priyanka magnetises crowd · 2019. 3. 15. · lucknow, the capital of polit- ... at transport nagar...

BROKE DIVYANG KILLSSELF AT ANDHRA BHAWANNew Delhi: A differently-abled manfrom Andhra Pradesh, who wasfacing financial crisis, allegedlycommitted suicide by consumingpoison outside Andhra Bhawan here,police said on Monday.

PAK VIOLATES CEASEFIRE,TARGETS VILLAGES J-K Jammu: Pakistani troops on Mondaytargeted forward posts and villagesalong the Line of Control (LoC) inPoonch district of Jammu andKashmir, prompting "strong andeffective" retaliation by the IndianArmy, officials said.

TOP PENTAGON OFFICIALVISITS AFGHANISTAN Kabul: The Pentagon's top officialmade an unannounced visit toAfghanistan on Monday to meet withUS commanders and Afghan leadersamid a push for peace with theTaliban.

CAPSULE

PNS n LUCKNOW

Amidst showers of petalsand raising of slogans,

newly-appointed Congressgeneral secretary PriyankaVadra Gandhi, donned in whitewith light green design kurta,finally made official entry intothe politics by holding a grand20-km road-show here onMonday, being seen as launchof the party’s campaign in theState.

A huge crowd in whichgeneral public outnumberedthe Congressmen turned up toget a glimpse of Priyanka, whowas accompanied by Congresspresident, Rahul Gandhi andJyotiraditya Scindia.

Priyanka just ‘smiled’ andwaved all through the route toacknowledge the greeting from

public and workers who turnedout in large number to catch aglimpse of her.

Standing atop the flower-bedecked rath, Rahul held acardboard cut-out of Rafale jetand showed it to the crowdreminding them about the cor-ruption of the BJP-ledGovernment at the Centre.The Congress workers raised

anti-BJP and anti-Modi slo-gans.

In a short speech Rahulsaid the Congress will bat onfront foot and will not rest tillthe Government with Congressideology is formed in UP

As Priyanka’s cavalcaderolled through the streets ofLucknow, the Capital of polit-ically crucial Uttar Pradesh,

Congress workers showeredrose petals and threw marigoldgarlands at her, celebrating themuch-awaited political debut.Immediately after the 25-kmjourney began, supportersbegan taking vantage pointsthrough the route to click pho-tographs. Congress workershad been busy making arrange-ments for the roadshow sinceearly morning. They were seendistributing food packets, teaand water to passersby.Patriotic songs were played onloudspeakers, elevating themood of supporters. Someposters showed Priyanka asGoddess Durga on a lion.

“Maa Durga ka roop behenPriyankaji (sister Priyanka isMaa Durga’s incarnation),” reada poster. Another highlightedher resemblance with her

grandmother Indira Gandhi.Congress workers were

seen wearing T-shirts withphotographs of Priyanaka.Members of “Priyanka Sena,” alittle-known organisation ofher supporters, were also seenduring the roadshow.

“With the Priyanka Sena atthe Nehru Bhawan, Lucknow itis almost celebration here,”tweeted Sushmita Dev, presi-dent of All India MahilaCongress. She attached a pho-tograph of her with membersof the outfit. One of the ban-ners on the vehicle read, “AagaiPriyanka. Baj gaya danka.Brashtachar ki ab Jalegi Lanka.”

Rahul and Priyanka, alsohad a tea at famous tea stall inLalbagh. At Hazratganj cross-ing, all the leaders garlandedthe statues of MahatamaGandhi, Sardar Vallabh BhaiPatel and Dr BR Ambedkarbefore proceeding to UPCC.

At Transport Nagar metrostation, Amethi leaders dis-played placards to welcome thetrio — Priyanka, Rahul and Sci-ndia. One of the ice-cream vendors, threw an ice-creamcone towards Priyanka whichshe caught and handed over toRahul.

In a rare visual, Priyankawas seen on the front of thebus top while his brother stoodbehind her. Later all the threeleaders — Priyanka, Rahul andScindia were standing in thefront while other UP leaderswere in the back behind thesecurity personnel. With slo-gan of Priyanka, Rahul zind-abad, the Congressmen werebeating drums on the entireway to welcome their leader.

SAPNA SINGH n NEW DELHI

Overseas winged guestsarrived in less number as

compared to the last year inIndia. The Bird Count Index(BCI) was “low” this (season)year with 247 different speciesagainst 268 in the year 2017due to adverse weather condi-tion and low visibility.

However, there is still goodnews for the ornithologists asHume’s Short Toed, Syke’s Lark(Flats), Greater White FrontedGoose, Cinnamon Bittern,Painted Sandgrouse (Asola),Pacific Golden Plover, TriColoured Munia, Black ThroatedThrush, Variable Wheatear,Curlew, Red Headed Bunting,Short Eared Owl (Khadar atNorth Delhi), Black-HeadedCuckooshrike (Mangaar Baani)Brown Shrike (Sultanpur),

Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher(Mangaar), Dove, OrpheanWarbler (Dhigal), Mallard 9 andWater Rail, Bengal Bushlark(Dhanauri), Jungle Prinia(Vasant Vihar Aravali), VerditerFlycatcher (Garhimandu), allspecial migratory species weresighted in different places acrossthe country.

Of all the migratory birds,“Blue Rock Pigeon” was amongthe most abundant species seenall over the country.

Dr Faiyaz A Khudsar,ornithologist, and professor inDelhi University,Environmental Department,said, “There is no drasticchange in number. The countis low mainly due to local cli-mate conditions, “Smog, pol-lution and forest cover, theseare the factors pivotal duringbird watching/ bird count,”

said Dr Khudsar, adding, “Thenumber seems to be underes-timated due to heavy smogwhich led to little poor visi-bility as well as sighting ofbirds.”

According to NikhilDaveskar, founder of DelhiBird and organiser of theevent, in National CapitalRegion (NCR), the highest

number of species spotted atDighal in Haryana, followedby Sultanpur outskirts andSungerpur in northwest Delhi.

Around 35 teams com-prising 4,000 - 5,000 individ-uals including birders, forestguards and school studentsattended the event. “Such wasthe enthusiasm and dedicationthat one of the teams walked

for at least 19 km that day forthe count,” said Daveskar.

In overall annual birdcount, Rock Pigeon 610, Plum-Headed Parakeet 556,Northern Shoveler 508,Eurasian Coot 501, Gadwall405, Green-Winged Teal 405,Northern Pintail 355, HouseSparrow 352, House Crow 341and Eurasian Moorhen 324were registered.

The Big Bird Day is anannual affair of bird watchingand counting. The event wasstarted by Delhi Bird in 2004.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister N Chandrababu

Naidu’s daylong fast onMonday demanding SpecialStatus for his State became arallying point for theOpposition parties.

Those who met Naidu andaddressed the gathering atAndhra Pradesh Bhawan wereCongress president RahulGandhi, former PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh,National Conference chair-person Farooq Abdullah,NCP’s Majeed Memon,Trinamool Congress’ DerekO’ Brien, DMK’s Tiruchi Siva,Loktantrik Janata Dal’s SharadYadav, Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Kamal Nath, DelhiChief Minister Arvind Kejriwaland Samajwadi Party founderMulayam Singh Yadav.

Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Rautalso made a surprise appear-ance at Naidu’s protest. Rautsaid he came to attend theevent as a representative of theShiv Sena, amid strains withsenior ally BJP. Naidu endedhis fast at 8.20 pm, acceptinga glass of juice from JD(S)supremo and former PrimeMinister H D Deve Gowda.This was the second time inless than a month whenOpposition members present-ed a united front against theNarendra Modi Government.

The last time when theOpposition came togetherthe same way was on January19, when 22 Opposition partiessupported West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeehelda massive show of strengthin Brigade ground in Kolkata.

Naidu who left NDA as analliance partner last March is

demanding that the Centrefulfil promises made duringAndhra Pradesh’s bifurcationin 2014. Naidu has been tryingto unite the Opposition partiesto take on the BJP in the gen-eral elections.

Over the last three months,he has held a number of meet-ings with the opposition partyleaders on forming an anti-BJPfront.

Naidu’s ‘Dharma PorataDeeksha’ (a day-long protestfor justice), began at 8 am andended at around 8 pm. TheAndhra CM is scheduled tosubmit a memorandum toPresident Ram Nath Kovindon February Tuesday.

“(Former PM) Atal BihariVajpayee said ‘’Raj Dharma’’was not followed in Gujarat(during the 2002 riots). Now,“Raj Dharma” is not beingfollowed in the case of AndhraPradesh. We have been deniedwhat is rightfully ours. If youdon’t get it done, we know howto get it done,” Naidu said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on

Monday set up a SIT probe intothe controversial audio clipshowing BJP chief B SYeddyurappa in a purportedconversation to “poach” on a JD(S) MLA in his alleged attemptto topple the Congress-JDSGovernment.

Amid turmoil in the StateAssembly over the audio tape,Speaker Ramesh Kumar madean emotional appeal to theChief Minister to constitute aSpecial Investigation Team toprobe the episode since theSpeaker’s name also figures inthe tape.

“Constitute an SIT to estab-lish the truth. Give me relief in15 days,” a visibly anguishedKumar told Kumaraswamy, aftermembers empathised with theSpeaker, saying he was knownfor his integrity and dignity of

his office should be protected.Responding to the BJP

members, who demanded thatthe probe be limited to thecharge against the Speaker sothat the SIT was not misusedfor ‘political vengeance,’ theSpeaker told Kumaraswamythat “this (SIT) should not leadto a witch-hunt. The probeshould be only to establish the

truth.” Kumar said in the conver-

sation “one person inducesanother ....Says we have alreadybooked the speaker for `50crore... About `50 crore havingpaid to the Speaker to acceptthe resignation of MLAs (of theruling coalition).”

On Friday, Kumaraswamyhad released the audio clip inwhich Yeddyurappa is pur-portedly trying to lure a JD(S)MLA for destabilising thecoalition Government.

Kumaraswamy had saidduring the purported conv-ersation there was a mention ofabout a “`50 crore offer tobook” the Speaker to give a rul-ing in favour of MLAs whomight resign to help the BJPbring down his Government.

The Speaker said he hadreceived the audio clip and aletter from the Chief Ministeron Friday and he was not surewhose voice it contained.

PNS n NEW DELHI

There is good news for thou-sands of MBBS interns asso-

ciated with various private med-ical colleges across the country.Taking up their long pendingdemand, the Medical Councilof India’s Board of Governors(BOG) is planning to make itmandatory for all private med-ical colleges to pay them stipendat part with what is offered tointerns of State-run institutions.

The stipend to allGovernment medical students ispaid for one-year period of theircompulsory internship aftercompletion of their four-year andsix-month academic course.During the internship, studentsassist in running the medical col-leges and hospitals.

However, interns in privatemedical colleges are eitherdenied stipend or paid a paltrysum.

Priyanka magnetises crowdRahul vows no rest till Govtwith Congressideology formed

PNS n NEW DELHI

The the Comptroller andAuditor General (CAG)

report on Rafale jet fighter deal,which has generated a massivepolitical controversy, was sub-mitted to President Ram NathKovind on Monday. Now, theGovernment is scheduled totable it in Parliament onTuesday, sources said.

The CAG report will betabled on Tuesday, a day beforethe end of the present LokSabha session. This is the lastSession of the 16th Lok Sabha asthe general elections are due inApril-May. The Rafale issue wasraised before the SupremeCourt, which did not find anysubstance in the allegations.

Detailed report on P10

CAG submitsRafale Auditreport to Prez

Prime Minister Narendra Modi serves food to underprivileged children during a programme organised to mark the serving ofthe 3rd billionth meal by the Akshaya Patra Foundation in Vrindavan near Mathura on Monday (Related rreport oon PP6) PTI

Pvt colleges toomust pay stipendsto MBBS interns:MCI Board

2017 golden year for winged guests to India

PTI n NEW DELHI

On a day Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was making her debut visitto Uttar Pradesh as Congress general secretary, her husband

Robert Vadra on Monday said she was a “perfect wife” and “thebest mother” to their children and now the time had come tohand her to the people of India.

“Please keep her safe,” Vadra said, doffing his hat to his “bestfriend” over the years and warning her against the prevailing “vin-dictive and vicious” political atmosphere.

Vadra urges people to keep her safe

CM sits on day-long fast on Mondaydemanding Special Status for Andhra

Naidu’s fast binds Opp, BJPally Sena visits dharna site

Congress President Rahul Gandhi with party general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia during a roadshow in Lucknow PTI

Samajwadi Party(SP) MP Dharmendra Yadav, Trinamool’s Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien, Andhra Pradesh Chief MinisterChandrababu Naidu, JDU MP Sharad Yadav, DMK leader Tiruchi Siva, SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav and Congress leaderJairam Ramesh during Naidu’s day-long fast ‘Dharma Porata Deeksha’ demanding for the special status to the state of AndhraPradesh in New Delhi on Monday PTI

BJP Karnataka chief BS Yeddyurappaseen during the budget session atVidhana Soudha, in Bengaluru onMonday PTI

SIT to probe audio clip inK’taka MLA poaching row

PTI n NEW DELHI

MNageswara Rao onMonday admitted that

as an interim chief of the CBIhe committed "mistake" intransferring former JointDirector AK Sharma andapologised to the SupremeCourt, saying he had no inten-tion to circumvent its orders.

Rao, who filed an affidavitin response to a contemptnotice issued to him onFebruary 7, said he was pray-ing for an unconditional andunqualified apology by theapex court.

"I sincerely realise my mis-take and while tendering myunqualified and uncondition-al apology, I specially state Ihave not wilfully violated theorder of this court as I cannoteven dream of violating or cir-cumventing order of thiscourt,” Rao said in the affi-davit.

Rao says sorry to top court for transferring CBI officer Sharma

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CHINA REJECTS TURKEYCRITICISM ON UIGHURS

OPINION 8TREADING A

DANGEROUS PATH

SPORT 15SAINA, SINDHU TORENEW RIVALRY

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Late City Vol. 13 Issue 41*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Published FromDELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL

BHUBANESWAR RANCHI RAIPURCHANDIGARH DEHRADUN

Established 1864RNI No. Regn. UTTENG/2007/22374, REGD. No. UA/DO/DDN/126/2016-2018

DEHRADUN, TUESDAY FEBRUARY 12, 2019; PAGES 16 `2

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The Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) has col-lected a total amount of Rs 17 crore by way of com-

mercial and house tax from the city so far. The civic bodyofficers claimed that given the pace of the collection, thetarget set to them would be achieved by March.

It is learnt that the target is Rs 25 crore, a figure whichis still a distant one for the civic body. However, the MCDofficers have exuded confidence that the target would beachieved. They said that a large amount of commercial taxis yet to be collected from many commercial property hold-ers. Once they are collected the target would be achieved beforeMarch or would be within reach, they added.

Speaking of the matter, the officer in –charge of the civicbody said that the amount which has been collected fromboth the commercial and house tax payers is goodenough. “We have so far collected Rs 17 crore. Besides, weare conducting house tax collection camps in various wardsand in course of the camps, we are receiving an amountof Rs one to two lakh daily. There is little doubt that thetarget would be met in time,” he said.

Queried about the tax to be collected from the privateschools and the reservation expressed by some of them overthe schools being made to pay commercial tax, he said thatthey were engaged in preparing a list of the schools fromwhich the tax would be collected. “We are making a listof the private schools as per order and the commercial taxwould be collected from these institutes. We have notreceived any complaint from any of the schools so far.However, the order of collecting commercial tax from themwould be executed,” he added.

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In order to ease the tax collectionprocess for the taxpayers based in

the city, Municipal Corporation ofDehradun (MCD) is going to launcha mobile application for tax payment.The work is under process, thecivic body officers said and addedthat the process would be complet-ed by April.

Speaking more of the matter,the officer in- charge of the civicbody said, “We are launching amobile application to make tax pay-ment easier for the tax payers. Thework on updating the data is underprocess and we hope that the appli-cation would be launched in April.Aside from this, the tax payerswould also get mobile text messagesof dates and information updatesregarding the status of the house taxpayments.”

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The State Commission forProtection of Child Rights

(SCPCR) has taken a seriousnote of the children foundbegging in the city. The com-mission has given instructionsto Child Line Dehradun to lookinto the matter with utmostseriousness.

Despite the practice of beg-ging being banned in the state,the children begging at variousplaces of the city are not hardto find. As per the informationreceived by the sources, thechild beggars being spotted inthe city are not from Dehradunalone. A large number ofthem is from Saharanpur inUttar Pradesh aside from someplaces of Jharkhand and Bihar,sources said. They further saidthat the child beggars are dis-posed to shift from place toplace, making it tough to keepa record of them.

Quizzed over the matter, anofficer from Child LineDehradun said, “It is true thata majority of the child beggarsspotted begging in the city isfrom other places. These chil-dren can be spotted during theweekends in the city. On somespecific occasions, they travelto Haridwar with their parentsor groups. It is tough to keep a

record of them, but in spite ofit, we from our side are tryingour best to help these childrenout of the practice.”

Elaborating further on thematter, the officer said, “Wetake initiatives to educatethese children. But it is hard forus to do so. It is important tounderstand that the child beg-gars are the soft targets even fortheir own parents. As per ourexperiences, they in most of thecases are forced to be engagedin begging. After some timewhen they find it easy to earnmoney in the process they getfully involved in it. It is veryimportant that the people aremade aware of the thing. If theystop giving money to thesechildren the practice can be atleast minimised. Besides,

spreading this message amongthe people, we have also con-ducted an awareness campaignrecently to let the people knowthat the money given by themto the child beggars is beingused to boost crime.”

An officer from SCPCRsaid, “It has come to ournotice that most of the childbeggars being spotted in thecity are not from here. Amajority of them is from stateslike Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.We have instructed the ChildLine to look into the matter.Besides, we would write to theUttar Pradesh StateCommission for Protectionof Child Rights (UPSCPCR)to look into the matter withutmost seriousness and dosomething about it.”

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With the admission ses-sion under way, the

State Commission forProtection of Child Rights(SCPCR) has stated that strictact ions would be takenagainst the people foundusing the name of the com-mission for admission of theirwards in schools.

As per the informationreceived, some schools haveinformed SCPCR about casesof parents using the name ofthe commission for their chil-dren’s admission.

Asked to comment on it,the officer SCPCR said, “Wehave received such complaintsfrom some schools. It is a veryserious matter and any personfound using the name of thecommission in the wrongway can face FIR to belodged against him or her.”

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The terror of elephants hasbeen haunting

Bishenpur villageand other adjoin-ing villages duringthe sugarcane sea-son. On Sundaymid- night, a herdof jumbos strayedinto the village,rampaged throughthe sugarcanefields and feastedon the sugarcanesand potatoesgrown over thefields. The farmersalleged that the ele-phants going onthe rampage havedestroyed cropsstanding on sever-al hectares of thefields. It is alsolearnt that theready to harvestsugarcanes stand-ing on the fieldsgoad the pachy-derms to raid thefields and make afeast on them. The farmers saidthat they smell the sugarcanefrom a distance and raid theagricultural land in herds. “Weare suffering the crop damagecaused by the marauding ele-phants as the forest officerschoose to look the other way,” a

farmer whose land was raidedalleged.

Small farmers living on thefringe of Rajaji Tiger Reservehave been fighting the menacefor years as the elephants invadetheir lands and destroy theircrops at regular intervals.They said that the pachydermsmake their ways in the fieldswith standing crops and feast

on them unhindered. “Duringthe small hours of Sunday, theherd of elephants enteredBishenpur village and destroyedthe harvest-ready crops sownby the villagers,” said a villagerFakir Ali. “The forest officershardly do the night patrolling.

Besides, there is not adequatelighting arrangements on theboundar ies of RTR andHaridwar forest division whichmakes it easy for the elephantsto get into the villages,” he saidwhile speaking to The Pioneer.

Ali further said, “We andour crops are insecure thanks tothe marauding elephants. Asper our experiences, the ele-phants come and raid the fields

of Bishenpur, Misserpur,Kurkawala, Bandarpur,Majahidpur, Teliwala andPherupur villages nearly daily."

It is also alleged by the farm-ers that the forest guards are notdoing night patrolling regularly.“The patrolling done by forest

guards is not regular which isresulting in the rampant move-ment of the wild animals in thearea. Add to it the defunct fenc-ing light and our vulnerability iscomplete. We demand thedefunct lights be replaced at theearliest,” said the head of GramPanchayat Sukhna.

Quizzed over the matter, theforest ranger Haridwar rangeAjay Sharma said, “The forest

team is regularly patrolling theforest beats. We have written tothe higher officials regarding thefencing problem and it would befixed soon. Barbed wire hasalready been placed at most ofthe forest boundaries lying closeto residential areas.”

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The Century Pulp andPaper mill's chief exec-

utive officer JP Narainwas felicitated by theNagar Panchayat on beingmade the vice president ofthe Indian PaperM a n u f a c t u r e r sAssociation (IPMA). Hewas among the select per-sons from Lalkuan felici-tated for various achieve-ments.

Felicitating him, theNagar Panchayat headLalchand Singh appreciat-ed the work being under-taken by the mill for the developmentof the area. Narain being made the vicepresident of the IPMA is a matter ofpride for the Lalkuan area, he said.

Speaking on the occasion, themill’s CEO said that the mill is com-

mitted to facilitation of developmentworks in Lalkuan and other neigh-bouring areas. From time to time, var-ious works will be facilitated as per therequirement, he said.

School students who had won a

bronze medal in a dance competitionin Bengaluru recently and studentswho had performed well in a volley-ball competition were also amongthose felicitated by the NagarPanchayat on the occasion.

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The Uttarakhand chapter ofthe National Academy of

Sciences, India (NASI) held itsannual meeting at UttarakhandState Council for Science andTechnology (UCOST) here onMonday. During the meeting,works undertaken by the statechapter of NASI in 2018 werediscussed.

The office bearers also dis-cussed candidates for the excel-lent science teacher award forthis year. The awards are pre-sented during the science con-

gress function. According toofficials, a total of 14 applica-tions were received for theaward in 2018-19 by the coun-cil.

The NASI Uttarakhandchapter head AN Purohit, for-mer chairman of the chapterand former director of WadiaInstitute of HimalayanGeology, BR Arora, chaptersecretary and UCOST directorgeneral Rajendra Dobhal andcoordinator DP Uniyal amongothers were present in themeeting which discussed theapplicants for this year’s awards.

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The 35th state advisory com-mittee meeting was held at the

office of Uttarakhand ElectricityRegulatory Commission (UERC)on Monday during which thebusiness plan along with tariffpetitions for the financial year2019-20, true-up for the financialyear 2017-18 and the annual per-formance review for the financialyear 2018-19 was placed byUttarakhand Jal Vidyut NigamLtd. (UJVN) , Power TransmissionCorporation Of UttarakhandLimited (PTCUL), State LoadDispatch Centre Uttarakhand

(SLDC) and Uttarakhand PowerCorporation Ltd (UPCL). All themembers of the state advisorycommittee were present duringthe meeting and they gave theircomments on the proposed tariffsof the aforesaid utilities.

While addressing the meet-ing, the chairman UERC heapedpraise on the efforts made by allthe power utilities for improve-ment in power supply in thestate. It is learnt that the mem-bers of the committee raisedmatters pertaining to issues likethe proposed tariff hike, capitalexpenditure, rate of interest andoperational performance of theutilities and supply to whichrepresentative of utilities andofficers of the commissionreplied accordingly.

The chairman UERCinformed the committee that allthe suggestions received from allthe stakeholders, including the

members of the committee, wouldbe considered appropriately in theARR tariff orders. He furthersaid that the commission wouldtry to issue the tariff order latestby February 28.

Besides the chairmanSubhash Kumar, Neeraj Sati, sec-retary UERC, Deepak Pandey,director (Finance), Prabhat Dimri,director (Technical) and RajnishMathur, director(Costing/Licensing) were presentwhile representing the commis-sion.

This aside, Pankaj Gupta,Anil Prakash Joshi, B L Nautiyal,Sudha Arora, V K Garg wereamong those present as membersof the advisory committee duringthe meeting. Managing director,UPCL, managing director,PTCUL and director(Operations), UJVN Ltd werealso present at the meeting, as perthe press release issued by UERC.

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The State Meteorological Centre hasforecast dry climate for

Uttarakhand as well as Dehradun on

Tuesday. The sky might be overcast forsome parts of the day, though there islittle likelihood of rain. The Metdepartment said there is no immedi-ate possibility of wet spell in the com-

ing few days. However, they have notruled out another such spell befallingthe state later. They further said that themercury would see a rise from the lastweek of this month.

In its forecastfor Dehradun, theMet departmentsaid that the skywould remain main-ly clear to partlycloudy on Tuesdaywith little likelihoodof rain. The maxi-mum and minimumtemperatures arelikely to be settlingaround 24 degreeCelsius and 9 degreeCelsius respectivelyon the day.

On Monday, thesky remained over-cast for the greaterpart of the day as thesun remainedbehind the screenof clouds. However,as the day pro-gressed the skycleared. The samewould be the sceneon Tuesday too, saythe Met officers.

The maximumand minimum tem-peratures recordedat various towns ofthe state on Mondaywere 23.5 degreeCelsius and 9.6degree Celsius inDehradun, 23.0degree Celsius and9.5 degree Celsiusin Pantnagar, 14.4degree Celsius and3.8 degree Celsiusin Mukteshwar and15.8 degree Celsiusand 4.8 degreeCelsius in NewTehri.

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On the first day of theBudget Session in the

Vidhan Sabha, the oppositionstaged a walkout protestingagainst the Governor’s addressreportedly starting four min-utes before the slated time andon the issue of the deathscaused by consumption ofspurious liquor in Haridwardistrict.

The Opposition allegedthat the Governor, Baby RaniMaurya, began her addressfour minutes before the slatedtime of 11 AM on Monday.Leader of the Opposition

Indira Hridayesh and PradeshCongress Committee chiefand Chakrata MLA PritamSingh alleged that this was vio-lation of the traditions of theHouse. They sought an expla-nation on how the Governor’saddress began before the stat-ed time. The Oppositionmembers then began protest-ing against the deaths causedin Haridwar district due toconsumption of spuriousliquor, demanding resigna-tion of the Chief Minister. TheGovernor continued heraddress for some time amidstthe din.

The Opposition memberswere also carrying placardswhich they displayed alsowhile protesting on the stair-case leading to the House.

Later, talking to mediapersons, the Chief MinisterTrivendra Singh Rawat saidthat the address of theGovernor started as per the

tradition of the House andprotocol. Regarding the alle-gation about the Governor’saddress being started beforethe designated time, he saidthat watches may have beencalibrated differently, which isnot valid ground for levelingsuch allegations.

Cabinet Minister and StateGovernment spokesman,Madan Kaushik, said that con-sidering protocol and tradi-tion, the Governor beginsdelivering the address afterreaching the House.

If the address was starteda few minutes early, it shouldbe taken as grounds forprotest. Regarding the demandof the Opposition regardingthe hooch tragedy, he said thatanswers to this and all otherissues are received when rele-vant questions are raised anddiscussed in the Assembly,not by creating din on theissues.

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The toll from swine flu hascontinued to rise with two

deaths being reported and 13new cases being found to bepositive for the H1N1 virus inDehradun on Monday.According to information pro-vided by official sources, twopersons, suffering from swineflu, died in the Sri MahantIndiresh hospital on Mondaywhile 13 persons tested positivefor the same ailment. As onMonday, a total of 23 deathshave been reported so far fromswine flu this season.

Further, a total of 149 per-sons have been found to bepositive.Those who have test-ed positive for swine flu include106 patients at Sri MahantIndiresh hospital, 21 in Maxhospital, eight in GovernmentDoon medical college hospital,eight in Synergy hospital, fourin Kailash hospital and oneeach in Himalayan Institutehospital, Jolly Grant and the

military hospital.According to the depart-

mental officials, all the medicalprofessionals have been direct-ed to keep track of the sus-pected cases of the ailment andnotify the district healthdepartment about each of thesame. All the hospitals haveadequate stocks of the requiredmedicines. Further, the man-agement of the hospitals havealso been asked to set up iso-lation wards to treat swine flupatients, said officials.

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The State Government willbring in a Bill during the

current Session of VidhanSabha to ensure severe pun-ishment for those guilty ofbrewing and supplying spuri-ous liquor.

Chief Minister TrivendraSingh Rawat said this whileinteracting with the mediapersons at the Vidhan Sabhaon Monday.

The Chief Minister saidthat like the Government ofIndia had made provision forstern punishment to thoseguilty of raping girls, theState will also bring in a Billin the current Session of theAssembly with provision ofstringent punishment forthose guilty of making andsupplying spurious liquor.

Referring to the hoochtragedy in Haridwar district,the Chief Minister said that acommission will also be set upfor inquiry in such type ofcases.

He said that an in-depthinvestigation will be held intothe incident that had occurredin Haridwar district. For thispurpose, a special investiga-tion team, headed by an offi-cer of the rank of inspectorgeneral, is being formed bythe State Government so thatan in-depth investigation canbe conducted and the sourceof the problem can be ascer-tained. Orders for a magiste-rial inquiry had already beenissued in the past soon afterthe incident came to light.

A joint committee of thepolice from Uttarakhand andUttar Pradesh has also beenformed in this case.

Regarding confusionabout the source of the spu-rious liquor that had resultedin deaths in Haridwar inUttarakhand and Saharanpurin Uttar Pradesh, Rawat saidthat the senior superinten-dents of Haridwar andSaharanpur had already helda joint Press conference inwhich they had clarified as towho had brewed the liquorand who had sold it.

The focus of the StateGovernment is on ensuringthat all those guilty in thiscase are brought to justice,stressed the Chief Minister.

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The main priorities and var-ious achievements of the

State Government were listedin the address of the GovernorBaby Rani Maurya in theAssembly on Monday. In theGovernor’s address, informa-tion was provided on the toppriorities and steps taken by theState Government to facilitatethe desired level of develop-ment in Uttarakhand during itsterm in office so far.

The address compriseddetails of steps taken andplanned to meet the interests ofvarious sections of society.

It was stated in the addressthat for the benefit of thepublic, the State Governmenthad provided various types offacilities online oneregistra-tion.uk.gov.in. For the planneddevelopment of the State,vision 2030 had been drafted.An online portal has beenprepared for paperless infor-mation on financial and phys-ical figures from departmentsfor regular review.

The Uttarakhand StateCentre for Public Policy andGood Governance was alsoformed for making planningand policy making more effec-tive and practical.

Further, it was stated inthe address that consideringthe important role of industrialsector in the development ofthe State various measureshad been taken by theGovernment. The investors’summit was held last year inwhich MoUs worth �1,24,000crore were signed. A singlewindow system had also beenput in place for simplifyinginvestment in the State whileamendments were made inlegal provisions for ease of

doing business and attractinginvestors to the mountainousregions of the State. The State’seffective implementation ofvarious Central Governmentschemes including, DigitalIndia, was also mentioned. Itwas stated that the StateGovernment is committed toensuring to maintain a systemwith public participation thatalso ensures control on crime,peace, law and order while alsofacilitating the safety oftourists and maintaining asecure environment in theState.

Considering the vulnera-bility of the State to disasters,details were provided of vari-ous measures undertaken tostrengthen the disaster man-agement system and mitigatedisasters of various types.

It was also stated that var-ious measures had been takenby the State Government forimproving the health facilitiesavailable in the State.Expansion and improvementof Government health facilitiesand introduction of schemeslike the Atal AyushmanUttarakhand Yojana and tele-medicine were also listed in

the address. Further, the range of mea-

sures taken for eradication ofpoverty in a planned mannerwere also referred to. Variousmeasures taken for develop-ment in spheres includingagriculture, education,tourism, infrastructure, sportsand employment generationthrough skill developmentamong others were also men-tioned in the Governor’saddress.

Additionally, the measurestaken for the welfare of ex-ser-vicemen and dependents ofmartyrs along with steps takenwith the aim of doubling theincome of farmers were alsoreferred to.

The 43-page address of theGovernor provided briefdescription of works under-taken by the State Governmentso far along with its prioritiesfor the coming financial year.It was stressed that the prior-ity of the State Government isto facilitate decentraliseddevelopment and pursuingthe vision of sabka saath sabkavikas to bring Uttarakhand inthe category of developedStates.

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As part of the magisterialprobe into the hooch

tragedy which claimed scores oflives both in Haridwar districtof Uttarakhand andSaharanpur district of UttarPradesh, the additional districtmagistrate Haridwar hasrecorded the statements of 12people so far. It is also learntthat the medical report ofthose now undergoing treat-ment at Civil Hospital has alsobeen collected by the commit-tee constituted to probe thestring of death.

The additional districtmagistrate Lalit NarayanMishra who is heading themagisterial probe said on

Monday that he has appealed tothe people living in the villageswhere the deaths occurred tosubmit the evidences regardingthe manufacturing and sup-plying of country liquor tothem to the committee.

Meanwhile, acting on thedirections of Haridwar SSP,police have arrested 57 coun-try liquor traders in course ofthe raids conducted followingthe tragedy and 59 cases havebeen registered against them atdifferent police stations acrossthe district. Police informedthat 6,760 pouches of countryliquor, 147 litres of hooch and40 pouches of foreign liquorhave been recovered from thosearrested in connection with theincident. Police further saidthat the anti-liquor raids andcampaigning is being heldacross the district to stamp outthe illicit liquor sale.

Though the father-sonduo-Fakira and Sonu-from

Ballupur village have beenarrested for their alleged role inbringing the deadly liquor fromSaharanpur, the main supplierwho is from Punden village isstill on the run. A massive manhunt is being done to nab himand his close associates.

Police further informedthat the suppliers who havebeen arrested have confessedduring interrogation that theyhave had never tasted the liquorthey had been supplying to thevillagers. “The interrogation isfurther going on. We would getto the bottom of the hoochmenace and go all-out to stampit out,” said a senior districtpolice officer privy to theinquiry of the hooch tragedy.He further said that the smelland the colour of the hoochhad indicated that somethingwas wrong with it. “But the sup-pliers sold it to the villagerswithout thinking of the riskinvolved in it. We have further

learnt that Sardar Hardev whois the kingpin of the hooch sup-plying network asked Sonu toreturn the pouches, but seeingthe people queuing up at hisplace to buy it, he supplied it.This is what has been learntduring the interrogation,” headded.

Notably, some people hadgathered at a village underJhabreda police station inHaridwar district to attend13th day of the post-death rit-uals for a deceased friend onThursday.

The guests had been servedwith country liquor after theytook the meals. Many of theguests had returned homes inthe evening and they had fall-en ill on the night. Before thefamily members could haveunderstood what had hap-pened to them, many had diedon the way to the hospital andsome had died during thetreatment on Friday.

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The Congress has decided toprotest against Prime

Minister Narendra Modi’sUttarakhand visit on February14. The party has planned togherao him on the day of hisarrival in the State.

In a statement issued to themedia on Monday, theUttarakhand Pradesh CongressCommittee president PritamSingh stated that to protestagainst the Prime Minister notkeeping his promises, theCongress workers will protestagainst his visit and gherao himat Rudrapur in Udham SinghNagar on February 14. He fur-ther said that about 150 per-sons in total had died fromconsumption of spurious liquorin Haridwar district ofUttarakhand and Saharanpurdistrict of neighbouring Uttar

Pradesh. However, the Prime

Minister had not uttered evena single word of sorrow fol-lowing this incident. The StateGovernments of Uttarakhandand Uttar Pradesh have alsoremained insensitive on thissubject. The PCC presidentfurther said that the actionbeing taken now by the respec-tive State Governments, had itbeen taken earlier on time, sucha major loss of lives couldhave been averted.

Singh further said thatduring his campaign rallies,during the 2017 Vidhan Sabhaelection, the Prime Ministerhad promised that the loans offarmers in the State would bewaived off and that the dues ofthe sugar cane farmers wouldbe cleared within a fortnight ofthe formation of theGovernment.

Now, when the StateGovernment is nearing com-pletion of two years in office,neither have the loans of farm-ers been waived off nor havethe dues of sugar cane farmersbeen cleared.

The PCC president furtheraverred that corruptionamounting to crores of rupeesin the Rafale fighter jet deal hadexposed the CentralGovernment being headed byPrime Minister NarendraModi. Singh also said thatthough Modi had promisedjobs to two crore persons,lakhs are becoming unem-ployed during the tenure of theBJP-led Government at theCentre.

The Congress will protestand gherao the prime ministeron these issues during his visitto Rudrapur.

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Hearing on the alleged scamamounting to �500 crore

in the provision of scholarshipsto SC-ST students through theSocial Welfare department, theHigh Court of Uttarakhand setthe next date of hearing onFebruary 18. The case washeard by the division bench ofchief justice RameshRanganathan and justice RCKhulbe.

It will be recalled thatStatehood activist, Dehradunresident Ravinder Jugran hadfiled a public interest litigationin the high court stating thatthe social welfare departmenthad not disbursed scholarshipto thousands of SC-ST studentsin the State from the fundsreceived for this purpose from

the Centre. Stating that the scam

amounted to about �500 crore,he had sought a CBI inquiryinto the matter. The ChiefMinister had directed a specialinvestigation team probe intothe matter in 2017 with thereport to be submitted in threemonths but no action wastaken against the guilty.

Earlier, the StateGovernment had informed thecourt that on December 1,2018, the SIT had lodged a caseunder section 420 of IPCregarding the anomalies in thematter in Haridwar andDehradun districts.

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Hearing on the bail petitionof main accused in the

national highway 74 scam, DPSingh and Sudhir Chawla, thehigh court did not provideany relief to them on Monday.Hearing on the bail applica-tions, the single bench of jus-tice Manoj Kumar Tiwari setthe case for hearing next onFebruary 21.

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Sonipat parliamentary constituency is aJat dominated seat in Jatland Haryana

and had seen former Deputy PrimeMinister late Devi Lal making his LokSabha debut in the year 1980.

BJP’s Ramesh Chander Kaushik, aBrahmin currently represents the SonipatLok Sabha and had defeated his nearestrival Jagbir Singh Malik, a Jat candidate ofCongress in 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Jat voters, which form a sizeable per-centage in Sonipat had expressed their dis-pleasure over the nomination of a Brahmincandidate by the BJP from the seat but theModi wave prevalent countrywide in2014 polls had made Kaushik’s victorycomfortable.

Turncoat Ramesh Kaushik, a formerCongressman had trounced the Congress’Jagbir Malik with a margin of more than77000 votes in the general elections.

The Jat community has more than 5lakh voters in Sonipat and there are morethan 1.5 lakh Brahmins as well.

The Khaps in the area have in the pastinfluenced the voting pattern in Sonipat.The main Khaps including Malik, Dahiyas,Rathis etc have always played a key role indeciding the fate of candidates in the fray,say political analysts.

In 2014 election, the political scenariowas already against the Congress withJitender Singh Malik, Sonipat’s former MP(2009-2014) joining the BJP before thepolls. After he developed differences withformer Chief Minister Bhupinder SinghHooda and left the party, the Congress haddecided to field its MLA Jagbir Malik, whohails from prominent Malik gotra havingclout in the area.

Political experts say that BJP candidateRamesh Kaushik won the Sonipat seatagainst Congress’ candidate due to Modiwave in 2014. Narendra Modi, who wasBJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate had evenaddressed a rally at Gohana for RameshKaushik.

Two-time former Chief MinisterBhupinder Singh Hooda who was hope-ful of retaining Jat dominated Sonipat andRohtak seats in 2014 had lost Sonipat dueto anti-incumbency factor coupled withthe Modi wave, they say.

The multi-cornered contest had rep-resentatives of all major parties — JagbirMalik (Congress), Ramesh Kaushik (BJP),Padam Singh Dahiya (INLD), Jai SinghThekedar (AAP) and Suman SinghSharma (BSP) — in the fray.

The elections had witnessed a neckand neck contest between two Jat candi-dates -Malik and Dahiya -for the second

spot.BJP’s Ramesh Kaushik had got

3,47,203 votes (35.19 percent), JagbirMalik secured 2,69,789 votes (27.35 per-cent), Padam Singh Dahiya of INLD got2,64, 404 votes (26.80 percent). AAP andBSP candidates were polled 4.93 percentand 2.44 percent votes respectively.

The result had come as a major shockfor the Congress in the Jat belt. TheSonipat Lok Sabha seat has nine assemblysegments namely Ganaur, Rai, Kharkhauda(SC), Sonipat, Gohana, Baroda, Julana,Safidon and Jind.

In last general elections, the BJP hadsucceeded in maintaining lead in five seg-ments while Malik managed to lead inKharkhoda, Gohana and Baroda andINLD’s Dahiya had led only in the Julanasegment.

Sonipat constituency is known for dif-ferent political influences in past elections.Former Deputy Prime Minister ChaudhryDevi Lal was elected in 1980 from Sonipatand had to taste defeat from the seat in nextelections in 1984.

Devi Lal (2,55,363 votes) contesting onthe Janata Party (S) ticket had defeatedRandhir Singh (97,572 votes) to enterParliament for the first time in 1980.Congress’ candidates represented the seatin 2009, 1991 and 1984 while the BJP can-didates won from here in 2014, 2004, 1999.

According to the data of ElectionCommission, there are around 15.01 lakhvoters in the Sonipat Lok Sabha con-stituency.

The sitting MP Ramesh Kaushik, whois known for his 100 percent attendancein Parliament sessions is seen as a fron-trunner for the party ticket from Sonipatin ensuing Lok Sabha polls.

From the newly formed JannayakJanta Party, Digvijay Chautala, greatgrandson of former Deputy Prime MinisterChaudhary Devi Lal is seen as one of thestrong contenders for the Sonipat parlia-mentary seat. After party’s good perfor-mance in Jind bypoll where Digvijay hadsecured second spot ahead of Congress andINLD candidates, he is seen as JJP’s safebet for Sonepat parliamentary seat.

On the other hand, the search is onin the Congress and Indian National LokDal for the probable candidates for theseat.

Past representatives of Sonipat LokSabha seat

2014-Incumbent: Ramesh ChanderKaushik (BJP)

2009-2014: Jitender Singh Malik(Congress)

1999-2009: Kishan Singh Sangwan(BJP)

1998-99: Kishan Singh Sangwan(INLD)

1996-98: Arvind Kumar Sharma(Independent)

Chandigarh: Punjab movedanother step forward for resolv-ing the �31,000 crore foodaccount legacy issue as the15th finance commission onMonday formally notified theconstitution of the committeeto look into the issue.

The Finance Commission’schairman NK Singh’s approvalto the issuance of the notifica-tion came within a fortnight ofthe Commission’s visit toPunjab. Commission had hadthen announced to set up apanel headed by its memberand NITI Aayog member ProfRamesh Chand, besides therepresentatives of the state gov-ernment, Union FinanceMinistry, among others under-lining that “legacy debt”, cou-pled with enormous interest

over it, was the major point ofconcern for Punjab.

Welcoming the develop-ment, Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh expressedthe hope that it would lead toearly resolution of the issuerelated to the legacy debt of�30,584 crore, “which is threat-ening to cascade into a majorfiscal crisis for the state”.

The committee, which hasbeen asked to submit its reportwithin six weeks, compriseUnion Secretary Food andPublic Distribution Ravi Kant,Union Additional SecretaryDepartment of Expenditure,Ministry of Finance RajeevRanjan, Additional SecretaryDepartment of FinancialServices Minister of FinanceRavi Mittal and Punjab Chief

Secretary Karan Avtar Singh.Commission’s joint secretaryRavi Kota would be the panel’smember secretary.

As per the notification,the Committee has been man-dated to look into all aspects ofthe legacy debt of PunjabGovernment arising out ofaccumulated CCL (Food CreditGap) with reference to FoodCorporation of India orDepartment of Food andPublic Distribution.

The Committee would alsorecommend contours of suitableresolution that would be fair andappropriate to all the stakehold-ers and the Punjab state, thusenabling the state to manage thefiscal challenge arising out of thedebt stock and servicing cost dueto the legacy debt. PNS

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With Haryana’s main oppo-sition party, Indian

National Lok Dal, beinglikened to a ‘sinking ship’ by itspolitical opponents, formerChief Minister and INLD chiefOm Parkash Chautala onMonday began his statewidetour to revive the party andinfuse energy in party cadreahead of ensuing Lok Sabhapolls.

After the split and forma-tion of its splinter group—Jannayak Janta Party (JJP)—thepopularity graph of the INLDis already declining and thehumiliating defeat of the partyin Jind bypolls has triggeredmany unfortunate politicaldevelopments for it.

While Bahujan Samaj Party

has snapped ties with the INLDand joined hands withLoktantra Suraksha Party (LSP)of BJP rebel MP Raj KumarSaini, many party leaders aresaid to be exploring option ofjoining other political outfits inthe state.

Also, the INLD is nowdesperately looking for analliance partner to contest theupcoming general polls inHaryana.

INLD’s chief OP Chautalaon Monday hinted at goingwith the ruling BJP but the BJPleaders have already rejectedhis proposal.

The senior Chautala is cur-rently out of Tihar jail on athree-week furlough and set totake a statewide tour to meetparty leaders and workers tokeep his flock together besides

strengthening the party aheadof the upcoming polls.

Hisar MP DushyantChautala, who is grandson ofOP Chautala has already float-ed a new political outfit JJP fol-lowing a power struggle inINLD between brothers AbhayChautala and Ajay Chautala.

INLD’s chief OP Chautala

elder son- Ajay Singh Chautala-is patron of the JJP while histwo sons – Hisar MP Dushyantand Digvijay -- are spearhead-ing the party in the absence ofAjay, who is serving a 10-yearjail term in connection with theteachers recruitment scam inHaryana.

Aware of the after-effects of

party’s split and JJP’s growingpopularity in the state, thesenior Chautala has alreadybegun organizational changesin state INLD unit.

Talking to mediapersons inKurukshetra on Monday, hehinted at forming an alliancewith the BJP.

When asked about the BSPending the ten-month oldalliance with the INLD lastweek, Chautala said that thealliance forms and breaks dur-ing the time of election.

On being asked whetherthe INLD will form an alliancewith the BJP or any otherparty in the state, he said thatthe INLD will form an alliancewith the party of same ideolo-gy. If the BJP or any other partyapproaches us, we will explorethe option, he said.

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Virtually the last sittingbefore the parliamentary

polls, Punjab Vidhan Sabha isall set to turn into a session ofblowing one’s own trumpetand running the rivals down bythe political bigwigs.

With the State alreadyswitching into an active poll-mode, the legislators, cuttingacross the party lines, are all setto use the floor of the House asa “stage” for electioneeringduring the 10-day budget ses-sion starting from Tuesday.

The session, which wouldconclude on February 21,would begin with the governor’saddress on Tuesday morning,through which the Congress-led State Government wouldcongratulate itself while listingits achievements regarding farmloan waiver, controlling drugs,providing employment and jobfairs, its recent decision torelease dearness allowance toemployees despite financialcrunch, enhanced investmentin the state, among other things.

At the same time, theCongress would pinpoint the

“apathetic attitude” of the BJP-led Central Governmenttowards Punjab.

On the other hand, theopposition parties — AamAadmi Party, Shiromani AkaliDal, Bharatiya Janta Party, andLok Insaaf Party — wouldleave no stone unturned to takeon the ruling regime, especial-ly for not fulfilling its promis-es despite being two years inpower in Punjab.

Among the issues that areexpected to find mention dur-ing the session would includeteachers’ regularisation,unabated farmers’ suicide,unsuccessful loan waiverscheme, mounting unemploy-ment, employees’ issues,besides others.

The Finance MinisterManpreet Badal would presentthe Congress government’sthird budget on February 18,which is likely to make somesignificant announcements,largely focussing on party’spre-poll promises.

It may be mentioned herethat the state’s financial situa-tion continues to remain pre-carious in view of low revenue

mobilisations and rising com-mitted liabilities, coupled withthe total debt estimated to beRs 2.10 lakh crore.

In fact, the 15th FinanceCommission during its recentvisit to the state, had expressedconcern over Punjab’s risingoutstanding debt to the GrossState Domestic Product(GSDP) ratio, declining taxrevenues. It had also took noteof the situation where state’sgross borrowings were “noteven enough” to meet itsexpenditure on repayment ofprincipal and interest payment,leaving little scope for spend-ing on developmental works.

“Punjab is suffering on allparameters. Health and educa-tion facilities are in a mess. Socialwelfare scheme are not beingimplemented and the govern-ment is even proposing to pri-vatise rural healthcare services.Even the crop damage com-pensation is not being paid tothe farmers. Investment into theState has become zero withinvestor confidence comingdown to an all time low. Even theordinary youth has no faith inthe government and is shunning

the so-called job fairs which havealso turned out to be a big scam,”said the former Finance Ministerand SAD MLA ParminderSingh Dhindsa.

Apart from that, it wouldbe interesting to see whetherBholath MLA Sukhpal SinghKhaira, who was elected onAAP ticket, would attend thesession.

Notably, Khaira has beenavoiding the Speaker Rana KPSingh’s show-cause notice ask-ing why he shouldn’t be dis-qualified from the Assembly.Khaira has, in fact, instructedhis staff to “not accept” anynotice or letter from the VidhanSabha to evade initiation of anyproceedings against his dis-qualification from the House.

Suspended by AAP, Khairahad resigned from the party onJanuary 6 and went on to floathis own party — Punjabi EktaParty. However, he had notresigned as MLA and haddared the AAP to get him dis-qualified.

AAP, on the other hand,had requested the Speaker todisqualify Khaira as he was “nomore AAP member”.

Speaker had issued firstnotice, issued under the TenthSchedule of the Constitution,on January 21 to Khaira askinghim to reply within 15 days ofreceiving it. The notice hadbeen issued after oneHarsimran Singh, a resident ofBholath constituency and AAPMLA Harpal Singh Cheemaasking the Speaker, throughtheir representations, forKhaira’s disqualification.

Cheema had argued thatKhaira had voluntarily given upAAP’s membership and float-ed his own political outfit.

SAD DEMANDS TOEXTEND SESSION TO 21WORKING DAYS

SAD on Monday asked theVidhan Sabha Speaker RanaKP Singh to hold a three-weekoperative budget session sothat burning issues of the Stateincluding unprecedentedincrease in farmers’ suicides,failure to implement GharGhar Naukri yojna, discrimi-nation against Dalits, man-handling of women teachers,not releasing DA to stateemployees and increased tax

burden on people could be dis-cussed threadbare in the inter-est of public welfare.

The demand was made byparty delegation including for-mer ministers Bikram SinghMajithia, Daljit Singh Cheemaand MLA NK Sharma submit-ting a letter demanding the pre-sent seven-day budget session beextended to 21 operative days.

The party requested theSpeaker to ensure that theCongress party did not rideroughshod over the aspira-tions of the common man andensure all public issues wereallowed to the raised in theforthcoming budget session.

The delegation alsodemanded an urgent discus-sion on the violence unleashedon women teachers who wereholding a peaceful protest onSunday at Patiala. Majithiademanded immediate regis-tration of criminal cases againstthe police officials responsiblefor this, adding that no elect-ed government could behave insuch a manner with teacherswho had been entrusted withthe responsibility of mouldingfuture generations.

“A detailed discussion isalso required on the oppressionunleashed on the commonman during elections to localbodies and panchayats.Corruption unleashed byCongress legislators includingcreation of sand and liquormafias and complete break-down of the law and ordermachinery witnessed by largescale robberies, dacoities andtargeted killings also need to bediscussed on the floor of thehouse,” he said.

AAP TO TAKE ONCAPT GOVT ON PEOPLE-CENTRIC ISSUES

The principal oppositionparty, AAP, has declared tobring the Capt AmarinderSingh-led Government on itsknees over the public-centricissues in the budget session.

“AAP leaders wouldremind Capt Amarinder forlying to the people of the statemaking false promises to themahead of the Assembly elec-tions,” said AAP MLA and theLeader of Opposition (LoP) inVidhan Sabha.

He said that all sections of

the people were suffering underthe mis-governance of the gov-ernment, leaving them with nooption but to taking to thestreets to stage protest for theirgenuine issues.

“Capt Amarinder hadmade tall promises to the peo-ple, including farmers, dailywage earners, the youth, priorto the elections to do a preciouslittle to ameliorating their lotonce the party was voted topower. It is a matter of surprisethat even after two years ofpower, the government hasfailed to live up to the peoples’aspirations,” he said.

Cheema said that AAPwould raise the issues related tofarmers and farm labourers,Punjabi language, transportmafia, trade, education, womenempowerment, Dalit, MNRE-GA, health, travel agents, drugs,law and order, youth andemployment.

“Apart from this, the issuesrelated to SSSB test pass can-didates, 2500 pensionannounced by Capt Amarinder,Rs 51,000 Shagun to girls andhigher rates of electricity willalso be raised,” said Cheema.

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After State food and civilsupplies minister and

Jamshedpur West MLA SaryuRoy questioned theGovernment style of function-ing for last few years in a lettersubmitted at Amit Shah’s Delhioffice on Friday, BJP NationalGeneral Secretary, Arun Singhon Monday said that he willmeet Roy to clear differences.

Singh, who was in the cityto attend BJP Kolhan level partyworkers meet at Agrico ground,said, “We are a democraticparty and we can have differ-ence of opinion. We are not likeCongress where voices of oppo-sition are expelled. I will meetSaryu Ji soon and am confidenthe will understand our view.However, I feel party leadersshould not go to media withtheir grievances and insteadsort it out in the party. Our partyleaders have right speak but onright platform. It is time foreveryone to be united andensure that Modiji as PrimeMinister work for developmentof country and the state,” saidSingh.

Saryu Roy has been speak-ing against Government’s styleof functioning for last few yearsin a letter submitted at AmitShah’s Delhi office on Friday,had sought advice by Februaryend whether to continue in the

State cabinet, as it was not pos-sible for him to continue as aminister in the cabinet with hisdignity intact.

The Minister had in his let-

ter to Amit Shah had alsoinformed that he had informedPrime Minister Narendra Modiin August 2017 about the unsat-isfactory working style of

Jharkhand Government.However, the BJP national

secretary expressed satisfactionover functioning of RaghubarDas led Government.

“Raghubar Das ledGovernment has played keyrole in the progress of the State.The State Government hastaken some good initiatives likeregistration of land at a price of�1 for women, providing 1 lakhGovernment jobs, taking theGDP rate to 8.2 per cent, whichis the second in the country andopening of five new medical col-l e g e s , ”said Singh.

The BJP leader expressedconfidence that party will winmore seat than the 2014 elec-tions. “We are confident ofwinning all the Lok Sabha seatsfrom Jharkhand this time thanthe 12 in 2014. People are verymuch aware of the parties in themahagathbandhan and the per-formance of Centre and StateGovernment will yield divi-dends in the elections. We haveincreased our party base in theState and from only 3 lakhmembers in 2014 we haveincreased to 21 lakh membersnow,” added Singh.

Arun Singh, who is also BJPin-charge for Odisha since 2014,said that they are working on amission of winning 121Assembly seats in Odisha in thenext assembly polls.

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Members of AdvocatesAssociation Jharkhand

High Court and the RanchiDistrict Bar Association(RDBA) on Monday held gen-eral body meeting to discussdemands related to their welfareand then submitted a memo-randum to Ranchi deputycommissioner in this regard.

With the lawyers partici-pating in meetings, court workswere disrupted in the afternoonat High Court and the civilcourt. Notably, lawyers acrossthe country are staging two-dayagitation starting from Mondayover their long pendingdemands.

The legal fraternity is seek-ing proper infrastructure,including chamber and library,stipend of �10,000 for newentrants, budgetary allocationof �5,000 crore for lawyer’sand client’s welfare, land at

concessional rates and amend-ment in rules for ensuringappointment of lawyers in tri-bunals, forums and commis-sions.

The Bar Council of India

had in a meeting held onFebruary 2 given a call for theagitation which was endorsedby the Jharkhand State BarCouncil.

The agitation was marked

by a protest held by RDBAmembers against the districtadministration after the lawyersfound that the gates leading tothe DC office have been closedto prevent their entry.

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Union Home Ministry onMonday designated Dera

Baba Nanak land post inPunjab’s Gurdaspur district,which will be the exit andentry point for visitingKartarpur Sahib Gurdwara inPakistan, as an authorisedimmigration checkpoint. In anotification, the HomeMinistry said anyone with validtravel documents can exit orenter through the post.

“In pursuance of sub-rule(b) of rule 3 of the Passport(Entry into India) Rules, 1950,the Central Government here-by designates Dera Baba NanakLand Check Post of District

Gurdaspur, Punjab State as anauthorised Immigration CheckPost for entry into/exit fromIndia with valid travel docu-ments for all classes of passen-gers,” the notification stated.

Kartarpur is located in

Shakargarh in Narowal dis-trict of Pakistan’s Punjab. GuruNanak Dev, the founder ofSikhism, had spent more than18 years of his life there. TheKartarpur Sahib Gurdwara islocated on the banks of theRavi river, about three-fourkm from the border inPakistan.

The much-awaited corri-dor will connect the KartarpurGurdwara with Dera BabaNanak shrine in India’sGurdaspur district and facili-tate visa-free movement ofIndian Sikh pilgrims, who willhave to just obtain a permit tovisit Kartarpur Sahib, whichwas established in 1522 byGuru Nanak Dev.

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The alleged horse trading inthe JD(S)-Congress-led

Karnataka figured in the LokSabha on Monday as theCongress cited a purportedaudio clip of BS Yeddyurappa toaccuse the BJP of trying to lureruling coalition MLAs, a chargerejected by Union Minister andsenior BJP leader SadanandaGowda who claimed that therewere differences within the StateGovernment and “fake activities’were enacted to save ChiefMinister’s chair.

The issue derailed the LokSabha proceedings from theword go and the Question Hourwas adjourned for about 50minutes due to Congress andJD(S) protests over alleged

horse trading in Karnataka.TDP members also joined

them demanding “justice” forAndhra Pradesh.

As the house resumed the issue of alleged horse trading in Karnataka wasbrought up by the Congress cit-ing a purported audio clip of BSYeddyurappa to accuse the BJPof trying to lure ruling coalitionMLAs, a refuted by SadanandaGowda.

Congress members, includ-ing Sonia Gandhi, staged awalkout from the House overthe issue but returned a few min-utes later. Congress leader in theHouse Mallikarjun Kharge levelled allegations ofhorse trading against the BJP leadership and also men-tioned Yeddyurappa’s purport-

ed audio clip in which he isallegedly seeking to win over anMLA of the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition in the state.

Kharge, an MP from thestate, claimed that there are ref-erences that the Speaker of thestate assembly and even a judge“could be managed”.

BJP members from the state,including Sadananda Gowda,objected to Kharge’s remarks.

Former prime minister andJD(S) leader HD Deve Gowdasaid that “things like ‘OperationKamala’ should not happen inthe country”.

‘Operation Kamala’ is a ref-erence to BJP allegedly winningover MLAs from rival parties.

Refuting the allegations,Minister for Statistics SadanandaGowda said there is already

infighting between the Congressand the JD(S) in Karnataka andthat both parties are doing “fakeactivities”.

Gowda claimed that thetwo parties were doing suchthings to save the chair of H DKumaraswamy.

“All things uttered (here)...Are false and far from truth,”Gowda said. Briefly , Congressmembers trooped into the Welldisplaying placards with themessage ‘Operation Kamala.Death of Democracy’ written onsome of them.

TDP members were also inthe Well as they sought to raise issues related to Andhra Pradesh. Despite repeat-ed requests from SpeakerSumitra Mahajan, theyremained in the Well.

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In what could be a pointer tothe popularity of the

newly appointed general secre-tary of Congress PriyankaGandhi Vadra, the twitteratifollowed her on the Twitter infrenzy with the follower basetouching nearly one lakh with-in hours of her joining the socialmedia platform on Mondaymorning.

Priyanka joined Twitter ataround 10 AM on Monday andby late evening she had clocked a followers’ base of over95,000.

Priyanka went on to followseven Congress leaders includ-ing her brother and party chiefRahul Gandhi, Ahmed Patel,Sachin Pilot, JyotiradtiyaSCindia, Congress chiefspokesman Randeep Surjewalaand twityter handle of All IndiaCongress.

“Smt Priyanka Gandhi

Vadra is now on Twitter. Youmay follow her at @priyanka-gandhi,” a tweet from theCongress’ official Twitter handlesaid. Interestingly till late in theevening she didn’t post even atweet.

In comparison, RahulGandhi who joined themicroblogging site in April 2015 now follows 206twitterati while being followedby 8.4 million. The twitterhandle of Congress which existssince February 2013 has 4.8 fol-lowers. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, however, stilltops the list of Indians with 45.4million followers on his Twitter handle since January 2009 whohimself follows 2125 twitterati

till date. Priyanka, 47, was also the

favorite for media on Mondaytoo with round the clock of theRoadshow coverage in Lucknowalong with Rahul and her coun-terpart for Western UPJyotiraditya Scindia.

Besides her husband RobertVadra too went on to sayPriyanka was a “perfect wife”and “the best mother” to theirchildren and now the time hadcome to hand her to the peopleof India.

“There is a very vindictiveand vicious political atmosphere... But I know, it’s herduty to serve the people and nowwe hand her to the people ofIndia. Please keep her safe,”said Vadra in a social mediapost. Vadra is under a probe bythe Enforcement Directorateand was questioned for three consecutive days last weekin connection with a probe intoallegations of money launderingto purchase assets abroad.

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Zakia Jafri, wife of slain MP Ehsan Jafri, told the

Supreme Court Monday that her plea challenging SIT’s clean chit to Narendra Modi, thethen Chief Minister of Gujarat, in the 2002 post-Godhra riots be heard after theLok Sabha polls.

There is “no urgency in thematter” and it can be heard inJuly after the general election,she told the top court.

A bench of Justices AMKhanwilkar and Ajay Rastogiconsidered the submission fordeferment by senior advocateKapil Sibal, appearing for Jafriand listed the matter for hearingin July.

“At the request of senioradvocate Kapil Sibal, for the peti-tioners, hearing is deferred. Liston a non-miscellaneous day inJuly, 2019, as requested,” thebench said.

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Advocating that BJP shouldbe run with the contribu-

tions of the party workers andnot by money bags, buildersand contractors, party presi-dent Amit Shah on Mondayasked two party workers fromeach booth to contribute�1000. However, he went on tosay that this kind of fundingalone would not be suffice inthe current scenario.

Addressing a party event‘Samarpan Divas’ marking the51st death anniversary of its ide-ologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay, Shah said the BJP should takeup the responsibility of guidingother parties on the path of pro-bity. Two workers from eachbooth in the country shouldcontribute �1,000 through theNaMo app, he said.

“BJP workers should say with pride that we run this party from our money andno industrialist, contractor,

money bag or builder can runit,” Shah said.

He, however, added that asparty president he cannot saythe BJP can fund all its organ-isational and election expens-es from its workers’ contribu-tions. “This is not possibletoday,” he said.

“If means are not pure,then our goals cannot be

attained in a good way. If theparty has to be kept pure... Ifthe party starts running fromthe money of money bags,builders, contractors, thosewith black money, then it willmalign our means to realiseour goals,” he said.

There should be a publicdiscussion on how electionexpenses can be brought down

and how to bring probity inpoll funding, he said, express-ing confidence that such anexercise will begin under theBJP’s leadership.

The Modi government, heasserted, has taken steps toclamp down on the influenceof black money in politics bylimiting cash donations to�2,000, said the BJP leader.

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Well aware of the demandsto preserve the cultural

and identity of the rare DardAryans tribe—believed to bethe original descendants of‘pure Aryan race’— from theJammu & Kashmir’s lowerLadakh region, the UnionTribal Ministry which hasalready received representa-tions just recently from thecommunity still awaits for a for-mal communication from theJammu & KashmirGovernment to act on the issue.

The Tribal Ministry’s non-chalant attitude comes even asthe Union Culture Ministry hasalready shared with it the con-cerns of the artists from theDard Aryans community whoat an event held here hadexpressed apprehensions thatmodernisation, migration, andreligious conversion, etc threat-en their existence.

What’s worst, the tribe isconsidered “threatened” due totheir depleting numbers,which, at present, is around4,000.

However, the TribalMinistry has preferred to waitfor the State Government toinitiate step in this direction .Said Jaswantsinh Bhabhor,Minister of State for TribalAffairs in a written reply inRajya Sabha, recently that,“Dard Aryan’ is not among thelist of notified Schedule Tribes.The Ministry of Tribal Affairshas not formally received anycharter of demands from theconcerned State Governmentfor seeking financial help forpreservation of cultural her-itage of ‘Dard Aryans.”

However, he admitted that

a delegation of artists from thecommunity had presented acharter of demands regardingpreservation of their cultureand other grievances to theMinister of State of TribalAffairs.

While maintaining that “asinformed by the Ministry ofCulture, during the Seminar onDard Aryans at IGNCA from16-21 January, 2019, artistsfrom Dard Aryan Communityraised the issues that due tomodernization, migration, andreligious conversion, etc., theirtraditions and culture are atthreat,” the Minister main-

tained that “however, no formalcommunication has beenreceived by MoTA from theconcerned State in this regard.”

To showcase their culture,the Indira Gandhi NationalCentre for Arts (IGNCA) hadorganised Dard Aryan Festival(Aryan Utsav) last month.Virendra Bangroo, an INGCAscholar and curator of theexhibition showcasing theirculture and coordinator of theArya Utsav too felt that thecommunity was being ignored.“So far, the Government hasnot been able to do anythingfor this community. Its policiesand programmes are yet toreach them. Not many peoplein the country know about thisrich colorful legacy, whichtoday stand threatened.”

On its behalf, the IGNCAhas also taken up various ini-tiatives to preserve culturalheritage of the Dard Aryansincluding assistance in settingup a few museums in Leh,Laddakh, Kargil, etc., with thehelp of local community.

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Accusing the Congress ofbetraying the nation by

opposing Government poli-cies for the poor and farmers,Finance Minister Piyush Goyalon Monday said the people willnever forgive it. While replyingto the debate on InterimBudget in Lok Sabha, Goyalsaid that the Modi Governmenthad taken a lot of initiatives inthe past four-and-half years forthe benefit of poor, farmers andmiddle class and the 2019-20Interim Budget was a contin-uation of that.

The Interim Budget waslater passed by Lok Sabha byvoice vote, amid walk-out bythe Congress, NCP and CPI-M.Referring to the PM KisanSamman Nidhi under whichsmall farmers will be providedRs 6,000 financial assistance

every year, Goyal said thatthose living in palaces willnever understand the impor-tance of �2,000 every fourmonths and hence they “belit-tle” the scheme.

“This Government haschanged the working style fol-lowed by the Congress. We aremoving towards an honest sys-tem,” he said, adding theGovernment will take harshsteps against fake companiesbut will do everything to pro-tect the honest ones.

Attacking the Governmentand Prime Minister NarendraModi, Congress leaderVeerappa Moily said every dataon government’s claims are“fudging” in statistics. If theGDP is growing at 7.5 per cent,“can it be without creatingjobs,” he said, adding accordingto latest NSSO estimate, thecountry’s unemployment stoodat a 45-year high. There is a“job crisis”, which they are notprepared to accept, Moily said.

Citing various data, Moilyalleged that the government hassignificantly reduced the bud-get for different programmesincluding for welfare of farm-

ers and women. “Now Rafaelwill fail and Rahul will win,” hesaid, alleging the ruling gov-ernment has no respect forParliament and Constitution.

“After demonetisation, �2lakh crore worth of GDP waslost, industrial output andMSMEs suffered and now thegovernment will pay for the sincommitted against poor people…40 per cent of Mudra funds are lying idle, Mudra loans are leading to rising NPAs. In five years ofthis Government, NPAs haverisen from �2 lakh crore to �12lakh crore. If you give thenanother five years, then thepublic sector banks will bewiped out or liquidated,” saidMoily.

Biju Janata Dal MPBhartruhari Mahtab on allegedthat the Government has“restrained” the StandingCommittee on Finance chair-man from sharing with thepanel members three reportson black money.

He said the FinanceMinistry has also refused tomake them public under Rightto Information (RTI) citingbreach of privilege of theHouse. Pointing to VeerappaMoily (Cong), who is the chair-man of Standing Committee onFinance, Mehatab said evenMoily has been restrained fromsharing information with themembers of the committeeand questioned the motivebehind it.

Lauding the government’sperformance on the economicfront, Union Minister JayantSinha said tax to GDP ratiorose and the fear of “tax ter-rorism” was gone during itstenure. After demonetisation,the tax compliance increasedduring 2017-18, the Minister ofState in the Civil AviationMinistry said while interveningduring the debate.

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Vice President M VenkaiahNaidu Monday called upon

all nations to collaborate andcooperate in an unparalleledmanner to ensure sustainabledevelopment even as heexpressed concern over theimpact of climate change ondeveloping countries. Naiduwas speaking at the inaugura-tion of the three-day WorldSustainable DevelopmentSummit 2019 here.

“The immediate impact ofclimate change was felt more bydeveloping countries because ofhigher dependence on climaticvariables, especially when itcomes to agriculture, and theirlimited capacities to adapt, hesaid.

Naidu said climate changeand global warming threatenlives and livelihoods of billions

and upsets the delicate balanceof nature. It is in its recognitionthat India is trying its best toinclude the paradigm of sus-tainability and environmentalconservation in all its develop-ment endeavours,” he said.

Sharing the opinion of thevice president, Union MinisterHarsh Vardhan said the issue ofclimate change was among thebiggest challenges which needsto be addressed collectively.

“Climate change and envi-ronmental problems areamongst the biggest challengestoday. It goes without saying thatthese issues need to beaddressed collectively by all ofus before it is too late,” Vardhan,the Union Minister for envi-ronment, forests and climatechange, said at the summit

organised by The Energy andResources Institute (TERI).

The Ministry ofEnvironment also collaboratedwith TERI to set up a resourceefficiency cell at the event.

Speaking about the collab-oration, the Minister said,“Anticipating increased demandfor raw materials in the future,it is vital to institute the best inresource efficiency as an efforttoward decoupling economicgrowth and human wellbeingfrom ever-increasing con-sumption of natural resources.”

“The cell will enable inter-ministerial and inter-depart-mental synergy in promotingmaterial resource efficiency inIndia while helping frame theblueprint of the integratedresource efficiency policy forIndia,” he said.

The Vice-President, in hiskey address at the event, empha-sised on the importance of sus-tainable agriculture as a part ofsustainable development andsaid more efficient systems ofirrigation with “more crop perdrop” mantra should be used.

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Congress General SecretaryPriyanka Gandhi’s hus-

band Robert Vadra and hismother will be quizzed by theEnforcement Directorate at theagency’s Jaipur office in con-nection with a money laun-dering probe relating to theBikaner land scam.

Last week, Vadra was ques-tioned thrice in connectionwith a separate money laun-dering case relating to illegalassets abroad.

Vadra with his motherMaureen are likely to appearbefore the ED at about 10 AMat the agency’s zonal office inJaipur on Tuesday. The duoreached Jaipur on Monday.

Earlier, the Rajasthan HighCourt had asked Vadra and hismother to cooperate with theagency after they approachedthe court seeking directionsthat no coercive action is takenagainst them by the agency.

The Investigating Officer(IO) of the case will record thestatement of Vadra and hismother under the Preventionof Money Laundering Act(PMLA).

The agency has grilledVadra last week for nearly 24hours over three sessions in thenational capital in the illegalassets case.

In the Bikaner land scamcase, the ED had summonedVadra thrice but he failed toappear and later approachedthe Rajasthan High Courtwhich directed him to cooper-ate with the probe.

The agency had registereda criminal case under provi-sions of PMLA in connectionwith the land deal in 2015, tak-ing cognisance of a clutch of

FIRs and chargesheets filed bythe Rajasthan police after thetehsildar of Bikaner com-plained about alleged forgery inthe allotment of land in the dis-trict, considered sensitive dueto its proximity to the Indo-Pakborder. However, Vadra’s namedoes not appear in the ED FIRwhich mentioned someRajasthan government officialsand the “land mafia”.

The ED is likely to grillVadra about the operations ofa firm -- Skylight HospitalityPvt Limited -- allegedly linkedto him, which had purchased

land in the area. The is alsoexpected to confront Vadrawith the statements of thosesaid to be linked to him,sources said.

In the past, the ED had alsoraided the premises of peoplelinked to Vadra includingMahesh Nagar who is con-nected to Skylight Hospitality.In December 2017, the ED hadarrested Ashok Kumar, a closeassociate of Nagar, and anoth-er person, Jaiprakash Bagarwa.The agency had searched thepremises of both Kumar andNagar in April 2017.

Nagar was the “authorisedrepresentative” of SkylightHospitality in four cases of landpurchase in Bikaner. Kumar, onthe other hand, had purchasedland in the same area, using the“power of attorney” of others.

The ED probe in the caseis related to the purchase of aland measuring 275 bighaallegedly by the companylinked to Vadra in Bikaner’sKolayat area a few years ago.

Vadra had earlier deniedany wrongdoing in connectionwith the case and the Congressclaiming political vendetta forthe probe.

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Extolling her as a mother,Prime Minister Narendra

Modi on Monday said cow hasbeen an important part ofIndia’s tradition and cultureand his government has takenseveral steps to improve thehealth of cattle.

Addressing a gatheringafter his first visit to VrindavanChandrodaya Mandir, hepraised the people of Mathura-Vrindavan, saying ‘gau sewa’ isa tradition in the area, drawingloud cheers from his audience.They also raised slogans like‘gau mata ki jai’ during the

speech.Modi stressed his govern-

ment has created a “securitycover” to ensure good heath ofchildren and mothers duringthe past 55 month of his rule.

“But there is another moth-er, who has been nourishing usfor ages. I want to express mygratitude to her from the landof Gokul. That mother is ‘gaumaa’. We cannot repay the debtof cow’s (gau mata’s) milk.Cow is an important element ofIndia’s tradition and culture,” hesaid.

He said his Governmenthas started the Rashtriya GokulMission to improve the health

of cattle. In the Union Budget,Modi said, his government alsotook a decision to establish theRashtriya Kamdhenu Aayogwith an allocation of Rs 500crore for taking care of cows.

Alluding to Lord Krishna’slegendary childhood duringhis nearly 30-minute speech atthe Mandir campus, the primeminister said, ‘gau mata’ nour-ished ‘Bal Gopal’ through milk.

“Cows have been animportant part of our cultureand tradition (Gai hamari san-skriti aur paramaopra ka ahamhissa rahi hai). And also animportant element of the ruraleconomy,” he said.

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Muzaffarnagar: Over 100 cowswere reported to have died insome villages in the districtover two days following whichan inquiry was ordered in the incident, officials said on Friday.

The cows died in pasturesand were suspected to haveeither eaten poisonous grass orconsumed polluted water, SubDivisional Magistrate VijayKumar said. He said an inquiryhas been ordered into the inci-dent and a team of revenue

department along with veteri-narians had gone to the areaswhere the bovines died toascertain the cause.

The cows were brought tothe pastures from shelterhomes. PTI

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Moradabad (UP): HomeMinister Rajnath Singh onMonday praised PrimeMinister Narendra Modi as a“cure” for problems facing thecountry and asserted he will bevoted back to power in the LokSabha election that must beheld by May.

Singh said the prime min-ister worked for the poor, farm-ers and weaker sections ofsociety during the past four anda half years of his tenure.

Addressing an event inMoradabad, he cited severalCentral Government schemes— such as Ujjwala Yojana ofproviding free LPG connec-tions to poor households andAyushman Bharat health careprogramme — to make hispoint.

“Chowkidar chor nahi,chowkidar pure hai. Next PMsure hai, problem ke liye curehai,” Singh said, using the wordCongress president RahulGandhi has used to attackModi on the Rafale jet deal.

Singh’s statement inEnglish meant: “The watchmanis not a thief, he is a pure man.”“He is sure to be the next PM,he is a cure for problems.”

The Congress has beenalleging that the 2015 Rafaledeal to purchase 36 fighter

jets from France was compro-mised by corruption.

Gandhi has repeatedlyalleged Modi helped industri-alists in getting defence con-tracts related to the deal.

On Monday, the homeminister responded to the alle-gations, saying the defence dealstrengthened the Indian AirForce, which had been demand-ing fighter jets for 30 years.

The Prime Ministerfinalised the Rafale deal tostrengthen India’s security, headded.

Citing former prime min-ister Atal Bihari Vajpayee,Singh said he tested nuclearbombs in 1998 without caringabout the warnings and threatsfrom world powers and it wasthis courage that made India anuclear weapons State.

He also recalled India’s vic-tory during the Kargil warwith Pakistan.

Criticising the SP-BSPalliance in Uttar Pradesh for theLok Saba election, he said it isan “alliance of corruption”.

He said the Oppositionparties have lost moral author-ity and are criticising everyone— from the Prime Minister, tothe president and theGovernors — who is goingagainst them. PTI

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The normal life was affectedin Kashmir Valley due to

shutdown on separatists’ call tomark the death anniversary ofJKLF founder MuhammadMaqbool Bhat who was sent togallows in Tihar jail onFebruary 11, 1984.

Maqbool Bhat hailing fromNorth Kashmir’s Trehgam vil-lage of Kupwara district, washanged inside Delhi’s Tiharjail for “masterminding thehijacking of Indian AirlinesPassenger Airliner “Ganga” toLahore Pakistan in 1971 andalso role in the kidnapping andsubsequent murder of Indiandiplomat Ravinder Mhatre onFebruary 3, 1984, inBirmingham London. Bhat laysburied inside the jail precinctswhile his family has beendemanding his mortal remains.

The JRL comprising ofSyed Ali Geelani, MirwaizUmar Farooq and Yasin Malikhave called for a valley-wideshutdown and staging protestsagainst his execution whilereiterating demand for thereturn of his mortal remains.

Shops, business establish-ments, fuel stations are shut inSrinagar while public transport

is off the roads. Scanty privatevehicles are plying on city roadsalong-with ambulances andemergency services vehicles.

The shutdown has alsoaffected attendance in govern-ment and semi governmentoffices in Srinagar and otherareas in Valley.

Reports of the shutdownwere also received from otherdistrict headquarters of theValley.

Heavy deployment ofpolice and paramilitary forceshas been made at law andorder sensitive places inSrinagar, south Kashmir andKupwara. The authorities haveimposed restrictions inSrinagar’s sensitive areas andalso in Bhat’s native areaTrehgam to prevent protests

and maintain law and order.The train services between

north Kashmir’s Baramulla andBanihal in Jammu provincehave been suspended as a pre-cautionary measure in view ofshutdown call and also due totense situation arising out ofkilling of five Hizb andLashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) mil-itants in Kelam Devsar Kulgamin south Kashmir.

Authorities placed MirwaizUmer Farooq under housedetention at his Nigeen resi-dence on the Srinagar outskirts.

Syed Ali Geelani continuedto remain in house detention athis Hyderpora residence since2010. Yasin Malik has alreadybeen put in preventive policedetention in Srinagar policestation.

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Jammu: Pakistani troops onMonday targeted forward postsand villages along the Line ofControl (LoC) in Poonch dis-trict of Jammu & Kashmir,prompting “strong and effec-tive” retaliation by the IndianArmy, officials said.

The exchange of firebetween the two sides contin-ued for nearly seven hours,causing panic among the locals,the officials said.

They said Pakistani troopsviolated the ceasefire by resort-ing to unprovoked firing fromlight and heavy weapons inKerni sector around 8.15 am.

Indian troops guarding theLoC, retaliated effectively andthe cross-border firing betweenthe two sides continued till 3pm, the officials said, addingthere was no immediate reportof any casualty on this side.

PTI

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Jaipur/Dholpur: The stale-mate between the protestingGujjar community and theRajasthan Government overquota in jobs and educationcontinued on the fourth con-secutive day on Monday, as agi-tators blocked roads and rail-

way tracks.Protesters, led by Kirori

Singh Bainsla, have been squat-ting on railway tracks in SawaiMadhopur district since Fridayevening, demanding five percent reservation for the Gujjar,Raika-Rebari, Gadia Luhar,Banjara and the Gadaria com-munities. The sit-in has affect-ed the movement of over 300trains through the region so far.

On Monday, members of

the community blocked theAgra-Jaipur Highway in Dausa,Jaipur-Kota Highway in Tonkand a few other roads inKarauli and Sawai Madhopurdistricts. They also blockedthe NH-11 and continued theirblockade from previous days atother places.

However, there was no vio-lence and the agitation waslargely peaceful. The Hindoli-Uniyara National Highway was

also blocked by protesters inBundi district near Topa village.

“Protestors blocked theAgra-Jaipur highway atSikandar in Dausa, Jaipur-KotaHighway at Banas pulia in Tonkand other roads in Karauli andSawai Madhopur districts onMonday. The situation is peace-ful and there is no report of anyviolence so far,” DirectorGeneral of Police (Law andOrder) ML Lathar said. PTI

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Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee has

extended her solidarity withher Andhra Pradesh counter-part Chandrababu Naidu andis likely to fly to Delhi to par-ticipate in the February 13mega rally, being staged by theAam Admi Party (AAP)against the Narendra ModiGovernment in Delhi.

Even as she extended hersolidarity with Naidu, a seniorTrinamool Congress leader onMonday quoting the Chief

Minister, said his party chiefhad “expressed her supporttowards Chandrababu Naidu’shunger strike.

She asked party leaderDerek O’Brien to visit Naidujiat the venue of the hungerstrike and rub shoulder witheach other,” adding theOpposition parties stood unit-ed in the fight against theModi Government.

The AP Chief Ministerhad early this month visitedBanerjee’s dharna stage inKolkata where she was holdinga sit-in against the Centre’s

highhandedness by unleashingthe CBI to conduct raids at the house of KolkataCommissioner of Police RajivKumar.

The senior IPS officer wascurrently in Shilong where hewas being questioned for thepast couple of days by a CBIteam from Kolkata along withformer TMC MP Kunal Ghosh.

Banerjee is likely to stayback in the national Capital tillFebruary 14, party sources saidadding during her stay in Delhishe would meet the leaders ofall the Opposition parties.

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Thalassery: In a setback to theruling CPI(M) in Kerala, theCBI on Monday slapped mur-der and conspiracy chargesagainst party strongman PJayarajan in a case relating tothe murder of a 22-year-oldMuslim Students Federationactivist in 2012.

The supplementary chargesheet, filed in a sessions courthere, has also charged partyMLA TV Rajesh in the con-spiracy related to the killing.

The CBI has chargedJayarajan with murder and con-spiracy under Sections 302 and120B of the Indian Penal Code,court sources said.

According to the prosecu-tion, Shukoor, a worker of theyouth wing of the Indian UnionMuslim League (IUML), waskilled on February 20, 2012, forattacking a convoy in whichJayarajan and Rajesh were trav-elling. The prosecution alsoalleged that Shukoor was caughtand interrogated for over twohours by a mob and his photowas circulated via mobile toconfirm his presence in thecrowd which attacked theCPI(M) convoy.

The CPI(M) Kannur dis-trict committee, however, saidthat the charge against Jayarajanwas the latest example of “mis-using” the CBI to target polit-ical opponents. PTI

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Apowerful ‘New India’ can-not be built if its children

are not healthy, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Mondaysaid and emphasised that hisGovernment has put emphasison nourishment, vaccinationand sanitation to realise thenew paradigm.

In his address, at an eventin Vrindavan, he also assertedthat ‘Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas’ isthe “road to ‘New India’”. Indiahad faced long period of colo-nial rule and abject poverty,and country’s children were theworst hit, he said.

“Just like a solid foundationstone is necessary for con-structing a strong building,for a ‘New India’, having nour-ished and healthy children isalso necessary. If childhoodgets weakened, then growthwill get weakened,” Modi said.

After the event in the mainpavilion, where thousands ofchildren, parents and teachershad assembled to hear himspeak, the Prime Minister,served meal to a group ofunderprivileged schoolchild-ren and praised the efforts of anNGO towards eradicatinghunger from the country.

The event was organised tomark the serving of the 3rd bil-lionth meal by the AkshayaPatra Foundation, a Bengaluru-based NGO which work withthe Government on mid-daymeal scheme.

“Now, in the past 55months, we have laid emphasis

on health, particularly of chil-dren and mothers. We haveworked with commitment andprovided a ‘security cover’(‘surakhsa kawach’) as far as theirhealth is concerned,” he said.

He added organisationslike Akshaya Patra are helpingin “strengthening that securi-ty cover”. Modi said the foun-dation for healthy ‘New India’is being laid through nourish-ment, vaccination and sanita-tion. The PM also enumeratedthe achievements of hisGovernments since it assumedoffice in 2014 and also spelt outthe roadmap ahead.

“As part of MissionIndradhanush, 3.4 crore chil-dren have been vaccinated.And 90 lakh pregnant womanhave also been covered underthe scheme. And, the way theprogram has progressed, thetarget of reaching completevaccination does not seem far,”the PM said.

Mission Indradhanush isbeing praised abroad also, hesaid, adding, a noted medicaljournal recently also picked itas “one of the world’s 12 bestpractices”. Modi said AkshayaPatra’s efforts best illustratethe journey from ‘I’ to ‘We’.

“When ‘I’ becomes ‘We’,then we go beyond ourselvesand think about the society. Wethen expand the horizons ofour thinking. ‘We’ gives moreimportance to our country,our culture than our individualself,” he said.

“The feeling of being ‘We’is ancient. And, ‘New India’ is

only strengthening these cul-tural values of India,” Modi said.

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said, Akshaya Patrawill be given the responsibility to“serve mid-day meals in 10 newdistricts and to open its kitchensin another 6 new areas”. He alsoexpressed his appreciation forAkshaya Patra for serving safe,hygienic meals to pilgrims atKumbh Mela in Prayagraj.

Praising the NGO, Modisaid, “may your faith in servingremains undiminished. ‘SabkaSaath Sabka Vikas is the roadto ‘New India’.

Madhu Pandit Dasa,Chairman, Akshaya PatraFoundation said, to build‘Poshit Bharat, Shikshit Bharat,’(Nourished India, EducatedIndia) it is essential that everychild is provided with a nutri-tious diet, a fulfilling education,and a bright future.

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Ahmedabad: The InternationalAssociation of PoliceAcademies (INTERPA) presi-dent Yilmaz Colak on Mondayexpressed concerns over grow-ing use of internet by terroristsfor radicalisation and secretcommunication.

Colak, who heads TurkishNational Police Academy, saidterrorists are also trying inter-net to infiltrate variousGovernment organisations likepolice and judiciary to carryforward their ill designs.

“Terrorist organisations useinternet for radicalisation,threats and intimidation. They

also use it for secretly com-municating their plans,” saidColak. He was speaking at thethree-day 8th INTERPA con-ference on “Cyber Securityand Combating Cyber Crime”,which was inaugurated at theGujarat Forensic ScienceUniversity in Gandhinagar byChief Minister Vijay Rupani.

Colak said cyber crimeslikes syohoning off money,child pornography etc. Are the“extension” of the criminalbehaviour. These crimes exist-ed in the past when internetwas not around, he added.

PTI

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BJP president Amit Shah onTuesday will launch the

nationwide “Mera ParivarBhajpa Parivar” voter outreachcampaign for the Lok Sabha elections from here inGujarat.

He will unfurl the partyflag at his residence inAhmedabad as part of thecampaign, the party said in astatement Monday.

The BJP intends to hoistthe party flag at the houses ofvoters under this mass outreachdrive.

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Non-Resident Indians whomarry an Indian citizen or

a fellow NRI abroad have tocompulsorily register theirmarriages within 30 days orface the prospects of theirpassports being impounded oreven revoked, according to abill introduced in Rajya Sabhaon Monday.

The Registration ofMarriage of Non-ResidentIndian Bill, 2019 also allowscourts to attach movable andimmovable properties of NRIswho are declared “proclaimedoffenders” for failing to appearbefore law. The draft law also

allows courts to send sum-monses and warrants to theaccused through a specially des-ignated website to be hosted bythe Ministry of External Affairs.

The Bill was introduced byExternal Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj in the UpperHouse. The Bill comes againstthe backdrop of cases of Indianwomen being trapped in“fraudulent marriages” withnon-resident Indians.

According to the Bill, ThePassport Act and the Code ofCriminal Procedure will beamended to allow passportauthorities to revoke orimpound passport or traveldocuments of the accused, and

allow courts to attach theirproperties.

The Bill states that if anNRI marries an Indian citizenhere, the marriage has to beregistered as per local laws. Ifthe marriage takes placeabroad, it has to be registeredwith designated officers to beappointed in foreign coun-tries. An NRI is an Indian cit-

izen who resides outside India.The proposed law will be

applicable to NRIs marryingIndian women within or evenoutside India, the Bill states.Swaraj had recently said thatMEA receives hundreds ofcomplaints about NRI menabandoning their wives in for-eign lands, and husbands sub-jecting their wives to mentaland physical abuse.

According to MEA dataavailable in the form ofParliamentary questions, 3,328complaints were receivedbetween January, 2015 andNovember, 2017 from Indianwomen who have been desert-ed by their NRI husbands.

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Reiterating that the Congresswould go it alone in Uttar

Pradesh and fight all otherforces on the front foot to forma Government, Congress pres-ident Rahul Gandhi on Mondaycalled on the grassroot partyworkers to get ready for the elec-toral battle and spread the mes-sage that “Chowkidar chor hai”.

“I have all respect forMayawati and Akhikesh Yadavbut our fight will be from ourown platform and on our ide-ology. I want to make it clearthat there will be no compro-mise with the two parties onthe electoral front and we willgo it alone and fight (the elec-toral battle) on our own”, Rahulasserted, boosting the morale ofparty workers and at the sametime making it clear that bothPriyanka Gandhi Vadra andJyotiraditya Scindia will not sitsilent till the Congress formsthe next Government in UP.

“Congress will fight withfull force on its own ideologyto change the politics of UP andthe country,” he said.

Rahul said the party wouldpromote the ground levelworkers, adding that leaders who travelled by helo-copters would not be promot-ed at any cost.

Interestingly, the people aswell as the Congress workerswere a little upset as during the5-hour roadshow, at the streetcorner meetings or at the conclusion of the programme,,neither Priyanka Gandhi Vadra

nor any other Congress leader spoke.

Addressing party workersat UPCC office at the end of theroadshow, Rahul Gandhiattacked Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Rafale deal,and even asked the crowd torepeat his “chowkidar chorhai” (guard is the thief) barb.

Calling upon the party’sgrassroot workers to strength-en Congress base at the village,

Rahul said people should beinformed about the corruptionrampant in Bharatiya JanataParty Government and how a“chowkidar” had become a“chor”. He alleged that thePrime Minister had “stolen”money from UP and otherstates to benefit industrialistAnil Ambani.

The Government andAmbani’s Reliance Group havedenied the allegations levelledagainst them by the Congressand other Opposition parties.

During Rahul’s entireaddress, Priyanka kept smilingalong with her colleagueJyotriyadiya Scindia and UPCongress president Raj Babbar.

Earlier, during the road-show, Rahul Gandhi declaredthat the party would play on thefront foot in UP with the aimof forming a Government ofCongress ideology in the State.

In his short but pointedspeeches at Lalbagh and thenat Hazratganj, Rahul said thatthough the Congress targetwas Lok Sabha elections, butthe main aim was to form aGovernment in UP.

Patna: Poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor onMonday said Congress gener-al secretary Priyanka GandhiVadra might not be able to“turn things around” for herparty in the few months left forthe Lok Sabha polls.

The Janata Dal (United)national vice president, how-ever, said she was a big nameand a popular face, who couldemerge as a force to reckonwith in the long run.

Kishor’s remarks came onthe day when Priyanka madeher political debut with herarrival in Lucknow, where shewill meet senior Congress lead-ers and party office bearers overthe next three days.

She arrived at the Lucknowairport to a rousing receptionby party leaders and workerswho showered rose petals andthrew marigold garlands ather as her cavalcade slowlymade its way through the cityduring a roadshow. Askedwhether he saw Priyankaemerging as a rival to Congresspresident and her brotherRahul Gandhi, Kishor repliedin the negative.

“Rahul Gandhi is the partypresident while Priyanka Vadra

is among the many nationalgeneral secretaries, but herentry will have an impact in thelong run,” he said.

“I had, on record, wel-comed her induction into theparty. I felt that her active par-ticipation could have helpedthe Congress in Uttar PradeshAssembly polls. But now it is adifferent context,” he said.

“Nobody has a magicwand. I do not think she will beable to turn things around forthe Congress in the two-threemonths that are left for the LokSabha polls. But she is a bigname and a popular face. In thelong run, yes she would emergeas a challenge (to the NDA),”Kishor told reporters here.

Responding to a questionabout the ‘mahagathbandhan’(grand alliance) in Bihar, ofwhich the Congress is a part,the JD(U) leader said any coali-tion comprising of five or moreparties may appear strong, butits chances of achieving elec-toral success are not very high.

“But, if the ‘mahagath-bandhan’ manages to do well, itwould serve as a learning expe-rience for all of us,” Kishor said.

Besides Congress, the‘mahagathbandhan’ also com-prises Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD), Rashtriya Lok SamtaParty (RSLP), HindustaniAwam Morcha (HAM) andVikasheel Insaan Party (VIP).

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Coimbatore: Chinnathambi,the wild elephant that has beenin the news for destroyingcrops much to the concern offarmers, on Monday found asupporter in the All IndiaMuslim League.

The AIML has petitionedthe district Collector to sparethe animal as it protected theWestern Ghats from encroach-ers who have destroyed theflora and fauna of the forests.

The petition saidChinnathambi should bebrought back to Thadagam onthe outskirts of the city fromwhere the elephant was translocated to Varagaliyar,about 150 km from here, afterit ran amok.

The forest department offi-cials were monitoring the ele-phant’s movement and engagedin driving it to the jungle areas,the police said. PTI

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With the State politics heat-ing up in the wake of

Krishnaganj TrinamoolCongress MLA SatyabrataBiswas’ murder, party MPAbhishek Banerjee made cir-cuitous reference of BJP lead-ership warning “those who arebehind the murder will not bespared and soon they will beshoved behind the bar.”

Stopping short of namingBJP leader Mukul Roy againstwhom the police have alreadyfiled an FIR in the case,Banerjee, also the nephew ofChief Minister MamataBanerjee on Monday said “Ihave personally taken up thecase and will take to its logicalend. The planners of the mur-der will be definitely pun-ished,” even as large number ofTMC supporters from theMatua community blockadedtrains at various places in Nadiaand North 24 Parganas.

“They have not only mur-dered an MLA who was one ofthe most dedicated workers of the party but also they havemurdered democracy here,” he said.

Biswas was a young leader

of the Matua community con-stituting about 3 million votersimpacting about 3-4 parlia-mentary seats in the two dis-tricts. With the near demise ofthe Left Front as the sole con-troller of the Matua vote bank,both the BJP and the TMChave of late aggressivelyengaged each other for thepriced Matua pie.

Banerjee who visited thearea said, “no one should thinkthat taking refuge in Delhiwould save him after commit-ting such heinous crime. Iassure you that this person will be grabbed by the collarand pushed behind the bar byhis neck.”

Biswas a youth leader andan effective organiser was onSaturday shot dead from pointblank range while he was vis-iting a Saraswati Puja pandal atMajdia village about 10 kmfrom his home in Nadia districtbordering Bangladesh.

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Imphal: Six women sustainedinjuries when the police firedtear gas shells and smokebombs at a marketplace here todisperse protesters, who hadenforced a road blockadedemanding withdrawal of the Citizenship Bill, accord-ing to a vendors’ association atthe market.

There was, however, noimmediate official confirma-tion about the incident.

Shantidevi, the president ofan association of women ven-dors at Khwairamband markethere, claimed that the police onSunday used force on the agi-tators, who had been protest-ing peacefully.

The women vendors at themarket here had put up posters

and banners and set up tents,blocking roads, to press fortheir demand, she said.

Prohibitory orders undersection 144 of CrPc have beenimposed in the area in the wakeof agitations against the con-tentious bill.

Shantidevi said the policetried to pull down the tents andtear apart the posters and ban-ners that sought the uncondi-tional revocation of the Bill.

The women, however,refused to cow down, followingwhich a clash broke outbetween the two sides, shesaid.

“The security officers firedtear gas shells and smokebombs, which left six womeninjured. The situation turned

uglier when they tried to takeone of the injured women intocustody and the agitators hadto thwart the attempt,”Shantidevi claimed.

The injured women werethen taken to Regional Instituteof Medical Sciences (RIIMS),she added.

Criticising the use of“excessive force”, Y Dillipkumar,the convenor of ManipurPeoples Against CitizenshipAmendment Bill (MANPAC),said the women were “protest-ing in a democratic manner”.

“The assault on the womenvendors indicates that the StateGovernment is acting underthe command of the UnionGovernment,” he said. PTI

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Mumbai: A repeat offenderwas on Monday sentenced to10 years in jail by a POCSOcourt here for raping an eight-year-old girl in suburbanVakola area here in 2013.

Aiyaz Ansari (38) wasfound guilty under section 376(rape), 363 (kidnapping) and506 (criminal intimidation) ofthe Indian Penal Code as wellas relevant provisions of theProtection of Children fromSexual Offences (POCSO) Actby Additional Sessions JudgeBV Kale.

The judge also fined him�65,000, additional public pros-ecutor Rakesh Tiwari said. PTI

Kohima: Normal life wasaffected in Nagaland onMonday during a 10-hourbandh called by civil societyorganisations in protest againstthe Citizenship (Amendment)Bill, 2016.

Schools and marketsremained closed, vehicles wereoff the roads and people stayedindoors during the bandh

which began at 6 AM.The BJP is a constituent of

the National DemocraticPeoples Party-led PeoplesDemocratic Alliance (PDA)Government in the State.

The bandh has been calledby the Nagaland Gaon BurhasFederation (NGBF). To imple-ment the bandh, a JointCoordination Committee of

civil organisations, tribal bod-ies and indigenous citizens wasformed on February 6.

The shutdown has beencalled in pursuance of a reso-lution adopted at a consultativemeeting, called by the NGBF, atDimapur on February 6.

The meeting had unani-mously resolved to oppose thebill.

The opposition NagaPeoples Front (NPF) hasextended its support to thebandh.

The Nagaland Cabinet hasalso rejected the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill which waspassed in the Lok Sabha onJanuary 8.

“This mass agitation is nec-essary as the bill will have

adverse impacts on the peopleof the state,” the committee saidin a release.

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

The bill seeks to provideIndian citizenship to Hindus,

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

The mass agitation, hasalso been called against the“lackadaisical attitude” of theCentre on the seven-decade-oldNaga issue, the release said. PTI

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Agartala: Two senior CPI(M)leaders were attacked by mis-creants in two different placesin Tripura, police said onMonday.

CPI(M) MLA and formerminister Ratan Bhowmick was attacked by miscreants in Gomati district on Mondaywhile the convoy of DeputyLeader of the Opposition in Tripura Assembly, BadalChowdhury was attacked by miscreants in South Tripura district on Sunday,police said.

Chowdhury in a press con-ference here on Mondayalleged that both he andBhowmick were attacked bygoons of the BJP.

BJP Tripura unitSpokesperson NabenduBhattacharya denied the allegations of Chowdhury.

He said BJP workers were not involved in the attack on Chowdhury andBhowmick. PTI

�#$%�&��'��Lucknow: Alleging that laxity

on the part of the Uttar PradeshGovernment led to a largenumber of deaths after con-sumption of spurious liquor,opposition members onMonday created ruckus in theAssembly and demanded Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathto resign.

The uproar by Oppositionmembers — over the hoochtragedies in Saharanpur andKushinagar districts last week— led to adjournment of theentire Question Hour.

As soon as the House met,opposition SP, BSP andCongress members tried toraise the matter terming it oneof utmost importance.

SP and BSP memberstrooped into the Well of theHouse, raising anti-govern-ment slogans.

Parliamentary AffairsMinister Suresh KumarKhanna said the StateGovernment has taken sternaction in the matter and thoseinvolved will not be spared.

The Opposition membersalso raised slogans “CM istifado” (CM should resign).

Speaker Hriday NarainDixit repeatedly pleaded withthe angry Opposition membersto resume their seats, but theydid not relent.

He then adjourned theHouse for 30 minutes and laterextended the adjournment till12.20 pm as a result of whichthe entire Question Hour waswashed out.

CLP leader Ajay KumarLallu, later talking to reporters,demanded a CBI probe in thematter and said the CM shouldtake moral responsibility ofthe incident and resign.

The State Government onSunday night announced aprobe by a special investigationteam (SIT) into the twintragedies. An officialspokesperson said the SIT hasbeen constituted to make an in-depth inquiry into the tragediesin the two districts.

The five-member SIT hasbeen specifically asked to findwhether there was any con-spiracy behind the tragedies inwhich more than 40 peopledied. It has also been asked toreview past incidents and sub-mit its report, suggesting mea-sures to stop recurrence ofsuch incidents, within 10 days.

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I, Kumari Basanti W/o Sh.Krishna Nand R/o E-75,Sector-20, Noida (U.P.) havechanged my name to NeemaBatgali after marriage for allpurposes.

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While there have been sever-al instances of confronta-tion between the UnionGovernment and a Stateover jurisdictional issues

over the last seven decades, what happenedin Kolkata recently was clearly unprecedent-ed. The hostility displayed by the WestBengal Police towards officers of the CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI) and thepolitical street theatre that followed couldhave serious ramifications for the survivalof the Constitutional scheme of things if thiswere to be emulated by other States.

Although the CBI is investigating the chitfund scams in West Bengal and some otherStates on the directions of the Supreme Court,its officers were treated like an alien force bythe Kolkata police. The central agency toldthe apex court that its officers went to the res-idence of Rajeev Kumar, the Kolkata PoliceCommissioner, on February 3 because itfound substantial material against him.However, events took a bizarre turn. The localpolice not only surrounded the CBI officers,who went to Kumar’s residence, but they alsolaid siege to the CBI office in the city and theofficial residence of the Joint Director of thecentral agency. The officials, who went to thePolice Commissioner’s residence, were heldcaptive and their mobile phones were takenaway. As if all this was not enough, RajeevKumar and other senior police officers of theState joined Chief Minister Mamata Banerjeewhen she began a dharna, which the CBI saidwas indicative of absolute anarchy.

There is no parallel to this kind of law-lessness. But what is even more unconsti-tutional is that the State police behaved inthis manner despite the fact that the CBI wasinvestigating these cases on the explicitorders of the Supreme Court. The CBI cameinto the picture only because the courtdirected it in May, 2014, to investigate theSaradha and other chit fund scams in WestBengal and other States. The court had alsodirected the West Bengal Government tohand over all the chit fund scam cases to theCBI. In that judgement, the court noted thatmore than 25 lakh claims had been receivedby various commissions of inquiry set upin Odisha and West Bengal and this wasindicative of the magnitude of the scam interms of the number of citizens who hadbeen defrauded by ponzi companies.

The court observed that the investigationconducted until then revealed involvement ofseveral political and other influential person-alities, who wielded considerable clout andinfluence. It said that it wanted the StateGovernment to hand over the cases to the CBIbecause of the sensitivity of the issuesinvolved, the inter-state ramifications of thescam and because of the need to ensure cred-ibility of the investigation. “Investigation bythe State police in a scam that involves thou-sands of crores collected from the publicallegedly because of the patronage of peopleoccupying high positions in the system will

hardly carry conviction especial-ly when even the regulators whowere expected to prevent orcheck such a scam appear to haveturned a blind eye to what wasgoing on”.

Since Banerjee and severalother leaders, who are part of thecoalition against the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) claim that theactions of the CBI indicate thatthe federal structure is underassault, it is best to look at thefoundations on which the IndianConstitution rests.

While introducing the draftConstitution in the ConstituentAssembly, BR Ambedkar, theChairman of the draftingCommittee, had this to say inregard to the federal structure inIndia. He said there were specialfeatures in the Indian federation,which made it distinct from theAmerican federation and from allother federations. He said all fed-eral systems are placed in a tightmould and no matter what thecircumstances, it cannot changeits form and shape. “It can neverbe unitary.” On the other hand,the Indian Constitution can beboth unitary as well as federal“according to the requirements oftime and circumstances.”

Further, responding to crit-icism that the Centre has beengiven the power to override theStates, Ambedkar said, in amoment of crisis, a conflict ofclaims may arise and it is thenapparent that ultimate allegiancecannot be divided…..(and) thebare question is, what authoritycommands the residual loyalty of

the citizen? Is it the Centre or theConstituent State? Answeringthis question, he said, “There canbe no doubt that in the opinionof the vast majority of the peo-ple, the residual loyalty of the cit-izen in an emergency must be tothe Centre and not to the con-stituent States. For, it is only theCentre which can work for acommon end and for the gener-al interests of the country as awhole. Herein lies the justifica-tion for giving to the Centreoverriding powers to be used inan emergency. And after allwhat is the obligation imposedupon the constituent States…Nomore than this — that in anemergency, they should takeinto consideration alongsidetheir own local interests, theopinions and interests of thenation as a whole”.

Those objecting to the arrivalof CBI officials at the doorstep ofthe Kolkata PoliceCommissioner’s residence needto be reminded of the investiga-tive body’s actions in Gujarat,when the Congress-led UnitedProgressive Alliance ran thecountry between 2004 and 2014.The CBI arrested three seniorpolice officials before arrestingBJP chief Amit Shah in theSohrabuddin case. Later, thespecial CBI court dischargedShah from the case. NarendraModi, then the Chief Minister ofGujarat, was interrogated fornine hours in the Gujarat riotsrelated cases. Throughout thisperiod, the CBI functioned fromAhmedabad without any hin-

drance from the StateGovernment. Also, there was nostreet theatre to mock at theUnion Government and the CBI.Even after the higher judiciarypassed orders in his favour,vendetta politics of the SoniaGandhi-Manmohan Singh com-bine continued against Modi.

Chief Ministers likeBanerjee and Arvind Kejriwal,who indulge in dharna politics,need to be reminded ofAmbedkar’s advice when hesummed up the debate on theConstitution in the ConstituentAssembly. He said: “If we wishto maintain democracy notmerely in form, but also in fact,what must we do? The firstthing in my judgement we mustdo is to hold fast toConstitutional methods ofachieving our social and eco-nomic objectives. It means wemust abandon the bloody meth-ods of revolution. It means wemust abandon the method ofcivil disobedience, non-cooper-ation and satyagraha. Whenthere was no way left forConstitutional methods forachieving economic and socialobjectives, there was a great dealof justification for unconstitu-tional methods. These methodsare nothing but the grammar ofanarchy and the sooner they areabandoned, the better for us”.

All political leaders, whowere supporting Banerjee’s dhar-na the other day need to ponderover this.

(The writer is Chairman,Prasar Bharati)

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Sir — In response to a petitionfiled by advocate Asim Kumar,the Allahabad High Court hasbanned photography andvideography along bathing ghatsat the Kumbh mela. This isindeed a commendable judg-ment and should be applicableto other places too.

The court has r ightlystopped filming women takinga dip in the bathing ghats, whoare quite unaware that their actof faith is being used for purpos-es of sensationalism. Besides, thecourt also sternly warned thatpublication of such photographsand videographs will amount toaction against the printers andpublishers. The question, how-ever, is: How will the court takeaction without a pointed law inplace? The Parliament andAssembly Houses should take upthis issue expediently and bringa law to this effect. Further,boards should be put up alongbathing ghats banning pho-tographs and videographs.Anybody found violating the lawshould get stringent punishment.

KV Seetharamaiah Hassan

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Sir — The Supreme Court’sobservation that Bahujan SamajParty (BSP) chief Mayawati mayhave to pay back the moneyspent on erecting statues andmemorials in Uttar Pradesh wasunfortunate. That it has exem-plified how caste prejudice isdeeply embedded in our society,

including the judiciary, cannotbe left unsaid. It is quite legiti-mate to ask: Would the samerules be applied to other leaderswho built statues of their choice?

When it comes to ‘immor-talising’ leaders of considerablestature, differential treatment,based on descent is tantamountto the negation of democracyand human equality. Either theerection of statues in commem-

oration of national heroes isallowed or not allowed. It shouldnot be done selectively.

When Mayawati built stat-ues of BR Ambedkar and KanshiRam, she was asked whether themoney could not have beenspent on building of schools andcolleges. But when the giant-sizestatue of Sardar Vallabhai Patelwas built, nobody raised objec-tions or spared a thought for the

need for more schools and hospitals.

G David MiltonDelhi

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Sir — It is matter of concern thatthe number of swine flu cases inIndia has been increasing day byday, particularly in Rajasthan,Gujarat and Punjab, where thedisease is a yearly phenomenon.But this time, cases have beenreported from States like Jammu& Kashmir and HimachalPradesh, too, which had no pre-vious history of this disease.While the Government woke uptoo late and has been makingconsultations to mitigate theepidemic, it’s unfortunate that wedo not even have the basic infra-structure to deal with it.

Equally, it’s only theGovernment hospitals that havebeen carrying much of the bur-den of the disease. It’s high timethat private hospitals do their bitin handling virus cases.

Najmul HudaMumbai

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As a singing star, the matchlessKL Saigal was at the pinnacleof his career in 1944 when a

relatively unknown, handsomeyoung boy, who was just 20 years old,took the country by storm. TalatMahmood was picked up by HMVfrom Lucknow, brought to Calcuttaand was given a break through anon-film ghazal disc, Tasveer Teri DilMera Behla Na Sakegi. This sensa-tional debut disc was an instant hitand remains so for connoisseurs tilldate, even after over 60 years.

Mahmood was never a chal-lenger to Saigal as both had a differ-ent style of singing altogether. Butafter the untimely demise of Saigalin 1947, one can say that Mahmoodemerged as a worthy successor to

him. If it was Saigal who popularisedthe ghazals in the thirties and forties,took them to the common man andvirtually resurrected Ghalib — thefifties belonged to Talat Mahmood.

After independence, the focus ofthe Hindi film industry shifted fromCalcutta (now Kolkata) to Bombay(now Mumbai). Mahmood, whoused to sing in Bangla just as as TapanKumar, also shifted to Bombay in1949. His voice having already pre-ceded him, he did not face the diffi-culty of establishing himself. But onealways needed a mentor in the filmindustry. Anil Biswas, the doyen ofHindi film music, having realised therare qualities of vibrato in Mahmood’svoice, took him under his wings andperfected his style for ghazals, givinghim the necessary poise and balance.

His first big banner was ShahidLatif and Ismat Chughtai’s Arzoo(1950), where he sang for DilipKumar ‘Ae Dil Mujhe Aisi Jagah LeChal...’ The film was based on EmilyBronte’s classic, Wuthering Heightswith Kamini Kaushal in the lead.Though real life stories of the lead

pair’s romance were also a contrib-utory factor to the success of the film,what one remembers till today isMahmood’s soulful rendering andthe way inner feelings of the screenpersona had been brought out.

Tarana of 1951 was yet anothermusical hit by Anil Biswas that fea-tured Dilip Kumar and Madhubalatogether for the first time.Mahmood’s ghazal, ‘Seene MeinSulagte Hain Armaan’ became aninstant hit. Giving one hit songafter another, Mahmood’s dreamrun continued as the voice of DilipKumar, for whom he sang in Shikast(1951), Daag (1952), ‘Ae mere dilkahin aur chal’ and ‘Shame gham kikasam aaj….’ in Footpath (1953) and‘Ye hawa yeh raat ye chandni’ inSangdil (1952).

Those days, Dilip Kumar wasknown as the tragedy king andMahmood was able to capture sen-sitivity and portrayed the melancholyin his moods to perfection. Thecrowning glory was Devdas (1955),where he sang for Dilip Kumar twovery difficult compositions, ‘Mitwa

Lagi Re Yeh Kaisi...’ and the almostsoliloquy-like ‘Kis Ko Khabar Thi’...In both, he was able to bring out theessence of longing, helplessness,loneliness and frustration as neverbefore. Mahmood’s success storyalso had a confutation.

The then top music director,Naushad, brought him to sing forDilip Kumar ‘Mera jeevan saathibichhad gaya’ in Babul (1951) butdespite his memorable rendition, hebroke off with him on a trivial issue.It was only in 1968, after a gap of 17years, that Naushad called Mahmoodto sing once again for Dilip Kumarin Aadmi (1968).

Mahmood’s absence offered anopportunity to Mohammed Rafi. Thisperiod saw the consolidation of theNaushad-Mohammad Rafi relation-ship, with Mahmood going out ofBaiju Bawra (1952). But he continuedto dominate the early 50s as Rafi wasyet to establish himself fully. Even theduo, Shankar Jaikishan, who had a dif-ferent style, used him for Dev Anandin Patita (1953) for the memorablesong, ‘Hain Sab Se Madhur Woh Geet...’

A few years later, Mahmood was againvirtually resurrected by them throughthe film, Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja(1993), where he sang for Dev Anand,‘Tum To Dil Ke Taar Chhed Kar...’

An immensely talented singer,with dashing good looks, Mahmoodhad a huge fan following, particular-ly amongst the fairer sex. He tried hishand at acting, too, as after Saigal,there was no first rate singer-actor. Hedid try to fill the gap but could not suc-ceed. Out of the 17 films he acted in,noted among them were Aaram(1951) with Dev Anand andMadhubala, Ek Gaon Ki Kahani(1957) with Mala Sinha, Sone KiChidiya (1958) and Waaris (1969).

Mahmood’s vocal charisma wassuch that he, at times, gave a complexto others but himself remained a scenestealer. Taxi driver (1954) is remem-bered more for his song, ‘Jayen ToJayen Kahan...’ than any othersequence or song memories of Sujata.The 1959 Bimal Roy classic mayhave receded but for the song on tele-phone — ‘Jalte Hein Jiske Liye..’. Onemay have entirely forgotten about Sone

Ki Chidiya but Mahmood serenadingand imploring Nutan in a boat singing,‘Pyaar Par Bas To Nahin Hai...’ pennedby Sahir Ludhianvi remains evergreen.

Known by several epithets, theghazal king, the velvet voice, thesilken touch, Talat Mahmood, a finegentleman, exuded ‘Lucknawi nazakat’from every pore. His unique styleremains unmatched till date. We havehad clones of great singers likeMohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumarbut none has even tried coming any-where near Mahmood.

Despite his limited range,Mahmood represented a generation ofsingers, who have stood for traditionsand values of Indian classical music.They are now fading away and may beforgotten entirely, unless revived. Thegolden period of Hindi film music isa part of our cultural heritage andsurely needs to be preserved and cher-ished. Let us attempt to do that on the95th birth anniversary of Mahmoodon February 24.

(The writer is a retired Delhi PoliceCommissioner and former Governor ofMeghalaya and Uttarakhand)

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The recent Bill, reserving 10 per centquota for the economically weakersections (EWS) among the uppercastes has been intensively debatedover its utility, propriety and

Constitutionality but discussions have round-ly ignored the group that has once again beengiven the short shrift in prioritising the poli-cy of reservation. The obvious reference hereis to the Women’s Reservation Bill or theConstitution (108th Amendment) Bill of 2008,which seeks to reserve 33 per cent of the seatsin Parliament and all State legislativeAssemblies for women. Although the Bill waspassed by the Rajya Sabha in 2010, it is still nota law as the Lok Sabha is yet to ratify it.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had in its2014 election manifesto promised to ensure itspassage as part of its commitment towardswomen’s empowerment and welfare. In fact, ina chapter titled, ‘Women — The NationBuilders’, the BJP’s manifesto had highlightedthe crucial role of women in the developmentof society and growth of the nation. It hadclaimed that one of its first tasks on assumingpower would be to ensure one-third seatswould be reserved for the women in bothParliament and Assemblies. This commit-ment, forgotten through almost the entiretenure of the Modi Government, has ostensi-bly lost out to political exigency and the needto appease a significant section of the electorateahead of a ‘do-or-die’ election.

While the jury is still out on the actual ben-efits of any reservation policy for intended ben-eficiaries, there is widespread consensus thatan affirmative action to empower women, polit-ically, does yield desirable results. And thereis data to back this belief. With less than 12 percent representation in Parliament, as comparedto a corresponding global average of 22.4 percent, Indian women trail their counterparts inmany parts of the world.

While Nordic nations lead the way with anaverage of 41.5 per cent, as many as 42 coun-tries in the world have 30 per cent or morewomen MPs. Among these, Sweden leads theway with 50 per cent reservation for women.It is not a mere coincidence that these nationsare symbols of not only economic prosperitybut also progressive social policies. Many oth-ers such as Rwanda (30 per cent), Nepal (28 percent), Pakistan (20 per cent) and Bangladesh(13 per cent) have quotas for women inParliament. Even sub-Saharan Africa has anaverage female representation of 22.6 per centin Parliament.

Research published by the United NationsUniversity World Institute for DevelopmentEconomics Research (UNU-WIDER) in May,2018, found that Assembly constituencies inIndia helmed by women representatives showsignificantly higher economic growth thanthose under men. Based on data for 4,265 StateAssembly constituencies across four electioncycles spanning the period 1992-2012, theauthors of the study found that women legis-lators in India enhance economic perfor-mance in their constituencies by about 1.8 per-centage points per year, more than their male

counterparts. The study also noted women’sefficiency in creating vital infrastructure,especially because they are less likely than mento succumb to corruption, temptation for self-aggrandisement and criminal tendencies.

These figures are substantiated by anoth-er 2017 research study by Guilhem Cassan,University of Namur, Belgium, and LoreVandewalle, The Graduate Institute ofInternational and Development Studies,Geneva. Using two data sets collected by theNational Council of Applied EconomicResearch (NCAER), the 2005-06 edition of theRural Economic and Demographic Survey(REDS) and the 2011-12 edition of the IndiaHuman Development Survey (IHDS), Cassanand Vandewalle document gender norms invariations across castes and how mandatedpolitical reservations for women lead to path-breaking changes in their lives.

The REDS data from rural India, whichlists respondents’ preferences for public goodssuch as water, sanitation, roads and electric-ity, shows that gender quotas enable womento rise to the position of president in grampanchayats — 95.4 per cent of the presidentsin gram panchayats reserved for womenwere female. The IHDS data, on the otherhand, provides quantitative evidence ofrestricted mobility and stricter gender normsamong high-caste women, underscoring theneed for policy to bring more women into thepolitical mainstream.

In an Employment Policy Paper of 2017 onMGNREGA and its impact on women, the ILO,too, highlighted the gender dynamics of affir-mative policies. Using both waves of IHDS data(2004-05 and 2011-12), it shows that work pro-visions under MGNREGA have helped shiftsocial and economic outcomes in favour ofrural women engaged in wage labour, therebycontributing to transformative equality.

Coming back to the quota Bill for the eco-

nomically backward upper castes, unlike gen-der-based findings, there is no substantive evi-dence that preferential treatment based onfinancial status has the desired effects. Whileassessing the redistributive effects of affirma-tive action on poverty in 2010, which they claimis the first such study, Aimee Chin and NishithPrakash of the National Bureau of EconomicResearch aver that policies aimed at improv-ing socio-economic outcomes for poor sectionsare not only highly controversial but also incon-clusive in indicating any real benefits. “Itremains an open question whether affirmativeaction policies successfully reduce poverty,”they concluded.

Significantly, a major roadblock in puttingthe new quota into effect on the ground couldbe the legal tangle. In the 1992 Indra Sawhneyjudgement by the Supreme Court, a majority(six) of the nine judges on the Bench averredthat economic criteria cannot be exclusivelyused for deciding on reservation. The courtconsequently barred such reservations basedon poverty alone, arguing that social and edu-cational backwardness should also be addressedto counter the historic injustice faced by sev-eral generations of the country’s population —here again women literally fit the Bill.

Irrespective of its eventual denouement andfate on the legal front, it is clear that the hasti-ly drafted quota Bill, which arguably has littledata to support, has the weight of the ModiGovernment behind it; whereas the long-pend-ing women’s reservation Bill, which is rootedin extensive research, remains the orphan thatnobody wants to adopt. Does this indicateanother opportunity lost, both for redemptionof past neglect and for improving the metricsof performance in a nation riddled with low-performance outcomes?

(The writer is, Editor at the NationalCouncil of Applied Economic Research. Viewsexpressed here are personal)

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The National Company LawAppellate Tribunal

(NCLAT) on Monday allowed22 companies of crisis-hitIL&FS group, which were clas-sified in green category basedon their financial health, to ser-vice their debt obligations.

Besides, a two-memberbench headed by Justice S JMukhopadhaya approvedappointment of formerSupreme Court judge Justice DK Jain to supervise resolutionprocess of crisis-hit IL&FS andits group companies.

The appellate tribunal alsolifted moratorium and allowed133 IL&FS firms incorporatedoutside India to continue withthe resolution process.

“We allow the boards (ofthe green companies) to permitthem to service debt obligationsas per schedule,” said NCLAT.

The NCLAT’s directioncame during the hearing overgovernment’s plan for the res-olution of IL&FS group com-panies.

IL&FS group companiesare classified into three groups— Green, Amber and Red,based on their respective finan-cial positions.

The companies fallingunder green categories willcontinue to meet their payment

obligation. While, the compa-nies which can not meet theirobligations but can meet onlyoperational payment obliga-tions to senior secured finan-cial creditors are classified asthe amber category.

And in the red category arethose entities which can notmeet their payment obliga-tions towards even seniorsecured financial creditors.

In an affidavit filed beforethe NCLAT, the Governmentinformed former SupremeCourt judge Justice D K Jainhas agreed to supervise the res-olution process of the IL&FSgroup companies.

As per the terms and agree-ment, Justice Jain will get amonthly remuneration of �10lakh per month and �2.5 lakh persitting, besides other expenses,which would be paid by IL&FS.

During the hearing, SolicitorGeneral of India Tushar Mehtaappearing for the Ministry ofCorporate Affairs submitted a listof 302 subsidiaries of IL&FS,which are jointly controlled enti-ties, group companies and asso-ciates forming part of IL&FSgroup companies.

Out of 302 companies, 169companies are incorporated inIndia and the remaining 133 areincorporated outside India, headded. He further informed theNCLAT that out of 169 domestic

companies, classification processunder Green, Amber and Red cat-egories has been completed for 69firms as on February 9, 2019.

Out of 69, the Governmenthas marked 22 companiesunder Green, 10 in Amber andrest 38 in Red category.

Mehta sought permissionfrom the appellate tribunal toallow the ‘Green entities’ to ser-vice their debt obligations asper scheduled repayment, towhich the NCLAT agreed.

However, over Amber andRed category, the appellate tri-bunal said that it would passany order after hearing them innext hearing on March 12.

“We want to know from thegovernment and IL&FS as howthey intend to resolve all enti-ties particularly in ‘amber’ and‘red’ group entities. Whetherthey would form a Committeeof Creditor as normally done inthe company insolvency reso-lution process,” said the tribunal.

It also said that moratori-um against them “can not con-tinue for an indefinite period”.

During the hearing, seniorlenders such as Indusind Bank,L&T Finance and Aditya Birla& Capital Fund opposed thegovernment’s plea to make theAmber and Red companies tomake payment necessary onlyto maintain and preserve theirgoing concern status.

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The Parliamentary panel onInformation Technology

has summoned the head ofmicroblogging site Twitter toappear before it on February25, the committee’s chairmanAnurag Thakur said onMonday.

Committee members tooka serious note about theTwitter CEO Jack Dorsey notappearing before it on Monday.While representatives fromTwitter’s India office reachedthe meeting venue here, theywere not called in for deliber-ations by the panel, accordingto sources.

The panel decided to callTwitter officials against thebackdrop of growing con-cerns about safeguarding cit-izens’ data privacy and possi-bility that social media couldbe used to interfere in elec-tions.

Ahead of the Lok Sabhaelections, the Government hasbeen warning social mediaplatforms of strong action ifany attempt was made to influ-ence the country’s electoralprocess through undesirablemeans.

On Saturday, Twitter in astatement had cited “shortnotice of the hearing” for itsCEO Dorsey not being able toattend the Monday meeting.

The committee’s chairmanand BJP MP Thakur Mondaysaid Twitter head and other

representatives have been“summoned” to appear beforethe panel on February 25.

There was no immediatecomment from Twitter.

The panel was scheduled tohear the views of the repre-sentatives of Ministry ofElectronics and IT and Twitteron ‘Safeguarding citizens rightson social/ online news mediaplatforms’.

Senior officials from the ITministry were present at themeeting here on Monday.

Earlier scheduled forFebruary 7, the meeting waspostponed to Monday to givemore time to Twitter CEO andother senior officials to makethemselves available, sourcessaid last week.

On Monday, sources saidthe panel would be meetingnext on February 26. The headsof social media platforms likeFacebook might also be askedto appear before it on February26 but a final call is yet to betaken, they added.

Facing heat over allegationsof political bias in the country,Twitter last week said it wascommitted to remain unbi-ased and that its product as wellas policies are never based onpolitical ideology.

The Government has beentaking a strong view of misuseof social media platforms andis also proposing to amend ITrules to curb fake news andincrease accountability of suchapps.

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Bankrupt RelianceCommunications on

Monday said it will develop a132-acre land parcel on the out-skirts of the city as a fintechcentre. The 132-acre land par-cel called Dhirubhai AmbaniKnowledge City (DAKC) in thesatellite city of Navi Mumbaiused to serve as a corporatenerve centre for the company,which filed for insolvency ear-lier this month.

In the past, chairman AnilAmbani had claimed that theplot had a development poten-tial of �25,000 crore.

In a statement Monday,the company said its wholly-owned subsidiary RelianceRealty will be developing whatit claimed as Maharashtra’sfirst ‘smart fintech centre’.

It has received the go-ahead from the MaharashtraIndustrial DevelopmentCorporation and theDepartment of InformationTechnology to develop the landunder the State’s fintech policy,the statement said.

As per the fintech policy,the plot will have totalsaleable/leasable area of over 30million square feet, it said,claiming that the space avail-able is double the size of theBandra Kurla Complex busi-ness district in the island city.

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Haldiram’s MD AshishAggarwal ‘s HR Bakers

tie-up with the French bakerybrand Brioche Doree. He hasentered into master franchiseagreement with the brand.

Ashish Agarwal, a fourth-generation member ofHaldiram’s promoter family,through individual entity HRBakers will lead this venturewith world’s second largestbakery chain.

Aggarwal has alreadyinvested around �4-5 crore inthe brand and said that HRBakers is open to exploringmore synergistic tie-ups withother brands.

These outlets could belocated in the National CapitalRegion and other markets.

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The Government is sched-uled to table the CAG

report on Rafale jet fighter deal,which has generated a massivepolitical controversy, inParliament on Tuesday, sourcessaid.

The Government’s deci-sion to buy 36 Rafale fighter jetsfrom French company Dassaulthas become a controversialpolitical issue, with the mainopposition party Congress lev-elling allegations of corruptionand impropriety, and the rul-ing dispensation defending themove.

The CAG report will betabled on Tuesday, a day beforethe end of the present LokSabha session. This is the lastsession of the 16th Lok Sabhaas the general elections are duein April-May.

Former Minister and

senior Congress leader KapilSibal on Sunday alleged conflictof interest and asked theComptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG) Rajiv Mehrishito recuse himself from auditingthe deal as he was the financesecretary when the deal wasnegotiated.

Union Minister ArunJaitley, however, rebutted theclaims of Sibal saying that theCongress was casting asper-sions on the institution of CAGbased on “falsehood”.

“Another attack on theinstitution of CAG by the‘Institution wreckers’ based onfalsehood. After ten years inGovernment former UPA min-isters still don’t know thatFinance Secretary is only a des-ignation given to the seniormost secretary in the FinanceMinistry,” Jaitley said a series oftweets Sunday.

Sibal said Mehrishi wasthe finance secretary fromOctober 24, 2014 to August 30,

2015 and in between PrimeMinister Narendra Modi wentto Paris on April 10, 2015 andannounced the signing of theRafale deal.

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

The Rafale issue was evenraised before the SupremeCourt, which did not findany substance in the allega-tions.

However, the issue hascontinued to rock Parliamentwith Congress President RahulGandhi directly accusing thePrime Minister of benefitingindustrialist Anil Ambani.

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The rupee strengthened by13 paise to close at 71.18

against the US dollar onMonday on easing crude oilprices, even as the greenbackstrengthened vis-a-vis othermajor currencies.

This is the fifth successivesession of gain for the domes-tic currency, during which ithas climbed 62 paise.

At the Interbank ForeignExchange (forex) Monday, therupee opened on a firm noteat 71.24. It gained further tohit a high of 71.09 and finallysettled for the day at 71.18, up13 paise over its last close.

On Friday, the rupee hadended 14 paise higher at 71.31against the US dollar.

Easing crude price was amajor factor that boosted therupee sentiments. Brent crude,the global oil benchmark, wastrading at $61.94 per barrel,down by 0.26 per cent.

“The Indian rupee appre-ciated for fifth straight day.INR is the best performingemerging market currencyover last one week,” said Sunil

Sharma, Chief InvestmentOfficer, Sanctum WealthManagement.

Forex traders attributedthe US dollar movement torenewed concerns over ongo-ing US-China trade talks andglobal economic recovery.

“The dollar index attract-ed the safe haven investmenton mounting concerns overUS China trade talks andglobal economic recovery. Thedollar edged upwards to anew high for 2019, as theslowdown in the Euro zoneshowed signs of raising morepolitical instability,” said V KSharma, Head PCG & CapitalMarkets Strategy, HDFCSecurities.

The dollar index, whichgauges the greenback’sstrength against a basket of sixcurrencies, rose 0.10 per centto 96.73.

Meanwhile, foreign port-folio investors (FPIs) boughtshares worth a net �843.73crore, and domestic institu-tional investors (DIIs) soldshares to the tune of �960.04crore Friday, provisional datashowed.

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The 15th FinanceCommission has notified

the committee to examine andresolve the food account of�31,000 crore which theCongress government inher-ited from previous SAD-BJPregime.

Commission chairman NK Singh gave approval to theissuance of the notification forthe constitution of the com-mittee on Monday, an officialrelease of Punjab Governmentsaid.

The Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh while wel-coming the move, expressedthe hope that it would lead toearly resolution of the issuerelated to the legacy debt of�30,584 crore, which wasthreatening to cascade into amajor fiscal crisis for thestate.

The committee, to be ledby Member 15th FinanceCommission and MemberNITI Aayog Ramesh Chand,

has been asked to submit itsreport within six weeks.

The Committee has beenmandated to look into allaspects of the food accountlegacy debt of Punjab govern-ment arising out of accumu-lated CCL (Cash Credit Limit)gap with reference to FoodCorporation ofIndia/Department of Foodand Public Distribution.

On current accumulationof CCL gap, the Committeehas been asked to examine

the current issues relatedto the CCL Gap in order toascertain the root causes forsuch gap. It would also rec-ommend appropriate mea-sures to overcome the causesidentified, so as to ensure theCCL gap does not exist in thesuccessive procurement sea-sons.

On January 30, the 15thFinance Commission, duringPunjab visit, had announcedthe formation of a committeeto find ways to settle the foodaccount of �31,000 crore.

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The energy minister of theUnited Arab Emirates said

on Monday supply anddemand in the oil marketshould balance out in the firstquarter of 2019, followingweeks of output cuts.

“My expectation is that wewill see the balance during thefirst quarter unless somethinghappens,” Suheil al-Mazroueitold the three-day WorldGovernment Summit inDubai.

“We are removing enoughoil to correct the market,”Mazrouei said.

OPEC cartel countries andother major oil producers in

January began implementing adeal to cut output by 1.2 mil-lion barrels per day to shore upsagging prices.

Based on provisional fig-ures of production levels inJanuary, most oil producingnations were complying to thecuts, Mazrouei said.

The oil market, however,remains highly volatile andprices hover just above $60 abarrel after recovering from aslow as $50 a barrel.

That figure remains farbelow the $85 a barrel oil hit inearly October before beginningto slide.

Mazrouei said producerswere “doing our best” to sta-bilise the market.

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Cozy woolens, hot tea and sun baskingare undoubtedly awelcome change for everyone. This is not true for a childsuffering from asthma, for whom the cold winters mean

frequent attacks and severe breathing difficulties. A chronic res-piratory disease affecting 14 per cent of children round the globe,asthma is often associated with worsening of symptoms duringcold winter months.

During winter months, rates of hospitalisation in childrenon account of asthma go up by many notches. In asthma, dueto swelling in the lining of the airways which leads to narrow-ing of the airways and sticky mucus or phlegm build-up thatblocks the airways, breathing is difficult and forced. During win-ters, the cold air causes airways to tighten further, making it evenmore difficult to breath.

Contrary to common perception, asthma, a reversibleobstructive lung disease, caused by increased reaction of the air-ways to various stimuli is not an 'old man's disease'. Asthma isone of the most common chronic disorders in childhood, cur-rently affecting about 7.1 million children under 18 years.

Cold weather is a major trigger for asthma symptoms. Peoplewith asthma say that cold air is a trigger for their symptoms and90 per cent reckon that having a cold or flu makes their asthmaconsiderably worse.

The key signs are coughing more than usual, getting shortof breath, wheezing, feeling a tightness in your chest and hav-ing difficulty speaking in full sentences.

Hospital admissions forasthma traditionally peak dur-ing periods of particularly coldweather. This can be due tobreathing cold air into the lungs,which can in turn trigger asth-ma, as well as picking up coldsand flu.

People whose asthma is wellcontrolled are more likely to beable to withstand the risks ofwinter months. You can helpkeep your asthma under controlby making sure you have a reg-ular asthma review with yourdoctor.

It is important for parents to understand that with the righttreatment and medications, asthma symptoms related to cold win-ters can be controlled and managed to a large extent.

Unfortunately, parents and caregivers are most often mis-informed when they seek asthma treatment for their child.Knowledge about asthma, causes and its treatment options oftenperplexes patients and their families, say experts. It is thereforeimperative for healthcare practitioners to educate parents andcaregivers about early disease acceptance and importance of effec-tive treatment modalities with minimal side-effects and fast actionlike inhaled corticosteroids, in other words inhalation therapy.

Inhalation therapy involves an inhaler pump to administermedication directly in the airway passage. The term 'steroids' oftenworries parents leading them away from the use of inhalers fortheir child. But in reality, the steroid used in asthma medicationis a copy of steroids which are produced by our body naturallyas a defense mechanism against inflammation. These are com-pletely safe for children as well as pregnant women. Moreover,inhalation therapy's clinical efficiency for asthma has been provedby many studies.

Inflammation of the airways requires only a small quantityof the drug. When administered orally or through intestine,almost 200 times of the required medication is administered asonly a fraction reaches the lungs. With inhalers, the medicationreaches the airway passage directly and hence only a the requiredamount is inhaled in the body.

So, with such a simple solution available at hand, it's timeto let your little one live free with inhalation therapy and enjoywinters to the fullest, without giving in to asthma.

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��" Saffron is a small, bulbous, perennial spice, amember of the lily family. Saffron is a stimulant tonic and

very effective to treat cold and fever; saffron mixed in milk andapplied over the forehead quickly relieves cold.

Saffron or Kesar has been hailed as the source of beauty andhealth since times immemorial. When consumed with milk itincreases body's resistance and when mixed with cream and appliedon face it makes skin clean, spotless and radiant. In winters it canbe boiled with raisins, milk andalmonds and taken dailybefore going to sleep.

Saffron contains adark orange, watersoluble carotenecalled crocin, which isresponsible for muchof saffron's goldencolor. Crocin has beenfound to trigger apoptosis(programmed cell death) in anumber of different types of human cancer cells,leukemia, ovarian carcinoma, colon adenocarcinoma, and soft tis-sue sarcoma. It is also useful in the treatment of age related men-tal impairment.

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According to ‘con-vincing evidence”from a study com-

missioned by the WorldHealth Organisation, con-suming fibre and whole grains can reducehealth risks from non-communicable dis-eases (NCDs) such as heart disease. Thepaper published in The Lancet indicates thateating fibre-rich foods reduces the incidenceof coronary heart disease, stroke, Type 2Diabetes and colorectal cancer by 16 percent to 24 per cent. A higher fibre intakeis also associated with lower bodyweight,systolic blood pressure and total cholesterolwhen compared with lower intake.

The recommended daily allowance, orRDA, of the ICMR for fibre is 25g/day. Ahealthy diet is one in which about half ismade up fruits and vegetables (45 per centto 50 per cent) and a fourth is cereal andmillets (rice/wheat/millets).

Tips from Heart Care Foundation ofIndia

Enjoy your food by eating slowly.Fill half your plate with fruit and veg-

etables.Avoid oversized portions.At least half of your grains should be

whole grains.Limit consumption of food high in

trans fats and sugar.Choose healthy fats. Use fat-free or low-

fat milk and/or dairy products.Drink plenty of water. Avoid sugary

drinks.Avoid foods that have high sodium lev-

els in it.

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Next time you have astomachache, instead ofreaching for a bottle of

pills, try natural and holisticremedies to cure it.

Every household has gin-ger. Yes, this underground stemis a cure for many problemsincluding a stomachache. Gratean inch of ginger and extract itsjuice. Apply this on theaching tummy andmassage in cir-cular motion toget relief fromthe pain. Onecan also drinka glass of warmwater withcrushed mintleaves and groundginger root to bringinstant relief.

It may sound strange butthis is water we give to babieswhen they have an upsettummy. Drink the left over rice

water to get rid of upper stom-ach pain. When you boil rice inwater, it releases compoundsthat can accumulate insideyour stomach which reducesthe pain. It is extremely bene-ficial when you have diar-

rhoea. Add somehoney forflavour.

Coconut water con-tains high levels of

potassium and mag-nesium. These helpto reduce pain andmuscle spasms.

Sip on up totwo glasses of

coconut water every4–6 hours could ease

upset stomach symp-toms.If you have a mild stom-

ach pain, mix a teaspoon ofbaking soda in 120 ml of warmwater and drink it. The stom-achache will soon vanish.

Everyone experiences stomachache at one point or

another which may be due toheartburn, indigestion, infection

and overeating.ROSHANI DEVI shares home

remedies to soothe the pain woes

About 2 to 3 million deaths fromdiseases like pneumonia, diar-rhoea, measles, and diphtheria are

averted annually due to vaccinations.They are universally recognised asamong the most cost-effectivepublic health interventions.They are an establishedharm reduction strategy.Although the overallprevalence of completevaccine refusal is <2%,the same may lead to pre-ventable diseases in an indi-vidual. There is thus a need tocreate awareness about the impor-tance of this method in the country.

The first-ever conference on harmreduction organised focused on vaccina-tion. It discussed how the aim should beto eradicate a disease and if not, thenreduce the burden in the society.Withholding vaccines from a child or an

adult because of a hypothetical riskplaces them at risk for real infection thatmay have real sequelae.

Mission Indradhanush, depictingseven colours of the rainbow, targets to

immunise all children againstseven vaccine preventable dis-

eases — Diphtheria, Pertussis,Tetanus, ChildhoodTuberculosis, Polio, HepatitisB and Measles. In addition tothis, vaccines for Japanese

Encephalitis and Hemophilusinfluenzae type B are also being

provided in selected States. Thereare also vaccinations for adults.

�WHO has listed vaccine hesitancyas one of the 10 threats to global healthin 2019. Vaccine hesitancy should beaddressed on priority at every level.

�Human papillomavirus (HPV) vac-cine protects from HPV infection, amajor cause of cervical cancer.

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With new innovations like Nobel Awardrecognised cancer therapies, artificial pan-

creas, IoMT (Internet of Medical Things), ICT(Information and Communication technology)breakthroughs, and drug manufacturing advance-ments, 2018 has created new foundations to builda better healthcare ecosystem in future. The lega-cy will continue in 2019 with value-based caresupported by artificial intelligence, big data sci-ence, blockchains, and medical R&Ds. Some ofthe innovations that will create new benchmarksin the healthcare industry in 2019 are:

Electronic Health Records (EHRs)The deployment of ICT (Information and

Communication Technology) and a series ofcloud-based networks have brought almostevery area of the globe in one interconnected net-work, especially benefitting the healthcare pen-etration across geographies despite all odds.Telemedicine is tapping more people across theglobe with EHRs. These cloud-based andblockchain based EHRs have enhanced the effi-ciency of remote patient monitoring, resolvedinfrastructure concerns and balanced the doctor-population disparity across the world. Australiais the first nation to avail EHRs for all in 2018.The trend will be followed by many other devel-oped and developing nations including India in2019. These medical records will be accessed bydoctors for more effective treatment of patients.

Precision MedicineEHRs have not just facilitated healthcare for

the larger population but have also brought alivethe concept of precision medicine. This next stageof telemedicine will allow doctors to prescribetreatments based on their complete medical his-tory and genetic understanding. Instead ofexperimenting with different drugs and drugdosages to monitor and cure diseases (both CDsand NCDs), doctors can analyse the patient'ssymptoms, vitals, immunity level, and medicineresponse with help of EHRs and AI based med-ical analysis tools to prescribe targeted medicine.In 2019, Precision Medicine will have greater rolesin the treatment of NCDs (Non-CommunicableDiseases) and hereditary diseases like cancer, dia-betes, cardiac issues, and others.

Gene TherapyGene editing tools like CRISPR (Clustered,

Short Palindromic Repeats, RegularlyInterspaced), and other gene makeup technolo-gies, which introduce curative genes through viralvectors for treatment have been successfully devel-oping throughout 2017 and 2018. The year 2019will be marked with widespread implementationof these gene therapies to cure numerous diseasesin different stages of human life— from embryosto matures.

Healthcare CybersecurityThe development of ICT in healthcare came

along with the threats of cybersecurity, which isa burgeoning issue across the globe. Healthcareindustry is more likely to face intrusion attacksin the coming year as well. Hence, cybersecuri-ty has become as important as the implementa-tion of EHRs and healthcare access. With betterIT fortification and new security measures,2019 will see enormous growth in Telehealth andE-medicine.

AI-powered Equipment and WearablesWith greater investment and collaborative

R&Ds, the healthcare sector will become thelargest industry for AI based activities. Apart fromAI enabled health monitors, the cloud-based con-nection of wearables and smart sensors are alsoplaying a crucial role in health diagnosis andrecording vitals. The SaaS/PaaS (Software as a ser-vice/ Platform as a service) based digital health-care models will realise the dream of qualityhealthcare for everyone across the world in 2019.

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TECH SHOWST H E W A Y

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Times are changing and people all aroundthe world are turning to Ayurveda for morethan just treatment for their ailments.

Human body is prone to several infections andailments anytime as we live in a world which haspolluted atmosphere and increased bacterialspread levels. It is quite common that each oneof us periodically or frequently gets infected withone or other bacteria or virus; thus falling sick.

Here are a few common ailments that can becured with the help of Ayurveda.

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�� Migraine is a headache

disease that causes severepain in half part of yourhead. This problem is three-times higher in women com-pared to men.

Ginger and JaggeryPowder: Mix hundredgrams of jaggery in 200 gmof ginger powder and makesmall pills. You should takethese pills every day. Takethree-four pills every morn-ing and evening.

Basil: Take ten freshleaves of Holy basil andmash them well on a cleansurface. With clean hands,squeeze the mashed leavesand take 4 drops in each nos-tril. This will provide goodrelief in migraine pain.

Coriander Tea: Boil oneteaspoon coriander seedsfor 10 minutes and add oneteaspoon sugar and drink it.It is beneficial in bothmigraine and normalheadache.

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��(��(According to Ayurveda, hyperacidity is caused due to an

aggravation of pitta dosha (heat element) in the body. Ayurvedarecommends that you change your diet accordingly.

Mix together equal parts of powdered fennel (saunf), licoriceroot (mulethi), basil (tulsi) leaves, and coriander (dhania) seeds.Have ½ teaspoon of this mixture with ½ teaspoon of powderedrock candy (mishri) 15 minutes before lunch and dinner.

Add one teaspoon of cumin (jeera) seeds in two liters of waterand boil them for three-five minutes. Strain the solution and drinkit. Take this treatment several days consecutively.

Drink 100-500 ml of tender coconut water twice a day for relieffrom hyperacidity.

�� Allergies are an overreaction of the

body’s immune system to specific sub-stances that it misidentifies as harmful.This overreaction of the body’s immunesystem is known as an allergic reactionand the substances that cause it are calledallergens.

Take 200 ml carrot juice, or a combinationof carrot juice with beet and cucumber juices. In thecase of mixed juices, 50 ml each of beet and cucumber juices shouldbe mixed with 100 ml of carrot juice to prepare 200 ml of mixed juice.

Squeeze half a lime in a glass of lukewarm water and sweeten itwith a teaspoon of honey. Take it once daily first thing in the morn-ing for several months. It not only flushes the system of toxins butalso acts as an anti-allergic agent.

Take five drops of castor oil in half a cup of any fruit or vegetablejuice, or plain water on an empty stomach in the morning.

�� Garlic to the rescue: It has antimicro-

bial properties that make it a valuable allyto fight cold and cough. Gently crush fivecloves of peeled garlic and fry lightly in a tea-spoon of ghee. Eat this while still warm forrelief from a cough and cold.

Turmeric remedies: A traditional solu-tion is to drink lukewarm milk with turmer-ic. For a dry cough, mixing a teaspoon ofhoney with a teaspoon of turmeric for aboutthree to four times a day can prove to beeffective.

Sleep with your head elevated: Whenmucus drips from the back of the nose intothe throat, it results in a cough, which getsworse at night when the body posture isfavorable for such dripping. Sleeping with thehead at a higher position helps reduce suchdrainage and helps reduce coughing atnight and improves sleep.

Gargle regularly: Gargling with saltwater can help drain excess fluids from theinflamed areas and reduce the pain associ-ated with cough. Gargling also removes irri-tants and mucus from the throat.

��From an Ayurvedic point of view, hyperc-

holesterolemia (high cholesterol) indicatesweak digestive fire at the tissue level.Impaired digestion at the tissue level pro-duces excess waste products ortoxins (ama) which thenblock the channels in thebody.

Mix one teaspoonof Indian gooseberrypowder (amla) in a glassof warm water. Drink itdaily in the morning onan empty stomach.

Take three partsground turmeric, sixparts ground cumin,

six parts ground coriander, six parts ground fen-nel, two parts ground fenugreek, one part driedginger powder and one part ground black pep-

per. Combine the spices and store in asealed container.

When preparing your meal, sauté ateaspoon of spices in a small amount

of ghee or olive oil. Combinewith vegetables.

Boil few leaves ofmint with water. Addsome honey and pepperpowder. Drink lukewarm

two-three times a day.Maintaining regu-

lar food timings andtaking dinner early in the

evening is also useful.

��Known as Pinas in Ayurveda, sinusitis is a

condition in which the sinuses are blocked withmucus and become inflamed. Ayurvedic treat-ment of sinusitis involves liquefying and expellingaggravated body energies with the use of certainAyurvedic herbs and diet as well as nasal thera-pies and applications. The Panchakarma treatmentof Nasya is quite effective in dealing with sinusi-tis.

Boil one to two liters of water and add a fewdrops of clove oil (or a large spoonful of cloves),ten-12 crushed mint leaves, and a few drops ofeucalyptus oil (or 1/3 cup of eucalyptus leaves).Inhale the steam for ten-15 minutes.

Crush four-five peeled garlic buds and inhalethe fragrance. This will reduce nasalcongestion.

Have one teaspoonof fresh ginger juicewith 1 teaspoon ofhoney in it twicea day.

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The Saudi authorities doesnot know what happened

to the corpse of JamalKhashoggi, a senior Ministerhas said, amid reports that thedismembered body of the dis-sident journalist was “dis-solved” after his brutal murderinside the Kingdom’s consulatein Turkey.

Saudi Arabia has admittedthat Khashoggi’s killing onOctober 2 in Istanbul was pre-meditated and carried out by agroup of men in the inner cir-cle of Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman. TheWashington Post, for whichKhashoggi used to write, hasreported that the CentralIntelligence Agency has con-cluded that Salman “ordered”the killing. But Riyadh deniesthat the crown prince had anyinvolvement in the killing of59-year-old Khashoggi, whowas once a Saudi governmentinsider, but had gone into self-

imposed exile in the US. Hehad become an outspoken crit-ic of the country’s powerfulCrown Prince Salman.

The dissident journalistwas dismembered after hismurder in October in the Saudiconsulate in Istanbul but hisremains have yet to be located.

On Sunday, the Saudi min-ister of state for foreign affairs,Adel al-Jubeir, said the gov-ernment does not know whereKhashoggi’s body is.

When asked where

Khashoggi’s body is, he toldCBS News, “We don’t know.”

He said they have asked thesuspects that there are “a num-ber of possibilities” and “thisinvestigation is ongoing”.

“I would expect eventual-ly that we would find thetruth.” Khashoggi’s murder wasa “horrific crime” and a “huge,huge mistake,” Jubeir said butinsinuated that there has beenan unfair focus on this specif-ic case driven, in part, by pol-itics.

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China hit back on Monday atTurkish criticism over its

treatment of Uighurs anddenied Ankara’s claim that arenowned poet from theMuslim minority had died incustody, calling it an “absurdlie”.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministryhad released a statement onSaturday severely criticisingChina’s mass detentions of itsTurkic-speaking Uighurs, andclaiming that poet AbdurehimHeyit had died serving aneight-year Chinese prison sen-tence imposed as punishmentover “one of his songs”.

But China on Sundayreleased a video showing aman who identified himself asHeyit and saying that he wasalive and well.

“China has made solemnrepresentations toward Turkey.We hope the relevant Turkishpersons can distinguishbetween right and wrong andcorrect their mistakes,” ForeignMinistry spokeswoman HuaChunying said during a dailypress briefing. She called theTurkish statement “vile” andurged Ankara to withdraw its“false accusations”.

“I saw his (Heyit’s) videoonline yesterday, showing thathe is not only alive but also veryhealthy,” she said.

A UN panel of experts hassaid that nearly one millionUighurs and other Turkic-speaking minorities had beenherded into “re-educationcamps” in China’s northwesternXinjiang region, where most ofthe country’s more than 10 mil-lion Uighurs live.

Turkey had said China’streatment of Uighurs was “agreat embarrassment for

humanity” — perhaps thestrongest condemnation yetfrom a Muslim country.

The Muslim world hasbeen conspicuously quiet onthe Uighur issue, possibly toavoid Chinese diplomatic oreconomic retaliation.

The plight of China’sUighurs is closely followed inTurkey due to shared linguis-tic, cultural and religious linksand the presence of tens ofthousands of ethnic Uighursthere.

In its statement onSaturday, Turkey did not sayhow it had learned that Heyitdied, but said the “tragedy hasfurther reinforced the reac-tion of the Turkish public opin-ion towards (the) serioushuman rights violations” inXinjiang.

But state-controlled ChinaRadio International (CRI)released a 26-second video onits Turkish service on Sunday.

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Tehran: Iran’s President onMonday blasted a US “con-spiracy” against the country asvast crowds marked 40 yearssince the Islamic revolution ata time of heightened tensionswith Washington.

“The presence of peopletoday on the streets all overIslamic Iran... Means that theenemy will never reach its evilobjectives,” President HassanRouhani told those throngingTehran’s Azadi (Freedom)square. Chador-clad women,

militia members in camou-flage fatigues and ordinary cit-izens marched through thecapital in freezing rain to markthe day in February 1979 thatAyatollah Ruhollah Khomeiniended millenia of royal rule.

Life-size replicas ofIranian-made cruise and bal-listic missiles lined the route ina statement of defiance afterWashington last year reim-posed sanctions after pullingout of a deal on Tehran’snuclear programme. AFP

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The US sailed two warshipsclose to the disputed islands

in the South China Sea onMonday to challenge China’sexcessive maritime claim,according to a media reportwhich said the move is certainto draw the ire of Beijing.

The guided-missiledestroyers USS Spruance andUSS Preble sailed within 12nautical miles of the SpratlyIslands as part of what the USNavy calls a “freedom of nav-igation operation,” CNN reported.

The move likely to angerBeijing at a time when the USand China ton are locked in atrade war and are negotiatinga deal ahead of a March 1 dead-line when US tariffs on $200billion worth of Chineseimports are expected toincrease to 25 per cent from 10per cent.

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Thai Princess Ubolratanawas on Monday formally

disqualified for running forprime minister, ending herbrief and ill-fated politicalunion with a party allied to thepowerful Shinawatra clan, justdays after a stern royal com-mand rebuking her candidacywas issued by her brother, theking.

Uncertainty and conjecturehave coursed through Thailandsince Friday when the ThaiRaksa Chart party made theexplosive announcement ofPrincess Ubolratana, KingMaha Vajiralongkorn’s eldersister, as their candidate for pre-mier after the March 24 election.

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Malaysian former premierNajib Razak’s trial over

the 1MDB mega-scandal waspostponed on Monday to allowan appeal to be heard, in thelatest blow to slow-movingefforts to bring the disgracedpolitician to justice.

Najib had been due to goon trial on Tuesday for the firsttime over allegations he wasinvolved in the looting ofMalaysian sovereign wealthfund 1MDB in a fraud thatstretched around the world.

But his lawyers filed anapplication for the trial to bedelayed pending an appeal ona technicality related to thetransfer of charges betweendifferent courts. The court ofAppeal on Monday agreed tothe postponement to allow forthe appeal to be heard, VSithambaram, a criminallawyer on the prosecutionteam, told AFP.

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Syrian fighters backed byartillery fire from a US-led

coalition battled a fierce jihadistfightback on Monday as theypushed to retake a last morselof territory from the IslamicState group.

Mushrooming black cloudsrose over the embattled jihadistholdout in eastern Syria, asmissiles and a warplanestreaked through the sky.

More than four years afterthe extremists declared a“caliphate” across large parts ofSyria and neighbouring Iraq,several offensives have whittledthat proto-state down to a tinyholdout.

Caracas: Opposition leaderJuan Guaido, recognised bysome 50 countries asVenezuela’s interim President,has warned the military thatblocking humanitarian aidfrom entering the country is a“crime against humanity.”

The warning came onSunday as international aidhas taken center stage in a testof wills between Guaido andPresident Nicolas Maduro inwhich Venezuela’s armed forcesare seen as the pivotal player.

Medicine and food sent bythe United States has beenblocked for three days on theborder in Cucuta, Colombiaafter Venezuelan soldiers closeda bridge linking the two coun-tries. On the Venezuelan sideof the border, dozens of doctorsprotested Sunday demandingthe aid be allowed in — includ-ing surgeon Jose Luis Mateusde la Riva, who accusedMaduro of sinking Venezuelanmedicine back to the “medievalera.” AFP

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Refugee footballer Hakeemal-Araibi will not be sent

back to Bahrain after Thailanddropped extradition proceed-ings against him at the Gulfstate’s request, a prosecutorsaid on Monday, ending a two-month detention ordeal thatstirred global outcry.

Araibi, 25, a formerBahraini national youth teamplayer, was granted refugeestatus in Australia after fleeingcharges in the oil-rich kingdomconnected to Arab Springprotests. But he was stopped atBangkok’s main airport atBahrain’s request on November27 as he arrived in Thailand forhis honeymoon.

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Ariana Grande a no-show despite winningfirst Grammy AwardAriana Grande won her first GrammyAward but the singer didn’t collect it afterdeciding to skip the ceremony following apublic dispute with the show’s producer.

Grande accused Grammy telecast exec-utive producer Ken Ehrlich of lying aboutdiscussions with the singer about perform-ing at the ceremony. Ehrlich told thatGrande had told producers that she didn’thave adequate time to prepare.

“As it turned out, when we finally gotto the point where we thought maybe itwould work, she felt it was too late for herto pull something together for sure,” he said.

But Grande fired back in a socialmedia post that she “can pull together a per-formance over night and you know that,Ken.” She alleged her “creativity” and “self-expression” was “stifled,” adding, “I hope theshow is exactly what you want it to be andmore.”

Grande won the best pop vocal albumtrophy for Sweetener, beating Taylor Swift,Kelly Clarkson, Pink, Shawn Mendes andCamila Cabello. Grande was not in atten-dance at the pre-telecast ceremony, but shewrote on social media that her win was“wild and beautiful.”

Is rap a dominant genre? But the controversies did not end withGrande.

Childish Gambino, the stage name ofactor Donald Glover and another promi-nent rap nominee, Kendrick Lamar, bothdeclined invitations to perform or attend theshow. Some rap artists feel the Grammyshave been slow to recognise how the genrenow dominates popular music.

And as if to second its popularity,Gambino’s disturbing look at race relations,This is America, won record and song of theyear. It was the first time a rap-based songwon both of those awards, considered —with album of the year — the recordingindustry’s most prestigious.

Ludwig Goransson, a songwriter andproducer on This is America, said backstagethat he was surprised the victories were sohistoric. Just listening to the radio, watch-ing the culture and seeing how many rapsongs are downloaded is evidence of rap’simpact.

“It’s about time something like this hap-pened with the Grammys as well,”Goransson said.

Cardi B beats the boys to win rap albumhonors at GrammysAn overwhelmed Cardi B won her firstGrammy Award on Sunday night, makinghistory as the first solo woman to win bestrap album.

“Invasion of Privacy” beat out albumsby the late Mac Miller, Nipsey Hussle, PushaT and Travis Scott.

“Oh my goodness,” she said, strugglingto gather herself. “Whoa, child.”

Cardi B is just the fifth woman evernominated in the category, which was cre-ated in 1995.

Lauryn Hill was part of the Fugees whenthe group won in 1997 for “The Score.”

Cardi B took the stage at the StaplesCenter holding the hand of husband,Offset, with whom she has reunited aftermarital issues last year.

Holding the trophy in her white-glovedhands, Cardi B thanked “you husband” andthe couple’s daughter, who was born sevenmonths to the date.

“I’m sorry, I just, oh the nerves are sobad,” she said. “Maybe I need to start smok-ing weed.”

Cardi B told the crowd she found outshe was pregnant before her album wascompleted. She was under pressure to fin-ish it and do video shoots before she beganshowing.

“He was like you’re going to do thisalbum,” she said of Offset. “We’re going tohave this baby and do this album.”

Cardi B had one of the show’s memo-rable performances, twerking on a pianoand strutting with peacock-like plumageattached to her hips while singing “Money.”Her necklace fell off mid-song but she kepton going.

She lost out on her other four nomina-tions, including in the record and album ofthe year categories.

Michelle Obama gets raucous applause atGrammy AwardsMichelle Obama made a surprise appear-ance to help open the Grammy Awards withhost Alicia Keys.

The former first lady appeared onstagewith Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, JadaPinkett Smith and Keys to say how musichas impacted their lives.

Obama’s initial comments were inter-rupted by raucous applause and many in theStaples Center crowd stood. She smiled andeventually re-started her comments.

“From the Motown records I wore outon the south side to the Who Run the Worldsongs that fuelled me through this last

decade, music has always helped me tell mystory, and I know that’s true for everybodyhere,” Obama said.

“Whether we like country or rap orrock, music helps us share ourselves, ourdignity and sorrows, our hopes and joys. Itallows us to hear one another, to invite eachother in. Music shows us that all of it mat-ters — every story within every voice, everynote within every song, is that right ladies?”Obama said.

Keys paused to absorb the moment andreferenced the Beyonce song in asking,“Who run the world?”

Obama, who grew up on the south sideof Chicago, has been on a tour to promoteher memoir Becoming.

Another ex-White House resident wasawarded a Grammy. Former PresidentJimmy Carter, who is 94, won an award forbest spoken word recording. It’s his secondGrammy.

Rap artists, women take center stage atGrammysRap artists and women have both feltshunned by the Grammy Awards in recentyears. But this year, they took the centerstage.

Besides Gambino, Kacey Musgraveswon top album. A year after many womenfelt left out of the Grammy telecast, theydelivered the night’s most memorable per-formances. Cardi B, Dolly Parton, LadyGaga, Travis Scott, Red Hot Chili Peppers,Diana Ross, J Balvin, Camila Cabello,Brandi Carlile, Dan + Shay, H.E.R., LittleBig Town, Post Malone, Chloe x Halle andDua Lipa were a part of the line-up.

The best new artist winner, Britishsinger Dua Lipa, also cast major shade onthe outgoing recording academy president.Lady Gaga and Brandi Carlile won threeGrammys.

Cardi B became the first solo female towin best rap album, although Lauryn Hillwas the lead singer of the Fugees, which wonthe same award at the 1997 Grammys. CardiB was so nervous accepting the award thatshe joked, “Maybe I need to start smokingweed.”

She looked anything but rattled earli-er, when her rendition of Money wasamong the night’s performance highlights.Janelle Monae delivered a smoking versionof her hit Make Me Feel; St. Vincent and DuaLipa’s duet on Masseduction was steamy;H.E.R. turned heads with Hard Place; andCarlile sang an inspired version of her hitThe Joke.

Being part of a big night for women washuge to her, Carlile said backstage after theshow.

“I’m a kid from the ‘90s and Lilith Fair,you know, and those women were just dom-inating those platforms,” she said. “Theywere dominating those arena and amphithe-ater stages. They were getting record deals.They were becoming record executivesthemselves. They completely controlled theairwaves. They were on the radio. And towatch that backslide for the last 20 years hasbeen heartbreaking. Tonight, it gives mehope as a mother of two young daughters.”

When she accepted her best new artistaward, Dua Lipa pointedly said, “I guess thisyear we really stepped up.”

That was a reference to outgoingRecording Academy CEO Neil Portnow,who said women needed to “step up”when he was asked about the lack of womenin top categories in 2018. He later acknowl-edged it was a poor choice of words.

Yet Dua Lipa was rewarded by havingher acceptance speech cut off mid-sentence.She wasn’t alone, however, as a handful ofother artists were also hustled off thestage, and the show seemed disjointed at theend, rushing through its final awards.Under the circumstances, having a lengthytribute to Portnow before he gave his ownspeech seemed tone-deaf.

Drake’s speech cut off unintentionally Dua Lipa wasn’t alone, Kacey Musgravesand Drake’s acceptance speech cut offmid-sentence. A spokesman for theGrammys says that show producers didn’tmean to cut Drake off mid-speech. Drake’scomments were interrupted as he accept-ed the best rap song trophy for God’s Plan.

The spokesman told reporters backstagethat Drake took “a natural pause” andassuming he was done talking, producerscut to a commercial.

The spokesman says Drake was offereda chance to return to the stage and finishhis remarks, but he declined and explainedthat he was satisfied.

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Sparkly, studded and struttingin designer looks, theGrammys parade of often

out-there fashion kicked off, butthat didn’t dampen spirits as themusic industry’s best showed offtheir myriad outfits.

Cardi B had a spot of troublewalking in a sculpted look thatevoked a mermaid in the half shell,pearls included. It was hatched in1995 by Thierry Mugler. MichelleObama popped up in a metallictrouser outfit onstage, JenniferLopez donned a huge white bejew-eled hat and Lady Gaga chose a sil-ver strapless sequin gown with ahigh slit and side ruffle, thanks toCeline.

The Lopez topper pointed toa popular accessory of the evening— statement hats. It had a brim formiles and was embellished tomatch her dress of the same shade.She appeared relaxed in her Ralph& Russo look as she posed for pho-tographers with boyfriend AlexRodriguez, who wore a multicol-ored dress jacket.

Katy Perry, meanwhile, arrivedin a pink Balmain confection thatprompted comparisons to a caketopper.

The former first lady’s lookwas custom by Sachin & Babi.Lending a hand opening the show,she earned a rousing welcomefrom the crowd in Los Angeles.

As for the guys, some wentwild. Post Malone was in a lightpink embellished jacket andmatching pants. Kyle Tree of theEDM duo Grey was inadvertent-ly ready for the weather in a rainslicker that was, yes, the color gray,as was his hair and that of musicpartner Michael Trewartha.

There were attendees dressedas butterflies, neon looks and sev-eral outfits with long capes inunusual places, on jumpsuits andshort dresses. Never shy fashion-wise, Janelle Monae also wore awide-brim hat, pairing it with ashort dress that had high pointedshoulders, courtesy of Jean PaulGaultier.

Top nominee KaceyMusgraves wore an ethereal belt-ed gown in a nude hue with a dar-ing fan-like bodice, byValentino, while CamilaCabello appeared cozy in along-sleeve sparkler of abright pink gown with ahigh neck and open back,done by Armani Prive.

The K-pop sensationBTS showed up inblack tuxedos andcolored hair, includ-ing purple and green,while Maren Morrissported a huge yel-low winged deco-ration on oneshoulder of a floralhalter gown with afull loosely pleat-ed skirt andplunging neck-line, from GaliaLahav Couture.

“I don’tknow, I’m allabout subtlety,”joked Morris.

Dolly Parton worea short red dress witha ruffle lapel and achunky jewel center-piece. Dua Lipa wonbest necklace of thenight, a huge diamondpiece in a circulardesign.

Fantastic Negrito,the Oakland,California-born bluesartist, represented in ared suit with large,colorful swatches forpockets. His silvernecklace of two fish used tobe a belt buckle, said the upcyclingenthusiast.

Members of Weezer, on theother hand, kept it relaxed in scoopT-shirts under jackets that includ-ed mauve and baby blue.

Ben Harper went full bedaz-zle in a jacket showing off yellowsequins worn with a broad-brimhat.

Repeat political provocateurJoy Villa, who attended last year ina gown decorated with a fetus,dressed as President Trump’s wall(think tinfoil) and carried a MakeAmerica Great Again handbag.She first made a Trump splash twoyears ago in Trump messaging.

Shawn Mendes went for adeep blue Paul Smith jacket withwide black lapels and open collarunderneath.

“I was so nervous to dress forthe Grammys,” he said.

“I felt like, how do you beclassy and still stand out?”

Purple was an It shade of theevening. Grammy winnerH.E.R. sparkled in the collar ina gown made for her by Coach,with sunglasses in the sameshade.

“It makes me feel like I’mshining’. I feel like a star,”

she said.A few supporters

of President DonaldTrump made theirfashion marks on theGrammy red carpet.

Singers Joy Villaand Ricky Rebel eachwore looks that madepolitical statementson the award night.

Villa wore a whitedress with the blackoutline of bricks andsilver barbed wire tuftson her shoulders aswell as carrying a pursewith Trump’s “Make

America Great Again”slogan.

Trump has proposed acontroversial border wallbetween the U.S. and Mexico.

Desi Designs Couture,the designer of Villa’s dress,posted a disclaimer onInstagram saying clients’views, thoughts and opinionsaren’t necessarily the same asthe company’s.

Rebel wore a red, whiteand blue jacket over white

pants tucked into whiteboots. The jacket read“Trump” on the back andKeep America Great on

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Supermodel Irina Shayk gavea standing ovation to herbeau Bradley Cooper after

his debut directorial A Star IsBorn won Best Original Musictrophy at the 2019 Brit ishAcademy of Film and TelevisionArts (BAFTA) Awards.

Cooper gave a moving speechin which he dedicated the awardto his co-star Lady Gaga, whocouldn’t be a part of the gala asshe was in Los Angeles for theGrammy Awards night.

“I got to fulfill a dream I neverthought would happen. I share

this with Lady Gaga tonight, themusic was the heartbeat of thisfilm,” Cooper said.

“I also need to thank Irina forputting up with me while I wastrying to make music in ourbasement for a year.” he added.

Shayk and Cooper colour

coordinated their ensembles —black trouser suits — for theevent.

She completed her look witha pair of embellished heels andopted for silver hoop earrings tomatch her simple gold necklace.

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F- '245

Standing with one foot on Shiva’schest and her enormous red tonguestuck out, artist Sanjay Bhattacharyauses the form of Kali, the Goddess, ingraphic interpretations to create four

drawings that celebrate the common image ofKali in her mêlée mood.

Curator Kounteya Sinha celebrates theblack goddess in a show entitled Niguro at theKolkata Design Fair.

“Kali’s fierce form is strewed with sym-bols. Her black complexion symbolises her all-embracing and transcendental nature,” saysKounteya.

‘Just as all colours disappear in black, allnames and forms disappear in her,’ saidMahanirvana Tantra by Sir John Woodroffe.Her nudity is primeval, fundamental, andtransparent like nature that constitutes theEarth, the sea and the sky. Kali is free fromthe illusory covering, for she is beyond allmaya or “false consciousness.” Kali’s garlandof fifty human heads, that stands for the fiftyalphabets of the Sanskrit language, symbol-ises infinite knowledge.

KALI’S FORM“For me, Kali is not a religious symbol, she

is a form,” says Bhattacharya. He creates astunning symbolism through shades of ver-million, black and grey. The geometry andabstraction creates contours which form aconfluence of an aura that is unmistakable.

Historians state that Kali in her manifes-tation has many messages. Her girdle of sev-ered human hands signifies work and liber-ation from the cycle of karma. Her white teethshow her inner purity and her red lollingtongue indicates her omnivorous nature — “anindiscriminate enjoyment of all the world’sflavours.” Her sword is the destroyer of falseconsciousness and the eight bonds that bindus. Bhattacharya gives us Kali in her monu-mental magnificence through his four draw-ings.

“Her three eyes represent the three modesof time — past, present, and future — anattribute that lies in the very name Kali (Kalain Sanskrit means time),” says Bhattacharya.The images create many reflections that wecan recall from literature as well as ancienttexts. The eminent translator of Tantriktexts, Woodroffe in Garland of Letters, writes,“Kali is so called because She devours Kala(time) and then resumes Her own dark form-lessness.”

MAHABHARATAHistorian Devdutt Pattnaik says that in the

Mahabharata and Ramayana, composedaround the third century BC, time and god-desses including Kali were given more char-acter. They were usually independent andwild, appearing as manifestations of divinerage and embodiments of the forces ofdestruction.

In the Mahabharata, for instance, the noc-turnal bloodbath by Ashwathama at the endof the 18-days long war slaughtered Pandavas’innocent children rather dastardly whilethey are asleep. This is seen as the work of“Kali of bloody mouth and eyes, smeared withblood and adorned with garlands, her garmentreddened — holding noose in hand — bind-ing men and horses and elephants with herterrible snares of death.”

DEFENDER AGAINST DEMONSDevdutt also states that in the Devi

Mahatmya, dated roughly to eighth centuryAD, Kali became a defender against demon-ic and malevolent forces and by the 19th cen-tury, Kali was a goddess of mainstream pan-theon, a symbol of divine rage, of raw powerand the wild potency of nature. The one whowas once feared as an outsider had made herway right to the heart of the mainstream.

Devdutt narrates a story: “They say thatShiva never spoke a single word until Shakticame in his life as Parvati. She became notonly his wife, but also his student, asking ques-tions, discussing and deliberating with him,till he revealed to the world the mysteries oflife. One day, she asked him, ‘What is love?’”

“When you dance atop me as Kali, nakedwith hair unbound, unafraid to be yourself,to be powerful and vulnerable and of beingjudged and mocked, I feel love. You make meopen my eyes. I realise that Lalita, the beau-tiful one, is also Bhairavi, the fearsome one.I realise Mangala, the auspicious one, is also

Chandika, the violent one. I see you totally,without judgement and realise I am capableof seeing the truth. That you allow me to seeyou fully, without judegment, tells me that Ihave become trustworthy. Thus you becomethe mirror, the Parvati darpan, that reflectswho I am. You help me discover myself. Youbecome my Saraswati. You reveal the truemeaning of darshan. In joy, I dance, I becomeNataraj.”

In Kolkata, set in an old mansion,Bhattacharya’s Kali drawings will bringtogether the incantation of an incandescentspirit that surges and speaks to those who arewilling to believe amongst the crowds.Perhaps in more ways than one, the words ofan old hymn will swing into the air. “OMother, even a dullard becomes a poet whomeditates upon thee raimented with space,three-eyed, creatrix of the three worlds,whose waist is beautiful with a girdle madeof numbers of dead men’s arms…” (from aKarpuradistotra hymn, translated from Sanskrit by Sir John Woodroffe.)

After many years, one saw aseries of prints at the VisualArts Gallery exhibition

Multiple Encounters by mentorand printmaker Sushanta Guhathat made you stop in your tracksand gaze for moments into eterni-ty. Human figures — fantasy andinventiveness — all rolled into oneas you look at the hand and thedetails and the power of expressionin these six lithographs and fouretchings that travelled throughspace and time for their intensityof depth and verve and virtuosity.

Among the greatest prints,has been Albrecht Dürer’sRhinoceros that I saw at theNational Galler y of Art inWashington DC. History statesthat Dürer was alive at the timeSpanish conquistador HernánCortés and his partners wereclaiming the New World for Spain.The exotic valuables they broughtback to King Charles V (weapons,jewellery, textiles and more) wasthe talk of Europe.

INDIAN RHINOCEROSDürer saw a selection of Meso-

American treasures on a trip toBrussels in August 1520.According to an entry in his trav-el diary, Dürer had ‘not seen any-

thing in (his) whole life thatdelighted (his) heart as much asthese, marvelously-artistic things.’

It was around this time thatPortuguese adventurers caused aneven greater sensation by trans-porting a rhinoceros to Europefrom India for their king, ManuelI. Dürer never saw the animal him-

self but cashed in on the furoreabout it — producing a woodcutimage of the rhino, based on asketch by a German merchant inLisbon. Dürer’s version came withnumerous fanciful additions,intended to fire the viewer’s imag-ination — including folds of skinthat looked like armour.

RICHNESS OF IMAGESComing back to Sushanta, he

gives us a visual stew in which detailsdissolve into a primordial puddle andhas a kind of repulsive yet resonantfascination. His squiggly line draw-ings take an ardent delight in thingsthat multiply or mutate but in inven-tive, quirky forms. Sushanta creates

yeasty transformations in drawingwith all the linear subtlety and com-plexity of Albrecht Dürer engravings.

His etchings and lithographsstrongly evoke the passionateprowess of the ‘Old Masters’ and itis this versatile quality that trans-formed the very taste and tensileofferings of this epic showcase of five

printmakers.

STUNNING LITHOGRAPHSAs a printmaker, Sushanta is a

man of a few words, “I generallywork consecutively in two differentmedia — etching and lithograph.Although I have worked in all thedisciplines in a printmaking media,lithography is my favourite medium,”says Sushanta. He adds, “I start withsketchy drawings first and then keepadding on along with my concept tillthe final drawing with completesatisfaction.”

The two media — different asthey are — share the quality ofmechanically simplifying the task ofmaking and reproducing pictures. Inlithography, artists draw directly onflat stones that also act as the print-ing plate. It’s a very supple and effi-cient method. Artists started work-ing in olden years with historicexamples. Sushanta’s works stood outbecause they gave a sense of beingmodern throughout.

STRENGTH OF IMAGERYThere’s a touch of familiar time

in Sushanta’s human figures. Eventhough the subject of the human fig-ure is classical, the images he createshover on the surface like a modern-day TV picture soaring through dif-

ferential speeds. While he alludes tothe idea of characters that swimthrough time and testimony, he alsohints at the invention of the idea ofartistic modernism through his tech-nique and his tenor.

What defines a good lithograph?Firstly and foremost, it is a questionof quality and how strong, clear andrich the image appears. Printingquality, however, is a matter ofjudgement and experience, andtherefore subjective. In manyinstances there is hard evidenceconcerning chronology of the print-ing, as prints often existed in differ-ent states. But it is the clarity ofimages that defines the quality. Thesuccess of Sushanta’s prints lie in thequality of resultant details and impacton the viewer’s senses telling us abouttruths of printmaking.

So much of beauty and of whatpropels our pursuit of truth in artis-tic domains, stems from the invisi-ble connections — between ideas,disciplines, denizens of a particulartime and place, the interior world ofeach pioneer and the mark they leaveon the cave walls of cultures.Sushanta’s human figures are likebeings flitting from one phase of noc-turne to another, causing through thetorchlight of a revolution that lightsthe new day.

With a few colourfulstrokes of paintbrush,a housing society’s wall

was turned into something thatits residents could positivelyidentify with. The vibrant spir-its of communities that hadlong been overlooked were nowvisible to the public and impos-sible to ignore.

Artist Dattaraj Naik haspainted one of Goa’s biggest foot-ball-themed murals that depictsthe state’s undying passion. Itdepicts their love for the sportthrough the eyes and aspirationsof a child. A multi-disciplinaryartist hailing from the epony-mous state, Naik’s mural featuresa boy sitting at a study tablewhile dreaming about playingfootball.

The mural represents acommon situation amongst theschool children in Goa who tryto keep a balance between aca-demic studies and their favouritesport, football. It brings forth thedreams and aspirations of youngchildren who want to get out onthe field but are held back dueto forced pressure of academicsand other circumstances.

Naik said he was trying tounderstand the space beforebeginning the artwork. Henoticed the schools around andspent time interacting with thestudents. “At the same time, Iwanted to somehow relate theart to football,” he disclosed. Andthus, came the idea of depictinghow many Goan youngsters tryto balance academics with theirfavourite sport. Naik stated that

he also made use of the place-ment of the building to portraythe mural in a particular way.

“If you look at the buildingfrom afar only the upper part ofthe building shows the boy at thestudy table. As you go closer tothe building, you can then seethat he is dreaming of football,with a football under his feet,”said Naik.

“I wanted to do somethinglike this in Goa since a longtime,” he added.

In communities across theglobe, individuals have beenusing street art to transform dullparts of a city into vivid repre-sentations of local identity andculture. In some cases, graffitiartists employ themselves asthe voice of the voiceless, leav-ing behind works of art filledwith important political andsocial undertones. In other soci-eties, members work together tocreate large murals that instan-taneously brighten the wholecity. Street art is used as a meansto expose community character-istics that would otherwiseremain hidden beneath the sur-face.

The mural is a collaborationbetween FC Goa and the St+artIndia Foundation.

Naik stated that in a way hecould relate to the artwork him-self. “When I was in school Iused to enjoy football. I alsoplayed for my school and collegeteam,” said the artist. Althoughhe has moved to art now, he stillmanages to make time for foot-ball.

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FFormer India pacer AmitBhandari, who is chairman ofthe DDCA senior selection

committee, was on Monday assault-ed by a group of unidentified men,led by a disgruntled Under-23 play-er, during the Delhi senior team'spractice game at the St Stephen'sground.

The senior team is gearing upfor Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy(National Twenty20 tournament),starting February 21.

Anuj Dheda, who was notselected in the state team, attackedBhandari, who sustained head andear injuries and was taken to SantParamanand Hospital at Civil Linesby his colleague Sukhvinder Singh.

The goons along with the play-er in question fled before the copscould reach the spot but was laterarrested.

"At around 1.15 pm today at StStephen ground where trials weregoing on, one person Anuj Dheda,who was not selected, came and

asked about his rejection andslapped Bhandari. Some 10-15 moreboys came and hit him," NupurPrasad, Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (north) said.

"Based on the complaint, a casehas been registered and the accusedand his brother Naresh were arrest-ed," the DCP said.

Dedha's name featured in theinitial 79-member list, released bythe DDCA in November for the U-23 trials. As per the probables list hisdate of birth is November 22, 1995.

Delhi & Districts CricketAssociation (DDCA) presidentRajat Sharma said that guilty willnot be spared.

"I have personally spoken to theDelhi Police Commissioner AmulyaPatnaik. The guilty will not gounpunished. We will register anFIR," Sharma said.

Sharma, who went to meetBhandari at the hospital said, "Heis much shaken and it is natural.The doctors have advised that heshould be kept under observationfor 24 hours as a precautionary

measure.""The goons were pressurising

him to select a player, who hadfailed to get into the U-23 team onmerit. Bhandari claimed that theone man also threatened him witha revolver. This is shameful that an

honest selector was being prevent-ed from performing his duties. Ihave been told that one person hasbeen detained for questioning,"Sharma, who is also a well-knownjournalist, informed.

Delhi's senior team manager

Shankar Saini narrated the incident."I was having my meal along

with a colleague inside the tent andBhandari along with other selectors

and senior team coach MithunManhas was watching the SyedMushtaq Ali Trophy probables playa trial game.

"A couple of men first came andwent up to Bhandari. There was aheated exchange between Bhandariand the two men. They left andbefore we could gather ourthoughts, suddenly some 15 menarmed with hockey sticks, rods andcycle chains came charging," Sainisaid.

"When the other senior teamplayers attending the trials alongwith us rushed to save Bhandari,they started threatening us and oneof them said, "Don't get into this orelse we will shoot you."

"They attacked Bhandari withhockey sticks and rods as he triedto run away and he sustained headinjury," the former Delhi seameradded.

According to an eye witness,Dedha and his accomplices chasedBhandari in front of the senior teamplayers as the former India pacerran for his life.

�� 57��

Rest of India captain AjinkyaRahane will be hoping to

keep himself in the mix forWorld Cup selection as heleads a formidable Rest ofIndia against Ranji Trophychampions Vidarbha in theIrani Cup starting Tuesday.

For Vidarbha, the aim willbe to do an encore of the 2017-18 season where they wonboth Ranji Trophy and IraniCup.

However it will be easiersaid than done against a Restof India batting line-up thatboasts of currentTest vice-captainRahane, openerMayank Agarwal,the dashing Shreyas Iyer andthe dogged Hanuma Vihari inits ranks.

Rahane, who played threeList A matches against

England Lions with two half-centuries to his credit, is fight-ing for the reserve opener's

slot.For Agarwal,

Iyer and Vihari, itwill be good game

time as they would have littlemotivation considering theyare not in the scheme of thingsas far as World Cup is con-cerned.

For Vidarbha, this Ranjiseason has been more of teamwork than individual bril-liance. And their coachChandrakant Pandit wouldbe keen that his boys carry onthis trend in the Irani Cup eventhough senior pacer UmeshYadav will be missing due to aniggle.

Umesh has been advisedrest and is expected to be

replaced by Yash Thakur.However all the other

prominent names including41-year-old Wasim Jaffer, left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate,wicket-keeper batsmanAkshay Wadkar and seamerRajneesh Gurbani will comeout all guns blazing.

They will have their taskcut out against Rest line-upwhich is more batting heavywith another talented domes-tic performer AnmolpreetSingh and India A regularIshan Kishan to complementthe senior internationals.

The bowling is slightly onthe weaker side with AnkitRajpoot of UP, Rajasthan'sTanveer ul Haq and Kerala'sSandeep Warrier being thenew ball bowlers. The spindepartment will be led bySaurashtra's DharmendraJadeja and off-spinnerKrishnappa Gowtham.

�� 5�!��0�

India's badminton queens SainaNehwal and PV Sindhu will reignite

their on-field rivalry at home turf for thecoveted women's singles title at the 83rdedition of the Senior NationalBadminton Championships whichbegins with the qualifiers on Tuesday.

Sindhu and Saina will undoubtedlybe the biggest attraction with some bignames including last edition's finalists,Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy giv-ing the tournament a miss due to fitnessissues.

The duo, finalists at the last edition,have been India's biggest achievers overthe years, including last season.

Saina had the last laugh in the lastedition of the tournament against Sindhuand she went on to get the better off hercompatriot at Gold Coast final as wellfor her second CWG Gold.

Another summit clash is likely onthe cards for the celebrated shuttlers andthey would look to outdo each otherahead of the All England championshipearly next month.

Defending champion Saina, whomade a good start to the new BWF sea-son with a title triumph at the IndonesiaMasters, will look to conquer theNationals for the fourth time, whileSindhu too would hope to lift the tro-phy for a third time.

According to the tournament rules,the top 8 players, ranked below 50 in theBWF World Rankings as on January 18in both men's and women's singles, willstart directly from the pre-quarter-

finals on completion of the Super Drawon February 14.

If any slot is left vacant then playerswith top BAI Rankings' will be consid-ered to fill up rest of the top 8, who willget a direct entry into the pre-quarters.

In women singles, besides Sindhuand Saina, Shriyanshi Pardeshi, AshmitaChaliha, Kanika Kanwal, ArunaPrabhudesai, Sai Uttejitha Rao Ch andAakarshi Kashyap will get direct entriesinto the pre-quarters.

In men's singles, Sameer Verma, BSai Praneeth and Parupalli Kashyap willbe joined by SaarLorLux Open winnerSubhankar Dey, Ansal Yadav, ChiragSen, Bodhit Joshi and Kartik Jindal in thepre-quarterfinals.

The youngsters will benefit due tothe withdrawal of Prannoy and Srikanth.In their absence, a fit-again Sameer, for-mer champions Sai Praneeth andKashyap will be the top stars in men'ssingles.

The top three seeds in men's singlesare 2015 champion Sameer, 2014 win-ner Sai Praneeth and 2012 winnerKashyap.

�� #��

Talented wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav hasmoved up a notch to grab a career-best second

position in the latest ICC T20 International rank-ings, where India maintained its second positionbehind Pakistan despite dropping two rankingpoints.

Kuldeep scalped two for 26 in the finalT20I against New Zealand, which his side lostby four runs to go 2-1 down in the series.

The 24-year-old accounted for well-setopeners Tim Seifert and Colin Munro in theonly match he played during the series andreaped immediate dividends. He is now sec-ond only to Rashid Khan in the table.

There is no other Indian bowler in thetop-10. Kuldeep's spin bowling partnerYuzvendra Chahal after an indifferentseries, dropped six places to be 17thwhile Bhuvneshwar Kumar main-tained his 18th rank.

In the batsmen's list, Rohit Sharma swappedthree places with KL Rahul,who didn't feature in the

recently-concluded series.The batting chart is

headed by talented Pakistanibatsman Babar Azam.

Rohit is seventh as per lat-est rankings while Rahul has

slipped to 10th place. Rohit's open-ing partner Dhawan has gained a place tobe 11th. Left-arm spinner Krunal Pandyawas another spinner to move up as headvanced 39 places to a career-best58th.

For New Zealand, Kane Williamson(up one place to 12th), Ross Taylor (upseven places to 51st) and Tim Seifert (up87 places to a career-best 83rd) amongbatsmen and Tim Southee (up sevenplaces to 30th) among bowlers aresome notable gainers.

�� &6��6��

Liverpool's transformation this season into PremierLeague title contenders reflects how much they have

improved, says midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum.The 28-year-old Dutch international, who scored a

superb goal in Saturday's 3-0 victory over Bournemouthdespite suffering from a stomach upset, admitted two suc-cessive draws had been a set-back as the club chases a firstleague title since 1990.

But he added that gar-nering 65 points at this stageof the season exceeded theirexpectations when the cam-paign got underway.

"We had two draws in arow and that didn't feel thatgood," said Wijnaldum.

"But if we had been toldthat at the beginning (of theseason) you will have thiskind of points (65) everyonewould have taken it.

"It could be better butwe must appreciate where we stand.

"You can see the improvement. You could see at thebeginning of the season we improved. We just have to keepit going."

Liverpool is not involved in next weekend's FA Cup,meaning they return to action in the Champions League athome to Bayern Munich on February 19.

Wijnaldum, who cost Liverpool 28 million when hesigned from Newcastle in 2016, is optimistic they can copewith competing on two fronts.

"We have to see how it is going to work. I think we canplay both," he said.

"You never know but a lot of times it goes well. Last sea-son the Champions League went well and we dropped a lotof points in the league.

�� 2��;0��

Cesar Azpilicueta has apologised toChelsea fans after their humiliat-

ing 6-0 defeat by Manchester City,describing it as one of the lowestpoints in his professional career.

Maurizio Sarri's team crashed totheir heaviest loss since 1991 as thePremier League champions ran riot atthe Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

The heavy defeat saw Chelsea slipbelow Arsenal to sixth in the table ongoals scored and raised further ques-tions over the future of Sarri.

"It's difficult to find the words todescribe my feeling after the game,"defender Azpilicueta, who was given atorrid time by two-goal City wingerRaheem Sterling, told the club's web-site.

"It is one of the worst nights in mycareer. It's very frustrating, it's very dis-appointing.

"When you lose 6-0 everyone hasto accept they didn't play well. The onlything I can say to the fans is 'sorry',because it's not acceptable, and I feelsorry for all of them."

It was Chelsea's third defeat in fourPremier League games, coming after a2-0 loss at Arsenal and a 4-0 thrashingby Bournemouth. The only relief dur-ing that period was a 5-0 victory overbottom side Huddersfield.

Sterling struck early at the Etihadbefore Sergio Aguero hit a quickfiredouble and Ilkay Gundogan made it 4-0 just after the midway point of the first

half.Argentine striker Aguero complet-

ed his hat-trick with a second-halfpenalty before Sterling scored again lateto complete the rout.

It could even have been worse forChelsea as Aguero missed a goodearly chance and also hit the bar.

Azpilicueta, who conceded thepenalty for Aguero's third goal, said:"We have lost big games in the firstminutes and we are conceding a lot ofgoals. We cannot accept that.

"We knew we had one of the bestteams in front of us and we knew itwould be tough."

"When we won against them atStamford Bridge it was because weplayed a very good game all together.This time it was not the case. To losein this way is very disappointing,"added the 29-year-old Spanish interna-tional.

�� 5�6;]�;&�0

Mark Wood answered West Indianpace with fearsome heat of his

own as the fast bowler claimed his firstfive-wicket innings haul in Tests and putEngland in control on the second dayof the third and final Test in St Luciaon Sunday.

Playing his first match of the series,Wood tore through the heart of thehome side's batting to finish with fivefor 41 as the West Indies, replying toEngland's first innings total of 277,crashed from 57 without loss in mid-afternoon to 154 all out an hour beforethe close of play.

A day which saw 16 wickets tum-ble ended with the tourists' opening pairof Rory Burns and Keaton Jenningssafely navigating ten overs to be 19without loss at stumps, an overall leadof 142 runs going into day three as theyseek the consolation of victory follow-ing heavy defeats in the first twomatches of the series.

Wood's raw speed unsettled theWest Indies middle-order batsmenafter Moeen Ali ended another half-century opening partnership byaccounting for stand-in captain KraiggBrathwaite and partner John Campbelloff consecutive deliveries.

Ali supported Wood's hostility atthe other end with subtle variations tofinish with figures of four for 36.

However it was the introduction ofWood, who came on as the fourth

bowler in the England armoury, whichhad the greatest impact on an eventfulday.

He dismissed Shai Hope andRoston Chase off successive deliveries,both taken at gully, in his opening overand added the scalp of ShimronHetmyer, caught at the second attemptby England captain Joe Root at first slip,off the final delivery of the afternoonsession.

Darren Bravo perished shortlyafter the resumption to another Rootslip catch and the delighted fast bowlerreturned after some resistance fromShane Dowrich (38) to polish off theinnings and complete the five-wickethaul when he yorked last man Shannon

Gabriel.At the start of the day, England's

batsmen collapsed to the West Indianfast bowlers yet again, this time oper-ating effectively with the second newball, as the visitors lost six wickets for45 runs to be dismissed just beforelunch.

Wicketless on the first day when anunbroken fifth-wicket partnership of124 between Jos Buttler and Ben Stokeslifted the tourists to 231 for four,Kemar Roach stole the spotlight inscything through the middle and lowerorder to finish with figures of four for48. He now has 17 wickets in series.

It was Gabriel though who madethe first strike of the morning bybowling Jos Buttler on his overnightscore of 67 with just one run added tothe total.

That was the trigger for the slideand a reinvigorated Roach quickly gotinvolved by dismissing Stokes for theinnings topscore of 79 when theattacking left-hander miscued anattempted pull and wicketkeeperDowrich sprinted 30 metres to back-ward square-leg in clinging on to asuperb diving catch.

Jonny Bairstow laboured for 33deliveries in managing just two runsbefore Roach breached the right-han-der's defence while last man JamesAnderson proved easy prey for therampant bowler, fending his seconddelivery into the waiting hands ofKeemo Paul at third slip.

�� &6��6�

Hugo Lloris has warned thatTottenham must improve if

they are to have any chanceagainst Borussia Dortmund inthe Champions League onWednesday after a patchy displayagainst Leicester.

The 31-year-old Frenchgoalkeeper — who captained hiscountry to World Cup glory lastyear — kept out Jamie Vardy'ssecond-half penalty and made anumber of other important savesas Spurs won 3-1 at Wembley toremain on the fringes of thePremier League title race.

Although the scoreline sug-gests an easy win for MauricioPochettino's men, who are inthird place in the PremierLeague, five points behindManchester City and Liverpool,Leicester looked dangerous andhad 20 shots at goal.

"Leicester played in a fantas-tic way and I think we won thegame thanks to our spirit and

character," said Spurs captainLloris ahead of the first leg oftheir last-16 Champions Leaguetie on Wednesday.

"Without that, we could notwin this game. I think we needto improve the team perfor-mance. We won but against abigger side we couldn't have wonthat type of game. It's up to us."

Spurs beat Borussia

Dortmund twice in last season'sgroup stage but the Germanleague leaders are a differentproposition this campaign fivepoints ahead of Bayern Munichat the top of the table.

"They play fantastic football,"Lloris said. "They have so manyfantastic players and I'm not sur-prised they're top of the leaguein Germany.

�� +��2��

Pakistan has no other waythan raising the standard of

its game if it has to force super-power India to resume bilater-al cricketing ties, feels the newPCB dispensation.

India and Pakistan havenot played a full bilateral seriessince 2007 owing to tense rela-tions between the neighbouringcountries. Pakistan CricketBoard (PCB) has shown eager-ness to resume cricketing rela-tions but the BCCI has main-tained that the Indian govern-ment calls the shots in the case.

"I think when (Pakistanbecome a top team) that hap-pens, it can create a situationwhere India asks us to play abilateral series," new PCB MDWasim Khan said in a mediainteraction in Lahore.

In the absence of bilateralseries, both teams have only metin ICC and Asian CricketCouncil multilateral events,most recently in the Asia Cupheld in the UAE last September.

In 2012, Pakistan did go toIndia for a short tour but it didnot play Tests.

Ehsan Mani, who tookcharge as PCB Chairman lastAugust, has already said thatPakistan would not beg India toplay.

Mani supported WasimKhan's contention, saying thatif the PCB can take the country'scricket to a level where it isamong the top three teams inthe world, than India will comeon their own to "play with us".

"It's sad that we are not play-ing against them but life contin-ues. We need to move forwardand carry on. We can't wait for-ever to play India. Our focus isto develop Pakistan cricket andget our team and players a lot ofsuccess at the internationallevel," Khan said after takingcharge last week.

He also conceded that hedidn't see any immediatechances of revival of Indo-Pakties but things could changeafter the general elections inIndia.

Mani added that Pakistanhad not given up hope of bilat-eral ties being revived andwould keep on trying to get theBCCI to the table and movethings.

"But we are not going to seesolutions anytime soon. We willhave to wait and see how thingsgo after their elections. So nopoint of engaging them now."

Both Mani and Khan feltthat Pakistan's failed attempt toget BCCI to compensate it fornot honouring an MoU with theICC's Disputes ResolutionCommittee had not soured rela-tions.

The Chairman disclosedthat the Board's total expenseson the compensation case,which it lost to BCCI, wereabout two million dollarsincluding legal fees of thelawyers.

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Paris Saint-Germain fans were nodoubt brimming with confidenceabout facing Manchester United

when the Champions League draw wasmade nearly two months ago.

Neymar, Edinson Cavani and KylianMbappe were scoring with ease, MarcoVerratti was pulling the strings in mid-field, and the club had secured impres-sive back-to-back wins against Liverpooland Red Star Belgrade to qualify for thelast 16 at Napoli's expense.

United was struggling under then-coach Jose Mourinho, and creativeplayers like Paul Pogba were not suitedto his gritty and tactically stiflingapproach.

Now the tables have been turned,and injury-hit PSG's trip to Old Trafford

has taken on a daunting dimension.United is unbeaten since Ole GunnarSolskjaer took charge and Pogba, sounhappy under Mourinho, can't stopsmiling. Or scoring.

Pogba got one of France's goals inthe World Cup final win against Croatialast year, and always had an eye for goalwhen playing for Juventus.

Even more so now. He netted twicein Saturday's 3-0 win at Fulham and has11 league goals so far.

CONTRASTING FORTUNESWhile Saturday afternoon was good

for United, Saturday evening proved tobe awful for PSG.

In a matter of hours, the complex-ion of Tuesday's game changed even fur-ther. Already missing Neymar becauseof a right foot injury, the French cham-

pion lost two more players.Cavani, PSG's all-time leading scor-

er, damaged a tendon in his right hip inthe 1-0 win against Bordeaux, andgoal-scoring right-back ThomasMeunier sustained a mild concussion.These injuries follow on from midfield-er Marco Verratti's sprained ankle threeweeks ago.

Facing a pumped-up and revitalizedUnited lineup at Old Trafford wouldhave been difficult enough with every-one fit, but PSG coach Thomas Tuchelhas problems in every position exceptgoalkeeper. There, at least, he has thereassuring presence of Italy greatGianluigi Buffon.

But Tuchel is missing two of his bestthree forwards, and he isn't even sure ifVerratti will be ready for a game of suchintensity having played only 58 minutes

against Bordeaux on his return frominjury.

QUESTIONABLE CHOICESCircumstances and

choices, not justinjuries, have made foran increasingly diffi-cult situation at PSG.

The problems inmidfield, for example,

could have been resolved farearlier by bringing Adrien Rabiot back intothe side.

But Tuchel has been told that Rabiot— who is in a disagreement with sport-ing director Antero Henrique — is not tobe selected because of a contract wranglethat has dragged on .

With Neymar and Cavani out itmeans that Mbappe, the French league's17-goal top scorer, is certain to start at cen-ter forward.

While United's shaky defense will fearfacing another of France's World Cup stars,they may be less worried about his strikepartner. If Tuchel goes with a 4-4-2 for-mation that is likely going to include theineffective Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting.

Tuchel could be tempted to innovateby using Julian Draxler in a 4-5-1, with theGermany winger effectively operating asa playmaker behind Mbappe. But Draxler'sversatility suits Tuchel elsewhere and hecould be chosen in central midfield,

especially if Verratti does not start.

COPING IN DEFENSEUnited's attack is brimming withconfidence.

PSG's defense must cope withspeed, skill and power when facinginternationals Marcus Rashford,Anthony Martial and RomeluLukaku.

Stopping the midfield supplyline to them, or to Chile star Alexis

Sanchez if he is selected, is vital. Tuchel,therefore, needs strong holding midfield-ers against Pogba, Ander Herrera andNemanja Matic — an impressive trioblending strength, tenacity and tech-nique.

It might mean moving defenderMarquinhos into the center of midfield,alongside Verratti, Draxler or the recent-ly-signed Leandro Paredes.

Yet picking Marquinhos woulddeprive PSG of its best and most consis-tent center half. Tuchel may have nochoice, especially considering Paredeshas played only three games for the club— two as substitute — since joining fromZenit St Petersburg.

It's all potentially confusing for Tuchel.But while Tuchel has mitigating cir-

cumstances, he was hired to reach at leastthe semifinals of the competition, afterUnai Emery and Laurent Blanc were firedfor their perceived failures in Europe.

�� #�&#�6�

Lionel Messi was shortof fitness and

Barcelona lacked spark asa goalless draw away toAthletic Bilbao on Sunday offeredfresh hope to their rivals in thetitle race.

A thigh injury had limitedMessi to 27 minutes againstReal Madrid on Wednesdayand while he played the full match atSan Mames, Barca's assistant coach JonAspiazu had admitted before kick-offhe was not yet 100 per cent.

In all likelihood, he stayed onbecause his team needed him butMessi was not at his best and neitherwere Barcelona, who would evenhave lost had it not been for MarcAndre ter Stegen's stunning late saveto deny Inaki Williams.

The draw makes it three games with-out a win for La Liga's leaders, whoseadvantage is still six points but now withReal Madrid their closest challengers, afterthey beat Atletico on Saturday.

That was Real's fifth league victory on

the bounce and just as they havegained momentum, Barca appearsto be losing theirs, at a crucial junc-ture, with more stern tests tocome.

After Real Valladolid athome next weekend,Ernesto Valverde's sidetravel to Lyon in theChampions League andSevilla in the league.They then face two

Clasicos in four days,one in the Copa del Rey, andboth at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Injuries have not helped.Messi was picked but notfully recovered whileOusmane Dembele was fitenough only for the bench,

having shaken off an ankleinjury.

The struggling PhilippeCoutinho retained his placealongside Luis Suarez and Messiup front but Arturo Vidal came

in for the injured Arthur Meloand Nelson Semedo started at leftback, with Jordi Alba suspended.

�� &��

Cristiano Ronaldo headed in his 18thleague goal this season as Juventus

bounced back from last week's stalemateto soar to an 11-point lead in Serie A onSunday with a 3-0 win at Sassuolo.

Ronaldo proved decisive, scoringafter 70 minutes as Sami Khedira foundthe net first in Modena with fellowGerman Emre Can slotting in the thirdfour minutes from time.

The Serie A champions had beenheld by Parma last week despite thePortugese forward's double.

Now they have left second-placedNapoli trailing after Carlo Ancelotti'sside were held to a goalless draw atFiorentina on Saturday.

Paulo Dybala again started on thebench coming on late for the champi-ons, to help set up the third goal, withcoach Massimiliano Allegri saying heneeded to find the right balance.

"Ronaldo and Dybala can cer-tainly play together and they will do,but we need everyone to work hardin order to keep the team balanced,"said Allegri.

"It all depends on who you areplaying against. Sassuolo have a strongmidfield, so I had to balance my team

that way today."Players are disappointed,

but every now and then sitting onthe bench is necessary to rechargebatteries and rediscover the rightmental toughness."

Juventus broke through afterSassuolo goalkeeper Andrea Consiglirushed out to parry a Ronaldo shot leav-

ing the way clear for Khedira to turn inthe rebound after 23 minutes.

Consigli denied FedericoBernardeschi just before the break witha Khedira header flying wide.

But Portuguese star Ronaldojumped highest after 70 minutes to meetPjanic's corner for his fourth goal in hislast three league games to bring his tallyto 20 goals for Juventus in all competi-tions.

The 34-year-old celebrated by mim-icking Dybala's 'mask' goal celebration.Argentine Dybala came off the benchseven minutes from time along with Canand was involved in the buildup for thefinal goal with Ronaldo proving theassist.

At San Siro, AC Milan beat Cagliari3-0, with new signings Lucas Paquetaand Krzysztof Piatek both scoring.

Cagliari defender Luca Ceppitelligave the hosts their first with an unfor-tunate own goal after 12 minutes.

Brazilian Paqueta volleyed in thesecond after 22 minutes with Polish for-ward Piatek again finding the net after62 for his fourth goal in all competitions.Paqueta dedicated his first goal in Italyto the ten victims of the fire that rippedthrough buildings at Rio club Flamengo,where he started his career.

�� 7��;�

Romania reached the Fed Cupsemi-finals for the first time on

Sunday with a 3-2 win over defend-ing champions Czech Republic asIrina-Camelia Begu and MonicaNiculescu stunned Wimbledon andFrench Open winners BarboraKrejcikova and Katerina Siniakovain a marathon doubles decider.

Begu and Niculescu triumphed6-7 (2/7), 6-4, 6-4 in a thrilling rub-ber in Ostrava which lasted justseven minutes short of three hours.

Krejcikova and Siniakova, theworld's leading pair, trailed a breakearly in the final set before hittingback to 4-4. But the Romanian pairbroke straight back for 5-4 beforeBegu, ranked at 35 in doubles,served out the tie.

The result ended the 10-timechampions Czechs' hopes of makingthe Fed Cup semi-finals for an 11thsuccessive year and representedtheir first home defeat in a decade.

Earlier, Simona Halep won thebattle of the former world numberones with an epic 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 tri-umph over Karolina Pliskova, theCzechs' highest-ranked player in theabsence of world number three

Petra Kvitova."I am happy to have won against

such a tough oppo-nent," said Halep afterwinning her secondsingles of the week-end.

"It was my best and biggest winin the Fed Cup."

Siniakova, who won both hersingles rubbers in the 2018 final tri-umph over the United States, pulledthe Czechs level by seeing offMihaela Buzarnescu 6-4, 6-2.

French Open champion Halephad said that winning a first FedCup for Romania was now the toppriority on her "bucket list" havingfinally broken her Grand Slamdrought in Paris last year.

Romania will now travel toFrance in April's semi-finals whilethe other last-four clash sees Belarusup against Australia.

In Liege, Caroline Garciacrowned her comeback from a two-year Fed Cup exile by leadingFrance past Belgium and into afourth semi-final in five years.

French number one Garciabrushed aside Belgium's top playerElise Mertens 6-2, 6-3 to follow heropening day three-set win overAlison Van Uytvanck. Her win gavetwo-time champions France an

unassailable 3-0 lead in thetie before Belgium grabbeda consolation point in thedead doubles rubber.

Belarus coasted into the semi-finals when world number nineAryna Sabalenka defeated LauraSiegemund 6-1, 6-1 for an unassail-able 3-0 lead over Germany inBraunschweig.

The semi-finals take place onthe weekend of April 20-21.

�� !��&��

Reaping rewards of his consistent per-formance, Prajnesh Gunneswaran

on Monday broke into men's singles top-100 for the first time in his career with ajump of six places that took him to 97.

Prajnesh is only third Indian playerto break into the top-100 barrier in thepast decade after Somdev Devvarmanand Yuki Bhambri.

The gritty left-hander, who had a bril-liant 2018 season, reached the semifinalsof the ATP Chennai Challenger last weekto ensure his entry into the coveted brack-et.

"It's a good milestone for me. I haveworked very hard to get here hopefullyit be first of many (targets) this season. Ihave set a lot of goals and would like toget those. It's a good start to the year,could have been better but I will take this,"Prajnesh said.

If Prajnesh can maintain his rankinside top-100, it will secure him entryinto Grand Slam singles main draws.

In recent times, only Yuki managedto make the top-100 grade. The immense-ly talented Yuki has been unfortunatewith injuries that halted his progress.Every time he entered the top-100, it was

followed by a long injury break.He is now placed 156 behind

Ramkumar Ramanathan, who rose to 128with a jump of five places. At numberfour, is Saketh Myneni (255, +5) and fol-lowing him is another talent from theSouth Sasi Kumar Mukund, who jumped22 places to reach career-best 271.

In the doubles, Rohan Bopannastayed put at 37 and was followed by hispartner Divij Sharan (39, +1), LeanderPaes (75, +7), Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(77, +2) and Purav Raja (100, +3).

In the WTA charts, Ankita Rainacontinues to be country's top singles play-er at number 165 after climbing threeplaces in the ladder and was followed byKarman Kaur Thandi, who dropped aplace to 211.

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Pacer Pat Cummins andwomen's wicket-keeper

Alyssa Healy claimed the majorhonours at the 2019 AustralianCricket Awards announced onMonday.

Healy received the BelindaClark Award, as well as the ODIand T20I Player of the Yearawards while Cummins was therecipient of the much-covetedAllan Border Medal.

The Australian wicket-keeper was the standout candi-date after a sensational yearacross formats.

In March, she hit her firstODI hundred, but it was inNovember's ICC Women'sWorld T20 that she truly cameto the fore.

Healy was pivotal inAustralia's successful campaign,hitting 225 runs at an averageof 56.25 to be crowned thePlayer of the Tournament.

Cummins was the recipientof the Allan Border Medal, theaward which recognizes

achievements across all threeformats. Much of Cummins'excellence came in the Testarena, with the fast bowler col-lecting 36 wickets in 8 match-es across the voting periodfrom January 9, 2018 to January7, 2019.

Most recently, Cumminswas in superb form forAustralia in their 2-0 Test serieswin over Sri Lanka, the first Testat the Gabba seeing him collectmatch figures of 10/62. Theseries also saw Cumminsnamed one of Australia's vice-captains.

For his sterling perfor-mances with the red-ball,Nathan Lyon was crowned theTest Player of the Year, return-ing 49 wickets across the vot-ing period.

Marcus Stoinis was recog-nised as Australia's men's ODIPlayer of the Year having estab-lished himself as a regularmember of the 50-over side,while Glenn Maxwell was giventhe T20 Player of the Yearaward for the second time.

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