F ormer Union Minister and Congress heavyweight Kamal Nath was named as the next Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh on Thursday after sev- eral rounds of hectic parleys among the top leadership. Congress president Rahul Gandhi took this call late in the evening after holding talks with Nath and the other contender for the post, Jyotiraditya Scindia. The supporters of both leaders held day-long rallies in Bhopal in favour of their respective leaders, but ultimately Rahul was successful in brokering a peace. In case of Rajasthan, con- fusion still prevails and both old guard Ashok Gehlot and new generation leader Sachin Pilot have dug in their heels for the top post in the State. The announcement for the CM candidate for Chhattisgarh is likely to be taken on Friday morning, according to party’s Central observer Mallikarjun Kharge. During the day, Rahul held several rounds of marathon consultations with senior party leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and sister Priyanka, to select Chief Ministers for the three Hindi heartland States. Party sources said Nath was chosen over Scindia given the experi- ence factor which was the need of the hour since the party has promised several freebies, including crucial farm loan waiver. The next year’s Lok Sabha elections also weighed heavily on the mind of the Congress leadership in opting for experienced Kamal Nath. Early in the morning, the four main CM claimants belonging to the old and new generation cadre from MP and Rajasthan as well as AICC observers were closeted with Rahul at his residence. With supporters of the four con- tenders taking to streets, Rahul took to the social media to share a message “the two most pow- erful warriors are patience and time”. Quoting Leo Tolstoy, Rahul posted a picture of him- self flanked by Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kamal Nath. Elected Congress MLAs in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh had passed one-line resolutions authorising Rahul Gandhi to decide on Chief Ministers. Some party sources indicated that the Congress was also toying with formula to have Deputy Chief Ministers in these two States. In that case, Pilot could be offered the post of Dy CM of Rajasthan and Scindia for MP. Chhattisgarh CM too could have a deputy since front run- ner Tamradhwaj Sahu, also a Lok Sabha member, is consid- ered an “outsider” as he joined the grand old party after quit- ting the BJP. Sources said Rahul also sought views of party workers through an internal messaging system with a pre-recorded message asking them to send their views directly to him through the application. Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot, the two hopefuls for Rajasthan, appealed to the party workers to maintain peace and discipline, saying they have full faith in the party leadership and would abide by the final decision. P rompted understandably by upper caste ‘disenchant- ment’, the NOTA (None of the Above) votes crossed over 1.4 per cent of the total polling in Madhya Pradesh and felled four of the most powerful BJP Ministers and several other MLAs. In MP, many upper caste outfits had openly declared that they would waste their votes by opting for NOTA rather than voting for the BJP for passing a legislation in Parliament to retain the strin- gent SC/ST Act. The same NOTA story was also repeated in Rajasthan, though in some pockets the BJP also gained in both the States because of SC voters reacting against the upper caste aggressiveness. The number of no-choice votes outnumbered victory margins in good 22 con- stituencies in Madhya Pradesh. While the gap between BJP and Congress vote share was only 0.1% (BJP being in the lead), NOTA share stood at 1.4 per cent of votes polled — over 5.4 lakh. The NOTA option gives the voter the choice to reject all candidates in the election fray. A section of BJP leadership, however, point out that BJP did well in the Vindhya region of Madhya Pradesh as SC voted for it on account of passing the amended SC/ST Atrocities (Prevention) Bill in Parliament. It is also being contended that NOTA factor could also have affected the victory mar- gin of some of the Congress candidates had the disen- chanted Upper caste voters not opted to waste their votes. IN MP, the BJP lost 12 seats where the NOTA margin was more than margin of loss. The trend was visible in Chambal region, where Thakur voters are believed to have not backed the BJP for backing the SC atrocity legislation. Similarly, Bundelkhand and Malwa drew the highest number of NOTA votes and changed the poll outcomes. Nine upsets were in Bundelkhand and eight in Malwa tribal region. NOTA played out in a way that the BJP failed to capture majority despite bagging .1% vote share more than the Congress which got 41% of the votes. On the contrary, Congress, with help from BSP, SP and Independents, crossed the majority mark of 116, while the BJP managed 109 seats. In at least 11 seats where the Congress won, NOTA got more votes than the winning margin — Biaora, Damoh, Gunnor, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Jobat, Mandhata, Nepanagar, Rajnagar, Raipur and Suwasra. NOTA also polled more votes than the victory margin in Bina and Kolaras, where BJP candidates won. In seven of these 11 seats, the victory mar- gin was less than 1,000 votes. In the touch and go poll verdict, the BJP narrowly missed the bus even though it polled more votes. In 2008, BJP collected 38% votes and won 143 seats but this time round ended up with 109 seats despite securing more than 40% votes. NOTA got 1.4% of the total vote share even as Samajwadi Party got 1.01% while AAP got 0.7% votes. NOTA may have again played a role in denting prospects of the losing side in Rajasthan with 1.3 per cent of voters going for it. T he setback BJP suffered in its bastions of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan in the recent Assembly polls has come handy for its NDA allies, which could now compel the saffron outfit to be “generous” in seat sharing for the next year’s Lok Sabha polls. In the mid of report that Shiv Sena wants to contest half of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra and force the BJP to agree to hold simultaneous State Assembly polls, senior Akali Dal leader Naresh Gujral has asked the BJP to “quickly settle” with allies or it will be in a big trouble in the 2019 general election. “I don’t see any single polit- ical party getting over 200 seats in the next election. So whoev- er makes the right pre-poll coalition is going to be the win- ner,” Gujral said during a dis- cussion on NDTV. Continued on Page 4 S ri Lanka’s Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously ruled that the dissolution of Parliament by Maithripala Sirisena was “illegal”, in a body blow to the embattled President whose controversial decisions plunged the nation into an unprecedented political crisis. A apex court bench said that the President cannot dis- solve Parliament till it com- pletes its four-and-half year term, triggering demand for the impeachment of Sirisena as well as ex-strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa. Sirisena on October 26 had sacked the incumbent PM, Ranil Wickremesinghe, and install ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his place. Later Sirisena sacked Parliament when it appeared that Rajapaksa would not be able to prove majority. However, on Wednesday, Wickremesinghe proved his majority in Parliament, with 117 out of 225 lawmakers in Parliament voting to pass a confidence motion in his leadership. Related report on P12 T he Supreme Court is sched- uled to pronounce its ver- dict on pleas seeking a court- monitored probe in the polit- ically sensitive Rafale case on Friday. A Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had reserved its verdict on a batch of pleas on November 14. Former Union Ministers Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie, noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan and AAP leader Sanjay Singh are the main petitioners seek- ing a probe by the CBI. While reserving the ver- dict, the apex court had said that the pricing details of Rafale jets could only be discussed after it decides on whether to make it public. The observation by the SC had came after the Government refused to pub- licly divulge pricing details of the deal, saying it would give advantage to India’s enemies. Submit your entries at www.infosys.com/aarohan, before December 31st, 2018. For details, call: 080-40671212 (Monday-Friday) Avishkaar, dil se. PRESENTING SOCIAL INNOVATION AWARDS IF YOUR INNOVATION CAN CHANGE LIVES, WE WILL HELP YOU BRING IT TO LIFE. The three most socially-relevant innovations will receive up to ` 50 lakhs to scale up. If you have an innovation that can make a difference to society, or if you know somebody who has one, here is a chance to showcase it to the world. Infosys Foundation presents Aarohan Social Innovation Awards, which recognizes and rewards innovations that solve real-world problems.
Kamal Nath was named as thenext Chief Minister of MadhyaPradesh on Thursday after sev-eral rounds of hectic parleysamong the top leadership.Congress president RahulGandhi took this call late in theevening after holding talks withNath and the other contenderfor the post, Jyotiraditya Scindia.The supporters of both leadersheld day-long rallies in Bhopal
in favour of their respectiveleaders, but ultimately Rahulwas successful in brokering apeace.
In case of Rajasthan, con-fusion still prevails and both oldguard Ashok Gehlot and newgeneration leader Sachin Pilothave dug in their heels for thetop post in the State.
The announcement for theCM candidate for Chhattisgarhis likely to be taken on Fridaymorning, according to party’sCentral observer MallikarjunKharge.
During the day, Rahul heldseveral rounds of marathonconsultations with senior partyleaders, including Sonia Gandhiand sister Priyanka, to selectChief Ministers for the threeHindi heartland States. Partysources said Nath was chosenover Scindia given the experi-ence factor which was the needof the hour since the party haspromised several freebies,including crucial farm loanwaiver. The next year’s LokSabha elections also weighedheavily on the mind of the
Congress leadership in optingfor experienced Kamal Nath.
Early in the morning, thefour main CM claimantsbelonging to the old and newgeneration cadre from MP andRajasthan as well as AICCobservers were closeted withRahul at his residence. Withsupporters of the four con-tenders taking to streets, Rahultook to the social media to sharea message “the two most pow-erful warriors are patience andtime”. Quoting Leo Tolstoy,Rahul posted a picture of him-self flanked by JyotiradityaScindia and Kamal Nath.
Elected Congress MLAs inRajasthan and Madhya Pradeshhad passed one-line resolutionsauthorising Rahul Gandhi todecide on Chief Ministers. Someparty sources indicated that theCongress was also toying withformula to have Deputy Chief
Ministers in these two States. Inthat case, Pilot could be offeredthe post of Dy CM of Rajasthanand Scindia for MP.
Chhattisgarh CM too couldhave a deputy since front run-ner Tamradhwaj Sahu, also aLok Sabha member, is consid-ered an “outsider” as he joinedthe grand old party after quit-ting the BJP.
Sources said Rahul alsosought views of party workersthrough an internal messagingsystem with a pre-recordedmessage asking them to sendtheir views directly to himthrough the application.
Sachin Pilot and AshokGehlot, the two hopefuls forRajasthan, appealed to theparty workers to maintainpeace and discipline, sayingthey have full faith in theparty leadership and wouldabide by the final decision.
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Prompted understandably byupper caste ‘disenchant-
ment’, the NOTA (None of theAbove) votes crossed over 1.4per cent of the total polling inMadhya Pradesh and felledfour of the most powerful BJPMinisters and several otherMLAs. In MP, many uppercaste outfits had openlydeclared that they would wastetheir votes by opting for NOTArather than voting for the BJPfor passing a legislation inParliament to retain the strin-gent SC/ST Act. The sameNOTA story was also repeatedin Rajasthan, though in somepockets the BJP also gained inboth the States because of SCvoters reacting against theupper caste aggressiveness.
The number of no-choicevotes outnumbered victorymargins in good 22 con-stituencies in Madhya Pradesh.While the gap between BJP andCongress vote share was only0.1% (BJP being in the lead),NOTA share stood at 1.4 percent of votes polled — over 5.4lakh. The NOTA option givesthe voter the choice to reject allcandidates in the election fray.
A section of BJP leadership,however, point out that BJP didwell in the Vindhya region ofMadhya Pradesh as SC votedfor it on account of passing theamended SC/ST Atrocities(Prevention) Bill in Parliament.
It is also being contendedthat NOTA factor could alsohave affected the victory mar-
gin of some of the Congresscandidates had the disen-chanted Upper caste votersnot opted to waste their votes.
IN MP, the BJP lost 12 seatswhere the NOTA margin wasmore than margin of loss. Thetrend was visible in Chambalregion, where Thakur votersare believed to have not backedthe BJP for backing the SCatrocity legislation.
Similarly, Bundelkhandand Malwa drew the highestnumber of NOTA votes andchanged the poll outcomes.Nine upsets were inBundelkhand and eight inMalwa tribal region.
NOTA played out in a waythat the BJP failed to capturemajority despite bagging .1%vote share more than theCongress which got 41% of thevotes. On the contrary,Congress, with help from BSP,SP and Independents, crossedthe majority mark of 116, whilethe BJP managed 109 seats.
In at least 11 seats where
the Congress won, NOTA gotmore votes than the winningmargin — Biaora, Damoh,Gunnor, Gwalior, Jabalpur,Jobat, Mandhata, Nepanagar,Rajnagar, Raipur and Suwasra.NOTA also polled more votesthan the victory margin inBina and Kolaras, where BJPcandidates won. In seven ofthese 11 seats, the victory mar-gin was less than 1,000 votes.
In the touch and go pollverdict, the BJP narrowlymissed the bus even though itpolled more votes.
In 2008, BJP collected 38%votes and won 143 seats butthis time round ended up with109 seats despite securing morethan 40% votes.
NOTA got 1.4% of thetotal vote share even asSamajwadi Party got 1.01%while AAP got 0.7% votes.
NOTA may have againplayed a role in dentingprospects of the losing side inRajasthan with 1.3 per cent ofvoters going for it.
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The setback BJP suffered in itsbastions of Madhya
Pradesh, Chhattisgarh andRajasthan in the recentAssembly polls has come handyfor its NDA allies, which couldnow compel the saffron outfit tobe “generous” in seat sharing forthe next year’s Lok Sabha polls.
In the mid of report thatShiv Sena wants to contest halfof the 48 Lok Sabha seats inMaharashtra and force the BJPto agree to hold simultaneousState Assembly polls, seniorAkali Dal leader Naresh Gujral
has asked the BJP to “quicklysettle” with allies or it will be ina big trouble in the 2019 generalelection.
“I don’t see any single polit-ical party getting over 200 seats
in the next election. So whoev-er makes the right pre-pollcoalition is going to be the win-ner,” Gujral said during a dis-cussion on NDTV.
Continued on Page 4
�� �9'9� 9
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court onThursday unanimously
ruled that the dissolution ofParliament by MaithripalaSirisena was “illegal”, in a bodyblow to the embattled Presidentwhose controversial decisionsplunged the nation into anunprecedented political crisis.
A apex court bench saidthat the President cannot dis-solve Parliament till it com-pletes its four-and-half yearterm, triggering demand forthe impeachment of Sirisena aswell as ex-strongman Mahinda
Rajapaksa.Sirisena on October 26
had sacked the incumbent PM,Ranil Wickremesinghe, andinstall ex-President MahindaRajapaksa in his place. LaterSirisena sacked Parliamentwhen it appeared thatRajapaksa would not be able toprove majority.
However, on Wednesday,Wickremesinghe proved hismajority in Parliament, with117 out of 225 lawmakers inParliament voting to pass aconfidence motion in his leadership.
The Supreme Court is sched-uled to pronounce its ver-
dict on pleas seeking a court-monitored probe in the polit-ically sensitive Rafale case onFriday. A Bench headed byChief Justice Ranjan Gogoihad reserved its verdict on abatch of pleas on November 14.
Former Union MinistersYashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie,noted lawyer Prashant Bhushanand AAP leader Sanjay Singhare the main petitioners seek-ing a probe by the CBI.
While reserving the ver-dict, the apex court had saidthat the pricing details of Rafalejets could only be discussedafter it decides on whether tomake it public. The observationby the SC had came after theGovernment refused to pub-licly divulge pricing details ofthe deal, saying it would giveadvantage to India’s enemies.
Submit your entries at www.infosys.com/aarohan,before December 31st, 2018. For details, call: 080-40671212 (Monday-Friday)
Avishkaar, dil se.
P R E S E N T I N G
SOCIAL INNOVATIONAWARDS
IF YOURINNOVATIONCAN CHANGE LIVES,WE WILL HELP YOUBRING IT TO LIFE.
The three most socially-relevant innovationswill receive up to 5̀0 lakhs to scale up.
If you have an innovation that can make a difference to society, or if you know somebody who has one, here is a chance to showcase it to the world. Infosys Foundation presents Aarohan Social Innovation Awards, which recognizes and rewards innovations that solve real-world problems.
Pillay Vyapoory on Thursdayannounced that Mauritius willorganise Gita Mohatsav in themonth of February 2019 and adelegation from India has alsobeen invited for the event.
Vyapoory was speaking atthe inauguration of three-dayInternational seminar on‘Making New India-Insight ofShrimad Bhagvad Gita’ beingorganized as part ofInternational Gita Mahotsavat Kurukshetra. Mauritius is thepartner country and Gujarat isthe partner state in theInternational Gita Mahotsav –2018 being inaugurated atKurukshetra on Thursday.
The Gita Mahotsav 2018was formally inauguratedamidst chanting of Mantrasand blowing of Shankh in frontof Brahma Sarovar. HaryanaGovernor Satyadeo NarainArya and Chief MinisterManohar Lal performedprayers at Brahma Sarovar byworshipping the holy scrip-ture, Shrimad Bhagvad Gita.
Manohar Lal informed thatBJP national president AmitShah was scheduled to visit theholy city on Thursday to attendthe Gita Mohatsav but he couldmake it due to health issues.
The Gita Mahotsav 2018
will be held from December 13to December 18.
Speaking at the seminar,Paramasivum Pillay Vyapoorysaid that teaching of sacred Gitais as relevant today as it hasbeen when Lord Krishna deliv-ered celestial message of Gita toLord Arjuna in the battlefieldabout 5300 years ago.
He said that it is very goodto see that HaryanaGovernment has decided to cel-ebrate the International GitaMohatsav to propagate theteachings of sacred Gita.
Majority of population inMauritius is from India . We arevery much Indian and also cel-ebrates festivals like Diwali,Mahashivrati, Pongal, GaneshChaturthi, Ram Navmi andKrishan Jayanti, he said.
He said that the bondbetween India and Mauritius isvery strong and there is feelingof brotherhood between peopleof both countries. He alsothanked Chief MinisterManohar Lal for makingMauritius as partner country inInternational Gita Mohatsavand also inviting him toKurukshetra to be a part of theevent.
Speaking on this occasion,Governor Satyadeo NarainArya described Kurukshetraas a centre of spiritual and reli-gious education. It is the sameland where Lord Krishna deliv-ered celestial message ofBhagvad Gita to Arjuna, hesaid.
Giving special emphasison imparting quality educationto all especial to childrenbelonging to weaker section ofthe society, he said that it is nec-essary in further strengtheningthe society and the country.
During his address,
Manohar Lal said that thesacred book Srimad BhagvadGita is not confined only tospiritualism but has a practicalrelevance. The Holy Scripture of700 shalokas has a message forpeople belonging to all sectionsof the society. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is workingtowards building a new Indiathrough the message of Gitaand taking new initiatives con-sistently for the welfare of peo-ple of different strata of the soci-ety, he added.
Throwing light on the sig-nificance of Srimad BhagvadGita, the Chief Minister saidthat the holy Scripture hassomething in it for every sec-tion of the society be it farmers,
students, teachers, politicians,soldiers and traders.
He said that at theInternational Gita Mohatsavthis year, Mauritius is the part-ner country and Gujarat is thepartner state.
Mauritius is a small coun-try with about 13 lakh popula-tion, majority of them are fromIndia. Several countries havecome forward to celebrate GitaMohatsav at international leveland Mauritius is first amongsuch countries as it has decid-ed to celebrate Gita Mohatsavin the month of February 2019,he said.
The country also has insti-tute after the name of Father ofthe nation, Mahatma Gandhi
and also Rabindranath Tagorewhich reflects strong bondingbetween India and Mauritius,the Chief Minister said.
He also referred to thedeep relations between Haryanaand Gujarat saying that whileLord Krishna delivered celestialmessage of Bhagvad Gita toArjuna at Kurukshetra, Dwarkain Gujarat has been his (LordKrishna) Karmabhoomi.
He said that today, he hasalso visited Gita Sansthanam setup in Kurukshetra. Picturesassociated with sacred Gitahave been displayed in theSanthanatham giving the HolyScripture recognition at inter-national level.
Manohar Lal said to further
spread the teachings of sacredGita, programmes are alsobeing organized at district andblock level in Haryana. Apartfrom this, the government hasalso included Gita Shlokas inthe school curriculum to incul-cate moral values among thestudents from an early age, headded.
Earlier, the dignitariesreleased a coffee table bookentitled “48 Kos Ek SanskritikYatra” depicting the pho-tographs of 134 religious sitesfalling within 48 Kos ofKurukshetra. Apart from this,a souvenir and a book onevents organized during theInternational Gita Mahotsavlast year were also released.
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Chandigarh: The Vice-Chancellor, KurukshetraUniversity, Kailash ChandraSharma announced to openGita Study and ResearchCentre in the university forthe study of ShrimadBhagavad Gita,
At the inaugural cere-mony of International Gitaseminar, he said that a pro-posal in this regard was sentto the Vice Chancellor andGovernor Satyadeo NarainArya from the PhilosophyDepartment of the University.He has granted permission tocreate a special center forBuddhism at Dr BhimraoAmbedkar Studies Centerand Gita Study and ResearchCenter at KurukshetraUniversity. In the comingdays, the students would getto study Buddhism andShrimad Bhagavad Gita inthe centres, he added.
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Continuing its campaignagainst drug menace in
the state, Haryana Police hasregistered 235 cases andarrested 286 persons underNDPS Act in the month ofNovember.
Director General of Police(DGP), BS Sandhu onThursday said that hugequantity of narcotics includ-
ing 282 kg 678 gram poppyhusk, 73 kg 499 gram charas,748 gram heroin, 120 kg 66gram ganja, 36 kg 832 gramsulfa, 7 kg 735 gram smack, 3kg 145 gram opium and94,178 restricted tablets,syrups, capsules and injec-tions were seized from thepossession of arrested accused during this period.
He said that a crackdownon drug-peddlers waslaunched from November 1 to30 focusing on seizure of ille-gal drugs and tighten thenoose on those involved insuch illegal activities.
Sandhu has also directedall Commissioners of Policeand distr ict Superintendents of Police tocompletely stop the menace ofdrug peddling and its distri-bution network in theirrespective areas.
Haryana roadways employees’ on Thursday began their 24hours hunger strike at all depots against the State
Government’s decision to terminate the services of at least 365bus drivers.
The employees raised slogans against the State Governmentat the protest dharnas at all depots in Haryana.
“The roadways employees have begun their 24 hours strikeat all depots against the anti-employee policies of HaryanaGovernment,” Sarbat Punia, general secretary, Haryana RoadwaysWorkers Union said.
Punia said that the employees are demanding withdrawal ofdecision of termination of 365 drivers, withdrawal of decisionof hiring 700 private buses and continuation of night halt of busesat rural areas in the state.
The roadways employees’ unions and Haryana Governmenthave been at loggerheads since the past few months over vari-ous issues.
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Hisar MP DushyantChautala on Thursday said
that the membership drive forhis political outfit 'JannayakJanata Party' will begin inJanuary next year.
“Door-to-door campaignwill be held to connect with thepeople of the state and holdparty’s membership drive fromnext month,” Dushyant saidwhile talking to the mediaper-sons.
He said that his politicaloutfit 'Jannayak Janata Party'(JJP) will soon announce itsstate executive committee.
On supporting a politicalparty in the ensuing municipalelections in the state, Dushyantsaid that the JJP will not sup-port any party.
Former INLD leader,Dushyant had on December 9formally launched JJP, which
will contest both Lok Sabhaand Assembly polls schedulednext year in Haryana
The INLD had split fol-lowing differences betweenAjay Chautala and his youngerbrother Abhay Chautala, sonsof INLD chief OP Chautala.
Dushyant said his fight ison principles and that the newparty would fight for the rightsof people of Haryana.
He had won the Hisar par-liamentary seat on the INLDsymbol
Notably, OP Chautala hadexpelled three family membersfrom the party—first his grand-sons Hisar MP Dushyant andDigvijay, and then elder sonAjay—for alleged “anti-partyactivities”.
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There were partly cloudyskies in Himachal Pradesh
capital Shimla on Thursday fol-lowing the season's first snow-fall, with Kufri, Dalhousie shiv-ering below the freezing pointin the State. Snowfall was expe-rienced in Shimla, Kufri,Dalhousie and higher reachesof the state on Wednesday andThursday, director MetrologicalCentre Shimla ManmohanSingh said.
Tourist destinations Kufriin Shimla district andDalhousie in Chamba districthave been shivering below thefreezing point, theMeteorological (MeT) depart-ment said. The minimumtemperature in Kufri wasrecorded at minus 2.2 degreesCelsius and in Dalhousie atminus 0.7 degrees Celsius.
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Gearing up for the 2019parliamentary polls, Delhi
Chief Minister and AamAadmi Party convenor ArvindKejriwal will hold a rally inKaithal on December 15.
Kejriwal has launched avigorous campaign to captureHaryana in 2019 polls and isholding rallies in all 10 LokSabha constituencies in thestate.
“The AAP chief will holda rally on December 15 inKaithal, known as strongholdof INLD chief OP Chautala andpresent Congress MLA fromKaithal, Randeep Surjewala,”said Naveen Jaihind, AAP statechief.
Jaihind said, it is for thefirst time that a political partyis holding “school-hospital ral-lies” in a state.
The party plans to hold ral-lies in all 10 Lok Sabha con-stituencies by the end ofDecember, he said.
The AAP has announcedto contest both the Lok Sabhaand the state assembly electionsscheduled next year inHaryana.
Notably, AAP is hard sell-ing its Delhi Government’sachievements in the field ofeducation and health sectors tothe voters of Haryana.
Jaihind said that the partyhas also begun holding meet-ings in all assembly con-stituencies from December 11.These meetings are aimed at
booth management and chalkout a strategy for door-to-doorcampaign and strengthen theparty at grassroot level in thestate, he said.
For the past few months,Arvind Kejriwal has beenactive in attacking his Haryanacounterpart Manohar LalKhattar on various issuesincluding the conditions ofschools and hospitals in thestate.
Last month, he had alsowritten to Manohar Lal for asurprise cross inspection ofDelhi’s 'Mohalla Clinics' andHaryana’s dispensaries.
Later, Kejriwal also invitedthe people from Haryana tovisit the national capital toinspect the schools and clinicsand to see the work done by hisAAP government.
In the previous parlia-mentary polls held in 2014,AAP had lost on all 10 LokSabhaseats in Haryana andmost of its candidates had fin-ished at fourth or fifth position.
Pradesh, Rajasthanand Chhatisgarhhas not only set thetemplate for the LokSabha elections,which is expected to
be announced in the first week of Marchnext year but also clearly drawn the bat-tle lines for what is expected to be one ofthe fiercest elections ever.
For the Congress the biggest take-awayfrom the polls is undoubtedly the emer-gence of Rahul Gandhi as an unassumingleader who has shed his past baggage ofindifference, political immaturity anddynasty and come on his own.
For BJP, the biggest setback undoubt-edly has been the demolition of the mythand hype built around the invincibility ofPrime Minister Narendra Modi and partychief Amit Shah.
Till these three elections happened,BJP had become one big electoral jugger-naut demolishing one political opponentafter the other convincingly. Routine routof the opposition in the elections had builtan aura of invincibility around Modi-Shahduo—the mass connect of Modi and theChanakya like strategy of Shah hadbecome a part of political punditry and had
been instilled in the BJP-RSS workers.On the contrary, repeated defeats had
affected even the body language of theCongress leaders. They had got into thedefeatist mode, occasionally without anyfight like in Goa. Rahul Gandhi and Pappuhad almost become synonymous, popu-larized as it was by the WhatsUp Universityof BJP’s IT Cell. So much so, there was atime when even die-hard Congress work-ers started believing the falsehoods sent tothem on a platter on their mobile phoneslike how ineffective a leader was RahulGandhi and how his stewardship was tak-ing the party to peril.
December 11, 2018 changed thispolitical narrative for all time to come. Thiscomes barely three months before theannouncement of the general elections,triggering a political tsunami and throw-ing open all sorts of possibilities. All of asudden there is a spring in the steps of theCongress workers while in the BJP, an ele-ment of doubt has crept in.
“Will Modi magic work or not?” is themillion dollar question BJP supporters arenow asking. Even though the partyspokespersons keep hammering andrepeating that the Modi magic is intact andissues of Assembly and Lok Sabha pollswould be entirely different, this is hardlyconvincing for the skeptics as well as sup-porters. They know well that Assemblyelections in these very states five years agoin 2013 and victory in them had set the ball
rolling for BJP and it built the momentumfor the wave of May 2014.
Five years down the line, momentumis now with the Congress and it will go tothe Lok Sabha polls with the winningmomentum going for it. In fact, themomentum for Congress was building upfrom Gujarat assembly polls in December2017 where for the first time, Modi had tocampaign really hard and Shah had to useall his electoral arithmetic and punditry toromp home. A resurgent Congress had
given BJP a run for its money in a statewhich for long has been considered a lab-oratory for Hindutva politics.
There was more to follow. Karnatakawas widely billed to go the BJP way. Thisis what the spin doctors of the party hadprojected. Sulking Yeddyurappa was backwith BJP, moneybags were with the party,Congress government was facing antiincumbency and what not. Everything wassupposedly going for BJP and againstCongress. But that was not to be. BJP failedto get a majority on its own and what madematters worse was the unprincipled wayin which Yeddyurappa was sworn in aschief minister, raising several ethical ques-tions.
Mukt Bharat was too arrogant a slo-gan,” said a BJP leader, adding that this wasa classic case of unrealistic politics, bereftof grassroots reality. He hoped that this slo-gan would never be raised now and ifraised, it would instantly become a mat-ter of ridicule. Similarly, targeting figureslike Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi andRajiv Gandhi would hardly find a tractionwith the primarily young voters and sowould be extolling the virtues of SardarPatel and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.“Leave historical figures alone for historybooks and academic discussions, not forelectoral rhetoric and as poll issue,”summed up the leader.
In the run up to the Lok Sabha polls,obviously BJP would try to turn it intosome sort of presidential election, pitch-ing Modi versus Rahul and asking peoplewill they vote for an untested, timid andunwilling leader or go for the qualities of“time-tested, strong with muscular poli-tics” .
The second strategy of BJP would beto polarize the polls with a strong pitch forRam Mandir at Ayodhya. But given the factthat the issue has already been milked tothe hilt by BJP for the last over a quarterof a century and has yielded rich electoraldividends, a point has come where it hasreached a saturation level.
It can no longer yield the same resultand the law of diminishing return wouldautomatically apply. This is what has hap-
pened in the three states.So what’s the way forward for BJP?
Number one would be abandoning itsCongress Mukt Bharat pitch. Thencomes drawing a list of achievements ofits major decisions—demonetisationand GST and keep hammering it hardrepeatedly and see how much tractionit gets. Third, would be to boldly answerallegations on Rafael deal rather than bedefensive about it. Fourth would bedecentralization of power from theModi-Shah duo to the state level andgiving more power, support and auton-omy to its MPs. “At present, party MPsare treated more like booth level work-ers to whom directions are hurled andthere is no process of consultationinvolved,” a BJP MP told me after thepoll results.
Last but not the least would be not togo for polarization through UP ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath. He will hardlyattract new votes as assembly elections ofKarnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthanand Chhatisgarh has indicated where hecampaigned extensively and at the sametime, it would irretrievably damage thebody politic of the country. Already ban-ners have come up in Lucknow extollingthe hardliner Yogi as PM material andwhere Modi has been painted as some sortof a liberal.
Similarly, what’s the way forward forCongress? Right now it is the default oppo-
sition party in several states and is expect-ing to get the anti incumbency votes fromthose who expected too much from thefirst majority government of BJP indecades. This complacency has to end.First, it has to come out with an aggres-sive solution to the problems it has beenhighlighting.
It should spell out what would it do tosolve farm distress beyond loan waiver.Secondly, if traders and small enterprisesare distressed, what is your solution to theirwoes? You cannot simply abuse the incum-bent government and not come out withany solution. Third offending sloganslike “Chowkidar Chor hai” should bebanned; it is similar to “Congress MuktBharat” and even worse. What would itspolicies be at the Centre which would bedifferent from the ones followed by BJPgovernment? It also has to spell out its planfor job creation and how will it go aboutit.
The days of slogans and sloganeeringare over. The youth had a lot of expecta-tions in 2014 and will have similar expec-tations in 2019 as well. Hollow and emo-tive slogans would no longer yield electoraldividends. Both parties should come withslogans and policies which are imple-mentable and also give details how theywill proceed with it. That would be the keyto gain the trust of Indian electorate.
(The writer is Senior Editor, ThePioneer, Chandigarh)
To overhaul the state unitsahead of 2019 general elec-
tions, the Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) president Sukhbir Badalon Thursday dissolved theparty units in Delhi, UttarPradesh and Rajasthan withimmediate effect.
The decision was takenafter getting suggestions inthis regard from the partyobservers Balwinder SinghBhundar, Prof Prem SinghChandumajra and SikandarSingh Maluka, representingthe three states of Delhi, UttarPradesh and Rajasthan, respec-tively.
“The process of makingmajor changes in the organi-zational structure of the partyhas been going on with the pac-ing up of the preparations forthe Lok Sabha elections,” saidthe SAD’s senior vice-presidentand spokesperson Daljit SinghCheema. Cheema said: “Neworganizational structure will beannounced in the next twomonths after having extensivedeliberation with the seniorleadership of the party.”
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Reviewing the working ofState’s meritorious schools,
Punjab Education Minister OPSoni on Thursday issued astern warning to the Principalsthat they would be held respon-sible for poor results.
Soni, during the meeting,categorically said that he want-ed the results to be 100 percentand the Principals and teach-ers should focus on the target.
It was informed in themeeting that the strength ofstudents of meritorious schools,which was 5981 students inacademic session 2017-18, hasnow risen to 6,600 in 2018-19.It is likely that this figure maytouch 8,000 students in thecoming academic year.
Recently 136 lecturers hasbeen recruited which hasjoined in the MeritoriousSchools thus raising thestrength 304 in these schoolsand as such there is no short-fall of lecturers except 17 com-merce lecturers for which there
is stay by the Punjab andHaryana High Court.
The EducationDepartment has moved anapplication for early hearing, toget the stay vacated in theCourt to enable theDepartment to fill these posts.
The Minister was informedthat this year, migration ofstudents from one school toanother is permitted, and as aresult, the drop out of studentsis negligible this year. Besides,the policy of transfer of teach-ing or non-teaching staff is alsopermitted and as a conse-quence, the tendency of resig-nation by the staff is thereforeeliminated.
Five Principals have beentaken on deputation fromEducation Department, so thatthese schools are run effec-tively.
The Minister also reviewedthe online coaching presentlybeing undertaken in theschools.
After reviewing the matter,the respective Principals were
authorized to convene tendersat their level, in case they arenot satisfied with present sys-tem of online coaching.
It was informed thatpresently, there is contingencyfund of Rs 20,000 per monthgiven to each Principal to meetthe local requirements andmaintenance of schools, whichwas ordered to be increased toRs two lakh.
Soni directed that solarpanels should be installed in allschools. Besides, directionswere issued to release the pay-ment of mess or food up to datetill November 2018 to ensurethat supply line would not becompromised.
It was also decided in themeeting that the constructionwork pending at meritoriousschool of Talwara andGurdaspur should be com-pleted expeditiously and thereis no problem in holding class-es from next academic year.
In this regard, the Ministerspoke to Principal Secretary,Finance for release of funds.
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Punjab State ElectionCommissioner Jagpal Singh
Sandhu on Thursday held avideo conference here with alldeputy commissioners (DCs)and senior superintendents ofpolice (SSPs) of the state toreview arrangements for thepanchayat elections slated to beheld on December 30.
Punjab DGP (nodal officerfor election) V K Bhawra, IG
(Headquarters) JatinderAulakh and Kamal KumarGarg, Secretary, State ElectionCommission, also participatedin the video conference.
A spokesperson of the stateelection commission saiddetailed discussions were heldin connection with arrange-ments for the panchayat polls.
Sandhu issued instructionsto the DCs and the SSPs of alldistricts to maintain law andorder to enable voters exercisetheir franchise without fear, hesaid. He asked the SSPs to makespecial security arrangements,the official said.
The elections to 13,276panchayats in Punjab will beheld on December 30. Thenotification will be issued onDecember 15, he added.
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With Congress likely to declare seniorleader Kamal Nath as Madhya
Pradesh Chief Minister, the oppositionparties in Punjab are targeting the rulingCongress over Nath’s alleged involvementin 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
While SAD had warned the Congressagainst naming Lok Sabha MP Nath asMadhya Pradesh Chief Minister or beready to face country-wide agitation;Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said thatCongress is rubbing salt on woundsinstead providing justice to 1984 victims.
SAD leader and Delhi lawmakerManjinder Singh Sirsa pointed that a wit-ness Mukhtiar Singh has identified Nathat the site of Sikh killings in 1984 and theDelhi Sikh Gurdwara ManagementCommittee (DSGMC) had written to theSIT appointed by the Centre to lodge acase.
“We have a witness and we have a caseagainst Kamal Nath,” said Sirsa askingPunjab Chief Minister Capt AmarinderSingh to resign in case Nath elevated asMadhya Pradesh CM.
AAP MLA and the Leader ofOpposition in Vidhan Sabha Harpal SinghCheema said that after 1984 genocide,Nath’s name was figured prominently asaccused of leading the groups attacking
Sikhs. “In Nanawati Commission’s report
and two other enquiry reports, Nath'sname was prominently figured in the listof accused persons but no action hadbeen taken against him during theCongress rule at the Centre and duringthe NDA rule of 10 years in which SADwas a part,” he said adding that insteadSikh victims were teased by awardingprominent posts in government andparty level to the main accused SajjanKumar and Jagdish Tytler.
Chheema said that in spite of allproofs, the Congress continued awardingthese accused leaders with plum posts andAAP will strongly oppose such decisions.
He demanded that Rahul Gandhishould immediately reverse his decisionwhich had “caused a widespread resent-ment among the entire Sikh community”.
At the same time, he also appealed thePrime Minister to immediately reopen thecases against Kamal Nath and initiate atime bound inquiry, so that strict pun-ishment can be given to the accused of Sikhgenocide and justice to the victims.
Cheema also sought clarification fromCapt Amarinder and state Congress pres-ident Sunil Jakhar on it and reminded thatduring 2016, the decision of appointingNath as in-charge of Punjab had to with-drawn after a strong resentment from
Punjab people. AAP ‘suspended’ MLA Sukhpal
Singh Khaira sought Capt Amarinder’sstand on Nath’s likely elevation in viewof his serious involvement in 1984 Sikhgenocide.
“Nath’s presence outside RakabganjGurudwara near Parliament, during themassacre, was confirmed not only by thethen Indian Express journalist Sanjay Suribut two very senior police officers —Commissioner Subhash Tandan, andAdditional Commissioner Gautam Kaul.Even Nanawati Commission questionedhim and termed his reply vague. There isenough evidence against him to be pros-ecuted but for all these years,, he wassaved by Congress and then BJP also didlittle in this regard,” said Khaira.
He asked if Capt Amarinder, who doesnot even blink when he maligns Sikhpoliticians of Canada on the directions ofhis bosses in Delhi, will now show thecourage to speak on the issue. “He shouldremember that evidence against Nath ismuch stronger than what Capt Amarinderhad anything against Canadian DefenceMinister Harjit Singh Sajjan. Notably, tilldate, Captain has not presented even aniota of evidence against him,” he said.
Khaira dared Capt Amarinder to askthe Congress chief Rahul Gandhi not toname Kamal Nath as Madhya Pradesh CM.
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Punjab Assembly, on the firstday of Assembly session
here, paid homage to thosewho were killed in the Amritsartrain accident and died in agrenade blast at Adliwal villagein that district.
At the outset of sixth ses-sion of 15th Punjab VidhanSabha, the members of theHouse also observed a two-minute silence.
Punjab Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh did notattend the opening day of thesession on Thursday.
The members of the Housepaid homage to 58 peoplekilled in a tragic train accidentthat had occurred on Dussehraday in Amritsar. The homage
was also paid to three peoplewho were killed in a grenadeblast at Adliwal village nearAmritsar’s Rajasansi inNovember this year.
The House also remem-bered those who were martyredin the 2001 Parliament attack.
Besides, rich tributes werepaid to Brigadier Kuldip SinghChandpuri (retd), who isknown as the hero of the his-toric 1971 battle of Longewala,and Maharani Deepinder Kaur,who was the daughter ofMaharaja Harinder Singh, thelast ruler of the erstwhileprincely state of Faridkot.
The House paid tributes toformer MLAs Bishamber Dasand Ram Rattan Chaudhri,and freedom fighters.
SAD leader Bikram Singh
Majithia sought obituary ref-erences for farmers who com-mitted suicides and soldierswho sacrificed their lives at theIndia-Pakistan border.
AAP MLA and Leader ofOpposition Harpal SinghCheema also sought that namesof farmers who committed sui-cide be included in obituaryreferences. The Speaker agreedto the request of oppositionbenches.
Majithia also demandedfrom the Speaker to correct thedeath toll in Amritsar trainaccident. He said 62 people,instead of 58, lost their lives inthe tragic incident.
The House was adjournedfor the day after making theobituary references. It will meetagain on Friday.
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Bitterness among the rivalfollowing their internal dif-
ferences notwithstanding, thePunjab Vidhan Sabha sessionthis time promises to be shortand sweet. The already briefthree-day session, comprisingfour sittings, has virtually beenpruned to half with the rulingparty claiming there was noth-ing really much to discuss ordo.
Irate, the opposition parties— Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)and the Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) — have lashed out at theruling Congress blaming it forrunning away facing criticismand discussing the issues afflict-ing the state and its people.
The session, which was tobe held from December 13 to15, has been curtailed to justtwo days. And in place of dou-ble sitting on December 14,only one sitting will be held,making it just two-day sessionwith two sittings.
The first day of the sessionwas adjourned about 10 min-utes after paying tributes tothose who have left for heav-enly abode.
The decision was taken inthe Business AdvisoryCommittee, comprising repre-sentatives of all political partiesin the House according to theirseat share, amidst the opposi-tion parties’ demand of extend-ing the session further.
Dubbing the decision asthe “cruel joke”, AAP MLAAman Arora said that thatCongress Government, whichhas failed on all fronts, is notwilling to discuss issues of itspoor governance.
AAP MLAs, comprisingArora, Principal Budh Ram,Prof Baljinder Kaur, KultarSingh Sandhwan, AmarjitSingh Sandoa and KulwantSingh Pandori, held a pressbriefing and lashed out not
only at the ruling Congress, butalso questioned the VidhanSabha Speaker Rana KP Singhfor not abiding the House’srulebook.
“We, as an active watchdog,would not let the governmentto run away from answeringquestions regarding its fail-ure,” said Arora.
Referring to 14-A state-ment of the Punjab VidhanSabha Rule Book (Rules), Arorapointed that at least 40 sittingsare mandatory in a year, but thesuccessive governments led bythe Congress and SAD-BJPcombine, did not even heldmore than one-and-a-halfdozen sittings.
“Speaker Rana KP Singh isignoring the rules and regula-tions of the Vidhan Sabha at theinstance of Capt Amarinder. Inthe same way, the calling atten-tion notices were thrown intothe dustbin dubbing them asinsignificant,” he said.
Principal Budh Ram point-ed that during this session,around 250 questions havebeen submitted, out of whichnearly 125 are by AAP, and thenumber of unstarred questionsis separate. “Similarly, therewere 23 calling attentionnotices, and through thesequestions and notices, AAPwanted to raise the issues relat-ed to the farmers, farm labour-ers, dalits, SC students, traders-industrialist, road accidents,unemployment, drugs, educa-tion, health services, water,environment, and even Bargariand law and order. But, the gov-ernment is running away toface the same,” he said.
Prof Baljinder andSandhwan said that if the gov-ernment was really sincereabout the people of Punjab, “itwould have a debate on everysingle burning issue of thestate so that it could beresolved”.
“Today's meeting ended in
just 11 minutes after payingtributes, while chief ministerCapt Amrinder himself hadpointed that a day's sessioncosts around Rs 70 laklh to thegovernment. It would havebeen better if the next sittingwas started after 10-minuteadjournment,” said Arora.
Meanwhile, SADannounced to approach theSpeaker to demand extensionof the session by one week sothat extensive discussion beheld on the problems of farm-ers, dalits, youth and govern-ment employees.
“Congress party has playeda cruel joke on the people andmade a mockery of democra-cy by recommending the win-ter session of the PunjabVidhan Sabha be reduced to asingle sitting, something whichhad happened for the firsttime in the history of the State,”said SAD president SukhbirBadal.
Condemning the anti-peo-ple move, Sukhbir said that itamounted to cheating the peo-ple as well as muzzling theirvoice. “It is shocking that theCongress government is run-ning away from discussion onpeople’s issues by curtailing
the winter session to one sittingas per discussions held in thebusiness advisory committee.As only obituary referenceswere made today, one day is tooless to take up people’s issues aswell as pass bills as scheduled,”he said.
Sukhbir said that the for-mer Finance MinisterParminder Singh Dhindsa hadprotested against this anti-peo-ple approach in the meeting ofthe business advisory com-mittee and demanded the ses-sion be extended by one weekto discuss emergent issues ofthe State. “We will take up thisissue with the Speaker alsotomorrow and demand that thesession be extended appropri-ately,” he added.
SAD president said that itseemed the Congress govern-ment’s failure on all fronts wasbehind its decision to curtailthe assembly session.
“The government doesnot want any discussion onfarmer issues or promisesmade to the youth, discrimi-nation being meted out toDalits and governmentemployees or destruction ofpeace and communal harmo-ny in Punjab,” he said.
envisaging laying of underseaoptic cable connectingAndaman and Nicobar withChennai, will adversely impactcoral reef in the island, aCentral green panel has askedthe project proponent,Department ofTelecommunication (DoT), toconduct additional marineenvironmental impact (EIA)assessment to ensure enoughprotective measures are takento save the marine life in theregion.
Of the eight islands inAndaman & Nicobar, coralsreefs are present in 10 km areaof some sites of HavelockLong, Campbell Bay (GreatNicobar), Kamorta, CarNicobar, and Hut Bay (LittleAndaman). Other islands inthe regions are Port Blair,Kamorta and Rangat Islands.
Also, the Nicobar islandshave more nesting Leatherbackturtles than any other site inthe northern Indian Ocean.There are about 19 importantbird areas in the Andaman andNicobar district and wouldhave some impact.
The EnvironmentalAdvisory Committee (EAC)on projects related to CoastalRegulation Zone (CRZ) underthe Union EnvironmentMinistry in its meeting onNovember 28 has said thoughit is inclined to support theproject in larger public inter-est and grants Island
Protection Zone and CRZclearance.
However, it feels that addi-tional marine EIA study espe-cially in areas likely to passthrough corals reefs need to beconducted. The NationalInstitute of Ocean Technology,Chennai has been entrustedwith the task to carry the sur-vey.
The project aims to pro-vide secure, robust and afford-able telecom facilities carryingbandwidth speed of 100
Gigabit per second (Gbps).The Government feels thatthe much-awaited project willhelp the island to implement e-governance and other welfareschemes to the last mile con-nectivity.
Total segments of subma-rine cable will be 8 while totallength will be 2245.96 kmfrom Chennai to the UnionTerritory.
Seeking a report withinnext three months, the com-mittee observed that this study
is required as abundant pre-caution in addition to thestudy report is made available.
The study should alsohighlight conservation andrestoration measures for coralsand associated flora and fauna,said the seven-member panelheaded by Dr Deepak ArunApte from Bombay NaturalHistory Society (BNHS).
The study shall explicitlyspell out additional mitigationmeasures required to beundertaken along the route ofthe cable laying includingfinancial implication that willhave to be met by the projectproponent. The measures sosuggested by the study shallbe further prescribed eitherby way of a corrigendum oran amendment to theIPZ/CRZ clearance by theMinistry
The project for whichtechnical consultant isT e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o nConsultants India Ltd. (TCIL)is being considered of vitalimportance and hasGovernment interest as cur-rently the only medium ofproviding telecom connectiv-ity between mainland and theisland is though satelliteswhich has a poor quality band-width, said the TCIL seekingits clearance.
The panel was told that theproposed Chennai Andamanand Nicobar Island (CANI)cable system will also be ofimmense strategic significanceto India in addition to assist-ing the Andaman & NicobarIslands communications secu-rity, especially during naturaldisasters or failures of othersystems.
The NEC, Japan is execut-ing cable deployment andrepeaters and associated envi-ronmental management dur-ing cable laying process onbehalf of the DoT.
the BJP quickly settles withexisting allies especially theShiv Sena, deal with them withgenerosity and at the sametime reach out to parties whowere a part of the (Atal Bihari)Vajpayee rainbow coalition atone stage, so that you have astrong pre-poll coalition inplace before 2019,” he said.
Asking the BJP to do acourse correction vis a vis itsapproach towards the Muslimvoters, Gujral said, “”Theminorities want security. Ifyou don’t provide them secu-rity, they will vote en massewith the Congress and allies.Unless we recognise factors likeeconomic factors and espe-cially rural distress, we are infor trouble.”
Another long-time BJP ally,
the Shiv Sena on Thursdaycontinued its tirade againstsenior ally BJP, saying its routin the just held State polls wasthe “defeat of injustice and lies”.
It said along with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andBJP chief Amit Shah, and partyworkers had called for a“Congress-free” country.
“However, Congress chiefRahul Gandhi has beaten themin their own turf. This is thedefeat of injustice and lies.Pride has been captured andego crushed,” the Sena said inan editorial in party mouth-piece ‘Saamana’.
“Our culture is that alongwith one’s loss, a win shouldalso be accepted humbly, how-ever, this culture was destroyedafter the Lok Sabha election of2014,” it said in sarcasticremarks.
Despite its repeated asser-tion that it will go alone in theLok Sabha polls, there are
reports that Sena would nego-tiate with the BJP now from thepoint of “strength” and ask forhalf of the 48 LS seats. The Senais also expected to mount pres-sure on the BJP to hold simul-taneous Assembly polls inMaharashtra so that the BJPcould not dump it after the LSpolls in a repeat of 2014. TheMaharashtra Assembly pollswere held in October 2014and the BJP had contested italone.
“Those who built the partywere ousted. Friends, who didnot give up in bad times, weretermed enemies. People, wholifted you up from dust, them-selves are in ruins today. They(BJP) could not register a winin a single state because thecountry doesn’t need industri-alists,” the Sena said.
In a vitriolic attack onModi, it said the PrimeMinister held dozens of ralliesin every (poll-bound) State
and mercilessly attacked Rahul,not taking care about the “lows”one could go to while holdingthe constitutional post.
There is ego even in Modi’s“humble” acceptance of defeatas he did not congratulateRahul over the win, and theBJP’s loss should be attributedto him as his entire Council ofMinisters was roped-in forcampaigning, said the Sena, anally of the BJP at the Centre andin Maharashtra.
It said Rahul has humblyaccepted his win and acknowl-edged the contribution of BJPChief Ministers. However,Modi is not willing to acceptthe contribution of (formerPrime Ministers and lateCongress leaders) JawaharlalNehru, Indira Gandhi or RajivGandhi in building the nation.
“He is not even willing toaccept that (veteran leader)LK Advani has built the BJP,”the Sena said.
India and Russia discussed theentire range of issues related to
Defence during the 18th meet-ing of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission onMilitary Technical Cooperation(IRIGC-MTC) here onThursday. The meeting was co-chaired by Defence MinisterNirmala Sitharaman and herRussian counterpart GeneralSergei Shoigu.
In the framework of thebilateral Special and PrivilegedStrategic Partnership, theIRIGC-MTC meeting discusseda wide range of issues relatingto Defence equipment, industryand technological engagementbetween India and Russia aswell as after sales support andupgradation of military equip-ment of Russian origin.
The Ministers expressedsatisfaction at the dynamismand progress in bilateralDefence cooperation. Intensivediscussions were held on jointmanufacturing projects, includ-ing the Kamov-226T heli-copters, naval frigates and pro-jects related to land systems.
The two sides also agreedto take forward Inter-Governmental arrangementsfor facilitating joint manufac-turing of spares for Russian ori-gin equipment in India, underthe ‘Make in India’ initiative,officials said.
With a view to enhancingmilitary-to-military engage-ment and rationalising thefunctioning of the Commission,
a revised Inter-GovernmentalAgreement on restructuringthe existing IRIGC-MTC to theIRIGC on Military and MilitaryTechnical Cooperation was alsosigned by the two Ministers. Anadditional institutionalWorking Group headed byChief of Integrated DefenceStaff to the Chairman COSE(CISC) and Deputy Chief of theMain Operational Directorateof General Staff of ArmedForces of Russian Federationwould be set up under theexpanded Commission.
The Ministers expressedsatisfaction progress in struc-tured engagement between theirarmed forces, including jointexercises, resumption of train-ing exchanges and other inter-actions in the framework of theBilateral Road Map on DefenceCooperation signed in June2017. The inaugural meeting ofthe IRIGC-MTC is proposed tobe held in Russia in 2019 onmutually convenient dates.
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The Opposition continued tostall proceedings of both the
Houses of Parliament for the sec-ond consecutive day onThursday raising various issues,including alleged corruption inthe Rafale fighter jet deal, con-struction of Ram temple andCauvery river water. While theRajya Sabha was adjourned forthe day shortly after it met for theday, the Lok Sabha witnessedrepeated adjournments before itwas finally adjourned for the day.
Thursday was the thirdday of the Winter Session.While on day one, both theHouses were adjourned afterpaying obituary to formerPrime Minister Atal BihariVajpayee, Union MinisterAnanth Kumar and some sit-ting members, the second dayon Wednesday saw protests bythe Opposition. While the LokSabha was adjourned withouttransacting much business, theRajya Sabha had passed a Billamid noisy scenes.
The Upper House onThursday was adjourned for theday without transacting any
business following protests byTamil Nadu parties inside theWell over the Cauvery riverissue. No sooner had the Housepaid its respects to the nine per-sons who laid down their lives17 years back when terroristattacked the Parliament Housecomplex and the listed paperspresented, members belong-ing to the AIADMK and DMKtrooped into the Well of theHouse shouting slogans aboutCauvery issue. Some membersfrom Andhra Pradesh alsocame into the well demandingspecial status for the State.
Chairman M VenkaiahNaidu tried to pacify the mem-bers. However, they did not
relent forcing Naidu to observe“I would like to urge membersto at least allow the Housetoday...9 persons had laid downtheir lives to protectParliament. Wrong messagewill go,” he said. He lateradjourned the proceedings tillFriday at about 11.10 am
The Lok Sabha also wit-nessed repeated adjournments.The House was adjourned twicein the Question Hour. It waslater adjourned for the day dur-ing Zero Hour where only twomembers got a chance to speak.
Besides Opposition mem-bers, ruling BJP’s ally ShivSena also held protests in theHouse demanding law for con-
struction of Ram Temple inAyodhya. As the protests con-tinued, Speaker SumitraMahajan asked members toallow the House to function butin vain. The House was thenadjourned for the day.
Earlier, as soon as theQuestion Hour began afterpaying tributes to martyrs ofthe 2001 Parliament attack,members from the Congress,TDP and AIADMK rushed tothe Well raising slogans, fol-lowing which the Speakeradjourned the House.
TDP memberVenkateshwara Rao (Babu) useda mike installed in the Well forthe oath of a new member toprop up a poster seeking specialstatus for Andhra Pradesh. ALok Sabha secretariat staffertried to convince him not to usethe mike. Parliamentary AffairsMinister Narendra Singh Tomartoo tried to convince him tokeep down the mike. The TDPmember’s action invited the ireof Speaker Sumitra Mahajanwho warned him that he will benamed. Once a member isnamed, he or she has to leave theHouse chamber.
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In a bid to scale up prepara-tion s for the 2019 Lok Sabha
elections, the BJP is to holdtwo-day national council meet-ing on January 11 and 12 hereas also the national conventionsof seven of its seven ‘Morchas’across the county. Some of theconventions of the ‘Morchas’will be attended by PrimeMinister Narandra Modi andparty president Amit Shah.
Addressing a Press confer-ence at the party office, BJPgeneral secretary BhupenderYadav shared details of variousmeetings to be held across thecountry. These include thetwo-day ‘Scheduled Caste mor-cha’ meeting, to be attended byits chief Amit Shah on January19-20 in Nagpur.
The ‘Scheduled Tribe mor-cha’ meeting will be held onFebruary 2-3 in Bhubaneswarand the ‘OBC morcha’ onFebruary 15-16 in Patna, Yadavtold reporters after a meetingof the party’s office-bearers.
The party’s national coun-cil will be held on January 11-12 in the national Capital, hesaid. The party’s defeat in theAssembly elections was notdiscussed in the meeting, Yadavsaid, adding that it was not onthe agenda.
While holding its Moarchmeetings, the BJP will holdingpublic rallies too, some ofwhich would be addressed byPrime Minister.
Asked whether temple wasdiscussed in meeting, Yadavsaid though not discussed, itwas the commitment of theparty and mentioned in itsmanifesto. Earlier in the dayBJP parliamentary party held its meeting which wasattended by the PM and theparty chief.
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Despite the big electoral set-back in Chhattisgarh,
Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthanbeing attributed to rural dis-tress and farmers’ anger and theresult of the Congress’ promiseto waive farm loans, theMinistry of Agriculture onThursday stated that it was notconsidering any loan waiverscheme as it would affect thecredit culture, incentivisedefaulters, create a moral haz-ard and perpetuate demandsfor further waivers.
It is estimated that anamount of �45,000 crore wouldbe needed to keep the promis-es of farm loan waivers inthese three States.
In a written reply to ShivSena MP Bhavana Gawali Patil,Union Minister of State forAgriculture Parshottam Rupala said, “The UnionGovernment at present is notconsidering any loan waiverscheme for farmers.”
“Such waivers may impactthe credit culture of a State byincentivising the defaulterseven if they are in a position torepay the loan and thus cre-ate/amplify the moral hazardby discouraging those bor-rowers who have been regularin repaying their loans. Further,each waiver granted makes iteven more difficult to reject anyfuture similar demand,” Rupalasaid in the statement.
During the campaign forthe Assembly election,Congress president RahulGandhi vowed to waive off
farmers’ loans in MadhyaPradesh and Chhattisgarhwithin 10 days of coming topower. The ruling BJP lost theAssembly polls in these States.The loss is attributed to ruraldistress and farmers’ anger.The farmers’ woes are expect-ed to be major poll issue in LokSabha elections in 2019.
Rupala admitted thataccording to the NationalCrime Records Bureau data,bankruptcy or indebtedness,and farming-related issues werereported as the major causes forsuicides among farmers.“While the Centre would notconsider loan waivers, it hadinitiated a number of measuresto reduce the debt burden offarmers and to increase avail-ability of institutional credit tofarmers,” he said.
Officials of the AgricultureMinistry said huge amount offarm loan will put enormouspressure on the near-precariousfiscal situation in two of the threeStates: Rajasthan, Chhattisgarhand MP. “The loan waiver alsorisks deepening the malaise atpublic sector banks saddledwith most of India’s $150 billionin stressed loans. If the govern-ment finds very limited fiscalspace, it could go for loanwaivers only in a few areas thathave suffered extreme weatherconditions,” officials said.
Highlighting the stepstaken by the Government tofarmers, Rupala said in hisreply that the Government isproviding Interest SubventionScheme (ISS) to make availableshort-term crop loans upto �3lakh for a period of one year at
an effective interest rate of 4 percent per annum against thenormal lending rate of 9 percent to prompt payee farmers.
“Thus, the prompt payeefarmers are getting an interestsubvention of 5 per cent perannum. The scheme is continuedin 2018-19. Besides, some StateGovernments in fact also provideadditional interest subvention,reducing the effective interestburden on short term crop loansto zero. Government sets annu-al target for the flow of credit tothe agriculture sector. Bankshave been consistently surpass-ing the annual target. The cur-rent year’s agriculture credit flowtarget has been set at �11 lakhcrore,” he said. The Ministeradded that he current year’sagriculture credit flow targethas been set at �11 lakh crore.
the Agriculture Ministry hasdeputed inter-ministrialCentral team to six States —Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra,Rajasthan, Gujarat, Jharkhandand Odisha — to assessdrought situation across theStates. These six States and theKarnataka Government haddeclared drought for the kharif(summer) 2018 season. BarringOdisha, the other States havesubmitted a memorandumseeking funds from the CentralGovernment. As per IMD, 250of the 681 districts across thecountry have faced deficientrainfall this year.
According to IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD), the rain deficiency isrecorded 9 per cent this year.The States like Jharkhand,Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,Meghalya, Bihar, WestRajasthan, Gujarat, North-Eastand parts of Andhra Pradesh,Tamil Nadu and Karnatakahave witnessed below normalrain. Out of total 36 sub-divi-sions, as many as 24 have wit-nessed normal rain, while 10continue to remain rain-defi-cient and two sub division hasrecorded excess rain.
Already, a team has visit-ed Karnataka and submitted itsreport. Other teams are in theprocess.
The report is first vetted bya sub-committee headed by theAgriculture Secretary.Thereafter, the recommenda-tions are placed before theUnion Home Minister RajnathSingh-headed high-level com-mittee seeking approval for therelease of funds from NationalDisaster Response Fund.According to a new manual ondrought management issued bythe Union Ministry ofAgriculture in December 2016,the Centre will only providefunds to State Governments incase of “Severe” drought, not“mild”. Since the yardstick tomeasure the severity ofdrought is stricter, the newconditions make it more diffi-cult for the States to prove“severe” drought and get relieffrom the Centre.
Recently, MaharashtraChief Minister DevendraFadnavis met Nripendra Misra,the Principle Secretary toPrime Minister NarendraModi, in seeking a financialassistance of �7,962.63 crore totackle the prevailing drought inMaharashtra. The MaharashtraGovernment has identified201 talukas in 32 districts thatare facing water scarcity owingto deficient rainfall in thesouthwest monsoon season.Marathwada region seemsworst affected.
In Bihar of the 38 districts,24 witnessed rain deficientthis monsoon. As per data, raindeficiency recorded in Arariya21 per cent; Arwal 30 percent; Begu Sarai 26 per cent;Bhojpur 33 per cent;Darbhanga 28 per cent;
Jehanabad 33 per cent; Jamui31 per cent; Katihar 34 percent; Khagria 36 per cent;Muzzaffarpur 41 per cent;Patna 27 per cent and eastChamparan 32 per cent.
In Gujarat, the rain defi-ciency in Devbhoomi Dwarkarecorded 42 per cent; Jamnagar29 per cent; Kachchh 62 percent; Morbi 51 per cent;Porbandar 28 and Rajkot 30per cent in Saurashtra andKutch sub division. Similarly,rain deficiency in Ananthapur,Chittoor, Cuddapah andKurnool in Rayalseema record-ed 33 percent, 41 per cent, 60per cent and 46 per centrespectively.
In Karnataka, the officialsaid 72 out of 100 taluks wereseverely affected by droughtduring the kharif season, whilethere was moderate impact inrest of the taluks.
In Jharkhand, the raindeficiency is recorded in 191talukas in 18 districts. InAndhra Pradesh, six districtshave reported drought like sit-uation this year.
Even a large chunk ofUttar Pradesh received 40 percent deficit monsoon but thestate has not declared drought.Ten districts in West Bengalreceived deficit rainfall of morethan 20 per cent but the stateis yet to declare drought. WestBengal and Uttar Pradesh con-tribute more than one-fourthof India’s rice production.
New Delhi: The Interpol hasissued a Red Corner Notice atthe behest of CBI againstMehul Choksi in connectionwith the PNB credit fraud tothe tune of over �7,000 crore.
The RCN was issued by theInterpol on Wednesday, CBIofficials said on Thursday.
The CBI had registeredthe case against Choksi andothers, including his firms, onFebruary 15 on a complaintfrom Punjab National Bank(PNB). The agency had bookedChoksi, Managing Director,Gitanjali Gems Ltd and otherson the allegations of cheatingthe public sector PNB.
After an investigation intothe case, the CBI filed achargesheet on May 16 againstChoksi and 17 other accusedpersons, including one formerManaging Director and twoExecutive Directors, of PNBbefore the Special Judge, CBIcases, Greater Mumbai forcheating the bank to the tuneof �7080.86 crore.
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The Supreme Court onThursday issued notice to
Maharashtra Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis on a pleaseeking annulment of his elec-tion to the State Assembly foralleged non-disclosure of pend-ing criminal cases against himin the nomination papers.
A Bench comprising ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi andJustices SK Kaul and KMJoseph sought response of theChief Minister on an appealfiled against a Bombay HighCourt order.
The Bombay High Courthad dismissed the plea of oneSatish Ukey seeking annul-ment of Fadanavis’s election tothe Maharashtra Assembly onthe ground of alleged non-dis-closure of all pending criminalcases against him.
The apex court was hear-ing an appeal of Ukey againstthe high court order.
Senior advocate KapilSibal, appearing for the peti-tioner, submitted that Fadnavisin his election affidavit filed in2014, had failed to disclose thependency of two criminal casesagainst him.
New Delhi: The SupremeCourt stayed the MeghalayaHigh Court order directing allcommercial operators and theAviation Ministry to urgentlytake a decision to start flightsfrom Umroi Airport, 30 kmfrom capital Shillong.
A Bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi took noteof the submissions of senioradvocate Mukul Rohatgi, repre-senting Indigo Airlines thatthere were no fire fighting andother facilities available at UmroiAirport and flight operations
cannot be started immediately.“The High Court order
shall remain stayed,” said theBench which also comprisedJustices SK Kaul and KMJoseph. Rohatgi said there wasno petition before the HC,which on its own (suo motu),took note of the issue anddirected Director General ofCivil Aviation, Secretary,Ministry of Civil Aviation andAirport Authority of IndiaChairman to hold a meetingwithin a week for making theairport operational. PTI
New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Thursday dismisseda plea seeking directions forimmediate execution of thefour death row convicts in the2012 Nirbhaya gangrape andmurder case, saying, “you wantus to go around Delhi and exe-cute these people?”
“What kind of prayer you are making?,” a Bench of Justices Madan B Lokurand Deepak Gupta told thepetitioner.
Sundari, a tigress which ishoused in an enclosure for
more than a month after shewas suspected of killing twopeople in Odisha’s SatkosiaTiger reserve might not enjoythe wilderness of the forestsever again.
Sources said the wildfemale big cat fromBandhavgarh tiger reserve inMadhya Pradesh might beshifted to a zoo, most probablyNandankanan Zoo in the com-ing days. Presently, her move-ments are being watchedthrough the CCTV cameras.
Wildlife experts fear thathaving lived for quite sometime in the enclosure, thestriped female cat is now
becoming used to humanimprints, losing her wildinstinct in the process due towhich will no longer be able tosurvive in the wild on herselfagain. This is the second timethat the tigress is inside theenclosure, first time was whenit was brought fromBandhavgarh tiger reserve inJune to be shifted to Satkosia.
Her companion, a maletiger, called as Mahavir by theforest officials, has alreadybecome victim of poaching. Itwas brought from MadhyaPradesh’s Kanha tiger reserve.
Following the death of thetiger and suspected humankillings by the tigress, theNational Tiger ConservationAuthority (NTCA) has alreadyput on hold the �18-crore
translocation project that envis-ages release of three pairs oftigers in the Satkosia reserve.
Mahavir and Sundari werepart of the country’s first inter-State tiger translocation plan.
Refusing to be named, aforest official lambasted theState Government for failing toensure that the tigress remainin the core area. He alsoexpressed his displeasure thatthe female big cat was beingkept in an enclosure for such along period. Usually it is wild towild release so that the preda-tors maintain their killinginstinct in the wild, he said.Keeping in the soft ambiencebring behaviourial changes inthe animal. Moreover, it isdoubtful if the tigress will beacceptable to the locals also who
have been up in arms againstthe introduction of the preda-tors in the region, he added.
Brought fromBandhavgarh Tiger Reserveto Satkosia on June 29,Sundari was released in thewild on August 17. Duringher transit stay in the enclo-sure, she was fed domesticanimals like calf and goatinstead of prey more suited topredators like her like Sambhar,bison and barking deer.
“The tigress shouldn’t havebeen kept in the enclosure formore than seven days. Lodginga predator in an enclosure islike gradually killing its wildinstincts,” according to BiswajitMohanty, secretary of WildlifeSociety of Odisha as per areport.
outfit were killed in a night-long gunfight in a village innorth Kashmir’s Sopore quar-ter on Thursday, officialsources said. After the gunfight,security personnel battled withirate protesters who attemptedto march towards theencounter site.
Police said that on the basisof credible input about the pres-ence of terrorists in Brath Kalanarea of Sopore, a search opera-tion was launched by police,army, and CRPF jointly in thearea on Wednesday evening.
“As the searches were goingon, the search party was firedupon by the hiding terrorists.The fire was retaliated leadingto a gunfight,” a policespokesman said.
“In the ensuing encounter,two terrorists were neutralisedand the bodies were retrievedfrom the site of the encounter,”the spokesman said.
The slain terrorists havebeen identified as OwaisAhmad Bhat alias Abu Bakarand Tahir Ahmad Dar aliasAbu Abdullah. Both were affil-iated with terror outfit LeT.
“Both the terrorists werewanted by the law for their
complicity in a series of crimesincluding the attack on securi-ty establishments and civilianatrocities,” the spokesman said.
“Huge quantity of armsand ammunition includingrifles were recovered from thesite of encounter. All thesematerials have been taken inthe case records for furtherinvestigation and probe theircomplicity in other terrorcases,” the spokesman said.
“Citizens are requested notto venture inside the encounterzone since such an area canprove dangerous due to strayexplosive materials. People arerequested to cooperate withpolice till the area is complete-ly sanitised and cleared of allthe explosives materials if any,”said police.
The advisory was reiterat-
ed after clashes erupted in thearea following the killing of twoterrorists. Locals said soonafter the gunfight ended youthtook to streets and pelted stoneson the security forces. Theretaliatory action from thesecurity personnel triggeredclashes.
The terrorists are underintense pressure from the secu-rity forces after the tempera-tures began plummeting inthe region. The terrorists gen-erally descend to the populat-ed areas during harsh wintermonths and are prone to get-ting exposed.
Meanwhile, security forceslaunched cordon and searchoperation in Mirdanter villageof south Kashmir's Anantnagdistrict late on Thursdayevening.
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In a sudden development,the Enforcement Directorate
sleuths on Thursday conduct-ed surprise raids over ten loca-tions in Kolkata following a tip-off from the InformationBureau from Delhi, sourcessaid.
The ED conducted simul-taneous raids in the offices ofa number of travel agencies andmoney exchange agencies atBurrbazar, Posta, Park Street,New Market, Bhawanipore andother areas sources said.
According to sources, theED received a tip-off from theIB that crores of rupees werebeing siphoned out of India
through hawala channels overthe past several months.
Though the officialsremained tight-lipped, othersources said news of hawalatransactions had been pouringin since the past 5-6 months.
Whether these were linkedto demonetisation or not wereyet to be confirmed but suffi-cient documents were recov-ered from the raided areas,sources said.
Panaji: An umbrella group ofmining dependent people inGoa on Thursday sought PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'sintervention for resumptionof iron ore mining which cameto a halt nine months agoadversely affecting their liveli-hood.
The Goa Mining People'sFront (GMPF) has submitted a
memorandum to the PrimeMinisters Office in New Delhiin this regard.
Thousands of miningdependent people are protest-ing in the national capital sincethe last three days demandingrenewal of iron ore extractionand transportation in thecoastal state.
Mining, which used to be
one of two major sources ofrevenue in Goa — the otherbeing tourism — came to a haltin March this year after theSupreme Court quashed 88mining leases.
"After the stoppage of min-ing activities in the State manypeople who were directlyemployed in the mining indus-try have been retrenched and
as a consequence have losttheir jobs," GMPF presidentPuti Gaonkar has said in thememorandum submitted tothe PMO.
"If immediate measuresare not taken, their number islikely to increase exponential-ly, rendering a large populationof the State jobless," accordingto the memorandum.
The GMPF has sought anappointment with Modi topersonally present their case tohim.
"Small-scale entrepreneurslike truck, barge and machin-ery owners have lost their onlysource of income and are leftclutching at the straws to safe-guard their childrens future,"the memorandum said. PTI
closed on Thursday due tofresh spell of rainfall in theplains and moderate snowfallin higher reaches in KashmirValley. The authorities clearedhundreds of stranded passen-gers and vehicles late in theevening with an advisory forpeople not to embark on freshjourney without confirmation
on the road status.Traffic Officials said that in
view of snowfall on both sidesof Jawahar Tunnel at ShaitanNallah, Banihal, Qazigund, thevehicular traffic from Jammutowards Srinagar was stoppedfor the safety of travelers. Theysaid over 1500 passenger andload carrier vehicles werestranded at Chanderkot,Ramban and Ramsoo stretch-es along the highway.
They said that no fresh traf-
fic would be allowed onThursday from either side ofnational highway owing to freshsnowfall on both sides of JawaharTunnel. They said subject to fairweather and road condition onlystranded vehicles will be allowedto reach their destination. Theroad maintenance agencies areengaged in clearing the areas tofacilitate the stranded vehiclesand travellers to move towardstheir destination.
Meanwhile, MeT depart-ment predicted improvement inthe weather. The minimumtemperature in Srinagar cityplummeted to 0.1 degreeCelsius during the previousnight while Pahalgam recorded1.5 degrees and Gulmarg minus9.5 degree Celsius temperature.
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The BJP is all set to “regain”its status as the untouch-
ables of Indian politics, at leastin Tamil Nadu. The results ofthe Assembly elections held inMadhya Pradesh, Rajasthanand Chhattisgarh has hastenedthe isolation of the Hindutvaparty in Tamil Nadu.
There was an expectationamong political circles in TamilNadu that the ruling AIADMKmay forge an alliance with theBJP at the time of the LokSabha election. That hope liesburied by late Tuesday eveningwhen Anwhar Raajhaa, theAIADMK MP, declaring thathis party would not have anykind of alliance with the BJP .“The results of MadhyaPradesh, Rajasthan andChhattisgarh are against theBJP. It may not be an endorse-
ment of the Congress party,”said Raajhaa, the minority faceof the AIADMK.
As on Wednesday, nopolitical outfits in Tamil Naduhave any kind of alliance withthe BJP. The Hindutva partysuffered yet another setback inTamil Nadu on Tuesdayevening when Rajnikanth, thesuper star of Tamil films andwho has announced his polit-ical dreams, made it knownthat the BJP has lost it’s influ-ence in the three States whereelections were held. “The per-formance in the elections isdefinitely a setback for theBJP,” Rajnikanth told reporterslate Tuesday evening. TheTamil Nadu BJP had greathopes about an electoralalliance with the party to beformed by the actor. But hisstatement has dampened theirexpectations.
Group war is at its peak in
Tamil Nadu BJP, according toparty insiders. “There are fourgroups pulling the party in dif-ferent directions. The leadersare fighting among themselvesand have forgotten the directiveissued by party president AmitShah to enrol 60 lakh membersin the party. “There are 60,000polling booths in Tamil Nadu.Each booth should have 100booth level workers to ensurethat the party votes are castwithout failure,” Shah had tolda mammoth gathering atChennai on December 20,2014. But neither the party’sState chief nor others couldenrol even 10 lakh membersduring the last four years.
Prime Minister NarendraModi and party president AmitShah need not spend theirvaluable time campaigning inTamil Nadu during the LokSabha election, saidG.Satyamurthy, veteran scribe
and chronicler of the politicalhistory of Tamil Nadu. “Whereare the cadres in the BJP. Theremay he hardly 1,000 activists ofthe party all over Tamil Nadu,”said Satyamurthy.
A senior leader said itwould be better if the nation-al leadership forget about theBJP. “Leaders in the State arevying with one another to getplum postings in variousCentral Government and pub-lic sector undertakings andthey have prospered,” said theleader.
Satyamurthy pointed outthat neither the Prime Ministernor the party president wouldbe able to communicate withthe cadre in Tamil. “People inTamil Nadu do not know Hindithanks to the Dravidian poli-cies. I am yet to see someoneproperly translating the leaders’Hindi speech into Tamil,” saidSatyamurthy.
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The Insolvency andBankruptcy Code has come
to the rescue of a Kollam basedChartered Accountant and hiswife in their fight for justice inthe face of a massive fraudcommitted by a Congressleader in Kerala known to beclose to former Chief MinisterOommen Chandy and formerUnion Minister Vayalar Ravi.
Shaffi Mather, former eco-nomic advisor toOommenChandy and hisfather KMI Mather, himself aveteran Congress leader andthe State’s football boss, hadallegedly cheated gullibleinvestors of crores of rupeespromising high-end luxuryapartments.
Mather Projects PrivateLimited, their company, hadoffered to sell luxury apart-ments in Kochi. More than 30professionals working in Indiaand abroad invested heavily inthe project, some as far back as2007. K Vijaya MohanValiathan, a chartered accoun-tant and his wife Seema K Nairbooked in February 2014 a
12th floor luxury apartment inthe proximity of the scenicPeriyar River.
“The Mathers were peopleknown all over the State andthey were a known name in theproperty development busi-ness at the time we invested.Shaffi Mather was the one whoaccompanied the then ChiefMinister Oommen Chandy tothe World Economic Forumsession at Davos and therewas no need to suspect theircredentials,” Valiathan told ThePioneer.
The Valiathans paid �46lakh as the first two instalmentsthrough bank drafts byFebruary 2014. “The Mathershad assured that they woulddeliver the apartment byDecember 2014. But even afterthree years, they failed to handover the flat and the construc-tion had come to a standstill byJanuary 2014 itself,” said
Valiathan.When contacted, the com-
pany told him that there weresome issues between the broth-ers and everything would besettled soon. ‘But when theystarted conjuring new con-struction strategies each timewe called them, we were con-vinced that the money was asgood as gone and there was nochance for us to recoup theamount we paid them,” saidValiathan.
In 2016, the Governmentof India enacted the Insolvencyand Bankruptcy Code whichwas to revolutionise the bor-rowing culture and etiquette inthe country. Through anamendment later, home buy-ers were accorded the status of‘financial creditor’ at par withbanks and financial lenders.The code resulted in the settingup of the Insolvency AndBankruptcy Board of India, aregulatory authority to take totask delinquent companies likeMather Projects which weretaking customers for a ride.Hitherto there were no safe-guards to save the homebuyersfrom the crooks who wereenjoying “field days”
TheValiathans seized thisopportunity to expose thesordid deeds that were beingcommitted by the companyfor more than a decade towardsits hapless customers.
When he saw the numberof prospective apartment own-ers who have been cheated byfly-by-night operators, the firstthing Vijaya Mohan Valiathandid was to get qualified as aninsolvency professional to helpthe victims. He alsoapproached the NationalCompany Law Tribunal whichon 30th November 2018 admit-ted his application to initiateinsolvency proceeding againstthe company. It also ordered forappointment of a Trivandrumbased Insolvency Professionals the Interim ResolutionProfessional.
The Mathers whoremained incommunicado tillthen rushed to Valiathan witha plea not to go forward withhis complaint and sought moretime to complete the Projectand hand over the apartment.Interestingly, the so-called fam-ily dispute that was touted asthe reason for distress of thecompany had become a thing
of the past as Shaffi and hisbrother had resolved theinternecine “dispute” in thefamily.
Valiathan stood his groundand the director board of thecompany got dissolved.Padmakumar, the IRP appoint-ed by the NCLT would admin-ister the process of identifyinga prospective buyer who willtake the company and its pro-jectsforward or secure an orderfor its liquidation. “It may takesome more time for me to getback my money if at all! I amnow at least assured that I amresting in the credibility and thetimelines provided by Law”says Valiathan. He feels theIBC, 2016 has vested in cus-tomers who are cheated byoperators like Mather Projectsthe power to either salvagetheir life savings or dislodgefraudsters from running com-panies by getting them hand-ed over to more dependableand forthright managements.
This is the first instancefrom Kerala where a “victim”got justice from the amendedInsolvency and BankruptcyCode, which in normal situa-tion would have taken decades.
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The electoral debacles in theHindi heartland has pushed
Prime Minister Narendra Modiand BJP president Amit Shah’sBengal rallies in to realms ofuncertainty, party insiders say.
At least Modi’s muchhyped Siliguri rally is not hap-pening immediately. The StateBJP leadership has been inti-mated by the Prime Minister’soffice on this count, sources atthe Muralidhar Sen Lane (BJP’sState headquarters) said.
The Prime Minister hadexpressed his wishes to address5 rallies during the highlybandied Rath Yatras of thesaffron outfit. But for a legaltangle — pending police per-mission — the three Yatraseach commencing fromCoochbehar, Birbhum andKakdwip (Ganga Sagar) werescheduled to start on
December 7, 9 and 14 beforeculminating at a grand rally inKolkata on January 23.
The Prime Minister whowas supposed to hold his firstrally on December 14 duringthe course of the Yatra at Siliguriwould not be available now forthe mega show as he would bebusy on the said day somewherein Uttar Pradesh, senior Stateleader Sayantan Basu said.Others said he would be visit-ing Rae Bareli next week.
Following the debacle inRajasthan, Madhya Pradeshand Chhattisgarh and theprospects in UP not lookingfavourable either in the wake ofCongress, Samajwadi Party andMayawati resurgent cama-raderie the saffron outfit wantsto fortify its rear before leapinginto bigger adventures inBengal and the remaining partof the East and North East,insiders say.
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An unbending BJP leader-ship on Thursday told the
State Government about itsintentions not to alter theroute of the much hyped RathYatra scheduled to be taken outin three phases.
“We have given our sidesto the Government. We havesaid that we can change thedays of the Yatra but we willnot change the Yatra routes incase,” State BJP president DilipGhosh said adding the partywould commence the Yatrawithin 4-5 days of theGovernment giving its per-mission for it.
Three senior BJP leadersearlier held consultations withthe police top brass over thepermission and other formal-
ities of the proposed RathYatra that got stalled for wantof administrative permissionearly this month leading to thesaffron outfit to move theCalcutta High Court whichdirected both the parties to sitand sort out the issue amongthemselves before returning tothe Court.
“We have said that we willchange the days but not theroute. We submitted our letterafter which the officials at themeeting said they will comeback to us later on,” Ghoshsaid.
The State Government hadearlier argued before the Courtthat the Yatra could triggercommunal disturbance towhich the Court had asked theparties to sit and discuss beforereturning to the Court.
yet to recover from the untime-ly demise of J Jayalalithaa in2016, got hastened with one ofits rebel leaders Senthil Balajideciding to go back to theDMK, his former party.
It is expected that Balajiwould call on DMK presidentM K Stalin on Friday morningat the party head quarters inChennai when the latter woulddeclare his joining the party.Hundreds of loyalists of Balajihad left Karur, hometown forChennai to be with him whenhe joins the DMK.
For Balaji, joining theDMK is like coming home, ashe had quit the party in 2000to join the AIADMK. He wasa Minister in the AIADMKGovernment led by Jayalalithaawhich came to office in 2011.But he was dropped from theCouncil of Ministers followingsome allegations. Though hewas re-elected to the assemblyin the 2016 election, Balaji
chose to cast his lot withSasikala and Dhinakaran in thetussle for supremacy in theparty and was disqualifiedalonh with 17 other MLAs bythe Speaker.
Balaji and his close associ-ates remained tight lipped abouttheir plans though there werereports that he was in contactwith A Raja, a close confidanteof Kanimozhi, daughter of for-mer Chief Minister late MKarunanidhi. What stood outon Thursday was the absence ofthe pictures of Jayalalithaaand Sasikala from the shirtpockets of Balaji and his fol-lowers. Gone too are the pic-tures of Jayalalithaa and Sasikalafrom the cars and SUVs ofBalaji and his followers.
“By tomorrow morning allthese vehicles will spot thepictures of Stalin andKanimozhi,” said one of the dri-vers in the motorcade accom-panying Balaji to Chennai. T TV Dhinakaran, founder of theAMMK, the breakway factionof the AIADMK, said atChennai that he had no regretsin Balaji leaving the party.
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In a ghastlyincident, a
l e o p a r dsnatched athree year oldbaby and ate, creating panic ina village in Bellary district ofKarnataka. The incident hap-pened at Somalapur village inKampli taluk on Tuesdayevening. According to policethe toddler was identified asVenkatswamy RaghavendraDaroji.
According to police andState forest department offi-cials, the animal attacked thebaby while he was attendingnature’s calls in front of hishouse. The mother had goneinside to bring water and wasnot aware of the attack by theleopard which was hidingbehind the bushes. “She heardthe kid scream for help. By thetime she rushed, it was late asthe animal had vanished withthe baby”, said an official.
Mumbai: A 39-year-oldfarmer, who was on hungerstrike for crop loan, died onThursday in Maharashtra'sParbhani district, police said.
Tukaram Vaijanath Kale,resident of Mardajgaon inPathri tehsil, had sat on ahunger strike in front of StateBank of India's Pathri branchalongwith some other farmerssince on Wednesday.
Their demand was thatthe bank should grant themcrop loan speedily, said inspec-tor Vidyasagar Shrimanvar ofPathri police station.
Kale's condition deterio-rated on Thursday afternoonand he was shifted to aGovernment hospital atManvat where he died duringtreatment, the police officialsaid.
As the news of his deathcame, there was a commotionat the venue of the hunger
strike at Pathri, he said.His relatives took the body
from the hospital and placed itat the agitation site.
A crowd gathered at thespot but the situation wasunder control, the inspectorsaid.
The exact cause of Kale'sdeath was yet to be ascer-tained, he said.
An accidental death reporthas been registered and furtherinvestigation is underway, hesaid. PTI
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Joynagar (WB): ThreeTrinamool Congress activistswere shot dead in South 24-Parganas district on Thursdayevening when gunmenattacked the vehicle of a partyMLA, police said.
Motorbike borne assailantsattacked the three personswhen they, including the dri-ver of the vehicle, were at apetrol pump in Joynagar area.
The incident occurredshortly after Biswanath Das,the MLA, disembarked fromthe vehicle at a party officenearby.
The police started aninvestigation into the killingdetained a few people for ques-tioning. PTI
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Ahmedabad: President RamNath Kovind will be in Gujaraton December 15 to pay visit tothe Statue of Unity in Narmadadistrict.
He will also lay the foun-dation stone for a railway stationat Kevadiya village in the vicin-ity of which the 182-meter tallstatue of Sardar VallabhbhaiPatel stands, an official releasesaid on Thursday.
Local tribal leaders areopposing the railway station andhave sought a meeting with thepresident over the issue.
As December 15 is thedeath anniversary of SardarPatel, the country's first homeminister, Kovind will also attenda prayer meet in the statue com-plex. The statue was unveiled byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin October this year.
From there, Kovind wouldproceed to Kevadiya village, 5km away, to lay the foundationstone for a railway station, saidthe release. Chief Minister VijayRupani and Railway MinisterPiyush Goyal will also attend theevent. PTI
In science and philosophy, there is a rulereferred to as ‘Occam’s Razor’, whichbasically states that the simplest expla-nation is often the right one. In the weekleading up to the elections, there was
an article by Surjit Bhalla, where he claimedthat the Congress and its allies would fail toeven win one State despite exit polls and opin-ion polls indicating otherwise. His reasonswere far from simple and contrary to noiseon the ground. This lends credence to thebelief that while the simplest answer is oftenthe right one, a complicated explanation isthe bellwether of a wrong one.
The past few days saw the Congress winthe mandate of the people in three massiveStates namely, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradeshand Chhattisgarh. Widely viewed (by mostin the media, especially within the BJP) as theStates being the stronghold of the BJP, thereis no denying the fact that the Congress hasdealt a major blow to the BJP in the run-upto the 2019 Lok Sabha election. If you have,however, spoken to a supporter or had achance to watch certain news channels, youwould think that the Congress should actu-ally feel sorry for itself for winning these threemajor States. The narrative that is being ped-dled, primarily by the BJP, is that these elec-tions were fought on local factors and thatanti-incumbency played a larger role in thevictory than the work done by the Congressand its workers. Such an argument, unsur-prisingly, betrays a lack of humility and hubrison behalf of the BJP.
In this week’s column, I aim to providecontext to the Congress’s victory in order tounderstand the obstacles that the partyfaced in the run-up to the elections. I willbriefly talk about the simple factors thatenabled the party to emerge victorious.
One of the biggest obstacles that theCongress faced in the run-up to the electionswas the media. While it goes unsaid, I wishto clarify that my observations do not applycarte blanche to all media but is, instead, acommentary on certain sections of themedia. You, the reader, would have seen it too.There are certain sections in the media thatappear to be operating with a clear agendaof promoting even minor achievements of theBJP and takes pleasure in belittling any effortof the Congress.
While there is an argument to say thatno media can be absolutely unbiased, onewould expect them to fulfil the function ofbeing a reporter of facts rather than mere fan-boys or fangirls. Take the example of how themedia treats the language used by the PrimeMinister in contrast with the one used byRahul Gandhi. In the case of Modi, there havebeen innumerable occasions where thePrime Minister has used disgraceful and dis-gusting language against members of theGandhi family and the Congress in partic-ular, which was recently evident by his com-ment of ‘Congress ki Vidhwa’. Barely anymajor news channel covered this.
Contrast this with any comment made
by Rahul Gandhi and how it isequated with being disrespect-ful and arrogant. Similar wasthe manner in which evenminor achievements or every-day governance is treated as aday of celebration. Even mili-tary action, such as surgicalstrikes, was not spared. In will-ful ignorance of the fact thatsuch actions do not aid India’sArmed Forces and have repeat-edly been done in the past byprevious Governments, sec-tions of the media providedloud horns for the BJP torepeatedly blow on.
Another factor that cannotbe ignored is the influence ofmoney and how the BJP and itsbig, wealthy donors armed theparty with a huge war chest tofight the elections. As you maybe aware, elections are extreme-ly expensive propositions andcan have a huge influence on theoutcome. It is this influence ofmoney that a modern democra-cy aims to check and regulate.The BJP has not earned themoniker of ‘Suit Boot ki Sarkaar’for nothing. It is reported to bethe largest benefactor of dona-tions compared to other politi-cal parties. As I have written pre-viously, the introduction of elec-toral bonds and the correspond-ing amendments to theCompanies Act, 2013 and theIncome Tax Act among others bythe BJP have made it easier thanever for money to have a greaterinfluence on politics and skewthe electoral process.
The Congress, in contrast,focused on raising smalleramounts from its supportersand remained largely uninflu-enced by any particular industri-alist. This enabled the party tonot be ruled by the whims andfancies of any particular indus-trial interest but to fight on theground on its own terms, and onissues raised by the public.
Similarly, the fact that theBJP was already in power inRajasthan, Chhattisgarh andMadhya Pradesh was anotherobstacle the Congress had towork against. While in power,the BJP was free to use the statemachinery, besides SOPs andfreebies like distribution of cell-phones, to influence the elec-torate. Therefore, the victory ofthe Congress despite the aboveobstacles, warrants, in my opin-ion, a fairer examination andgreater recognition.
While I have briefly dis-cussed how the obstacles high-lighted above indicate that thevictory of the Congress in theState elections is a bigger victo-ry than what many would like toadmit, it would be amiss to notexamine factors that enabledthe Congress to emerge victori-ous in the elections as well.
The biggest factor thatworked for the Congress in theelections was the contrastingapproach in leadership betweenthe BJP, led by Prime MinisterModi and the Congress, led byRahul Gandhi. The BJP repre-sents a loud, garish and an anti-
intellectual approach to politicsand public discourse. This is themost basic feature of the BJP inits current form and this hasbeen visible throughout its entiretenure.
Whether it is the destruc-tion of institutions by replacingexperts in a particular field withmere yes-men or the inability ofPrime Minister Modi to have asingle debate or to hold a sin-gle Press conference and answerquestions about unemploy-ment, demonetisation agrariandiscontent. Contrast this withthe Congress and Rahul Gandhiwho have repeatedly beenamongst the people who haveencouraged tough questions.People of these three States havewised up to this crucial differ-ence. The people of the coun-try have wised up to the factthat one leader has spent thepast few years on the ground lis-tening to the people while theother has spent a huge amounton his own public image, hasdodged any hint of a difficultquestion by flying out of thecountry and can be seen hob-nobbing with celebrities andindustrialists at weddings.
Another factor that workedin favour of the Congress wasthe freedom granted to theState units. Speaking from myown experience, in Jharkhand,the Congress leadership hasencouraged State units to builda closer bond with the public ofthe particular State by spendingtime in the State with the peo-
ple and recognising specificissues of each State. This wasevident from the difference inthe issues raised and the cam-paign organised in MadhyaPradesh as opposed toRajasthan. This kind of freedomallows the State units to con-tribute to the party’s success andjust as significantly feel as if theyare participating to the party’ssuccess.
Contrast this with the BJPwhere chief campaigners likePrime Minister Modi, YogiAdityanath and Amit Shahhijacked the State narrativeand attempted to replace it withtheir own parochial narrative ofdivision on religious grounds,changing the names of citiesand insulting the Congress.This was another example ofdisconnect between the BJP’shigh command and the com-mon man.
This week, I have attempt-ed to provide some reasons asto why in my opinion, theCongress beat the odds to winthe recent elections. I haveattempted to back my argu-ments with reasons and ratio-nale and I would appreciateany disagreement that is sim-ilarly backed by reason anddebate. Whether certain sup-porters, however, will be per-suaded by reason as opposedto rhetoric though is anothermatter altogether.
(The writer is JharkhandPCC president, former MP andIPS officer. Views are personal)
Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Rahul’s day dawns”(December 12). Assembly elec-tion verdicts to five States, espe-cially the three Hindi heartlandviz Chhattisgarh, MadhyaPradesh and Rajasthan will cer-tainly strengthen Congress pres-ident Rahul Gandhi’s standingwithin the party and give him avoice in national politics, apartfrom boosting Opposition unity.
Ever since Prime MinisterNarendra Modi came to power, the Congress has beentrampled upon in almost everypolitical confrontation. Theseresults show that Congress is nodead horse and is still in the polit-ical race.
Interestingly, during cam-paigning in these elections, thePrime Minister was personallyinvolved and led from the front.Therefore, this is his loss too. Onthe other hand, the Congressshould not rest on its laurels andintrospect as to how it can sustainthe momentum of its victory asState polls are fought largely onlocal issues.
Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad
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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Rahul’s day dawns” (December12). The victory of the Congressin Rajasthan and Chhattisgarhand the termination of the BJP’swinning streak in MadhyaPradesh has made a massivestatement for the BJP: There is stilla long way for the party to make
India ‘Congress-mukt’.The Congress’ victory in
Chhattisgarh and Rajasthanmake for a strong comeback forthe party in mainstream politics.However, in Madhya Pradesh,the party fell short of just twoseats (won 114 seats) to gain themajority. Nevertheless, itrevealed the intent of the votersregarding the BJP in the State.
Though the recent victory
has led to the emergence of theCongress as a strong Oppositiononce again, it has also boostedthe morale of the party for the2019 General Election. Theresults have affirmed one thingfor sure: Voters are not in amood to withstand any form ofarrogance, carelessness and fakepromises of any party.
Tushar AnandPatna
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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Rahul’s day dawns”(December 12). Results to theAssembly elections held in fiveStates, except Telangana, clear-ly indicate that people were upfor a change. Voters can nolonger be fooled. At the end,there comes a realisation thatpromises made to them simplyremained undelivered.
Leaders, who come to powerwith tall claims must takelessons in defeat. They must notforget that promises, if left unde-livered, will ultimately lead thecommon man forgetting them.
The words of late KofiAnnan, former secretar yGeneral of the UN, is apt intoday’s political circumstances:“I have always believed that onimportant issues the leader mustlead. Where the leaders fail toback and people are really con-cerned about it, the people willtake the lead and make theleaders follow.”
Early this year, a clip from anUrdu play produced by PTVwent viral. It showed a discourse
between two famous TV actors,Firdous Jamal and the late KhayyamSarhadi. The clip was from a play,Man Chalay Ka Sauda, that was tele-cast in the early 1990s, and waspenned by Ashfaq Ahmed. Jamalplays the role of a modern-day Sufisage, who through some simplifiedquantum physics, tries to explain thecomplexities of spiritual understand-ing of the universe to an existential-ly lost character played by Sarhadi.
To some, the dialogue delivered byJamal was brilliantly weaved togetherby the playwright, while to others, it wasnothing but pseudo-scientific/pseudo-spiritual mumbo jumbo. But that was
Ashfaq Ahmed, perhaps one of themost polarising Urdu playwrights inPakistan. His name still provokes dis-tinct responses of reverence or repul-sion. His admirers see him as a sage.His detractors decry that he was anopportunist who had no qualms aboutusing his writings to serve the ideolog-ical inclinations of the Governments ofthe day. Ahmed was only a minorlibrary figure up until the 1950s. Thiswas the heyday of the much celebrat-ed Progressive Writers’ Movement. Ithad produced a number of highly inno-vative Urdu novelists, short-story writ-ers and poets. They commented on var-ious social and political issues throughstyles of writing inspired by realism,Marxism and the theories of the con-troversial psychologist, Sigmund Freud.
Ahmed first tasted fame in 1962when he began to host a show on RadioPakistan (RP) called Talqeen Shah.There he befriended writer QudratullahShahab, who was part of the AyubKhan Government that had come topower through a military coup in 1958.According to an article in Dawn byHarris Khalique, Shahab helped the
regime usurp the publications of thePakistan Progressive Papers and madeAhmed the editor of one of these pub-lications. No wonder, Ahmed praisedthe Ayub regime’s ‘modernist’ policiesto no end. At RP, he also became a closeassociate of Urdu short story writer,Mumtaz Mufti. It was due to the influ-ence of Shahab and Mufti that Ahmeddeveloped a deep interest in Sufism.
However, in the late 1960s, Ahmedbecame disillusioned by the AyubGovernment. He believed that Ayub’sideas about human progress wereovertly materialistic. In his article,Khalique quoted Urdu poetessFahmida Riaz, as saying that with thecoming to power of ZA Bhutto’s left-leaning Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP),Ahmed began praising Bhutto’s brandof socialism. It was during the Bhuttoregime that Ahmed truly emerged asa prominent playwright. His antholo-gy of TV plays, Aik Mohabbat, SauAfsanay celebrated the ‘left-liberal’zeitgeist of the era. But the concludingsections of almost every play werealways pregnant with a plea to balancemodern notions of liberalism with the
intuitive Sufi strands of Islam. His tele-plays delighted audiences in critiquingthe ‘materialism of the modern mid-dle classes’ before advocating a balancebetween materialism and spiritualism.
In one such play, Dada Dildada, adoting upper-middle-class grandfather,who loves his whisky as much as hedoes his teenaged grandson, plungesinto depression when the grandson fallssick and the doctors fail to diagnose hisailment. The grandfather smashes hisbar and starts to walk in circles aroundthe bed on which the grandson is lyingunconscious. As the grandfather col-lapses, the grandson awakens, allcured. Ahmed alludes to the hapless-ness of the modern liberal belief sys-tem, suggesting that the things whichwere keeping the family together wereof superficial nature because they haddetached the family from its tradition-al spiritual moorings.
Sadia Afzal, in her analysis ofAhmed’s plays, wrote that “rationalityand logical solutions counted for noth-ing” in his plays. She adds that educat-ed urbanites were encouraged to lookfor medical, psychological and existen-
tial resolutions from wandering spiri-tualists and even roving vagabonds.
Yet Ahmed did not shy away fromexploring some rather delicate terri-tories as he did in the 1975 teleplayNijaat, whose protagonist was a vil-lage cleric trying to come to termswith his sexual urges. But Ahmedtook off his Mao cap the moment theBhutto regime fell to a reactionarymilitary coup in July 1977. Three yearslater, Ahmed was being called a‘favourite playwright’ of Gen Zia-ul-Haq. The admiration emerged whenAhmed penned a teleplay in 1980 tojustify ‘Christian’ America’s support(via ‘Islamic’ Pakistan) for the anti-Soviet mujahideen in Afghanistan.
The 1980 drama is about a Muslimboss of a female Christian secretarywho goes out of his way to help her.When asked why he was doing this, theboss says that during the initial emer-gence of Islam, the Christian king ofAbyssinia had helped Muslims, and thathe (the boss) was simply returning thefavour. Former general manager ofPTV, the late Burhanuddin Hasan, inhis 2001 memoir Uncensored, wrote
that the Zia regime was perturbed bythe negative manner in which the cler-ics had been portrayed by Pakistanifilms, plays and in Urdu literature. TheZia Government issued an ‘advice’ toPTV asking it to start portraying theclerics “in a more positive light.”
Agreeing with Zia, Ahmed toldan interviewer, “Those who want tocriticise religion (but can’t) begin totarget clerics.” Thus, whereas inAhmed’s plays of the 1970s, those suf-fering from an existential crisis weresoliciting advice from spiritualvagabonds, in his plays of the 1980sthey were seen doing the same — butfrom clerics, who by then hadbecome wise men with flowing whitebeards and calm dispositions.Ahmed’s output as a playwrightdecreased after Zia’s demise. Perhapsconscious of the criticism that he hadreceived for writing plays to suit theregimes of Ayub, Bhutto and Zia,Ahmed is quoted by Dr Afzal Mirza(in Legends of Pakistan) as saying,“The hen lays an egg every day…butcannot make an omelette.”
Kunwar Narain was a literary icon, whowith his exceptionally refined literary sen-sibility, stylistic as well as linguisticsophistication, and a tremendous senseof humanism embedded in native tradi-
tions, made enduring contributions to Indian liter-ature. He brought back not just enormous accoladesfor his immensely impressive creative output in var-ious genres such as poetry, short-story, translation,literary criticism, and writings on cinema and music,but also numerous awards and honours that includethe Sahitya Akademi Award, the Padma Bhushan,the Sahitya Academi Senior Fellowship and theJnanpith Award. His literary endeavours chart a tra-jectory to explore those possibilities that can effec-tively strengthen core human values in a deeply divid-ed and perpetually painful modern world where pre-requisites for a peaceful and satisfying co-existenceare increasingly being ignored.
Narain is often said to be a highly contempla-tive and visionary bard who chose to creativelyengage with some of the fundamental questions sur-rounding human existence. Issues that kept the prac-titioners of the Upanishad and the followers ofBuddhist thought wide awake come to occupy acentral space in Narain’s poetic compositions. Theprimary objective behind his enormously specu-lative poetic temperament is to reinforce belief inthe primacy of human bonding as well as thesupremacy of humanitarian perspectives of life.Drawing upon information and insight, knowledgeand wisdom gathered from both historical andmythical characters such as Sarhapa, Abhinavgupta,Kumarjiva, Amir Khusro and Gandhi, Narain pre-ferred to weave an interesting and inspiring web.This made it evident that he possessed a crediblehistorical sense. Even when he employed mythicalfigures for his poetic purposes, he never lost sightof historical sense that enabled him relocate thosefigures. This helped him render them absolutelymeaningful in a contemporary social and culturalset-up. Additionally, it helped him find out plau-sible solutions to those lingering problems that hadbeen major concerns for the modern society.
His historical sense did not allow anyone drawdivisive lines among individuals. Instead, it made anearnest attempt to put hostile people together for thesake of forging a harmonious relationship betweenthem. This kind of inclusive approach with an explic-it optimism suggests Narain’s unflagging commit-ment to the essence of nativist ideas and principlesthat appear to govern his poetic preoccupations.
In his very first collection of poetry, Chakravyuh,Narain made it very clear that he had a deep desireand high aspiration apart from those ordinary onesthat defined the existence of people who were happyand content with the fulfilment of their immediatematerial needs and requirements. It was precisely anacute awareness about those deep desires and highaspirations that set creative fertile minds apart andexplained their pre-occupations.
The way Abhimanyu, his heroic character inChakravyuh, does not flinch even an inch in the faceof impending death and instead displays remarkablecourage and extraordinary skill of warfare while fight-ing against a gang of deceitful warriors on the otherside suggests a certain kind of sincerity and dedica-tion that gives a definite purpose to contemporarypeople to sustain themselves even during the worstphases of their lives.
Narain brought another heroic fig-ure Nachiketa into the picture in twoother poetry collections namelyAtmajayi and Vajasrava ke Bahane.Nachiketa asks extremely difficult ques-tions to Yama and his own father,Vajasrava, about death and existence,attachment and renunciation respective-ly. Nachiketa story was taken fromKathopanishad, but it was employed togive it a contemporary meaning. Here.we may also seek an adequate answer toquestions about human life, its annihi-lation and truths about the existence ofan afterlife.
Issues raised by Narain in these col-lections were relevant for contemporaryreaders precisely because they motivatedthem to meaningfully engage with thehighly unpredictable twists and turns,often mysterious, miraculous and evenmonstrous pulls and pressures of humanlife with a view to encourage them to thinkalong the lines of living a purposeful andproductive life, and not just a superficial-ly happy and materially sound one.
In his other collections of poems,Narain proved to be an extremely success-ful poet who was almost always immac-ulate in his selection of language, impec-cable in his treatment of content andextremely careful about the idea ofenriching the genre of Hindi poetry itself.
While Narain was most famous forhis praiseworthy poetry, he had writtenwonderful short stories too. His two col-lections of short stories — Akaron keAaspaas and Bechain Patton ka Koras —were particularly praised for their evoca-tive expressions of contemporary realitiesin such a way that his concerns for the cul-tivation of a sense of moral discrimina-tion and genuine commitment to human-itarian principles were much obvious.
While reading these stories, readersget curious before getting poignantly con-versant with the protagonists, subject mat-ter they deal with and the ambience theycreate in those stories. For instance,
Gudiyon ka Khel not only underlines thestruggles and hardships of brother-sisterduo who conduct the circus, but also high-lights the undercurrents of existential angstand unhappiness of the hero who is oth-erwise able to manifest a lot of enthusi-asm and zeal for the celebration of life.Alongside he shows a great deal of com-passion and generosity for the people fromthe periphery.
Narain posed some tough questionsabout the kind of moral choices we makein our lives as was evident from the shortstory Kameej in which an apparently inno-cent man, who had already renounced theworld having sacrificed the materialcomfort of home with wife and children,is not only put into the bar of judgementbut also declared guilty. With the asser-tion of the plight and indeed desponden-cy of the man named Vireshwar Babu,Narain encouraged us to think throughthe fallacious nature of judicial structuresthat ruthlessly sabotage the supposedlygood intentions of a seemingly uprightman. Despite giving an appropriate voiceto deeply disturbing thoughts and emo-tions associated with the overarchingexperiences about borderline in SeemaRekha, Narain emphasised on the signif-icance of a compassionate and caring kindof politically neutral humanism.
It is this connecting thread with a pro-found sense of indigenous humanitarianoutlook that prompted Narain to avoid allkinds of polemical criticism of art and lit-erature. Such criticisms tend to ignore theneed to understand intricacies and com-plexities behind the creative processes ofa literary work of art, and remain preoc-cupied with perpetuating predominanceof a particular point of view over others,mostly for personal or political aggrandis-ement.
Narain the critic never tried to reducea creative piece to the point of a theoret-ical premise which often governs ideolog-ically-oriented critics. Perhaps the best wayto understand Narain as a critic is to read
his creative presuppositions intimately asis amply clear from his way of doing crit-icisms of celebrated poets like Agyeya,Shamsher and Muktibodh and novelistslike Nirmal Verma, Yashpal and HazariPrasad Dwivedi respectively.
Narain was a living legend. Heremained throughout his life remarkablyreclusive but effectively articulate in hiswritings and speeches. An excellenthuman being who was held in highregard by his contemporaries, he wasquite unambiguous in his repudiationof any diktats coming from the arena ofpolitics to unnecessarily influence thesacrosanct journey of poetry. But he wassimultaneously candid enough toacknowledge the importance of politicsfor our modern day existence. It was thisclarity of thought about the differentroles of politics and literature thatenabled him to effortlessly embrace theuseful insights being offered by the cul-tural and philosophical traditions of ourcountry.
Right from his first collection of poet-ry, Chakravyuh published in 1956 to hislast one namely, Kumarjiva published in2017, and also the posthumous publica-tions of second short story collectioncalled Bechain Patton ka Koras, along withhis translations of some to finest poemsfrom world literature, Narain remainedpreoccupied with a relentless search forharmony exhibiting an indefatigable faithin humanity of the humankind.
In his entire preoccupations, hereflected a rare kind of originality, deepengagement with myths and legendsand their inextricably intertwined relation-ship with contemporary history. Heexpressed superb cultural confidencethat distinguished him from all those whoharboured serious misgivings about thedistinctiveness as well as the effectivenessof indigenous traditions and nativist ten-dencies.
(The writer is Assistant professor ofEnglish at Rajdhani College, Delhi)
Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyon Thursday admitted there
were two-three areas of differ-ences with the Reserve Bank(RBI), but questioned how amere discussion on its func-tioning could be considered“destruction” of an institution.
Under attack politically forcreating circumstances that ledto the resignation of Urjit Patelas the central bank’s Governor,Jaitley listed out a string ofactions initiated by pastGovernments includingCongress PMs JawaharlalNehru and Indira Gandhi ask-ing RBI Governors to resign.
Speaking at the TimesNetworks India EconomicConclave, Jaitley said the dif-ferences with RBI includedcredit flow in the economy andliquidity support, and addedthat the Government had ini-tiated a “discussion” to conveyits concerns.
“A discussion with animportant institution, which isindependent and autonomous,to tell it that its a part of your(RBIs) functions and thereforethis is an important area of aneconomy which you must lookat, how is it destruction of theinstitution?,” he questioned.
According to reports, theGovernment had initiated dis-cussions under the never-usedSection 7 of the RBI Act whichprovides for the centralGovernment forcing downdecisions in public interest. Itis this aspect, which led to voic-
ing of concerns across andalso a strong speech by RBIDeputy Governor ViralAcharya to warn against com-promising RBI autonomy.Jaitley did not elaborate on howthe discussion were initiated.
“We are the sovereignGovernment, we are the mostimportant stakeholders as far asthe management of an econo-my is concerned,” Jaitley said,in reference to the discussionswith RBI.
He reiterated that the RBIhas the responsibility as far ascredit and liquidity is con-cerned. “We are not taking overthe function,” he said, addingthat the Government was onlyinitiating discussions usinginstruments which force a dis-cussion.
“In some situations, theautonomous institutions alsohave to be informed that thereis some difficulty arising in thesystem that requires to be cor-
rected,” he added.Further, if the Government
is not able to convey the diffi-culties in the system, it wouldbe failing its duty, he said.
The FM pointed out thatthe countrys first prime min-ister Nehru had written to theRBI stating that the economicpolicies are determined by theelected Government, while RBIhas autonomy over the mone-tary policy.
The RBI’s policies alsoneed to be in sync with theeconomic policies, Jaitleystressed.
Patel resigned amid theprotracted friction with theGovernment Monday, citingpersonal reasons. TheGovernment has immediatelyappointed retired bureaucratShaktikanta Das, who was atthe helm of finance ministryduring the controversialdemonetisation exercise, as hissuccessor.
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The rupeesnapped its
three-day los-ing streak toend 33 paisehigher at 71.68against the USdollar onThursday amida weak green-back and softening oil prices.
Newly-appointed RBIGovernor Shaktikanta Das’comments that he will take allstakeholders along on keyissues also bolstered sentiment,analysts said.
At the Interbank ForeignExchange (forex), the rupeeopened on a firm note at 71.70against the US dollar andsurged further to touch a highof 71.51 during the day.
The local unit finally endedat 71.68, higher by 33 paise overits previous closing price.
On Wednesday, the rupeehad declined by 16 paise to72.01 per US dollar.
“The new RBI governor’sfirst speech confirms our ini-tial impression that he is like-ly to be more communicativeand consultative in hisapproach, which is a positive,”Japanese financial servicesmajor Nomura said in aresearch note.
It further added that onpolicy, it does appear that he islikely to relax regulatory normsfor banks (make them morecounter-cyclical) and he will be
more proactive in injectingliquidity.
Meanwhile, the global oilbenchmark Brent crude wastrading lower by 0.25 per centat $60 per barrel.
On the domestic front,benchmark indices rose forthe third straight sessionThursday. The BSE Sensexclimbed 150.57 points, or 0.42per cent, to end at 35,929.64,while the broader NSE Niftyrose 53.95 points, or 0.50 percent, to 10,791.55.
On a net basis, foreignportfolio investors (FPIs) soldshares worth �1,299.43 croreWednesday, while domesticinstitutional investors (DIIs)were net buyers to the tune of�1,121.29 crore, provisionaldata available with BSEshowed.
The Financial BenchmarkIndia Private Ltd (FBIL) set thereference rate for therupee/dollar at 71.5368 and forrupee/euro at 81.3407. Thereference rate for rupee/Britishpound was fixed at 90.3095 andfor rupee/100 Japanese yen at63.06.
rose for thethird straightsession onThursday ledby a surge inf i n a n c i a lstocks as opti-mism overnew RBIG o v e r n o rShaktikantaDas’ promiseto take allstakeholdersalong on keyi s s u e senthused bullson DalalStreet.
Recovery in rupee andpositive cues from other Asianmarkets too influenced investorsentiment here, analysts said.
The BSE Sensex climbed150.57 points, or 0.42 per cent,to end at 35,929.64, while thebroader NSE Nifty rose 53.95points, or 0.50 per cent, to10,791.55.
Major gainers in the Sensexpack were Wipro, Kotak Bank,Infosys, Maruti, Tata Motors,L&T, IndusInd Bank, HeroMotoCorp, M&M, SBI, ONGC,HDFC Bank and HUL, risingup to 3 per cent.
Yes Bank, on the otherhand, was the biggest loser,falling over 6 per cent after itsboard meet concluded. Thebank said it has finalised a can-didate for the chairman’s posi-tion and would be seeking
approval from the RBI. Thebank, however, did not disclosethe candidate’s name.
Other losers include SunPharma, TCS, Tata Steel, AdaniPorts and Coal India, falling upto 2 per cent.
“In anticipation of somefirm measures to ease the cred-it squeeze by the new RBIGovernor post his meetingwith PSU bank chiefs today,markets rallied in the morningbut cooled off in the secondhalf on some profit booking,”said Essel Mutual Fund CIOViral Berawala.
“Stocks with rural focusalso gained momentum onexpectations of some pro-ruralannouncements by the Centralgovernment,” Berawala added.
The rupee, meanwhile,rose 35 paise to 71.66 againstthe US dollar in intra-day
trade.On a net basis, foreign
portfolio investors (FPIs) soldshares worth �1,299.43 croreWednesday, while domesticinstitutional investors (DIIs)were net buyers to the tune of�1,121.29 crore, provisionaldata available with BSE showed.
Brent crude oil futureswere trading flat at $60.15 perbarrel.
Elsewhere in Asia, Korea’sKospi rose 0.62 per cent, Japan’sNikkei gained 0.99 per cent,Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged1.29 per cent and ShanghaiComposite Index advanced1.23 per cent.
In Europe, Frankfurt’sDAX fell 0.31 per cent andParis’ CAC 40 shed 0.30 percent in their early deals.London’s FTSE too slipped0.02 per cent.
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Helo, a social platform, onThursday announced that
it has partnered with Alt News,a non-partisan fact-checkingpartner authority, as part of itsongoing fight against fake news.
This partnership involves aseries of training sessions con-ducted by Alt News to equipHelo’s local content moderationteam with their proprietarytools and methodology to iden-tify and mitigate the threat ofcontent from unverifiedsources. The first training ses-sion was held earlier this weekat the Helo headquarters inDelhi NCR and was conduct-ed by Alt News Co-Founder,Pratik Sinha.
This strategic partnership isin line with Helo’s commitmentto create a safe environment forthe exchange of perspectivesand information, given the per-
sonalized, localized vernacularcontent on its platform.Available in 14 vernacularsincluding Hindi, Telugu, Tamil,Malayalam and more, Helobridges the information gap forIndians nationwide, narrowingthe digital divide for the largerpopulation communicating intheir mother tongues.
“At Helo, we take issuessuch as misinformation andfake news very seriously. Thisis why we’re honoured to part-ner with Alt News, a renownedfact-checking authority, toensure that our platform con-tinues to be a safe and viablesource of the latest news andtrending topics,” saidShayamanga Barooah, Headof Content Operations, Helo.
Helo users can choosewhether others can commenton or share their content,reducing risks of contentinfringement.
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The Indian Tea Association(ITA) on Wednesday said it
had signed an MoU with ChinaTea Marketing Association forlifting the volume of black teaexports from here.
ITA Chairman VivekGoenka said India exported 13mkgs of black tea to China lastyear.
“This year, the target is 15mkgs,” he told reporters here.
China sources black teafrom India, Sri Lanka and Kenya.The country imports around 30mkgs of black tea, he said.
Wang Qing, president ofthe Chinese body, said Chinawas a great consumer of blacktea for health benefits.
launched on Thursday to pro-mote more value-for-moneyholiday packages to Malaysiafor tourists from India. Thecampaign was officiated byTuan Syed Yahya SyedOthman, Director of PackageDevelopment Division,Tourism Malaysia, and ManojMehta, Country manager,Malindo Air.
The initiative sees TourismMalaysia in partnership withMalindo Air and several pop-ular hotels and a restaurant inMalaysia to offer a total of fivepackages catered specifically tothe India market. The packagescan be purchased throughselected Indian travel agentsbased in Chennai, Delhi,Mumbai and Calcutta.
Bookings are open only from15 December 2018 to 15January 2019for travel toMalaysia between 1 Februaryand 31 July 2019.
For these “MalaysiaFantastic Deals” campaign,Malindo Air, a premiumMalaysia-based airline, oper-ating to nine cities in India, isoffering a 10% discount on airfares from Chennai, Delhi,Mumbai and Calcutta.Meanwhile, industry partnersSunway Hotel & Resorts,MeritusPelangi Beach Resortand Spa Langkawi, Lexis Hotel& Group and Atmosphere 360Revolving Restaurant KLTower have come hand in handto offer irresistible deals onhotel stays, services, activitiesand food and beverages for des-tinations like Kuala Lumpur,Port Dickson, Langkawi andPenang in Malaysia.
with FISME (The Federation ofIndian Micro and Small &Medium Enterprises) toempower Micro, Small &Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)to leverage growth opportuni-ties in the e-commerce sector.As per the MoU, Amazon.in incollaboration with FISME willconduct various events andworkshops across the countrythat will enable and encouragethe MSMEs in India to sell theirproducts to millions of con-sumers from India and acrossthe globe by leveraging e-com-merce marketplace solutions.
Through these events,Amazon.in and FISME aim toeducate MSMEs on the nuancesof online selling domesticallyand also B2C exports to enablethem to sell across multipleinternational locations.Through the collaboration,MSMEs will get access toexperts from Amazon, FISMEand various service providers tohelp them understand the pro-cedures and requirements relat-ed to areas such as logistics, cat-aloging, imaging and taxation.
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T oe n h a n c erisk man-a g e m e n tcapabilities,the NSEhas saidt r a d i n gm e m b e r swill becompulso-rily placed in risk reductionmode when 90 per cent of themembers’ capital is utilisedtowards margins.
The new framework will beeffective from December 17,2018, the National StockExchange (NSE) said in a cir-cular.
“Member shall be com-pulsorily placed in a riskreduction mode when 90 percent of the member’s capital isutilised towards margins,” itadded.
The stock broker will bemoved back to the normal riskmanagement mode as andwhen the utilisation goes below85 per cent.
In case a member movesinto risk reduction mode, all
the unexecuted orders wouldbe cancelled, the exchange said.
Fresh orders placed bymembers to reduce open posi-tions will also be accepted, itadded.
Besides, fresh orders placedby members that increase openpositions would be checked forsufficiency of margins andthose which do not satisfy suf-ficiency of margins would berejected. Also, such fresh orderscan be placed for immediate orcancel (IOC) only.
An immediate or cancelorder (IOC) in market parlancerefers to requirement of all orpart of the order to be execut-ed immediately, and anyunfilled parts of the order arecancelled.
Millions of jobs in the Asiaand Pacific region have
been put at risk by conflictsover trade, despite a recentagreement not to escalate tit-for-tat tariffs by the UnitedStates and China, according toa new regional UN report.
The 2018 Asia-PacificTrade and Investment Report,issued by the UN’s develop-ment arm in the region,ESCAP, suggests that an esca-lating “tariff war” and resultingdrop in confidence next year,could cut nearly $400 billionfrom the global gross domes-tic product, drive regional GDPdown by $117 billion.
“As production shifts takeplace and resources are reallo-cated across sectors and bor-ders due to the trade conflicts,tens of millions of workersmay see their jobs displacedand be forced to seek newemployment,” said Mia Mikic,the head of Trade, Investmentand Innovation Division atESCAP.
The report also noted thattrade tensions have already
had a major impact, resultingin disruptions to existing sup-ply chains and dampeninginvestment.
Trade growth slowed afterthe first half of 2018, and for-eign direct investment (FDI)flows to the region are alsoexpected to continue on adownward trend next year, fol-lowing a 4 per cent drop over-all this year.
“In such a scenario, region-al investment will be key to cre-ating new economic opportu-nities,” Mikic said, adding,“complementary policies” suchas labour, education andretraining, and social protectionmeasures must be placed highon the policy making agenda.
This is also critical forensuring progress on imple-menting the SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs),she said.
ESCAP has also called oncountries to take full advantageof all existing initiatives tostrengthen regional coopera-tion, including a new UN treatyon digitalizing trade proce-dures and enabling cross-bor-der paperless trade in the zone.
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Indian Auto Company (IAC),a New Delhi based DIPP reg-
istered start-up offering auto-motive solutions in tracking &telematics, smart infotainment,rear seat infotainment and dri-ver fatigue systems using IoTenabled hardware and platformhas added IAC 140 & IAC 140CAN Vehicle LocationTracking Devices to its list ofofferings.
These Vehicle TrackingSystems conforming to theAIS 140 Standard are beingmarketed through IAC’s net-work spread across 22 states &70+ cities in India.
“Our AIS-140 compliantVehicle Tracking Devices arealso IP-67 rated(water anddust proof) which enable vehi-cles to be tracked on our deviceagnostic platform both on weband mobile devices ensuringsafety and compliance. Citizenscan be assured of safe transportwith the availability of thepanic button in case of emer-gencies.” said theSpokesperson, IAC.
The government has no pro-posal to change the existing
foreign direct investment (FDI)policy in the multi-brand retailtrading sector, a top official saidThursday.
“You know the multi-brandretail policy that exists today.There is no proposal forchange,” Secretary, Departmentof Industrial Policy andPromotion (DIPP), RameshAbhishek said here. He wasreplying to a question whetherthe government was looking atincreasing FDI cap to 100 percent in the sector, a politicallysensitive segment.
Although the current FDIpolicy permits overseas playersto hold 51 per cent stake in anIndian multi-brand retail com-
pany, the BJP in its electionmanifesto had opposed overseasinvestment in the retail segment.So far, only one foreign player,Tesco, has received approval foropening stores under the multi-brand retail policy. The previousUPA government had clearedthe proposal.
The statement assumes sig-nificance as industry body CIIin its recent report suggestedthe government to permit 100per cent FDI in multi-brandretail trade. Confederation ofAll India Traders (CAIT) hasstrongly opposed this sugges-tion.
Abhishek said the USD650 billion retail sector wasgrowing fast and that it heldhuge potential for businesses.“Organised retail is only 10 percent (of this figure) and out of
that e-commerce is only 3 percent. I think there is a tremen-dous scope for growth in e-commerce and organised retail,”he said.
Abhishek said with grow-ing middle class and increasingincomes, the retail sector wasset for a massive revolution. “Sothere is a plenty of scope tomake money and do well,” hesaid here at CII’s conference on‘MNCs and India: CreatingMutual Value’.
Further, the secretary askedthe industry to provide con-vincing arguments and detailedanalysis while recommendingsome policy changes. On reduc-ing corporate tax, he said hisdepartment too favourdc cut inthis tax rate and hoped that amore competitive environmentwould be made for tax rates.
New Delhi (PTI): The GSTCouncil is likely to rationalisethe 28 per cent slab by cuttingtax rates on construction items,like cement, in its meeting nextweek. The council, chaired byFinance Minister Arun Jaitleyand comprising his state coun-terparts, has pruned the 28 percent slab by cutting tax rates on191 goods over the last one-and-a-half year, leaving only 35items in the highest slab.
“The idea is to keep onlythose items in the 28 per centslab which are used for luxurypurpose and demerit goods.The final call will be taken by theCouncil,” an official said. Thenext meeting of the council isscheduled on December 22.
There were around 226goods in the 28 per cent cate-
gory, when the Goods andServices Tax (GST) was imple-mented on July 1, 2017. In itsJuly meeting, the GST Councilhad further rationalised the 28per cent slab by cutting rates onpaints and varnishes, and ondaily-use items like perfumes,cosmetics, toiletries, hair dryers,shavers, mixer grinder, vacuum
cleaners, lithium ion batteries,and cut rates to 18 per cent.
The 35 goods, which are leftin highest slab include cement,automobile parts, tyres, auto-mobile equipment, motor vehi-cles, yachts, aircraft, aerateddrinks, betting and demerititems like tobacco, cigarette andpan masala. The official said cut-
ting GST rate on cements wouldgive a boost to the housing andconstruction industry as well ashave positive impact on employ-ment generation. In the first eightmonths (April-November) ofthe current fiscal, the govern-ment has mopped up over �7.76lakh crore from GST. The 2018-19 budget had estimated annu-al GST collection at �13.48 lakhcrore, which means a monthlytarget of �1.12 lakh crore.
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The government is consid-ering additional capital
infusion of up to �30,000 crorein public sector banks as theyhave been unable to raiserequired funds from the mar-kets, sources said.
As part of the capital infu-sion plan announced by theFinance Ministry in October2017, the government envisagedthat public sector banks (PSBs)would raise �58,000 crore fromthe stock markets by March2019 to meet Basel III norms.However, due to subdued mar-ket conditions, banks have beenunable to raise enough fundsfrom the markets so far.
In addition, non-perform-ing assets of many banks haveseen a spurt in the first twoquarters of this fiscal, putting
stress on their bottomlines.However, the banks have
got a breather in respect ofCapital Conservation Buffer(CCB), a part of Basel IIInorms. The RBI, at its lastboard meeting, deferred therequirement to meet the CCBtarget by one year, leavingabout �37,000 crore in thehands of banks.
Despite this relaxation,PSBs need more funds to meetglobal capital norms calledBasel III as the RBI has retainedthe capital to risk weightedassets ratio (CRAR) at 9 percent, sources said, adding, theshortfall could be around�30,000 crore.
However, sources said thematter was being considered bythe government and the finaldecision was expected in thenext few weeks.
The central board of theReserve Bank of India(RBI) under new
Governor Shaktikanta Das willmeet on Friday where thedirectors are likely to push forgreater say in the decisionmaking of the central bank.
The meeting will reviewthe progress with respect ofsome of the decisions taken inthe last meet on November 19.Among other things, the cru-cial board meeting is expect-ed to take a stock of Micro,Small & Medium Enterprises(MSMEs), which is understress due to demonetisationand implementation of theGoods and Services Tax(GST).
This scheduled meetingcomes in the backdrop of sur-prise resignation by Urjit Patelearlier this week citing per-sonal reasons. However, thetussle between the FinanceMinistry and the RBI wasattributed as reason for thesudden exit of Patel, whowould have completed his 3-year term in September 2019.
According to sources, oneof the key agenda for theupcoming board meeting willbe governance issue — the roleof central board in the decisionmaking of the RBI.
Given the current struc-
ture, the central board playsadvisory role but there isgrowing clamour to make itoperational and have greaterparticipation in key decisionsof the central bank.
The government as one ofimportant stakeholders alsowants greater involvement inthe RBI’s decision making as itfeels the current practice leavesit out on many critical issueslike single-day default turninga loan into an NPA, sourcessaid.
However, former gover-nors and other experts havepitched for the independenceand autonomy of the RBI andwant the board to play advi-sory role with given composi-tion.
The central board of theRBI is headed by the governorand includes two governmentnominee directors and 11independent directors.Currently, the central boardhas 18 members, with theprovision of going up to 21.
Soon after taking reins ofthe RBI, Das said he would tryto uphold the autonomy, cred-ibility and the integrity of the“great institution” and takeevery stakeholder, includingthe government, along in aconsultative manner.
The former EconomicAffairs Secretary, who tookover as the 25th Governor on
Wednesday, said he wouldtake measures which the econ-omy requires in a timely man-ner.
On the second day, heheld consultation with headsof the Mumbai-based publicsector bankers to discuss issuesfaced by them.
It is expected that relax-ation of the Prompt CorrectiveAction (PCA) framework forweak banks would also comeup for the discussion under thenew the governor.
Of the 21 state-ownedbanks, 11 are under the PCAframework. These areAllahabad Bank, United Bankof India, Corporation Bank,IDBI Bank, UCO Bank, Bankof India, Central Bank ofIndia, Indian Overseas Bank,Oriental Bank of Commerce,Dena Bank and Bank ofMaharashtra.
The PCA framework kicksin when banks breach any ofthe three key regulatory trig-ger points — namely capital torisk weighted assets ratio, netnon-performing assets (NPA)and return on assets (RoA).
With regard to economiccapital framework, the newgovernor said as decided in theboard meeting an expert com-mittee in consultation with thegovernment would be consti-tuted soon to examine theissue.
ruled that the dissolution ofParliament by MaithripalaSirisena was “illegal”, in a bodyblow to the embattledPresident, whose controver-sial decisions plunged theisland nation into an unprece-dented political turmoil.
A seven-member apexcourt bench said that thePresident cannot dissolveParliament till it completes its4 1/2 year term, triggeringdemand for the impeachmentof Sirisena as well as ex-strong-man Mahinda Rajapaksa.
“I make order that theNovember 9 Gazette sackingParliament has no force oreffect in law and declare itsoperation illegal,” Chief JusticeNalin Perera said as he deliv-ered the landmark judgementto a packed courtroom.
Fearing trouble, authoritiesbeefed up the security aroundthe Supreme Court anddeployed the elite special taskforce.
United National Front(UNF) Deputy Leader SajithPremadasa said that the rulingwas unanimous by the sevenjudge bench.
The decision has laid torest one of the many contro-versial moves which had com-plicated the political and con-stitutional crisis emanatingfrom President Sirisena’s deci-sion on October 26 to sack theincumbent prime minister,Ranil Wickremesinghe, andinstall former presidentMahinda Rajapaksa in hisplace.
Later, he also dissolved the225-member Parliament and
called for a snap election onJanuary 5.
Sirisena, 67, sacked theParliament when it appearedthat Rajapaksa would not beable to muster the support of113 MPs to gain a simplemajority. Wickremesinghe onthe other hand commands amajority in the House.
On Wednesday,Wickremesinghe proved hismajority in Parliament, with117 out of 225 lawmakers inParliament voting to pass aconfidence motion in his lead-ership. Rajapaksa has so farfailed to prove his majority inParliament.
There was no immediatecomment from either Sirisenaor Rajapaksa. Sirisena has pre-viously said that he has alwaystaken decisions in the bestinterest of the country and thepeople. He had also said that hewill honour the court’s deci-sion.
“I look forward to the con-stitutional interpretation of the
Supreme Court. Whatever itmay be, I will take future polit-ical decisions accordingly, tothe best interest of our moth-erland, not to the benefit of anyperson, group or party,” thePresident tweeted onDecember 9.
Reacting to the apex court’sruling, sacked Prime MinisterWickremesinghe said, “Wetrust that the President willpromptly respect the judgmentof the courts.
“The legislature, judiciary,and the executive are equallyimportant pillars of a democ-racy and the checks and bal-ances that they provide are cru-cial to ensuring the sovereign-ty of its citizens,” he tweeted.
The leftist JVP, or thePeople’s Liberation Front, saidthe sacking of the Prime MinisterWickremesinghe was a “couporchestrated by Sirisena andRajapakse” and demanded aresolution in Parliament tobring them to justice.
least two others at a bus stop inthe occupied West Bank onThursday, the Army said.
“A Palestinian opened fireat a bus stop killing 2 Israelis,severely injuring 1 & injuringothers at Asaf Junction, northof Jerusalem,” the Israeli mili-tary said on its Twitter account.
An army spokesperson wasunable to confirm reports thatthe assailant targeted Israeli sol-diers.
The attack occurred nearthe Israeli settlement of Ofra,on the main road that crossesthe West Bank from north tosouth.
It came only hours afterIsraeli forces killed twoPalestinians in the West Bankafter attacks that claimed thelives of three Israelis, includinga baby.
One of them was SalahBarghouti, a 29-year-oldaccused of shooting at Israelis
on Sunday at a bus stop alsonear the Ofra settlement.
That attack wounded sevenpeople including a woman whowas seven months pregnant.
Doctors tried to save thebaby boy with an emergencycesarean but he died onWednesday and was buried inJerusalem.
His mother remains in
hospital in a serious condition.The other Palestinian killed
by Israeli forces overnight hadbeen suspected of shootingdead two Israelis two monthsago.
Ashraf Naalwa, 23, waskilled when forces tried toarrest him near Nablus in theWest Bank, the Israeli Shin Betsecurity service said.
vote of confidence in her lead-ership on Wednesday, with200 votes cast in favour of herand 117 against out of a total of317 of her Conservative PartyMPs.
The vote had been trig-gered earlier in the day after therequired 48 MPs from herTory party filed letters of no-confidence with the influential1922 Committee.
“Whilst I am grateful forthe support, a significant num-ber of my colleagues did cast avote against me and I have lis-tened to what they have said,”May said in a statement outsideDowning Street soon after theresults were declared.
“Following this ballot, we
now need to get on with the jobof delivering the Brexit for theBritish people and building abetter future for this country. ABrexit that delivers on the voteof the people,” she said, addingthat she intended to carry onnegotiating with the EuropeanUnion (EU) over controversialaspects of her Brexit deal when
she heads to Brussels for a pre-scheduled European Councilmeeting on Thursday.
The verdict of the confi-dence vote was formallyannounced by Graham Brady,Chair of the 1922 Committeemade up of Tory backbenchers,who revealed that theParliamentary Party “does haveconfidence in Theresa May asleader of the ConservativeParty”. Under the party’s rules,May’s leadership cannot bechallenged for at least a yearnow.
The MPs, unhappy withthe Brexit deal May has struckwith the EU, began voting onher future Wednesday evening.A majority of the MPs had pub-licly said they would be votingfor the PM but as it was a secretballot, there was uncertaintyover the result.
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British Prime MinisterTheresa May was seeking a
lifeline from European Unionleaders on Thursday after win-ning a no-confidence voteamong her own Conservativelawmakers — but only afterputting a time limit on herleadership. May won the voteafter promising lawmakers ata private meeting that shewould quit before Britain’snext national election, sched-uled for 2022.
Arriving in Brussels for anEU summit, May said that “inmy heart I would love to beable to lead the ConservativeParty into the next generalelection.”
“But I think it is right that
the party feels that it wouldprefer to go into that electionwith a new leader,” May said.She didn’t specify a date for herdeparture.
May was meeting IrishPrime Minister Leo Varadkarand European CouncilPresident Donald TuskThursday before the summit,where she will seek reassur-ances about the deal that shecan use to win over a skepti-cal British Parliament, partic-ularly pro-Brexit lawmakerswhose loathing of the deal trig-gered Wednesday’s challengeto her leadership.
May caused an uproar inParliament this week when shescrapped a planned vote on thedeal at the last minute to avoida heavy defeat.
Washington: China is posi-tioning itself to supplantAmerica as the world’s nextsuperpower through “eco-nomic aggression” and “relent-less theft of US assets”, theTrump administration has tolda powerful Congressional com-mittee.
Assistant Director ofcounter-intelligence Division,FBI E W “Bill” Priestap toldlawmakers during aCongressional hearing onChinese espionage activitiesthat after the World War-II, theUS and its allies created aninternational order that has ledto greater peace, prosperityand human rights than at anyother time in human history.
The Chinese governmenthas been exploiting this orderwhile simultaneously trying tochallenge and replace it. Theresulting double standards areeverywhere, he said .
“China tries to dominateInternet governance to benefitChinese telecom companies,yet China censors its ownInternet and eliminates dataprivacy,” Priestap alleged.
“It is alarming that theChinese government’s eco-nomic aggression, includingits relentless theft of US assets,is positioning China to sup-plant us as the world’s super-power,” he alleged. PTI
Washington: Indian-AmericanNikki Haley, the outgoing USambassador to the UN, has saidshe used President DonaldTrump’s “rhetoric” and “unpre-dictable” nature to get the jobdone at the world body.
In October, Haleyannounced that she was leav-ing the post by the end of theyear. Haley has served nearlytwo years in the post. Althoughsome have speculated thatHaley, 46, may challengeTrump in the 2020 presidentialelection, but she has said thatshe will support the president.
“He (Trump) would ratch-et up the rhetoric, and then I’dgo back to the ambassadors andsay: ‘You know, he’s prettyupset. I can’t promise you whathe’s going to do or not, but I cantell you if we do these sanc-tions, it will keep him fromgoing too far,’” Haley told NBC.
PTI
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Nine people were killed andnearly 90 injured after a
high-speed train crashed intoa locomotive in the Turkishcapital on Thursday, officialssaid, becoming the latest raildisaster to hit the country.
The accident comes lessthan six months after 24 peo-ple were killed in a train crashin northwestern Turkey in aseries of several fatal accidentsin recent years.
Transport Minister CahitTurhan told reporters that threeof those killed were operatorsof the train. One of the victimsdied in hospital, he added.
Among those killed was aGerman citizen, a source in theAnkara governor’s office toldAFP, confirming reports inGerman media.
The Ankara public prose-cutor said 86 people wereinjured. Health MinisterFahrettin Koca earlier said 34
of those injured were still inhospital for treatment.
Two were in a serious con-dition, Koca added on Twitter.
The fast train had been onits way from Ankara’s main sta-tion to the central province ofKonya.
According to Hurriyetdaily, there were 206 passengerson board.Turkish PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdogan saidthree people had beendetained. In a speech inAnkara, he vowed thoseresponsible would be held toaccount.
The three were employeesof the Turkish state railwaysagency who were detained oversuspected negligence, accord-ing to state news agencyAnadolu.
Ankara governor VasipSahin said the accident hap-pened “after the 6.30 high-speed train to Konya hit alocomotive tasked with check-ing rails on the same route.”
�� �����������%�=�*����� ����� ��� ���� ������ %��>�Rimbo (Sweden): UN chiefAntonio Guterres announcedon Thursday a series of break-throughs in talks with rivals inthe Yemen conflict, includinga ceasefire for a vital port.
In a highly symbolic gestureon the seventh and final day ofthe UN-brokered peace talks inSweden, Yemeni ForeignMinister Khaled al-Yamani and
rebel negotiator MohammedAbdelsalam shook hands toloud applause. However, a num-ber of issues remain unresolvedand a new round of talks withtake place, Guterres said.
The conflict has triggeredwhat the UN calls the world’sworst humanitarian crisis, with14 million Yemenis now at thebrink of mass starvation. AFP
It is a matter of pride at BMWheadquarters that they werethe company that invented the
‘sports sedan’ (or ‘saloon’ depend-ing on where you live). The mid-sized four-door car that has beenaround since the mid-seventieshas formed the basis of the Germancarmakers identity for fourdecades. And despite the fact thatwe are moving to an era where theSports Utility Vehicle is increasing-ly taking the spotlight, a trend forwhich BMW themselves are par-tially to blame, the 3-series remainsiconic and is vital in BMW’sincreasingly complicated line-up.So when after 15.5 million 3-seriessold over six generations, when theGermans decided to let the globalmedia drive the new seventh gen-eration, they spared no expense fly-ing many of us down to the Algarveregion of southern Portugal.
Algarve is stunning, with bothsmooth highways and wonderful,twisty hill roads as well as the spec-tacular Portimao Racetrack. Andthe new 3-series is quite a lookeras well. But your first impression ofthe car is that it is quite large. Withpedestrian safety norms and theneed for space and increasingautomation, this new 3-series feelsas large as a 5-series from a decadeago. Of course it isn’t quite as largebut the design team, led by ItalianBruno Amantino have added a fewdesign cues to make the car appearlarger such as moving the charac-teristic ‘Hoffmeister-kink’ at theend of the window behind the reardoor. These are visual cues thattrick your mind into thinking thatthe car is larger than it is; that said,its physical dimensions are quitelarge.
The other thing that grabsyour eye immediately are the head-lights. The new headlight unit onthis seventh-generation 3-series isthree-dimensional and is designedto be viewed from the above andthe sides and not just from thefront. As a result of this, BMW hassacrificed their signature ‘coronarings’ headlights and the rings arenow like swooshes. This was a verycontroversial decision butAmantino explained to me that asLED and Laser light technologyevolved, there will be even moreplay with headlights and taillights.
The insides of the car are real-ly quite unfussy, it is not compli-cated by multiple design cues andstyling elements, everything iswhere it should be. And otherthan the fact that the lightswitches are now but-tons instead of a dial,which Amantinoexplained wasbecause mostusers justkept theirl ights on‘automatic’anyway, thecar is welllaid out. Thenew infotain-ment displaypanel, is larg-er and with anexcellent resolu-tion as well as touchscreen-enabled,is at the same level as the fully-dig-ital speedometer and tachometer
display that makes it far moreergonomic and easier to use. Theonly issue here being that thetachometer (rev-counter) display isanti-clockwise, in this case, for rea-sons of symmetry.
Unlike other carmakers BMWhas laid off putting too many displaygimmicks but make no mistakes, thenew 3-series is another level of com-puter wizardry and gimmickry. Somuch so that this car is pretty mucha robot with wheels and an internalcombustion engine and you leavewith the feeling that this car hasbeen designed not just with thestandard competitors in theMercedes-Benz C-Class and AudiA4 in mind but also the TeslaModel 3. Take for example the factthat up to speeds of 60 km per hour,if your car comes with the full cam-era and sensor package, it can driveitself. Really, we tried this in anempty parking lot at 20 km per hourand to my Indian driving brain itwas very disconcerting but it works.And like other BMW’s in Europeand America it comes with adaptivedistance cruise control and laneassist, which keeps you bang in themiddle of the lane even when youare driving at European highwayspeeds of 120-140 km per hour. Youcannot take your hands off thewheel (for too long) not so muchbecause the car can’t manage butmore for legal liability reasons. Ifyou were to get in an accident whenthe car is driving, who is to blame?You the person in the driver’s seat,or the car manufacturer or possiblythe software developer? Under 60km per hour, there is a level of trust
in the
car’s brakes and safety systems thatcannot be guaranteed at higherspeeds. But that is a debate foranother column.
And these are not just the onlygimmicks, there is the remarkablereverse assist for example where ifyou find yourself in a tight dead end,you select reverse gear and press the‘reverse assist’ control on the displayand the car which would havememorised the last 50 metres it trav-elled, will back straight out unassist-ed with only your foot on the brakepedal. There is also an assistant fortight space, where there is construc-tion material on the road perhapsplus a lot of traffic. Unfortunately,there is no traffic in southernPortugal so we could try that featureout.
And then there is ‘Hey, BMW’,which is BMW’s intelligent voice-assistant, just like Siri on Apple andAlexa on Amazon devices. This,can’t just find you a destination orchange radio stations as earliervoice assistants could, but if you toldthe car you were tired, it would cyclea ‘refreshing’ programme with theair conditioner. It can open the win-dows and use the concierge services,if you have that, to book dinnerreservations or at least that is theeventual idea. It of course meansthat the car has to be perpetuallyconnected, but this is the future. Youcan also give the car any name youwant to, you can call it ‘Charlie’ or‘Mummy’ if you want, and as of nowthere are no restrictions on names,although it would be weird if youcall your car something obscene.
All this even before I start on thedrivability of the car. So I drove the
320d and 330i specifications ofthe car along with driving
a M340i prototype atthe racetrack. First
things first, the engines are slight-ly more powerful and fuel-efficientas well as pollute less. The differen-tial and gearbox are both light andbetter. That is what you shouldexpect on any new generation of acar. What one did not expect withthis car though was the absolutelyastonishing levels of grip on the car,yes it has fatter tires than any 3-series before it but even then, thiscar grips to astonishing levels.Now, when I asked whether a carcan be too good, I meant the factthat driving a BMW, even an entry-level 320d, meant that if you want-ed to have a bit of tail-sliding funevery once in a while you could andif you were an enthusiast, this carcould easily put a smile on yourface. But this one, well, I for one, donot believe that I have the skill lev-els to push this car to its limits onpublic roads no matter how desert-ed. The car is, for all intents andpurposes, idiot-proof, that is if youare an idiot and try and drive likea hoon, it will not really let you. Yes,the M340i can be forced to be a bitnaughty, but because that hasBMW’s Xdrive four-wheel drivesystem you can’t really push it to thelimit. It isn’t as if BMW does notmanufacture crazy tail-happy cars,the M2 Competition is an absolutehoot, but it appears that you willhave to buy a BMW designed as acrazy car if you want to be a hoon.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m notsaying that this is a bad car. It is farsuperior to every other vehicleavailable in its class today, bothinside and outside. And 99 per centof buyers will want a sedate carwith a lot of techno-gimmickry, theChinese for example, BMW’s mostimportant market today love thesegimmicks because they can’t drivelike hoons in their police state.And when you are shielded fromthe outside world by the acoustic(that is, noise-cancelling) wind-
shield once BMW India bringsthis car to our shores in
July, 2019, you willreally believe what Ithought, that youare inside a robot.
This may not belike the flying caryou saw in TheJetsons as a kid, itis far better. Idrove the futurein Algarve and itwas quite good
indeed.
Afew years ago in India, when everyother individual didn’t have a smart-
phone, romancing online was largelylimited to sending friend requests topeople or perhaps lurking in chat-rooms, hoping that the soulmate youwere chatting with wasn’t an eager sep-tuagenarian and then there were all thematrimonial websites.
Dating apps in India have changedmuch of that, removing some of the sur-reptitiousness and leaps of faith thattended to come with virtual searches forlove. And so are the people who nolonger need their parents to trawlthrough ‘suitable’ profiles and they area lot more open to casual meetings andonline interactions with potential datesand mates.
The data of men versus women interms of usage of dating apps in Indiais, 28 per cent and 72 per cent respec-tively according to Woo. The agegroup that is most active is between 25-35 and the regions where the dating apps
are used most are some of the top met-ropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai,Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai and Pune.
However Solene Paillet, HeadCommunication Gleeden, a Frenchonline dating app which is primarilymarketed for women who are alreadyinto a relationship, says, “Usually whenwe look at the researches, it states thatmen are more active on dating appsrather than women in India. As per thesurveys there are only 26 per centfemale users. These are very less in com-pare to other countries where almost 40per cent women are using these apps.But now, things are changing as the appsbeing introducing in India incorporatefeatures that ensure that women get theirprivacy and security. These apps arerapidly growing in popularity in metro-politan cities like Bangalore, Mumbaiand Delhi not only among men butwomen are also active on them.”Gleeden had signed up subscribersfrom India long before it launched last
year. Today the app has about3.5 lakh users in India with amajority of users coming fromMumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi.According to Gleeden’s data,45,000 users of the app are inBengaluru, 85,000 in Mumbaiand 80,000 in Delhi and over $4million users worldwide. Theage group most active on theplatform is between 34 – 49 andmost members are profession-als, many senior executives,doctors, lawyers or bankers.
Most of the apps have features thathave been incorporated to make women
feel safe. Speaking on the safe-ty of women’s safety, SumeshMenon, CEO and Co-Founderof Woo, said, “The dating indus-try in India is very dynamicwhere security and privacybeing of prime importance. Asa women-first app, Woo is con-stantly innovating and devisingfeatures in this direction like theWoo Hide and Woo Callingthey are centered around thewoman. Woo wouldn’t go down
the route of aping the west and wouldalways be focused on India.”
Taru Kapoor, GM, Tinder India,
says that the app caters to women in par-ticular with the double opt-in, as it givesthem complete control of who they meetand speak to. “It also creates a commu-nity that is free of judgement and pre-vents unsolicited attention, as users canonly message someone after they match.Besides making the dating experienceaccessible via mobile and pioneering thedouble opt-in and swipe feature. A usercan also unmatch should she change hermind at any point and can report amatch if she experiences misconduct orsuspicious behavior from the otheruser. This creates a safe, non-judgmen-tal platform where women are free tochoose, discover and interact with like-minded people based on shared inter-est and mutual consent.”
She says that as per the data, womenin India feel particularly empowered byTinder’s ‘Super Like’ feature and sendsuper likes more often than men.
The app has launched ‘My Move’that provides women the autonomy tochoose how to engage with their match-es and empowers them to control theirexperiences.
In terms of safety, she says the appwas constructed keeping a zero-toler-ance policy for online harassment.“Tinder is based on mutual consent, andso a user cannot receive unsolicited mes-sages and no one can message a personuntil s/he has also swiped right.”
When polo was first played in India in 1836, there were loudtrumpets reverberating in the background, men in mil-
itary moustaches hovered charmingly while the swish of Frenchchiffons added an aura of mystique to the proceedings. Therewere British kings and Maharajas of the princely states whobrought a royal touch to the sport, which is even today called‘The game of kings.’
Sanjay Jindal, patron of the La Pegasus Polo, says that “Polofor most of the population is still a luxury, considering theamount of investment one needs to make to be involved in it.”
He believes that in this game, “your sports equipment isan animal that costs anywhere between �10 to 50 lakh to ownand add another �30 to 50 thousand per month to own andupkeep these partners.” And for each match, every player needsat least six to eight horses — one for each chukker. He says thatPolo also requires real-estate not just in terms of the playinggrounds, but also a shelter for horses and their training.
So how has the tradition of the sport evolved over the years?Jindal believes that the sport, though “remains to be an eliteactivity and can be brought to more people,” can never becomea “mass” sport. He says, “There are a few erstwhile royal fam-ilies who are involved in the sport, but it is very much like theirparticipation in some other sport to inculcate fitness, hard-workand leadership values in their life. At La Pegasus, our goal wasto draw not just sportsmen to the grounds, but also draw spec-tators to share the spectacle across the world and keep its tra-dition growing.”
He believes there have been significant efforts across thecountry to revive the sport’s popularity. “However,” he says, “SincePolo is an expensive sport, its revival is a huge task. Unlike crick-et or soccer, which people celebrate in gullis and mohallas, andnooks and corners of every city of the country, polo requiressignificant effort, upkeep and investment.”
If there are supporters, they are industrialists, businessmenand professionals, who are “chipping in to play, support andbring in new blood to the sport. Unfortunately, we are alwaysplaying catch-ups despite having an abundance of talent andthoroughbred ponies in India. We are not able to compete withcountries like England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa,Argentina and the US. So, we are not quite there yet.”
One of the reasons that the sport hasn’t penetrated deep-er in the country is because it is prohibitive. Jindal tells us thatpolo can never be easily affordable as it needs time, energy anda lot of money. He says, “The vision behind La Pegasus Polocentre was to make it accessible to people who despite havingthe money and means are not able to play it.”
Moreover, most Polo facilities across India are either exclu-sive clubs supported by royal families, army establishments,embassies or private clubs, which outs it further out of reachof a common man. For instance, the one in Jodhpur is support-ed by its Maharaja. The Rajasthan polo club is run indepen-dently but supported by the royal family of the Pink City.
“On the other hand, if you compare army establishmentssuch as the 61st cavalry establishment in Jaipur and Delhi, LaPegasus Polo might just be more expensive or at par with pri-vate clubs such as the Amateur Riders’ Club in Mumbai. Butwe are the only ones in the country working towards meetingthe global standards at prices where we do not seek profit, butmanage expenses well to offer the adequate quality required,for players to make a mark internationally,” he adds.
While the kingdoms and Britishers may be long gone, thesport has evolved to become more democratised than just beinga ‘royal’ one. Today it’s known for team spirit as more profes-sional players enter the game without a royal link. So does itcomplement corporate philosophy?
Jindal believes that any sport, whether it is played individ-ually or with a team, inculcates diligent values in the player thatdraw great relevance to corporate play. “Polo is definitely a gamewhere all four players have to contribute to the win. The samephilosophy can be extended to corporates, because at the endof the day any business house is only as good as the people with-in that company. From Polo, one surely learns the art of teamwork, persistence, working towards a common goal and thesestrategies can be adapted in business for success,” he says.
He says that even though La Pegasus Polo is only 10-months-old, it has made efforts to popularise the sport and increase itsreachability. “One of our key focusses is to encourage youngeraspirants to continue their involvement with the game and beable to improve their skills. In due course, we are looking tosponsor the growth of these aspirants to train in countries wherethe game is more evolved. This includes the likes of Australia,England, South Africa, Argentina, and the US.”
The centre recently clubbed with the British HighCommissioner at his residency for a game to celebrate 100 yearsof the game and share its history and tradition in India.
For all those who think that life after being therunner-up for Masterchef Australia would be abed of roses, need to do a reality check. Ben
Ungermann, who stood second in 2017, has been “liv-ing out his suitcase” thanks to his world tours. But ithas paybacks in terms of his profession. He says thattravelling has made him delve deeper into various cul-tures and cuisines. It has “certainly increased my abil-ity and efficiency to make food. The more I travel andtrace boundaries, the more I explore food.”
He has come to India as a part of his JohnnieWalker Gourmet experiences tour to create a varietyof culinary dishes and desserts for the Indian audi-ence with a touch of European spices.
He believes that it’s important for a chef to havedone some touring or dealt with internationalcuisines closely.
While travelling has indeed brought him near tosome innovative culinary habits, there are someglobal food movements that he has observed.Especially, “Something that is happening in a lotof Western countries as well as in India is themovement towards ‘vegetables’ and trying tomake vegetarian dishes where protein becomesthe hero of the dish. I have also seen a realincrease in the use of alcohol in food too. It’sone of those products that has a real depthof flavour and can be quite intense.”
But how did he zero down on India for hisshowcase? He feels that as a foreign tourist, it’salways important to make sure that the foodthat you consume in another country isflavourful and has a perfect grouping ofspices. “I found Indian cuisines to beone of the most complex amongall the other countries that Ivisited.”
He expresses his lovefor the country and itsculinary culture that heis immensely fascinatedwith. He says, “When Iwas a part of the showin Australia, I receiveda lot of support fromthe Indian people. Itwas always one of thecountries which Iwanted to visit for myworld tour. And once Idid, it was really worth-while. So when I wasasked to choose, I zeroeddown on India for thetour.”
He will be travelling tofour Indian cities, whereUngermann will liaise withone partner outlet per city toinspire a drink-led menu pairedwith select appetisers.
The chef lists some of thegourmet delicacies that he willbe presenting at the tour, “Ihave created toasted coconutice-cream with raisins to pairwith Johnnie Walker BlackLabel. An earthy toasted
coconut, rich in flavour, will be paired with the blacklabel with soaked raisins to give it a strong essence.Also there will be the whiskey samba where a newfusion is created with the Indian cuisine. I am goingto pair them up with some Asian dishes, which Ibelieve are fresh and have a lot to offer.”
The chef who has Dutch and the Indonesian lin-eage talks about the direction that global foodtrends are actually headed towards and names Indianfood to be the one which is becoming globally pop-ular. And there are reasons. He says, “The rice of Indiahas a number of flavours that can’t be replicated any-where else in the world. And every variety of it pre-sents an all-new taste.”
He applauds how India, being such a huge coun-try, has “food that varies every 100 km and as you trav-el the cuisine changes. So it is very diverse. Hence, Ibelieve that the Indian cuisine is actually making areal impact on the world stage.”
The chef who was tagged as ‘The ice-cream king’,at the show narrates the story behind it. When he wentto the Masterchef show, the contestants were advisedto work on their weaknesses and “as a savoury cook,I started working on my desserts as they were myweaknesses. I was never sure I’d survive the compe-tition, but honestly, my weakness did become mystrength.”
The chef calls cooking food an art. He recalls therockstar chefs in Europe these days, “who are not justcooks, they are scientists, they are everything.”
Ungermann feels that the greatest cause of fail-ure in a chef ’s dish could be worrying and thinkingabout pleasing others instead of “telling a story andportraying what you want to on the plate.”
He shares his idea of the Indian food. “Theflavours from the country offer an amazing palate. Itsspices and textures makes European cuisine look a bitdull at times. But if you know how to merge the twotogether, you’ll have a cuisine that would probablytrump all the other cuisines.”
In a meal, we normally conjure carbsas a necessary yet boring evil. But
when a chef elevates the simple grainto an experience par excellence, youknow that a lot of thought has goneinto curating the menu. At Oko, thenewly-opened pan-Asian restaurantat The LaLit, the sticky fried rice wascertainly the star of the meal whichscored high on all sensorial counts —visual, olfactorial and gustational. Thesame can be said about the restaurant.
The U-shaped dining place is onthe 28th floor, which, thanks to glassall around, offers a 360-degree viewof what can be called the heart of thecapital. So before stepping in, getready to be enamoured by the twin-kling lights of Connaught Placewhich seem to give the impression ofstars below ones’ feet. The skylineforms the perfect backdrop and its funto try and spot some of the iconicstructures.
There are live Teppanyaki coun-ters but it is not restricted to cuisinefrom Japan but also has full menusfrom China, Thailand, Korea, andVietnam. What makes it interestingis that the hotel’s ideology of inclu-sivity is reflected in a healthy mix ofa team of women and trans individ-uals.
The interiors are plush. Thelighting subtle yet just enough for ameal. The carefully chosen artefacts,the different furniture arrangementswhich are classy as well as comfort-able and the big granite table tops thatact as tables add to the restaurant’sambience and lead to a growing antic-ipation that one is in for a memorabletime. And the place does not disap-point.
We started off with Som Tam, theThai raw papaya salad which was stel-lar. With a perfect balance of flavours— sweet, sour, salty as well as the bitewhere the finely grated papaya is softand the peanut added the crunch,this set the tone of the meal.
This was followedby dim sums — avegetarian and a chickenmince one. With a delicatecover and crunchy vegetables inside,it was the one minus the meat whichscored. The server told us that it is
Broccoli almond dumpling, which isthe speciality of the house but that wasunfortunately unavailable at the time.
What works for Oko is that ittakes the commonplace dishes andelevates it to something more sublime.And that is what exactly happenedwith the potato wedges, another of thestarters. A thin coating which wascrisp gave way to a softer interiorwhen one bit into the spud. And thenthere was the unique combination ofspices that are prepared in housewhich makes the dish, a comfort foodthat has the quality of gourmet din-ing. The herbs that are used in thedish like all the others at the hotel aresourced from their own farm as theyabide by the policy of “we serve whatwe grow”.
The starters made us foretold thatthere was more good food in storeand we were not disappointed. Wewent with Wok fried assorted funghi,Chicken smoke red pepper saucewhich has barbeque style bell pepperand onion accompanied by Stickyfried rice and Pad Thai Noodles.
What really worked for Wokfried assorted fungi was not just theflavours but also the choice of mush-rooms used. Each of the mushroomsadded a distinct texture and a flavourthat gave the dish a taste which was
as unique and appealing as the name. The Chicken smoke red pepper
sauce got its taste from the barbequesauce which gave it a marked smokyflavour that was appealing. Slightlysweet, the dish could be had accom-panied by rice, noodles or just on itsown.
The Pad Thai or flat noodles withits assorted mix of vegetables was theperfect accompaniment to both thedishes but it was the Sticky fried riceto which paeans can be written.While most of the ingredients aresourced locally, some, including theJasmine rice that goes into the mak-ing of this dish comes from Thailand.But let me explain why the dish hasto be written about alone. To beginwith, coming from the Hindi heart-land, my heart beats for Basmatiwhere the true worth of any biryaniis measured in each grain of rice beingkhila hua. So when the server rec-ommended, a dish where the ricesticks together in clumps like a khich-di, it is certainly not my kind ofgourmet food, (okay I concede thatpaella and risotto is comfort foodwhich is also gourmet), I was scepti-cal. But when the rice came in, I gota whiff of a slightly nutty and a dis-tinctly smoky aroma. A bite, and I hadno qualms about pronouncing thatthis was certainly the star dish of theevening. The flavours were balanced,not too strong nor too mild, the veg-etables retained a slight crunch whichis somewhat hard to achieve whenyou are dealing with ones which arechopped really fine. It had a slightsmoky flavour which enhanced thetaste of both the accompanying dish-es. A plate of this solo, minus any sidedish can make for a satiating meal allby itself.
For dessert we had Tum Tim Krobwhich is a Thai delicacy made of ten-der coconut cream with water chest-
nuts topped with crushed ice, butthis being winter, we gavethe last a miss. This liq-
uid is drunk rather thaneaten and is mildly sweetwhich can be an acquired
India let history slip out of its handswith a heartbreaking quarterfinaldefeat against the Netherlands in the
men's hockey World Cup, a result whichleft the young players of the team cryingon the pitch.
A well-oiled Indian unit had raisedthe hopes of making the semifinals forthe first time since 1975 but the Dutchside broke a million hearts by comingfrom behind to knock out the hosts 2-1in the last-eight clash.
Young players such as Dilpreet Singhleft the pitch with tears in their eyes.
India took the lead in the 12thminute through Akashdeep Singh beforeThierry Brinkman drew parity forNetherlands five seconds before the endof the first quarter.
After a hard-fought third quarter,Netherlands scored the winner in the50th minute when Mink van derWeerden converted a penalty corner.
The defeat ended India's long cher-ished dream of lifting the trophy only forthe second time after its lone triumph in1975 at Kuala Lumpur.
The Dutch had the first shot at thegoal in the 11th minute but JeroenHertzberger reverse hit went just wide ofthe Indian goal.
India's first real scoring opportuni-ty came in the 12th minute when theywere awarded a penalty corner and thehosts did not let go the chance asAkashdeep scored from a rebound afterHarmanpreet Singh's initial flick wassaved by German goalkeeper PirminBlaak.
Kothajit Singh produced a stellar per-formance for India at the back as hedenied the Dutch on a number of occa-sions with timely interceptions.
But at the stroke of the first quarter,Netherlands drew level when Brinkmangot the faintest of deflection to beatIndian custodian PR Sreejesh from a longball from outside the cirle.
Five minutes from the first half, Indiacame tantalisingly close from restoringtheir lead by Nilkanata shot wide froma rebound after Akashdeep's deflectionwas kept away by Blaak in front of theGerman goal.
Four minutes into the second half,Akshdeep had a golden chance to restoreIndia's lead but his reverse hit from a longball of Harmanpreet Singh sailed over theDutch goal.
Soon Netherlands secured two back-
to-back penalty corners but the Indiansdefended stoutly to thwart the danger.
In the 48th minute, SimranjeetSingh's fine stick work in the right flankwent in vain as Akashdeep failed to reachhis pass with only the Dutch goalie tobeat.
The Dutch came out with a plan inthe fourth quarter and didn't give Indiaany leeway into their citadel.
The Indians found it difficult to buildup attacks as the Dutch concentrated ontight men marking.
Ten minutes from the final hooterNetherlands secured their fourth penal-ty corner and Van der Weerden found theback of the net past Indian goalkeeper PRSreejesh, who had an ordinary tourna-ment as per his standard.
Desperate for the equaliser, theIndians threw up numbers upfront andit bore fruit when Chinglensana Singhearned their second penalty corner butDutch goalkeeper Blaak made double
save to deny Harmanpreet.In search of a match-saving goal,
India withdraw goalkeeper Sreejesh foran extra player but the move didn't payany dividend.
Two minutes from time, Netherlandssecured another penalty corner but theIndian defence, without a goalkeeper, didwell to keep Netherlands at bay.
The hosts failed to get the equaliseras the packed stadium backed the Menin Blue till the very last second only to
return home disappointed.
, �����) ���-India's chief coach Harendra Singh
Thursday blamed poor umpiring for histeam's early ouster from the ongoingWorld Cup.
He said the International HockeyFederation (FIH) needs to seriouslyaddress the issue as his side has been onthe receiving end of poor on-field deci-sions twice this year.
Harendra said it's high time the FIHreviews the performance of umpires.
"I would like to tender my apologies.We haven't given what we had to. I amnot going to stop today. If they (umpires)don't want to improve, we will continueto face these type of results," he said atthe post-match press conference.
"Can anyone define Amit Rohidas's10-min yellow card? What about thisgentleman (pointing at Manpreet Singh),when he was pushed from behind?Why not a yellow card there? We havelost two major tournaments (AsianGames) this year because of umpiring.
"Two times we got a card when wehadn't done anything. But when it hap-pened against us, they (umpires) saidnothing. They need to improve. We havelost two major tournaments," he added.
The India coach, however, said hewill not lodge any protest and accept theresult.
"99.8 percent the referral goes infavour of players. The outcome of aprotest has never been good in my career.We accept this gracefully. We want neu-tral umpiring. I except both teams to betreated equally. One wrong decision canruin your preparation of 4-6 years," hesaid.
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Olympic Silver medallist Belgium qualifiedfor the semifinals of the for the first time
ever when they defeated two-time championsGermany 2-1.
World No 3 Belgium scored throughAlexander Hendrickx (18th minute) and TomBoon (50th) to register the come-from-behindwin.
World No 6 Germany's lone goal camefrom the stick of Dieter Linnekogel in the 14thminute.
Belgium will now fight it out with Englandon Saturday for a place in the final.
The Red Lions were by far the better sideon display considering the amount of scoringchances they got the in the opening two quar-ters.
Belgium got their first scoring chance inthe seventh minute in the form of a penaltycorner but they could not capitalise on that.
Germany, however, took the lead againstthe run of play in the 14th minute when anunmarked Linnekogel scored from top of thecircle after receiving a pass from TomGrambusch.
Stunned by the goal, Belgium went for theoffensive and secured three back-to-backpenalty corners just at the stroke of first quar-ter but could convert none.
Three minutes into the second quarter,Belgium secured their fifth penalty corner andHendrickx scored with a grounded flick to levelthe scores.
The Red Lions earned two more penaltycorners in the second quarter but again falteredas Germany defended in numbers.
Four minutes after the change of ends,Germany came close to restoring their lead butTimm Herzbursch's shot from close range waskept at bay by Belgium goalkeeper VincentVanasch.
Belgium secured their eighth penalty cor-ner in the 37th minute but Hendrickx's try waswell defended by Tobias Hauke. Minutes later,Belgium earned their ninth penalty corner butonce again Hendrickx's effort was kept out ofthe target by the German defence.
Ten minutes from the final hooter, Belgiumgot the all-important winner through Boonwho scored from a rebound after skipperThomas Briels' initial try was saved by Germankeeper Tobias Walter.
Thereafter, the Red Lions went into adefensive mode as they decided to sit back anddeny and scoring opportunities to theGermans.
Six minutes from time, Germany took outtheir goalkeeper for an extra player and triedto attack the Belgium goal in numbers in searchof the equaliser but the winners defended wellto make their first appearance in the semi-finalof the quadrennial event.
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Olympic Silver medallist P V Sindhufinally broke her jinx against world No
1 Tai Tzu Ying with a come-from-behindwin in a thriller, while Sameer Verma out-classed Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto at theWorld Tour Finals here on Thursday.
After six successive losses in 13 meet-ings, Sindhu got the better of her nemesis Tzu Yingof Chinese Taipei 14-21, 21-16, 21-18 in a GroupA match that lasted a little over an hour.
World No 14 Sameer, who qualified for thetournament at the last moment after defendinghis title at the Syed Modi International last month,dished out a dominating performance to beat the10th ranked Sugiarto 21-16, 21-7 in a 40-minutegroup B clash.
The 24-year-old Indian had lost the openingmatch against world No 1 and world championKento Momota.
Sindhu, who had finished runners-up in thelast edition, gave ample display of her grit as shebounced back from a game down and erased a6-11 deficit in the final game to record her firstwin over Asian Games champion Tzu Ying sincethe 2016 Rio Olympics.
In the 16-minute opening game, Sindhucouldn't produce the winners initially and couldonly consolidate on the unforced errors of herrival. Tzu Ying, on the other hand, looked asimpressive as ever with her deceptive strokes andtechnical acumen.
Sindhu was lagging 2-6 early on. Tai extend-ed her lead to 8-4 after Sindhu went long and wide.
A couple of good looking shots helpedSindhu to grabbed two points before she lifted oneto the net.
Two delightful shot with her racquet head on
both sides of the court gave Tzu Ying a11-7 advantage at the first break.
After the breather, Tzu Yingunleashed two cross court returns onSindhu's backhand to continue gath-ering points, reaching 15-8.
Sindhu grabbed the next threepoints before the Chinese Taipei shut-tler produced a smash to break the run
of points.Tzu Ying's acute angled strokes bothered
Sindhu as she reached 17-12. A lucky net chordgave another point to Tzu Ying, who alsoplayed an eye-catching behind-the-backshot to win another point.
She grabbed six game points whenSindhu went to the net and sealed theopening game as theIndian went long.
In the secondgame, Tzu Ying madeSindhu run around thecourt with her acuteangled returns but mademany unforced errors herself.
Sindhu jumped to 6-3with her rival missing thelines time and again.
At 3-6, a long rallyensued which ended withTzu Ying's incredible crosscourt stroke from the backof the court. A winnergave Sindhu a five-pointcushion before shereached 10-4.
Tzu Yinggrabbed twopoints before going
long again, giving Sindhu a 11-6 advantage at thebreather.
Tzu Ying tried to stage a comeback but Sindhumanaged to extend her five-point advantage, movingto 17-12. The Taiwanese girl went long and found thenet as Sindhu moved to 19-13. Tzu Ying got anotherpoint before she miscued one to hand over six gamepoints to Sindhu.
Tzu Ying saved two before serving out as Sindhutook the match to the decider.
In the final game, Tzu Ying led 3-0 early after Sindhuwent long twice. The Taiwanese's incredible touch helpedher to extend it to 5-2. She caught Sindhu at the fore-court with her over-the-head cross court shot again.
Tzu Ying sent one to net and went wide again toallow Sindhu narrow down the lead but her angledstrokes kept her ahead of the indian at 8-5.
Tzu Ying once again exploited the corners withher cross court returns
and then Sindhuwent long and this
time Tzu Ying held afive-point advantage.
After the last change of ends,Sindhu made it 11-12 before Tzu Ying
unleashed a body smash. But three unforced errors sawthe Indian wrest back the lead, moving to 16-13
quickly. An over-the-head cross court returntook Sindhu to 17-13. The Indian added
another point before going to nets. Abody smash took Tzu Ying to 15-18.Sindhu reciprocated with a body blowand then a lucky net chord helped the
Indian grab a four-match point advan-tage.
Tzu Ying caught the line by a whisker to stay aliveand then Sindhu smashed wide to lose another matchpoint. But the Taiwanese went wide again after anoth-er superb rally.
�� 8> .�0(/.��
Asian Hockey FederationCEO Tayyab Ikram on
Thursday lamented demise ofhockey in Pakistan and fearedthat the prevailing politicaland security situation will makethe game's revival very difficult.
Ikram, a Pakistani nation-al said due to lack of interna-tional exposure hockey hasno takers in the troublednation.
"Pakistan is a completelydifferent case, at this stage.
Bringing young generationinto hockey from a nationalpoint of view, it always has todo something with what glam-
our is left in the sport. It wasthe case when Pakistan waswinning all the World Cups,Champions Trophy togetherwith India. There was glamourthen, there was interest," hesaid.
"Pakistan why I say is a dif-ferent case because of politicaland security situation at thisstage. The sport in Pakistan isalmost dead. The people ofPakistan are waiting to seeinternational hockey inPakistan," Ikram said on thesidelines of the World Cup.
� � �0/�30'8�
Telugu Titans ended their home leg ofVivo Pro Kabaddi League Season 6 in
style as they beat defending championsPatna Pirates 41-36 on Thursday atVizag.
Rahul Chaudhari, who became thesecond man to reach the 800-raid pointmark in Pro Kabaddi, led the Titans'charge with 13 points. Nilesh Salunkesupported Chaudhari well and scored 9raid points.
Pardeep Narwal had a slow first halfyet top scored for the Patna Pirates with12 points. Both Patna Pirates and TeluguTitans remain in contention of a place inthe playoffs.
Telugu Titans got off to a dream startas Nilesh Salunke made a super raid andtook out four Patna players in the secondminute.
Vijay made a two-point raid in thethird minute as Patna Pirates trailed 2-6. In the 4 th minute Telugu Titans inflict-ed an all out to lead 11-5.
Patna's star raider Pardeep Narwalwas struggling to get points on board andthat reflected in Patna's performance.
It was the Pirates' defence that keptthem in the match's first half. They trailed11-19 after 14 minutes but things gotworse as they suffered another all out inthe 15 th minute.
With Narwal unable to get off themark in the first half, Patna Pirates wentinto the break trailing 15-26.
Pardeep Narwal took 23 minutes toopen his account as Patna trailed 17-28.
On the other hand for the Titans,Rahul Chaudhari was in fine raiding
form as he achieved the 800-point mile-stone in the history of Pro KabaddiLeague.
Patna Pirates inflicted an all out inthe 26 th minute as they trailed 24-30 andlooked to mount a comeback. But RahulChaudhari and Nilesh Salunke keptpicking raid points at regular intervals asTelugu Titans led 36-28 after 34 minutes.
With less than five minutes to goPatna Pirates trailed by seven points andthe Titans were looking on course to avictory. Patna's hopes of a comeback werelooking dim as Pardeep was sent to thebench in the 36 th minute.
A tackle point in the 37 th minutegave Telugu Titans a 10-point lead astheir victory was ensured. Patna Piratespicked up six points in two minutes toreduce the margin of defeat.
With this win, Telugu Titans main-tained its third spot in Zone B with 50points from 19 games, while PardeepNarwal’s Patna is on the second spot with52 points from 18 matches.
On Friday, in first game of Panchkulaleg, Pink Panthers will face Puneri Paltanwhile Bengal Warriors will be up againstTamil Thalaivas.
Most Indian teams of the pastwould be wary of a green topbut the Virat Kohli-led side
will see it as an opportunity to bull-doze the Australians when the secondTest begins on a pitch offering plen-ty of pace and bounce at the brandnew Optus Stadium, here on Friday.
The mood in the Indian campwas summed up best by the skipperafter a green pitch was unveiled on eveof the maiden Test at the new facili-ty.
"We get more excited than ner-vous looking at lively pitches now,"said Kohli, who has a potent paceattack at his disposal.
The visitors will surely name achanged eleven as they have been hitby a couple more injuries. Indianamed their 13-man squad for thissecond Test, with R Aswhin and RohitSharma the two notable absentees.Ashwin is ruled out owing to a left-abdominal strain while Rohit is laidlow due to a back issue that he sus-tained whilst fielding in the first Testat Adelaide.
The batsman missed out on bothdays of practice leading to the secondTest. Ashwin also skipped the option-al training on Wednesday, and whilehe was present for warm-ups duringThursday practice, he didn't bat orbowl in the nets. Meanwhile, PrithviShaw continues to be ruled out,meaning India will retain their open-ing combination of KL Rahul andMurali Vijay.
For the other two spots in theplaying eleven, Hanuma Vihari,Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumarand Umesh Yadav have been includ-ed in the 13-man squad. It gives riseto different permutations and com-binations, and Kohli does have priorhistory of picking an all-pace attackearlier in 2018.
At Johannesburg, on another rag-ing green-top wicket, he picked afour-pacer attack with Hardik Pandyaas the all-rounder.
With Rohitout injured, Vihariis likely to play hissecond Test afterhis maiden
appearance at the Oval, where-in he scored 56 runs in the fifthTest against England.
Vihari is a handy off-spinneras well, and the team manage-ment hasn't been shy to use himas such. At the Oval, whenIndia did play with four full-timebowlers, he bowled 10.3 overs.
In the practice game inSydney too, Vihari bowled 12overs against Cricket AustraliaXI. Along with Vijay, pickingVihari allows the Indian think-tank to go in with a four-pacer
strategy, with BhuvneshwarKumar coming in for theinjured Ashwin.
The Indian batting line-upshould otherwise be unchanged.On Thursday, the three Indianpacers, who played in Adelaide,didn't bowl at all. They did padup and have a hit in the nets.
Australia could make a tac-tical change to their batting line-up as well. Aaron Finch hascome under sharp criticism forhis shot selection in the first Testand there are growing concernsabout him going into thismatch.
After Wednesday's practicesessions, there was growingopinion that either UsmanKhawaja or Shaun Marsh couldopen in his place, with Finchslotting down in the middleorder.
All-rounder Mitchell Marshstill only has an outside chanceto play in this Test with skipperTim Paine declaring himselffully fit after being hurt on hisright hand in Adelaide.Australia are expected to fieldthe same bowling line-up andbarring any surprising injuries,Peter Siddle is not in consider-ation.
/���India (13-players): Virat Kohli(capt), KL Rahul, Murali Vijay,Cheteshwar Pujara, AjinkyaRahane, Hanuma Vihari,Rishabh Pant (wk), RavindraJadeja, Ishant Sharma, JaspritBumrah, Mohammed Shami,Bhuvneshwar Kumar, UmeshYadav.Australia: Tim Paine (capt &wk), Marcus Harris, AaronFinch, Usman Khawaja, TravisHead, Shaun Marsh, PeterHandscomb, Nathan Lyon,Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins,Josh Hazlewood, MitchellMarsh, Peter Siddle.
�� �0��8
The green pitches haveceased to be "alien" for the
Indian team, declared captainVirat Kohli, who is hopingthat Australia will not take offthe grass from the pitch for thesecond Test.
"We certainly get moreexcited than nervous looking atlively pitches. We understandthat we have a bowling attackthat can bowl out the opposi-tion now. I hope no moregrass is taken off it. We as ateam is pretty happy with that,"said a confident Kohli at thepre-match press conference.
"We just have to challengeourselves as a batting unit andplay positively, backing thebowlers to do what they did atAdelaide as well. I think thispitch is going to offer signifi-cantly more than it did atAdelaide. That is something weare very excited about."
India named their 13-mansquad for this Test. There isevery chance that India will go
in with a four-pronged pace-only attack for only the thirdinstance in their Test history,after Johannesburg (2018) andPerth (WACA, 2012).
"I have played all aroundthe world for 10 years now andI have never played on a wick-et like the one at Johannesburgto be honest. I have played atPerth as well in 2012 but wasnot even close to whatJohannesburg was. We are notalien to pitches like these andthis is nothing new for us. Weknow what to expect on apitch like this. On a livelywicket where there is grass onthe pitch and the surface beinghard, you are as much as in thegame as the opposition."
When asked about how itfeels to be the Indian captain tounleash this 'best-ever Indianpace attack', Kohli said, "I amlucky that when they are attheir peak I am the captain.They have been playing for awhile and it is just that thesefive have come into their ownwhen I was the captain."
�( �� ,�0?
Lyon clinched the final ChampionsLeague last-16 place as Nabil Fekir's
second-half strike grabbed a 1-1 drawagainst Shakhtar Donetsk in a snowyKiev on Wednesday, while BayernMunich pipped Ajax to top spot inGroup E.
Bruno Genesio's Lyon needed toavoid defeat against Shakhtar to progressfrom Group F with Manchester City, anda fifth successive draw in the competitionachieved that aim.
"It was hard in difficult conditions.We gave ourselves a fright and it's a pitywe didn't kill off the game in the firsthalf," Lyon midfielder Houssem Aouartold RMC Sport. "The main thing is thatwe've qualified."
Shakhtar forged ahead midwaythrough the opening period with whatproved their only shot of the first half, justseconds after Lyon forward BertrandTraore had been denied by AndriyPyatov when clean through one-on-onewith the goalkeeper.
The Burkina Faso international wasmade to pay for his profligacy, as JuniorMoraes slotted home after being pickedout by Ismaily.
Lyon continued to dominate, though,and finally equalised in the 65th minuteas Nabil Fekir hammered a left-footedstrike into the top corner followingexcellent play by Memphis Depay.
Man City wrapped up top spot in thegroup by coming from behind to beatHoffenheim 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium.
Andrej Kramaric gave Hoffenheim asurprise 16th-minute lead from thepenalty spot, although Leroy Sane lev-
elled on the stroke of half-time with amagnificent free-kick.
City wasted a host of chances, withaway goalkeeper Oliver Baumann ininspired form, but Sane grabbed his sec-ond just after the hour mark to completethe turnaround.
����������!�Bayern Munich went into their game
at Ajax just needing a point to beat theiropponents to first place in Group E, andNiko Kovac's men did just that in athrilling 3-3 draw.
The game burst into life in the sec-ond half when Dusan Tadic equalisedRobert Lewandowski's early opener justafter the hour mark, with Ajax defend-er Maximilian Woeber sent off in the67th minute for a dangerous lunge onLeon Goretzka.
But Bayern were also reduced to 10men only eight minutes later, as ThomasMueller was given his marching ordersfor planting his studs into the head ofNicolas Tagliafico.
Ajax briefly moved top of the livestandings when Jerome Boateng care-lessly conceded a penalty, which was dis-patched emphatically into the roof of thenet by Tadic.
But Tagliafico brought down ThiagoAlcantara, with Lewandowski slotting inthe spot-kick, before Kingsley Comanlooked to have settled matters with awonderful 90th-minute strike.
Tagliafico went up the other end toequalise again, but Ajax failed to find awinner as Bayern just about held on.
"That was an advert for football,"smiled Kovac. "The most importantthing was to finish top of the group and
with 14 from 18 points we are happy."Juventus finished at the Group H
summit ahead of Manchester Uniteddespite slumping to a 2-1 defeat by YoungBoys in Bern, as Jose Mourinho's PremierLeague giants lost at Valencia.
United had to beat Valencia and hopeJuve failed to win in Switzerland, butCarlos Soler and a comical Phil Jonesown goal did the damage for the visitors,with Marcus Rashford scoring a late con-solation.
������:���������� CSKA Moscow stunned a much-
changed Real Madrid with a 3-0 victoryat the Santiago Bernabeu, but still fin-ished bottom of Group G as ViktoriaPlzen beat Roma.
The Russian side, who also downedReal 1-0 in the reverse fixture, had to bet-ter Plzen's result to finish third and qual-ify for the Europa League.
But Plzen edged out Roma 2-1 in theCzech Republic to render CSKA's famousvictory ultimately meaningless, despiteinflicting the heaviest ever Europeanhome loss on the record 13-time cham-pions.
"It's sad to say the least to beat RealMadrid, earn seven points, but finish bot-tom and get eliminated from Europe,"said CSKA coach Viktor Goncharenko.
Holders Real had already progressedto the last 16 as group winners, withRoma through in second place.
Home coach Santiago Solari boost-ed CSKA's hopes before kick-off bymaking seven changes to his starting XI,and goals from Fedor Chalov, GeorgiySchennikov and Arnor Sigurdsson gaveCSKA a comprehensive win.
