1180.50 1202.00 28.80MRF 58080.00 58980.00 57900.10 58900.00 1177.55IDEA 5.10 5.40 5.10 5.20 0.10GICRE 170.60 175.00 170.60 173.70 3.10SAIL 32.50 33.20 32.05 33.00 0.55SIEMENS 1181.00 1194.80 1162.85 1188.00 17.95BOSCHLTD 13601.00 13880.00 13600.00 13790.00 203.90HAVELLS 653.00 665.35 653.00 661.40 9.50MOTHERSUMI 98.65 100.90 97.30 99.00 1.35BHEL 51.40 52.10 50.70 51.85 0.70NIACL 106.50 112.10 106.50 109.00 1.45ASHOKLEY 62.50 64.40 62.25 63.90 0.85SRTRANSFIN 982.10 998.10 977.60 991.25 11.20CADILAHC 236.00 240.80 233.10 238.65 2.60SHREECEM 17650.60 17960.00 17507.95 17783.10 180.35HINDZINC 214.60 218.10 212.45 217.30 2.10INDIGO 1634.00 1654.70 1634.00 1647.00 15.00AUROPHARMA 616.50 621.55 611.85 618.50 5.45LUPIN 769.20 774.65 757.00 772.10 6.75AMBUJACEM 193.60 196.70 193.30 194.90 1.70COLPAL 1241.00 1254.00 1238.05 1251.05 10.45PGHH 10098.70 10178.75 10055.00 10178.75 80.05BANKBARODA 94.00 95.40 93.15 94.45 0.70SBILIFE 834.50 837.00 821.30 835.75 4.50DABUR 440.45 442.65 437.15 441.05 2.10ABB 1319.80 1339.00 1310.35 1322.00 5.85DMART 1528.00 1543.90 1515.15 1528.10 6.35PAGEIND 18199.00 18199.00 17860.20 17985.00 58.60HDFCLIFE 531.90 536.00 528.00 529.80 1.30GODREJCP 598.00 609.15 587.90 598.70 1.50BANDHANBNK 451.40 451.95 447.00 450.00 0.95MCDOWELL-N 607.50 612.05 602.10 607.45 0.95PIDILITIND 1370.10 1376.85 1359.35 1371.60 2.25L&TFH 92.20 93.50 90.95 91.80 0.10HDFCAMC 2625.00 2643.85 2596.10 2607.00 2.40OFSS 3042.55 3080.00 3022.55 3043.30 0.75ACC 1468.45 1477.00 1453.70 1461.10 -0.05DIVISLAB 1645.00 1654.80 1620.95 1637.00 -2.00NHPC 24.00 24.20 23.90 24.05 -0.05PETRONET 267.10 267.40 261.55 264.00 -1.15BAJAJHLDNG 3324.95 3330.00 3269.55 3295.05 -21.15MARICO 386.00 387.90 381.00 381.90 -3.00HINDPETRO 264.30 266.00 258.25 261.90 -3.15UBL 1329.80 1332.40 1292.60 1300.00 -21.30CONCOR 517.40 518.35 502.25 503.55 -11.60DLF 159.50 159.55 148.20 154.40 -4.95PEL 1960.00 1965.00 1859.85 1876.05 -62.30

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Britain's opposition partiessaid Friday that they won't

support Prime Minister BorisJohnson's call for an electionwhen the issue gets voted onnext week, piling more pressureon Britain's embattled leader ashe seeks a way to make good onhis promise to leave theEuropean Union next month.

The parties have beenmulling whether to agree toJohnson's plan for an Oct. 15election, which can only betriggered if two-thirds of law-makers agree.

Johnson already lost a voteon the same question thisweek, but plans to try againMonday, saying an election isthe only way to break thecountry's deadlock over Brexit.

Opponents don't want toagree to a vote unless they canensure Johnson can't takeBritain out of the EU as sched-uled on Oct. 31 without adivorce agreement in place, ashe has threatened to do so.

After discussions Friday,opposition lawmakers said theywould not back an electionuntil the government askedthe EU to delay Brexit. Johnsonsays he would "rather be deadin a ditch" than do that.

The parties said they wouldeither vote against Johnson'smotion or abstain on Monday.

Parliament is in the midstof passing an opposition-backed law that would compelthe Conservative Governmentto seek a three-month Brexitpostponement if no divorce

deal is agreed by late October.The bill is likely to become lawby Monday, and many pro-EUlawmakers want to hold off ontriggering an election until it isset in stone, fearing Johnsonwill try to wriggle out of thecommitment.

"I do not trust the primeminister to do his duty," said

Liz Saville Roberts, leader inParliament of the Welsh partyPlaid Cymru.

She said lawmakers need-ed to be sitting in Parliament inlate October, rather than on thecampaign trail, to ensureBritain does not crash out ofthe EU. That makes an electionbefore November unlikely.

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Netted in Scottish waters,claws snapping and tails

flapping, langoustines as pinkand fat as hotdog sausages aredelicately packed by hand intoboxes, each upright in its ownindividual compartment. Thecare and attention testifies totheir high market-value fordiscerning gourmets in Europe,who'll be snacking on themwithin hours.

While Scotland and the restof Britain sleeps, trucks haulthem southward overnight,skirting London where politi-cians are bitterly squabblingover the divided country'splanned exit from the EuropeanUnion. They then pass withoutimpediment through theChannel Tunnel to France, and

quickly onwards to fine restau-rants in Paris, Monaco and else-where.James Cook, who watch-es his workers as they preparethe shipments, has spent 40years — "a lifetime's work," hesays — building his seafoodexport business into a steadylivelihood for 220 employees.

Europe's open, border-freesingle market that the Britishgovernment intends to leave onOct. 31 has allowed him to besure that the tons of hefty lob-sters and wriggling langoustineshe buys from fishermen acrossScotland will still be alive andocean-fresh when delivered toEuropean chefs. A holdup onthe long, usually obstacle-freejourney, even of just half a day,can be fatal for the fragile crit-ters, turning prized seafood intoworthless waste.

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An agreement with Britainto avoid a no-deal Brexit

now appears impossible as the country is in "quite a mess",Finland's Prime Minister, whose country holdsthe rotating EU presidency,said Friday.

"I hope that we can reacha situation where this (Brexit)can be solved so that there is nomess, but it seems not possiblenow," Antti Rinne toldreporters after a meeting with European Parliamentpresident David Sassoli inHelsinki.

"The situation in Britain isquite a mess now. We don'tknow what's happening there.It seems very obvious that weare not getting Brexit with anagreement".

On Thursday British PrimeMinister Boris Johnson said hewould "rather be dead in aditch" than delay Brexit beyondthe current deadline of October31, despite moves by membersof the country's parliament toforce a no-deal Brexit off thetable.

Johnson has insisted thatthere has been "substantialprogress" in talks with the EUto change the arrangementsover the Irish border and thusopen the path to reach a newdeal on the terms of the UK'sexit.

But the prime minister'scritics have accused him ofrunning down the clock to ano-deal Brexit.

Other EU member stateshave said in recent days thatthey have not yet seen any con-crete proposals from London toreplace the so-called Irish'backstop'.

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Robert Mugabe, who ledZimbabwe with an iron

fist from 1980 to 2017, has diedaged 95, the country's presidentannounced Friday.

First heralded as a libera-tor who rid the former Britishcolony of Rhodesia of whiteminority rule, Mugabe usedrepression and fear to hold onto power in Zimbabwe until hewas finally ousted by his pre-viously loyal military generals.

"It is with the utmost sad-ness that I announce the pass-ing on of Zimbabwe's foundingfather and former President...Robert Mugabe," EmmersonMnangagwa said in a tweet.

"Mugabe was an icon of

liberation, a pan-Africanistwho dedicated his life to theemancipation and empower-ment of his people. His contri-bution to the history of ournation and continent will neverbe forgotten."

Mugabe had been battlingill health, and his humiliatingfall from office in November2017, his stamina seeped awayrapidly. He was hospitalised inSingapore for months for anundisclosed ailment,Mnangagwa had confirmedearlier this year.

No further details wereimmediately available aboutthe circumstances of his death,or where he died.

The Mugabe years arewidely remembered for his

crushing of political dissent,and policies that ruined theeconomy.

The former political pris-oner turned guerrilla leaderswept to power in the 1980elections after a growing insur-gency and economic sanctionsforced the Rhodesian govern-ment to the negotiating table.

In office, he initially woninternational plaudits for hisdeclared policy of racial rec-onciliation and for extendingimproved education and healthservices to the black majority.

But that faded as rapidly ashe cracked down on oppo-nents, including a campaignknown as Gukurahundi thatkilled an estimated 20,000 dis-sidents.

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Several countries hailedZimbabwe's late ex-president

Robert Mugabe on Tuesday as aliberation hero -- though hisfierce critic, former colonialpower Britain, recalled the suf-fering and repression of hisrule.

Here is a selection of topworld reactions to his death onTuesday aged 95.

Mugabe "fought for theindependence of the countryfrom colonial rule, and livedmost of his life in public service,"said President MuhammaduBuhari of Nigeria, hailing him asthe "founding father" of a nation.

"Mugabe's sacrifices, espe-cially in struggling for the polit-ical and economic emancipationof his people, will always beremembered by posterity."

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German Chancellor AngelaMerkel said Friday the

rights and freedoms of peoplein Hong Kong "must be guaranteed" after meeting with Chinese Premier LiKeqiang in Beijing, herspokesman said.

Hong Kong has beenplunged into months of pro-democracy protests, and aheadof her three-day visit to Chinathis week demonstrators inthe semi-autonomous city appealed to the Germanchancellor to support them inher meetings with China's lead-ership.

In a tweet Friday,spokesman Steffen Seibertquoted Merkel as saying:

"The rights and freedoms of the people of HongKong must be guaranteed.Solutions can only be found indialogue; do everything possi-ble to prevent violence".

Merkel arrived in China onThursday with a large businessdelegation in tow.

The businesses travellingwith Merkel includeVolkswagen, Allianz andDeutsche Bank according tothe German daily Bild, which carried a headline Fridaythat read: "Do our companiesnot care about Hong Kong'sfreedom?" P r e s saccess to her visit was unusu-ally tight, with a number ofmembers of the Beijing foreignpress corps, including AFP,unable to get accreditation forthe event.

Chinese officials blamed alack of space due to a large con-tingent of journalists accom-panying Merkel.

In a statement, the GermanFederation of Journalists crit-icised the limited access as a"diplomatic farce".

"What image do the organ-isers have of the travellingGerman press? Did they thinkthat the chancellor of Germanyis coming with her courtiers,who politely listen, ask noquestions and report meekly?"it said.

Merkel also met ChinesePresident Xi Jinping Fridayevening, according to statenews agency Xinhua, and thetwo leaders were scheduled tohave dinner together.

The German leader is also scheduled to give a speechto university students in thecentral city of Wuhan onSaturday.

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The death toll fromHurricane Dorian has risen

to 30 in the Bahamas, PrimeMinister Hubert Minnis toldAmerican network CNN onThursday.

Authorities had previous-ly reported 20 dead, but havewarned that the final figure issure to be far higher.

Minnis has said that thestorm caused "generationaldevastation."

The United Nations said70,000 people in the Bahamaswere in "immediate need" ofaid.

Dorian, currently aCategory 2 storm, was pound-ing the US states of North andSouth Carolina Thursday nightwith strong winds and drivingrain, bringing dangerous stormsurge.

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ABrazilian GovernmentMinister said French first

lady Brigitte Macron was "trulyugly", only days after the coun-try's president appeared toendorse an attack on herappearance.

Brazil's economy ministerPaulo Guedes on Thursdaysaid he agreed with PresidentJair Bolsonaro's commentsabout Macron's looks.

"The president said it -- it'strue," he said to applause dur-ing an economic forum.

"The woman is truly ugly." Later, an aide said in a

statement that Guedes "asks forforgiveness for the joke hemade today during a publicevent... When he mentionedthe French first lady."

Bolsonaro garnered criti-cism last week when heappeared to agree with aFacebook post that impliedFrench President EmmanuelMacron's wife was not as attrac-tive as his own wife MicheleBolsonaro.

He wrote "Do not humili-ate the guy, ha ha" on a postthat read "Now you understandwhy Macron is persecutingBolsonaro" next to pictures ofthe two first ladies.

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North Korea says it wantsthe UN international staff

in the country reduced by theend of the year "due to thepoliticization of UN assistanceby hostile forces", but the UNsays its current "light foot-print" is vital.

Kim Chang Min is secre-tary general of North Korea'sNational CoordinatingCommittee and says in a letterto the UN resident coordinatorthere that in recent years "UNsupported programs failed tobring the results as desired dueto the politicization of UNassistance by hostile forces."

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The canvas is expansive, not justin terms of the wide angles butthe variety of landscape that itcovers. But at its heart is a smallstory — always ready to trigger

an emotional chord and at times evenbring a lump to your throat. Whateverfilmmaker and advertiser Bharat Balafashions, it seems to be imbued with thatmagical touch where nationalism andIndia are the spine but never bubble to thesurface in righteous rage as has been hap-pening in the socio-political space inrecent times.

Despite that, the original peddler ofthe idea of pop nationalism (think VandeMataram, Jana Gana Mana, an ad for theIndian Army and another for Indian Oil)prefers to stay clear of making any polit-ical statement even though his films arereplete with the message of unity in diver-sity, something which was hard to missfor anyone growing up in the pre-cable80s and 90s. “Don’t drag me in that direc-tion,” is the one liner that he gives outwhen one asks him about the strident sin-gular narrative that the country is beingsteered into even though his latest pro-ject runs antithetical to that idea.

Virtual Bharat, an online series onYouTube, will be the platform to streamabout 1,000 stories of India. “Imagine itto be a digital cloud where there are vir-tual museums of stories of India. It is onedestination where you will find uniqueones on every aspect from every cornerand in almost every language of India toldin under 10 minutes and each will be agem,” says Bala.

But who then, if not him, can portraythe pride in nation and nationhood. Forwho can forget AR Rahman’s soul stirringVande Mataram (1997) where the heart-felt vocals and intense voice were ablymatched by the visuals where deepcolours, a vivid and varied landscape thatencompassed the country and a massive60 feet by 40 feet tricolour made for asong that spoke of inclusivity and love ofthe nation.

Virtual Bharat flowed out of that.“Basically, post Vande Mataram I hadmany ideas in bits and pieces whether itwas Incredible India, School Chalen Humor Jana Gana Mana or theCommonwealth Games. Additionally, Ihad travelled across the length andbreadth of the country for commercialsand witnessed the landscape. I felt thiswas the opportune time now as contenthad become the in-thing, mobile con-sumption is widespread and the netspace has been democratised which hasgiven access to people everywhere. I feltnow was the time when we can build thebig idea of India,” he says.

The first film, Thaalam, sees his long-time collaborator, music composer andsinger AR Rahman light up the screen ashe says, “Imagine India on a boat. It isonly as strong as the people. The powerto win is not in one person. The poweris when all of us come together (pauses)as one. One effort one goal. To move for-ward as a nation, we need to dreamtogether to aspire to build together. Let’sfind our thaalam as a nation together,”and soon one is drawn into the famoussnake boat race of Kerala.

However, rather than covering therace, Bala prefers to peek into the storybehind it to convey his message. “I want-ed that this short film should have a pur-pose and should be timeless. There hasto be a bigger idea which the viewer cantake home and retain long after he hasseen it. I have seen the snake boats for along time and to shoot it, was not excit-ing. When I found that the people fromall walks of life — school teachers, shop-keepers, farmers, fishermen — cometogether and train for about 15 days torow the boats. There are 150 men in oneboat and one man sets the rhythm bypounding with a log. If they find therhythm within themselves, then the boatwins. The idea psyched me and I saidthere is a bigger story there. That is whatI told Rahman, ‘Imagine India on a boat.We have such diverse people but if we can

find a rhythm within us as a society thenthe nation is winning’.” And the idea isconveyed with such vigour that it givesyou goosebumps. The four-minute, 18-second film is the first in the series, whichwill cover everything related to culture,food, folklore, poetry, performing arts,landscapes and human interest storiesfrom the remotest parts of the country.

For him, an important ingredient ofVirtual Bharat is the timelessness of thestory. “So if we watch these today or fiveyears from now, they should create thesame emotions,” he says.

While Thaalam is the only one to beput out, Bharat Bala Productions hasalready finished making 70 films andresearched for 300 stories. “The majoreffort is in the research. It is exciting,” hesays and adds matter-of-factly, “Karrahen hain. Hazaar story aaram se nikallete hain.”

He says that they have tried to tell thestories in a way that they have a widerappeal. “Most importantly, every film isbeing made in its original language. So ifyou are from Bengal, I want you to hearwhat Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil or Kashmirisounds like. That is the beauty of India,”he says.

But then isn’t it an endorsement of theunity in diversity narrative? “I am not hereto take a stand,” he emphasises, avertingthe question but without any rancour. “Iam telling a story where I will not influ-ence or interrupt the protagonist’s voice.The next film, First Man, is about an adi-vasi boy from back of the beyondSambhalpur in Odisha. The beauty ofeach of the films is that I wouldn’t add myopinion. I only use my craft of filmmak-ing to tell that story in a more beautifulway. There will be good cinema, narra-tive, editing and sound. We need the audi-ence to experience watching a greatmovie. For this, I have to make it enter-taining and exciting emotionally. I haveto fight this big (he emphasises on the ‘I’to stress upon the bigness) bandwagon ofHindi cinema which is consumed in bil-lions and zillions. It is a humongous task.”

But such a labour of love is alwaysfraught with challenges. “We madearound six films but I was not happy withthem so we wouldn’t use them. I go withreal people and sometimes these thingsdon’t work out but you can’t blame themas they are not actors. So you have to letgo and continue. These are hard learningsbut that is the way it is,” he says and onecan almost see him shrug over the phoneline.

Moreover, Bala points out that he haslimited resources to make these filmswhich are to be shot in remote locations.“We are in Mumbai so I have to makethree trips. The first one to research, thesecond to recce where we take pho-

tographs and study the location’s charac-ters and the third time to go and shoot.It is logistically expensive as there aremundane things like nowadays, the air-lines don’t not allow more than 15 kg ofbaggage and thanks to the equipment, wealways have excess. These are all my hard-ships today,” he says and guffaws.

The travel, boarding and lodging pushup the costs. “I want all the tools, a prop-er drone operator, live sound to get thattexture and rawness. So I also need soundengineers, camera operators and lighting.I don’t want to compromise in films butI still have to make do with a smaller crewand this can have its own challenges,” hesays.

The bigger the challenge, the moreexciting it is for Bala. During theCommonwealth Games OpeningCeremony, where there were 18,000 per-formers, Bala’s response was “Chalokarenge.” He believes in taking up the dri-est of subjects and making it the mostexciting. “Even during Vande Mataram Iwent to the remotest villages and depict-ed it the way it was and people wearingtheir own clothes. You can’t say yeh ganda-

gi hai. I want to make it look poetic. SoI am able to visualise it and make a senseof beauty in things as they are rather thancreating a set up,” he says.

He believes that the expansive natureof his films is essential for a country whichis of the size of India. “It is inevitable, ifyou have to address such a wide audience.Everyone needs to feel a part of it. InSchool Chalen Hum, every visual is froma different part of India which is remote.It is only then that each child will say,‘main bhi school ja rahan hun’. It is notjust the ones from Bihar or any particu-lar State, rather it is the children of Indiagoing to school. It is not a homogeneous,small country but then it is India.Dikhana padega na,” he says by way ofexplanation.

In more ways than one, his films aretimeless. In the iconic School ChalenHum, the thought of getting children toschool was a universal idea which doesnot get dated and resonates as much todayas it did it when it was aired several yearsago. “I am happy that they are survivingand they have the emotion of timeless-ness,” says he.

Whether it is ad films or videos, theidealist patriotic core runs through mostof Bala’s production and he attributes itto his upbringing. “My father was aGandhian and he took part in the free-dom struggle. The idea of India wasingrained in me. Our upbringing inDelhi was very nationalistic and so Iattended every Republic Day and Beatingthe Retreat,” he says.

They later lived in Madras (present-day Chennai) which was a contrastingenvironment while he started his profes-sional career in Mumbai. A combinationof all these helped him to develop his per-spective further. “I think it has given mea wider exposure of India which hashelped me. I had this cross-culturalexperience. I had very liberal frank par-ents but somewhere for them the idea ofnation was very important. My father toldme to celebrate, enjoy and discover thiscountry and I am doing this in a creativeway. He was a photo journalist and Iimbibed his DNA. When I was makingadvertisements, he told me that ‘you arecreating ideas for a product but youshould also create a big idea for India and

that is what has inspired me,” he says.So how difficult is it switching media

since he dabbles in a lot of different thingsincluding films like Maryan (2013),Journey Across India (2007) and Hari Om(2004). “The fundamental of everything,whether it is ad films, videos or films, iscreativity. That keeps on driving me. Andeach creative idea has to be said in a cer-tain format. Jo cheez 10 second meidikhana hai usey ek minute mat khinchonaur jo feature film mei batana hai useyfeature film mei hi dikhao. I am not thekind of person who is sitting there andsaying main sirf feature film banaonga yasirf documentary or ad film he banaon-ga. No. I am a film maker I will use anyof these forms whatever lends itself well,”he says.

Not being confined to one format hashelped him as has the fact that he is veryobservant and has a good memory. “If Ihave seen something in a place that I trav-elled to, I remember that and at the righttime I go and access it. I am open to learn-ing. When I go out for a film I am onGround Zero. I can’t say I know every-thing. For each one, you have to start fromthe beginning,” he says.

A long association that he has had iswith his school mate Allah RakhaRahman, the Mozart of East. Bala says,“We are just like... you have to put a wordto it... soulmates. Whenever I take an idea,he understands as he does so many dif-ferent things from commercial cinema toart. He gets excited and enthusiasticabout it. He would be doing originalscores for many of these short films.”

The two of them also collaboratedwith the legendary Pakistani singer,Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, for VandeMataram, something which is unimagin-able in this day and age. “It was sponta-neous. We were in New York and we heardthat there was a concert. Rahman hadnever seen Nusrat Saab and we wenttogether and fell in love. Later, I told AR(Rahman) that this is the 50th year ofIndia’s Independence and that of Pakistantoo. Let music be the binding source. Thenwe made Gurus of Peace. If we listen to it,politically, it is relevant even today,‘Chanda suraj laakhon taare hain jab terehi yeh saare, Kis baat par hothi hai phirthakraarein’.”

But when you ask him to elaborate, hesays, “There are a lot of experts to talkabout it. We can talk about positivethings. I don’t want to get involved in thisand I prefer to remain honest in my craft.”

So what keeps him going? “Every storyis so inspiring and exciting for me to do.It is not as if I am tired because I am doinga 1,000 films,” he says as he signs off.

Here’s raising a toast to another thou-sand ideas of India that will live and sur-vive long after us.

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Picture this. You are sitting in achair in a theatre which is

absolutely silent. Suddenly a dollfalls on the stage as the clock strikesmidnight and the gong echoes acrossthe place. You start breathing heavi-ly as you stare at the empty stage andfeel its void within you and the per-son sitting beside you lets out a fright-ened scream while you are still strug-gling to maintain your calm.

This nerve-racking feeling whilereading the script made actor RohitRoy go for the play Ovee too. He tellsus, “I was looking for comedy andromantic roles, completely oppositeto what I am doing but the script blewmy mind. I wondered how is it evenpossible to do a horror play on stagein front of a live audience. How willyou scare people? Then when I sawit with all the effects, I realised howit will go ahead and that made me gofor it.”

The horror play, Ovee, revolvesaround a teenage girl who having losther parents during her childhood wassent to an orphanage. She lives as anoccupant in a room where a girl wasmurdered some time ago. During herstay, she starts experiencing certainparanormal activities. Her friendand psychiatrist Nikhil (played byRoy) comes to her help.

Not only a psychiatrist, Roy alsoplays two other roles — that of a copand Chacha ji. The latter is very dif-ferent from what he perceives him-self to be in real life but he enjoys itthe most as he has a very “differentstyle.” So how challenging it was forhim to play three roles in the sameplay? He says, “It was not easy. I triedto keep the three characters differentfrom each other in terms of their voiceand styling so that the audience feels

engaged throughout and not getconfused between the characters.While rehearsing, I used to remindmyself again and again that one rolehas ended, and now this is the newone.” However, Nikhil is the charac-ter which is the closest to his heart.Even though his is the lengthiest partin the play but Roy is glad to play the“most meaty” character.

The actor says that through thisplay he wanted to challenge himselfand come out of his comfort zone. Hesays, “Everything that I have attempt-ed in the last few years is very dif-ferent from the roles I havedone in my entire career. Ihave become more responsi-ble after my daughter Kiarawas born. I now feel I amcompetent enough to pulloff various roles. I wasnever this good. I don’twant my child to say,‘Papa what kind of arole you have done?’ Iwant her to be proudof me.”

The actor wasrecently seen playingthe role of AmitShellar, a villainand rapist inKaabil. And it wasanother one whichwas difficult for him tocome to terms with as hehad to get out of his‘good boy’ image, “but

then when I took it up, I realised, asan actor, it’s very important to spreadyour wings and try something new.”Roy is currently seen as Dr Vardhanin Sanjivani 2, which he says is prob-ably the “best comeback for an actor”on TV. “Vardhan is a character Iwould not have done five years backbecause I always thought that theaudience will not accept me as him.It would only accept me in a roman-tic comedy or the ‘boy next door’ typeof roles. But I have realised that if therole is good and I enact it well, peo-

ple will like it,” adds he. The actorhas played a plethora of parts

and he feels that striking abalance between them getseasier with experience.

Roy feels that noactor is complete till

s/he does theatre as itserves as a real test forthem. Therefore, nowafter working formany years, he feelsthat he is capableenough to try the-atre of differentkinds.

Directed byAniket Patil, theplay explores

the horror genreas its his

“favourite.” He says, “Thestory of the play hascome from my imagina-tion.” To stage this, he

even learnt a few magic tricks fromYouTube. Through the play, Patilwants to send the message — ‘Thereis a fear within us everytime but inorder to achieve what we desire, weneed to break those dreadful wallsand come out of it.’

So how is a horror play differentfrom a film or show in the samegenre? Says Roy, “I don’t want to com-pare films and TV with theatrebecause there we have cuts, retakes,background music and light effects tocreate horror and a thrilling vibe. Butin theatre, it is different.” It demandsa more nuanced preparation altogeth-er, he believes and adds, “If an actorgets a wrong cue, the entire lightingscene will go for a toss. Generally, youread your lines and then say it in yourown language. But here it has to bethe same because the words act as acue for the crew to give the lighteffects or to make space for promptsto appear.”

Talking about why horror com-edy is not very prevalent when itcomes to theatre, Roy says that it’sbecause it’s very challenging to unfoldthe horror, sound and special effectshere. “So people don’t want to do it.I was also looking for a romanticcomedy in the first place (laughs).”

The actor doesn’t take Rohit Royto the show anymore. He’s evolvedmanifold. “Once I am ready, I under-stand my character, which is some-thing I didn’t do earlier. I used toproudly say that every role had a bitof me in it but now things havechanged,” says he and adds that itwould be evident in Ovee too as theRohit would “look like an originalperson and not some Chacha ji.”

Selection of a script for himvaries with its medium. He says, “Inweb, there are finite number ofepisodes, which focus on every char-acter individually. But I want my char-acter to be strong in all the episodes.In films, I see what it is about. My rolecomes secondary. On TV, it changesagain. As it is a never-ending process,I see my character first.”

The actor believes that every roleshapes you into a better person byteaching something. So, he loves totake a bit of every character homewith him and learn from it. “InUnfaithfully Yours, I took the come-dy home. From Vardhan, I haverealised that one must attempt differ-ent roles,” says he.

(The play will be staged today andtomorrow at 4pm and 7pm at KamaniAuditorium.)

Hold the cup close to your face. Letthe aroma sink in. Take a small sip,and let it linger in your mouth,

touch your senses and exhilarate yourtastebuds before you swallow it. That’s whatone of the Japanese Sake connoisseursexplained to me when I held my first cupof the quintessential Japanese drink, alsoknown as Nihonshu (literally, Japaneseliquor) at the Embassy of Japan. Going intothe historical background, the visitors weretold that sake production was a govern-ment monopoly until the 10th centurywhen temples and shrines began to brewtheir own, which is how, by the 1300s, itbecame an important ceremonial drink inthe country. Coming back to the present,the huge party hall had eight counters, fouron each side, that served different flavoursof sake and retold the history and themethod of creating them.

I first sipped Fujuku Gold Label fromthe Nada region of Kobe in Japan, whichfeatured an elegant taste with a refreshingbouquet aroma that would remind one ofwhite peach and pear. The biggest factorthat’s common to all sakes is that theiringredients are only limited to threethings — rice, fermented yeast and waterwith no added flavours. The next, FujukuBlue Label, which featured a smooth, riceumami flavour, was reminiscent of ripeapricot. Featuring rich flavours and quitethe strongest aroma till now, the FujukuGreen Label made its way to my cup. “It’smade at the Rokko Mountain, which hasextreme temperature swings in the northwhich are ideal for growing the sake rice.Cold winds moving towards the south areperfect for the slow fermentation process.It does make space for richer and smoothertaste. And the local mountain streams sup-ply the naturally pure water or Miyamizu,which has the right mineral content. Theprocess of producing sake has been thesame for as long as 266 years now withthese basic, natural ingredients,” said theFujuku brewer.

The Gokujo Miyanoyuki from theMiyazaki Honten was the next. This sakewas sweet as sugar and smooth as a vibe,blending a fruity aroma with bitterness thatappeared to be pleasant and had a richtaste. Its Daiginjo Miyanoyuki, undilutedsake, had a mellowed taste and made oneenjoy the refined aroma of ginjoshu.Mika Eoka, brewer and server at thecounter, said, these sakes are good for theskin as they consist of local, clear and softnatural mineral water. “Its minerals pro-

duce sweetness as well as a mellow textureand a refreshing taste. Regardless of howyou drink it, you will be satisfied with itstaste due to the delicious fine-blendedmaterials,” added she. It could be anaccompaniment with not just smokedsalmon or sushi, but “perfectly with“paneer and chicken tikka as well (laughs).”The Miyanoyuki Junmaishu was yet anoth-er sake which was a perfect alcoholic drinkthat can accompany any meal due to itssoft texture and good vibe.

Next up was the Ninki-Ichi, the‘handmade’ sake. My favourite in the lot.At this counter, the first thing I heardfrom the people around was that “It’sknown for its fragrances.” The first,Ninki-Ichi Yuzu-shu (citron liqueur),commonly known as a ‘winter delica-cy’, amazes you with its special lime-like citrus aroma. With its hazy,lemon-y colour, the yuzu juice takesover your tastebuds and everythingelse, making your jaws tingle andcrave for more at the same time.Not once would you feel like it wasindeed a variety of alcohol. Whenhave we ever tasted that sour awine?

Its Ninki-Ichi Umeshu (plumliqueur) is yet another surprise for

your tastebuds. Rich, sweet and elegant,this plum and red chilli-infused sake givesboth a tangy and a sweet taste. “Umeshuis known to be the star in the Japan’s lex-icon of well-made booze as plums are a sta-ple of the Japanese culture,” said thebrewer and pointed towards the statisticsby Japan’s National Tax Agency (NTA),which highlight that liqueur exports, pri-marily umeshu, more than doubled from1.84 billion yen ($18 million) to 4.21 bil-lion ($38 million) between 2011 and2016.

While there are 300 versions ofUmeshu in the Japanese market, a sake

connoisseur enlightened us about thisone. He said, “Its flavour balance iscreated by aging the whole fruit,with the stone still inside it and bysoaking it in various types of alco-hol. The citric acid in the fruitgives it a pleasant tanginess anda taste that is sweet and tartwith notes of almonds. Some

brands also mix in sugar,cane spirit or brandy tocreate a more refined taste.The premium brands arealso aged for several years.”

The Ninki-Ichi BottleFeremed Sparkling Junmai

Ginjo, the next one, is a sparkling sakewhich is fermented only in rice and koji(or ice mold) in a bottle. It’s this secondbottle fermentation and not carbonation,which gives it its bubbles and sparkle.Crisp, dried and bright, the sake made meexperience a blend of flavours of grape,cherry and pear with a pinch of lime.

However, the award of ‘tasty sake at areasonable price’ goes to the Ninki-IchiGoldninki Junmai Daiginjo. Aromaticand crisp, pleasantly dry and slightlysweet, the sake was well-balanced and hada fresh finish. The taste was more distinctthan any of the other that I had tried tillnow. It’s usually preferred chilled and canaccompany best with white fish sashimi,steamed chicken and salad.

The last ones — quirky and fresh —from the OZEKI Corporation were thebest. ‘Shake it well before you drink it,’ wasthe instruction I received from the servers.The IKEZO Peach was an amazingsparkling jelly sake with an exquisiterefreshing acidity, which had a mellow tex-ture and surprised me with its flavour ofsweet peach.

The IKEZO Mix-Berry was certainlythe best — absolutely berrylicious. Itstransparent strawberry, blueberry andcranberry jelly made the sake fruity and

gently sweet. “It can also be enjoyed likea dessert, you know?” said NorikoNasukawa, president of Nihongo Centrein India for Japanese LanguageProfessional Services.

After some mind-blowing tasting ofsome of Japan’s best sakes, knowing abouthow the drink is so important for Japaneseand their culture that they even have a MissSake every year, there were questions hov-ering in my mind — Has India caught upwith the global sake trend? Why are thesenot widely available in India yet?

Noriko, who has been living in Indiafor the past 20 years now, emphasised ontheir unavailability. “Sashimi quality fish-es are no longer an exotic dish for Indiansfor which they need to travel abroad.However, sake does need some more space.The Indian market no doubt presents ahuge challenge for sake brewers, but that’salso the reason why venturing to break intothe market is so exciting. Isn’t it?” said she.

Ambassador Hiramitsu looks at sakeas a medium of reaching the “ultimateobjective” of strengthening of India-Japanrelations and its people-to-people connect.He said, “Sake complements the spicyIndian food very well. And we are tryingto make it widely available in the country.”

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Imagine yourself in a forest wit-nessing the strength of the tiger,

the stealth of the leopard, thefragility of the cheetah, the brutepower of the jaguar, the assuredconfidence of the puma, the mag-ical ability of a snow leopard todisappear, the terrestrial lifestyleof the clouded leopards, and themachismo of the lions. It is like-ly to captivate and bound you tospend more time with them.

Directed by John Downer,the series Serengeti takes you to asimilar journey into the unspoiltcorner of Africa, discovering themost iconic Savannah animals inthe world and examines andexplores their daily lives.

An Indian wildlife enthusiastsLatika Nath shares her experiencesof visiting the place and its wildlifewhile the series was being shot.She says that she got struck by see-ing the vastness of the savannahgrassland, all without humanhabitation and concrete struc-tures, and the sheer numbers ofthe wildlife.

The reducing number of tigersis a matter of concern all acrossthe world. Why is nothing con-crete being done to save them? “Aslong as the political benefits fromthe uses and conversions of tigerhabitat are larger than the costs ofmaintaining them it will not help.It will undermine all conservationefforts for the long-term survivalof the tigers.” She further says thatwe need a leadership where allechelons of the government andall ranks of the bureaucracy arecommitted to the conservation ofour national animal.

The world is facing the issueof climate change, glaciers aremelting, there is non-periodicshift in the weather patterns.Latika says, “There needs to be awidespread awareness that tiger isan umbrella species and by afford-ing protection to the forests we areensuring the conservation ofwater, gene pools of fauna andflora and also fighting climatechange in the most effective man-ner known today.

Latika says that out of allspecies that she had encounteredthe great cats fascinated her themost. “All of them were incredi-ble.” She says that every encounterwith a wild species is special. “Oneof the most extraordinary ones inrecent times would be walking

with a pack of wild dogs in Africasome years ago. The closest I gotto them was three feet on foot,unarmed and alone,” adds she.

Our ecological system isunder constant threat. It is veryimportant to understand that it isthe need of the hour to save thesystem from collapsing else itwill have long term implicationson our sustainable development aswell. Latika says, “Man needs tocontrol his greed and learn to actas a guardian for the lands he livesin. He needs to understand that he

is fighting for his own survivalwhen he talks of the survival of thespecies on this planet.”

While the word of wildlife cri-sis spreads across, the younggeneration is also taking interestand efforts in its revival. Latikashares that she has beenapproached time and again byyoungsters. She likes spendingtime with them and having inter-esting conversations with stu-dents of all age groups. “There isan increasing awareness of theneed for conservation of speciesand to fight climate change inchildren of all age groups today,”she adds.

She always want to be in thefield exploring different species allacross. She tries to make a differ-ence by making people awareabout the revival of the speciesand natural elements. “It is essen-tial to contribute to the environ-ment, even if it is small and at thegrassroots level,” says she.

(The series will premiere onSony BBC Earth on September 9.)

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Steve Smith is on course toenjoy one of the most pro-

ductive series by any batsmanin Test history after he markedhis return to Ashes actionwith a double hundred at OldTrafford on Thursday.

The 30-year-old’s 211 wasthe centrepiece of Australia’s497-8 declared on the secondday of the fourth Test.

It was his third century infour innings this series follow-ing scores of 144 and 142 in theopener at Edgbaston — Smith’sfirst Test since completing a12-month ball-tampering ban.

If those hundreds eraseddoubts about whether hewould be the same stellar bats-man after the traumatic eventsduring a Test in Cape Townthat led to his being strippedof the Australia captaincy anda lengthy suspension,Thursday’s innings put to restfears of any lingering ill-effectsafter he was concussed by aJofra Archer bouncer.

That blow to his thenunprotected neck — he is nowbatting with a ‘stem guard’ —during the drawn second Testat Lord’s saw Smith ruled outof England’s dramatic one-wicket win at Headingley thatlevelled this Ashes at 1-1.

Even after retiring hurthaving been felled by Archer,Smith still came back out tomake 92 — his lowest score ofa series where he has nowscored 589 runs at a colossalaverage of 147.25.

The most runs ever madeby an individual in a Testseries is the 974 compiled byAustralia’s Don Bradman,widely regarded as the format’sgreatest batsman, during thefive matches of the 1930 Ashesin England.

solver" in cricket today byAustralia coach Justin Langer,himself a former Test batsman.

- 'Played into our hands' -That ability, as much as his

trademark ifVivian Richards holds the

corresponding record for fourTests, posting 829 runs duringWest Indies 3-0 win in Englandin 1976 where the 'MasterBlaster' missed one fixture outof five through illness.

Both those marks may bebeyond Smith.

But if Australia do retainthe urn -- and they were well-placed at the close withEngland 23-1, a deficit of 474-- this will undoubtedly be'Smith's Ashes'.

Smith has been describedas the best "problem

unorthodox shuffle acrossthe crease, was evident asSmith took advantage of anunusually placid Old Traffordpitch.

"I think and visualisebefore I play where people arelikely to bowl to me and whereI am likely to score and try topicture fields that are set andplay things over in my mind,where I am going to get runsand how they are looking to getme out," Smith told reportersafter stumps.

"Then out in the middleyou have to adapt to whateveris thrown at you."

England, inevitably, afterLord's, repeatedly tested Smithout with the bouncer.

But Smith, whose careerTest batting average of 64.64 issecond only to Bradman's99.94, reckoned England'squicks, with the notable excep-tion of Stuart Broad, had over-done the short stuff.

"I said before the game thatif they bowl a lot at my headthen they're not bowling at my

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Rory Burns hit his thirdscore of fifty or more thisAshes to lead England’s

fightback with the bat in thefourth Test against Australia atOld Trafford on Friday.

England were 125-2 at teaon the third day, still 372 runsbehind Australia’s imposingfirst-innings 497-8 declared.

Burns, however, was 62not out, with England captainJoe Root 47 not out after thepair had put on exactly 100runs for the third wicket.

Rain meant there was noplay before lunch and, as aresult, the second session wasextended to two hours and 50minutes.

England resumed on 23-1,with left-handed opener Burns15 not out and nightwatchmanCraig Overton three not out.

Overton had added justtwo to his score when theninth ball of the day saw himedge a full-length, rising deliv-ery from Josh Hazlewood tosecond slip, where Steve Smithheld a waist-high catch.

Burns, who scored a cen-tury in the first Test, cover-drove Mitchell Starc for aresounding four.

And when left-arm fastbowler Starc, playing his firstmatch of the series, sent downa friendly full toss, Burnssteered it through point foranother four.

There were more cheersfrom the crowd when Rootclipped Pat Cummins for four.

Burns, taking advantageof several loose deliveries fromStarc on a relatively placidpitch, led the way as Rootfound his form.

A back-foot drive for fouroff Starc and a steered bound-ary to third off the pacemansaw Burns complete a 100-ballfifty including seven fours.

Meanwhile an increasing-ly assured Root pulled a harm-less Hazlewood half-trackerfor four to go to 47 as the skip-per fought hard to denyAustralia a win that would see

them retain the Ashes at 2-1 upwith one to play in a five-Testseries.

Smith’s 211 on Thursday,his third Test century in fourinnings, was the cornerstone ofAustralia’s total.

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Former England starAndrew Flintoff has

revealed he dreams of coach-ing the national team in thefuture.

Flintoff called time on hisinternational career in 2009and has been working as atelevision presenter recentlyafter a brief foray into boxing.

The all-rounder hopesto return to cricket in acoaching capacity andalready has lower-level qual-ifications.

England are currentlylooking for someone toreplace Trevor Bayliss who isdue to step down at the end

of the current Ashes seriesagainst Australia.

Flintoff, who helpedEngland win the Ashes as aplayer in 2005 and 2009,concedes it is too soon toexpect to get the job now.

But the 41-year-oldrefused to rule it out in thelong-term.

“Coaching is definitely anambition. There are probablytwo or three coaching jobs I’dlike — England, Lancashireor Lancashire Academy,” hetold BBC radio’s Test MatchSpecial programme onFriday.

“I’d love to be Englandcoach one day, just not quiteyet.”

Flintoff, who played hiscounty cricket withLancashire, has already donesome coaching work withthe Under-13 side at his oldside.

“I’ve got two of my coach-ing levels — me and (formerEngland team-mate) SteveHarmison might do our levelthrees soon,” he said.

Flintoff, who played 79Tests and 141 one-day inter-nationals for England,revealed he applied for thenational team coaching jobwhen it became available in2014.

But he was not takenseriously and the role went toPeter Moores.

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Communication is key aspect in a teamsport but Manu Bhaker believes that

remaining "disconnected" with partnerSaurabh Chaudhary has been the key totheir golden run in four successive WorldCups.

The teenagers will be gunning for apodium finish at the 2020 Tokyo Olympicshaving already booked a quota place for thecountry.

"We are not very connected. We are twovery different things (individuals)," the 17-year-old Manu told PTI when asked abouther recipe of success having won her fourthmixed World Cup gold in Rio de Janeiro,last week.

At 17, one is free from fear of failurewhich is a common thread binding theteenage duo as they simply like to concen-trate on their individual performances.

"We don't talk much. We are both onour own. We just focus on our individualperformance. He doesn't give much thoughton my performance and neither do I thinkabout his. I think that makes us fearless andwe shoot for ourselves and perhaps becauseof that, we are doing well," Manu explained.

Manu will be among the 14 Indianshooters, who will represent the country atthe year-ending World Cup Finals, sched-uled to be held in Putian, China betweenNovember 17 and 23.

"I thought I will not be selected for

World Cup final as I didn't win any indi-vidual medals this year. I won all the mixedteam gold with Saurabh. So it was unexpect-ed but now that I have been selected, I amso happy and excited to go for the WorldFinals. I will work hard to do well," she said.

Last year, Manu had won a series of goldmedals, which include the GuadalajaraWorld Cup, Commonwealth Games and theYouth Olympics at Buenos Aires.

There were also disappointments instore when she suffered a pistol malfunctionduring the 25m Rapid Fire pistol final at theMunich World Cup, forcing her to forfeit.

She also returned empty handed fromthe Asian Games after participating in threeevents -- mixed, 25m air pistol and 10m airpistol. Interestingly, Manu had Gamesrecord at the Asiad in Palembang, with arecord score of 593 in the qualificationround of 25m Air pistol event.

"I think it is like a heart beat. It goes upand down and it is all part of life. The mal-function at Munich World Cup that was onemoment where I felt very low. It was likesomeone took (snatched) away the medalin-front of my eyes. It was heartbreaking,"said Manu, who had secured a quota in the10m pistol event after disappointment in25m rapid fire pistol at Munich.

"Another such low moment was theAsian Games, I was fifth in the final and itwas very upsetting. I had high expectationsfrom myself and everything fall apart.Jaspal sir helped me during that phase."

Interestingly, Manu couldn't win anindividual medal at the four World Cups thisyear.

Asked how she analyses her perfor-mance this year, she said: "I think it has beenvery progressive from Delhi to China, toMunich and now Rio. I did quite good, soI believe it was a successful year and I amhappy with my performance. Great to endthe way, we did in the last World up of theyear," she said.

Manu said that she now wants to workon the physical fitness part.

"I will just continue what I have beendoing. It is basically all about improving thetechnique and physical fitness."

The Tokyo Olympics is just sevenmonths away and Manu believes she canproduce a much better performance at theGames.

"Olympics is a dream for all sportsper-son. I hope it becomes my best moment ofmy life. Anything can happen. I don't knowwhat is destined for me. If I have the bless-ings and I can go on to win a medal, it willbe the best moment of my life," she said.

While she won a quota place, it belongsto the country and not the individual. Theyoungster is well aware and knows that near-ing Olympics, she will have to hit the peak.

"I think I can do better at Olympics. Thequota that I won is for India and I might notalso go. My scores have been good and I'llimprove as the Olympics approaches. I justwant to put in my work."

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Sanjeev Rajput always hadsome "some unfinished busi-

ness" after being snubbed for the2016 Rio Olympics and acemarksman wants to accomplishhis goals in next year's TokyoOlympics.

The 38-year-old fromHaryana secured India's eighthOlympic quota in shooting witha silver medal finish in themen's 50m rifle 3 positions at theWorld Cup in Rio de Janeiro lastweek.

"I feel my performance wasreally good. I have been waitingfor this last one year," Rajput,who shot 462.0 in the finals tomiss out of the gold to PetarGorsa of Croatia (462.2), toldPTI during a function here.

"I was determined to clinchan Olympic quota at the World

Cup as it was my last chance. Ihave done well in AsianChampionship but winning anOlympic quota is different. So Iwanted to get it here (in Rio)itself," Rajput said.

The Rio World Cup was thepenultimate event to secure anOlympic quota before the AsianChampionship in Doha inNovember.

He missed out of the RioOlympics despite securing thequota after the National RifleAssociation of India (NRAI)replaced him with trap shooterManavjit Sandhu in the Olympiccontingent.

Rajput said that the incidentspurred him and he went abouthis business during the WorldCup as if he is competing at theOlympics.

"In my mind, I was compet-ing at the Olympics, which I

couldn't at Rio in 2016," he said.The Haryana shooter said

changing a barrel in his riflehelped him to score big at theWorld Cup.

"It has happened because ofthe barrel which I changed.The approval was given by SAIand I went to a weapon manu-facturing factory in Switzerlanda month before the World Cupand I managed to score big at theRio event," he said.

Rajput survived some anx-ious moment during the quali-fication round when one of hisshots showed a 'no-score'because of a scoreboard mal-function.

"I was good even in elimi-nation round. In kneeling posi-tion, I shot 396 but there was atarget malfunction and it wasshowing 39 shots out of 40. SoI protested and I felt the rifle and

came out. They gave me ananother shot after 24 minutes.

"But by the time, I complet-ed my kneeling position, theweather conditions changed,the wind was more and most ofthe top shooters had finishedtheir kneeling and prone posi-tion.

"So in this weather condi-tion, chances of getting 9 ismore. It was difficult, there wasanxiety but I cooled downmyself and I managed somehowwith my experience."

Asked what are his plans inthe run up to the Olympics,Rajput said: "I have got verygood scores and my world rank-ing is also good. I have my ownstrategy. I will compete at theAsian C’ship. There is alsoNational C’ship and we have aWC in New Delhi, which will bean Olympic selection event."

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Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Fridaylauded the Indian shooters for their

unprecedented medal haul at the recent-ly-concluded World Cup and hoped theywould carry the stupendous form into nextyear's Tokyo Olympics as well.

The Indian shooting team returned tothe country on Thursday after claimingnine medals, including five golds, at therecently-concluded ISSF World Cup in Rio

de Janeiro."The number of medals that our

shooting team has won is commendableand I congratulate the entire team for theoutstanding performance," Rijiju toldreporters after meeting the team here.

"We are going to set the record of high-est number of athletes, in terms of partic-ipation, in shooting for Tokyo Olympics.We have already secured nine berths andI am told there is a possibility of 12 quotaplaces.

"We are now best in the world and Iam looking forward to it that the talent thatwe have in shooting should reflect in theOlympics. We must be able to secure agood number of medals at the Olympics.One of the strongest disciplines fromwhich we will have high hopes is shoot-ing."

The Sports Ministry had recentlywritten to UK Secretary of Sport for shoot-ing's re-inclusion in the BirminghamCommonwealth Games.

Asked about the issue, Rijiju said:"India is one of the most importantnations in the Commonwealth GamesFederation and excluding shooting from2022 has upset all of us.

"...The decision was taken in theCWG organising executive committee,there were no Indians to put up India'scase. So it is not proper to take a decisionwhich is not in the interest of India becauseeverybody knows India has the greateststrength in shooting.

"We will take it up through diplomat-ic channels also but since it is a sportingevent, we would prefer that the CWG exec-utive committee considers our case, or elsewe will be very upset and register ourprotest. I have already written a letter solet's see, the IOA will meet me again."

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He was desperate to watchthe Ashes even if it meant

picking up trash for four yearsto save for the ticket.

A 12-year-old boy raisedmoney by taking out hisneighbours trash for fouryears to fulfil his dream ofwatching Australia take onarch-rivals England in theAshes and was also rewardedwith a bus ride with hisheroes, ‘cr icket.Com.Au’reported.

In 2015, Max Waight sawAustralia win the World Cupon home soil and it was thenthat he decided he wanted tosee his team take on Englandin the iconic Ashes seriesfour years later, the websitestated.

His father Damien Waighttold him that if he could earn1,500 Australian dollars(AUD), he would take him tothe UK.

Max and his mother cameup with the idea of taking outthe neighbours’ garbage binson the weekends for a chargeof just AUD 1 per household.

For four years, Maxhauled his neighbours binsout on the weekends.

Bit by bit, he was finallyable to raise the money asked

by his father, who booked thetickets and took the entirefamily to England to watch theongoing fourth Test at the OldTrafford in Manchester.

In addition to watchingthe match, Max also got tomeet some of Australia’s crick-et royalty.

“I sat next to Steve Waugh,Justin Langer and NathanLyon,” Max said.

“Justin Langer showed methe plan book which was

amazing to see all his notesand talking to Steve Waughwas amazing too.”

He also got meet his twofavourite players.

“Steve Smith and PatCummins are my favourites. Igot to talk to them abouthow they prepare and play thegame. It was very enjoyable.”

At lunch on day two,Australian speedster JamesPattinson gave Max a jerseysigned by the entire squad.

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stumps and trying to get meout lbw and caught behind thewicket," he explained.

"For them to go as short asthey did and as early as theydid with the new-ball, softenedthat ball up and played into ourhands."

The third double centuryof Smith's 67-Test career, all ofwhich have come againstEngland, was not chanceless.

Archer dropped a caughtand bowled chance whenSmith was on 65 and he hadmade 118 when he nickedJack Leach to slip only to bereprieved when a third umpirereview revealed the left-armspinner had bowled a no-ball.

"When I saw the foot overthe line and (umpire) Kumar(Dharmasena) called me backI thought, 'How good is this! Iget to keep on batting'.

"Obviously I had someluck and I made the most of itfrom there."

This innings also sawSmith extend his own recordwith an eighth successiveAshes fifty, but he was adamantin insisting: "It's never easy.

"You're playing interna-tional cricket against somequality bowlers. I'll never sayit's easy."

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Serena Williams will faceCanadian teenager BiancaAndreescu for the US Open

title as the American set herselfup for another attempt to clincha record-equaling 24th GrandSlam singles title.

Williams, who turns 38 thismonth, cruised into a 10th USOpen final on Thursday bybrushing aside fifth seed ElinaSvitolina 6-3, 6-1, earning her101st win at the tournament todraw level with Chris Evert forthe most in history.

Williams is seeking to matchMargaret Court’s all-time recordof 24 major titles and will play19-year-old Andreescu, whodefeated Belinda Bencic 7-6(7/3), 7-5, on Saturday in her bidfor a record seventh US Open tri-umph.

“To be in yet another final,it seems honestly crazy. But Idon’t really expect too much less,”said Williams, who is through toher 33rd major final.

“I’ve had so many chances topass it (Court’s record) andto have a lot more, butit’s cool because I’mplaying in an erawith so many —five eras with somany amazing play-ers.”

She won her firstGrand Slam title at the 1999US Open — before Andreescuwas even born — but has lost herlast three major finals since cap-turing the 2017 Australian Opencrown while pregnant. She has-n’t won the US Open since 2014.

Williams fought off six breakpoints across her opening threeservice games before findingher rhythm to dispatchWimbledon semi-finalistSvitolina in 70 minutes, hitting34 winners against just 20unforced errors.

“I know how (Svitolina) canplay, she’s such a good player,”Williams said. “Obviously two

semis in a row is really hard todo and I just wanted to not getoff to a slow start and I wantedto hang on in there.”

Williams, who was beaten bySimona Halep in the Wimbledon

final in July, returns tothe championship

match inN e w

York a year on from her infa-mous meltdown in a loss toNaomi Osaka overshadowed bycontroversy.

Svitolina, 24, was attemptingto become just the secondUkrainian to play in a GrandSlam singles final after AndreiMedvedev, who lost in five setsto Andre Agassi at the 1999French Open.

“On the importantmoments, she steps up, alwayssteps up, always brings herbest game,” Svitolina said.

“She knows what she hasto do. She has unbelievable

strength. She gives lots ofpower. There’s lots ofpower behind her shotsall the time. That’s whatmakes her unbelievable,

legendary tennis player.”

‘SURREAL’ MOMENTAndreescu, who fell in US

Open qualifying the past twoyears, continued her meteoricrise on her main draw debut inNew York to overcome formerSwiss prodigy Bencic.

The 15th-seeded Canadianplayed catch-up for much of theopening set and saved a setpoint at 4-5 with a forehand win-ner, but she rattled off the firstfive points of the tie-break and

sealed it when Bencic swatted aforehand long.

Bencic, the 13th seed, raced5-2 ahead with a double break inthe second set but Andreescurefused to buckle and reeled offthe final five games to set up arematch of last month’s Torontofinal against Williams, whoretired from that clash with aback injury.

“It’s just surreal. I reallydon’t know what to say. It’s adream come true playing Serenain the finals of the US Open. It’scrazy, it’s crazy,” Andreescu said.

“I think it’s just all the hardwork I’ve put in through theyears. If someone told me a yearago I would be in the US Openfinal this year, I’d tell them theywere crazy.”

Andreescu is trying tobecome the first Canadian sin-gles Grand Slam champion, andcould be the fourth first-timemajor champion in five years towin the women’s US Open title.

“It was really just aboutsome points that turned every-thing around. Also in the secondset, I think I had so many breakchances which I didn’t use. ButI think she played the best onthem,” Bencic said.

“She totally deserves to be inthe final.”

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Spin sensation Rashid Khan starred with bat andball on Friday as Afghanistan took command in

the one-off Test against Bangladesh here.Rashid hit 51 off 61 balls to take Afghanistan to

342 in their first innings and then claimed 4-47 toleave Bangladesh struggling at 194 for eight at stumpson the second day.

Mominul Haque scored the only half-century forBangladesh, 52 off 71 balls, while Mosaddek Hossainremained unbeaten on 44 to spare some blushes forthe home side against the Test minnows.

Bangladesh lost a wicket in the very first over oftheir innings when Yamin Ahmadzai dismissedopener Shadman Islam for nought but Soumya Sarkarand Liton Das steadied the innings with a 49-runstand.

Mohammad Nabi removed Soumya leg-beforefor 17 before Rashid introduced himself in the attackwith immediate impact as he bowled Liton for 33.

He unleashed further destruction in his fifth over,trapping Shakib Al Hasan leg before for 11 andremoving Mushfiqur Rahim for a duck two balls lateras Bangladesh were reduced to 88-5 at tea.

They did no better after play resumed in the finalsession as Rashid bowled Mahmudullah Riyad forseven and left others with little clue against his leg-spin.

Mominul launched a counter-attack to bring hisfifty off 69 balls but paid the price for his aggressionas he gave a catch to Asghar Afghan at mid-off offMohammad Nabi, who finished the day with 2-53.

Mosaddek survived the day with tail-ender TaijulIslam, 14 not out, but Bangladesh still face a moun-tain to climb, trailing Afghanistan by 148 runs in thefirst innings with just two wickets in hand.

Rashid earlier led Afghanistan’s batting chargewith his maiden Test fifty after they lost early wick-ets, having resumed the second day’s play.

Taijul finished with 4-116 for Bangladeshwhile Shakib and off-spinner Nayeem Hasan claimedtwo wickets each.

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Local hero Sanju Samson struck ablistering 48-ball 91 as India A

romped to a 36-run win over SouthAfrica A in the fifth and final unof-ficial ODI, helping the hosts claim theseries 4-1 on Friday.

Kerala wicketkeeper batsmanSamson, who has played one T20International for India, showcased hisskills in another rain-affected gameat the Sports Hub.

In a rain-affected 20 overs-a-sidegame, India A made 204 for 4 beforerestricting South Africa A to 168 allout with Shardul Thakur taking 3 for9 from three overs.

Samson exhibited his hittingabilities, smashing some huge sixes ashe toyed with the rival Proteas attackduring his 135-run second wicketpartnership with India regularShikhar Dhawan (51 off 36 balls),who posted his second straight half-century.

Samson overshadowed his illus-trious partner and tonked the Proteasbowlers with disdain, hitting somemassive sixes.

Dhawan fell while going for a bighit to give George Lind (2/43) his firstwicket.

Samson was dismissed after

adding 23 runs with skipper ShreyasIyer (36), when in sight of a well-deserved ton. His knock of 91 is hishighest List A score.

Iyer played some stylish shots toround off the India A innings.

In reply, South Africa got off toa quick start but regular fall of wick-ets set the team back. Opener ReezaHendricks (59 off 43) was his usualaggressive self and in the company ofKyle Verreynne (44 off 24) broughtthe visitors back into the game withsome superb strokeplay.

But continuos dismissal affected

the team’s momentum.Samson was named man of the

match for his robust innings.Meanwhile, it was learnt that

Samson donated his entire match tothe groundsmen and ground supportstaff after his match-winning knocktoday. All the five matches in unof-ficial ODI series saw rain disruptionsand the work of the ground staff ingetting the venue ready came in forpraise.

The two teams will now play twofour-day matches, beginning here onSeptember 9.

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Spain took a step closer to qualifica-tion for Euro 2020 on Thursday

after surviving a scare in Romania towin 2-1 and continue their 100 percentrecord, while Italy also kept their per-fect start with a 3-1 win in Armenia.

A Sergio Ramos first half penaltyand a beautiful team goal finished offby Paco Alcacer were just aboutenough for Spain, and made theirrecord five wins from five to maintaintheir five-point lead at the top of GroupF in their first match since LuisEnrique stepped down as coach inJune.

Spain are followed by Sweden, whoare on 10 points after thumping theFaroe Islands 4-0, and Norway a fur-ther two points back after their com-fortable 2-0 over Malta.

Earlier Italy strengthened their gripon Group J after coming from behindto see off Armenia thanks to a AndreaBelotti brace and Lorenzo Pellegrini’sfirst international goal.

Roberto Mancini’s side are threepoints ahead of second-placed Finland,

1-0 victors over Greece thanks to aTeemu Pukki penalty, and seven aheadof Bosnia and Herzegovina in thirdafter the win in Yerevan, which camedespite the Italians trailing after 11minutes when Aleksandre Karapetyan.

Torino captain Belottitapped in EmersonPalmieri’s cross to put Italylevel on 28 minutes beforeKarapetyan went from heroto villain by being sent off

in first half stoppage time for a sec-ond yellow card.

Belotti doubled his tally 10 min-utes from time after substitutePellegrini had put the away side in thelead.

David McGoldrick made surethat the Republic of Ireland stayed topof Group D with a late leveller inDublin that gave the hosts a 1-1 drawwith Switzerland.

The Irish are three points in frontof second-placed Denmark — 6-0winners over Gilbraltar — and sixahead of third placed Switzerland,who however have two games inhand.

Poland, another team yet to dropa point, will have the chance toincrease their four-point lead at thetop of Group G at Slovenia after sec-ond-placed Israel were held 1-1 athome by North Macedonia.

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India’s newly-appointedbatting coach Vikram

Rathour on Friday said theopening slot and the perfor-mance of the middle-orderin ODIs are his primaryconcerns as he prepares tobegin his tenure with theseries against South Africa.

Rathour replacedSanjay Bangar when freshappointments were madefor the coaching and sup-port staff. His tenure start-ed on Thursday and thefirst big challenge awaitinghim is the home Twenty20and Test series against South Africa fromSeptember 15.

“The middle-order in one-day is notdoing well and we must, of course, sortit out...The other area of concern is theopening partnership in Tests. We haveoptions and there is healthy competition.

We need to find a way forthem to be more consis-tent,” Rathour told theBCCI’s official website.

Rathour said the likesof Shreyas Iyer andManish Pandey seem tobe good options for the50-over format.

“Shreyas Iyer hasdone well in the last cou-ple of games and we alsohave Manish Pandey.These two guys havedone very well in domes-tic cricket and with IndiaA. These are the batterswho are capable of doingthe job and I have no

doubt about it in my mind.“It is a matter of getting it right at the

top level. We need to back them and pro-vide them with the right preparations sothat they can be there for a longer time.They have enough talent in them to dowell,” he said.

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Cricketers often talk about how a sense ofsecurity helps their performance but not

Hanuma Vihari, who believes in treating everyTest match as “his last” because it helps himbe on guard against complacency.

The 25-year-old Andhra batsmanemerged as the top run-getter with 291 runsin India’s 2-0 series win over the West Indiesand vindicated the team management’s deci-sion to have him instead of the more stylishRohit Sharma in the playing XI.

“Obviously I am very happy that I havedone well but I went into this tour with a cleanslate. I decided to take one Test match at atime. For me, every Test match is my last. Ithelps me get into a mindset that I have noth-ing to lose and play accordingly,” Vihari said.

Recently, Virat Kohli complimentedVihari for his temperament, which the skip-per feels infuses a sense of calm in the dress-ing room. He called Vihari the find of the WestIndies tour.

“You can’t ask for anything more if thechange room has faith in your abilities. Thatis certainly the best compliment I could havegot and coming from the skipper himself, itcan’t get better,” said Vihari, who now has 456runs in six Tests, including a hundred andthree fifties.

But the calm demeanour and steelyresolve hasn’t come in a day or two but aroundseven years of toiling in the domestic arena.

“It has happened because of the years of

hard work that I put in at the domestic level.Before playing for India, I had played nearly60 first-class games.

“I have faced pressure situations at thefirst-class level. It prepared me for bigger chal-lenges. Thanks to the Andhra CricketAssociation and (chairman of selectors) MSKPrasad sir for giving me a chance to play forAndhra,” said Vihari, whose first-class aver-age of 60.30 after 75 games, is among the top-10 of all time.

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RECORD ALERT�Serena could become only the fourth mother in the Open Erato win a Grand Slam title after Aussies Court and EvonneGoolagong Cawley and Belgium’s Kim Clijsters.�Three weeks shy of her 38th birthday, she would become theoldest women’s champion in Grand Slam history, surpassing theage mark she set in winning the 2017 Australian Open at 35 whilepregnant.�Williams seeks a record seventh US Open title to surpass themark she now shares with Chris Evert. If she wins the finale itwould give her 102 US Open match wins, one more than therecord 101 she shares with Evert.�Andreescu became just the second Canadian woman — afterEugenie Bouchard at Wimbledon in 2014 — to reach a GrandSlam final.�She is the second teenage Grand Slam finalist this year — afterFrench Open runner-up Marketa Vondrousova — and will bidto become the first teen Grand Slam champion since MariaSharapova won at Flushing Meadows in 2006.

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