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Claiming that “most politicalparties supported” the

“One Nation, One Election”proposal, the Government onWednesday said PrimeMinister Narendra Modi willconstitute a committee for giv-ing “time-bound” suggestionson the issue.

“We had invited 40 politi-cal parties, out of which pres-idents of 21 parties participat-ed and 3 other parties sent theiropinion on the subjects inwriting. Most parties gave theirsupport to One Nation, OneElection,” Defence MinisterRajnath Singh told mediaper-sons after the meeting.

Interestingly, Rajnath said,“The CPI(M) and the CPI hada difference of opinion butthey didn’t oppose the idea, justthe implementation of it.”

However, CPI(M) generalsecretary Sitaram Yechury reit-erated his party’s categoricalopposition to the move termingit fundamentally anti-federaland anti-democratic and thusagainst the Constitution. Hedubbed the Government’smove as “not practical” and an“artificial move” that wouldtamper with the constitution-al scheme of accountability ofthe Government to the legisla-ture. Yechury and CPI’s D Raja,however, attended the meetingconvened to push for Modi’spet proposal.

The Congress, the TMC,the BSP, the SP, the DMK andthe TDP were among the par-

ties from the Opposition campwho gave the meeting a miss,but National Conference’sFarooq Abdullah, PDP leaderMehbooba Mufti and NCPchief Sharad Pawar attended it.The AAP deputed RaghavChadha for the meeting even asit demanded a vision documenton the matter.

The Shiv Sena skipped themeeting owing to its founda-tion day celebrations but BJP’sother allies JD(U) and theSAD were represented byNitish Kumar and SukhbirSingh Badal respectively.Odisha Chief Minister and

BJD leader Naveen Patnaikand NPP leader ConardSangma too attended the meet-ing. The TRS was representedby its working president KTRama Rao. BJP’s new workingpresident JP Nadda represent-ed the party in the meeting.

BSP chief Mayawati tweet-ed saying she would haveattended the meeting if it wason electronic voting machines(EVMs). “One Nation, OneElection” is not an issue beforethe country, she said, adding“elections through ballot papersare actually the national issueand our party will continue its

struggle for it.”SP leader Akhilesh Yadav

said several parties would notagree to the PM’s proposal.“They should focus on thepromises they have made topeople, we hope they will workmore on fulfilling thosepromises,” Akhilesh tweeted.The SP is not opposed to theidea though.

The TMC has demanded awhite paper on the issue andcautioned against rushing tothe subject without giving ade-quate thought to it.

The PM later tweeted,“Had a great meeting with

presidents of various politicalparties. Multiple issues ofnational importance were dis-cussed. I thank the variousleaders for their informed sug-gestions.”

Modi had invited the headsof all political parties whichhave at least one member eitherin the Lok Sabha or the RajyaSabha for the meeting to dis-cuss several issues, includingthe “One Nation, One Election”idea, celebration of 75 years ofIndependence in 2022 and the 150th birthanniversary of MahatmaGandhi this year.

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The Economic AdvisoryCouncil to the Prime

Minister (EAC-PM) onWednesday rejected the claimsof former Chief EconomicAdviser Arvind Subramanianregarding over-estimation ofGDP growth after 2011, sayinghis analysis ignores data on ser-vices and agriculture and showsblind trust in private firmCentre for Monitoring IndianEconomy (CMIE).

In a paper released byEAC-PM, India’s GDP estima-tion methodology stands atpar with its global standing asa major and responsible econ-omy. Primary contributors ofthe paper are economists BibekDebroy, Rathin Roy, SurjitBhalla, Charan Singh, ArvindVirmani.

Last week, the advisorybody had said it would issue apoint-to-point rebuttal of theSubramanian’s research paper.

In a research paper,Subramanian, who steppeddown last year, said India’s

economic growth rate has beenoverestimated by around 2.5percentage points between2011-12 and 2016-17 due to achange in methodology forcalculating GDP.

Subramanian’s paper titled“India’s GDP Mis-estimation:Likelihood, Magnitudes,Mechanisms, and Implications”,published at HarvardUniversity, also comes at atime when concerns have beenraised in various quarters aboutthe official economic growthnumbers.

Subramanian was the CEAin the Finance Ministry fornearly four years from October2014.

Observing that ChiefEconomic Adviser (CEA)Subramanian seems to havemade a “hurried attempt todraw conclusions” about India’s

complex economy and its evo-lution, the paper said he hasused 17 high frequency indi-cators, but ignores the representation of “servicessector (60 per cent in GDP)and agriculture sector” (18 per cent of GDP) in theanalysis.

The paper notes thatSubramanian used 17 indica-tors to express his skepticismabout the growth rates after2011-12. Majority of the 17indicators have been takendirectly from the CMIE, a pri-vate agency that is not a pri-mary source of information butcollects it from differentsources, it said.

“For anyone who reads DrSubramanian’s paper, it is evi-dent that he trusts CMIE butdistrusts CSO (CentralStatistics Office)... This blindtrust in a private agency(CMIE) and blind distrust in aGovernment institution thathas served India (CSO) appearsunwarranted for a neutral aca-demic,” it said.

The paper further said theformer CEA has overlookedthe tax data.

The EAC-PM paper saidSubramanian chooses to over-look tax data arguing that “wedo not use tax indicatorsbecause of the major changes indirect and indirect taxes in thepost-2011 period which renderthe tax-to-GDP relationshipdifferent and unstable, andhence make the indicatorsunreliable proxies for GDPgrowth”.

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NDA nominee Om Birlawas on Wednesday elect-

ed Speaker of the Lok Sabha.Prime Minister Narendra Modiand the Opposition assuredhim of their wholehearted sup-port in the smooth conduct ofproceedings in the House and he himself resolvedto be even-handed in his treat-ment to all the parties irre-spective of their numericalstrength.

Elected unanimously, Birlareceived fulsome praise fromthe Prime Minister who men-tioned his social work in Kota,humanitarian initiatives in2011 Gujarat earthquake and2013 floods in Uttarakhand.Modi expressed confidencethat the new Speaker with hisgentle smile would conduct theHouse in a just manner and betough even with the TreasuryBenches.

Birla was declared electedby pro-tem Speaker VirendraKumar.

The two-time MP fromRajasthan’s Kota-Bundi LokSabha constituency, Birla, asurprise pick by the PM, wasled to the presiding officer’schair by Modi.

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US President Donald Trumpformally launched his 2020

re-election campaign with ajam-packed rally in Florida onTuesday, urging his supportersto “keep this team in place” forfour more years as he vowed to“Keep America Great”.

The 73-year-old real estateinvestor-turned-politician, whobecame the 45th President ofthe United States of America in2017, told a crowd of 20,000people in Orlando that theeconomy of the US under himhas become “the envy of theworld”.

Trump said his victorythree years ago was a “definingmoment in American history”and vowed to maintain his“America First” policy as hetouched the hallmarks of his2016 campaign, hard-lineimmigration policies anddefence spending.

He said that the countryhas made significant progressduring his presidency and allthat is at risk if he were to be

defeated in the presidentialelections next year.

Unveiling a theme of “KeepAmerica Great”, Trump in aspeech that lasted 79 minutesexuded confidence of winningthe general elections. In his2016 election campaign, hehad popularised the slogan“make america great again”.

Addressing his supporterswho filled the Orlando’sAmway Center, brimming withenthusiasm for the President,Trump said, “We’re going tokeep on going. We’re going tokeep on fighting and we’regoing to keep on winning,winning, winning”.

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Indian batsman ShikharDhawan was on Wednesday

ruled out of the ongoing WorldCup matches and was replacedby young wicketkeeper-bats-man Rishabh Pant, after failingto make enough recovery in afresh assessment of his thumbfracture.

Dhawan, 33, picked up theinjury on his left thumb duringthe June 9 clash againstAustralia and was initially ruledout of three games — againstPakistan (June 16), Afghanistan(June 22) and the West Indies(June 27).

“Shikhar Dhawan has frac-tured the base of themetacarpal (bone) of his lefthand. His hand will remain incast till mid July which ruleshim out of the ICC 2019 WorldCup,” team’s administrativemanager Sunil Subramaniumtold mediapersons.

Rishabh Pant Pant comesin with an accumulated ODIexperience of five matches butis considered a trump cardowing to his fearless cricketingapproach.

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Ozone pollution has esca-lated in Delhi’s air as per

the findings of Centre forScience and Environment(CSE).

Ozone, the deadly gas, hasemerged as a dominant pollu-tant along with the ParticulateMatter (PM) on at least 28 daysduring the summer this year ascompared to only 17 days in 2018 summer, which ismuch higher than the stan-dards.

Significantly, levels ofozone gas have been measuredon a higher side in NationalCapital Region (NCR).

The analysis has foundthat among all NCR towns,Faridabad is on top with 80 percent of days when ozone wasexceeding the standards, fol-lowed by Ghaziabad with 67per cent and Gurugram with 21per cent days.

Interestingly, Noida showsmuch less impact with only 1per cent of the days exceedingthe standards.

Revealing the researchfindings, CSE in its reporthighlighted the places whereozone was measured high.

Marking areas like Siri Fort,Najafgarh, and some areas ofNCR — Faridabad, Ghaziabad.CSE mentioned that levels ofozone in these areas havecrossed the permissible limit tovery high. “The NCR regionexperienced the biggest spikes,”said CSE.

Ozone is not directly emit-ted from any source, but isformed from reaction betweengases in the air under theinfluence of sunlight and hightemperature. “Controllingemissions from vehicles andindustry is the solution,” said

CSE. The analysis concluded

this summer, when the Capitalwitnessed searing tempera-tures; average ozone levelsexceeded the prescribed stan-dard on 16 per cent of the daysoverall.

CSE Executive director(research and advocacy)Anumita Roychowdhury saidthis is a matter of serious con-cern as ozone is a highly reac-tive gas and can have immedi-ate adverse effect on those suf-fering from asthma and respi-ratory conditions.

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Shoo them or scare them butthere’s no escaping from the

creepy crawly lizards. If attimes you wonder how despiteyour best efforts lizards man-age to enter into your well-for-tified house then you mustknow that these reptiles aresmart enough to adapt to newand ever-changing urban sur-roundings by learning thetricks necessary to survive.

This is what has been dis-covered by the researchers afterthey studied the “survival of thefittest” motto mechanismadopted by lizards, which areclosely related to snakes. Theyfound that lizards in the city’ssuburbs were street-smart, and

learn faster than their ruralbrethren, to stay safe.

The study has been pub-lished in the recent edition ofinternational journal BiologyLetters.

The study demonstratesfor the first time that suburbanlizards have faster learning andreversal learning skills for a keysurvival-related behaviour,finding safety in unpredictable

environments.Anuradha Batabyal and

Maria Thaker, both fromIndian Institute of Science,probed the learning abilities ofthe Indian rock agama aftercapturing a few male speciesfrom rural and suburban partsof Bengaluru and placed themin an enclosure with a perch inthe middle and two identicalrefuge spots.

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With experts holding litchiresponsible for aggravat-

ing encephalitis deaths inMuzaffarpur, the summer fruit,mainly produced in this Bihar’sdistrict, is facing the heat as itsindustry is estimated to havesuffered losses of around �80-100 crore.

Price of shahi litchi hasgone down by 50 per cent, cur-rently selling around��70 akilogram in the retail market.Several consignments of litchijuice are lying at the ports ofUS, Australia, United ArabEmirates (UAE), New Zealandand United Kingdom. In fact,people are scared of consum-ing even packed litchi juiceavailable in the market.

Industry experts believethat thankfully the epidemichas struck at the fag end of thelitchi season leading to lesserlosses for them.

And as death toll has

increased due to the AcuteEncephalitis syndrome (AES)epidemic, the BiharGovernment has advised par-ents against giving the fruit totheir children on empty stom-ach even as Odisha has orderedlitchi’s lab tests. The RajasthanGovernment on its part has

directed officials to remainalert in the State.

Experts believed that litchicontains a toxin which cancause a drop in blood sugar lev-els if consumed by a malnour-ished child, leading to death.

According to theAgriculture Ministry, 250,000-

3,00,000 metric tonne of litchiwere produced on 32,000hectare in Bihar in 2018. TheMinistry has projected 7,10,000MT production of litchi in itsfirst advance estimate, releasedlast month.

India is the second largestproducer of litchi in the worldafter China. Bacha Prasad

Singh, president of LitchiGrowers Association of Bihar,told The Pioneer that litchigrowers have witnessed near-ly 50-60 per cent decline in saleof litchi in the past one weekafter it was reported that AES has some connectionwith this sweet and juicy sum-mer fruit.

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The Supreme Court onWednesday agreed to hear

a plea seeking a direction tothe Centre to urgently consti-tute a team of medical expertsfor the treatment of the chil-dren in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur,who are suffering from sus-pected Acute Encephalitis

Syndrome (AES), which haskilled 113 children so far onWednesday.

The plea also sought adirection to the UnionGovernment for providing allnecessary medical equipmentand other supports for theeffective treatment of the chil-dren suffering from the epi-demic disease.

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Aiming to move swiftly anddeliver the knockout punch,

the Indian Army plans to set upIntegrated Battle Groups byOctober this year on the borderfacing Pakistan. These groupswould comprise the combinedmight of the long range guns,tanks and ground troops andwould move in tandem toachieve the desired militaryobjective in the shortest possi-ble time.

Once these Integrated BattleGroups are functional, the Armywould then move to have simi-lar combined units in the areasfacing China. The first four tofive such groups will come up inthe Western Command whichguards the entire Punjab regionand some adjoining parts ofJammu and Rajasthan wheretanks can move at a fast pace

given the rather flat terrain. These groups are part of the

overall move to make the Armylean and mean. Army ChiefGeneral Bipin Rawat is keen tohave these groups start func-tioning as soon as possible,sources said here on Wednesday.In fact, the top commanders metin New Delhi some days back toreview the performance of theIBGs which have already con-ducted exercises to test their effi-cacy. The results were found tobe satisfactory and easily imple-mentable, they added.

The concept of such groupsinvolve artillery, armour involv-ing tanks and infantry or groundtroops, moving together in asynchronised manner andbringing effective fire on theenemy to gain victory in theshortest possible time withoutgiving time to the adversary toregroup. It will do away with theartillery, infantry and armourworking in silos and make theIndian Army battle-ready tofight modern day warfare wherespeed is of the essence, they said.

After reviewing the perfor-mance of the proposed groups,the Army top brass gave its nodand the service will now seekfinal approval by the defenceministry before going aheadwith the setting up of these high-ly mobile groups by October,sources said. The groups willalso be aided by attack heli-copters to deny the enemy tanksand artillery to time and spaceto react, they added.

These composite units arelikely to be headed by a MajorGeneral rank officer and will beequipped to perform offensiveand defensive roles. While theoffensive action means makingquick and effective thrust intothe enemy territory stealthily, thedefence role will see these unitsguarding its own territory in caseof retaliatory action from acrossthe border. Each unit, both indefensive and offensive forma-tions will have six battalions(onebattalion has 1,000 men) trainedto fight in a synergised mannerand the recent exercises provedthem to be effective, they said.

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Muzaffarpur in Bihar mayhave been hogging head-

lines for the death of the kids dueto Acute Encephalitis Syndrome(AES), but experts point out thatthe disease has been endemic tothe entire State with all the dis-tricts reporting the cases that arefatal to kids.

Following the analysis oftotal 4,400 cases of AES report-ed between 2009 and 2014,with an average of 733 cases peryear, a team of researchers intheir study also noted that theAES cases start appearing inApril and reach a peak in Juneand then decline.

"There is another peak ofJapanese Encephalitis (JE) casesin October. The confirmed fatalrate (CFR) of AES and JE rangesfrom 5 per cent to 35 per centin Bihar," said the researchers intheir study 'Status and trend ofacute encephalitis syndromeand Japanese encephalitis inBihar, India' published inNational Medical Journal ofIndia in 2018. There were a total1309 deaths during the period.

"The disease peaks wereduring the start and end of theIndian summer and monsoon

months for AES and JE, respec-tively. Districts such as Patna,Jehanabad, Nawada, Gaya andEast Champaran reported themaximum number of AES andJE cases with annual incidencerates of 4.7-25.0 and 0.546-1.78per 100 000 population, respec-tively," said the study.

The experts have stressed onstrengthening the reporting andsurveillance mechanism in allthe districts of the state. Theyalso called for encouragingreluctant private practitioners insurveillance activities especial-ly for cases of AES. Intense infor-mation, education and com-munication (IEC) activities mustbe started at the village level toincrease participation from thecommunity and to improve thelong-term passive surveillance.

The team included PraveenKumar and PP Sarthi fromCentre for EnvironmentalSciences, Central University ofSouth Bihar, Patna, PM Pisuddefrom ESIC Medical College,Sanat Nagar, Hyderabad, MPSharma, State ProgrammeOfficer (Malaria), Chief MalariaOffice, Patna and VR Keshrifrom Bihar Technical SupportProgramme, Care India, Patna.

Acute encephalitis syn-

drome (AES) is a multifactori-al clinical condition, the mostcommon cause being Japaneseencephalitis (JE). JE is a vector-borne viral disease caused by theJE virus of group B arbovirus(Flavivirus) and is transmitted tohumans by the Culicine mos-quito.

JE affects the central ner-vous system (CNS), and can

cause serious complications anddeath. The CFR is high andthose who survive may sufferfrom neurological squeal such asconvulsions, episodic headache,autonomic disturbance, abnor-mal behaviour, mood disorder,intellectual deficit, paresis, inco-ordination of movements, jerkylimb movements, speech disor-der, cranial nerve palsy, gaze

palsy, Parkinsonian features,impaired hearing, etc.

An estimated 25 per cent ofaffected children die from thedisease, and among those whosurvive, 30 per cent-40 per centsuffer from physical and men-tal impairment. Children sufferthe highest attack rate due to lackof cumulative immunity fromnatural infections, said the study.

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Wednesday agreed tohear a plea seeking a directionto the Centre to urgently con-stitute a team of medicalexperts for the treatment of thechildren in Bihar'sMuzaffarpur, who are sufferingfrom suspected AcuteEncephalitis Syndrome (AES),which has claimed more than100 lives.

A vacation bench of jus-tices Deepak Gupta and SuryaKant agreed to hear the pleanext Monday after the peti-tioner's counsel sought an

urgent listing of the matter.The plea also sought a

direction to the Centre for pro-viding all necessary medicalequipment and other supportsfor the effective treatment ofthe children suffering from theepidemic disease.

The petition, filed byadvocate Manohar Pratap,claimed that he was deeplypained and saddened by thedeaths of more than 126 chil-dren, mostly in the age groupof one to 10 years, in the pastweek and the figures wererising day by day.

"The deaths of children area direct result of negligenceand inaction on the part of therespective state governments ofBihar, Uttar Pradesh andUnion of India in handling theepidemical situation whicharises every year due to out-break of AES also calledJapanese encephalitis," the pleasaid.

It claimed that thousandsof young children were losingtheir lives yearly from the dis-ease but the governments (stateand Centre) had done nothingto prevent its spread. PTI

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The CPI(M) on Wednesdaytold the Prime Minister-

chaired all party meet that theidea of ‘one nation, one poll’ isfundamentally anti-federal andanti-democratic and thus,against the Constitution.Terming the Government's moveas “not practical” and “artificialmove” CPI(M) general secretarySitaram Yechury said in his notedistributed in the meeting thatholding simultaneous pollswould tamper the the constitu-tional scheme of accountabilityof the Government to the legis-lature.

“Apart from the technicalissues involved in holding simul-taneous elections to Parliamentand State Assemblies, ourOpposition to this is based onthe fact that it is fundamentallyanti-federal, anti-democratic andstrikes at the roots of the parlia-mentary democratic system, asordained in the Constitution.

“Article 75(3) states that thecollective responsibility of theCouncil of Ministers is to theHouse of the People. Similarly,Article 164(1) concerning theCouncil of Ministers states thatit is collectively responsible to the

legislative Assembly of a state,"said Yechury.

He said under theConstitution, if a governmentloses the confidence of the legis-lature either by being voted outon a no-confidence motion or bylosing a vote on a Money Bill, itis bound to resign and if no alter-native government can beformed, the House is dissolvedand a mid-term election held.

There is no fixity of tenureenshrined in the Constitutioneither for the Lok Sabha or thestate legislatures, the Left leadersaid, adding that both Article83(2) and Article 172(1) speci-fy that the term of the Lok Sabhaand the Legislative Assembly willbe for five years, "unless soonerdissolved".

"Any attempt to prolong thelife of the Lok Sabha or legisla-ture will not only be unconsti-tutional, but also, anti-democ-ratic. It is the will of the peoplethrough their elected represen-tatives that must prevail," he said.

"We are, therefore, totallyopposed to any artificial attemptto bring about simultaneous elec-tions, which can only be done bytrampling upon the existing con-stitutional scheme of parliamen-tary democracy,".

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BSP supremo Mayawatiskipped the Prime Minister-

convened meeting on 'onenation, one poll' saying that con-ducting simultaneous nationaland State elections is an "unde-mocratic and unconstitutional"idea for a vast country like Indiaand that she would have attend-ed meeting had it been called toaddress the "national concern"over EVMs.

'One nation, one election' isnot an issue before the coun-try.Elections through ballotpapers are actually the nationalissue and our party will contin-ue its struggle for it," she saidadding elections in any democ-

racy can never be a problem northey should be weighed from thepoint of view of expenditureand extravagance.

She said the 'one nation,one election' is in fact an attemptand a new drama to divert theattention from burning nation-al issues such as poverty, infla-tion, unemployment and increasein violence, and is simply an illu-sion.

The BSP chief alleged thatthe people's faith in the EVMshad dwindled to a worrisomelevel. "The stubbornness of con-ducting elections through elec-tronic voting machines instead ofballot paper is the real threat tothe democracy and Constitutionof the country," she said.

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In a boost to India-Bangladeshand India-South Korea coop-

eration, the Union Informationand Broadcasting MinisterPrakash Javadekar on Wednesdayannounced that Doordarshan(DD) India will now be telecast inBangladesh and South Korea.

The development came aftera Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) was signedbetween Prasar Bharati andBangladesh TV (BTV). In return,BTV World, a channel owned byBangladesh TV, would now beavailable on DD Free Dish, thestate-owned direct-to-home(DTH) free-to-air platform.

The Minister said India hadsigned an agreement withBangladesh to telecast state-runDD India in the neighbouringcountry. A ministry statement

said BTV World would be of spe-cial interest to viewers in easternIndia.

"We have decided to showBTV World, a channel owned byBangladesh TV, on the DD FreeDish which will be available forthe viewers of Doordarshan in ourcountry. At the same time, DDIndia would be made available inBangladesh," Javadekar said.

The Union Minister furthersaid that KBS World, a 24×7English channel of the SouthKorean government, would alsobe available on DD Free Dish.

"We have entered into anagreement with South Korea also,where South Korea will show DDIndia and we will also allowSouth Korean KBS channel, it willbe available in India. This mutu-al cooperation with neighbouringcountries is very important," hesaid.

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Wednesday sought aresponse from the ElectionCommission by June 24 on aplea of the Gujarat Congress,challenging the poll panel'sdecision to hold separatebypolls to two Rajya Sabha seatsin the State.

A vacation bench of jus-tices Deepak Gupta and SuryaKant listed the matter for hear-ing on June 25, saying theissue required to be heard.

The bench said, "It is not anissue which can be taken upthrough an election petitionand therefore, requires to beheard."

Senior advocate VivekTankha, appearing for theGujarat Congress, said therewere judgments of the DelhiHigh court which were in theirfavour.

To this, the bench said, "Weare not saying anything for now.We need to decide whether itis a casual vacancy or a statu-tory vacancy. This matterrequires hearing."

The petition was filed byCongress MLA from Amreliand Leader of Opposition inthe Gujarat Assembly,Pareshbhai Dhanani.

The Rajya Sabha seats fellvacant following the election ofBJP chief Amit Shah and Union

minister Smriti Irani to the LokSabha from Gandhinagar andAmethi, respectively.

The Election Commissionclarified that the vacancies forbypolls to all Houses, includingthe Rajya Sabha, are considered"separate vacancies" and sepa-rate notifications are issuedand separate polls are held,though the schedule can be thesame.

In his plea, Dhanani hassought a direction to quash anddeclare the poll panel's order as"unconstitutional, arbitrary, ille-gal, void ab initio" and said itviolated Article 14 of theConstitution.

He submitted that the pollpanel be directed to hold simul-taneous by-elections andpolling for filling of all vacan-cies in all states, includingGujarat.

The MLA, through hislawyer, submitted that separateelections for the two RajyaSabha seats in Gujarat wouldupset the scheme of propor-tional representation as man-dated under the Representationof People Act.

In the petition, it is statedthat the basic principle, bothunder the Constitution andRepresentation of People Act1951, is that if regular vacanciesare existing at the time when

the election is held, it should beheld together so that the systemof proportional representationby means of single transferablevote can be applied to thoseelections.

The petition contendedthat if the Election Commissionis given a free hand to issue oneor more notification withrespect to vacancies in Councilof States (Rajya Sabha) and ifseparate elections are held forthe same purpose, it may resultin abuse of power in as muchas the majority party will alwaysbe able to arrange the mattersin such a way that it gets max-imum seats.

In the 182-member Housein Gujarat Assembly, the BJPhas 100 members and theOpposition-led by Congress75 members, while seven seatsare vacant.

The Congress MLA alsoalleged that the poll panel has"arbitrarily, malafidely, mali-ciously and under the diktats ofthe incumbent government"invoked its residuary powersunder Article 324 of theConstitution and arbitrarilyissued the June 15 press notedeclaring separate elections forthe Council of States, where itstated that the vacancies for by-elections to all Houses, includ-ing the Rajya Sabha, are con-

sidered as separate vacanciesand separate notifications areissued and separate poll istaken for each of the vacanciesalthough the programmeschedule for the by-electionsmay be common.

The Congress alleged thatthe action of the ElectionCommission was completelytainted with arbitrariness,malafide, partisanship and hasbeen taken in an extremelyhasty manner to pre-empt andimpede the minority party inthe state Assembly to elect amember for the Council ofStates.

It also alleged that the BJP,running the government atthe Centre, has used theElection Commission's Officefor its political propaganda.

The EC on June 15 alsocited two Delhi High Court rul-ings of 1994 and 2009 whichhad supported the system ofholding separate by-polls in thesame state under provisions ofthe Representation of thePeople Act.

The Congress haddemanded that the by-polls tothe two vacant seats in Gujaratbe held together as in case ofseparate elections, the BJPbeing the ruling party wouldhave an advantage and winboth the seats. PTI

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The Supreme Court onWednesday sought

response from theMaharashtra Government ona plea challenging an order ofthe Bombay High Court dis-missing a petition against 16per cent quota for Marathas inadmission to PG medical anddental courses.

The top court said it willhear on June 24 the plea chal-lenging Maharashtra govern-ment's decision to grantMaratha reser vation foradmissions in PG medicalcourses.

A bench of justicesDeepak Gupta and Surya Kantsaid it cannot leave the peti-tioners remedy less as eitherthe high court or the SupremeCourt has to adjudicate theissue.

The bench said the peti-tioners had earlier approachedthe apex court and were askedto move the high court for therelief.

It noted that in anothersimilar matter related to quotain admissions for economi-cally weaker section, the apex

court said that no other courtshould entertain this peti-tion.

"Either the high court orthe Supreme Court shoulddecide the issue at hand as thepetitioners cannot be left rem-edy less," the bench said.

Senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, appearingfor the petitioners, contendedthat the high court did notconsider the matter in view ofan apex court's order of June4, wherein it had restrainedany other courts from enter-taining any plea related toadmission to PG medicalcourses.

He said that Socially andEducationally BackwardClasses (SEBC) Act whichcame into force on November30, 2018, is itself under chal-lenge.

Petitioner Sameer chal-lenged the Bombay HighCourt order of June 13 bywhich it had refused to enter-tain the petition against theMaharashtra governmentordinance granting 16 percent quota to Marathas inadmission to PG medical anddental courses. PTI

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New Delhi: The Congress onWednesday described thedeaths of children in Bihar dueto Acute EncephalitisSyndrome as a "national hor-ror story" and demandedaccountability from the Centreand the state government.

Addressing a press con-ference here, party spokesper-son Gaurav Gogoi accused thetwo governments of being"insensitive" and unpreparedfor tackling such an outbreak.

"It is a national tragedy, itis a national horror story andthe perpetrators of this horrorstory are the Centre and thestate government," he said.

"We demand accountabil-ity from both the State and theCentre," he said, while attack-

ing Union Health MinisterHarsh Vardhan and his prede-cessor J P Nadda.

Gogoi said Nadda shouldconcede that promises made byhim as health minister have notbeen fulfilled.

The Congress leader alsodemanded coordinationbetween the Centre and thestate governments to deal withthe situation. "What is hap-pening today in Muzaffarpur isa national horror, the nation-al tragedy. The Congress Partyprays for the families of 146children and we cannot eitherexpress in words or feel theemotions of those parents whohave lost their children," hesaid. He said it is a sorry stateof affairs and the state govern-

ment in Bihar has been bothunprepared and insensitive.

"We can see the insensi-tivity in the remarks of the StateHealth Minister, when he isasking for cricket score in themiddle of important meeting;we can see the insensitivity inthe Chief Minister's (NitishKumar) delayed visit to theHospital and unfortunatelythis attitude has been replicat-ed by the Central governmentbecause we have seen thatover the past so many yearswhen either Harsh Vardhan Jiwas the Health Minister or J.P.Nadda Ji was the HealthMinister, they merelyannounced on paper, but, therewas no action on the ground,"he said. PTI

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Mumbai: Jawaharlal Nehru andIndira Gandhi performed yogain private and their heirs did nothonour it which is why powerhas eluded them as those whodo yoga are "directly blessed bygod", Ramdev Wednesday said.

He also expressed confi-dence that "big work" will bedone on issues such as Article370 and triple talaq under theleadership of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

Ramdev, who will beattending an International YogaDay event in Maharashtra'sNanded on June 21, which willbe attended by Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis, was talkingto reporters.

Modi is the first primeminister who performs yoga

among people, he said, addingthat all central ministers, chiefministers, MPs and MLAs of theBJP perform yoga.

"This has given 'gaurav'(prestige) to it. Isse pehle lukechhupe yog karte the IndiraGandhi ji aur Nehru ji (earlier,prime ministers Indira Gandhiand Nehru performed yogasecretly)," Ramdev said.

"But their (Nehru-Gandhifamily's) subsequent genera-tions perhaps did not honouryoga. Is liye unke raj-yog meinbhi thoda sa gadbad ho gaya(hence political power eludedthem)," the yoga guru added.

Those who perform yogaare "directly blessed by god", hesaid. "I have confidence thatunder the leadership of Modi

and Amit Shah, big work will bedone on Article 370, 35A(which give special status ofJammu and Kashmir), onenation-one-law, one-nation-one-election and triple talaq.Because those who are yogithink well of all," Ramdevadded.

Yoga is our "big legacy"and "beyond politics, caste, faithand religions", he said, addingthat everybody accepts thatyoga is "rashtra dharma (nation-al religion)".

To a question on food adul-teration, Ramdev, whosePatanjali group has a big pres-ence in packaged food seg-ment, said regulatory bodiesshould be more alert and trans-parent. PTI

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Jammu: Days before the startof Amarnath Yatra, the Army'sNorthern Command's topbrass on Wednesday reviewedsecurity arrangements toensure a safe and secure annu-al pilgrimage.

General Officer-Commanding-in-Chief, LtGen Ranbir Singh alsoreviewed the Army's opera-tional readiness at various for-ward posts in Akhnoor andReasi sectors of Jammu andKashmir, said a Defencespokesperson.

He visited the forwardposts and hinterlands bases inthe two sectors along withWhite Knight CorpsCommander, Lt Gen ParamjitSingh, the spokesperson added.

During his visit to forwardposts, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh wasalso briefed about various mea-sures initiated to monitor theintrusion and infiltration bidsfrom across the Line ofControl, he said.

The Army commandersalso visited the hinterlandbases, during which they wereapprised of the formation'spreparation for the upcomingpilgrimage to the 3,880-metrehigh holy cave shrine ofAmarnath in south KashmirHimalayas, he added.

They were briefed aboutthe measures being taken toensure safety and security ofpilgrims through "superior andaggressive domination of thearea" by the troops, he said.

The officers appreciatedthe measures put in place tothwart all possible nefariousdesigns of anti-national ele-ments, he added.

The 46-day annualAmarnath Yatra is to beginfrom July 1 on two routes —the traditional Pahalgam trackin Anantnag district and short-est Baltal track in Ganderbaldistrict. The pilgrimage willconclude on August 15 coin-ciding with Raksha Bandhanfestival.

"The Army commandersinteracted with soldiers andcomplimented them for theirunwavering dedication to duty,selfless devotion and high stan-dard of professionalism," thespokesman said. PTI

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Chennai: The Madras High Court onWednesday dismissed as withdrawn a suitmoved by Tamil Nadu Local AdministrationMinister S P Velumani, seeking to restrainDMK president M K Stalin from levelling alle-gations of corruption in corporation tendersagainst him.

When the plea came up for hearing,Velumani's counsel sought permission to with-draw the case.

Allowing the request, Justice RSubramanian dismissed the plea as with-drawn.

In earlier hearings, the court had refusedto pass any gag order against Stalin.

Velumani's main charge was that Stalin hadmade several speeches during his election cam-

paign in Coimbatore Lok Sabha constituencyfrom April 4, alleging that the minister wasinvolved in corruption relating to local bodytenders and that an accused in the Pollachi sex-ual abuse case was closely associated with him.

In his suit, Velumani wanted the court todirect Stalin to pay Rs 1 crore as damages fordefaming him and the state's ruling AIADMKthrough his speeches.

Velumani had submitted that the DMKpresident was levelling unsubstantiated andfalse charges against him.

Besides, Stalin had also claimed during theelection campaign that an accused in thePollachi sexual abuse case, 'Bar' Nagaraj, wasa close associate of the minister, which wastotally false, the suit had said. PTI

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chhattisgarh 03RAIPUR | THURSDAY | JUNE 20, 2019

A special premier show of Chhollywood movie ‘Has Jhan Pagli Fans Jabe’ was held here at a multiplex in City Centre mall in Pandri for Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel. Baghel and his cabinet colleague Mohammad Akbar are seen in the picture watching the movie.

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Bhupesh Baghel-ledCongress government is

going to launch a UniversalPublic Distribution System inthe state from October 2 tofulfill the party’s electionpromise of ‘food for all.’

Under the scheme ration

card will be issued to eachand every family includingthose Above Poverty Line(APL).

A decision in this regardwas taken at a review meet-ing of the food and civil sup-plies department held here atMahanadi Bhawan onWednesday.

Chief Minister Bhupesh

Baghel chaired the meetingpresided over by the ministerof the department,Mohammad Akbar.

The meeting also con-templated distributing jag-gery through the PDS so thatthe cooperative sugar millsrunning in the state arestrengthen.

Regarding distribution of

rice it was decided that for afamily of one member, 10 kgsof rice will be provided whilefor two members, 20 kgs andfor three to five members 35kgs of rice will be distributed.In case the members exceedfive then 7 kgs per unit willbe distributed to them.

In another importantdecision taken in the meet-ing, it was decided to renewall the old ration cards. Atime bound work plan hasbeen charted out for thepreparation of new rationcards and concerned officialsare instructed to completethe process till September 30.

It was also contemplatedthat as the rice production issurplus in the state the excesspaddy can be used for pro-duction of ethanol whichcould be used as a fuel.

STAFF REPORTER nDANTEWADA

Amedical team compris-ing doctors and para-

medics organised a healthcheck-up camp at a ruralweekly market (BudhwarBazar) at Dantewada onWednesday, a day after ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghelannounced the scheme totake the health services clos-er to people.

Ball also started rollingfor the immediate imple-mentation of anotherscheme announced by theCM on Tuesday to providenutritious food to people liv-ing in forest areas.

For implementation ofthe nutrition scheme, ameeting of sarpanchs, secre-taries of the gram panchay-ats and department officialsconcerned was held, wherenecessary guidelines in thecontext were issued.

It is noteworthy thatChhattisgarh government

has launched pilot projectsin Bastar under two newschemes- distribution ofnutritious meal and mobilemedical facilities in haat-bazaars.

Chief Minister said thatmalnutrition-level in BastarDivision is the highest in thestate. “We are committed tosolve this problem. Underthe new scheme of

Chhattisgarh government,people will be providednutritious meals everydaythrough gram panchayatsand women self-helpgroups,” Baghel said.

Initially this project willbe started in a selected pan-chayats and later within amonth, implementation ofthis scheme will be started inother districts of the state.

Universal PDS system to beimplemented from Oct 2The ruling Congress in its poll manifesto had promised ‘food for all'

Tribals weekly markets get medicalunit first time ever, courtesy Baghel

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

The Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) will hold a one-day

protest in all the district head-quarters on June 22 to highlightthe alleged failure of theCongress government in thestate.

An announcement in thisregard was made byChhattisgarh BJP state presidentVikram Usendi and Leader ofOpposition Dharamlal Kaushikwhile interacting with party’sdistrict presidents onWednesday.

After staging the sit-in-demonstration, a representationaddressed to Governor will be

handed over to respective dis-trict collector.

The district presidents werealso directed to participate in theInternational Yoga Day sched-uled on June 21.

Similarly, the martyrdom ofDr Shyama Prasad Mukherjeewill be observed on June 23. Onthe day, booth level events willbe organised. On the day, districtmembership in-charge and co-in-charge meeting will be held.

Earlier, BJP working presi-dent J. P. Nadda along withnational organisation generalsecretary Ramlal, BJP nationalmembership in-charge ShivrajSingh Chouhan held interactionwith all state level leadersthrough video-conferencingfrom New Delhi.

The discussion revolvedaround the membership drive inall the states and the future pro-grammes.

BJP to stage protest at districtheadquarters on June 22


Raipur district revenue depart-ment registered a case against

10 people for indulging in illegalplotting in over fouracres of land in villageTemri on VIP road incapital city, Raipur onWednesday.

Raipur SubDivisional OfficerRevenue SandeepAgrawal intimated thatcomplaints werereceived that underDharsiwa block, in vil-lage Temri illegal plotting wasbeing done. Based on the com-plaint, notice was issued to all theaccused involved in the plotting.

The plotters did not give satisfac-tory reply within the specifiedperiod.

On Wednesday, the revenueteam removed the illegal plot

marking and removed the roadconstruction. Agrawal furthersaid a case has been registeredagainst 10 under different provi-sions of Coloniser Act.

10 booked for illegalplotting in village Temri

STAFF REPORTER n BIJAPUR

Asenior Samajwadi Party (SP)leader was abducted and mur-

dered by Naxals inviolence-hit Bijapurdistrict under Bastarregion, police saidon Wednesday.

Santosh Punem,who was also a con-tractor, was abduct-ed by leftist mili-tants late Tuesdayevening from hisconstruction site inMarimalla villagewhere he had gone to supervisesome road- related work,

Superintendent of Police DivyangPatel told media persons.

Some local tribals spotted hisbody lying in a pool of blood at the

nearby Marimallahills on Wednesdaymorning and theninformed the police.

A team of securi-ty personnel rushedto the spot, which islocated deep inside aforest some 16 kmaway from the policestation.

Punem last yearcontested the state

assembly polls from Bijapur seat asSP candidate.

Naxals kill SPleader in Bijapur


The Special InvestigationTeam (SIT), which is

investigating the infamousAntagarh tapes case, hassummoned Janta CongressChhattisgarh (J) presidentAmit Jogi for giving voicesample to match it with theevidences presented in a pendrive to the investigatingteam.

He has been called atCyber Control Room, GanjPolice Station premises forgiving the sample on June 25.

Meanwhile, Amit in awritten statement termed thenotice served to him illegaland malicious. He has askedthe SIT to resend the notice

within a week after complet-ing the legal procedures,which according to him werenot followed.

“If it is not done so, I willhave to approach the courtfor legal action”, he said.

He also termed thenotice a ‘coercive’ action,which had been prohibitedby the High Court ofChhattisgarh. “This order ofprohibition of coerciveaction against me was given

in response to my appeal inthe court challenging the‘existence’ of the SIT to probeinto the matter”, Amit fur-ther added.

Notable, Former RaipurMayor and Congress leaderKiranmayee Nayak in theinfamous Antagarh tapesscandal had registered anFIR against former ChiefMinister Ajit Jogi, his sonand JCC (J) president AmitJogi, former PWD MinisterRajesh Munat, ex-ChiefMinister Raman Singh’s son-in-law Dr Puneet Gupta andformer Congress candidateManturam Pawar.Manturam withdrew nomi-nation in the Antagarhassembly bye-polls in 2015after allegedly taking bribe.

Amit Jogi summoned bySIT for giving voice sample


Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel on Wednesday

reshuffled in-charge min-ister of districts.

In the reallocation,ministers were not givenresponsibilities of theirhome districts. New dis-tricts were assigned tothem.

As per reallocationPanchayat and RuralDevelopment, PublicHealth and FamilyWelfare Minister TSSinghdeo has been mademinister-in-charge ofJanjgir-Champa district,Balodabazar-Bhataparadistrict and Mungeli dis-trict.

PWD, Home, Tourism

and Culture MinisterTamradhwaj Sahu hasbeen given the charge ofBilaspur and Gariabanddistricts while Agricultureand Biodiversity, WaterResource andParliamentary WorksMinister RavindraChoubey has been giventhe charge of Raipur andRaigarh districts.

Similarly, SchoolEducation, Tribal andScheduled CasteDevelopment Minister Dr.Premsai Singh Tekam hasbeen assigned the chargeof Bastar, Korba and Baloddistricts.

Transport, Housingand Environment, Foodand Forest MinisterMohammad Akbar hasbeen appointed as in-

charge minister ofRajnandgaon and Durgdistricts.

Commercial Tax(Excise), Commerce andIndustry Minister KawasiLakhma has been appoint-ed as in-charge minister ofKabeerdham, Dhamtariand Mahasamund dis-tricts.

Urban Administrationand Development andLabour Minister DrShivkumar Dahariya hasbeen appointed as in-charge minister of Surgujaand Koriya districts.

Women and ChildDevelopment, SocialWelfare Minister AnilaBhendiya has beenappointed as in-chargeminister of Bemetara andJashpur districts.

PHE and VillageIndustries Minister GuruRudra Kumar has beenappointed as in-chargeminister of North Bastar(Kanker), Narayanpur andKondagaon districts.

Revenue and CalamityM a n a g e m e n t ,Commercial Tax(Registration and Stamp)Minister Jaisingh Agrawalhas been appointed as in-charge minister of SouthBastar (Dantewada),Bijapur and Sukma dis-tricts.

Higher Education,Skill Development, Sportsand Youth WelfareMinister Umesh Patel hasbeen appointed as in-charge minister ofBalrampur-Ramanujganjand Surajpur districts.

Baghel reshuffles in-charge minister of districts

He has been summoned in connection with Antagarh tapes case


Chhattisgarh Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel on the

occasion of World Sickle Dayon Wednesday announced toupgrade Sickle Cell Institute(SCI), Raipur as a centre ofexcellence.

He also announced open-ing of a sickle cell probe andcounselling centre in each dis-trict headquarters and testingof blood samples of schoolchildren.

The centre will have bloodtransfusion, stem cell therapyand hemoglobin therapy likefacilities.

Baghel was speaking aschief guest at the event organ-ised jointly by Sickle CellInstitute Chhattisgarh, Raipurand Health and FamilyWelfare department,

Government of Chhattisgarhat new Circuit House, CivilLines Raipur.

Chief Minister said forChhattisgarh, sickle cell is achallenging factor due to itsgenetic nature as those affect-ed are unaware of it. The lifebecomes disastrous due to lackof awareness and knowledgeof the disease. If identifiedduring childhood, thenthrough adequate manage-

ment, food, life-style and sup-portive treatment can bring inrelief. As there is no cure, allthe peoples’ blood has to bechecked to identify the carri-ers.

He further said govern-ment is ready to provideresources for continuousresearch to find cure for thedisease for which institutesshould be established.

Health minister

announced that all districtsickle cell probe and coun-selling centres will have allfacilities related to the disease.He laid emphasis on creatingawareness and knowledgeamong all. The first is testing ofblood of both bridegroom andbride before marriage as bothcarriers should not marry.

On the occasion, DrA.T.K. Dabke, Jan SwasthyaSahayog Sansthan Ganiyari-Bilaspur, Senior CitizenWelfare Forum Raipur andWHO Raipur unit were felici-tated. Sickle cell affected meri-torious students were alsofelicitated, including thoseleading normal life for a pro-longed period.

Posters, brochures andbooklets on the disease werereleased by dignitaries.

‘SCI to be made centre of excellence’

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The Himachal PradeshCabinet on Wednesday

decided to enhance the hono-rarium of office bearers ofPanchayati Raj Institutionsfrom 1 April, this year.

The Cabinet, chaired byChief Minister Jai Ram Thakurdecided that Chairperson ofZila Parishad would get hon-orarium of Rs. 12,000 permonth instead of Rs. 11,000,Vice Chairperson Rs. 8,000instead of 7500 and Member,Zila Parishad Rs. 5,000 inplace of Rs. 4500.

Similarly Chairperson,Panchayat Samiti would getRs. 7000 per month instead ofRs.6500, Vice Chairperson Rs.5,000 instead of Rs. 4500 andmember of Panchayat SamitiRs. 4500 in place of Rs. 4000.The honorarium of PradhanGram Panchayat will beenhanced from Rs. 4000 to Rs.4500, that of Up-Pradhan fromRs. 2500 to Rs. 3000 andmembers of the GramPanchayat would get Rs. 250instead of Rs. 240 per meetingwith a maximum of two meet-ing in a month.

The Cabinet also gave itsconsent to increase the hono-rarium of part time workersengaged in Patwar Circles of

the State from Rs. 3000 to Rs.3500 per month. This decisionwill benefit 1528 workers. Thevacant posts of Part timeworkers would also be filled.

It gave approval to provideone additional free refill cylin-der to the beneficiaries of‘Ujjawala Grihini SuvidhaYojna’ launched in the State bymerger of Himachal GrihiniSuvidha Yojna and PradhanMantri Ujjawala Yojna bene-fiting over two lakh families ofthe State.

The Cabinet decided toprovide Rs. 27,000 consoli-dated per month to PrathmikSahyak Adhyapaks in order toremove pay anomaly.

The decision has beentaken to procure supply anddistribute school bags to thestudents of classes 1st, 3rd, 6thand 9th in the State for theyear 2018-19 under AtalSchool Vardi Yojna. It alsodecided to provide uniforms tothe school students from 1st to12th standard during currentsession under Atal VardiYojna.

To encourage institution-al delivery, the Cabinet decid-ed to enhance the incentiveamount to women belongingto scheduled castes, scheduledtribes and BPL families to Rs.1100.

It gave nod to increase theadditional honorarium ofASHA workers being given bythe State government fromRs. 1250 to Rs. 1500 permonth. This would benefit7964 ASHA workers of theState.

It was decided to contin-ue the Market InterventionScheme (MIS) for procure-ment of mango fruit with anenhancement of 50 paise perkg on all varieties of mangoduring year 2019 to ensureremunerative prices to thefarmers.

The Cabinet put its seal onincreasing the annual incomelimit of family from existingRs. 50,000 to Rs. 1,00,000 foravailing loan facility up to Rs.1,50,000 by women throughMahila Vikas Nigam for start-ing their self employment ven-tures. This would provide anopportunity to more womento avail loan facility from theNigam for taking up selfemployment activities.

The Cabinet decided toprovide scholarships amount-ing to Rs. 10,000 each everyyear under Mukhya Mantri BalUddhar Yojana to 10 boysand 10 girls of child care insti-tutions registered and fundedunder Juvenile Justice (Careand Protection of Children)

Act, 2015 securing top twopositions in the merit list(separate for boys and girls) ofchildren of child care institu-tions in annual examinationsof 8th,9th, 10th, 10+1 and10+2 standards.

To restore self confidenceand dignity of victims of childabuse through intensive coun-selling, financial security, skillupgradation, rehabilitationand livelihood support, theCabinet gave its nod to start

scheme for rehabilitation sup-port to minor victims of rape,child abuse. Under thisscheme, intensive counsellingup to six months would beprovided to minor as well as totheir family members through

professional counsellors. Inaddition to it, financial assis-tance of Rs. 7500 per monthwould also be given to theminor victim till the age of 21years as a livelihood supportmeasure.

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After the central govern-ment’s refusal of funds for

the repair of Anandpur Sahib-Garhshankar-and AnandpurSahib -Naina Devi Road,Punjab Government onWednesday said it has shoul-dered the responsibility of pro-viding relief to pilgrims andcommuters by sanctioning Rs.25 crore for the repair of these

roads. Vijay Inder Singla, PWD

Minister Punjab said thatbefore the Lok Sabha elec-tions, the former MP fromAnandpur Sahib Constituency,Prem Singh Chandumajra, in abid to get public mileage, hadinvited the then Minister forRoad Transport & Highways ofIndia, Nitin Gadkari and got afoundation Stone laid in hastewithout obtaining the required

administrative approvals fromMinistry of Road Transport &Highways (MORT&H).

As a result, the UnionMinistry of Road Transport &Highways has backed awayfrom providing funds for therepair of Anandpur Sahib-Garhshankar,16.77km andAnandpur Sahib -Naina Devi,4.77km stretch of roads.

Singla said these roads arein a bad shape and are a source

of inconvenience to the localsas well as pilgrims besides pos-ing a constant threat to theirsafety. Heavily loaded tipperscarrying weight of even up to60 tonnes, ply on these roadsthereby causing deep distress tothe road surface. These roadslead to two very historic placesnamely Shri Anandpur Sahiband the holy Mata Naina DeviMandir. Hence, to provideimmediate respite to public,

State Government has com-menced the process of carryingout the repair work from itsown funds, beginning with thefloating of tender for the workon June 21, the minister said.

The tenders would be allot-ted by mid July and the workis likely to begin thereafter. “Wewill constantly monitor therepair work and ensure itscompletion within a year”,added Singla.

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The deputations of theMedical Officers' will be

cancelled to provide qualityhealth care facilities in theState Government hospitalsespecially those falling in theborder and remote areas,Health and Family WelfareMinister, Punjab, Balbir SinghSidhu said on Wednesday.

In his first meeting with allcivil surgeons of the state, theminister said that the CivilSurgeons should ensure in theirrespective hospitals that doc-tors only prescribe medicinesavailable in the governmenthospitals so that the needypeople do not have to buy med-icines from private chemists atexorbitant prices.

Sidhu said that to furtherimprove the performance ofhospitals and streamlining theirfunctioning, 535 nurses(ANM) have been recruitedunder the National HealthMission last month and anoth-er 114 nurses will be recruitedby the last week of June.

The Minister was alsoapprised by the Civil Surgeonsposted in all the Districtsregarding vacancies in themedical staff cadre and soughtthe details of all the vacantposts within a week. In theaftermath of this, the recruit-ment process of the vacanciesin the Health Department

would be initiated.The Minister while review-

ing the health and wellness cen-tres said that these have beenestablished to provide 13 essen-tial health services and up tillnow, 847 centres have beenmade functional with 419Community Health Officersbeing appointed for the pur-pose. He also detailed that tillAugust, 2019, a total of 553Community Health Officerswould be appointed at thehealth and wellness centresand 1800 sub-centres would beturned into wellness centres.He also said that computerswould also be provided to theCommunity Health Officersfor on-lining of the details ofthe patients.

Additional Chief Secretary,Health and Family WelfareDepartment, Punjab, SatishChandra brought to the noticeof the minister that Punjab andAndhra Pradesh have beenadjudged better performingstates on the parameters ofestablishing health and wellnesscentres.

The Additional ChiefSecretary also said that the CivilSurgeons ought to ensure intheir respective Districts thatthe Senior Medical Officers paya personal visit to the sub-cen-tres so as to effectively imple-ment the services being pro-vided to mothers and chil-dren.

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Decks have been cleared forthe construction of bridge

over Ghaggar River in Sectors26-27 and 20-21 in Panchkulawith Punjab Governmentaccording in-principleapproval for the constructionof this bridge and connectiveroad, falling in their jurisdic-tion to Haryana.

With the construction ofthis bridge, the long pendingdemand of the people of thearea would be fulfilled. Thiswas informed in the meetingpresided over by ChiefMinister Manohar Lal heretoday to review the progress ofChief Minister’s announce-ments of various departmentsincluding Haryana ShehriVikas Pradhikaran (HSVP),Town and Country Planning,Animal Husbandry andDairying, Medical Education,Women and ChildDevelopment, Social Justiceand Empowerment andWelfare of Scheduled Castesand Backward Classes.

It was informed that thematter regarding the con-struction of this bridge isbeing taken up in co-ordina-tion with the PunjabGovernment. A portion ofthis proposed bridge falls inPunjab.

The Chief Minister alsodirected the Haryana Shehri

Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) toexplore the possibilities ofconstruction of a road linkingthe NH-73 and InternationalAirport in Chandigarh so as toprovide direct connectivity tothe people of Barwala, RaipurRani and Naraingarh.

While directing theAdministrative Secretaries forthe speedy implementation ofvarious development worksannounced by him, the Chief

Minister said that he wouldsoon convene meetings withMLAs to discuss the pendingCM announcements districtwise and also to sort out theissues which are causing delayin the implementation ofworks.

He also directed to submithim the list of 74 pendingannouncements, 10 of 2014and 64 of 2015 today itself andcommissioned the same by

July 15.He asked to apprise him

about the status of progress onthese announcements on dailybasis.

During the meeting, theChief Minister said that witha view to instill the sense ofpride among the orphan chil-dren, the name of ‘AnathAshram’ wherever written inHindi should be changed toJagganath Ashram.

He directed that a letter inthis regard be sent to all suchinstitutions in the state at theearliest.

While reviewing theannouncement for the con-struction of hostels in districtsJind, Rohtak, Fatehabad,Karnal and Hisar for the stu-

dents belonging to ScheduledCastes and Backward Classes,he directed that till the con-struction of these hostels,alternate arrangements shouldbe made either in any collegeor university for such stu-dents.

He further said that toinstill a feeling of SamajikSamrasta (social harmony),50 per cent seats in thesehostels be filled from amongstthe students of ScheduledCastes and Backward Classesand 10 per cent from (EBP).He also directed to change thename of Tehsil Welfare Officer(TWO) as Tehsil AntyodayaOfficer (TAO).

The Chief Minister direct-ed the Medical EducationDepartment to identify oneacre land within or outside theAll India Institute of MedicalSciences (AIIMS), Badsa indistrict Jhajjar for the con-struction of a helipad for theconvenience of patients andtheir relatives. It was informedthat the work for the con-struction of Women NursingTraining Institute in villagePanhera Khurd in districtFaridabad and NursingCollege in village SahadatNagar in district Rewari hasbeen awarded to HSVP.

Manohar Lal was apprizedthat the registration of RohnatFreedom Trust has been doneand initial funds to the tune ofRs one crore would soon betransferred to the Trust forproviding treatment to thepeople of village Rohnat whoare above the age of 60 years.It was also informed that aShahid Samark on 4 acres ofland would be constructed invillage Rohnat in districtBhiwani by the Sainik andArdh Sainik WelfareDepartment. Estimatesamounting to Rs 92.25 lakhhave been received for thispurpose and constructionwork would be started soon.

The Chief Minister wasalso informed that that a vet-erinary poly clinic would beset up at village Beholi,Thanesar in districtKurukshetra. Apart from this,a Bull Centre would be set upat Lakaria in district Jhajjar asregional centre of Lala LajpatRai University of Veterinaryand Animal Sciences(LUVAS), Hisar.

Besides transferring landof Lakria Farm to LUVAS,funds to the tune of Rs 42.75lakh has also been released tothe University for this purpose.

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Parts of Punjab and Haryanasaw uneven distribution

of rains during pre-monsoonseason between June 1-18,according to data released bythe ChandigarhMeteorological Centre.

Some districts in the twostates received excess pre-monsoon rains, while manyothers received scanty show-ers, the data showed. The totalrainfall recorded in the twostates, however, was belownormal for this period, offi-cials said.

Haryana, as a whole,received 16 mm of rains dur-ing the period as against thenormal of 20.2 mm, whilePunjab recorded 14.9 mmrainfall, against the normal of

21.3 mm, an official said.In Haryana, Gurgaon

received 3.6 mm of rains dur-ing the period as against thenormal of 13.8 mm. Panipatreceived 6.8 mm of rainsagainst 22.1 mm,Yamunanagar received 5.6 mmagainst 46.1 mm, Faridabadreceived 5.7 mm against 16.4mm and Ambala received 16.4mm rains against 45.1 mm, theofficial said.

On the other hand, Hisarreceived 36.7 mm of rainsagainst the normal of 17.3mm, Bhiwani received 18.1mm against 17.8 mm and Jindreceived 20 mm against 22.4m m . K u r u k s h e t r a ,Mahendergarh and Sirsa alsoreceived above normal rainfall.

In Punjab, Barnala record-ed 5 mm of rains against thenormal of 23.6 mm, Amritsarreceived 10.6 mm against 22.6mm, Gurdaspur received 22.4mm against 28.6 mm andRupnagar received 4.8 mmrains, much below the normalof 30.6 mm.

Bathinda received 30.5mm rains in the period againstthe normal of 18.2 mm,Fatehgarh Sahib received 31.2mm against 18.7 mm andMuktsar received 33.3 mmagainst 17.4 mm.

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The Central Governmentheaded by Prime Minister

Narendra Modi must pave theway for construction of Ramtemple at the lord’s birthplacein Ayodhya by 2022. Asceticsattending the meeting of theKendriya Margdarshak Mandal(KMM) of the Vishwa HinduParishad (VHP) said this onWednesday. A resolution wasalso passed by the ascetics tothe effect that the union gov-ernment must bring a bill onpopulation control in the coun-try.

KMM member and hostascetic, Paramanand Saraswatisaid that PM Narendra Modimust pave way for constructionof Ram temple by 2022. A res-olution was passed by theascetics that the union gov-ernment must bring a bill onpopulation control in the coun-try. Various demands havebeen raised by the religious fra-ternity which shall be pro-posed to the newly formedModi government, said theVHP members.

The national secretary ofVHP, Milind Parande said thatin the meeting it was decidedthat a proposal shall be madeto PM Narendra Modi to makeRam temple in Ayodhya assoon as possible. The hostascetic Swami ParmanandSaraswati of Akhand ParamDham in Bhupatwala said that

the Modi government mustclear the path for temple con-struction before 2022.

The VHP members havedemanded that the displacedHindus must be rehabilitatedback in their home state ofJammu and Kashmir. Also,under the Kamdhenu scheme,the government must take sub-stantial steps for cow progenyenhancement and conserva-tion. He said that during thetwo-day meeting discussionsshall be held on these mainissues.

Expressing concern overthe population explosion, theascetics said that this has alsoresulted in demographic issues

in some state resulting inimbalance in the country. Thegovernment must bring popu-lation control bill lest there isimbalance created in the coun-try. Also there should be sameelection model code of conductin the entire country anddelimitation of Vidhan Sabhaseats in hill state of Jammu andKahmir.

Earlier, another meetingof high power committee ofVHP was held in ParmarthAshram under the leadership ofSwami ChinmayanandSaraswati. Various Akhadaascetics and central office bear-ers of VHP were present in themeeting.

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There is “credible evidence”linking Saudi Crown Prince

Mohammed bin Salman to themurder of journalist JamalKhashoggi, a UN expert saidWednesday, calling for sanc-tions on the prince’s personalforeign assets.

The allegation regardingPrince Mohammed’s possibledirect role in Kashoggi’s exe-cution last October wasdetailed in a new report by theUN special rapporteur onextrajudicial, summary or arbi-trary executions, AgnesCallamard.

Callamard, an indepen-dent human rights expert whodoes not speak for the UnitedNations, also called on UNSecretary General AntonioGuterres to initiate a formalcriminal investigation into thecase.

Khashoggi, a Washington

Post contributor and critic ofPrince Mohammed, was mur-dered at the Saudi consulate inIstanbul on October 2. Riyadhinitially said it had no knowl-edge of his fate. It later blamedthe murder inside the consulateon rogue agents.

Saudi prosecutors haveabsolved the crown prince ofresponsibility.

But Callamard said herinquiry had “determined thatthere is credible evidence, war-ranting further investigation ofhigh-level Saudi Officials’ indi-vidual liability, including theCrown Prince’s”.

The UN expert noted thatinternational sanctions issuedso far in response toKhashoggi’s killing “simply failto address the central questionsof chain of command and ofsenior leadership’s responsi-bilities for and associated withthe execution”.

Given “the credible evi-

dence into the responsibilitiesof the Crown Prince for hismurder, such sanctions oughtalso to include the CrownPrince and his personal assetsabroad, until and unless evi-dence is provided and corrob-orated that he carries noresponsibilities for this execu-tion,” she added.

Callmard carried out herhuman rights inquiry on herown initiative as part of hermandate as a special rappor-teur. She stressed that “no con-clusion is made as to guilt,”within her findings that werebased on a large body of evi-dence, including CCTVfootage from inside the con-sulate of the killing itself.

“The only conclusion madeis that there is credible evidencemeriting further investigation,by a proper authority, as towhether the threshold of crim-inal responsibility has beenmet,” she said.

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Iran’s defence minister “cate-gorically rejected” on

Wednesday accusations thatTehran was behind two tankerattacks in the Gulf of Oman,describing evidence presentedby Washington as “unsubstan-tiated”, official news agencyIRNA reported.

Washington has blamedIran for last week’s attacks,releasing images and a grainyvideo it alleges shows Iranianson a patrol boat removing anunexploded limpet mineattached to one of the tankers.

“Accusations levelledagainst Iran’s armed forces andthe published film with regardsto the incident (that) hap-pened to the vessels ... Areunsubstantiated and we cate-gorically reject these accusa-tions,” IRNA quoted DefenceMinister Brigadier-General

Amir Hatami as saying.“The armed forces and the

port organisation were amongthe first to approach the tankersafter the incident for reliefoperations and they rescued 23people in the first tanker,” headded.

Hatami did not explicitlyspecify which of the two shipshe was referring to, but Iran’sEnglish-language Press TV atthe time broadcast footage of23 sailors rescued from theFront Altair, a tanker owned bya Norwegian listed company.

Hatami added that theIranian forces then headed tothe second tanker, but the crewsaid another vessel had alreadyrescued them. “This meansAmericans had arrived soonerto the scene where they claimthe video was recorded”,Hatami said, with apparentreference to the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous.

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Members of Hong Kong’slegislature met on

Wednesday for the first timesince the largest anti-govern-ment protest in the city’s his-tory, with many oppositionlawmakers slamming the pro-Beijing administration’s han-dling of the crisis.

Hong Kong has been shak-en by a series of massivedemonstrations against a pro-posed law that would haveallowed extraditions to main-land China, and the city’s policeforce has been criticised forusing excessive force to dis-perse protesters.

Videos of police beatingunarmed protesters went viraland sparked public anger, andthe tactics were widely con-demned. Police said force wasnecessary to fend off protestersthrowing bricks and metalbars.

In a tense session, opposi-tion lawmakers grilled HongKong’s head of security, JohnLee, over the clashes.

Many pro-democracymembers of the LegislativeCouncil wore black and carriedwhite chrysanthemums in trib-ute to a man who fell to hisdeath while protesting the law.

Some placed placards ontheir desks reading “No ChinaExtradition” and “Withdraw,Withdraw” — referring to thecontroversial bill.

“We are sad that somepeople were hurt while express-ing their views,” Lee said, as herepeated the government’sapology for the turmoil causedby the bill. He said police wereresponding to threats fromprotesters, but opposition law-makers ridiculed his com-ments.

“The police were well-trained, and you have all thegear and you say the policewere under threat,” pro-democ-racy lawmaker Claudia Mosaid. “This is utterly uncon-vincing.”

An opposition lawmakerwas due to introduce a non-

binding motion of no-confi-dence in pro-Beijing chief exec-utive Carrie Lam, but it was nottabled before the session wasadjourned. The motion was notexpected to pass in the body,which is dominated by Lam’scamp.

Council president AndrewLeung said there would not bea session on Thursday. It wasnot immediately clear when thecouncil would meet again.

Lam suspended the extra-dition bill after the first massrally on June 9, and June 12clashes between police andprotesters.

But that failed to quellpublic anger and protestersstaged an even larger rally onSunday which drew over twomillion people, according toorganisers, who demanded thebill be withdrawn and Lamresign.

Lam apologised Tuesdayand indicated the law is unlike-ly to be revived, but did notannounce a formal withdraw-al and vowed to continue as thecity’s leader.

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Russia and China haveblocked the UN Security

Council committee monitoringsanctions against North Koreafrom declaring that Pyongyangbreached the annual limit forimporting refined petroleumproducts which are key for itseconomy, two U.N. diplomatssaid Tuesday.

The diplomats said theRussians and Chinese notifiedthe committee before Tuesday’sdeadline for objections.

The United States and 25other countries accused NorthKorea of violating U.N. sanc-tions by importing far morethan the annual limit of500,000 barrels of refinedpetroleum products.

A US-led complaint had

asked the sanctions committeeto rule that Pyongyangbreached the cap and demandan immediate halt to deliveries.It said most of the excess petro-leum products were obtainedfrom dozens of illegal ship-to-ship transfers.

A Security Council diplo-mat said North Korea isbelieved to have obtained 3.5million barrels of refined petro-leum in 2018, seven times thelimit. This year, North Koreahas already imported morethan the limit and is “on pace”to obtain about the sameamount as last year throughillegal ship-to-ship transfers,the diplomat said, speakingon condition of anonymitybecause he was not authorizedto speak publicly.

The complaint said the

500,000-barrel annual limit onrefined petroleum products “iscritical to maintaining pres-sure” on North Korea toachieve the denuclearization ofthe country.

Last July, Russia and Chinablocked a similar request fromthe U.S. to get the U.N. sanc-tions committee to publiclyaccuse North Korea of violat-ing the annual quota. TheRussians and Chinese are keysuppliers of petroleum prod-ucts to North Korea.

The Security Councilimposed sanctions on NorthKorea after its first nuclear testexplosion in 2006 and hasmade them tougher andtougher in response to furthersuch tests and its increasinglysophisticated ballistic missileprogramme.

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Mark T Esper, PresidentDonald Trump’s pick for

new Acting US DefenceSecretary, is an Army veteranwho fought in the Gulf war andworked as a lobbyist for one ofAmerica’s biggest military con-tractors.

The 55-year-old ex-class-mate of Secretary of State MikePompeo was chosen afterActing Defence SecretaryPatrick Shanahan withdrewhis nomination, which took

many by surprise.Esper is taking over against

the backdrop of soaring ten-sions between the US and Iranwhich has said it would surpassthe uranium-stockpile limit setby its nuclear deal in the next10 days.

Making the announcementof the new appointment,President Trump said that hiscurrent Army secretary Esperwould lead the DefenceDepartment.

“I know Mark, and haveno doubt he will do a fantas-

tic job!” he said in a tweet.Trump told reporters that

he is likely to nominate Esperfor the permanent job.

Esper, elevated from his jobas Army secretary to be ActingDefense Secretary, became thethird person to lead thePentagon under PresidentTrump. James Norman Mattiswas the first one to leadPentagon after Trump assumedoffice.

Esper, after graduatingfrom West Point, served in theArmy, the Army Reserve andNational Guard in some capac-ity for more than two decades,The New York Times reported.

The NYT report said that Shanahan’s 30-year careerat Boeing complicated hisnomination and Esper’s tenureas Raytheon’s top lobbyist couldleave him facing a similar issue.

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Dutch prosecutors are to putfour people on trial for

murder next year over theshooting down of flight MH17over Ukraine, in which 298 peo-ple were killed, relatives said onWednesday.

The court case over thecrash of the Malaysia Airlinesplane will start in theNetherlands in March 2020,according to family memberswho were briefed ahead of anannouncement by internation-al investigators due about 1100GMT.

The identities of the fourpeople to be charged were notimmediately available but aUkrainian minister and reportssaid on Tuesday they includedat least one senior Russian offi-cer.

The airliner travellingbetween Amsterdam and KualaLumpur was torn apart in mid-air after being hit by a missileover territory in eastern Ukraineheld by pro-Russian separatistson July 17, 2014, investigatorssay.

“There is a court case onMarch 9 2020 against four peo-ple for murder,” Silene Fredriksz,whose son and daughter-in-lawwere killed in the disaster, toldreporters.

“I am happy that the trial isfinally going to start and that thenames have been announced.It’s a start. I’m satisfied.” Thecharges come nearly a yearafter the international probeinto the crash said the BUK mis-sile which hit the Boeing 777had originated from a Russianmilitary brigade based in thesouthwestern city of Kursk.

Asked if she personallyblamed anyone for the crash,Fredriksz said: “Mr (RussianPresident Vladimir) Putin.

“Because he made this pos-sible. He created this situation.He is the main responsible per-son.” Russia has vehementlydenied all involvement in theshooting down of MH17. OnWednesday it complained ofbeing excluded from the probedespite “proactively” trying to beinvolved.

“You know our attitudetowards this investigation.

Russia had no opportunity totake part in it even though itshowed initiative from... Thevery first days of this tragedy,”Putin’s spokesman DmitryPeskov told reporters.

Ukraine’s deputy foreignminister Olena Zerkal said onTuesday that four people wouldbe named over MH17 andsenior Russian army officerswere involved. Zerkal said thetransfer of weapons like theBUK anti-aircraft missile system“is impossible without the(Russian) top brass’s permis-sion”.

Dutch media have namedseveral suspects including thehead of the 53rd anti-aircraftbrigade, the Russian unit iden-tified by the probe last year.

The Joint InvestigationTeam (JIT) probing the attackincludes Australia, Belgium,Malaysia, the Netherlands andUkraine.

The Netherlands andAustralia said in May last yearthat they formally “hold Russiaresponsible” for the disaster,after the findings on the originof the missile were announced.

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More than 70 million peo-ple were counted last year

as displaced from their homes,a record that underestimatesthe real number of refugees andasylum seekers, the UN saidWednesday.

In its annual global trends report, the UnitedNations refugee agency(UNHCR) described the figureof 70.8 million at the end of2018 as “conservative”, partic-ularly because the number ofpeople who fled Venezuela’sdevastating crisis is under-counted.

At the end of 2017, bycomparison, 68.5 million peo-ple were counted as beingforcibly displaced by violenceor persecution.

The UNHCR attributed the increase partly tosurging displacement inEthiopia caused by inter-ethnicconflict, and in Venezuela,where thousands are fleeingevery day amid an economiccollapse that has triggeredshortages of basic food andmedicine.

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Sudan’s military council onWednesday on urged oppo-

sition leaders to resume nego-tiations on the transition ofpower, without preconditions,but the comments could fur-ther complicate the alreadystalled transition process asprotest organisers continuetheir night-time demonstra-tions demanding civilian rule.

Negotiations collapsed inthe wake of a violent crack-down of a protest camp in thecapital Khartoum earlier thismonth. At least 128 people havebeen killed across the countrysince security forces moved into clear the sit-in area outsidethe military’s headquarters onJune 3.

Authorities offer a lowerdeath toll of 61, including three

from security forces. Gen.Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head ofthe council, told a gathering ofhealth workers in Khartoumthat the council did not havepreconditions for returning tothe negotiating table with theForces for Declaration ofFreedom and Change, whichhas represented protesters, soneither should the protesters.

“I repeat our invitation toall political forces and theFDFC to come (for talks), andthere is no need for precondi-tions. ... We do not deny theirrole in the uprising and thepopular revolution ..., but thesolution should be satisfactoryto all Sudanese factions,” hesaid.

Protests leaders could notbe reached immediately forcomment.

Protest leaders have

announced a package of con-ditions to be met before resum-ing talks, which included theformation of an internationalcommission to investigate thekillings of protesters, restoredinternet services, adherence toprevious deals struck before thebreakdown in talks and thereturn of paramilitary troops totheir barracks.

The military council reject-ed the idea of an internationalprobe and said it had started itsown investigation along withanother one by prosecutors.

Meanwhile, an Ethiopianinitiative to resume talks appar-ently failed to make progress inthe deadlock.

A top general in the mili-tary council pushed back lastweek against a key demandfrom the protest leaders tohave the majority in a transi-

tional legislative body. The protest leaders also

called for daily night-timedemonstrations and marcheson Thursday, saying they fearedthe military council intended tostay as a dominant power in thetransition.

Burhan warned of the pos-sibility of another coup as thecountry “cannot afford beingwithout a government” morethan three months after themilitary ousted autocratic pres-ident Omar al-Bashir in April.

“We do not want thatthings went out of control. Anew coup could be carried outbecause of the country’simpasse,” he said. The country’sruler criticised the sit-in, whichwas central in Sudan’s uprisingsince it encouraged the militaryto step in and remove al-Bashir.

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Sir — The Prime Minister’s plea tothe Opposition to forget aboutpaksh and vipaksh and have onlynishpaksh spirit and work active-ly in the larger interest of the nationis welcome. His tone was that ofreconciliation and warmth and isan assertion that in unity lies thebetterment of the nation and itspeople. The Opposition shouldtake the Prime Minister’s statementin the right spirit. That theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and itsallies were able to form a majori-ty Government should not makethem arrogant or lead them toignore crucial issues that need tobe raised in Parliament.

At the same time, theOpposition should not obstruct orstall proceedings of the House toput the Government on the mat.Good actions and motions mustbe supported. The growth, devel-opment and progress of the coun-try should be of prime impor-tance. Let us hope that the rulingparty and the Opposition main-tain decorum of the house byupholding the good values ofintegrity, propriety and sobriety.

M PradyuKannur

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Sir — The idea of simultaneouspolls is not new. In 1951-52, thefirst general election to the LokSabha was held simultaneously

with elections of all StateAssemblies. This practice contin-ued till the general election of1967, after which it got disrupt-ed due to premature dissolutionof some State Assemblies in 1968and that of the Lok Sabha in

1970. Besides saving hugeamount of taxpayers’ moneyspent on holding separate Centreand State elections, simultaneouspolls will spare considerable timeof security and administrativeset-up to do their normal job and

the country will get rid ofremaining in poll mode almostthroughout the year. If aGovernment falls midway, amid-term poll should be held forthe rest of the term. The next LokSabha election will be held inMay 2024. Of course, this time isstill not enough to synchroniseterms of all Assemblies. At leastan idea has been floated. It is timeto apply our minds to it.

MC JoshiLucknow

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Children of a lesser God”(June 20). While researchersexamine the exact cause behindthe encephalitis syndrome, it isa sorry state of affairs in Biharwhere over 100 children havedied due to this disease. It isreflective of the fact that theState’s healthcare system is inshambles. The State must takeradical measures to improve thehealth infrastructure.

Somya Via email

Chinese President Xi Jinping istravelling a lot these days; hewent to Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan)for the Shanghai CooperationOrganisation (SCO) meet, then

he is visiting North Korea and later Japan.At the same time in Hong Kong, two mil-lion people (25 per cent of the population)walked down the streets to reject a lawwidely believed to have been piloted by Xi.

Bill Bishop, author of the SinocismNewsletter analysed: “The Hong Kongprotestors succeeded in scuttling the pro-posed extradition law, at least for the fore-seeable future…Regardless, the rebuke ofthe mainland and its political system bymillions of Hong Kongers could not beclearer and the damage to Xi and the party’sreunification project that is core to theGreat Rejuvenation, is real.”

The Chinese leadership is keen not torepeat the Hong Kong fiasco in Tibet. Thisis one of the reasons why Beijing is promot-ing Gyaltsen Norbu, its own Panchen Lama,who recently visited Thailand. Back inBeijing, he affirmed “that he was able todeeply appreciate the greatness of the moth-erland while he was in a foreign country.”

The information about his foreign visitcame out in the open a month afterNorbu’s return; he was part of a Buddhistdelegation led by Yanjue, the acting pres-ident of the Buddhist Association ofChina. Interestingly, Norbu had attendeda Buddhist conference in Hong Kong in2012 but this was not counted as a foreignvisit. In Thailand, he explained that he hasthe responsibility to adapt TibetanBuddhism to the socialist society… withChinese characteristics “to constantlyadhere to develop Tibetan Buddhism in theChinese context, to maximise the positiverole of religion and to make due contribu-tions to safeguarding the unification of themotherland and promoting ethnic unity.”

But what does “adapting TibetanBuddhism to the socialist society withChinese characteristics” mean? An articleon a Chinese website run by Xinhua gavean answer. All monks in Tibet were recent-ly invited to pass “legal knowledge” exam-inations “in order to promote the basic andleading role of the rule of law and active-ly guide the adaptation of religion to thesocialist society and enhance the legalknowledge level and the rule of law aware-ness” among monks and nuns in Tibet.

The website reported that the new pro-gramme was jointly organised by theTibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) justicedepartment, the law office, the communistparty’s united front work department andthe religious bureau. According to the sta-tistics quoted by Xinhua, 30,000 membersof the Sangha went through the examina-tions. On which topics were the monks test-

ed? They had to answer ques-tions on the ChineseConstitution, state securitylaws, anti-terrorism laws, anti-spying laws, environmentalprotection laws, internet safe-ty laws and regulations on reli-gious affairs matters.

But that is not all. Apartfrom these topics, the monksand nuns had to demonstratetheir great knowledge on thecommunist party’s 19th nation-al congress, Xi’s new era ofsocialism with Chinese charac-teristics, the national flag law,the national anthem law, thenational security law, thenational regional autonomylaw and ethnic and religiouspolicies as well as related reg-ulations. This probably includ-ed the rules for the reincarna-tion of “living Buddhas” (howthe Dalai Lama will be select-ed by the party).

Don’t ask me where is theBuddha in all this! TAR’s “legal”big shots visited the test centres.Xinhua cited LobsangGyurmey, vice chairman ofthe political consultative con-ference and Danba, the head ofthe TAR justice department,who inspected the GandenMonastery’s examination cen-

tre. Gao Yang, deputy secretaryand vice chairman of the partycommittee of the political con-sultative conference, showed upat the Sera Monastery and XuXueguang, deputy director ofthe People’s Congress StandingCommittee, went to Drepung.Many other party importantcadres participated.

According to Xinhua,after the launch of these (com-pulsory) tests, “the legal liter-acy and the rule of law aware-ness of religious faculty mem-bers in our region have beenfurther improved.” The web-site affirmed that “nationallaws are higher than religiouscanons and obeying theseshould come before adheringto the [Buddhist] precepts.”According to Xinhua, the pur-pose was to create a harmo-nious and stable social situa-tion for Tibet…

In these circumstances,one understands why studentsin Hong Kong or in Taipei area nervous lot. Who wants tojoin the motherland’s legal sys-tem? Examinations wereorganised all over TAR, partic-ularly in Lhasa, Shigatse, inLhoka (Lhuntse County), inNagchu and Shangda

Monastery in Chamdo area.They were conducted in twoways: A Tibetan-Chinese bilin-gual “open-book” written testand an oral test.

Xinhua reported that inorder to ensure a smooth andorderly examination process,“three-level patrol groups fordistricts, cities and counties”were formed. The patrolschecked each test centre undertheir jurisdiction; they weresaid to have been “deep into therelevant temples to conduct anin-depth and detailed under-standing of the examinationarrangements and the order ofthe examination room.”

Moral of the story: You bet-ter know Comrade Xi’s speech-es! And guess what? The atten-dance of the examination was100 per cent. It was to be animportant initiative by partysecretary Wu Yingjie for“strengthening the educationon the rule of law,” said the offi-cial website. Is it the reason whyNorbu deeply “appreciated”the greatness of the motherlandwhen he was abroad?

The “new” education isnot restricted to Tibet. Xiwants to “educate” all classes ofChinese. According to the

Taipei-based Central NewsAgency, the Chinese commu-nist party, which celebrates its70th anniversary, launched aneducation campaign called“Remain true to our originalaspirations and keep our mis-sion firmly in mind.”

The Central PublicityDepartment called some 500journalists to retrace the routeof ‘Long March’ and writeabout the epic journey of theRed Army. The journalistswere told that they need to“make a long journey” and intheir writings, “profoundlyecho how Red Power cameinto being; how the newChina was built.” The aim wasto educate the masses aboutthe revolution.

On May 20, Xi hadinspected Jiangxi Yudu, thestarting point of the LongMarch. It was like “exploringthe source of the party’s origi-nal heart,” affirmed Xi. TheHong Kongers may escapethese education schemes forthe time being but it will bemore difficult for the Tibetans,the Uyghurs or even the main-landers to avoid them.

(The writer is an expert onIndia-China relations)

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It is the scale of the Indian elections that baf-fles the world. Most countries view ourdemocratic electoral exercise with utter dis-

belief and astonishment. The 2019 Lok Sabhaelections were interesting for the fact that polit-ical communication in our country seemed tohave finally come of age. Among the parties,the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stood out tobe the savviest in mastering the image-build-ing and perception management exercise andalso gained a decisive edge over its rivals.

Agenda-setting: Take for instance verbalcommunications. The BJP’s colourful andearthy slogans were an instant hit. They wereat their simplistic and comprehensible best.The party managed to pull the rug under thefeet of the Opposition with short and punchycoinages like mahamilawat, which was used tobrand the Opposition parties. This conjoinedword summed up the unprincipled and rag-tag coalitions formed by various political par-ties just before the elections and instantlyrobbed them of political relevance.

Similarly, majboor sarkar vs majboot sarkarwas a lethal jibe as compared to the Congress’weary slogan of ab hoga nyay. Roughly trans-lated, the Congress slogan meant that justicewould be delivered if it came back to power.Oddly enough, the party’s strategists did notrealise it would automatically trigger a counterquestion in the minds of the voters: If justicewas still pending to be delivered, what did theparty do all these years when it was in powerfor the longest time and capable of changingthe system? The Congress campaign appearedto be centred around superficial populist slo-ganeering coined in splendid isolation devoidof any social connect. On the other hand, theCongress’ somewhat catchy chowkidar chor haijibe misfired and it faced national embarrass-ment for being flippant and more personali-ty than issue-oriented. Slogans formed by otherOpposition parties were limp. Regional partyleaders, followed the old-style book of politi-cal communication. So they found themselvesout of breath with the BJP’s national campaignblitzkrieg.

Yet another slogan coined by the BJP kaamruke na, desh jhuke na advanced the party’sdevelopmental agenda that remained to beachieved and contextualised the nationalpride as a rallying point.

Instead of offering progressive ideas andproviding a constructive alternate developmen-tal framework, the Opposition mounted a bit-ter and shriller negative campaign with per-sonal level attacks, some of which were unbe-coming of their stature and the public officethey occupied. Many parties even reduced theelectoral campaigns to ugly street-level brawls.Negative campaigns can work when left-handed compliments are delivered to oppo-nents, dripping with sarcasm and humour.Perhaps none in the Opposition had theshowmanship to pull it off. Resorting to per-sonal attacks made them appear as a fringemob pelting stones.

Such messaging and slogans itself achievedhalf the electoral success for the BJP. So muchso that even when its own senior leaders hittheir opponents below the belt, it was seen as

avenging barbs and a victim’s right to defendhimself.

Bespoke framing: Besides, verbal commu-nication, the BJP’s near total obsession with non-verbal communication was equally fascinating.Public appearances suggest a well thought-out, meticulously crafted, immac-ulate and bespoke visual styling of its leader.Camera lenses were trained to capture and curateradiating energy and dynamism in the shots.Low angle camera shots and measured distancemaintained in the foreground and backgroundaround the leader decluttered the frame and pro-vided for just one single focal point.

The penchant was to clear the hoi-polloifrom the frame to get singular visuals. Thoughamusing, such optics manage to build and rein-force a pattern of power and perception. Theprimacy given to staging, planning and visu-al framing is both formal, ceremonial, profes-sional and unparalleled. It successfully trans-mits and conveys non-verbal cues to the mass-es besides giving a sleek and larger-than-lifepersona, always in command, at ease and incontrol. The new-age and savvy political par-ties are not leaving anything to chance in thishyper-saturated 24X7 media environmentwhich is dictated by the power of visuals andimagery. The Opposition is yet to comprehendthis to its fullest. Remarkably, even bitter crit-ics of the BJP were floored with rousing andstatesman-like speeches one heard from itsleaders. There were eloquent, unscriptedwords laced with a higher purpose, conveyingthe big picture to the entire nation in a lucid,uplifting and scintillating manner. Sadly, theOpposition speeches appeared merely trans-actional and tutu-mai mai.

Media snobbery: Another humbling fea-ture of this election was the media. The BJP’sdisdain for the “Lutyens’ Delhi” and the“Khan market gang” is well-known. In spite ofthe relentless and stinging attacks mounted by

a large section of the media, the BJP pulled offthe perception battle on its own terms by high-lighting its “common man’s spokesperson”image.

The election results neutralised and bust-ed egos of self-styled opinion-makers in thenational capital, who once bragged to make orbreak the fortunes of the ruling party by thesheer force of their publishing ink. They havebeen clearly bypassed and they need to dealwith this hard reality. On election results day,the meltdown on the faces of television newsanchors and newly-minted YouTube activistswas relished by millions of Modi’s voters. Theloss of credibility, neutrality and fairness of the‘erudite’ mainstream media calls for examin-ing if the fourth estate indeed has its ear to theground. As if the ongoing electoral circus wasnot enough, the international Press jumped intothe ring to lecture the Indian electorate onwhom to vote. Notwithstanding the unsolicit-ed advice and unwarranted trespassing into theongoing sovereign democratic electoral process,‘influential’ publications earned another roundof egg on their faces after the results for thisneedless and meddlesome adventurism.

Overall, the BJP’s political communicationstood out for its highly organised, targettedcommunication and one-to-one grassrootsconnect with the voters. Social media lost itsnovelty but it kept the electorate engaged andentertained till the end. The deft use of polit-ical communication — both verbal and non-verbal — played a key role in positioning theBJP in the minds of the electorate and con-tributed in elevating its fortunes to a historichigh. It is never too late for the Opposition totake a leaf or two from this exercise and resetits communications tools to achieve both reachand relevance among the masses.

(The writer is a seasoned communicationsprofessional and management consultant basedin New Delhi)

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Chennai is an apt example of allthat is wrong with environmentin India. The year 2015 saw the

city reel under the worst floods expe-rienced by the region. This year, thecity is a witness to the worst everdrought in the recent times, prompt-ing the Central Government to takenotice and put in emergency measuresto tackle the problem. The crisis isquite severe as the city is left with justtwo per cent of water in local reser-voirs. Some rains would have gone along way towards lifting its collectivespirit but they are still elusive.

The rapid fluctuation of waterresources for this city is evident as thecity has oscillated between plenty toscarcity within a gap of four years.

What is the reason behind these omi-nous problems? One of the issues is theupstream of Chennai — there is over-exploitation of lake and groundwaterresources here as farmers use theunsustainable flood irrigation tech-nique for watering their fields. This inturn adversely impacts ground watertables. This can be avoided with theTamil Nadu government helping tofund more advanced drip irrigationsystems for farmers. This, if imple-mented on a large scale, can rejuvenatethe lakes around the city and thegroundwater table as well.

Furthermore, it is high time thatthe city invests in robust, efficient andsustainable rainwater harvesting sys-tems that not only complement thewater table and water bodies but alsolend a helping hand in times ofscarcity. It is also crucial to find waysto imaginatively re-use wastewater inorder to handle and regulate demandpressures. But it is quite clear that thecity infrastructure is faced with pop-ulation overload and this can be mit-igated by creating economic opportu-nities outside of Chennai so that thepressure on the city is reduced. These

measures can prevent Chennai andother Indian cities from continuingtheir inexorable march towards ‘dayzero’ scenarios for natural resourceswhen the price to be paid will be morethan we can afford.

The water shortage has also beencompounded due to less rainfall,which has been half its normal quota.The northeast or ‘retreating’ monsoon,which occurs in November andDecember, usually accounts for more

than 60 per cent of Chennai’s annualrainfall on which the city now pins itsearnest hopes. But right now the sit-uation is quite grim as the city hasreceived zero rainfall since March andthe recent rise in temperatures has leftthe city high and dry. Add to this con-secutive drought years, which havedried the city lakes and led to dras-tic drops in water tables.

The four major city reservoirs,with a total capacity of 11.5 thousand

million cubic feet (TMC ft), have only0.3 TMC ft of water in them. To putthings in perspective, even in 2017,when Tamil Nadu experienced theworst drought in 140 years due to thefailure of the monsoon, the city reser-voirs had 0.7 TMC ft during the begin-ning of May. Cyclone Fani, whichformed over the Bay of Bengal at theend of April, gave some hope to thecity. However, the storm changed itscourse and curved towards Odisha,leaving Chennai high and dry again.

Chennai requires around 850million litres of water everyday andstudies suggest that groundwaterextraction here has been highly unsus-tainable. In the last decade, ground-water levels across the city havedropped by 85 per cent. Moreover,continued uncertainties in monsoonrainfall owing to global warming andother environmental triggers havecompounded people’s woes. The lakesand reservoirs are drying up more fre-quently, making the traditional waysof water supply unviable for thefuture.

In order to arrest the crisis, theCentral Government, in tandem with

the State Government, must firstfocus on alleviating water shortage.Then it must strictly monitor the con-struction industry to ensure that allnew projects are in compliance withwater harvesting systems. This mustbe combined with lake and reservoirconservation mechanisms that help inmaintaining critical levels of waterthroughout the year. The CentralGovernment must also ensure that thecitizens have an alternate option to logtheir protests regarding their woes.

Chennai’s state of affairs must notbe seen as one-off. This plight canaffect any city of India which has notbeen careful with its resources. TheGovernment plays a pivotal role inensuring that this chaos does not pre-vail across the country. The NationalGreen Tribunal must take cognisanceof environmental factors that con-tribute to such circumstances. It mustensure strict action against errant par-ties who stress and tax the environ-ment and even impose punitive mea-sures. Unless strict measures aretaken, results cannot be expected.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

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The Finance Ministry ispreparing a fresh proposal

for sale of Air India, incorpo-rating issues like crude oilprices and exchange ratevolatility, flagged by EY lastyear on possible reasons of theGovernment failing to attractbidders for the national carrier.

The Ministry’s proposal, tobe placed before Air IndiaSpecific AlternativeMechanism (AISAM), will alsoinclude option of selling either100 per cent or 76 per cent gov-ernment stake in Air India.

The AISAM, which is basi-cally a Group of Ministers, haveto be reconstituted as ArunJaitley and Suresh Prabhu areno longer ministers in the newgovernment. They will bereplaced by Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman and CivilAviation Minister HardeepSingh Puri. Transport MinisterNitin Gadkari is likely to con-tinue in the panel when it isreconstituted.

The Government last yearinvited bids to sell 76 per cent

stake in Air India, along withtransfer of management con-trol. However, it did not attractany bidder. Following thattransaction advisor EY pre-pared a report citing probablereasons that led to failure of thesale process.

The reasons cited include24 per cent government stakeand corresponding rights, highdebt, volatile crude oil prices,fluctuations in exchange rate,changes in macro environ-ment, profitability track recordof bidders and restriction onbidding by individuals.

An official said that the EYreport was discussed at theAISAM meeting in June lastyear following which it wasdecided that the Air India saleshould be deferred.

During the meeting, whichwas presided over by the thenFinance Minister Jaitley, it wasalso decided to infuse morefunds into the carrier and takesteps to lower debt of Air Indiaby selling its subsidiaries andnon-core assets.

“We will present a freshproposal for Air India sale toAISAM. It would includeupdates on the issues raisedwhen Air India disinvestmentfailed last year. It would be leftto the AISAM to decidewhether the Governmentshould go in for 100 per cent or76 per cent stake sale,” an offi-cial told PTI.

The Government hasalready asked Air India tofinalise its accounts for 2018-

19 by June 30.Once the updated accounts

are available and AISAM givesa go-ahead for Air India sale,the Department of Investmentand Public Asset Management(DIPAM) and Ministry of CivilAviation will draft thePreliminary InformationMemorandum (PIM) givingdetails of about the companyand stipulating conditions foreligibility of bidders.

In 2018, AISAM had ear-lier decided to sale 76 per centin Air India and the buyer wasrequired to take over �24,000crore debt of the carrier alongwith over �8,000 crore of lia-bilities. However, the stake salefailed to attract any bidderwhen the auction process com-pleted on May 31, 2018. At thattime, Air India’s total debt bur-den stood at �55,000 crore.

As precursor to the strate-gic disinvestment of Air India,the Cabinet in Februaryapproved setting up of a specialpurpose vehicle (SPV) — AirIndia Assets Holding Company— to transfer �29,464 croreworth loans of the national car-rier and its four subsidiaries.

The official said that theprocess of transfer of �29,464crore to the SPV is not yet com-plete.

“The Department ofEconomic Affairs, CivilAviation Ministry and thebanks are still working out themodalities of debt transfer.The process is likely to takesome time,” the official added.

�� #-&�,-.24

Shares of Jet Airways furtherplummeted 18.5 per cent

Wednesday after the consor-tium of bankers took thegrounded airline to the NCLT.

The scrip tanked 18.17per cent to close at �33.10 onthe BSE. During the day, itdropped 28.18 per cent to hitan all-time low of �29.05.

On the NSE, shares of theairline plunged 18.51 per centto close at �33.

This is the 13th consecu-tive trading day fall for JetAirways, which has tumbled78 per cent during this period.

The consortium of 26bankers led by the State Bank

of India Tuesday took the air-line to the National CompanyLaw Tribunal (NCLT) torecover their dues of over�8,500 crore.

Jet Airways, started over25 years ago, stopped flying onApril 17 after it ran out of cashand the unpaid lessors tookaway most of its 100-oddoperational airplanes.

The scrip has also been onback foot following announce-ment that stock exchangeswill impose restrictions ontrading in Jet Airways’ sharesfrom June 28 as part of pre-ventive surveillance measuresto curb excessive volatility,according to a circular issuedlast week.

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The rupee inchedup 2 paise to end

at 69.68 against theUS dollar Wednesdayahead of the US Fed’sinterest rate decision.

Hopes of abreakthrough in US-China trade talks andsoftening crude oilprices supported thelocal unit, forextraders said.

At the interbankforeign exchange(forex) market, thedomestic currencyopened at 69.57 to adollar and gainedfurther strength totouch a high of 69.49 duringthe day.

However, it could not holdon to the gains and finallyended at 69.68, up 2 paiseover its previous close.

The rupee had settled at69.70 against the US dollarTuesday.

“Global markets would alsoawait the outcome of the ongo-ing FOMC policy meetingwhich will conclude on June 19.The central bank is highlyexpected to come out in dovishnote and markets would behighly anticipating any kind ofhints on future rate cuts by thecentral bank,” Angel BrokingResearch Associate Vaqar Khansaid. Khan further said therupee is likely to remain range-bound in the coming daysdespite marginal increase inglobal risk appetite.

“The Fed is widely expect-

ed to stand pat on monetarypolicy this time but open thedoor for an interest rate cut atthe next meeting in July,” saidV K Sharma, Head PCG andCapital Markets Strategy,HDFC Securities.

Meanwhile, the 10-yeargovernment bond yield rose to6.84 per cent Wednesday.

“The benchmark 10-yearsovereign bond yield rose 3 bpsto 6.84 per cent after slumping12 bps on Tuesday to its low-est level since October 2017,amid reports that a panel mayrecommend transferring one-third of the RBI’s surplusreserves to the Government,”Sharma added.

Foreign institutionalinvestors (FIIs) were net buy-ers in the capital markets, pur-chasing shares worth �31.73crore on Tuesday, according toexchange data.

The dollar index, whichgauges the greenback’s strengthagainst a basket of six curren-cies, fell 0.09 per cent to 97.55.

The BSE Sensex endedmodestly higher Wednesdayafter a highly volatile session.After rallying nearly 400 pointsduring the day, the BSE gaugesettled 66.40 points, or 0.17 percent, higher at 39,112.74. Thebroader NSE Nifty closedalmost flat at 11,691.45.

Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, eased0.77 per cent to trade at $61.66per barrel.

The Financial BenchmarkIndia Private Ltd (FBIL) set thereference rate for therupee/dollar at 69.8010 and forrupee/euro at 78.4233. Thereference rate for rupee/Britishpound was fixed at 87.4602 andfor rupee/100 Japanese yen at 64.47.

�� #-&,-.24

Fi n a n c eMinister

N i r m a l aSitharamanWednesdayreviewed thestate of econ-omy at themeeting ofthe FinancialStability andDevelopmentC o u n c i l( F S D C )attended by sectoral regulators,including RBI GovernorShaktikanta Das, here.

The meeting also discussedproposals releating to theBudget to be presented bySitharaman on July 5 in the LokSabha, Das told reporters afterthe meeting.

The RBI Governor furthersaid that the Bimal Jalan com-

mittee, which is looking intothe size of capital reserves thatthe RBI should hold, is likely tosubmit its final report by June-end.

It was the first meeting ofthe FSDC after the new gov-ernment assumed office.

The FSDC is the apex bodyof sectoral regulators, headedby the finance minister.

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China’s global Belt andRoad Initiative could

boost economies and reducepoverty rates in dozens ofdeveloping countries, but risksenvironmental damage, debtand corruption if improve-ments aren’t made, the WorldBank said Wednesday.

President Xi Jinping’s sig-nature foreign policy aims toreinvent the ancient Silk Roadto connect Asia to Europe andAfrica through massiveinvestments in maritime, roadand rail projects -- with hun-dreds of billions of dollars inf inancing from Chinesebanks.

Critics, however, say thesix-year-old BRI is a plan toboost Beijing’s global influ-ence, riddled with opaquedeals favouring Chinese com-

panies, and will saddle nationswith debt and environmentaldamage.

The World Bank’s “Beltand Road Economics” reportsaid the project has “thepotential to substantiallyimprove trade, foreign invest-ment, and living conditions”,but only if China and corridorcountries make policy reformsto improve transparency,expand trade and mitigateagainst environmental andcorruption risks.

While trade will “increasesharply, if unevenly” foreconomies along the routes,the “potential gains come withconsiderable risks”, accord-ing to Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, aWorld Bank vice president.

The report estimated thatthe BRI would boost trade by2.8 to 9.7 per cent for partic-ipating countries and between

1.7 and 6.2 per cent for theworld.

However, the study foundthat around a quarter of thoseeconomies already have highdebt levels and for some them,“medium-term vulnerabilitiescould increase”.

The report said largeinfrastructure projects are“inherently risky,” as they cancreate corruption and fail-ures in public procurement.

This has caused the US,India and some Europeannations to look at the projectwith suspicion.

The World Bank studyfound Chinese firms accountfor the majority of BRI con-tracts, although “limited data”was available. According toone estimate, it said morethan 60 percent of Chinese-funded BRI projects are allo-cated to Chinese companies.

“Little is known about theprocesses for selecting firms,”the World Bank report said.“Moving toward internation-al good practices such as openand transparent public pro-curement would increase thelikelihood that BRI projectsare allocated to the firms bestplaced to implement them.”

“Belt and RoadEconomics” recommendedthe BRI made informationregarding planning, fiscalcosts, budgeting and pro-curement more available tothe public to improve theeffectiveness of individualinfrastructure investmentsand national developmentstrategies.

“Greater transparency isessential to encourage com-munity involvement and buildpublic trust in investmentdecisions,” the report said.

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India has imposed anti-dumping duty on the import

of jute sacking cloths fromBangladesh which will have apositive impact on WestBengal’s ailing jute sector.

“Anti-dumping duty onsacking cloth from Bangladeshwas our long standing demandto save the Indian jute sector.With active efforts of UnionTextile Minister Smriti Irani,this has been achieved,” juteindustry veteran Sanjay Kajariasaid in his reaction.

“It will be applicable for 5years effective from June 18,2019,” he said.

This will help jute farmers

and the jute mills of WestBengal which are ailing orrunning in a very low capaci-ty, Kajaria said.

The IJMA had filed anapplication for initiation of anti-circumvention investigationconcerning import of the prod-uct exported from Bangladesh.It has requested for extension ofthe existing anti-dumping dutieson the imports, alleging cir-cumvention of the duty.

Countries carry out anti-dumping probe to determinewhether their domestic indus-tries have been hurt because ofa surge in cheap imports.

Jute sacking accounts for thelion share of the total jute goods.The notification showed anti-dumping duty imposed between$125.21 and 138.97 per tonne.

Currently, the duty existson jute yarn, sacking bags andhessian fabric (made from skinof jute plant) and imposed inthe range of $6.3-351.7 pertonne.

�� #-&�,-.24

Thomas Cook (India) Ltd., anintegrated travel and travel

related financial services com-pany, has observed a vibrant22% growth this summer withemergence of significant trends.

Thomas Cook India haswitnessed a definitive growth ofover 25% with today’s cash rich,but time poor generation opt-ing for travel to bond with theirfamilies. Parent-Child bondingtours are in high demandresulting in a surge of ThomasCook India’s Theme ParkHolidays, outdoors-adventure,music and culture tourism;sports tourism being a signif-icant driver.

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The GovernmentWednesday proposed to

waive registration charges forelectric vehicles to boost adop-tion of environment-friendlyvehicles.

The proposal comes at atime when the country planshigh penetration of such vehi-cles by 2030.

Issuing the draft notifica-tion to amend the CentralMotor Vehicles Rules(CMVR), 1989, the road trans-port and highways ministrysaid battery-operated vehicles“shall be exempted from thepayment of fees for the pur-pose of issue or renewal of reg-istration certificate and assign-ment of new registrationmark”.

The exemption will apply

to all category of vehicles,including two-wheelers.

The ministry has issuedthe draft notification foramendments in CMVR wherethe amendments in Rule 81 areproposed for such waiver.

The amendments will bedone in exercise of the powersconferred on the central gov-ernment under various sec-tions of the Motor VehiclesAct, 1988. Comments fromstakeholders have been soughtin a month.

“The said draft rules shallbe taken into considerationafter the expiry of a period of30 days from the date onwhich the copies of this noti-fication as published in theGazette of India, are madeavailable to the public,” thedraft notification said.

The objections or sugges-

tions that may be receivedfrom any person with respectto the said draft rules beforethe expiry of the aforesaidperiod will be considered bythe central government, itsaid.

Last year, Road Transportand Highways Minister NitinGadkari said a blueprint hasbeen drawn to boost produc-tion of electric vehicles in thecountry and take their share to15 per cent of total automo-biles in the next five years.

It is time India shouldthink to promote green vehi-cles and curb pollution,Gadkari said.

Earlier to promote electricvehicles in India, the govern-ment had approved greenlicence plates bearing numbersin white fonts for private e-vehicles and yellow for taxis.

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Srinagar: Security forces havearrested five overground work-ers of proscribed terror outfitHizbul Mujahideen in Jammu& Kashmir's Shopian district,police said Wednesday.

"Based on specific input,police arrested five associates ofterrorists from Shopian district,"an official spokesman said.

He said on IED, which themilitants were planning to useagainst security forces, wasrecovered at the instance ofarrested persons.

The arrested individualshave been identified as AqibNazir Rathar, Amir MajeedWani, Sameer Ahmed Bhat,Faisal Farooq Ahanger andRayees Ahmed Ganai, the offi-cial said.

"During questioning of thearrested persons, it wasrevealed that terrorists of pro-scribed outfit HM, along withabove stated associates, wereplanning to target police andsecurity forces by planting anIED in the area," he said. PTI

(��"��2�7��6�3�� Bengaluru: Senior Karnataka

legislator R Roshan Baig, whowas suspended by the Congresson Tuesday for attacking its Stateleadership, Wednesday said hewas a "disciplined soldier of theparty" and was being punishedfor speaking the truth.

Asserting that his com-ments against state Congressleaders were the opinion of theparty workers, he said he was inthe Indian National Congressheaded by Rahul Gandhi and"not in the Siddu(Siddaramaiah) Congress".

"Last night, I got the infor-mation that I have been sus-pended from the party...Is it acrime to speak the truth? WhatI have said is the truth," Baigsaid.

Speaking to reporters here,he said he had not criticisedGandhi and that he continuedto be a "disciplined soldier of theparty".

"My criticism of state lead-ers is true. Is speaking the trutha crime?" said Baig, who wassuspended on Tuesday nightwith immediate effect, citing

"anti-party" activities.Hitting out at Karnataka

Congress leaders for the party'sdismal show in the Lok Sabhapolls, Baig had recently heldCongress Legislature Party(CLP) leader Siddaramaiah's"arrogance" and KPCC presi-dent Dinesh Gundu Rao's"immaturity" responsible forthe "flop show".

He had also called Congressgeneral secretary K CVenugopal a "buffoon".

Baig had dropped hints ofquitting the party and appealedto Muslims to "compromise"with the situation on the BJP-ledNDA returning to power at theCentre.

The Karnataka PradeshCongress Committee (KPCC)had issued a show-cause noticeto the MLA for his conduct, towhich he had not responded.

Noting that Gandhi hadoffered to resign as the AllIndia Congress Committee(AICC) president, takingresponsibility for the poll defeat,Baig said, "When we criticisehere in the state for the party

winning only one seat in theLok Sabha polls, action is beingtaken."

"What I have said about afew of our state leaders is theopinion of thousands of ourkaryakartas," he said.

Baig, a seven-time MLAand a former Karnataka minis-ter, has been unhappy with thestate Congress leadership overnot being included in the coali-tion cabinet headed by ChiefMinister HD Kumaraswamy.

The senior leader said hefelt "sorry" for Gandhi andalleged that the Lok Sabha pollcampaign in Karnataka wasrun in such a way that "we werenot involved and there was nopolitical management".

"...I have not criticisedRahul Gandhi. He is the IndianNational Congress president. Iam in the Indian NationalCongress, not in the SidduCongress.

"I am a disciplined soldierof the Indian National Congressand was upset about the state ofthe party in Karnataka," hesaid. PTI

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Thiruvananthapuram: TheCPI(M)-led LDF Governmentin Kerala on Wednesdaydemanded that the Centre bringa legislation to protect the faithof Lord Ayyappa’s devotees vis-iting the hill shrine inSabarimala, which was orderedby the Supreme Court last yearto open its doors to women ofall age groups.

The state government'sdemand comes in the backdropof Kollam MP N KPremachandran moving a pri-vate members bill in the LokSabha against women's entryinto the Lord Ayyappa temple.The bill is likely to come up thisweek in the Lok Sabha.

"The Sabarimala issue willbe coming up before the centralgovernment as a private bill.Everybody knows the fate of theprivate bills... ," DevaswomMinister KadakampallySurendran told reporters here.

To ensure that such a situ-ation does not arise, the BJP stateleadership should prevail on

the Centre to bring in a legisla-tion and ensure legal protection,he said.

The BJP government has a"brute majority" in the Houseand hence should bring in a leg-islation on the matter, he added.

Kerala had witnessed mas-sive protests by right-wing out-fits and the BJP after the LDFgovernment decided to imple-ment the apex court's September28 verdict last year, lifting therestriction on entry of women ofmenstruating age into the hillshrine to offer prayers.

Earlier, the temple's customsdid not allow girls and womenin the menstrual age of 10-50years to enter the shrine as thepresiding deity, Lord Ayyappa,is a 'Naishtika Brahmachari'(perennial celibate). PTI

��"�?54

Five months after the BJP-ledMaharashtra Government

agreed to shift the Nanar oilrefinery project out of eco-sen-sitive Ratnagiri district in coastalKonkan region, MaharashtraChief Minister DevendraFadnavis on Wednesdayannounced that the controver-sial refinery project would nowbe located in the neighbouringRaigad district.

In a written reply to a queryraised in the Assembly duringthe ongoing monsoon session ofthe State Legislature, Fadnavissaid that his government wouldlocate the Nanar Refinery pro-ject in Raigad district instead ofRatnagiri district, followingopposition to the project fromthe local villagers and variouspolitical parties.

“There is no opposition tothe refinery project from thepeople in Raigad district. Thepeople from 40 villages have notshown any resistance to theacquisition of the land for theproject,” the Chief Ministersaid.

It may be recalled that aspart of the seat-sharing agree-ment for the Lok Sabha pollsarrived at between the rulingBJP and its alliance partnerShiv Sena on February 18 thisyear, the Devendra Fadnavisgovernment had accepted theSena’s demand to shift the Nanarproject out of Ratnagiri project.The shifting of Nanar projectwas one of the Sena's demandsfor entering into seat-sharing

pact with the ruling BJP for theLS polls.

The Shiv Sena has beenopposing the location of Nanaroil refinery project in Ratnagiridistrict right from day one. Somuch so that Shiv Sena chiefUddhav Thackeray had on June27, 2018 refused to PetroleumMinister Dharmendra Pradhanwho wanted to call on the for-mer to allay the former’s fearsabout the contentious Nanar oilrefinery project.

On his part, Pradhan hadsaid: “This is a very ambitiousproject for India, especiallyMaharashtra. We are with anopen mind discussing all theissues with stakeholders andwill continue to do so. I will per-sonally go and explain the pro-ject to Uddav Thackeray. Thereare some genuine concerns.Our companies will try andaddress those concerns.Fundamentally there is no oppo-sition. There are concerns offarmers which will be listened toand addressed”

The Sena had registered itsfirst protest against the Nanarproject on April 12, a day afteran Indian consortium compris-ing Indian Oil Corporation(IOC), Bharat PetroleumCorporation Ltd (BPCL) andHindustan PetroleumCorporation Ltd (BPCL) signeda Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) withSaudi Arabian Oil Co (SaudiAramco) for setting an oil refin-ery and petroleum productscomplex at Nanar in Rajapurtaluka of Ratnagiri district.

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Barmer: Nineteen Pakistanimigrants living in Rajasthan'sBarmer for the past severaldecades were granted Indian cit-izenship on Wednesday, an offi-cial said.

Certificates of Indian citi-zenship were handed out tothem at an event held at the dis-trict collectorate.

The state government hasgranted Indian citizenship to 19Pak migrants who have been liv-ing in Barmer district for morethan a decade, District CollectorHimanshu Gupta said.

He, along with AdditionalDistrict Collector Rakesh KumarSharma, handed out the certifi-cates to the migrants.

Expressing their happiness,the migrants said getting Indiancitizenship after years of wait isa dream come true.

The decision to grant citi-zenship to these 19 migrants liv-ing in Barmer, along with 10 liv-ing in Pali and five in Jalore wasannounced by the Rajasthangovernment on Tuesday. PTI

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Mumbai: In a rebuke for the Government led by hisown party, senior BJP leader Eknath Khadseclaimed on Wednesday that Maharashtra has wit-nessed the highest number of malnutrition deathsin the last five years.

He was speaking during a discussion in theLegislative Assembly on ashram-shalas (residentialschools for tribal children) run or aided by the TribalDevelopment Department.

A code prescribing mandatory facilities at theseschools was prepared eight months ago but its copieswere yet to be made available and therefore it couldnot be implemented, the BJP leader alleged.

The code also prescribes how much salary thesecurity guard employed at ashram schools shouldget. Guards get �5,000 per month for round-the-clockduty at present, and their duty hours should be cur-tailed, he said.

Tribal Development Minister Ashok Uike saidthe decision on pay scale of security guards wouldbe taken soon.

Khadse said decisions taken by the Governmentare not implemented immediately. PTI

2��,�$��'�1��

Sambhal/Fatehpur: At least 15people lost their lives and 36 otherssustained injuries in two separateaccidents in the State, police said onWednesday.

Seven people were killed and 25injured when a bus collided with atruck in Fatehpur on Wednesdaymorning, they said.

Additional Superintendent ofPolice Pooja Yadav said the accidenttook place at the Bilari-KaunhModh under the Chaandpur policestation area.

"In the collision of a private buswith a truck, at least seven personslost their lives, while 25 other sus-tained injuries. The injured havebeen hospitalised for treatment,"Yadav said, adding that the identi-ty of the victims is being ascertained.

Police officials suspect that thetoll might go up.

The bus was going fromFatehpur to Jahanabad when theaccident occurred.

In another accident that took

place late Tuesday night, at leasteight people were killed and 11 oth-ers injured when their vehicle col-lided with a mini-goods carrier onthe Moradabad-Agra NationalHighway in Sambhal, the officialssaid.

Superintendent of Police(Sambhal) Yamuna Prasad said onWednesday that the victims werereturning home after attending awedding when the accident tookplace near Lehrawan village in thedistrict.

The injured were hospitalisedand the bodies sent for postmortem,the SP added.

Uttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath expressed griefover the loss of lives and conveyedhis condolence to the family mem-bers of the bereaved, a statementissued by the UP Government inLucknow said.

The Chief Minister has direct-ed officials to ensure that the injuredpersons get adequate treatment, itadded. PTI

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��"��"�� 0��;�� /� ��'� ��Mumbai: A person cannot be

branded as a terrorist merelyfor using the word "jehad", aMaharashtra court observedwhile acquitting three accusedof terror charges.

The Akola-based court ofspecial judge A S Jadhav madethe observation while hearinga case against the three personsaccused under the stringent theUnlawful Activities PreventionAct (UAPA), the Arms Act andthe Bombay Police Act.

Abdul Razzaque (24),Shoeb Khan (24) and SalimMalik (26) were booked undervarious Indian Penal Codesections, including 307(attempt to murder) and 332(voluntarily causing hurt to

deter public servant from hisduty), following an attack onpolicemen outside a mosque inPusad area of Akola onSeptember 25, 2015, on theoccasion of Eid uz Zoha, overbeef ban in the state.

According to the prosecu-tion, Razzaque arrived at themosque, took out a knife andstabbed two policemen onduty and said before the attackthat because of the beef ban, hewould kill the cops.

The Anti-Terrorism Squad(ATS) claimed they accusedwere part of a conspiracy toinfluence Muslim youths tojoin terrorist organisations.

Jadhav observed, "Itappears that accused Razzaque

exhibited his anger by violenceagainst the government andsome Hindu organisations forban on cow slaughter."

"No doubt he used theword 'jihad'. But, it was adven-turous to jump to the conclu-sion that only for using theword 'jihad' he should bebranded as a terrorist," hesaid.

According to dictionary,the word 'jihad' literally means"struggle", he pointed out.

"Jihad is an Arabic wordwhich literally means strivingor struggling... Thereforemerely the use of word 'jihad'by the accused would not beproper to brand him as a ter-rorist," the judge said. PTI

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Narsinghpur (MP): A localcourt on Wednesday sentUnion Minister Prahlad Patel's26-year-old son Prabal Patel,who was arrested in an attemptto murder case, to police cus-tody for a day.

Prabal Patel was amongseven persons arrested in con-nection with an attack on agroup of persons at Gotegaontown on Monday night that leftfive people injured.

Efforts have been intensi-fied to nab the minister'snephew, Monu, and four othersalso wanted in connection withthe case, police said.

Judicial Magistrate AjaySingh sent Prabal to a one-daypolice custody on Wednesday.Six other accused were remand-ed in judicial custody till July 1.

Prabal Patel, a resident ofKisani Mohalla in Gotegaon,has been named as the mainaccused in the case, police offi-cials added.

Prahlad Patel, the BJP MPfrom Damoh, was recentlyinducted in the Union cabinetas the Minister of State(Independent Charge) forTourism.

Monu Patel (27), who is atlarge, is the son of PrahladPatel's younger brother JalamSingh Patel, a former MadhyaPradesh minister and sittingBJP MLA from Narsinghpur.

As per the complaint,Himanshu Rathore and RahulRajput were returning homeafter attending a marriage cer-emony when they were alleged-ly intercepted and abused byPrabal Patel and his associates.

They were taken to MonuPatel's office and beaten up, thecomplainants alleged.

Later, the accused took theduo to the residence of oneShivam Rai, where they beat upShivam, his father Ishwar Raiand his friend Mayank.Gunshots were also fired andone of the bullets hit Rathore,injuring him in the hand, thecomplaint said.

Police are yet to find outwhat led to the attacks, the offi-cials said.

The accused were bookedunder IPC sections 307(attempt to murder) and 365(kidnapping with intent towrongfully confine a person),they added. PTI

7��,�� Mumbai: A local who first

spotted the remains of SheenaBora in a Raigad jungle in2012 deposed before the trialcourt here on Wednesday.

Sheena (24) was allegedlykilled by her mother and mediaexecutive Indrani Mukerjeawith the help of others in April2012 and the body was burnt ina jungle in neighbouring Raigaddistrict.

As per the prosecution,Ganesh Dhene had spotted askeleton at Gagode village inPen teshil of Raigad days afterthe murder.

Dhene is a 'police patil' whoare appointed in villages wherethere is no police station. Theirjob is to keep police informedabout happenings in the area.

Sheena's murder came tolight in 2015 following thearrest of Indrani Mukerjea's dri-ver Shyamvar Rai.

Then it was establishedthat the skeleton found in theRaigad jungle in 2012 was ofSheena, the biological daughterof Indrani, born from a previ-ous relationship.

During his testimonybefore CBI judge J C Jagdale,Dhene said he was collectingmangoes when he spotted aburnt skeleton. PTI

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Mumbai: The special courthearing the bail pleas of thethree accused in the Dr PayalTadvi suicide case onWednesday said proceedingswill not be video recorded inthe absence of necessary facil-ities.

The court had orderedvideo recording of the bailproceedings earlier under theprovisions of the ScheduledCastes and Scheduled Tribes(Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

But the prosecution sub-mitted that police were unableto make necessary arrange-ments, and sought some time.

Defence lawyer AbadPonda pointed out that as perthe law, recording was required

only during the main trial.Advocate Gunratan

Sadavarte, appearing for thevictim's family, claimed that thestate government and thepolice were "not serious" whenit came to atrocities againstscheduled castes and scheduledtribes.

Judge P B Jadhav noted inhis order that though theSC/ST Act was amended andvideo recording of all the pro-ceedings was made mandato-ry two years ago, infrastructurewas yet to be made available.

It was the state govern-ment's responsibility, he said.

The court had directed thepolice to make the arrange-ments but "police machinery

has its own difficulties", Jadhavsaid.

"Bail proceedings arerequired to be decided expedi-tiously. Therefore this court hasno option but to proceed with-out video recording," he said.

The bail pleas will be heardon Friday.

Tadvi, 26, a second-yearpostgraduate medical studentattached to BYL Nair Hospital,allegedly committed suicide inher hostel room on May 22.

Her family alleged thatthree of her seniors — HemaAhuja, Bhakti Meher andAnkita Khandelwal — raggedher and hurled casteist abus-es at her, forcing Tadvi to takeher life. PTI

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The big bad news is that openerShikhar Dhawan has been ruledout of the entire tournament due

to a metacarpal fracture in the lefthand.

“Several specialist opinions haverevealed that Shikhar Dhawan has sus-tained a fracture at the base of his firstmetacarpal of the left hand. His handwill remain in a cast till mid-July whichrules him out of the rest of the ICCWorld Cup 2019,” team manager SunilSubramaniam announced at a Pressconference at Hampshire Bowl onWednesday.

He said the Team India manage-ment has “written to the ICC’s techni-cal committee seeking a replacementand Rishabh Pant will be the personcovering Dhawan.”

After being left out of the 15, Panthad been flown in last week and hadjoined the team to train in Manchesterwhere India played against Pakistanand won by 89 runs.

Dhawan, however, was seenplaying football with the teamat nets just before theannouncement wasmade and seemed to berelaxed and reconciledto his fate. He had justmade a return to formafter a wishy-washyinaugural against SouthAfrica in the openinggame. He scored a scintil-lating 127 runs in the secondgame against Australia at TheOval where a Pat Cummins risingdelivery hit his hand and did him in.The player, known to have a high paintolerance level, continued to play 20more overs after his fracture and mid-field first aid.

After the match, assistant coachSanjay Bangar had said the teamwould not like to lose a fiery opener likeDhawan and had decided to wait fortwo weeks before taking a final deci-sion with follow-up scans. Dhawanattended all practice sessions, takingjogs of the stadium and playing foot-ball with the boys on most occasions.

India’s mega opening worries were,however, settled down by KL Rahulwho has since been promoted up the

order from No 4. He made a solid 57against Pakistan in his newly accord-ed position. He contributed to a record136-run opening partnership withRohit Sharma. Rahul’s form and deter-mination at the top of the order wouldhave Pant waiting in the wings for now

and give Kohli a little less angst aboutShikhar's absence.

Though Team India’s strength andconditioning coach Shanker Basu saidlater in the day that fitness was thenewest and most potent tool of the cur-rent Indian squad, and that the Indianteam has the becoming record of thelowest injury rate despite playing dou-ble the amount of cricket that otherteams, Kohli and the management havetheir concern caps on for BhuvneshwarKumar who sustained a “hamstringstiffness” during the match againstPakistan. He had to leave the field with-out completing his over and the ballwas given to Vijay Shankar who tookImam Ul Haq's wicket in his very firstdelivery of the World Cup.

Bhuvneshwar has been ruled outfor at least two matches, maybe three,which means against Afghanistan,West Indies and England. At nets onWednesday, the pace bowler tookthree rounds of the field along with thesupport staff, not jogging but walking.

Mohammed Shami, meanwhile,bowled consistently during training toRohit Sharma, KL Rahul and ViratKohli. “Bhuvi is a huge concern butShami is fit and raring to go,”Kohli hadsaid at Manchester after packing offPakistan.

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Fitness, training and nutrition arethe three tools with which Team

India has turned into an athletic unitwith minimal injuries despite playingconstant cricket through the year. Thebowlers are bowling quicker, they areall fit and the fielding has been opti-mal, not to mention the players car-rying their blades for long inningswithout much fatigue.

“Fitness has become a lifestylewith this new Indian team. Training,sleep-wake cycle and nutrition are thethree hallmarks of a professional ath-lete and everybody is down and run-ning in that direction. It is not anArmy drill type of thing. They dotheir own personal stuff, they knowtheir bodies very well. We all func-tion very differently from the inside.So one man’s food can be anotherman’s poison,” said the team’s strengthand conditioning coach ShankerBasu.

He, however, said that is was amajor challenge to get the boys backinto working condition after theIPL.

“Jokingly we would talk aboutIPL as the Mount Everest. Then wecome to base camp and then we hitKilimanjaro. During IPL, the boysstart sleeping very late, 2 am, some-times 3. To get them back to sleep-ing early, back to a training regimewas a challenge. We had only eightdays for that. But, in the past fouryears, the boys have started quicklyunderstanding the value of sleep-wake cycle, good nutrition pro-gramme, supplement, training,strength work and conditioning. Wetry to educate them about the humanbody has a particular sleep-wakecycle. During IPL, whether you likeit or not, the boys take a beating. ThisWorld Cup preparation was very crit-ical,” he said.

So the team took to technologyand introduced several gadgets tomonitor the players’ fitness quo-tient. First came the dexa scan whichgenerally measures bone density butthe team doctor used it to ascertaineach player’s fat percentage. “Themoment you have a number in yourhand, it brings a healthy coemptionin the team. Healthy eating habits is

the only way to bring down the fatpercentage. So, everybody starteddoing that like fish takes to water.Everybody started eating better. Oncethey did that they lost the extra fatand they all started moving well,”Basu explained.

The biggest achievement, howev-er, was that the Indian team havingthe lowest number of injuries eventhough it plays double the amount ofcricket than other any other team inthe world. The boys are keen on eat-ing the right stuff. “To cut a long storyshort, we have cut on junk big timeand this has made this team as goodas an athletic team. We don’t need totell them to do that. All we did wasa dexa scan and subsequently a DNAtest that gives you what sort of a per-son are you whether you are glutenintolerant or you are lactose intoler-ant etc. So they are all aware and mak-ing informed decisions based on theirreport cards,” Basu added.

“During season, especially thejourney started in 2015 what we are

seeing today is the culmination ofefforts in the last few years. The brandof training and the culture is fantas-tic

Talking about the makeover inthe camp where fast bowlers are con-cerned, Basu was all praise for theirself-applied brakes. “The manage-ment wanted a fast bowling unit

which was good and could go on andon. In the last year, the proof of thepudding has been seen in the results.Bumrah, Bhuvi, Umesh Yadav — allof them have started bowling muchquicker. The reason for that is con-sistent work with a few lifestylemodifications with regards to nutri-tion and the way we train. We got theGPS last year. It gives you data ofimmense value. Based on that westarted understanding our trainingmethodology a lot more and based onthat we started preparing a schedule.All this has helped us in our fastbowlers bowling 145 clicks consis-tently, even in Test matches. This didnot happen overnight,” Basu point-ed out.

The team made it a point in 2015that they would train consistently.Just like batting, bowling and field-ing, they planned to work on fitnessseriously. “The captain and thecoach wanted to use fitness as a vehi-cle and I was there to augment that,”Basu said.

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Boost is the secret of pacer MohammedShami’s energy. Not the drink, but the boost

that came from his personal problems and aseries of failed fitness tests. So much so that hisstrength and conditioning coach ShankerBasu calls it a blessing in disguise.

“Shami failing the fitness test was a bless-ing in disguise. After that, we was a changedman, so determined. He is blessed with someamazing gene. We all know about intermittentfasting. Hedoesn’t evenknow what itis , but hedoes it on hisown. His fatpercentagein threeyears hasr e m a i n e dexactly thesame. He is apiece ofwork,” hesaid.

S h a m ihas long beens t r u g g l i n gwith maritaldiscord anddivorce issuesbut his mainfailing hadbeen hisaversion tofitness train-ing. “He usedto be the last one to get into the bus,” Basu said.Which makes the bowler’s present makeover abig achievement.

“The best part is he has changed his entiretraining regime. Now training is part of hislifestyle which never used to be so. But afterhis personal setback and failing the fitness testhe is a changed man. This is the 2.0 version ofMohammed Shami,” a proud Basu said.

Indeed, one look at the way he was bowl-ing at nets on Wednesday, and you would knowthis right-arm-fast-medium quick has changedsince 2015 when he took 77 or the 80 wicketsat hand. The intervening years brought in fat,a failed marriage, a public spat, hovering banand a lazy fitness drive. But bowling to RohitSharma and then Virat Kohli, in the absenceof hamstrung Bhuvneshwar Kumar, he did notlook one bit rusted.

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England fast bowler Mark Woodsaid he had no regrets about persist-

ing with short-pitched deliveries afterhitting Afghanistan batsmanHashmatullah Shahidi with a bouncer.

Shahidi had made 24 when hetook his eye off a 90 mile-per-hour (145kilometres-per-hour) delivery from theDurham quick that thudded into theside of his helmet at Old Trafford onTuesday and saw him hit the turfimmediately after the impact.

But instead of retiring hurt, the 24-year-old donned a new helmet and car-ried on to top-score for Afghanistan,with 76 in a lopsided 150-run loss.

Wood, while concerned enough tocheck on Shahidi's condition, had noregrets about testing him and the otherAfghanistan batsmen with more short-pitched deliveries.

"Well, I was concerned when I firsthit him, obviously," said Wood.

"It was a bit of a bad blow and thenit's out of my hands really. You have tolet the medical staff do their thing. Ichecked he was all right himself, said'are you OK?'. Then I was back in thegame mode."

"Morgy (England skipper EoinMorgan) wanted me to fire another fewdown. If that's what the captain wants,you listen to orders," the 29-year-oldDurham quick added.

"Once you know he (the batsman)is all right, it's game time again."

Told he had split Hashmatullah'shelmet, Wood grinned: "I'm bowlingthem quite fast... For a change!"

Wood and fellow England fast

bowler Jofra Archer shared five wick-ets against Afghanistan as they contin-ued an effective partnership that hashelped take the hosts to the top of the10-team World Cup table.

"I thought, collectively, we bowledreally well," said Wood.

"It was difficult at times because Ididn't feel the Afghanistan batsmenwere coming at us and we had to try tomix it up, get them to play a few shots.

"It was nice to try something differ-ent and get a few wickets." England'svictory over basement side Afghanistanwas set up by an extraordinary inningsfrom Morgan who, defying a backproblem, hit a one-day internationalrecord 17 sixes in his blistering 148.

"It was amazing, amazing," saidWood.

"I was delighted for him. Comingoff his back injury scare and stuff, andnot knowing how he would play or feel,I was just astounded by how well heplayed out there.

"A lot of the bowlers tend to sit inthe back of the dressing room and tryand relax but even I came out andwatched that because it was great to seeon such a big occasion."

Under Morgan's captaincy, Englandhave risen to the top of the ODI rank-ings since their woeful first-round exitat the 2015 World Cup.

"I know we've played like this forfour years now, and there's been someremarkable things," said Wood.

"But to do it in a World Cup gamespeaks volumes about how Eoin wantsthe team to play and the values we'vekept going throughout those fouryears."

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Even Eoin Morgan wasshocked by his record-breaking innings against

Afghanistan but claims hisEngland teammates still won’t beimpressed.

Morgan blasted an incredible17 sixes — the most in ODI his-tory — as part of a game-chang-ing knock of 148 at Old Trafford,breaking the previous record of 16jointly-held by master-blastersAB de Villiers, Chris Gayle andRohit Sharma.

It paced England to a score of397/6 — their highest at an ICCMen’s World Cup — and theyeventually recorded a 150-run tri-umph to return to the top of thetable.

Morgan brought up his cen-tury off 57 balls, although that was11 slower than Jos Buttler’sEngland record of 46 deliveriesagainst Pakistan in 2015 — mean-ing the skipper doesn’t have com-plete ownership of braggingrights.

“I think I’m probably justbecoming a target for the guys inthe changing room to take down,”joked Morgan. “The hundred Iscored is considered a slow one inour changing room — guys talkabout it all the time. So it’s a toughschool!

“Never have I ever thought Icould play a knock like that butI’m delighted that I have.

“It’s weird. It’s very strange tohave that sixes record. It’s some-thing, along with the innings, Inever thought I’d do. It’s a niceplace to be.

“The last four years, I’veprobably played the best in mycareer but that hasn’t involved a50 or 60-ball hundred.

“I thought I would have it inthe locker somewhere but it’snever happened, so I sort of gaveup on it a little bit.

“When I came to the crease,it was a 50/50 shout whethermyself or Jos [Buttler] went in andthat probably helped becauseafter I faced a few balls, I had nochoice.

“I had to start taking risksbecause of him coming in nextand then after I got dropped [on28], it was a matter of just keepgoing. It was one of those days.”

Morgan's innings was evenmore remarkable given the fact hestruggled with back spasms dur-ing the last game against WestIndies and had to face a late fit-ness test in order to play againstAfghanistan.

That certainly didn’t hinderhim at the crease and onceEngland had set an intimidatingtotal, the bowlers clinically fin-ished the job to secure an emphat-ic victory.

And among the excitementsurrounding batting records,Morgan was quick to praise hispace attack — headlined by JofraArcher taking 3/52 and MarkWood an impressive 2/40 fromten overs.

“They were very good on awicket that didn’t offer a greatdeal,” added Morgan. “It hadgood bounce and turned a bit forthe spinners but seam movementor swing — it had none.

“So when guys execute hittinga good length and using theirbounce well, it is satisfyingbecause it’s very hard to do.

“When the ball doesn’t movearound, it obviously means yourpace is important and all threeguys’ [Wood, Archer and ChrisWoakes] pace looked good.”

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Adejected Afghanistan coachPhil Simmons on

Wednesday hinted that chiefselector Dawlat Ahmadzai hada role in shock removal ofAsghar Afghan from captaincydays before the World Cup.

Lying at the bottom of thetable after losing all of their fivematches so far, a blame gamehas started with Ahmadzaiholding the Simmons-ledcoaching set-up responsible forAfghanistan's below-par showin the ongoing World Cup.

“I am in the middle of aWorld Cup and trying to get ourteam to perform to the level weexpect but at the end of theWorld Cup I will tell theAfghanistan people about thepart that Mr Dawlat Ahmadzaihad to play in our preparationand his part in the dismissal of#AsgharAfghan,” Simmons

tweeted.Simmons was reacting to a

tweet by an Afghanistan jour-nalist where he wrote thatAhmadzai believes the poorshow of the national team wasbecause of lack of preparationon the part of the coaching staff.

In a surprising move,Afghanistan Cricket Board(ACB) named Gulbadin Naib asthe limited-overs captain,replacing experienced AsgharAfghan.

But the decision didn’t godown well with the team mem-bers with senior players likeMohammad Nabi and RashidKhan openly questioning themove.

Afghanistan has so far suf-fered defeats against Australia,South Africa, Sri Lanka, NewZealand and Sri Lanka.

Afghanistan is set to playIndia in their next game onSaturday.

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Af g h a n i s t a n ' sH a s h m a t u l l a h

Shahidi said his desirenot to worry his moth-er was the main reasonhe got back up afterbeing felled by a MarkWood bouncer in aWorld Cup matchagainst England.

Shahidi had made24 when he took his eyeoff a 90 mph deliveryfrom the fast bowlerthat thudded into theside of his helmet andsaw him hit the turfimmediately after thesickening impact.

It seemed the 24-year-old was about toretire but, donning anew helmet, Shahidicarried on to top-score

for Afghanistan with76 in an otherwise lop-sided 150-run loss.

"I got up earlybecause of my mum,"Shahidi told reportersafter Afghanistan's fifthdefeat in as manymatches this tourna-ment.

"I lost my fatherlast year so I didn'twant her to hurt. Mywhole family waswatching, even my bigbrother was here in theground watching. I did-n't want them to beworried for me," addedShahidi, with thePresident ofAfghanistan, AshrafGhani, also in atten-dance at Old Trafford.

But the fact he wasallowed to ignore med-

ical advice is bound toraise questions abouthow the InternationalCricket Council aredealing with headinjuries at this WorldCup.

"The ICC doctorscame to me, and ourphysios, and my helmetwas broken in the mid-dle," Shahidi recalled.

"They just told mejust, 'let's go'. I toldthem I can't leave myteam-mate at thatmoment. My teamneeded me. I carriedon.

"After the match Iwent to the ICC doctorand talked to them.They took care of meand said it will be fine,Inshallah (god will-ing)."

Afghanistan teamofficial, Naveed Sayeh,confirmed Shahidi hadacted against advice inbatting on.

"The doctors toldhim, 'please come off 'and to leave theground. He told them,'no, I'm now OK so I'llcontinue my batting',"Sayeh said.

��Tuesday's match

was tough onAfghanistan bowlingstar Rashid Khan, whoconceded the second-most expensive figuresin one-day internation-al history with a returnof 0-110 in nine overs.

Yet things mighthave been different forthe star leg-spinner hadnot England captainEoin Morgan -- who hita record 17 sixes in amatch-winning 148 --been dropped off

Rashid on 28 whenDawlat Zadran made amess of a catch at deepmidwicket.

"It happens, for anyplayer, so not onlyRashid," saidAfghanistan captainGulbadin Naib."Everyone knows howgood Rashid is.

"I think today wasnot his day, but it'scricket, so sometimesyou do well, sometimesthis kind of stuff."

M e a n w h i l e ,Morgan insistedEngland did not have aplan to target Rashid."It certainly wasn'tdeliberate," he said.

"We don't go intoany game with any pre-conceived ideas.

"But like all goodplayers, you probablylearn the most aboutyourself when yourbacks are against thewall."

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Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naibadmitted Eoin Morgan’s destruc-

tive innings was the best he has everseen after his side slipped to defeatagainst England at Old Trafford.

England skipper Morgan blasteda mesmerising 148 off 71 balls, includ-ing 17 sixes — a world record num-ber of maximums for an ODI.

Afghanistan’s star spinner RashidKhan struggled with final figures of0/110 but Gulbadin was keen toabsolve Rashid of any blame and con-ceded that a drop of Morgan in thedeep on 28 was the pivotal momentin the match.

“From the start of the game, theboys did well for 30 overs but afterthat, England smashed every ball,” saidGulbadin.

“We dropped Morgan on 28, so ifwe didn't then maybe they don’t getthat score. Maybe we lost from there.

“I’m not disappointed by Rashid— he’s one of the best spinners, a starplayer in the world. This happens toany player, not just Rashid.

“It wasn’t his day but that’s crick-et — sometimes you do well, some-times it’s like this. I'm happy with him,

it’s not a big deal. Inshallah he willbecome stronger from this.

“But you have to give credit toEngland and Morgan especially for hisbatting. He showed his class and I havenever seen this kind of batting before.”

While England climbed back to thetop of the table, Afghanistan are stillbottom of the pile with five defeats fromfive games.

However, for the first time in thistournament they completed 50 overswith the bat — making 247/8 asHashmatullah Shahidi led the waywith an impressive 76 from 100 balls.

It was a battling performance andGulbadin claims his side showedenough fight in defeat to leave him feel-ing good about the upcoming match-es.

“We take a lot of positives from this— I thought we did well in everydepartment,” he added. “We missed onecatch off Morgan and we lost fromthere.

“After 30 overs, the score wasn’t toobad, so we take a lot of things from here— we are improving day by day in eachdepartment.

“It was definitely a good thing forthe team that we batted 50 overs as well— that is a positive sign.”

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Brazil were held to a 0-0draw against Venezuela

in the Copa America as a latestrike from Philippe Coutinhowas disallowed after a contro-versial VAR decision.

Coutinho thought he hadfired Brazil into the quarter-finals in the 87th minutewhen he bundled home a fin-ish from Everton Soares’ dri-ving run down the left wingat Salvador’s Arena FonteNova on Tuesday.

But for the second time inthe match, Chilean refereeJulio Bascunan ruled out theBrazilian goal after beingalerted to an infringement bythe video assistant referee.

The goal appeared to havebeen disallowed due to atouch by Liverpool strikerRoberto Firmino, although itwas not clear that Firminohad been offside as the ballgrazed him on the way intothe net.

Brazil left the field toboos but remain top of GroupA with four points from twogames, and one game to play.

Venezuela have twopoints from two games andwill fancy their chances ofadvancing with their finalgame coming against Bolivia,who suffered their secondstraight defeat earlier onTuesday in a 3-1 loss to Peru.

Brazil, who had made

hard work of beating Boliviain their opener, once againstruggled to find a creativespark against well-organizedopponents.

Firmino was kept quiet byVenezuela's defense withYordan Osorio and MikelVillanueva neutralizing theLiverpool striker.

The tale of the first halflay in the statistics from theopening 45 minutes, withBrazil recording only oneshot on target despite enjoy-ing 75 percent possession.

In fact, the best chance ofthe half fell to Venezuela,when Salomon Rondon head-ed Yangel Herrera's cross justinches wide with Alissonbeaten.

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the Venezuela net in the 38thminute but the goal was dis-allowed after Bascunan ruledVillanueva had been fouled inthe build-up.

Brazil left the field toloud boos and whistling, andmanager Tite wasted no timein making a change at half-time, bringing on ManchesterCity 's Gabriel Jesus forRicharlison.

Jesus made an instantimpact looking lively downthe left flank and curling ashot just wide of the post on57 minutes.

Moments later Jesus

looked to have fired Brazilinto the lead.

Once again the strikeradvanced menacingly on theVenezuela penalty area andunleashed a fierce low shot.

The ball deflected offVillanueva into the path ofFirmino, who then squaredfor Jesus who continued hisrun.

The striker took a touchand buried his finish as thehome fans erupted. But thefestive atmosphere fell flat asthe goal was referred to VAR,who promptly chalked thescore off after ruling Firminohad been offside when hecollected the ricochet.

A deflated Brazil tookseveral minutes to regroup butgrew increasingly desperate asvaluable minutes ticked awayand Venezuela held firm.

Jesus went close again inthe 76th minute when DaniAlves whipped a cross into thesix-yard box.

But again Venezuela'sdefense was rock-solid, withJesus bundled off the ball andunable to get a shot away.

Coutinho looked to havebroken the deadlock threeminutes from time, but VAR'sintervention rescued a pre-cious point for Venezuela.

Fernandinho almostsnatched victory with a head-er in the 10th minute of timeadded on, but his effort rolledjust wide of the post.

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Marta secured her place among thelegends of football after the

Brazilian become the World Cup’s all-time leading scorer in the 1-0 winagainst Italy in Valenciennes.

“This record doesn’t belong to me,it belongs to all of us,” said the 33-year-old after crashing home a penalty with16 minutes left to score her 17th WorldCup goal on Tuesday.

“I share it with anyone fighting formore equality.”

Brazil set up a knockout stageclash with either hosts France orGermany after the 74th-minute strikemoved Marta one goal ahead of theGerman Miroslav Klose in the recordbooks.

“Do you think he’ll change his mindabout retiring and play at the nextWorld Cup?" Marta joked.

Brazil finished third on goal differ-ence in Group C behind Italy andAustralia — who beat Jamaica 4-1 —after all three ended level on six points.

Marta wasn’t fazed by the possibil-ity of facing France, who topped GroupA with a perfect nine points after scrap-ing past Nigeria on Monday.

“To play against the host nationwould be a privilege. The stadiumwould be full of fans singing,” she said.

“I love playing in front of a big

crowd whether it’s supporting me or isagainst me. I just want there to be fanswho are watching us.”

Marta is widely considered thegreatest player in the history of thewomen’s game and was hailed by herteammates as an inspiration for otherswanting to take up the male-dominat-ed sport.

“She is like an icon for us and Ithink every year she is breaking recordsand that’s no just important for us butfor all of women’s football. I’m sohappy she is Brazilian,” said centre-backMonica.

Fellow defender Tamires added:"We have a lot of young players comingup and I hope they look to her and howshe plays, what makes her so special andso incredible and follow her."

The Matildas will play Norway inNice in the last 16 on Saturday.

England need a point against Japanon Wednesday to ensure they top GroupD and avoid a potential last-16 clash withEuropean champions the Netherlands.

Topping the group would, however,also put them on the same side of thedraw as both France and potentially theWorld Cup holders USA.

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Luis Enrique has stepped downfrom his post as coach of the

Spanish national team.The confirmation came at a

press conference on Wednesdayevening, attended by Spanish FApresident Luis Rubiales and sport-ing director José Francisco Molina.

It was announced that Enriquewill make way and will be replacedin the role by Roberto Moreno.

Moreno has presided over thelast three games in the absence ofEnrique, who did not take his placein the dugout to attend an unspec-ified personal matter.

That has now resulted in the for-mer Barcelona boss stepping awayfrom his position, after Rubialessought assurances on his future.

Moreno was the choice of theplayers to continue as coach, havingimpressed during his three games incharge, which all ended in victories.

Enrique stands down after lessthan a year in charge of La Roja, hav-ing taken over in the wake of theirill-fated World Cup campaign.

In total, the 49-year-old presided

over seven games, winning five andlosing two.

Spain sacked Julen Lopetegui onthe eve of last year's World Cup afterhe agreed a deal with Real Madrid,before Luis Enrique came in forFernando Hierro following anunderwhelming tournament inRussia.

The three-time European cham-pions finished second behindEngland in their Nations Leaguegroup but have since won theiropening four Euro 2020 qualifiers.

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Veteran defender MatsHummels will hope to

reboot his career at formerclub Borussia Dortmundnext season after findinghimself surplus to require-ments with both BayernMunich and Germany.

Hummels, 30, wasdropped from the nationalteam set-up earlier this yearand has now become the lat-est senior player to fall vic-tim to Bayern's major reju-venation programme aheadof next season.

A World Cup winner in2014, Hummels won hissixth Bundesliga title inMay, but will now makewhat will widely be seen asa step down with his 38 mil-lion euro ($43.6m) movefrom back to former sideDortmund.

Despite impressive per-formances for both club andcountry, Hummels' careerhas been blown off course inthe last six months by thewinds of change sweeping

through German football.And despite playing a

crucial role in Bayern's dou-ble win last month,Hummels has now fallenprey to the same rejuvena-tion drive in Munich.

Having bid an emo-tional farewell to club iconsArjen Robben and FranckRibery last month, Bayernare now looking to completethe transition to a youngergeneration as they launchwhat president Uli Hoeness

has called "the biggestinvestment programme inour history".

Hoeness has alreadyadvised Boateng to "find anew club", while Hummelsnow appears to havejumped before he waspushed.

The 30-year-old returnsto Dortmund, where hespent eight successful yearsfrom 2008 to 2016 beforejoining Bayern for 35 mil-lion euros.

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Rassie van der Dussen gaveSouth Africa something tobowl at as the Proteas

struggled to 241 for six againsttight bowling from New Zealandwhile battling for a win theyneed to keep their fading WorldCup hopes alive.

After a soggy outfielddelayed Wednesday's start atEdgbaston and reduced thematch to 49 overs per side,Black Caps captain KaneWilliamson won the toss andchose to field, hoping to takeadvantage of bowler-friendlyconditions.

Hashim Amla made a slug-gish 55 off 83 balls but Van derDussen's 67 not out came at bet-ter than a run-a-ball.

"It's a bit of a sticky wicket,there has been a lot of rainaround here in the last twoweeks," said Van der Dussenduring the innings break.

"We need to make 241enough. We know it's not a 300wicket. If you get 250-260 thenyou can defend that and that'swhat we set out to do.

"Our backs are against thewall so we have to comethrough," he added after NewZealand's bowlers kept the scor-ing rate to below five an over.

New Zealand, the 2015 los-ing finalists, were on top earlywhen Trent Boult demolishedQuinton de Kock's stumps,sending him back to the pavil-ion for just five.

Amla and skipper Faf duPlessis helped the Proteas recov-er to 59-1 in the 14th over.

But Lockie Ferguson thenproduced an impressive yorkerto bowl Du Plessis for 23 imme-diately after a testing bouncer.

Amla and Aiden Markramput on 52 for the third wicketbefore veteran opener Amlawas bowled by left-arm spinnerMitchell Santner.

During his innings, Amla

became the fourth SouthAfrican player to reach 8,000runs in one-day internationals.

He is the second-fastestplayer (176 innings) from anyside to reach the milestone after

India's Virat Kohli (175 innings).Markram was caught by

Colin Munro off Colin deGrandhomme for 38 and DavidMiller went for 36 before a lateflourish from Van der Dussen

gave the scoreboard a look ofrespectability.

South Africa, who broughtin fast bowler Lungi Ngidi forBeuran Hendricks, must winthis match if they are to stand arealistic chance of reaching thesemi-finals after finally record-ing their first victory of the tour-nament, against minnowsAfghanistan on Saturday.

Despite that nine-wicketwin, Du Plessis's side are stilllanguishing in eighth spot in the10-team table after five games,with the top four qualifying fornext month's semis.

After Wednesday's gamethey will face Pakistan, Sri Lankaand Australia.

New Zealand are flying highand a fourth win would lift themto the top of the table ahead ofmatches against West Indies,Pakistan, Australia and hostsEngland.

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