T he murmurs within the Congress by its MLAs feel- ing sidetracked in their own Government on Monday turned boisterous with one of the senior legislator threaten- ing to go on a dharna outside the Chief Minister’s residence in January, “if the constituen- cy was not developed”. Taking a serious view of the summering discontentment within its party leaders, Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar has called for “feedback” by all the party MLAs. Training guns at its own party leadership, especially the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, Shutrana MLA Nirmal Singh has drawn a parallel between the Congress Government a decade back to say that no development is taking place. “People were happy with the Capt Amarinder Government from 2002 to 2007, and that is why people voted for him this time again in 2017…But not even a single brick was laid in my con- stituency,” rued Nirmal Singh, whose Shutrana constituency fall under Patiala. He listed out Dana Mandi (grain market), Trauma Centre, Polytechnic College, park and Judicial Court complex as the main demands of his con- stituency. Mincing no words, Nirmal Singh alleged that neither the State Government gave any hearing to his concerns, nor did the Chief Minister meet him. He went on to add that the Government was being run by the Chief Minister’s spe- cial principal secretary Suresh Kumar and not by Capt Amarinder. “Why would I make all this noise if my Government would listen to me. Government does not listen to any of the MLAs…Chief Minister did not meet us…even Maharani (Preneet Kaur) also says that she did not have time to meet. We are left in the lurch…what we should do,” lamented Shutrana MLA. Nirmal Singh said people seek answers from us asking what we did in these two years. “The CM should tell us why he cannot meet us…I cried in front of his OSD…We want to meet CM for several months…If we can meet the CM directly, then why we would cry…why all this drama,” he said asking what wrong they (MLAs) have done and what reward they are get- ting for their work. He asserted that the not the Chief Minister, but Suresh Kumar is running the Government who appoints and removes the officers and have all the powers. “No MLA has the guts to meet Suresh Kumar… Even Ministers stand before him with their files,” he added. Maintaining that he was an honest man and has no money, Shutrana MLA said that all he wanted that the development works should start in his con- stituency, otherwise he would stage a sit-in outside the CM house from January 1. At the same time, he made it clear that he did not care about the party action, not he care about the party tickets. “I am and will always be the soldier of the Congress party, and remain in the Congress but with heartache…MLAs are the Chief Minister’s family, but we never had a chance to meet him,” he said. Nirmal Singh, who is the fourth Congress MLA to have raised a voice against the State Government and the bureau- cracy for allegedly neglecting elected representatives, also indicated that the party had given more than due impor- tance to the bureaucracy. Only a week ago, Congress MLAs Hardial Singh Kamboj (Rajpura), Rajinder Singh (Samana) and Madan Lal Jalalapur (Ghanaur) had publicly spoken against the district police department and district officials at a meeting in Patiala during grievance redressal meeting. These MLAs, including Nirmal Singh, had heated argu- ments over various matters, including phone recordings and alleged phone tapping by officials of the administration during the meeting on November 20. Rajinder Singh had accused a police official of tapping his phone calls. Continued on Page 4 T he Haryana Government on Monday said there has been a 34.5 per cent decrease in cases of crop residue burn- ing in the state as compared to last year in the whole season. A spokesperson of the state government said that to sensi- tize farmers for not burning crop residue as well as for the management of crop residue in the State, Haryana Government has also provided special equip- ment at subsidised rate. “This has resulted in 65.94 per cent reduction in stubble burning incidents from November 6 till date and as compared to last year, 34.50 per cent decrease in such incidents recorded in the whole season,” the spokesperson added. The spokesperson said in 2018 from November 6 to November 24, 2018, there were 4,135 stubble burning incidents whereas only 1,408 incidents have occurred during the same period this year. Similarly, there were 10,050 incidents of stubble burning in the entire season, last year, whereas 6,581 incidents have been recorded throughout the season, this year. He said that to completely stop stubble burning, the State Government has taken several important steps and in this series, the Government had announced to give a special incentive at the rate of 100 per quintal to the small and mar- ginal farmers of the State for not burning non-basmati paddy crop residue. The spokesman said till now an incentive amount of 7,28,730 has been given to 3,438 farmers. Through Custom Hiring Centers (CHC) for the Ex-Situ and In-Situ management of stubble burning 150 ballers were provided at subsidy. Apart from this, financial assistance of 1,000 per acre was also given as operational cost to the CHC or Straw Baler unit owners for the Ex-Situ and In-Situ man- agement of stubble burning. Senior IAS officers have also been appointed for the guidance and monitoring of this scheme — PK Das for Kaithal district, Devender Singh for Fatehabad, TC Gupta for Sirsa, Mahavir Singh for Jind and Anurag Rastogi for Hisar district. I n a high-voltage drama wit- nessed hours after they staked claim to form a Government in Maharashtra by handing over a letter carrying signatures of 162 supporting MLAs to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress on Monday night carried out a parade of their MLAs before the media, not before the Governor, at five-star Hotel Grand Hyatt at Kalina in north Mumbai to buttress their claim of numbers. At the ballroom of the hotel, NCP president Sharad Pawar, Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, senior Congress Mallikarjun Kharge and promi- nent leaders of all the three par- ties were present. At the event, the MLAs took an oath not to fall prey to any inducements by the BJP. However, BJP MLA Ashish Shelar mocked the show of strength before the media as a “photo-op”, and said that a majority in the Assembly can- not be proved by such parades. He claimed that his party will win the “photo finish” race dur- ing floor test in the Assembly. Amid tight security, Opposition MLAs had arrived earlier at Hotel Grand Hyatt from the BKC-based Hotel Sofitel, JW Marriot and Hotel Lemon Tree . Earlier, in his brief speech, Pawar said the three parties in the Sena-led alliance would teach a lesson to the BJP which is trying to prove its majority in the State Assembly through questionable means. “We — Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress — have come together in the larger interests of Maharashtra. The party (BJP) that has power at the Centre formed Governments in States like Karnataka, Goa and Manipur where it did not have majority. But, this is not Goa or two other States. This is Maharashtra. If someone tries to thrust a wrong thing on us, we have the strength in Maharashtra to give a fitting reply. We have the Sena with us. I need not have to tell you how we will teach a lesson to our opponents,” he said. Taking a dig at Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for his repeated one-liner “Me Punha Yain, Me Punha Yain... (I will return as the Chief Minister)”, Uddhav said, “I won’t say I will return since we have already arrived.” Uddhav said if the BJP tried to indulge in anything untoward during the coming days, his party is prepared to pay back in the same coin. A mid ongoing political drama in Maharashtra involving NCP’s breakaway group leader Ajit Pawar, the State Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Monday closed nine cases relating to the 70,000 crore irrigation scam. The ACB said none of these cases are linked to Ajit, who is being probed in other cases of the irrigation scam. The ACB’s clarification came after Congress claimed Ajit was “exonerated” in lieu of his support to the BJP in form- ing a Government in Maharashtra. “None of the cases per- taining to Ajit in the 2013 irri- gation scam investigation have been closed,” a senior ACB offi- cial said. This is a conditional clo- sure, which means the State or the court can reopen the case. “We are investigating around 3,000 tenders in irri- gation related complaints. These are routine enquiries which are closed and all ongo- ing investigations are continu- ing as they were earlier,” the official said. The State ACB has been looking into 2,654 tenders of 45 projects of Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) in connection with two PILs filed in the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High court in 2012. “Out of these, FIRs have been registered in 24 cases and chargesheets have been filed in five cases. Open enquiries into 45 tenders have been closed as no offence was disclosed during enquiry. Departmental enquiries against the concerned officials have been recommended in 28 inquiries for administrative lapses,” ACB’s Additional Superintendent of Police (HQ) Ajay Aphale said. “All 24 FIRs are presently under investigation and none of these investigations has been closed,” Aphale stated. It may be recalled that Ajit had appeared before the State ACB on October 21, 2015 in connection with the alleged irregularities in the irrigation projects in Raigad district in Konkan region during the pre- vious Democratic Front (DF) Government’s rule. T he Supreme Court will pass its verdict at 10.30 am on Tuesday on the plea by the NCP, the Shiv Sena and the Congress combine that sought direction for an urgent floor test in the Maharashtra Assembly. They claimed that the Devendra Fadnavis-led Government lacked majority in the Assembly. The combine has sought advancement of the 14-day period for floor test granted by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari. Interestingly, few were aware of the two-week timeline for the confidence motion till Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and senior advo- cate Mukul Rohatgi, who was representing Fadnavis, apprised the court of the same. Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the Secretary to Governor Koshyari, said, “The Governor was immune to the proceedings in the apex court.” He said the BJP had the sup- port of all 54 NCP MLAs to form the Government and asked for 2-3 days to file a reply to the combine’s plea by assert- ing that the Governor had, in his absolute discretion, invited the largest party to form the Government on November 23. “The Governor was not supposed to conduct a fishing and roving enquiry to ascertain which party had the numbers to form Government,” he said. After perusing Koshyari’s letter inviting Fadnavis, the Bench said it has to be decided whether the CM enjoyed majority in the House. Mehta said the Governor had invited the Shiv Sena, the BJP and the NCP separately to convey to him their ability to form a Government, and President’s Rule was imposed only after they failed to stake a claim to form a Government. In the 288-member Assembly, the BJP is the single- largest party with 105 MLAs, followed by the Shiv Sena (56 MLAs), the NCP (54 MLAs) and the Congress (44 MLAs). Senior advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for Ajit Pawar, told the Bench that the Governor had rightly invited Fadnavis to form a Government. “I am the NCP,” Singh said on behalf of Ajit Pawar. “There is nothing to contradict my list. I was autho- rised to lend support on the day I gave that letter. I will resolve disputes within my party but this petition must end now.” Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Sena, referred to a presser of the three parties, where Uddhav Thackeray was declared the combine’s CM face in Maharashtra. “Where was a national emergency to revoke the President’s rule at 5.27 am and the CM being adminis- tered oath at 8 am the next morning,” he said. “The combine has the affi- davits of 154 MLAs supporting it. M arshals were called out to remove two Congress MPs from the Lok Sabha after loud protests by Opposition members, particularly from the Congress benches over the formation of the BJP Government in Maharashtra, forcing adjournment of both the Houses for the day on Monday. The spillover of the fast- faced developments in Maharashtra was seen in the Lok Sabha where Congress MPs rushed to the Well of the House, shouting anti- Government slogans and car- rying placards, inviting indig- nation of the Speaker, who asked marshals to remove two MPs from the House. Amid sloganeering from Congress members, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi refused to take up his question during the Question hour saying there is no point as “democracy is being mur- dered” in Maharashtra. “There is no point in me asking the question as democ- racy has been murdered in Maharashtra,” he said amid a din as the Speaker had earlier asked protesting Congress members to go back to their seats to listen to their leader. As Congress members continued to protest, including showing a big banner that was held across the Well by two Congress MPs, the Speaker stood up saying the House cannot run this way. “Stop murder of democra- cy” was written on the black banner while there were mes- sages such as “save Constitution” and “save democracy” on the placards. After his warnings went unheeded, the Speaker ordered marshals to oust two Congress members — Hibi Eden and T N Prathapan — who were holding the banner. The two MPs were joined by other Congress members in resisting their eviction from the House and were seen jostling with the marshals, prompting the Speaker to adjourn the House till noon.
Transcript
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The murmurs within theCongress by its MLAs feel-
ing sidetracked in their ownGovernment on Mondayturned boisterous with one ofthe senior legislator threaten-ing to go on a dharna outsidethe Chief Minister’s residencein January, “if the constituen-cy was not developed”.
Taking a serious view of thesummering discontentmentwithin its party leaders, PunjabCongress president SunilJakhar has called for “feedback”by all the party MLAs.
Training guns at its ownparty leadership, especially theChief Minister Capt AmarinderSingh, Shutrana MLA NirmalSingh has drawn a parallelbetween the CongressGovernment a decade back tosay that no development istaking place.
“People were happy withthe Capt AmarinderGovernment from 2002 to2007, and that is why peoplevoted for him this time againin 2017…But not even a singlebrick was laid in my con-
stituency,” rued Nirmal Singh,whose Shutrana constituencyfall under Patiala.
He listed out Dana Mandi(grain market), Trauma Centre,Polytechnic College, park andJudicial Court complex as themain demands of his con-stituency.
Mincing no words, NirmalSingh alleged that neither theState Government gave anyhearing to his concerns, nor didthe Chief Minister meet him.He went on to add that theGovernment was being run by the Chief Minister’s spe-cial principal secretary Suresh Kumar and not by
Capt Amarinder.“Why would I make all this
noise if my Government wouldlisten to me. Government doesnot listen to any of theMLAs…Chief Minister did notmeet us…even Maharani(Preneet Kaur) also says thatshe did not have time to meet.We are left in the lurch…whatwe should do,” lamentedShutrana MLA.
Nirmal Singh said peopleseek answers from us askingwhat we did in these two years.“The CM should tell us why he
cannot meet us…I cried infront of his OSD…We want tomeet CM for severalmonths…If we can meet theCM directly, then why wewould cry…why all thisdrama,” he said asking whatwrong they (MLAs) have doneand what reward they are get-ting for their work.
He asserted that the not theChief Minister, but SureshKumar is running theGovernment who appoints andremoves the officers and have allthe powers. “No MLA has theguts to meet Suresh Kumar…Even Ministers stand before himwith their files,” he added.
Maintaining that he was anhonest man and has no money,Shutrana MLA said that all hewanted that the developmentworks should start in his con-stituency, otherwise he wouldstage a sit-in outside the CMhouse from January 1.
At the same time, he madeit clear that he did not careabout the party action, not hecare about the party tickets.
“I am and will always bethe soldier of the Congressparty, and remain in the
Congress but withheartache…MLAs are theChief Minister’s family, but wenever had a chance to meethim,” he said.
Nirmal Singh, who is thefourth Congress MLA to haveraised a voice against the StateGovernment and the bureau-cracy for allegedly neglectingelected representatives, alsoindicated that the party hadgiven more than due impor-tance to the bureaucracy.
Only a week ago, CongressMLAs Hardial Singh Kamboj(Rajpura), Rajinder Singh(Samana) and Madan LalJalalapur (Ghanaur) had publiclyspoken against the district policedepartment and district officialsat a meeting in Patiala duringgrievance redressal meeting.
These MLAs, includingNirmal Singh, had heated argu-ments over various matters,including phone recordingsand alleged phone tapping byofficials of the administrationduring the meeting onNovember 20. Rajinder Singhhad accused a police official oftapping his phone calls.
Continued on Page 4
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The Haryana Governmenton Monday said there has
been a 34.5 per cent decreasein cases of crop residue burn-ing in the state as compared tolast year in the whole season.
A spokesperson of the stategovernment said that to sensi-tize farmers for not burningcrop residue as well as for themanagement of crop residue inthe State, Haryana Governmenthas also provided special equip-ment at subsidised rate.
“This has resulted in 65.94per cent reduction in stubbleburning incidents fromNovember 6 till date and ascompared to last year, 34.50 percent decrease in such incidentsrecorded in the whole season,”the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson said in2018 from November 6 toNovember 24, 2018, there were4,135 stubble burning incidentswhereas only 1,408 incidentshave occurred during the sameperiod this year. Similarly, therewere 10,050 incidents of stubbleburning in the entire season, lastyear, whereas 6,581 incidentshave been recorded throughoutthe season, this year.
He said that to completelystop stubble burning, the StateGovernment has taken severalimportant steps and in thisseries, the Government hadannounced to give a specialincentive at the rate of �100 perquintal to the small and mar-ginal farmers of the State for notburning non-basmati paddycrop residue. The spokesmansaid till now an incentiveamount of �7,28,730 has beengiven to 3,438 farmers.
Through Custom HiringCenters (CHC) for the Ex-Situand In-Situ management of
stubble burning 150 ballerswere provided at subsidy. Apartfrom this, financial assistance of�1,000 per acre was also givenas operational cost to the CHCor Straw Baler unit owners forthe Ex-Situ and In-Situ man-agement of stubble burning.
Senior IAS officers havealso been appointed for theguidance and monitoring ofthis scheme — PK Das forKaithal district, DevenderSingh for Fatehabad, TC Guptafor Sirsa, Mahavir Singh forJind and Anurag Rastogi forHisar district.
In a high-voltage drama wit-nessed hours after they
staked claim to form aGovernment in Maharashtra byhanding over a letter carryingsignatures of 162 supportingMLAs to Governor BhagatSingh Koshyari, the Shiv Sena,the NCP and the Congress onMonday night carried out aparade of their MLAs beforethe media, not before theGovernor, at five-star HotelGrand Hyatt at Kalina in northMumbai to buttress their claimof numbers.
At the ballroom of thehotel, NCP president SharadPawar, Sena president UddhavThackeray, senior CongressMallikarjun Kharge and promi-nent leaders of all the three par-ties were present. At the event,the MLAs took an oath not tofall prey to any inducements bythe BJP.
However, BJP MLA AshishShelar mocked the show ofstrength before the media as a“photo-op”, and said that amajority in the Assembly can-
not be proved by such parades.He claimed that his party willwin the “photo finish” race dur-ing floor test in the Assembly.
Amid tight security,Opposition MLAs had arrivedearlier at Hotel Grand Hyattfrom the BKC-based HotelSofitel, JW Marriot and HotelLemon Tree .
Earlier, in his brief speech,Pawar said the three parties inthe Sena-led alliance wouldteach a lesson to the BJP whichis trying to prove its majorityin the State Assembly throughquestionable means.
“We — Shiv Sena, NCPand Congress — have cometogether in the larger interestsof Maharashtra. The party(BJP) that has power at theCentre formed Governments inStates like Karnataka, Goa andManipur where it did not havemajority. But, this is not Goa ortwo other States. This isMaharashtra. If someone triesto thrust a wrong thing on us,we have the strength inMaharashtra to give a fittingreply. We have the Sena with us.I need not have to tell you how
we will teach a lesson to ouropponents,” he said.
Taking a dig at ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavis
for his repeated one-liner “Me Punha Yain, MePunha Yain... (I will return asthe Chief Minister)”, Uddhav
said, “I won’t say I will returnsince we have already arrived.”
Uddhav said if the BJPtried to indulge in anything
untoward during the comingdays, his party is prepared to pay back in thesame coin.
involving NCP’s breakawaygroup leader Ajit Pawar, theState Anti Corruption Bureau(ACB) on Monday closed ninecases relating to the �70,000crore irrigation scam. The ACBsaid none of these cases arelinked to Ajit, who is beingprobed in other cases of theirrigation scam.
The ACB’s clarificationcame after Congress claimedAjit was “exonerated” in lieu ofhis support to the BJP in form-ing a Government inMaharashtra.
“None of the cases per-taining to Ajit in the 2013 irri-gation scam investigation havebeen closed,” a senior ACB offi-cial said.
This is a conditional clo-sure, which means the State or
the court can reopen the case.“We are investigating
around 3,000 tenders in irri-gation related complaints.These are routine enquirieswhich are closed and all ongo-ing investigations are continu-ing as they were earlier,” theofficial said.
The State ACB has beenlooking into 2,654 tenders of 45
projects of Vidarbha IrrigationDevelopment Corporation(VIDC) in connection withtwo PILs filed in the NagpurBench of the Bombay Highcourt in 2012.
“Out of these, FIRs havebeen registered in 24 casesand chargesheets have beenfiled in five cases. Openenquiries into 45 tenders havebeen closed as no offence wasdisclosed during enquiry.Departmental enquiries againstthe concerned officials havebeen recommended in 28inquiries for administrativelapses,” ACB’s AdditionalSuperintendent of Police (HQ)Ajay Aphale said.
“All 24 FIRs are presentlyunder investigation and noneof these investigations has beenclosed,” Aphale stated.
It may be recalled that Ajithad appeared before the StateACB on October 21, 2015 inconnection with the allegedirregularities in the irrigationprojects in Raigad district inKonkan region during the pre-vious Democratic Front (DF)Government’s rule.
The Supreme Court will passits verdict at 10.30 am on
Tuesday on the plea by theNCP, the Shiv Sena and theCongress combine that soughtdirection for an urgent floortest in the MaharashtraAssembly. They claimed thatthe Devendra Fadnavis-ledGovernment lacked majority inthe Assembly.
The combine has soughtadvancement of the 14-dayperiod for floor test granted byGovernor Bhagat SinghKoshyari. Interestingly, fewwere aware of the two-weektimeline for the confidencemotion till Solicitor GeneralTushar Mehta and senior advo-cate Mukul Rohatgi, who wasrepresenting Fadnavis, apprisedthe court of the same.
Mehta, appearing for theCentre and the Secretary toGovernor Koshyari, said, “TheGovernor was immune to theproceedings in the apex court.”He said the BJP had the sup-port of all 54 NCP MLAs toform the Government andasked for 2-3 days to file a replyto the combine’s plea by assert-ing that the Governor had, inhis absolute discretion, invitedthe largest party to form theGovernment on November 23.
“The Governor was notsupposed to conduct a fishingand roving enquiry to ascertainwhich party had the numbersto form Government,” he said.After perusing Koshyari’s letterinviting Fadnavis, the Bench
said it has to be decidedwhether the CM enjoyedmajority in the House.
Mehta said the Governorhad invited the Shiv Sena, theBJP and the NCP separately toconvey to him their ability toform a Government, andPresident’s Rule was imposedonly after they failed to stake aclaim to form a Government.
In the 288-memberAssembly, the BJP is the single-largest party with 105 MLAs, followed by the ShivSena (56 MLAs), the NCP (54MLAs) and the Congress (44MLAs).
Senior advocate ManinderSingh, appearing for Ajit Pawar,told the Bench that theGovernor had rightly invitedFadnavis to form aGovernment. “I am the NCP,”Singh said on behalf of AjitPawar. “There is nothing tocontradict my list. I was autho-rised to lend support on the dayI gave that letter. I will resolvedisputes within my party butthis petition must end now.”
Senior advocate KapilSibal, appearing for the Sena,referred to a presser of the threeparties, where UddhavThackeray was declared thecombine’s CM face inMaharashtra. “Where was anational emergency to revokethe President’s rule at 5.27 amand the CM being adminis-tered oath at 8 am the nextmorning,” he said.
“The combine has the affi-davits of 154 MLAs supporting it.
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Marshals were called out toremove two Congress
MPs from the Lok Sabha afterloud protests by Oppositionmembers, particularly fromthe Congress benches over theformation of the BJPGovernment in Maharashtra,forcing adjournment of boththe Houses for the day onMonday.
The spillover of the fast-faced developments inMaharashtra was seen in theLok Sabha where CongressMPs rushed to the Well of theHouse, shouting anti-Government slogans and car-rying placards, inviting indig-nation of the Speaker, whoasked marshals to remove twoMPs from the House.
Amid sloganeering fromCongress members, formerCongress president RahulGandhi refused to take up hisquestion during the Questionhour saying there is no pointas “democracy is being mur-dered” in Maharashtra.
“There is no point in measking the question as democ-racy has been murdered in
Maharashtra,” he said amid adin as the Speaker had earlierasked protesting Congressmembers to go back to theirseats to listen to their leader.
As Congress memberscontinued to protest, includingshowing a big banner that washeld across the Well by twoCongress MPs, the Speakerstood up saying the Housecannot run this way.
“Stop murder of democra-cy” was written on the blackbanner while there were mes-sages such as “save
Constitution” and “savedemocracy” on the placards.
After his warnings wentunheeded, the Speaker orderedmarshals to oust two Congressmembers — Hibi Eden and TN Prathapan — who wereholding the banner.
The two MPs were joinedby other Congress members inresisting their eviction fromthe House and were seenjostling with the marshals,prompting the Speaker to adjourn the Housetill noon.
In India, the denizens of cityof riches — Chandigarh,
spend highest average medicalexpenditure incurred for treat-ment during hospitalisation inboth urban and rural areas.
“In private hospitals, theaverage medical expense fortreatment during stay at hos-pital per case of hospitalisationis whopping �1,26,090 (1.26lakh) in rural areas and�1,20,145 (Rs 1.20 lakh) inurban areas, which is highest inthe country,” according to thelatest report of the NationalSample Survey Office (NSSO)
on “Social Consumption inIndia: Health”.
In Government hospitals,the average medical expenseduring hospitalisation is �9,061in rural areas and �23,819 inurban areas in the city.
Overall, the average med-ical expenditure per hospitali-sation case in Chandigarhstood at �54,870, also highestin the country. This included�19,777 average medicalexpenditure in rural areas and�55,286 in urban Chandigarh,the report stated.
As per the NSSO report,the average expenditure inboth rural and urbanChandigarh is way too higher
that the all-India average onaccount of hospitalisation fortreatment. The average medicalexpenditure per hospitalisa-tion case (excluding child-birth) in rural India is about �16,676 and �26,475 in urbanIndia. Similarly, in Governmenthospitals, the expenditure isabout �4,452 (about �4,290 inrural and �4,837 in urbanareas) while in private hospi-tals, the expenditure is about�31,845 (about �27,347 in ruraland �38,822 in urban areas).
Elaborating about the per-centage break-up of hospitali-sation expenses in Chandigarh,the NSSO report stated that thepeople in rural parts of city are spending 35.9 per cent (expens-
es) on doctors fee and 14.4 percent on diagnostic tests in pri-vate institutions while in urbanareas, 50.6 per cent expenditureis on package component, 11.5per cent on doctor’s fee and 14.6per cent on medicines.
In Government or publichospitals, maximum of 47.6 percent expenditure is on medi-cines and 25.5 per cent on diag-nostic tests in rural areas whilein urban areas, 32.4 per cent isspent on medicines, the NSSOsurvey stated.
In Chandigarh, the averagetotal medical expenditure fornon-hospitalised treatment perailing person (during a 15 dayreference period) is �1,497(�914 in rural and �2,090 inurban areas), which is againhighest in the country. In India,the average total medicalexpenditure for non- hospi-
talised treatment per ailingperson in rural and urbanareas is �655 and �621 respec-tively, the report further stated.
The per cent share of hos-pitlisation cases (excludingchildbirth) in the city included66.7 per cent in Governmenthospital, 32.6 per cent in privatehospital and 0.8 per cent in char-itable or NGO run hospital.
As per the NSSO report,64.9 per cent children in the ageof 0-5 years age group (64.5 percent boys and 66 per centgirls) are fully immunised inthe city. About 59 per cent ofboys and 60 per cent of girls atall-India level had been fullyimmunised (i.e., received all 8prescribed vaccinations).
The NSSO survey wasspread across the country. InChandigarh, eight villages orrural blocks and 36 urbanblocks were surveyed.
proposed general housingscheme in Sector 53 here, theChandigarh Housing Boardhas reduced the cost and initialdeposit for the flats.
The revised price of theflats under the proposed hous-ing scheme is �1.63 crore for aflat with three-bedroom, halland kitchen (HIG-BHK), �1.36cr for 2 BHK (MIG), �90 lakhfor one BHK (LIG). The priceof the economically weaker sec-tion (EWS) flats has remainedunchanged at �50 lakh.
The initial deposit has alsobeen reduced by the CHB froman amount of �18 lakh to �17lakh for HIG flats, �15 lakh to�14 lakg for MIG flats, �9 lakhfrom �10 lakh for LIG flats. The CHB has not revised theinitial deposit for EWS units i.e.�5 lakh.
Notably, in July this year,the CHB had proposed a HIG-BHK flat for �1.80 crore, MIGflat for �1.47 crore, 1 BHK(LIG) for �95 lakh and EWSunits for �50 lakh, receiving alot of criticism from varioussections.
Later, a decision was takento conduct a demand survey tocheck whether there was ademand for the general hous-ing in the city or not.
Under the proposed hous-ing scheme, the CHB intends toconstruct 192 HIG flats, 100MIG flats, 120 LIG flats and 80EWS units.
“The online applicationsfor the demand survey arebeing accepted since October25. The CHB in its recentmeeting discussed the matterregarding costing of generalhousing scheme in Sector-53here and after detailed delib-erations it was decided torework the costing of thedwelling units. Accordinglythe tentative cost and initialdeposit have been reworked,said an officer of CHB.
Considering revision inthe tentative costing, the lastdate for submission of online
application under the ongoingdemand survey has beenextended from November 30 toDecember 31.
Those who want to partic-ipate may visit the website ofthe CHB for brochure of thedemand survey consistingdetails including format ofapplication form have beenuploaded on the website of theCHB and apply online uptoDecember 31. The applicationcan be submitted online onlyand offline/manual applica-tions will not be accepted.
The persons applyingunder the demand survey willbe given preference in allotmentunder the scheme or categoryapplied subject to their eligi-bility, the officer added.
Hub of religious and cultur-al tourism in Haryana,
Kurukshetra will soon see a“Bharat Mata Temple” withHaryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar onMonday saying his Governmentwill also boost the infrastructureof the town to provide all facil-ities to visiting pilgrims.
Addressing a news confer-ence here amid the ongoingInternational Gita Mahotsav-2019, Khattar said the templewill be built in Kurukshetraover five acres of land at someplace between Jyotisar andBrahamsarovar. The Internat-ional Gita Mahotsav, whichbegan on November 23, willlast till December 10.
“Bharat Mata Ka Mandirwill become a key culturalcentre for the people, a symbolof our unity,” said Khattar,while replying to a question onthe upcoming temple.
Khattar said to developKurukshetra as a key touristdestination and a “centre of reli-gious faith” among people, theState Government is mulling apolicy to offer plots inKurukshetra measuring 1,500square metres to 2,000 squaremetres on concessional rates tovarious States to build their“Bhawans” to facilitate pil-grims visiting the city.
Khattar said besides theState Government,Kurukshetra DevelopmentBoard (KDB) and various othersocial and religious organisa-tions too are working for thetransformation of the city intoa religious and cultural hub.
Naming various upcomingtemples and other religious andcultural institutions like GiogitaSansthanam, AkshardhamTemple, ISKCON temple andGyan Mandir, the ChiefMinister said the constructionof these institutions wouldimpart a distinct, internationalidentity to Kurukshetra.
Stating that nearly 40 lakhpeople had visited Kurukshetraduring the last InternationalGita Mahotsav, the CM said itsinfrastructural developmentwould lead to a significantincrease in the number oftourists and pilgrims visiting it.
The programmes of theInternational Gita Mahotsavthis year are slated fromDecember 3 to December 8.
“It is a matter of pride thatthe Centre has given its consentto use the Logo of “AtulyaBharat” (Incredible India) dur-ing the Mahotsav.
“It is also a pleasant coinci-dence that after a fortnight of
the Mahotsav, solar eclipsewould be visible in Kurukshetraon December 26 after a gap of10 years. Lakhs of pilgrims areexpected to visit Kurukshetra onthis occasion as well,” he added.
He said various dignitaries,including BJP working presi-dent JP Nadda, Union MinisterNitin Gadkari and UttarakhandChief Minister Trivendra SinghRawat among others, wouldparticipate in the ongoing GitaMahotsav here.
The CM also told reportersthat Uttarakhand was a “part-ner State” for the ‘’Mahotsav’’this year, while 15 countries areparticipating in the event.
He said on the occasion ofGita Mahotsav, several interna-tional delegations, includingthose from Britain, Mauritius,Australia and Canada would bevisiting Kurukshetra. In additionto this, ambassadors and repre-sentatives of various foreignmissions too will be visiting thecity during the festival, he added.
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Strongly advocating peaceand friendship with Pakistan
to enable both countries tomove forward towards devel-opment and progress, PunjabChief Minister Capt AmarinderSingh, at the same time, madeit clear that India will not allowISI-backed forces such as theSikhs for Justice (SFJ) to disturbits harmony and stability.
A statement issued heresaid Amarinder, after address-ing the Indian diaspora on thesacred occasion of Guru NanakDev’s 550th birth anniversarycelebrations on Sunday night atBirmingham, said SFJ was ahardcore terrorist group, withno ideological basis for itscampaign, and had to be treat-ed as such.
Describing SFJ’s so-calledlegal adviser Gurpatwant SinghPannu as a “fraud, operatingunder the directions of Pakistan’sISI”, the Chief Minister saidPannu’s sole motive was todivide the Sikhs, and India, topromote the ISI agenda.
Referring to the terrormodules busted in Punjab inpast couple of years, alongwith large-scale arrests andseizure of weapons, he saidthese had exposed SFJ’s inten-tions, but both the PunjabGovernment and the IndianGovernment were dealing withit with an iron hand.
Earlier, addressing the dias-pora, the Chief Minister calledfor cordial and friendly rela-tions with neighbours to pro-mote peace, in line with Guru Nanak Dev’s philoso-phy, for the collective resolutionof global problems.
“Both India and Pakistanhave been through a lot, and itis time now for us to let go ofthe past and move forward inthe spirit of friendship toensure our respective progress,”he stressed.
Pointing to Guru Nanak’sphilosophy of ‘oneness of God’,the Chief Minister underlinedthe need to rise above religionand caste to protect the futureand facilitate the developmentof Punjab and its people.
“What the founder Guru ofSikhism had indicated 550years ago was happening now,”he said, pointing to globalproblems like pollution and
water scarcity. He stressed theneed for friendship and togeth-erness to tackle these problemsand look ahead, towards thecreation of a better future forthe next generation.
The Chief Minister soughtthe Indian diaspora’s help andsupport in enabling Punjab’sindustrial growth which, hestressed, needed to be weanedaway from the water-guzzlingpaddy crop.
“Indians, especially theSikh community, have workedhard to contribute to the soci-ety of whichever country theyhad chosen to settle in, and itwas time now for them tolook back at their roots,” he saidwhile urging them to invest inPunjab’s economic growth.
Amarinder added Punjabhad been divided thrice, and inthe process, had lost preciousresources and industry, whichthe Punjabis had rebuilt from thescratch with their hard work.
“However, much more isstill required if the State had tobe saved for the future gener-ations. You must rememberwhere you originated, and mustcontribute in any way you canfor the progress of Punjab,” heappealed to the diaspora.
The Chief Minister invitedIndians in UK to theProgressive Punjab Investors’Summit, being held onDecember 5-6, to help the
State make its much-neededshift from agriculture to indus-try for its economic progressand for the generation ofemployment for the youth.
Pointing out that Punjabwas suffering the problem ofplenty with surplus paddy andwheat crops with insufficientstorage, Amarinder said theState needed investment tobreak away from its agricultural cycle to become anindustrial State.
Indians in other countriesshould contribute to theseefforts in order to secure the
State and its future generation,he said, adding that hisGovernment would appointan officer in the ChiefMinister’s Office, in the rank ofdeputy Principal Secretary toChief Minister (PSCM), tohandle queries of all NRIs andfacilitate them in makinginvestments in Punjab.
Citing the KartarpurCorridor as a beginningtowards better relationsbetween India and Pakistan,Amarinder hoped that it will setthe stage for opening of otherimportant religious shrines in
Pakistan to Indians seeking‘khulle darshan deedar’.
In his informal chat withmediapersons later, the ChiefMinister reiterated his demandfor waiver of passport conditionand the 20 dollars fee for trav-el through the KartarpurCorridor, pointing out thatIndia had never imposed anysuch tax on those visiting AjmerSharif and Nizamuddin Dargahetc from across the border.
At the commemorativeevent, the Chief Minister hon-oured several prominent NRIsbased in the UK.
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Addressing the discontentamong Independent
MLAs, Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar led BJP-JJP coalition Government inthe State on Monday appoint-ed four Independent legislatorsto various boards and corpo-rations.
The move comes close onthe heels of the Cabinet expan-sion, which saw induction ofeight MLAs of BJP and one ofJJP into the coalition Cabinet.
One Independent candi-date Ranjit Singh Chautala,former cabinet minister, son offormer Prime Minister DeviLal and grandfather of JJPchief Dushyant Chautala wasinducted into the Ministryoverlooking the claims of sixother independent leaders, whohad supported the BJP-led gov-ernment after the results, aresulking ever since they failed tomake it to the Ministry.
Sources said Khattar-ledcoalition Government is like-ly to appoint a few disgruntledBJP, JJP MLAs and indepen-dent candidates as Chairmen tosome boards and corporations,which are still vacant.
A Government spokesmansaid the State Government hasappointed four chairmen ofBoards and Corporationsnamely Haryana LivestockDevelopment Board, Haryana State WarehousingCorporation, Haryana TourismCorporation and HaryanaForest DevelopmentCorporation.
Independent MLA SombirSangwan has been appointed asthe chairman of HaryanaLivestock Development Board.Sombir who was denied the BJPticket, fought as an independentand won the election fromDadri by a margin of 14,272votes. Satpal Sangwan of JJPand Babita Kumari Phogat ofBJP lost to him by big margin.
Another IndependentMLA Nayan Pal Rawat hasbeen appointed as the chair-man of Haryana StateWarehousing Corporation. Hewon the election from PrithalaAssembly constituency.Previously he was associatedwith the BJP.
Randhir Singh Gollen hasbeen appointed as the chair-man Haryana TourismCorporation. Gollen who wasearlier associated with the BJPwon the election as an inde-pendent candidate fromPundri. He also had contested
election after BJP refused togive him ticket.
Dharam Pal Gondar hasbeen appointed as the chair-man Haryana ForestDevelopment Corporation. Hewas elected from Nilokheri asan Independent candidate.
The previous Chairmen ofthese Boards and Corporationshave submitted their resigna-tions which were accepted bythe State Government, saidthe spokesman.
Recent Cabinet expansionof the newly formed coalitionGovernment left many MLAsof BJP, JJP and independentcandidates disappointed.However, BJP has narrowlymanaged to retain power inHaryana. BJP emerged as thesingle largest party by winning40 seats, but fell short of the
halfway mark by five seats.Soon after the Assembly
elections, the formation of thecoalition Government in theState was not difficult as JJPwho won ten seats and sevenIndependent candidates sup-ported the BJP to form coali-tion Government in the State.
The first Cabinet expan-sion was not smooth as notonly at least two- time MLAs ofBJP and JJP, all the seven inde-pendent candidates who wereaspired Cabinet berth werenot accommodated in the cab-inet except Ranjit SinghChautala.
In the Cabinet berth, apartfrom CM Khattar and DeputyChief CM Dushyant, only eightMLAs of BJP and one MLA ofJJP were accommodated in theCabinet berth.
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To further streamline healthservices in Punjab, the State
Health and Family WelfareMinister Balbir Singh Sidhu onMonday announced registra-tion of all patients details onlineby December 1.
“This endeavour wouldrevolutionise the existing statehealth infrastructure. Thiswould also encompass billingaspect of patients undergoingtreatment across the State,”said Sidhu while chairing ahigh-level meeting.
Pertinently, the HealthMinister had earlier directedthe Department to evolve aunified mechanism to addressall concerns of patients regard-ing delay in treatment due to
manual feeding of records.The Department had stud-
ied PGIMER model and sug-gested a model which couldprovide all the details ofpatients with a single click.
Sidhu said it will becomepast when needy patients suf-fered a lot to keep their medicalrecords with them for the fur-ther treatment and it would alsoprove helpful to classify com-mon diseases across the State.
“All Sub DivisionalHospitals would also link withonline system in one monthand laboratories of HealthDepartment would becomeavailable under it within threemonths,” he said.
To permanently sort outthe issue of shortage of medi-cines, the Minister said Punjab
Health System Corporation(PHSC) is going to connect allGovernment hospitals with theonline server which will auto-matically generate the order ofmedicines and simultaneouslyraised the flag of re-order level.
He said it will also make iteasy to monitor the availabili-ty of stock of around 250 kindsof free medicine in theGovernment hospitals.
Reviewing the rising casesof Dengue reported inNovember, the Minister dis-cussed in detail the role ofHealth Department whichstarts with testing and treat-ment of cases.
However, it is prerogative ofLocal Government and RuralDevelopment Department toprevent the breeding of mos-
quitoes in order to check spreadof dengue, it was underlined inthe meeting. The Ministeremphasised that the HealthDepartment’s district teamsshould pay special attention inthe migratory populations wheremaximum number of denguecases had been reported.
Saying the transmissionseason of Influenza A H1N1 isgoing to start very soon in theState, he said the morbidity andmortality related to Influenza AH1N1 can be decreased bytimely reporting and initia-tion of treatment while issuingdirections to setup in the OPD(Medical) of each hospital andlabeled as “Flu Corner” for allsuspected cases.
Reviewing the function-ing of Health and Wellness
Centres, Sidhu directed theCivil Surgeons to conduct reg-ular survey of patients underNon-Communicable Diseasesprogram so as to treatment ser-vices would be provided tonewly identified patients ofdiabetes, hypertension andother common diseases.
He said that at present, total1,369 centres had been madeoperational in the State andnow its duty of Senior MedicalOfficers to check the atten-dance of Community HealthOfficer and other supportingstaff in their respective Centres.The Minister also instructed theCivil Surgeons that medical andparamedical staff would dis-play their identity-cards andspecial budget would also allo-cated for the uniform.
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Chandigarh: The representa-tives of pro-Khalistani outfitSikhs for Justice (SFJ) staged aprotest outside the venue ofPunjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh’s programmein Birmingham on Sundaynight.
The Punjab Government,in its official statement onMonday, dubbed it as a “dampsquib” that failed to evoke any
support from the local Sikhcommunity.
Punjab Governmentspokesperson said that thehandful of protestors gatheredthere not only had no popularor genuine support but theyalso did not succeed in dis-rupting the Chief Minister’sprogramme in any way.
Amarinder attended theentire event and was there foralmost three hours, thespokesperson pointed out,adding that it was so-calledprotestors who were, in fact,forced to beat a hasty retreat.
The Chief Minister had, inhis address to the Indian dias-pora at the event, dismissed SFJas an ISI-backed hardcore ter-rorist outfit with no ideologicalbase. The organisation had noagenda but to divide Punjab andIndia by creating a wedge in theSikh community, he said, addingthat their nefarious designswould not succeed in the face ofIndia’s unity and strength.
Punjab, as well as India,were well equipped to tackle anythreat against their peace andharmony, the Chief Ministerhad made it clear. PNS
session on Tuesday to observethe Constitution Day — tocommemorate the adoption ofConstitution of India. PunjabChief Minister Capt AmarinderSingh has reportedly cut shorthis Europe trip to attend thespecial session “considering itsimportance”.
Notably, the ConstituentAssembly of India had adopt-ed the Constitution of India onNovember 2, 1949, and it cameinto effect on January 2,1950the day which wasobserved as the Republic Day.The Central Governmentdeclared November 2 as the‘Constitution Day’, also knownas the National Law Day orSamvidhan Divas, onNovember 19, 2015, by agazette notification.
It has been learnt that CaptAmarinder would be reachingthe national capital by Mondaynight, and the Chief Ministerwould participate in the Houseproceedings on Tuesday, sched-uled to be start in the after-noon.
Over a fortnight ago, aspecial one day commemora-
tive session was convened onthe occasion of Guru NanakDev’s 550th birth anniversaryon November, which wasextended for another day.
Earlier in the day, the mainopposition Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) had pinpointed the“likely absence” of ChiefMinister during the one-dayspecial session on the occasionof Indian Constitution Daywhich would “not only bringdisgrace to the Constitution butalso its founder Baba SahibAmbedkar on the auspiciousoccasion”.
AAP MLA and the Leaderof Opposition in the VidhanSabha Harpal Singh Cheemahad stated that the ChiefMinister was on a “pleasuretrip” to certain European coun-tries along with his kitchen cab-
inet. “He should never forgetthat the august Chair he wasoccupying carried certain con-stitutional obligations to live upto,” said Cheema adding thatCapt Amarinder had failed tofulfill his moral and adminis-trative responsibilities towardsthe people, thus underminingthe seat he was occupying.
Taking a dig at CaptAmarinder, Cheema said thatas for his chief ministerialresponsibilities and obligationsand his dismal performance aschief minister, Capt Amarinderhad smashed 70-year record asan irresponsible chief ministersin the country.
SAD DEMANDS DEBATEON WHY CONSTITU-
TION NOT BEING IMPLE-MENTED IN LETTER AND
SPIRIT BY CONG GOVT
Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) on Monday demandeda debate over why ourConstitution’s resolve to con-stitute India into a sovereign,socialist, secular, democraticrepublic was not being imple-mented in letter and spirit bythe Congressled PunjabGovernment during the spe-cially convened one-day assem-bly session to markConstitution Day and calledupon all parties to introspecton this failure.
In a representation to thePunjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker,SAD legislators led byParminder Singh Dhindsa andBikram Singh Majithia saidthat holding such a debatewould be a befitting homage tothe makers of our Constitutionwho dreamed of securing jus-tice, liberty and equality toevery citizen of the country bymentioning all above rightsand freedoms in the preambleof our constitution.
“We should introspect onour failures and make a freshresolve to correct them makeIndia a far better place for thegenerations to come,” it added.
SAD urged the Speaker to
hold a debate on why ourConstitution-makers’ dream ofmaking India as an equal soci-ety was not fulfilled even after70 years of implementing theconstitution. “We feel ashamedthat the leaders who wereentrusted with unlimited pow-ers to implement theConstitution in the country didnot do their job honestly,” itsaid adding that they just keptraising slogans to alleviatepoverty but did nothing toeradicate it.
The legislators said that theConstitution was not followedin letter and spirit in the PunjabVidhan Sabha. “Elected repre-sentatives are not allowed to askquestions or file call attentionmotions. The ruling dispensa-tion is even making a mockeryof the anti-defection law by nottaking action against AAP leg-islators even after they hadresigned from the primarymembership of their party andjoined the Congress or madenew fronts. The Speaker is notable to take any action againstRopar legislator AmarjitSandoa who joined theCongress party in the presenceof Rana KP Singh,” read thememorandum.
Also asserting that no one’s
rights were safe under the pre-sent government, the repre-sentation stated that a DalitJagmel Singh died a horribledeath but the government didnot come to his aid in time oreven assured prompt medicalattention to him. “Thegoodaism which was rampantin the State could be seen fromthe manner in which AkaliSarpanch Dalbir Dhilwan wasmurdered with even his legsbeing chopped off. Congresslegislators are accusing theirown government of tappingtheir phones even as farmersand teachers are being lathicharged,” it added.
The legislators said Punjabwas even passing through afinancial emergency with theFinance Minister himself pro-claiming the same but the gov-ernment was impervious to thiseven as the Chief MinisterCapt Amarinder Singh washolidaying abroad.
The legislators said that theVidhan Sabha should not bemade to go through themotions of celebratingConstitution Day if theGovernment was not seriousabout protecting the life andliberty of its citizens and ensur-ing rule of law in the State.
murder of an Akali leader inGurdaspur, Punjab CabinetMinister Sukhjinder SinghRandhawa on Monday rejectedthe allegations that the PunjabPolice was “trying to save” theaccused at his “behest”.
“The Akali Dal has madebaseless allegations,” Randhawasaid appearing before the mediafor the first time after his namewas dragged into the issue.
The jails minister assuredthat the killers would benabbed soon.
“The guilty will not bespared and they will be arrest-ed soon,” said Randhawa, whowas accompanied by PunjabCongress chief Sunil Jakhar andseveral party MLAs.
The Punjab minister alsojunked the allegations that hehad links with notorious gang-ster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and“an extortion racket was beingrun under his patronage”.
Randhawa claimed that atotal of 44 cases had been reg-istered against Bhagwanpuria,
of which 29 were lodged inAmritsar (Rural), Majithia’’sconstituency.
He alleged thatBhagwanpuria’’s brother hadmanaged to flee the countryunder the previous SAD-BJPregime. The Minister alsoshowed some photographs, pur-portedly showing Majithia withsome criminals and dared theopposition leader for a probe bya sitting high court judge.
Punjab Congress chiefSunil Jakhar accused the SADof trying to gain politicallyfrom the death of the Akalileader as it existence was“under threat”.
Meanwhile, SAD activist inBatala staged a protest outsidethe office of the SeniorSuperintendent of Police (SSP)over the alleged “delay” in thearrest of the accused.
Led by local ShiromaniAkali Dal MLA Lakhbir SinghLodhinangal, they alleged thatpolice were trying to saveaccused at the “behest” ofRandhawa. A heavy policeforce was deployed outside theSSP office to prevent any unto-ward incident, officials said.
Notably, the constituenciesof all the four legislators are partof the Patiala parliamentary seatfrom where the Chief Minister’swife Preneet Kaur is the LokSabha MP. Taking serious viewof the development, PunjabPradesh Congress Committeepresident Jakhar said that theparty is seriously considering theissue and looking into the accu-sations by the MLAs. “We willensure that there is no laxity onthe part of any government offi-cial in carrying out developmentworks,” he said.
On other hand, Zira MLAKulbir Singh Zira lashed out athis own partymen who areblaming Government for “nodevelopment in their con-stituency”. “We should knowhow to make any official work…we ourselves have to make effortsand it is not right to point fingerat our own government. Thosepointing finger at theGovernment should first look attheir own mistakes,” he said.
Aweek after the new militarystyle uniform of the Rajya
Sabha marshals led to contro-versy, they were on Mondayback in their old uniform butwithout the white turbans.They were seen wearing blackcolour bandhgalas while flank-ing the Chairman.
The military style uniformhad invited criticism from for-mer Army Chief General VPMalik when the Marshals sport-ed the new dress on the first dayof current session last Monday.Malik tweeted, “Copying andwearing of military uniforms bynon military personnel is ille-gal and a security hazard. I hope@VPSecretariat @RajyaSabha& @rajnathsingh will take earlyaction.”
The marshals were thenseen in military-style outfitswith caps in place of tradition-al Indian attire including band-hgala suits and turbans when theRajya Sabha’s landmark 250thsession commenced. While thedress code of the marshals hadchanged, the uniform of nearlya dozen ushers who stand at theback of each row to fetch papersand assist MPs had remainedunchanged. They had continued
to don Indian attire with apointed ‘pagri’ or headgear. Theuniform of ushers remainedunchanged on Monday.
Customarily, the presidingofficer of the House is flankedby two marshals who marchahead of the chairman toannounce commencement ofproceedings and also assist thechair in organising the desk andbringing up order papers.
The new uniform thoughwas different from the oneworn by military personnelbut it sported an aiguillette, anornamental braided cord withdecorative metal tips, militarystyle caps and lanyard.
The new uniform was crit-
icised by some members withJairam Ramesh(Congress)remarking that it looked if it wasushering in of “marshal law.”
After the dress came in forcriticism in some quarters,Rajya Sabha Chairman MVenkaiah Naidu on November19 ordered a review. Two dayslater, the marshals came to theHouse without the military-style caps. Following the con-troversy, sources in the RajyaSabha Secretariat had claimedthat marshals themselves werenot happy with their ear lieroutfits, especially the headgear.So the dress was changed andwas designed by the NationalInstitute of Design (NID).
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India and China will hold thejoint army exercise ‘Hand in
Hand’ in Umroi near Shillongfrom December 7 to 20. Thetwo countries will field 100 sol-diers each and they will prac-tice counter-terrorism drills inurban and rural setting. Thisis the seventh edition of thejoint exercise which is part ofconfidence building measurebetween the two countrieswhich share a disputed borderof more than 4,000 km.
The exercise could nottake place in 2017 due tostandoff in Doklam plateaunear Sikkim when the twoarmies were engaged in a faceoff lasting 70 days. The stand-off took place after the IndianArmy protested against theconstruction of a road in theregion considered strategicallyimportant for the country.Intervention by the top diplo-matic channels and politicalleadership of India later
defused the situation. The last edition was held in
2018 in Chengdu province ofChina after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and ChinesePresident Xi Jinping, in April2018, had held an informalsummit at Wuhan to improverelations between the two
countries. The latest exercise will be
spread over 15 days wherein thetroops will also conduct jointfiring practice besides improv-ing jointmanship and under-standing the operational phi-losophy of each other’s armies,sources said here on Monday.
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Defence Minister RajnathSingh on Monday urged
the armed forces to go in forindigenous design and devel-opment of weapon systems asthe country is strengtheningdefence capability throughincreased domestic produc-tion leading to reduction onimported military hardware.
Making these observationshere while inaugurating thetwo-day second bi-annual IAFCommanders’ Conferencehere, he also urged the top ech-elon to use the meet for devel-oping strategies against futurechallenges and enhancing IAF’scapability. He also said theIAF is growing steadily towardsbecoming a truly strategic aero-space power and lauded itsefforts for indigenisation.
IAF chief R K S Bhadauriaemphasised the need for fur-ther enhancing operationalcapabilities to deter any mis-adventure by adversaries. Hehighlighted the need for con-tinuous enhancement of in-house maintenance capabilitiesand optimum utilisation ofnew inductions in order tomake IAF a formidable combatforce. He also emphasised theneed for enhanced joint train-ing with the Indian Army aswell as the Indian Navy for fos-tering jointmanship and ensur-ing national security.
The commanders willbrainstorm over the evolvingsecurity scenario in India’s
neighbourhood andexplored ways to further bolsterthe country’s aerial prowess,officials said. The conclave willalso deliberate over anti-droneoperations, countering asym-metric warfare and furtherstrengthening precision tar-geting, cyber and informationwarfare capability, indigenisa-tion, streamlining procure-ment of equipment andstrengthening training.
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Twenty women officers ofAfghanistan National Army
on Monday commenced themonth long training at theOfficers TrainingAcademy(OTA), Chennai. Thisis the third batch of woman offi-cers from there to be impartedtraining at OTA since 2017.
Giving details of the latestedition of the training capsulefor woman officers of specialcadre of Afghanistan Army,officials said here on Monday,the officers will be impartedtraining in handling weapons,tactical training and enhancingtheir communication skills.These training modules will actas value addition for the offi-cers of Afghanistan, they saidadding it is the only countrywhose woman officers aretrained at OTA.
The institute trains officers,both women and men of Indiabesides officers of some otherfriendly countries. The Indianofficers passing out from theacademy join the Army asShort Service Commission(SSC) officers.
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Congress on Mondayprotested vociferously both
inside and outside theParliament on Monday againstthe political developments inMaharashtra as it stalled pro-ceedings in both Houses andaccused the BJP of “murderingdemocracy” in the State.
Congress along with someOpposition parties have alsodecided to boycott the joint sit-ting of Parliament on Tuesdaycalled to commemorate theConstitution Day. Sources saidthe opposition led by theCongress, left parties and NCP,TMC and DMK have planned a joint protest outside Ambedkar statue inside Parliament complexagainst the political develop-ments in Maharashtra andinstalling a government led byDevendra Fadnavis with AjitPawar as Deputy ChiefMinister.
While Congress presidentSonia Gandhi led the protest byparty MPs near Mahatma
Gandhi’s statue in Parliamentcomplex, party leader RahulGandhi led the charge in theLok Sabha where he dubbedthe developments in the Statea “murder of democracy”.
Sonia Gandhi led the partyMPs near Mahatma Gandhi’sstatue, setting the tone for theprotests. Congress leaders,including Ahmed Patel, AnandSharma and Adhir RanjanChoudhury, raised slogans andheld placards criticising the BJPand demanding “justice”.
Congress’ youth wing IYCalso staged a demonstrationnear the Parliament House,against the BJP-led Centre overalleged “illegal and undemoc-ratic” manner of Governmentformation in Maharashtra.Congress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra accused the BJPof disregarding theConstitution in Maharashtraand repeating the “game” itplayed in Karnataka.
Asserting that theConstitution was “trampledupon” in Maharashtra,Congress’s chief spokespersonRandeep Surjewala said an
“illegitimate Government” ofthe BJP and Ajit Pawar wasformed. “We requested theSupreme Court that a floor testbe ordered immediately so thatit is proven that the majority iswith the alliance formed forMaharashtra’s development -Congress-Sena-NCP. Weshowed the affidavits of 154MLAs that clearly prove thatthe alliance has the majority,”Surjewala told reporters, assert-ing the number will go upwhen other “MLAs are freedfrom BJP’s jail”.
Surjewala said “contractkilling of democracy” by theBJP has also become “contractkilling of honesty and account-ability”.
Party spokespersonAbhishek Singhvi said the gov-ernment’s move of issuing anotification on Monday toclose probe in nine cases ofalleged corruption in irrigationprojects in Maharashtra, wasthe “most brazen, shamefulact of conspiracy and corruptpractice”, to put together agovernment “by hook orcrook”.
Imported onion will be avail-able between �52 and �60 a
kg to the State Governments.The first consignment of onionfrom Egypt is expected toarrive soon to boost domesticsupply and ease prices. TheUnion Cabinet has decided toimport 1.2 lakh tonnes ofonions to improve the domes-tic supply and control prices inthe retail markets. Retail pricesare ruling at around Rs 60-80per kg in several parts of thecountry. The situation is
expected to remain the same tillDecember end due to shortsupply.
Top sources said that onionis being offered to StateGovernments for distributionat the rate of Rs. 52-55 per kgex-Mumbai and will also bemade available at the rate of Rs.60 per kilogram ex-Delhi. “Thestate government may givesubsidy to provide relief to theconsumers in their state. Forinstance, Andhra Pradesh isgiving subsidy of Rs 55 a kg ononion to provide relief to theirpeople,” said the sources.
Following the directions ofthe Ministry of ConsumerAffairs, public sector tradingfirm MMTC has contracted toimport 6,090 tonnes of onionwhile the first consignment ofonion from Egypt is expectedto arrive soon to boost domes-tic supply and ease prices.
Last week, the UnionCabinet decided to import 1.2lakh tonnes of onions toimprove the domestic supplyand control prices, whichtouched Rs 100 per kg earlierthis month. The HomeMinistry on Friday also held a
review meeting on availabilityof onion and other items andsteps taken to ensure availabil-ity. Consumer Affairs SecretaryA K Srivastava held a reviewmeeting with various states toanalyse their demand, supplyand prices of this key kitchenitem. Srivastava has also writ-ten a letter to Chief Secretariesof all States on November 23,in this regard. StateGovernments may take thestock from the location ontheir own and also have theoption of getting transportationfacilitated through NAFED, if
required. The supply of import-ed onions will begin from earlyDecember onwards.
Sources said it wasinformed that MMTC has con-tracted 6,090 tonnes of onionand the consignment fromEgypt would reach Mumbaiport soon. While MMTC hasbeen tasked to import onions,cooperative Nafed will supplythe key kitchen items in thedomestic market.
On November 19, FoodMinister Ram Vilas Paswansaid production in kharif andlate-kharif seasons of 2019-20
is estimated to fall 26 per centto 5.2 million tonne, puttingpressure on supply and prices.
In a written reply to theLok Sabha, Paswan said onionis a seasonal crop with har-vesting period of rabi (Marchto June), kharif (October toDecember) and late-kharif(January-March). During Julyto October, the supply in themarket comes from storedonions from rabi season.
“During 2019-20, therewas a 3-4 weeks delay in sow-ing as well as decline in sownarea of the kharif onion because
of late arrival of monsoon.Further, untimely prolongedrains in the major growingstates of Karnataka,Maharashtra and MadhyaPradesh during the harvestingperiod caused damage to thestanding crops in theseregions,” Paswan had said.
As a result, the ministersaid the production of kharifcrop was affected. The rainsduring September-October alsohit transportation of crop fromthese producing regions toconsuming centres, he hadsaid.
residential premises of ChiefGeneral Manager of NationalHighways Authority of India(NHAI), LP Padhy in analleged corruption case relatingto a private toll company.
Sources said the searcheswere carried out on Friday inconnection with alleged irreg-ularities in the award of tollproject related to Soma IsolexTollway Pvt Ltd in May 2009.Additionally, Padhy’s role inNational HighwayDevelopment Project, PhaseIII and Pahalodi-JaisalmerProject is also under the CBIscanner.
Sources said the docu-ments recovered during thesearches are being scrutinizedand more cases may be regis-tered if prima facie irregulari-ties are detected in other pro-jects executed by Padhy.
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In an effort to impart coop-erative education across the
country, the NationalCooperative Union of India(NCUI) has tied up withCommon Service Centres(CSC) to conduct training pro-grammes and popularise theprinciples and practices ofcooperatives.
An MoU to this effect hasbeen signed between the ChiefExecutive Officer (CEO) ofNCUI N Satyanarayan andCSC CEO Dr Dinesh Tyagi with the mandate topromote and to develop thecooperative movement inIndia.
While NCUI is the apexorganisation of the CooperativeMovement of India registeredunder the Multi-StateCooperative Societies Act,2002, CSC e-Governance
Services India Limited is aSpecial Purpose Vehicle, set upby the Ministry of InformationTechnology.
The main objective of com-ing together of both the unitsare to educate, guide and assistthe people in their efforts tobuild up and expand the coop-erative sector and to serve as anexponent of cooperative opin-ion as per cooperative princi-ples scheduled in Multi-StateCooperative Societies Act,2002.
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Senior Congress leaderJyotiraditya Scindia on
Monday dismissed specula-tion about his Twitter bio notincluding his links to the partyas “baseless”. Social mediawent into overdrive with manywondering whether Scindiawas planning to quit theCongress and others high-lighting the reported differ-ences between him andMadhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Kamal Nath.
“I had changed it (theTwitter bio) a month ago. I gotfeedback that it is a long bio-data and should be made short.All rumours around it arebaseless,” Scindia said. LaterScindia tweeted, “Ridiculouscommotion over a twitter pro-file change done almost amonth ago!” The buzz startedafter it was highlighted onsocial media that his Twitterbio just read “public servant,cricket enthusiast”.
His Twitter bio had earlier
stated, “Former Member ofParliament Guna (2002-2019).Former Minister for Power(I/C); MoS Commerce andIndustry, MoS communica-tions, IT and Post”.
Scindia was sidelined bythe old guard of the Congressparty after Rahul Gandhiresigned and Sonia Gandhitook over as interim presidentin the aftermath of the LokSabha election defeat. Recently,Scindia himself took on theNath Government questioningthe implementation of the loanwaiver scheme for the farmers.He also attacked the KamalNath Government over floodrelief measures and on the
issue of power cuts.In September, Scindia had
hit out at Nath and Singh. Heasked Nath to stop outsideinterference in theGovernment. This came in thebackdrop of MP MinisterUmang Singhar accusing Singhof running a proxyGovernment in the state. Manyallege that Nath does not reinin Singh as he feels obliged tohis one-time rival.
Supporters of Scindia havebeen pitching for him to bemade party president inMadhya Pradesh ever sinceKamal Nath was made thechief minister. The move wasscuttled by Digvijay Singh andKamal Nath, both leaders push-ing for Ajay Singh, son of lateleader Arjun Singh for thepost of Madhya PradeshCongress President post.
The former royal ofGwalior had earlier resignedfrom the post of general secre-tary after Rahul Gandhiresigned from the Congresspresident’s post. Scindia’s move
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Perturbed with the ruckuscreated in the Lok Sabha on
Monday, Speaker Om Birlasuspended two Congress MPsfor a day after they jostled withmarshals in the House, leadingto adjournment of proceed-ings.
The Speaker also warnedthat if any lawmaker indulgedin such action, he or she wouldbe suspended for the whole ses-sion in the future.
Congress MPs -Hibi Edenand TN Prathapan - were sus-pended by the Speaker fordefying the order of the chairand jostling with the marshals.
Eden and Prathapan -whowere holding a banner with theslogan ‘Stop murder of democ-racy’ - jostled with the marshalsin the Lok Sabha after theSpeaker asked the latter totake the leaders out of theHouse as they were disrupting
the proceedings duringQuestion Hour.
The House witnessedruckus after Congress memberstrooped near the Speaker’spodium, raising slogans againstthe Centre over Governmentformation in Maharashtra,leading to adjournment of theHouse three times. The Speakerhas adjourned the House till 2pm on Tuesday.
The Speaker’s suspensionorder came following the wholeincident.
When Congress membersled by Adhir RanjanChowdhury met the Speaker,they were told that the Housemust be run with dignity.
“The House runs with dig-nity. Today’s incident has low-ered the dignity of the House.If such incidents are repeatedin future, members will besuspended for the whole ses-sion,” sources in the SPeaker’soffice said.
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The Indian Navy will hostmilitary drill ‘Milan 2020’
in March next year which willwitness the participation ofseveral countries, Minister ofState for Defence Shripad Naiksaid on Monday.
In a written response to aquestion in the Rajya Sabha,Naik said 41 nations fromSouth Asia, Southeast Asia,Africa and Europe that sharedefence cooperation with Indiahave been invited for the drill.
The countries to whominvitations have been sent areIndonesia, France,Mozambique, Sudan, Israel,Qatar, Thailand, Malaysia,Australia, Somalia, Kenya,Egypt, Sri Lanka, Vietnam,
Myanmar, New Zealand, USA,Tanzania, Comoros, Maldives,Brunei, Philippines, Japan, UK,Saudi Arabia, Oman, Mauritius,Cambodia, Singapore, SouthKorea, South Africa, Kuwait,Iran, Madagascar, Bangladesh,Russia, Djibouti, Eritrea,Bahrain, UAE and Seychelles
“The Government pursuescooperation initiatives withfriendly countries, including inIndian Ocean Region, throughstructured interactions likeStaff Talks, EmpoweredSteering Group. The areas ofcooperation include capacitybuilding, marine domainawareness, training, hydrogra-phy, technical assistance, oper-ational exercise,” Naik said.
In response to anotherquestion, Naik said the Armyhas 6,868 women officers andthe Air Force and the Navy have2,302 and 1,077 respectively.
Kolkata: Amid the BJP’s assertion to implement NRC inWest Bengal and the likelihoodof the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill being placedin Parliament, State ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onMonday announced thatattempts would be made to reg-ularise all refugee colonies onCentral Government and pri-vate lands.
The displaced people willalso be given land rights by theTrinamool CongressGovernment, Banerjee said.
The decision was takenapparently to take the windaway from the BJP’s sails, as thesaffron camp was hoping tocash in on passage of theCitizenship (Amendment) Billwhich will be tabled in theongoing winter session ofParliament.
“We have decided to regu-larise all the refugee settle-ments, solely because it has
been a long time now - nearly50 years. Since (March) 1971,they have not received anyland possession,” she said.
The State Government hadearlier regularised 94 refugeecolonies which were on StateGovernment land, the CM saidafter a Cabinet meeting.
“There are several refugeecolonies on land owned by theCentral Government and pri-vate parties. We have beenasking them for a long time toregularise these refugeecolonies and provide themwith land possession. However,they have been sending evic-tion notices,” Banerjee said.
“Those who are staying inrefugee colonies for a longtime do not have any right. Sowe thought they should get therights as citizens of this coun-try. They may be voting in elec-tions, may be working here, butdon’t have proper land rights,”she said.
Over 13,000 and 12,000families staying on land ownedby the State and central gov-ernments respectively would bebenefitted by the decision, theChief Minister said.
Banerjee also announcedthat the cabinet decided toform a new SC&STDevelopment Commission forthe development of theScheduled Caste and ScheduledTribes people in the State.
“A Bill to form the com-mission will be passed soon atthe state assembly,” she said.
A section of the refugees inWest Bengal belongs to theScheduled Castes. PTI
Hyderabad: The nearly twomonth old strike by employeesof the Telangana State RoadTransport Corporation overvarious demands was called offon Monday, a top trade unionleader announced.
The TSRTC employeesunions Joint Action Committee(JAC) leader AswathamaReddy said the decision to endthe strike was taken to haltalleged attempts to ‘privatise’the corporation.
Over 48,000 employees ofTSRTC went on an indefinitestrike since October 5,demanding among otherthings, merger of the corpora-tion with the State transportdepartment.
Later the unions said theywere willing to drop the merg-er demand if it becomes ahurdle for the Government tohold talks with them.However, neither the TSRTCmanagement or the State
Government have acceded toany demand of the workers.
“...Attempts are being madeto privatise RTC; to stop andface this, whether theGovernment responds or not,we should all go to (bus) depotstomorrow morning and bringpressure on the managementtowards taking up our duties,he told reporters.
He claimed that attemptsare being to issue aGovernment Order (GO), bytaking up the matter with theGovernor, allowing more private services.
On November 22,the Telangana HighCourt had dismissed apetition, challengingthe State Cabinet deci-sion to privatise over5,000 bus routes.
The court, whiledismissing the peti-tion of P LVishweshwar Rao,
vice-president of the TelanganaJana Samithi, challenging thecabinet’s November 2 decisionto privatise permits of 5,100 busroutes, said the StateGovernment has the authorityto take a decision on the mat-ter.
Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao haddefended the cabinet decision,saying it was done to maintainhealthy competition and hadwarned that the other routeswould also be given to privateoperators if RTC workers didnot rejoin duty. PTI
Kolkata: Asserting that herGovernment would provideall possible assistance to thoseaffected by Cyclone ‘Bulbul’,West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on Mondaysaid five lakh relief kits were tobe distributed among the dis-aster-hit families.
The kits, containing blan-kets, a cooking stove, utensils,food items and clothes, wouldbe provided to all affectedfamilies in East Midnapore,South 24 Parganas and North24 Parganas, she said, after flag-ging off 12 vehicles loadedwith relief materials from statesecretariat Nabanna.
A total of 47,000 kits havebeen dispatched for the affect-ed families, the TMC supremonoted. Banerjee also said thather government had alreadyprovided five lakh tarpaulin,45,000 lanterns and five litres
of kerosene to each family.Those that have lost homes
in the cyclone would also beprovided accommodationunder the Government’s hous-ing scheme, she explained.
“We have mobilised fivelakh sheets of cloth, whilestate-owned clothing brandsTantuja and Tantushree havebeen asked to make an arrange-ment with their weavers forthree years so that materials canbe obtained at short notice dur-ing such crises,” she said.
The agriculture depart-ment had been asked to con-duct a survey of the farmingland affected during thecyclone, the TMC supremotold reporters.”From the cur-rent coverage of 60 per cent, weare planning to extend thegovernment’s crop insurancescheme benefits to all farmersin the State,” she added. PTI
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BJP activists on Mondaystaged a road blockade in
Girish Park area of centralKolkata to protest against theattack on senior BJP leader andparty’s candidate for KarimpurAssembly bypoll, Jay PrakashMajumdar by alleged TMCworkers when he was enteringa polling booth.
Carrying posters and placards, BJP activists staged aroad blockade in Girish Parkarea, causing heavy trafficsnarls in the central Kolkataregion.
The BJP activists shoutedslogans against the TMCGovernment and demandedimmediate arrests of the cul-prits involved in the attack.
The police later removedthe blockade. Majumdar wason Monday allegedly beaten upand kicked by TMC activists atPhipulkhola area of Nadia district when he was enteringa polling booth.
TV footage showedMajumdar being beaten upand kicked by some people.
Holding TMC “goons”responsible for the act, he said,wounds will heal but the inci-dent is a “clear” sign of the “end
of democracy” in West Bengal.The BJP leader alleged that
the TMC activists were falsevoters who had assembled inthe area with the intention ofrigging polls.
“But it will not demoraliseme and I will continue to visitall the booths. I have com-plained to the ElectionCommission,” Majumdar, thevice president of the state unitof the BJP, said.
Denying the allegations as“baseless”, the Nadia districtunit of the TMC said, localshad attacked Majumdar as theywere angry with him for “viti-ating” the poll atmosphere.
The EC has sought reportsabout the incident.TMC MPMohua Moitra declined tocomment.
Besides Karimpur, bypollsare underway in KharagpurSadar and Kaliaganj Assemblyseats.While Kharagpur Sadarand Karimpur seats were heldby the TMC, Kaliaganj was represented in the Assembly bythe Congress.
In Karimpur, vacated byMLA Mahua Moitra afteremerging victorious fromKrishnnanagar Lok Sabha seat,CPI(M)-Congress candidateGholam Rabbi is contestingagainst Majumdar and TMC’sBimalendu Singha Roy.
The Kharagpur Sadar seatfell vacant as the sitting TMCMLA contested and won LokSabha seat. Bypolls were neces-sitated in Kaliaganj followingthe death of Congress MLAParmathanath Roy.
7&"������������������������������������3�����!������� ������ �4���� ���� Kolkata: The BJP on Monday
described the assault of itscandidate in the bypoll toKarimpur Assembly seat during voting hours as “mur-der of democracy” while theruling Trinamool Congressclaimed that the saffron partyhas orchestrated a drama togain the sympathy of voters.
Besides Karimpur, by-elec-tions were held in two otherAssembly constituencies inWest Bengal that witnessedmore than 75 per cent of theover 7 lakh electorate castingvotes.
The West Bengal unit ofthe BJP demanded removal ofthe superintendent of policeand the district magistrate ofNadia after its candidateJoyprakash Majumdar wasassaulted allegedly by TMCworkers.
“Our candidate JoyprakashMajumdar was attacked byTrinamool Congress workers.It is the murder of democracyunder the Chief Ministership ofMamata Banerjee. The TMChas resorted to violence antic-ipating defeat in the polls,”senior BJP leader Mukul Roysaid.TV footages showedMajumdar, who is also thestate BJP vice-president, beingbeaten up, kicked and pushedinto a bush by a group of menat Phipulkhola area of Nadiadistrict. PTI
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Hinting that exodus ofOpposition MLAs into the
BJP will continue, party Stategeneral secretary ArvindLimbavali on Monday claimed that several JD(S) leg-islators were in touch withthem and have expressed“desire” to join it.
The senior BJP legislator,who is also the party’s conven-er for the December 5 bypolls,has said that JD(S) leaders’statements hinting at support-ing the BJPGovernment in theState, if it fails to garner required number of seats in the bypoll,display their “insecurity.”
“In Karnataka severalJD(S) legislators have expresseddesire to join BJP. That is thereason JD(S) leaders are sayingthat BJP will face defeat in thisbypolls, they will lose majority and at such a situationwe will support the BJP andsave the government. By sayingsuch things they (JDS) areshowcasing their insecurity,”Limbavali said.
Speaking to reporters, hesaid “several JD(S) legislatorswere in touch with BJP, let thebypolls be over, we will tell howmany of them.”
JD(S) leaders, who haveindicated that they don’t wantmid-term polls, have already
stated a call will be taken on theparty’s role, in case the rulingBJP loses majority, only afterthe results on December 9.
The bypolls was necessitated after the resigna-tion and absence of 17Congress-JD(S) legislatorsfrom the trust vote, which ledto the collapse of the HDKumaraswamy headed coali-tion Government and pavedthe way for BJP to come topower. The 17 legislators weresubsequently disqualified bythe then Speaker K R RameshKumar. However, the SupremeCourt which heard the MLAspetition challenging the dis-qualification recently, allowedthem to contest the bypolls.
With winning majorityseats crucial for the govern-ment’s survival, the BJP hasfielded 13 of the 16 disqualifiedlegislators who joined the partyas its candidates from theirrespective constituencies.
The ruling BJP needs towin at least six seats in thebypolls to remain in a majori-ty in the 224-member assem-bly, which will still have twovacant seats — Maski and R RNagar.
Among the 15 constituen-cies going to bypolls, 12 wereheld by the Congress and 3 bythe JD(S), whose coalition gov-ernment collapsed due to rebel-lion by the disqualified MLAs.
Bengaluru: Former KarnatakaChief Minister Siddaramaiahon Monday ruled out the possibility of his former allyJD(S) joining hands with BJPafter the bypolls, as he talkedabout the prospects of mid-term polls in the State and theCongress party winning it.
The Congress LegislatureParty leader also said the BSYediyurappa-led BJPGovernment will have to resignon “failing” to garner requirednumber of seats in theDecember 5 bypolls for 15assembly constituencies in thestate.
“JD(S) is not going to sup-port them (BJP), Yes (I’msure)...I have not spoken tothem (JD(S)), but I know. I waswith JD(S) in the past right?”Siddaramaiah told reportersin Hubballi.
He was responding to aquestion about the possibilityof JD(S) joining hands with BJPin case the Government fallsshort of numbers.
JD(S) leaders, who haveindicated that they don’t wantmid-term polls, have alreadystated that a call will be takenon the party’s role, in case theruling BJP loses majority, onlyafter the results on December 9.
Siddaramaiah said it isquite natural, if BJP doesn’t win
required number of seats in thebypolls, they will have to resign.
Asked if the Congress willdemand a floor test if BJPdoes not get the required num-bers, he said, “They will haveto resign, why floor test again?”
The ruling BJP needs towin at least six seats in thebypolls to remain in a majori-ty in the 224-member assem-bly, which will still have twovacant seats— Maski and R RNagar.
On whether he willbecome Chief Minister if BJPgovernment falls, Siddaramaiahsaid, “Have I said like that? Ihave not. I feel that mid-termpolls may take place, if mid-term polls takes place hundredper cent we will win.”
To a question if he willbecome the Chief Ministerafter mid-term polls, the seniorCongress leader said the highcommand and the legislatureparty will decide on it. PTI
Bengaluru: Chief Minister B S Yediyurappaon Monday pitched for ‘Congress-muktKarnataka’ to realise the BJP’s nationaldream of ‘Congress-mukt Bharat’.
“If we have to make ‘Congress-muktBharat’ then it should be ‘Congress MuktKarnataka’ first. It should begin fromhere,” he said addressing an election rallyat Kamalapurain Vijayanagar Assemblyconstituency from where Anand Singhiscontesting on a BJP ticket.
A party hopper, Singh was previouslyelected on a Congress ticket and was theamong the MLAs to resign from theAssembly rebelling against his party.
He was among the 17 Congress-JDSMLAs who were disqualified by the thenspeaker K R Ramesh Kumar in July.
After the Supreme Court allowed thedisqualified MLAs to contest the December5 bypolls, Anand Singh joined the BJP againand is contesting on the party ticket fromVijayanagar.
Yediyurappa said he “never knew in hislife what lies are” but people did not trusthim when he said BJP would win at least22 seats in the last Lok Sabha elections in
Karnataka.“I never knew in my life what lies are.
When I said that we will win 22 Lok Sabhaseats, people mocked at us but weactually
won 25 seats. Congress and the JD(S), the(then) ruling coalition could win only oneseat each,” he said.
Speaking about the “pathetic” perfor-
mance of the previous ruling coalition ofCongress and JD(S), Yediyurappa said thetwo parties could hardly register their presence in the Lok Sabha election.
Ridiculing Congress, Yediyurappa said,“Congress doesn’t even have the requirednumber of MPs in the Lok Sabha to becalled the principal opposition party. Thisis the condition of Congress today.”
Heaping praise on Singh, Yediyurappasaid he was the first among the 17 MLAswho had resigned from the Assembly.
Till then, he had no clue that the BJPwould form a Government in Karnataka.
“It was Anand Singh who resigned firstand later others too joined him. He was dis-content with the lack of development andhence he decided not to stay in theCongress for long,” the Chief Minister said.
Yediyurappa asked the people to ensureSingh’s victory so that he becomes a min-ister in the BJP Government and helpstheGovernment develop the area as amodel constituency. Bypolls are scheduledto be held in 15 Assembly constituencies onDecember 5. PTI
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The notification for the December 12by-election to the Rajya Sabha from
Karnataka to fill the vacancy caused dueto the resignation of sitting member KCRamamurthy was issued on Monday.
The last date for filing of papers isDecember 2, while scrutiny will takeplace the next day.
The last date for withdrawal of can-didature is December 5, and counting ofvotes will take place on December 12,after polling, the official notification said.
Ramamurthy, who represented theCongress in the Upper House and whoseterm was up to June 2022, tendered hisresignation as a member on October 16to the House Chairman and Vice-President M Venkaiah Nadu, whoaccepted it.
The former IPS officer also resignedfrom the Congress and subsequently
joined the BJP.Following Ramamurthy’s resigna-
tion, the Congress in Karnataka hadalleged that BJP has made it an “indus-try” to lure everyone to the party, andpeople were joining it out of “fear” or forthe sake of “allurements.”
However, stating that he resigned asRajya Sabha member and from theCongress as he wanted his experience tobe “used properly in the the path ofprogress and development”, Ramamurthyhad rubbished claims that he quit theparty, under pressure or fearing IncomeTax raids.
Justice CK PrasadChairman Press Council ofIndia, &Former Judge, SupremeCourt of India
The concept of dharma isdeeply rooted in our cul-
ture. Performance of duty wasconsidered to be an essentialpart of man’s character inancient India and it was con-ceived that failure to performone’s duty is equivalent to com-mitting ‘sin’. The force behindthe importance of performanceof duty in ancient India wasmore of a religious commandthan a legal command which isthe case in the present times.
Performing duty hasalways been given primeimportance in Indian philoso-
phy. Rights cannot exist inisolation without dutiesattached. A right without dutyis nothing but an impositionthat leads to the decompositionof the concept of rights itself.Rights and duties are two sidesof the same coin and they areindeed interrelated and inex-tricable. Duty is the source ofrights, rights flow when dutiesare well performed. To everyright, there is a correspondingduty that is to be performed toenjoy a particular right. Wheneveryone performs their dutiesit automatically leads to theprotection and promotion ofothers’ rights. MahatmaGandhi had said “the truesource of right is the duty. If weall discharge our duties, rights
will not be far to seek”. Part 51 A was introduced
in the Indian Constitution inthe year 1976 with the attemptto balance between an indi-vidual’s civic freedoms with hiscivic obligations. Incorporationof the fundamental duties hasbrought our Constitution inline with Article 29(1) of theUniversal Declaration ofHuman Rights which states“everyone has duties to thecommunity in which alone thefree and full development of thepersonality is possible”.
Rights are conferred uponpeople not only for the devel-opment and well-being of theindividual but also the nation’sdevelopment can be achievedonly through performance of
duties by individuals.Amongst the most cele-
brated fundamental rights, theright to freedom of expressionis a significant one that entitlesthe citizens of India to expresstheir views, opinions, and ideasthrough various mediums liketelevision, print, radio or dig-ital media. Expressing self-thoughts or ideas help indi-viduals to have a sense of self-fulfilment that is an essentialaspect of the growth of anyindividual as well as the State.The framers of the Constitutioncharacterized freedom ofspeech and expression as thevery life of civil liberties and theSupreme Court of Indiaexpounded it as the Ark of theCovenant of Democracy. The
Constitution of India thoughdoes not mention freedom ofpress or media separately but,the scope of freedom of speechand expression has beenexpanded by the Indian Courtsto include the freedom of thepress.
However, free it may be butthe freedom has not been madean absolute one. Under Article19 (2) it is subjected to rea-sonable restrictions, in theinterests of the nation and itspeople. It can be defied if it hin-ders the security, sovereignty orintegrity of the state, and isdamaging to foreign relations,or is against decency or moral-ity or causes defamation.
Though fundamentalduties, alike fundamental
rights, do not directly addressthe press, but press has anessential role to play in pro-moting fundamental duties aswell as the rights of the people.The press, therefore, can sen-sitize people about their rightsas also raise awareness aboutduties of the citizens towardsthe nation. Such awarenessamongst public would lead orencourage them in fulfillingtheir duties towards the assur-ance of the existence of goodgovernance in the nationthrough exercising their adultfranchise.
Voting is a right but it isalso a duty of every citizen tovote sincerely and participate inthe electoral process and thedemocratic polity to strength-
en the State. Equally, it isimportant to sensitize the pub-lic in performing their part inmaintaining cleanliness, protectthe environment includingrivers, lakes and wildlife. Incase of the duty to be per-formed by the press within itsspace, it should act responsiblyin reporting incidents, withoutmaking an event sensationaljust for the sake, mixing viewswith news or misusing thepower of press. Misconstruingor misinterpreting someone inthe press can definitely bedetrimental to the growth of asociety and nation. It is the dutyof the press to promote har-mony and brotherhoodamongst people of India cuttingacross its religious, linguistic
and regional or sectional diver-sities. In recent times, mediahas played a remarkable role inreminding people about theirduties to keep India clean andgreen. Reminded the parentsthat providing education totheir children is not only theright but it is the duty of par-ents to ensure that children areeducated with elementary edu-cation.
In our Constitution, muchemphasis was given to therights until it was realised thatto enjoy the fundamental rightsone should also perform cer-tain minimum duties. It acts asthe foundation of human dig-nity and builds national char-acter. The duties form the con-science of our Constitution.
on Monday exhorted youths tofight against forces trying to“destabilise India” followingthe nullification of Article of370 and resolution of theAyodhya dispute.
“The powers that intendedto weaken India are again try-ing to raise their heads.Therefore, it is important toremain alert,” Adityanath toldstudents at the national con-vention of the Akhil BharatiyaVidyarthi Parishad, held hereon Agra College premises.
Adityanath said the presentgeneration of youths shouldconsider itself lucky that long-pending issues like decades-oldArticle 370 and centuries-oldAyodhya tangle have beenresolved. The Centre decidedon August 5 to abrogate thespecial status of Jammu &
Kashmir under the Article 370.Earlier this month, the
Supreme Court delivered itsverdict on Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute.
The two events demon-strated the Narendra ModiGovernment’s “firm resolve”,which the previous governmentlacked, he added.
But following them, theChief Minister told youths,the powers that intended toweaken India were again tryingto raise their heads.
While praising the ABVP,he urged the outfit members toact as motivators for Indiansand instill in them the convic-tion that nationalism was aboveeverything.
The Chief Minister hadbeen invited as chief guest ofthe function and he later gaveaway the Yashwantrao KelkarYuva Puraskar, 2019 to socialactivist Sagar Reddy fromMaharashtra.
���� 2���:���.1"0
The mahant of Tapaswiji kiChhawani in Ayodhya
Paramhansji Maharaj onMonday said RSS chief MohanBhagwat should head the trustto be set up for the construc-tion of Ram temple.
“The RSS chief should bemade the ex-offico head of thetrust so that he automaticallytakes that post. Sangh Parivarshould be given the responsi-bility of Ram temple’s con-struction,” the mahant toldreporters at Sita Samahit sthalhere.
The Supreme Court in ahistoric verdict on November9 had backed the constructionof a Ram temple by a trust atthe disputed site in Ayodhya,and ruled that an alternativefive-acre plot must be found fora mosque in the Hindu holytown.
“Be it the issue of “rashtranirman” (nation building) ortemple construction, what theRSS has done from village level
to the cities, no one else can do,”he said, adding that the primeminister, the home ministerand the defence minister, allhave their origins in the Sangh.
The mahant, who has beena critic of Ram JanmabhoomiNyas chief Nritya Gopal Dasand its member Ram VilasVedanti, alleged that both havea very narrow mindset.
“When the Supreme Courtasked for setting up a trust fortemple construction, mahant of
Ram Mandir Nyas, NrityaGopal Das said that his Nyaswould construct it andthis showed his lure for the
post. “Similarly, Ram Vilas
Vedanti opposed ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath say-ing that ‘Nath Sampraday’ can-not construct the temple,” hesaid.
Yogi Adityanath is mahantof Gorakhnath Muth, therevered Muth of the NathSampradaya.
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One terrorist was killed lateMonday evening in an
ongoing operation at Pachaararea of South Kashmir’sPulwama district. In anotherincident, Anantnag policeaverted a major terror attackwith the timely recovery of twoIED’s .
The IED’s, which werefound lying close to the mainroad, were safely detonated bythe bomb disposal squad toprevent any mishap.
According to reports, ajoint patrolling party was firedupon by a group of hiding ter-rorists near an orchard inPachaar area of Pulwama. Thesecurity forces had launched
cordon and search operationsin the area after receiving a tipoff about the presence of groupof terrorists in the area.
Meanwhile, a majortragedy was averted byBaramulla police with the time-ly arrest of a grenade thrower
near venue of a policerecruitment rally.
According to police,one person with agrenade was caughtthreatening candidateswhile they were fillingapplications for SPO’spost in Baramulla dis-trict.
Three other sus-pects were picked bythe police after prelim-inary interrogation ofthe youth apprehendedwith a live grenade.
According to initialreports, these youth
were tasked with the job of lob-bing a grenade to cause scareand panic in the area ahead ofrecruitment rally.
Baramulla police is cur-rently investigating the case andquestioning the four youthdetained so far.
In Jammu region, Pakistanarmy violated ceasefire agree-ment by targeting forwardareas of Qasba Kirni in Poonchearly Monday morning.
According to groundreports, “unprovoked cease-fire violation by the Pakistanarmy was reported around11.30 a.m” .
Local villagers claimed theintensity of the mortar shellingwas very high in the forwardvillages. Official sources said,the firing continued for overtwo hours in the area causingpanic among the farmers strug-gling to work in their fields.
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Senior officers of the UnionTerritory of Jammu &
Kashmir on Monday facedpiquant situation at manyplaces during the second phaseof Government’s flagship ‘Backto Village’ (B2V2) outreachprogramme.
The ambitious programmewas aimed to provide gover-nance at the doorsteps of therural populace and to enlistcommunity participation.
Ironically, at many placescommon people demandedaction taken report in responseto grievances highlighted bythem during the first phase of the rural outreach pro-gramme.
Interacting with the media,several local residents claimeddespite listing their problemsand discussing the ground sit-uation no follow up actionwas taken by the variousdepartments on ground zeroafter the first phase of the pro-gramme.
Government spokesmanclaimed, “the week-long pub-lic outreach campaign would
be more intense than the ear-lier phase as it shall mainlyfocus on empoweringPanchayats, follow up of B2V1,100 per cent coverage of ben-eficiary oriented schemes anddoubling income of rural peo-ple by giving more impetus tothe rural economy”.
During this week, morethan 5000 gazetted officersand 657 UT and DirectorateLevel officers are scheduled tovisit their assigned Panchayatsto receive the first-handappraisal reports at the grass-roots level about the develop-mental works.
After gathering the feed-back from the common mass-es, the officers have beendirected to prepare a reportcard and critical gap analysis atthe end of their 2-day visit toa village on a pre-circulated for-mat.
Lieutenant Governor,Advisors, Chief Secretary andother senior officers are alsoscheduled to visit various HalqaPanchayats in both Kashmirand Jammu Divisions between25th of November and 30thNovember, 2019.
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Both Houses of the legisla-ture in Bihar were plunged
into turmoil on Monday overpolice crack- down on aCongress demonstration hereon the previous day, leading toadjournment of proceedingsfor the day in the StateAssembly with very little busi-ness transacted.
In the Legislative Council,the proceedings took place inthe midst of persistent shout-ing of slogans by leaders of theCongress and its ally the RJDleading to a furious DeputyChief Minister Sushil KumarModi charging the oppositionMLCs with “spreading a lie”that lathi charge had takenplace and demonstrators sus-tained injuries.
In the Assembly, SpeakerVijay Kumar Chaudharyadjourned the house for the day
within less than 30 minutes ofassembling at 2 P.M. For thepost-lunch session.
MLAs of the Congress andother opposition parties like theRJD and CPI(ML) continu-ously raised slogans con-demning alleged police excess-es on those who took part inthe “Jan Vedana” march takenout by the grand old party herein protest against “anti-peoplepolicies” of the Narendra ModiGovernment.
RJD MLA Lalit Yadav alsovoiced protest against theSpeaker not taking up theadjournment motion that hehad moved to press thedemand for parity in wagesbeing paid to “niyojit” (hired oncontract but later regularized)and “regular” teachers.
The regular teachers havebeen recruited through theState public service commis-sion and getting remunera-
tion in accordance with the rec-ommendations of the latestPay Commission.
Chaudhary told Yadav thatthe ruckus created by opposi-tion MLAs, including those ofhis party, was to be blamed forhis adjournment motion notbeing taken up since theirunruly behavior in the first halfhad not allowed the house tofunction till the Zero Hour.
Before Chaudharyadjourned proceedings tillTuesday, an appropriation billwas passed by the assemblythrough voice vote.
In the legislative council,Congress MLC Prem ChandraMishra who was among thedemonstrators to have beendetained by the police the pre-vious day and RJD MLC RamChandra Purve led the oppo-sition charge against the gov-ernments “attempt to muzzledemocratic protests”.
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The Sunni Central WaqfBoard will meet here on
Tuesday to discuss the SupremeCourt’s Ayodhya verdict, amidreports that its members aredivided on whether to file areview petition against thejudgment.
The meeting is also expect-ed to discuss whether to accepta plot of land that the judgmentsaid must be given to Muslimsto build a mosque, Waqf Boardchairman Zufar Farooqui saidMonday.
After the five-judge benchdelivered its historic verdict onthe Ranjanmabhoomi-BabriMasjid land dispute, Farooquihad come out against filing areview petition. But someboard members went publicagainst the stand.
“The members can discussthe issue during the November26 meeting. I have been autho-rised to take a decision onbehalf of the board but if anymember has an objection to it,he can raise it in the meetingscheduled on November 26
here,” Farooqui had said.In a unanimous verdict,
the Supreme Court had pavedthe way for the construction ofa Ram Temple at the disputedsite in Ayodhya. It also direct-ed the Centre to allot a five-acreplot to the Sunni Waqf Boardfor building a mosque.
“It has to be seen whetherthe board can refuse to take thefive-acre land for the con-struction of a mosque as ruledby the Supreme Court. Will itamount to contempt of court?The board has started takinglegal opinion on this point,” hehad said.
Farooqui said there were
divergent views within theeight-member board on thematter and the number ofthose suggesting that the plotshould be used for some “con-structive work” to give a mes-sage to the world is “very low”.
The Sunni board was amain litigant in the Ayodhyacase.
Earlier, the All IndiaMuslim Personal law Board(AIMPLB) said a review peti-tion will be filed against thejudgment. It is also againstaccepting an alternative site toreplace the mosque that wasdemolished in Ayodhya in1992.
Wayanad: Students of the State-run vocational high-er secondary school near here continued their proteston Monday demanding strong action against the teach-ers responsible for the death of a fifth standard studentdue to snakebite inside her classroom on November20.
While the investigating police officers visited theschool and hospitals to record the statement with regardto the incident, the Mananthavady Municipalitybegan a cleaning drive at the school.
The students demanded that the Parent-TeacherAssociation (PTA) be disbanded and strong action betaken against the teachers responsible for 10-year-oldShehala’s death. “We are not seeking dismissal of otherteachers. We don’t want everyone to be ousted. We wantthose teachers responsible for the incident to be oust-ed.
The present PTA must also be disbanded,” a stu-dent said. The investigating team headed byManathavadi ASP Vaibhav Saxena visited the VythiriGood Shepherd hospital and recorded the evidence ofdoctors.The team also visited the school and record-ed statements of teachers and students.
The State has been witnessing protests against theschool authorities who had allegedly failed to ensurethat Shehala was rushed to hospital on time. The probeteam met the medical board to ascertain whether delayin treatment caused the death or not.
Meanwhile, the forest department conducted asearch and capture operation at the school to find anysnakes in the school compound. Police baton-chargedactivits of the Kerala Students Union (KSU), the con-gress’ student outfit in the state, when they tried to bargeinto the residence of Education Minister CRaveendranath at Thrissure. PTI
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The Jammu & Kashmiradministration on Monday
announced release of two polit-ical leaders, who have beenunder detention since August5, besides shifting of two oth-ers to their houses from theMLA hostel.
Dilawar Mir, who is fromPDP, and Ghulam Hassan Mir,were under detention for over110 days and were released bythe new Union Territoryadministration, officials said.
They are former MLAs,both residents of Baramulla
district. They had been under
detention at their respectiveresidences from August 5, theday when Centre announcedabrogation of provisions ofArticle 370.
Ghulam Hassan was a for-mer minister in MuftiMohammad Sayeed’s cabinetwhen he became ChiefMinister for the first time in2002. He later parted ways
and formed his own outfitcalled Democratic PartyNationalist (DPN). DilawarMir is also a former Minister.
Ashraf Mir and HakeenYaseen, who were MLAs in thelast state assembly of the erst-while state of Jammu andKashmir, would be shifted totheir residences but remainunder detention, the officialssaid.
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Aurangabad: The Shiv Sena hasdemanded an additional financial aid forthe farmers whose crop got destroyed inunseasonal rain in Maharashtra.
When Maharashtra was underPresident’s rule between November 12and 23, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyarihad announced a relief of � 8,000 perhectare up to two hectares for agricul-tural Kharif crops and � 18,000 perhectare up to two hectares for horticul-ture/perennial crops.
Earlier, the then BJP Governmenthad announced � 10,000 crore specialassistance for the affected farmers.
On Monday, activists of the Senaorganised morchas on Governmentoffices and handed over representationsin nine talukas in Aurangabad district,which falls under the worst-hitMarathwada region.
In Aurangabad city, former Sena MPChandrakant Khaire and district president Ambadas Danve metDivisional Commissioner SunilKendrekar and handed over a memo-randum containing ten demands.
“Our demands include that insur-ance companies pay 25% of the insuredsum to farmers in cases where they hadlost crops on more than 50 per cent oftheir fields,” Danve said. PTI
Mumbai: Shiv Sena leaderSanjay Raut on Mondayclaimed BJP leaders will gocrazy if they remain withoutpower.
Talking to reporters, Rautalso said mental health clinicswill be formed in various partsof Maharashtra for “such peo-ple” after the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine comes topower in the state.
“The BJP leaders will gocrazy if they are thrown out ofpower. They will lose theirmental balance, as we are goingto prove our majority duringthe floor test,” Raut claimed.
“Once we form govern-ment, we will build a specialhospital to treat the mental ill-ness of BJP leaders,” he said.
Raut said his party, theNCP and Congress have therequired numbers and willprove to Governor BhagatSingh Koshyari that they havethe numbers to form Government inMaharashtra. PTI
Farmers’ bodies are concerned thatthe proposed draft Seeds Bill, 2019,and the Pesticide Management Billcould weaken farmers’ rights andincrease corporate control over seed,
as the definition of “farmer” has beentweaked to include traders and corporations.The original definition of “farmer” excludedany individual, company, trader or dealer, whoengages in procurement and sale on commer-cial basis (non-farmers); Bharatiya KrishakSamaj president Krishan Bir Chaudharyinsists this should be retained.
The draft states, “Farmer means any per-son who owns cultivable land or any other cat-egory of farmers who are doing the agricul-tural work as may be notified by theCentral/State Governments.” It identifies“farmer” as anyone owning cultivable landunder Clause 11, which makes all corpora-tions, who own land, eligible to be classifiedas “farmer”, while the new exemptions ofClause 47 spare multinationals from any reg-ulation under the seed law.
The draft Bill introduces new commer-cial definitions of seed, which facilitate easymarket access to multinational corporationsrather than conserve our rich biodiversity andguarantee farmers the freedom to save andexchange seeds they have evolved and, thus,ensure availability of high quality, reliable,affordable and ecologically adapted seed fortheir ecosystem and agro-climatic zone.
The Bill introduces unscientific defini-tions like “national seed variety” and “stateseed variety” in Clauses 17 (“national seedvarieties” means those varieties which are cul-tivated in more than one State) and 31 (“Stateseed varieties” mean those which are culti-vated in one State only).
Seed is the expression of diversity of traitsand agroclimatic zones, where varieties arebred by farmers and to which they are adapt-ed. To describe seeds, not according to traitsand agroclimatic zones but as “nationalseed” if grown in more than one state and“state seed” if grown in one state, has no sci-entific basis. This is a commercial descriptionto facilitate the marketing and the spread ofunreliable and costly seeds from MNCs.
Under the 1966 Seed Act, new seeds wereevaluated in 22 agroclimatic zones to ensurefarmers get quality inputs. Strangely, the 2019Seed Bill makes evaluation optional: “TheCommittee may, for conducting trials to assessthe performance, accredit centres of the IndianCouncil of Agricultural Research, StateAgricultural Universities and such otherorganisations fulfilling the eligibility require-ments as may be prescribed to conduct tri-als to evaluate the performance of any kindor variety of seeds.”
The seed Bill should ensure compensa-tion to farmers in case of seed failure.Instead, it leaves farmers to seek compensa-tion for seed failure under the Consumer Act.Liability clauses are meaningless if there is noliability for seed failure. The ConsumerProtection Act, 1986, stated that the produc-
er, distributor or vendor of seedof the registered kind or variety“shall disclose the expected per-formance of such kind or varietyto the farmer under given con-ditions” and if such seed fails toperform as expected, the farmercould claim compensation fromthe producer, dealer, distributoror vendor.
The 2019 draft Bill is aCompulsory Seed CertificationBill under which seed producersand seed processing units mustbe registered [247, 22(1) and (2)].Article 12 states that farmers“shall not be required to registerthe farmers’ varieties of seeds inthe said register” but the deletionof farmers’ rights in exemptionClause 47 dilutes farmers’ rights.
Significantly, “transgenicseeds” are introduced. A new cat-egory of “synthetic seeds” entersthe definition of “seed” in Article24. Section 44 opens the door forintroduction of transgenic vari-eties cleared by the GeneticEngineering AppraisalCommittee (GEAC). Under “spe-cial provision for registration oftransgenic varieties”, it states,“notwithstanding anything con-tained in Section 14, no seed ofany transgenic variety shall beregistered unless the applicant hasobtained a clearance in respect ofthe same as required by or underthe provisions of theEnvironment (Protection) Act,1986: (29 of 1986).”
But the biosafety regulatoryagency is a failure. It approved Btcotton which is failing; itapproved Bt brinjal which theMinister overruled; it approved
GM mustard even though it haslower yields than indigenouspublic varieties and is tolerant tothe prohibited herbicide, glufos-inate. Only a case in the SupremeCourt has prevented its commer-cialisation. Now, the new seed Billcould allow commercialisation ofBt brinjal and herbicide-tolerantmustard.
The Central SeedCommittee under the 1966 Actincluded one person to be nom-inated by each State Government.The 2019 seed Bill has changedthis provision to five representa-tives chosen by the Centre on arotational basis. Meanwhile, theSeeds Division, Dept ofAgriculture, has asked sellers forExpression of Interest (EOI) forbar-coding seed packets for a“national seed traceability sys-tem.” This must surely wait untilParliament passes the Bill.
Coming to the PesticideManagement Bill (PMB), it mustprovide for compulsory registra-tion of Technical Grade Pesticidesin India, prior to granting regis-trations for imports or indige-nous manufacture of pesticidesformulations, which is the pre-vailing practice in major agricul-tural nations such as the US,Europe, Brazil, China, Australiaand Argentina.
The PMB should not includedata protection for agrochemi-cals/pesticides as such provi-sions will effectively extend themonopoly enjoyed by multina-tional corporations, whichalready have 20-year patent pro-tection under WTO (effective inIndia from 2005). Additional
data protection would meanever-greening of patents. Dataexclusivity in agrochemicals sec-tor will delay entry of genericsand make agrochemicals/pesti-cides unaffordable for Indianfarmers. Moreover, the PMBlacks a “pesticide schedule.” Theinsecticide schedule is an integralpart of the Insecticide Act, 1968,and helps applicants and regula-tors to decide if registration isrequired or not.
The PMB’s over regulationof exports will adversely affectexports of pesticides, which canearn foreign exchange and boostthe indigenous agrochemicalsindustry. Export orders for pes-ticide formulations are time-bound, depending upon theagriculture season in differentcountries and timely delivery iscritical else customers will goelsewhere. All importing coun-tries have their own regula-tions and registration require-ments for imports, which eachexporter has to fulfill.
Hence, imposing unneces-sary data requirements and rais-ing unqualified deficiencies forexport-oriented products willonly add to costs and delays.Data available in the publicdomain should be accepted bythe registration authority asexport orders are country-spe-cific. The Ministry ofAgriculture would do well toresolve these issues before pro-ceeding with these legislations.
(The writer is Senior Fellow,Nehru Memorial Museum andLibrary; the views expressed arepersonal)
Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “How to kill a mandate”(November 25). As Mumbaikarswere fast asleep on Friday night,it appeared certain that Shiv Senaleader Uddhav Thackeray wouldbecome the State’s next ChiefMinister. But when Maharashtraand the rest of the country wokeup the following day, to our uttersurprise, Devendra Fadnavis wasback in power. Obviously, this wasdone after a pre-dawn revocationof President’s Rule that needed thePrime Minister to invoke specialpowers meant for emergencies,with Ajit Pawar offering theNCP’s support.
Ajit, whom Fadnavis hadonce termed the “epitome of cor-ruption” while promising to“never, never, never” tie up withthe NCP, took oath of office asDeputy Chief Minister. It nowlooks Ajit is the rebel with a causebut the reason for this rebellionis not ideological but glaringly“ED” logical. Or could it be thatRohit Pawar (grand nephew ofSharad Pawar) would be thepolitical heir of Sharad Pawar ?
KS Jayatheertha Bengaluru
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Sir — Protests by students at theBanaras Hindu University (BHU)over the appointment of FirozKhan as an Assistant Professor of
Sanskrit literature is a textbookexample of religious discrimina-tion. It not only reeks of prejudicebut also displays blatant intoler-ance. What does his faith have todo with his credentials as an ableSanskrit professor?
Moreover, by protestingagainst a valid appointment, pro-testers have done a disservice tosociety as a whole by driving awedge deeper between two reli-gious groups, who have beenstruggling to co-exist peacefully
for ages. Even though the protestshave been called off, one wonderswhy our political class main-tained silence.
Professor Khan was appoint-ed on merit and that should havebeen respected. Rather thanopposing his appointment, thestudents should have appreciat-ed the fact that even Muslims areconnected to the Sanskrit lan-guage, which currently has a neg-ligible presence in India.
Padmini Raghavendra Secunderabad
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Sir — It is indefensible that BJPMP from Bhopal, Pragya Thakur,has been appointed to a parlia-mentary consultative committeeon defence. One wonders if she isbeing honoured for the criminal-like acts she had committed in thepast. By doing so, the BJP is notsending the right message to thepeople. Instead of encouraging itsleaders to promote harmony, it ispromoting divisiveness.
In an article in these columns onSeptember 17 titled, Recoverywill take time, we discussed our
outlook on the Indian economy.Today, we will explain why it isimportant to recognise the differentcontours of the current economicslowdown and how the worst isprobably over and we’re looking ata recovery.
For starters, our initial forecastwas 4.9-5.3 per cent of the GrossDomestic Product (GDP) for thesecond quarter (Q2). The officialstatistics for the Q2 of the GDP willbe released on November 29 andtherefore, it is important to give ourfinal forecast for the same. At thetime of our initial prediction, we
didn’t have the Index of IndustrialProduction (IIP) data and other keyvariables such as the WholesalePrice Index (WPI) and ConsumerPrice Index (CPI) for September.This posed a challenge, as the pro-jection was based on our under-standing of what was likely to hap-pen to all these variables.
The September figures defied allexpectations of analysts as theywere weaker than anticipated.Though, assessment for these vari-ables was not off the mark, to somedegree, it was optimistic about ahealthy and swift recovery from thethird quarter (Q3) onwards. Whilerecovery has indeed started, it does-n’t appear to be as swift as anticipat-ed and we suspect our fourth quar-ter (Q4) figure will be slightly lowerthan seven per cent. Therefore, Q2may be lower than the initial assess-ment. We now have the additionalbenefit of data for October and thisgives us an advantage as we can seethe churn in economic activityfrom the first week itself.
Leading forecasters have revisedtheir Q2 projections to 4.2-4.5 percent and the consensus view appearsto be 4.4 per cent. However, as com-
pulsive contrarians, our forecastrange remains at 4.6-5.0 and webelieve the figure to be closer to 4.7per cent based on our assessment.Of course, predictions can go wrongand they really do. However, asthings stand, we believe that we areall too conservative and, therefore,growth may very likely surprise us.However, once the figures arereleased, politics is likely to followon what is a simple statisticalprocess. It is, therefore, important topre-empt the misinformation that islikely to be spread because of a sub-five per cent figure.
First things first, growth ingeneral happens in cycles, that is, attimes an economy grows fasterthan its potential and at other timesit grows marginally slower. This iswhat is known as business-cycles.Therefore, we are in a negative busi-ness cycle, induced primarilybecause of banking sector stress andthere have been measures to addressthis over the last couple of months.
However, one must recognisethat a few quarters of bad growthdon’t matter much in the largerscheme of things. That is, despite aslow start in the first half, the
annual growth rate is likely to be 6.1-6.3 per cent. The Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) expects the growth to beat 6.1 per cent, while several inter-national agencies, too, have a sim-ilar assessment. However, yet again,this assessment is based on a poorshow in the first half of the finan-cial year. As we get more data, a lotof these forecasts would be revised,but chances of a significant revisionare very small. A growth of 6.1 percent is not half as bad as many maybelieve it to be, for the simple rea-son that this growth came at a timewhen the economy witnessed acredit squeeze due to the shadow-banking crisis. Moreover, one can-not ignore the fact that the world isgoing through what theInternational Monetary Fund (IMF)has termed as a synchronised decel-eration of growth rate.
A lot of the global factors areinduced by trade-related uncer-tainties, which have dampenedinvestment and consumption inmany of our trading partners. Agrowth rate of 6.1 per cent may below but consider the fact that in2008, it was at 3.2 per cent and it wasbetween 5-6 per cent in 2011-2013.
Therefore, a single low growth yeardoes not imply an economic crisis.Instead it presents an opportunity toundertake decisions required toaddress some of the long-standingissues that curtailed India’s growthrates.
This is precisely the approachthat the Finance Ministry has takenas it has made several big-ticketannouncements over the last coupleof months. These decisions also sig-nal a big change in the understand-ing of the Government with respectto policymaking, primarily fiscalpolicies, as it reflects how econom-ic policymaking is not just limitedto the Budget.
The tax cuts are an excellentexample of the same. They wereannounced on September 20 andthe Bill for the same has beenplaced in the current Parliament ses-sion. This is the correct approachto address a slowdown, because eco-nomic policymaking is often moredriven by the need to manageexpectations. To tie the hands of akey player in a dynamic economyseverely limits the policy optionsavailable.
Apart from this, despite the con-
sensus among academics, policy-thinkers and financial journalists,privatisation nearly came to a haltpost 2003. This changed last-weekas the Finance Minister announcedthe decision of the Union Cabinetto privatise five Public SectorUndertakings (PSUs).
This makes it one of India’sbiggest attempts at privatisationand only the second attempt at thesame. It is worth mentioning howthe only other Government with asuccessful record of privatisationwas under Atal Bihari Vajpayee.Therefore, there does appear to bea broad economic thinking of theNDA, which is based on the prin-ciples of minimum Government,maximum governance.
To what extent will Modi 2.0succeed in privatisation depends ona lot of factors but the five compa-nies chosen do reveal the extent ofpolitical commitment towards thesame. The question is whether it willhappen before March or not.
If the Government wants to stayclose to its fiscal deficit target thenperhaps it would happen beforeMarch. However, this looksextremely difficult, given that it’s
nearly the end of November.Realistically speaking, the fiscaldeficit could be anywhere between3.6-4.0 per cent. However, it’s not acause for concern as the complianceeffect will predominantly feature innext year’s corporate tax collectionsand a higher growth should resultin buoyant revenue collections. Butthe process of tax-reforms is farfrom over unless we address the ele-phant in the room, which is theGoods and Services Tax (GST). Theneed of the hour is to come up witha comprehensive idea for a GST 2.0,which will streamline processes,address issues related to the techno-logical platform but more impor-tantly, put in place a simpler taxa-tion structure with a lesser numberof slabs and greater stability ofproducts under each of them.
Economies are complex andindeed, we may have underper-formed in the first half of the cur-rent fiscal year. However, with themoves taken, we are very likely toget back to a seven per cent level inthe next financial year.
(Bhasin is a New Delhi-basedpolicy researcher and Jhamb is aresearch associate with the RBI)
Almost all religions have sacred texts reveredby their followers. In a similar manner, fora Republic, the Constitution can be termed
as its sacred text. Today, as we observe the 70thanniversary of the signing of the IndianConstitution, which is also known as theConstitution Day as well as the National Law Day,it is time to look back at the stellar role of the insti-tution which gave birth to it. The ConstituentAssembly undertook this duty with unparalleleddedication, devotion, sincerity and enthusiasm overa period of 167 days, from December 9, 1946 toNovember 25, 1949.
While kings and kingdoms have dominatedIndian history for over two millennia, one cannotignore the fact that democracy was not whollyunknown, though not as advanced as in ancientRome. The Lichchavi State, with its capital atVaishali, was in all probability the earliest form ofa well-organised Republic. It was governed by anassembly of nobles with an elected president, whowas known as the nayak (leader). But this wassomething unique and rare as even our ancient lawsof Manu have only spoken of kings, their respon-sibilities, conduct and so on. At the same time, wehave had from times immemorial the grassroot-level institution of Panchayats in various Janpads(republics). The Panchayat was a very strong insti-tution and besides giving a voice at the local levelto the populace, it was able to ensure a certaindegree of orderliness and regulation. Similarly, theancient Buddhist Sanghas had their own parlia-ments. But history is a witness to the fact that overthe centuries, due to several factors, we lost thisdemocratic system.
On the other hand, as late as 1857, at the timeof the First War of Independence, the rebels couldnot think of anything else as an alternative to thecolonial masters but only reaffirmed their faith inthe last Mughal emperor. It would, therefore, besafe to infer that our political culture had remaineddeeply ingrained in the rule of kings and their obe-dience and subservience. Independence from colo-nial rule had a much different meaning for them.
With such a historical background, it wasindeed revolutionary to think of the Indiannation in terms of a democratic republic. But thestruggle for freedom had begun, which saw its cul-mination in the formation of the ConstituentAssembly and eventual attainment ofIndependence. It was Mahatma Gandhi, who in1922, during his famous speech on Swaraj (self-rule) stated, “When the settlement comes, it willratify the wishes of the people of India asexpressed through her freely-chosen representa-tives.” This concept was further strengthened byJawaharlal Nehru, who while delivering the pres-idential address at Lahore in December 1929, madeexplicit references to the drafting of a Constitution.As a follow-up, the idea of having a ConstituentAssembly was conceptualised for the first time in1933. Ultimately, in pursuance of the CabinetMission plan, the Constituent Assembly wasformed through indirect elections as it was felt thathaving a direct election would lead to a consider-able delay.
Though the Constituent Assembly came intobeing on December 9, 1946, its drafting commit-tee was elected only on August 29, 1947. One ofthe first things the president of the Assembly,Rajendra Prasad, did was to send BN Rau, the con-stitutional advisor to undertake a study of
Constitutions of several countries. Laterthese, along with the Government ofIndia Act, 1935, became the sources forour Constitution. BR Ambedkar defend-ed this by stating, “The charge of produc-ing a blind copy of the Constitutions ofother countries is based, on an inade-quate study. As to the accusation that thedraft Constitution has been produced asa good part of the provisions of theGovernment of India Act, 1935, I makeno apologies. None holds patent rightsfor fundamental ideas of a Constitution.”
One of the most important and sem-inal decisions of the ConstituentAssembly was to ensure that we followeda democratic and a republican form ofGovernment. Inspired by the US presi-dential system and the BritishWestminster system, the Assemblypushed hard for vigorous debates regard-ing the adoption of either of the politi-cal systems. The presidential system,which has a non-parliamentaryExecutive, was advocated by socialists likeKT Shah. BR Ambedkar, on the otherhand, vouched for a system that wouldmake the Executive responsible to theParliament. This was supported by KMMunshi, Nehru and others.
In the absence of a writtenConstitution, the British system, whichfunctions on established conventions, isnaturally dominated by the legislature.Thanks to the Constituent Assembly, inour country, each functioning constitu-tional institution drew its strength fromthe written Constitution.
Such constitutional institutions havebeen considered to be the pilots of con-stitutional norms. The luminaries in theConstituent Assembly specifically under-lined the importance of institutionalindependence of such bodies andemphasised upon their importance forpreservation of democracy. Two of ourimmediate neighbours, who did not giveany importance to such institutions, havesuffered rapid changes in the structure
of the Government and its consequences.Despite the progress, movement for-
ward and social changes brought in bythe generational change and times, itseems to be of concurring relevance torefer to the debates in the ConstituentAssembly, so as to better appreciate cer-tain constitutional issues. The extent ofadmissibility of the Constituent Assemblyand the Lok Sabha debates has evolvedover a period of time. In the Golaknathcase, out of the 11 judges, two pro-nounced such debates as inadmissiblewhile interpreting Article 368. Theremaining judges did make a referenceto the debate without pronouncing on theadmissibility. This view has since under-gone a change as in Kesavananda Bharati,it was suggested that the most sensibleapproach would be to look at the debatesto ascertain the intention of the mem-ber and see whether it is of any help inthat situation. To that extent, thesedebates remain relevant for the purpos-es of interpreting the Constitution, par-ticularly as and when an amendmentcomes before the Supreme Court toadjudge its vires.
The relevance of ConstituentAssembly debates arises from the fact thata number of useful suggestions weremade by the then members, which hadnot been accepted at that time but havenow been incorporated through amend-ments.
For instance, the ElectionCommission (EC) consists of a ChiefElection Commissioner (CEC) and twoElection Commissioners at present.Prior to 1989, it was headed only by theCEC. During the debate in theConstituent Assembly it was argued byShibban Lai Saksena, “It will be far moreeconomical and useful if a permanent ECis appointed; not only the CEC but threeor five members of the Commission whoshould be permanent and who shouldconduct the elections. I do not think thatthere will be lack of work because all the
elections will not synchronise but theywill be at varying times in accordancewith the vote of no-confidence passed invarious Legislatures. This Commissionshould be permanent and all theCommissioners should be appointed inthe same manner as the CEC. Theyshould all be appointed by a two-thirdmajority of the Legislature and beremovable in the same manner.” Howprophetic he was.
The appointment and removal of thecurrent Election Commissioners hasindeed been a point of debate as they canbe removed from office on the recom-mendations of the CEC to the President,whereas the CEC’s removal wouldrequire a parliamentary procedure. Yetanother fundamental provision intro-duced by the Constituent Assembly inthe draft was on universal adult suffrageas a right. This provision was far moreprogressive than even some of the moreadvanced countries. This measure alonewas instrumental in immediately bring-ing about a realisation among severalpolitical and social groups that they hadbecome political forces to reckon with.
The members of the ConstituentAssembly had given us this sacred doc-ument but the intent was never to keepit frozen. It has remained an organic enti-ty, which has been amended from timeto time as per procedures. So far therehave been three serious attempts atreviewing the Constitution through theSarkaria Commission (1987), theVenkatachaliah Commission (2002) andMM Punchhi Commission (2008). Inspite of their significant contributions, thepolitics of the day has prevailed.
In the present atmosphere of com-petitive politics, it is almost impossibleto even dream of such a great collectiveeffort at nation-building as achieved bythe Constituent Assembly.
(The author is a former Governor anda Senior Adviser at the Pranab MukherjeeFoundation)
Equity benchmark Sensexsurged nearly 530 points to
scale a new closing peak of40,889.23 on Monday, buoyedby renewed optimism over US-China trade deal andGovernment’s divestment mea-sures to curb fiscal deficit.
Further, reconstruction ofSensex indices and hopes ofrate cut by the Reserve Bank inthe upcoming monetary poli-cy meet also boosted investorsentiment.
Investor wealth rose �1.81lakh crore driven by a strongrally in the broader marketwhere the BSE benchmarksurged 530 points.
Starting on a positive note,the 30-share BSE index went onto touch its record intra-dayhigh of 40,931.71, before final-ly settling 529.82 points, or 1.31per cent, higher at 40,889.23 —
its all-time closing peak.Likewise, the broader NSE
Nifty closed with a gain of159.35 points, or 1.34 per cent,at 12,073.75 — just shy of itslife-time closing high.
Sectorally, BSE telecomindex zoomed nearly 7 per centon the BSE, lifted by a positivesentiment in the sector in thewake of government’s reliefmeasures and plans to raise tar-iffs by telcos.
Following suit, the metalindex too rose over 3 per centon hopes that the US andChina may strike an early dealto break the logjam in theirtrade war negotiations.
Besides, a sign of revival indemand, especially in auto,FMCG and other consumerdriven sectors, saw respectivesectoral indices rising.
All sectoral indices closedwith gains.
In the Sensex pack, Bharti
Airtel was the top gainer, ral-lying over 7.20 per cent, fol-lowed by Tata Steel 4.99 percent, IndusInd Bank 3.49 percent, Axis Bank 3.26 per centand Vedanta Ltd 2.57 per cent.
Barring ONGC and YesBank, all Sensex constituentsclosed in the green.
“Cues that US and Chinawill conclude a deal by nextmonth lifted the sentimentacross the globe.Reconstruction of Sensexindices and new developmentsover divestment to curb fiscal
deficit provided confidence inIndian market. Expectations offurther cut in interest rate byRBI, gave advantage to rate sen-sitive stocks,” Vinod Nair, Headof Research at Geojit FinancialServices, said.
In the biggest privatisationdrive ever, the Union Cabinetlast week approved sale of gov-ernment’s stake in blue-chip oilfirm BPCL, shipping firm SCIand onland cargo moverConcor as well as decided tocut shareholding in select pub-lic sector firms below 51 per
cent to boost revenue collec-tions that have been hit byslowing economy.
Analysts are of the viewthat a trade pact between theUS and China is likely by theend of December 2019 afterpositive statements made byboth sides last week.
Further, they said that sen-timent got a boost from FIIspreferring emerging marketssuch as India as the recent easymonetary stance of US Fed andECB has improved liquidity inworld markets. Bourses inShanghai, Hong Kong, Seouland Tokyo were trading up to1.50 per cent higher. Stocks inEurope were also trading on apositive note.
On the currency front, therupee was flat against the USdollar at 71.71.
Brent futures, the global oilbenchmark, rose 0.11 per centto $62.44 per barrel.
Around 12.23 lakh jobs werecreated in September as
compared to 13.38 lakh inAugust 2019, according to thepayroll data of Employees’ StateInsurance Corporation (ESIC).
Gross enrolments of newsubscribers with the ESIC were1.49 crore during the entire2018-19 fiscal, the NationalStatistical Office (NSO) said ina report.
It also showed that duringSeptember 2017 to September2019, around 3.10 crore newsubscribers joined the ESICscheme.
The NSO report is basedon the payroll data of new sub-scribers of various social secu-
rity schemes run by the ESIC,retirement fund body EPFOand the Pension FundRegulatory and DevelopmentAuthority (PFRDA).
It has been releasing thepayroll data or new subscribersdata of these three bodies sinceApril 2018, covering a periodstarting from September 2017.
The report showed thatgross new enrolments with theESIC during September 2017 toMarch 2018 were 83.35 lakh.
A net of 9.98 lakh newenrolments with theEmployees’ Provident FundOrganisation (EPFO) wererecorded in September, as com-pared to 9.41 lakh in Augustthis year.
During 2018-19, 61.12 lakh
new subscribers on a net basisjoined the social securityschemes run by the EPFO.Similarly, the net new enrol-ments were 15.52 lakh duringSeptember 2017 to March2018.
It showed that duringSeptember 2017 to September2019, around 2.85 crore newsubscribers joined the EPFscheme. The report said thatsince the number of subscribersare from various sources, thereare elements of overlap and theestimates are not additive.
The NSO said the presentreport gives different perspec-tives on the levels of employ-ment in the formal sector anddoes not measure employmentat a holistic level.
The rupee on Monday set-tled 3 paise lower at 71.74
per US dollar in line withweaker key global currenciesagainst the greenback, despitea strong rally in financial mar-kets on renewed hopes of tradetruce between Washington andBeijing.
After opening on a positivenote, the Indian unit traded flatfor a better part of the sessionbefore slipping into a negativeterritory. It finally settled at71.74, registering a loss of 3paise over its previous close.
The Indian currency over-looked a host of encouragingfactors including positive newon the US-China trade deal
front, Indian government’s dis-investment steps to curb fiscaldeficit and robust foreign fundinflows.
Experts said the rupeeweakened mainly trackingstrengthening of US dollaragainst the key global curren-cies.
On the equities front, the30-share BSE Sensex ended529.82 points, or 1.31 per cent,higher at 40,889.23. Similarly,the broader NSE Nifty settledjust shy of its life-time closinghigh, up 159.35 points, or 1.34per cent, at 12,073.75.
Foreign investors boughtequities worth �960.90 crore onMonday, as per provisionaldata available with stocksexchanges.
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To allow bankruptcy pro-ceedings against non-bank-
ing financial companies(NBFCs) is positive for banksas its paves the way for order-ly resolution of stressed shad-ow banks, says a report.
The Government recentlyempowered RBI to referstressed NBFCs and HFCswith assets worth of at least Rs500 crore to insolvency courtsafter notifying Section 227 ofthe Insolvency and BankruptcyCode. Prior to this, the onlyresolution framework avail-able for stressed NBFCs wasliquidation and with this DHFL
is set to become the first HFCto go to a bankruptcy court.
“Inclusion of NBFCs intothe bankruptcy code is creditpositive for banks (NBFCs’biggest source of funds)because IBC provides for theorderly resolution of a stressedNBFC company,” rating agencyMoody’s said in a report onMonday.
Section 227 of IBCempowers the government tonotify, in consultation withfinancial sector regulators, forinsolvency and liquidation pro-ceedings. The section specifiesthat on the Reserve Bank caninitiate the bankruptcy processfor an NBFC/HFC.
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The Mumbai NCLT onMonday ordered the CEOs
of Axis Bank and StanChartBank to be personally presentat the next hearing onDecember 16 in a case relatingto the IL&FS fraud, failingwhich it threatened to get non-bailable warrants issued againstthem.
An NCLT bench headed byBhaskara Pantula Mohanissued the ultimatum whilehearing a contempt petitionagainst Amitabh Chaudhry
and Zarin Daruwala of AxisBank and StanChart India,respectively, for not being per-sonally attending the hearingsso far. However, bank sourcessaid they have never beendirected by the tribunal to bepresent for the hearing andhinted at moving a reviewpetition against the personalappearance of their CEOs.
An Axis Bank spokesper-son denied that that the bankis in contempt of the tribunalorder as it has not recieved anysuch notice so far.
“The matter pertains tooperations of accounts (held byIL&FS Financial Services’ ex-MD Ramesh Bawa and hisfamily) with our branch. Thebank has high respect for all
court/ tribunal orders. Bankdenies the allegations and onreceipt of the NCLT order, wewill take appropriate steps,”Axis Bank said in a statementto PTI.
Similarly, StandardChartered India spokespersonalso said, “we are yet to receivethe copy of the NCLT order.Upon review of the contents ofthe tribunal order, we willdecide the way forward.”
The tribunal has fixed thenext date of hearing onDecember 16 and askedChaudhry and Daruwala to bepresent and noted that boththese bankers never presentedthemselves before the benchsince the issue surfaced lastDecember.
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With the Cabinet allowingtelecom operators to
defer payments due for air-waves bought via auction untilthe end of March 2022, a com-mittee of secretaries constitut-ed to look at relief package forthe debt-laden and loss-makingsector has been wound-up, atop source said.
The Committee ofSecretaries under CabinetSecretary Rajiv Gauba was lastmonth constituted to examine“all aspects” of “financial stress”faced by service providers suchas Bharti Airtel and Vodafone-Idea Ltd and suggest measuresto mitigate them.
The panel was constitutedshortly after the Supreme Courtupheld the Government’s posi-tion on including revenue fromnon-telecommunication busi-nesses in calculating the annu-al adjusted gross revenue(AGR) of telecom companies,a share of which is paid aslicence and spectrum fee to theexchequer.
The source replied in affir-mative when asked if the CoShas been disbanded now.
The CoS, he said, heldseveral meetings to discuss theextent of help the governmentcould offer and made its rec-ommendations to the govern-ment earlier this month.
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Media mogul SubhashChandra has resigned as
chairman of his flagship com-pany Zee EntertainmentEnterprises Ltd (ZEEL), withimmediate effect.
While accepting his resig-nation, the board said this is inline with the Sebi ListingRegulations that prohibit chair-person of the board from beingrelated to the managing direc-tor or the chief executive offi-cer of the company, ZEEL saidin a regulatory filing onMonday.
The firm also said its boardhas been reconstituted andthree new independent direc-tors R Gopalan, Surendra Singhand Aparajita Jain have beenappointed in lieu of two inde-pendent and one nomineedirectors of Essel Group, pro-moter of Zee Entertainment.
The reconstituted boardconsists of six independentdirectors and two membersfrom the Essel Group.
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Apple is now making itsiPhone XR in India for
domestic market and exports,while one of its suppliers,Salcomp, will invest �2,000crore over the next five years tomake components at a plant insouthern India from March2020, IT Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad said on Monday.
Prasad said Salcomp, theworld’s largest manufacturerand a major supplier of charg-ers to Apple for iPhone, hasreached agreement to take overthe closed facility of Nokia ina SEZ near Chennai.
The facility, which has beenclosed for nearly 10 years, willbe revived and made opera-tional from March 2020.
The unit will producecharger and other equipment,and will boast of a diversifiedportfolio of products. This will entail an investmentof �2,000 crore in five years, hesaid.
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Public sector trading firmMMTC, which has been
tasked to import onion onbehalf of the Centre to coolprices, has contracted to import6,090 tonnes from Egypt, andthe edible bulb will be suppliedto states in a price range of �52-60 per kg.
Last week, the UnionCabinet decided to import 1.2lakh tonnes of onions toimprove the domestic supply
and control prices, whichtouched �100 per kg earlier thismonth.
Retail prices are ruling ataround �70 per kg in thenational capital.
“MMTC has placed orderfor the first consignment of6,090 tonnes of onions fromEgypt which will be arriving atNhava Sheva (JNPT), Mumbai.The Onions are being offeredto state governments for dis-tribution at the rate of �52-55per kiloaram ex-Mumbai andwill also be made available atthe rate of �60 per kilogram ex-Delhi,” an official statementsaid.
London: Transport for London(TfL), the governing body forthe UK capital’s transport net-work, on Monday refused torenew taxi hailing firm Uber’slicense to operate in the citybecause of safety and securityconcerns. TfL said the US-headquartered taxi app wasnot “fit and proper” as a licenceholder despite having made anumber of positive changes toits operations.
“Transport for London(TfL) has concluded that it willnot grant Uber LondonLimited (Uber) a new privatehire operator’s licence inresponse to its latest applica-tion,” it said in a statement.PTI
New Delhi: DHFL shares fellover 1 per cent on Mondayafter the company said it willnot be able to declare financialresults on the scheduled date.
The scrip, which tanked4.95 per cent to �21.10 on theBSE during the day, recoveredsome of the losses and closedat �22.05, down 0.68 per cent.
At the NSE, it fell 1.12 percent to close at �21.95. In termsof traded volume, 13.74 lakhshares of the company weretraded on the BSE during theday, while over 1 crore shareswere traded on the NSE. PTI
Winters are not just about braving the chill in the air and step-ping out of your cosy blanket. It is also about preparing
yourself from various diseases as winter also brings with itselfa host of illnesses, which make your child’s health go for a toss.So, before the illnesses knock on your door, a mother should knowhow to deal with tonsils, acute ear infection and bronchitis thatare quite prevalent in winter.
TonsilsThe padded tissues at the back of the mouth in oval shape
are tonsils and inflammation of the same is called tonsillitis.Functioning as filters, tonsils prevents bacteria from entering theairway, causing infection. The inflammation is caused by bac-teria and viral infections showcasing symptoms of sore throat,inflamed tonsils, fever and difficulty in swallowing. It’s very com-mon in children and some measures can prove beneficial.Gargling with salt hot water is an old and effective way of treat-ing. If the condition worsens, consulting a doctor would be help-ful.
Acute Ear InfectionMostly caused by cold, ear
infections are common and chil-dren below the age of five aresusceptible to it. Known as oti-tis media, the ear infection of themiddle ear is caused by inflam-mation. As compared to adults,children have a narrow eustachi-an tube. This tube connects theback of the throat with the mid-dle ear, allowing bacteria toswell the tube due to cold. Thesymptoms are unexplained fever,trouble in sleeping, loss ofappetite, irritability or fluidcoming out of the ear. It’s best toconsult a doctor as soon as pos-sible. Based on the age of thechild, the doctor will design acourse of action.
Maintaining proper hygienereduces the chances of getting acold. However, the bacteria oftenfind its way. It’s best to keep thechildren indoors and hydrated to
lessen the effects.BronchitisInflammation of breathing tubes in the lungs is known as
bronchitis. Caused by viral infections, the symptoms start appear-ing after cold. These symptoms are cough, runny nose, sore throat,muscle aches and mild fever. Other causes involve allergic to dustand in some cases asthma. In the beginning, the cough may bedry eventually turning to yellow-green mucus. It blocks the nasalpassageway making hard to breathe. Mostly, the situationimproves on its own but there are home remedies are here tothe rescue.
Drinking plenty of hot fluids will soothe the throat, it willencourage coughing which is a natural way of getting rid of themucus. Straight from the grandmother’s kitty of home remedies,ginger-honey mix is known to be very effective. It can be takenwith warm water or in the form of tea. Other than these reme-dies, a steam bath can decongest the chest and warm compres-sions at the time of sleeping. Medicines for cough and fever mayhelp.
�7���� �����0 The sweet potato is a nutritious rootvegetable. Sweet potatoes are highly rich in beta-carotene
and Vitamin A. Vitamin A is essential in helping the bodyfight off infections, and remain resistant to any furtherinfections. It also help to boost immunity.
They are also rich in fibers and magnesium that are criticalin the prevention and management of Diabetes. The vegetablealso have a moderately low glycemic index that also aids in theregulation of blood glucose levels. It also help manage stress lev-els.
Choline, present in sweetpotatoes, is a very importantnutrient; it helps with sleep,muscle movement, learn-ing, and memory. Italso helps to main-tain the structureof cellular mem-branes, aids inthe transmission ofnerve impulses, assists in the absorption of fatand reduces chronic inflammation. Apart from all the health ben-efits sweet potatoes also known for maintaing the skin’s glow andpromotes hair growth.
reveals an alarmingincrease in eye-related ail-ments among Indian children under 12years of age. Young children in Indiaspend close to 14 hours indoors, underartificial light and in front of multiplescreens. This growing health concernamongst children is compounded by a lackof concern from their parents, with only46% of them getting their child’s eyes test-ed regularly..
As per ophthalmologists in India,poor lighting, too much screen time andlack of green vegetables in diet emergedas the leading factors that can negativelyimpact eyesight in children under 12years. 58% of ophthalmologists surveyedrecommended limiting screen time, aschildren of this age group are especiallyvulnerable and increased screen exposurecan have a long-term impact on their eye-sight.
An overwhelming majority of oph-thalmologists (90%) agreed that lightingcan play an important role in maintain-ing eye health and that flicker, too muchbrightness and incorrect positioning oflight source can hurt eyes in the long term.This is also substantiated by parents, with89% of them agreeing that lighting has adirect impact on their child’s ability to con-centrate on tasks and 92% of them wouldbe willing to pay more for lighting prod-ucts if they knew it would improve theirchild’s overall sense of well-being.
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Winter months bringsits own set of prob-lems. The most com-
mon problem that the seasonbrings is dry and cracked heels.These not only look ugly, butthey can be extremelypainful if leftuntreated. Hereare some homeremedies that onecan use to ensurethat the heels aresmooth and beau-tiful all through theyear.
First, use oils likesesame, olive or coconut oil tomoisture for feet every night.
Second, rice flour is anoth-er great way to get rid ofcracked heels. It makes for anexfoliating scrub. Take threetablespoons of rice flour, twoteaspoons of honey, one or twotablespoons of apple cider vine-
gar, a few drops of olive oil(optional) and warm water
You soak your feet in warmwater for 15 minutes; removedead skin cells and dry with a
towel. Add apple cider vine-gar and honey to the rice
flour to make a thickpaste. Add olive oiland mix well.Apply this mixtureto your heels andyou rub gently.
Massage your feetfor 10 minutes and
wash with warm water.Do this everyday till cracks
disappear.Use baking soda. Fill a
bucket with warm waterand add baking soda. Soakyour feet in this for 10minutes. Scrub feet gentlywith pumice stone. Rinsefeet with clean water. Dothis twice a week.
Cracked and dry heels can beextremely painful and are acommon problem during wintermonths. ROSHANI DEVI listssome home remedies that canhelp treat it without costing abomb
Wound healing events in mucous tis-sues during early infection by Simian
Immunodeficiency Virus, or SIV, guardsome primate species against developingAIDS, a new study has learned.
The research, published in thejournal Nature Communications,looked at why certain speciescan carry the virus throughouttheir lives, and still avoid dis-ease progression.
The SIV is closely related tothe Human ImmunodeficiencyVirus (HIV). It is used as a laborato-ry model for many studies seeking AIDSand HIV cures and preventions.
“We think the regenerative woundhealing process likely preserves the tissueintegrity, and could prevent the inflamma-tory insults that underlie immune exhaus-tion, cell death and AIDS that happen dueto SIV or HIV infection,” said study
researcher Michael Gale, Professor at theUniversity of Washington in the US.
In this latest study, scientists sought touncover, in natural hosts, successful virus-
fighting tactics that could inform thedesign of better antiviral drugs to
treat HIV in people.The research team combined
data from their experiments andfrom other published studies togenerate their findings.
The researchers explained thatboth HIV and SIV infect immune
cells called T helper cells. These cells areabundant in the intestine and in specialisedtissues elsewhere in the body.
The researchers found that, in contrast,African green monkeys in the early stagesof SIV infection quickly activate andmaintain regenerative wound healingmechanism in their mucosal tissue.
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It is imperative to highlight care for newborns.Some that are often overlooked are eyes and
vision. Eye health screening is mandatory forall newborns soon after birth. Pre-terms needmuch more.
It is difficult to know eye problem at birth.Eye problems of newborns are silent. For exam-ple, how can you detect blur vision in a baby?Common eye problems include congenitalcataract, glaucoma, retinal problems likeRetinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), hereditarydisorders, tumors (especially eye cancer calledRetinoblastoma) and others.
Importance of newborn screening:Newborn eye diseases can cause irreversiblevision loss. Poor visual inputs lead to severedevelopmental delays, socioeconomic and emo-tional devastation too. Treatment is oftendelayed as disease is detected often late by whichtime the damage is irreversible.
Eye exam for all risk category newborns: �A torch light examination after gently
opening the eyelids. This helps to detect anyproblems of outer parts of eyeball.
�Red Glow Test done in a dark room,preferably 15 minutes after putting 1 per centTropicamide eye drop that help to dilate thepupils and give a peek of what is happeningbehind. Digital camera/cellphone camera/Ophthalmoscopes can be used.
A bright red glow within the black part ofthe eye is usually normal. A white or yellow orabsent red glow is abnormal and signifies seri-ous eye problem.
These two tests will detect 80 per cent of seri-ous eye problems of newborns. This will notdetect rare diseases of the eye or early stages ofRetinoblastoma and ROP.
Moderate risk category newborns: Thenewborn can have problem, if a blood relativehas suffered an eye problem in their early yearsof life as these eye problems are genetic. An accu-rate diagnosis of the affected child/family mem-ber is essential.
Genetic counselling about risks to unbornchild is ideal before getting pregnant. InRetinoblastoma or familial exudative vitreo-retinopathy (FEVR) — rare, serious problem),one may terminate pregnancy by 34 weeks. It iscritical to get a detailed retinal examination with-in 24 hours to provide the best treatment as fetalscan may not detect early disease. TIFFA fetalultrasound may detect some eye problems inunborn child, starting at 18-20 weeks of preg-nancy.
High risk category newborns: High-riskbabies should have additional retinal testing donefor ROP within 30 days of birth.
Treatment: The baby may need immediatelaser treatment for ROP. Parents should be pre-pared for this emergency. Laser treatment takes2-6 hours. Treatments are done under topicalanaesthesia (numbing eye drops).
Some need surgery under general anaesthe-sia. Giving general anaesthesia to tiny babies isrisky and parents sometimes get nervous whenasked to sign high-risk surgical consent form anddeny treatment to the baby. Family and medicalprofessionals need to team together to counterrisks and provide timely treatment.
Gaps to be filled: Development of low costretinal camera used by a health care worker willbe a game changer. Including newborn eyescreening in curriculum of all health workers andmedia campaigns by Governments/policy mak-ers will provide the scale and substance.
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Chronic ObstructivePulmonary Disease (COPD)is turning out to be deadliest
disease that people in India has faced— according to estimates it led toaround 13 per cent of all deaths in2016. The harrowing fact is that itcannot be cured. There was a timewhen India faced the problem ofcommunicable diseases such astuberculosis, malaria and HIV AIDSand we somehow conquered them.Now, the onslaught of non-commu-nicable diseases can be seen andCOPD is one of them.
The second highest killer inIndia after heart diseases, instancesof COPD are increasing with theincrease in pollution levels aroundthe country. Commonest cause ofCOPD is still smoking and thencomes the second smoke or passivesmoking. After these two comes thefumes from diesel and dust that areleading to the increasing number ofcases. People working in factoryareas where there are chimneys andfactory areas with toxic fumes orharmful particles are highlyexposed to the causes. In India,most COPD cases are because ofnon-smoking risk factors.
North India has the highestprevalence followed by Kerala andKarnataka. Use of biomass fuel andsmoking as a culture are some ofthe causes behind the high preva-lence in northern parts of thecountry. Then we have high air pol-lution in Delhi caused by stubbleburning in Punjab. The wind direc-tion, takes the pollution fromPunjab to the entire Gangetic belt.
Air pollution in Delhi has shortterm and long term loses. Shortterm is if you are asthmatic or getallergy often then asthma gets pre-cipitated and converts into severelung infection. Long term and per-sistent exposure to this pollution
leads to decreasing capacity of thelungs, even if you are not smoking.Basically, COPD leads to decreasein breathing space in lungs as thelung’s functional area decreasesbecause pollution has covered it.
In fact, a study done in 2011found that most of the COPD inIndia is not associated with tobac-co smoking, and, in fact, in ruralareas around 85 per cent of COPDin that population was cause by
non-smoking risk factors. Fumesthat we never think of doing harmare also responsible such as dhoopand agarbatti. One mosquito coil isequal to 100 cigarettes, and it is nor-mally used in Indian houses.Imagine, the kind of harmful smokethat goes inside the body everynight; it is equal to air pollution incities like Delhi.
Common symptoms of thedisease are constant coughing,wheezing and shortness of breath.The lungs of a COPD patient turnblack and cannot be cleaned.However, progression of the diseasecan be stopped and proper drugscan improve the quality of life byeasing out the symptoms.
To avoid the disease, the onlysolution is to live a healthy life. Incities, it becomes difficult to findplaces where you can walk every-day or do deep breath exercises.Inhalation therapy is the best wayto tackle it and one must do it ingreener areas that provide cleanair. Pranayam and deep breathingexercises are the best ways to tack-le it. It helps in strengthening thebreathing muscles, and if lungs arehealthy, then chances of gettingCOPD are less. In areas that arepolluted one should wear qualitymasks or use wet handkerchief tocover their noses. Some air puri-fiers can also be used though theyare not hundred per cent effective.There are two types of purifiers —HEPA filter and ionic — but ionicpurifiers have their own disadvan-tages of cancer and radiation.One should not leave the ionicpurifier on in one’s absence.People can visit oxygen bars also;as pure oxygen even for a shorttime makes the lung functionbetter and helps in reducing thedamage caused to the lungs.
In a rare move, US DefenceSecretary Mark Esper has
fired Navy chief RichardSpencer over his handling of aNavy SEAL’s case that has pit-ted military leaders againstPresident Donald Trump.
The case is related toEdward Gallagher, who wasconvicted for posing with acorpse in Iraq in 2017. For thatGallagher was demoted, butPresident Trump later rein-stated his rank.
Tump intervened in hiscase and issued a pardon onNovember 15. Trump hasdrawn criticism from parts of the military after par-doning Army officers convict-ed of war crimes. Esper onSunday said he lost confidencein Spencer after finding out thenavy chief had tried to end thedispute behind his back.
“I am deeply troubled bythis conduct shown by a seniorDOD (Department of Defence)official,” Esper said in a state-ment. “Unfortunately, as aresult I have determined that(Navy) Secretary Spencer nolonger has my confidence tocontinue in his position. I wishRichard well,” he said.
According to Pentagonspokesman Jonathan Hoffman,the Defence Secretary asked forthe resignation of Spencer afterlosing trust and confidence inhim regarding his lack of can-dour over conversations withthe White House involvingGallagher.
Esper and Chairman ofthe Joint Chiefs of StaffChairman Mark Milley spokewith President Donald Trumpon Friday about Gallagher’scase. Gallagher was acquitted inhis court martial of war crimescharges that included shootingcivilians, murdering a cap-tured ISIS fighter.
He was convicted of thelesser charge of posing with thecorpse. During the conversa-tion, Esper learned that Spencerhad previously and privatelyproposed to the White House— contrary to Spencer’s publicposition — to restoreGallagher’s rank and allow himto retire with his Trident pin,the special warfare insignia.
Trump supported the deci-sion of his Defence Secretary.
“I was not pleased with theway that Navy Seal EddieGallagher’s trial was handled bythe Navy. He was treated verybadly but, despite this, wascompletely exonerated on allmajor charges. I then restoredEddie’s rank,” he said in atweet. “Likewise, large costoverruns from past adminis-tration’s contracting proce-dures were not addressed to mysatisfaction. Therefore,Secretary of the Navy RichardSpencer’s services have beenterminated by Secretary ofDefence Mark Esper,” Trumptweeted.
“I thank Richard for hisservice and commitment.Eddie will retire peacefullywith all of the honors that hehas earned, including hisTrident Pin,” he said. Trumpannounced that he will nomi-nate US Ambassador toNorway Kenneth Braithwaiteto replace Spencer.
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The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guardthreatened the US and its allies Monday as
he addressed a pro-government demonstrationattended by tens of thousands of peopledenouncing last week’s violent protests over afuel price hike.
Gen. Hossein Salami, echoing other Iranianofficials, accused the US, Britain, Israel and SaudiArabia of stoking the unrest. He said the rise ingasoline prices was a “mere pretext” for an attackon the nation.
“If you cross our red line, we will destroyyou,” he said.
“We will not leave any move unanswered.”He said if Iran decides to respond, “the enemy
will not have security anywhere,” adding that“our patience has a limit.”
Amnesty International says more than 100people were killed in the protests.
Iran has not released a death toll and cut offinternet for several days, making it difficult to ascertain the extent and severity ofthe demonstrations.
At the pro-government rally, which state TVreferred to as the “Rise of the people of Tehranagainst riots,” protesters carried signs bearing tra-ditional anti-US slogans.
But speakers also criticized President HassanRouhani’s administration for the way the fuelprice hike was implemented, even as they calledfor capital punishment for rioters and furtherrestrictions on social media platforms.
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Australian Prime MinisterScott Morrison said on
Monday that allegations of aChinese plot to plant an agentinto Australia’s Parliament are“deeply disturbing and trou-bling.” The Nine Network onSunday aired explosive accusa-tions that suspected Chineseoperatives had offeredMelbourne luxury car dealer Bo“Nick” Zhao 1 millionAustralian dollars (USD6,79,000) to run as a candidatefor a parliamentary seat inMelbourne.
The 32-year-old was founddead in a Melbourne hotel roomin March after reportedlyapproaching ASIO, Australia’scounterespionage agency. Policehave been unable to determinehow he died. “The Governmenthas never been more deter-mined to keep Australians freeand safe from foreign interfer-ence,” Morrison told reporters.
“I would caution anyoneleaping to any conclusions aboutthese matters.” ASIO director-general of security Mike Burgesssaid late Sunday that the allega-tions are serious. “Hostile foreignintelligence activity continues topose a real threat to our nationand its security,” he said.
“ASIO will continue to con-front and counter foreign inter-ference and espionage inAustralia.”
Beijing: China on Mondayaccused the US of trying todrive a wedge in ties with its all-weather ally Pakistan by repeat-edly raising the debt clauses inthe construction of the USD 60billion China PakistanEconomic Corridor (CPEC).
The CPEC is a plannednetwork of roads, railways andenergy projects linking China’sresource-rich Xinjiang UyghurAutonomous Region withPakistan’s strategic GwadarPort on the Arabian Sea.
The project was launched in2015 when Chinese President XiJinping visited Islamabad and itnow envisages investment ofover USD 60 billion in different
infrastructure projects of devel-opment in Pakistan.
“The US ignores the factsand continues to use the so-called debt issue to disrupt theCPEC development and drive awedge between China andPakistan. This is so maliciousand ill-intentioned,” ChineseForeign Ministry SpokesmanGeng Shuang told a media brief-ing here while responding toUS’s top diplomat for South andCentral Asia Alice Wells criti-cising the CPEC and China’s Beltand Road Initiative (BRI).
Wells last week said theCPEC would take a toll onPakistan’s economy in future.
“I think what CPEC exem-
plifies is what happens whenyou de-link investment anddevelopment from establishedbest practices and infrastruc-ture development,” Wells said.
According to Wells, there’sbeen a tendency to conflate theCPEC with grant assistancerather than understanding it tobe the loans, and loans not atconcessional rates, that it is.
“We want China to be aresponsible supporter and fun-der of infrastructure. No onecountry can do that. We allneed to help work to ensurethat countries have meaningfulchoices for sustainable and quality infrastructure,”Wells said.
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Hong Kong’s deeply unpop-ular leader vowed Monday
to “listen humbly” to voters afterthe pro-democracy camp scoreda crushing victory in commu-nity-level elections that revealedbroad public support for aprotest movement that hasstirred months of violence.
In a rout that stunned thesemi-autonomous territory,candidates seeking to loosencontrol by China seized anoverwhelming majority of the452 elected seats in the city’s 18district councils, bodies thathave historically been firmly inthe grip of a Beijing-alignedestablishment.
The result, the first vote tobe held since protests engulfedthe city, was a humiliating rebuketo Beijing and Chief ExecutiveCarrie Lam. She has stubbornlydismissed calls for politicalreform and repeatedly suggest-ed that a silent majority sup-
ported her administration andopposed the protest movement.
“The Government will cer-tainly listen humbly to citizens’opinions and reflect on themseriously,” Lam said in a state-ment issued by theGovernment. But she gave nospecifics on the likely response.
China’s Foreign Ministryspokesman Geng Shuang said
Beijing “resolutely supports”the leader and backs the policeand judiciary in Hong Kong in“punishing relevant violent andillegal behaviours”.
Singapore: Singapore onMonday invoked its contro-versial law against fake news forthe first time to order correc-tion of a Facebook post byProgress Singapore Party (PSP)member Brad Bowyer.
The Facebook post refersto an investment in theAmaravati city project inAndhra Pradesh and Singtel’sinvestment in Bharti Airtel.
“In a recent Facebook post,Mr Brad Bowyer implied thatthe Government was involvedin individual investment deci-sions of GIC and Temasek. Hewas issued with a CorrectionDirection under the Protectionfrom Online Falsehoods andManipulation (Pofma) Act on25 November 2019,” theMinistry of Finance, Singaporesaid in a statement
Bowyer’s November 13Facebook “contains clearly falsestatements of fact, and under-mines public trust in theGovernment”, the statementsaid. Singapore invoked thenew law as Bowyer’s Facebookpost implied that the govern-ment controls Temasek andGIC’s commercial decisions,which is false.
“GIC and Temasek operateon a commercial basis, and theGovernment is not involved intheir individual investmentdecisions,” the statement added.
In his Facebook post,Bowyer said “we also saw therecent canning of theAmaravati city project part ofthe S$4 billion already dumpedinto Andhra Pradesh by GLCsand related parties so India hasnot been so good an invest-ment choice after all…”
On its fact-checking web-site Factually, the governmentsaid that the post contains
implicit factual assertions thata substantial part of S$4 billioninvested in Andhra Pradesh wasput into the Amaravati project;and S$4 billion has been poor-ly invested (“dumped”) byGovernment-linked companies(“GLCs”) and related parties inAndhra Pradesh. “These arefalse,” it added.
Bowyer had put up a cor-rection note at the top of hisFacebook post saying that thepost “contains false statementsof fact”, along with a link to anarticle providing the correctfacts, The Straits Times report-ed. The Singapore Parliamentpassed Pofma in May and ittook effect on October 2.
The legislation allows thegovernment to decide whatinformation is listed as falsebased on two criteria: when afalse statement or announce-ment is issued, and when thisaction is considered to be ofpublic interest.
The legislation was passedamid criticism from oppo-nents and activists who con-sider it an attack on freedom ofexpression. IANS
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Defence Secretary MarkEsper said on Monday
that President Donald Trumpgave him a direct order to allowa Navy SEAL accused of warcrimes to retire without losinghis SEAL status.
Esper told reporters at thePentagon that Trump’s verbalorder was the reason Esperannounced on Sunday thatChief Petty Officer EdwardGallagher would be allowed toretire with his Trident Pin,retaining his status as a SEAL.
Last week Trump hadtweeted that he wantedGallagher to be allowed toretire as a SEAL, but Esper’scomments Monday revealedthat Trump had given thedefense secretary a direct orderto make this happen.
Gallagher was acquitted ofmurder in the stabbing death of
an Islamic State militant captivebut convicted of posing withthe corpse while in Iraq in2017. In his remarks, Esper alsoaccused Navy SecretaryRichard Spencer of secretlyoffering to the White House torig the Navy disciplinaryprocess to ensure the Gallaghernot lose his Trident.
Esper fired Spencer onSunday, saying he has lost trustin him.
Spencer has not respond-ed to requests for comment onEsper’s accusation.
In announcing Sunday thathe had dismissed Spencer,Esper said he acted after learn-ing of Spencer’s secret plan toguarantee the outcome of aNavy SEAL peer-review boardthat was scheduled to conveneDecember 2 with the goal ofrecommending whetherGallagher should be allowed toretain his Trident.
happens”, Chinese ForeignMinister Wang Yi said onMonday, with the crisis-hitcity’s pro-democracy lookingset for a crushing victory incommunity-level elections atthe weekend.
The results of Sunday’selections in the semi-autonomous city have sent theBeijing-backed government aclear message of public supportfor the demands of a protestmovement that has gripped theterritory for months.
Counting was still underway following record turnout,but partial results indicated thatcandidates favouring greaterdemocracy were on course toseize a shock majority of the nor-mally establishment-dominated18 district councils.
“It’s not the final result yet.Let’s wait for the final result,OK? However, it is clear that nomatter what happens, HongKong is a part of China and aspecial administrative region ofChina,” Wang told reportersafter he met with JapanesePrime Minister Shinzo Abe inTokyo. “Any attempt to mess upHong Kong, or even damage itsprosperity and stability, will notsucceed.” Hong Kong has beenrocked by months of pro-democracy protests over con-cerns that Beijing is chippingaway at the financial hub’s spe-cial rights, which are unheardof in the mainland, includingfreedom of speech and anindependent judiciary.
Ever since it’s announcement,Kangana Ranaut starrer
Thalaivi has been in the news.The trilingual, directed by A LVijay, is based on the life andtimes of Jayalalithaa — the mostcelebrated female actor-politicianthat ever lived. From learningTamil, Bharatnatyam to sittingthrough arduous prosthetics ses-sions, Kangana has been left no
stone unturned in preparing forthe role.
The makers of the film havenow released the first teaser ofthe film, which shows Kanganain two distinct looks in and asThalaivi. The actor has gone atransformation and nailed bothJayalalithaa’s look and body lan-guage. The first look teasershows the early years of
Jayalalithaa’s career when she wasa superstar and the focus thenshifts to her years as a politician.
Kangana has got completelyunder the skin of the character,and is almost unrecognisable.Not only are her dance moves asthe younger Jayalalithaa onpoint, she has nailed the aura andpersonality of the politician. Theinternet erupted with praise andher look has been trending withmemes and people comparingher to Kamal Haasan’s Chachi420, the character of TuntunMausi from the popular animat-ed series, Bheem, and more.
Producer Vishnu VardhanInduri, who is also producing 83,says, “I am excited to show thisstory of an actor-turned-politi-cian, based on one of India’s mostloved and followed public fig-
ures. Thalaivi is a story thatneeds to be told. And the way,Kangana has slipped into thecharacter, is simply amazing.”
After producingJudgementall Hai Kya, producerShaailesh R Singh is on boardThalaivi, “I’m happy to collabo-rate with Kangana yet againafter Tanu Weds Manu andJudgemental Hai Kya. Therecouldn’t have been anyone otherthan Kangana to ace and portraythis legendary public figure! Wecan’t wait to showcase her incred-ible journey to the world on 26thJune, 2020.”
Produced by VishnuVardhan Iduri and Shaailesh RSingh and directed by Vijay,Thalaivi is scheduled to releasein Hindi, Tamil and Telugu onJune 26 next year.
Urban offline shoppers areusing the internet in a
variety of ways for their prod-uct purchases, includingresearching online when theyare at an offline store influenc-ing their final purchase deci-sion, a new study by Googlesaid.
Titled Shopper Path-2-Purchase, it was compiled byIPSOS, a market researchfirm. It was conducted acrossseven different product cate-gories including — acces-sories, skin care, baby care,make up, home decor andcomputers.
The report underlines thatthe online habit has alreadybeen created, even among theoffline shopper and they arenow going online to findinformation even whenthey’re in store before makingthe final purchase.
Breaking down the pur-chase journey of offline shop-pers, the report highlightsthe role of digital touchpointsin the shopper’s decision-making process across phas-es of pre-purchase and in-store journeys.
In the pre-purchase phase,55 per cent urban offlineshoppers turn to digital in thecase of home decor or babycare and 62 per cent in thecase of men’s apparel.
“With over 460 millionIndians online, on-the-gosearch is now an establishedhabit that is resulting in shop-pers to be on a constant lookout for information and sati-ate their need to make aninformed decision before buy-ing a product even when theyare in a store,” said VikasAgnihotri, country director,sales, Google India.
While online shoppingusers were considered as moredigitally savvy, the reportreveals that urban offlineshoppers are equally adeptand engage with digital touchpoints throughout their pur-chase journey.
“The propensity toexplore, assess, validate andassimilate information at con-venience has made digital adefault destination for theurban off l ine shopper.Irrespective of the gender orproduct category, the Indianshoppers are very comfortablenavigating through thenumerous touch points (phys-ical as well as digital) availableto deftly derive the best over-all value,” Agnihotri added.
The report also studiedthe triggers and post purchasebehaviour, revealing that theengagement with the onlinetouchpoints does not ceaseeven after the purchase hasbeen made.
Shoppers are st i l lindulging with the categorypost the actual purchase withone in every three shopperswas observed to be engagingwith the category online afterthe purchase.
Shoppers are either usingsocial media to post pictures,their experience or sharereviews.
Another interesting cate-gory which is on the rise is“How to Use” for the recent-ly purchased products.
The report was compiledafter speaking to a total of6,600 recent shoppers, menand women of various agegroups to have an adequaterepresentation of the Indianurban shopper.
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Dictionary definesdoodle as a drawingwhich is made when
your attention is otherwiseoccupied. Of course, withthe advent of technology, theword is associated with the‘Google doodle’ of the daywhich commemoratesmomentous events.
An entire festival dedi-cated to the idea for studentsfrom Class 1-12 at ShivNadar School, Noida, sawa colourful palette of work-shops, designs, cartooning,animation, calligraphy, visu-al storytelling, illustrationsand not just doodling,recently. The festival was inline with the school’s visionto provide students with anenvironment that challengesthem into discovering theirtalent and skills and toinspire the joy of art intheir learning.
Shashi Banerjee,Principal, Shiv NadarSchool, Noida, says, “Veryoften, we saw students in theclass, sometimes conscious-ly sometimes unconscious-ly, drawing stuff but whenexamined closely, it becameevident that a lot was going
on in a child’s mind whichs/he was trying to say. Theschool gives that space tochildren to express them-selves in whichever formthey are most comfortable inand doodling or illustrationscould be one of them. Wedon’t want to restrict them.The idea was to give themthe freedom of expressionand let them follow theirwill. Every child has a differ-ent way of thinking and exe-cuting his/her plans. So wejust wanted to create thatspace where the students areable to dig into their creativespots.”
The festival, a brainchildof cartoonist Ajit Narayan,is being organised at theschool for the past two
years. Various artists, story-tellers, cartoonists, caricatur-ists and illustrators sharedtheir knowledge and expe-riences among the studentsto create a space of comfortand creativity for them.
Sajjive Balakrishnan, fastestlive caricaturist, who is alsoa Limca Book of Recordsholder, was the chief guest atthe festival.
Visual storyteller AmitaKhare guided them through
an interactive session, SunoKahani Buno Kahani, whileSuvidha Mistry, a graphicdesigner, helped studentsbring shapes and colours tolife. Every session challengedthe students to let themexplore their abilities.
Banerjee believes thatsuch sessions are a step for-ward towards transformingeducation. She says, “Thereis a movement from contentto process (in education).We are moving towards aworld of pedagogy thatinvolves not only textbooksbut also art, music, theatreand dance.”
She goes on to add thatdoodling makes one get ridof the baggage of writing,reading and speaking. Butit’s all of that and more. Thedoodling space is interactive.“We keep talking about aworld which is complex anduncertain. Many thinkershave talked about the waysto manage that uncertainty.It can be done by unortho-doxy. So doodle is anunorthodox term and canbe seen as a solution to aproblem. It improves yourfocus, concentration andassimilation of whateveryou are exposed to,” saysBanerjee.
All we can say is, doo-dle on!
French luxury group LVMH(Moët Hennessy’s Louis
Vuitton) has agreed to buy iconicNew York jeweller Tiffany & Cofor $16.2 billion, adding a famedstar to its portfolio that alreadyboasts Louis Vuitton, ChristianDior and Bulgari.
LVMH said that it will takeover the 182-year-old Tiffany andits 300 boutiques worldwide at$135 a share. The price tag is high-er than the $14.5 billion cash offerLVMH made last month.
Tiffany, known for its delicatejewellery, distinctive blue boxesand an Audrey Hepburn film, saysthe deal will ensure its long-termsustainability. The company istrying to transform its brand toappeal to younger and more dig-ital shoppers, and could use anowner with deep pockets to helpexpand its business.
Shares in Tiffany rose almostsix per cent in premarket tradingin New York, while LVMH was uptwo per cent in Paris.
LVMH, led by billionaire
Bernard Arnault, says the deal willstrengthen its position in high-endjewellery and in the US market.The purchase gives the French con-glomerate a new star in its alreadydistinctive portfolio — one that willhelp it compete with Gucci-ownerKering Group and Cartier-ownerRichemont SA.
LVMH already owns 75brands including Christian Dior,Fendi, and Givenchy as well aswatchmaker Tag Heuer. Its flagshipbrand Louis Vuitton recentlyopened a handbag workshop inTexas, with President DonaldTrump in attendance.
LVMH said both companies’boards approved the deal andhope to finalise the takeover in2020, subject to the approval of reg-ulators and Tiffany shareholders.
The offer comes as luxurygoods companies have beenwrestling with changing habits ofshoppers who are increasinglybuying online. They’re also pur-chasing second-hand luxuryitems from places like TheRealReal.com.
In addition, luxury compa-nies are facing fears of an eco-nomic slowdown in China, a keyarea of business, while they’realready dealing with a slowdownin international tourism in theUS.
Under its CEO, AlessandroBogliolo, Tiffany is trying toappeal to younger shoppers withmore modern takes on jewellery.Earlier this year, it launched amen’s jewellery collection, whichis increasing its marketing to a
more diverse customer base likesame-sex couples. It’s also beenrenovating its flagship store inManhattan.
Still, Tiffany’s US sales havebeen stagnating as China’s slow-ing economy has weighed onspending by Chinese tourists,who make up a substantial por-tion of luxury spending. Thestrong dollar has also madeTiffany products more expensivefor consumers outside the US.
Tiffany has been putting plansin place to appeal to a youngergroup of customers who are moreused to shopping online andhunting for fashion deals. Tiffanyhas notably highlighted ways cus-tomers can personalise jewelleryand started letting people trace theorigin of their diamonds.
Tiffany had sales of $4.4 bil-lion in 2018, an increase of near-ly seven per cent over 2017.LVMH reported 6.3 billion eurosin profits in 2018 on 46.8 billioneuros in sales.
Bollywood actor Vivaan Shah’sforthcoming film Ae Kaash
Ke Hum is a romantic tragedy,and the actor feels Bollywooddoes not attempt the genreenough these days.
“Ae Kaash Ke Hum is a verysweet romantic film, more aheart-wrenching romantictragedy than a romantic comedy.It’s really a throwback to the kindof films that aren’t made any-more,” said Vivaan.
Vishal Mishra, who directsthe film has made Coffee With D,
Marudhar Express and HotelMilan. Vivaan stars alongsideand debutant Priya Singh, whileSophiya Singh plays a pivotalcharacter. The poster of the filmis out now.
The story of the film revolvesaround Ayush and Pari, played byVivaan and Priya. The younglovers are about to confess theirlove for each other but a twist of
fate keeps them away. Whenthey reunite years later, Ayushmust learn to love Pari, who isnot herself anymore.
“We have tried to revive thenostalgic feel of the 90s, whichgot lost in today’s times where therom-com are too well-packagedwith plastic emotions. The filmis a musical at heart with sixbeautifully composed songs. We
have tried to keep the music veryclean, free from rap, Hinglishlyrics or remixes,” said Vishal.
The film is a love story abouttwo school students, and Vivaansaid it “was great to be back inschool uniform”, adding: “It tookme back to my boarding schooldays”.
The film is slated to releaseon January 17 next year.
court case, will be KanganaRanaut’s first venture as a pro-ducer. The film will roll outearly next year and is scriptedby KV Vijayendra Prasad, thecreator of the Bahubali series.
On selecting the controver-sial topic, Kangana said, “TheRam temple has been a burningtopic for hundreds of years. Asa child born in the 80s, I havegrown up hearing the name ofAyodhya in a negative lightbecause the piece of land on
which was born a king, who wasthe epitome of sacrifices,became the subject of a proper-ty dispute. The case has changedthe face of Indian politics andthe verdict has ended the cen-turies-old dispute whileembodying the secular spirit ofIndia. What makes AparajithaAyodhya different is that it is thejourney of the protagonist froma non-believer to a believer. Andsince, in a way, it reflects mypersonal journey, I decided itwould be the apt subject for myfirst production.”
alive with artworks by one ofIndia’s finest watercolourists,who is also a former goldmedallist of the GovernmentCollege of Arts Kolkata. SudipRoy has been inspired by thegreat age of British watercolourists and is innovatingon that grammar. The swishand swirl of the brush set himapart in his many works thatcelebrate classic Calcutta aswell as colonial facades ofMumbai.
Classic CalcuttaVictoria Memorial, be it at
sunrise or sunset or even in thedim-lit recesses of nightfall orwhen the monsoon cloudsgather, has been a cardinalcounterpoint in the landscapeof Calcutta for decades. Itechoes the elegance of its archi-tectural facades and the atmos-pherics. Niches and nuancesboth vie for preference and it isthe dulcet notes of subduedevanescence that display bril-liance. Another deeply intrigu-ing watercolour is the basketseller on a bicycle with a dog inthe front. Balance and brevitybecome a bouquet of emo-tions and a narrative to capturethe figurative. At the centre ofhis oeuvre is his handling ofminimalist moorings and cre-ating images that stand as tes-timony to the meanderings inthe street.
The Victoria has a horsecart at the gate which sinks intoinsignificance in comparison tothe grass and the lion at thegate. The nostalgia of the pastand present are overlaid onsteps and precipice where thegreen tints are beyond evoca-tive. “I have found Victoria tobe an important monument inCalcutta’s history and I wouldspend hours sitting there andsketching it. I never saw suchbeauty in a natural landscape asI have seen here. It has alwayshad its own charm and it is thesky that adds to the magic andthe mood. I have always pre-ferred the picturesque to thebeautiful which, I hope, willaccount for the broken rugged-ness of my watercolour style. Iplay with the dynamics of shadeand shadow,” says Sudip.
Exploring encounters incolour and contour
Traditionally, Sudip hasspent nearly four decades cre-ating watercolours made up oftransparent pigments. We arereminded of Constable’s pic-tures of the English countryside,which were both vigorous andexperimental. In his water-colours, we see a play betweentransparent and opaque. Sudipalso experiments with differentbrushes, using a coarse-hairedbrush to produce thick, shad-owy details or a thin-hairedbrush for lithe lines.
He also uses the end of thehandle of his brush to score andremove paint to bring finetouches of light to dark areas,as can be seen in the Mumbaiarchitectural studies of theTower in the Kala Ghoda area.In other sketches, like the boatsat the beach, Sudip uses lightblue washes of colour withgrey pencil lines and plainwater washes to create moodand shadow in the sky.
In View, the Gateway ofIndia is placed against a stormysky. He uses the side of agraphite stick to produce the
effect of drizzle and the hues ofboats and buses at Chowpatty.He is adept at exploiting thetechnique of a low horizonline so you can feel the long dis-tance between the road and thebank of a river or a sea front.The paint is thinly applied witha variety of brushes, texturesand tones. He revels in creatingquick energetic pictures, whichare perfectly captured. There isa warmth in both sides of hisstudies, be it street scenes orlandscapes where the cloudsopen up in a field or capturesthe mood of the sunset.
The balance of colour andcontour becomes all-impor-tant as he plays with light. Thecraggy stones of his facades, themossy roofs feel visceral so thathis Mumbai buildings feelboth ancient, as well as aliveand growing.
These watercolours atAakriti Art Gallery reveal thatartists must continue to explorethe use of materials and attemptto reach a deeper understand-ing of our connection with theearth and the many nuances of
Ever wondered what a bird madeout of recycled objects such aswires, iron rods, horseshoes,
recycled canvases, rusted locks, nutsand bolts would look like? Americanartist Christina Banerjee decided tocreate just that in her art seriesAdaptation to focus on a city chokingunder air pollution.
The series depicts animals whichBanerjee came across during her trav-els. She says, “I want people to takeaway a sense of humanity from my artand appreciate the beauty of thesecreatures. This might perhaps instill athought about what we are doing tothese creatures. Even if my artworkinspires just one person, it will makea big difference.” The artworks portrayanimals against a backdrop of urbansurroundings or waste. It leaves theviewers with a sense of disquiet andmakes them wonder about the absenceof nature around these animals and thereason why they aren’t painted in theirnatural habitat.
Her paintings are an amalgama-tion of her thoughts and experiencesfrom her life in the US while beinginspired by her environmentand surroundings.
She says, “Of the fewyears I spent in Delhi, Ididn’t need an expert toinform me that airquality has deteriorat-ed, that the traffic hasincreased, the wintersare warmer and rainfallhas decreased. This isbecoming a bigproblem. The pollu-tion is affecting notonly our children butadults and even the crea-tures who cannot communicate. Ifelt compelled to express my dis-
may through my artwork.These animals don’t get
a say in what goes onin their surround-ings, even thoughthey have beenhere since beforeus. Their landand environmentare beinge n c r o a c h e d
upon and theyare forced toadapt to thechange not just
in India butaround the world.”
Her interest in old,rejected articles is not a
recent phenomenon but goes back toher childhood. She started workingwith recycled materials, to send themessage that there is beauty in dis-carded items and in decreasing con-sumption of natural resources.
Adds Banerjee, “Our rapidlychanging environment and tendencyof over-consumption is a theme thatis relevant everywhere. I would love ifpeople look at my art and are inspired.If they can see that it is not trash, plas-tic bottles and old junk occupyingspace but can visualise that these canbe turned into art. Also, I hope thatpeople will realise the importance ofletting the birds and animals aroundus have a home. To let them be in an
environment that they are familiarwith and thrive in.”
The artist has a liking for the hum-ble house sparrows. She questions,“Where are they? I can hardly see anyof them now.” This extinction forcedher to make a series of paintings onsparrows. One of her artworks —Graffiti Sparrow — showcased the bird,which is fond of all things rusty. Thecreature sees the beauty in the textureand colours of how the rust patinaforms.
Another painting depicts Frenchie,the Goan Sparrow. It features aban-doned vehicles all around leaving thesparrow with no choice but to makea nest wherever possible.
The Advent, to some Christians,is the four Sundays before
Christmas. More generally, thevariation of the Latin word for“coming” marks the season toprepare for the holiday. Among rit-uals associated with the Advent iskeeping an Advent calendar. Somereusable versions begin onDecember 1, and many includewindows, doors or pockets toreveal a poem, portion of theChristmas story or a small gift.
It’s the latter aspect of Adventcalendars that has gone complete-ly bonkers in recent years, offeringdog treats, bath bombs, socks,booze and even a limited-editionbehemoth stuffed with pricey trea-sures from Tiffany & Co.
HERE’S A PEEK: TIFFANY &CO: It’s aptly named The UltimateAdvent Calendar, and it’s shaped asa 4-foot-tall replica of the compa-ny’s Fifth Avenue flagship store.Each of the 24 compartmentsholds a gift in a Tiffany blue box.There’s a sterling silver paper cupand a T True bracelet in 18-karatyellow gold. This one is more aspi-rational than attainable. Only fourare available, starting at $112,000each. Contact the concierge [email protected] tofigure it all out.
HARRY POTTER: The Harry
Potter Infinity Box is perfect foryoung fans. The compartments ofthe YuMe Toys calendar are stuffedwith a range of items, includingplush toys, travel tags and enamelpins. One version includes 24pieces for $59.99, and another 18pieces for $39.99. Available atAmazon, Barnes & Noble andBed, Bath & Beyond. Others withthe same theme exist.
CHOCOLATE: Sweet treats,Advent calendar style, are moretraditional and all over the place.Harry & David offers two, the
Chocolate Advent Calendar Duo,with 24 doors each for a totalof $34.99. Thepackaging ismerry with Santafront and center.Milk chocolateonly. Each doorincludes a little fes-tive message. TheGodiva AdventCalendar includeslimited editionsnowmen and Santapieces in chocolate. Available inGodiva boutiques around the U.S.
$29.95.
PETS: Dogs and cats are people,too, when it comes to Advent cal-endars. Options are everywhere.Target sells the Bosco & Roxy’sAdvent Calendar for Dogs with aforest fairy theme and 24 biscuits.$14.99. The same brand also hasone called Bark the Halls with 24days of festive dog cookies. $24.99.Shop around for others, includingthe DreamBone Furry ChristmasAdvent Calendar, with a variety ofmini chewables. $14.99.
ETHNIC PRIDE: The Calendariode Fiestas from Sol Beer celebratesMexican American culture with 25items designed by MexicanAmerican artists, including JessicaResendiz of Raggedy Tiff, which
creates apparel and acces-sories inspired byher roots, child-hood memoriesand Mexican cul-ture. There’s a bur-rito pinata freshen-er, a Corazon de Orosew-on patch andPan Dulce shoelaces.While supplies last at
SolHolidayCalendar.com. $30.
SAY IT WITH CHEESE: Foodblogger Annem Hobson thought
up the So Wrong It’s Nom cheesecalendar to much internet fanfarefrom folks looking for alternativesto chocolate. It includes 24 piecesof individually wrapped cheese infive varieties, including Jarlsberg.Must be refrigerated. Target,Supervalu, Sprouts, Schnucks,Meijer, Jewel, Lidl and Publix.Sold at Target, Supervalu, Sprouts,Schnucks, Meijer, Jewel, Lidl andPublix. $20.
GET BOOZY: The Drinks by theDram distiller has a nice selection,including 24 days of Scotch. Itranges from new discoveries toworld-renowned brands fromacross Scotland. $160. Ships fromthe U.K., so takes about a week toarrive in the U.S. There are also 12days of Christmas options, since12-day calendars traditionally starton Dec. 25. Available at drinks-bythedram.com.
BEAUTY: There are so many,from bath bombs to makeupsponges. Birchbox offers theCountdown to Beauty calendarwith 12 days of goodies and extrasurprises from a variety of sellers,including Lancome, M.A.C. andBobbi Brown. $40. And for men,there’s Countdown to Groomingwith 14 days of finds, from Kiehl’smoisturizer to Harry’s body wash.$35. Shop at birchbox.com. Targetsells 12 days of Lip Smackers in afestive box for $10 and 15 days ofGame of Thrones-themed socksfor women for $15.
Rafael Nadal put the finish-ing touches to his extraor-
dinary year by clinching a sixthDavis Cup title for Spain onSunday as he beat DenisShapovalov in Madrid to sealvictory over Canada.
Nadal’s 6-3, 7-6 (9/7) winover Shapovalov in front of anadoring home crowd at theCaja Magica gave Spain anunassailable 2-0 lead afterRoberto Bautista Agut earlierbattled past Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
“I’m incredibly happy toend the year like this,” saidNadal afterwards.
The 33-year-old had beenan unstoppable force in Spain’spulsating semi-final againstBritain on Saturday and neverlooked like letting this chanceslip, with King Felipe VI andReal Madrid’s Sergio Ramoswatching on, along withBarcelona defender GerardPique.
Pique’s marketing compa-ny Kosmos have been at theheart of the raft of changes tothis 119-year-old competitionbut Nadal’s brilliance has beenfamiliar, even if this will sure-ly go down as one of the finestseasons of the 19-time GrandSlam champion’s sparklingcareer.
He added a fourth DavisCup final success — threemore than Roger Federer — tothe ones he claimed in 2004,2009 and 2011, while cappinga remarkable 12 months thathas included winning theFrench and US Opens, and
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Jose Mourinho’s charm offensive hasbeen in overdrive during his whirl-wind first few days at Tottenham.He has lauded Tottenham’s training
complex as being “second to none” andwithout comparison across Europe “atany level.” He says he has slept in the club’spajamas at its on-site hotel which he ratesas “six star,” with its “soft pillows, amaz-ing duvet.”
Now it’s time for a first taste ofTottenham Hotspur Stadium — “thebest stadium in the world,” he has purred— as Mourinho continues his quest towin over fans who might still be skepti-cal about his appointment.
Getting the team through to theknockout stage of the Champions Leaguewouldn’t do him any harm in the ingra-tiation process.
Three days after guiding Spurs to aPremier League victory at West Ham inhis first match since replacing MauricioPochettino, Mourinho will take charge ofthem in a home match for the first timewhen Olympiakos visits today in theChampions League.
A victory guarantees progress out ofGroup B alongside Bayern Munich witha game to spare.
It would complete a decent week’swork for Mourinhoas he attempts torebuild his coachingreputation after afractious, and ulti-mately disappoint-ing, 2½ year spell at Manchester Unitedthat ended almost 12 months ago.
The Portuguese coach hugged hisplayers and kept a respectful distancefrom the traveling Spurs fans while he cel-ebrated the 3-2 win against West Ham onSaturday. It might take some time forthem to accept Mourinho and take himto their hearts, especially considering thework Pochettino did in raising standardsat Tottenham — even getting the team toa Champions League final last seasonwhen it lost to Liverpool.
Mourinho has done that with Portoand Inter Milan, winning the title matchon both occasions, so is seeking tobecome the first manager to winEuropean club soccer’s biggest prizewith three different clubs — all from dif-ferent countries. None of them could beclassed as modern-day continental heavy-weights, either, making that achievementall the more impressive.
“The gaffer’s won at every club he’sgone to — there’s no hiding away fromthat,” Tottenham striker Harry Kanesaid. “He wants to win. He’s a proven win-ner. I’ve made it clear that I’m at the stageof my career where I want to win tro-phies.
“Realistically we look at theChampions League and the FA Cup thisseason to try and do that ... You couldsay that (Mourinho could make thedifference) because of his repu-tation. It’s been three days so,until we build that relationshipand see how things get onover the next two or threemonths, we won’t reallyknow.”
The closest Mourinhohas come to winning theChampions League since that2010 triumph with Inter wasa trio of semifinal appear-ances — all with Real Madrid— in 2011, ‘12 and ‘13. He gotManchester United out of itsgroup last season, only to getfired before the knockoutstages even began.
If he was happy to beback in the Premier League— his “natural habitat,”he called it — at the week-end, imagine how he willfeel making a return to theChampions League arena.
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Manchester City areexpected to be with-
out striker Sergio Aguerofor “a few weeks”, accordingto boss Pep Guardiola.
The Argentine sus-tained the injury duringSaturday’s 2-1 win againstChelsea, with Guardiolaunclear as to the exactnature of the problem.
In his press conferenceto preview today’sChampions League clashwith Shakhtar Donetsk,Guardiola said: “Sergio willbe out for a few games, afew weeks. I don’t knowexactly.
Asked if the 31-year-old would miss the derby,Guardiola said: “Yes.”
Pushed further on thematter, he added: “Maybewe will have a miracle butI don’t think so.”
Gabriel Jesus canexpect to feature moreprominently in Aguero’sabsence, and he said: “I amnot happy Sergio isinjured.
“I don’t like it when my
friends are injured, butevery day I work hard andI am ready.”
Manchester City willbe through to the knockoutphase of the European elitecompetition if they avoiddefeat against Shakhtar orif Dinamo Zagreb do notbeat Atalanta.
City will be con-firmed in top spot if theywin, or if they draw andDinamo do not win.
Guardiola said:“The position wehave is good butwe have notqualified yet.Tomorrow is achance.”
for today’s clashagainst Atletico Madrid in Turin,Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri said onMonday.
The 34-year-old Portuguese interna-tional was rested for Saturday’s Serie Agame against Atalanta which Juventuswon 2-1 thanks to a Gonzalo Higuaindouble to stay top of the Italian league.
“Cristiano trained with his team-mates yesterday (Sunday),” said Sarri.
“It seems that his condition isimproving but we still have to evaluatebetween today and tomorrow.
“The positive thing he was able toplay throughout the training session withhis teammates.”
Defender Matthijs de Ligt, who suf-fered a dislocated shoulder, and forwardFederico Bernardeschi, who bruised hischest, also need to be evaluated, Sarrisaid.
Ronaldo was substituted in Juventus’sprevious two games including theirChampions League game at LokomotivMoscow with a slight knee problem.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winnerand hit back with four goals to helpPortugal qualify for Euro 2020.
“My relationship with Cristiano isgood,” said Sarri, “if a player who has wonso much is angry about being substitut-
ed, it means he still has a lot of moti-vation, and this is something posi-
tive.”Juventus are already through
to the last 16 and want to fin-ish top of Group D with sec-
ond-placed Atletico need-ing a win to guarantee
their place.“Atletico are a dif-
ficult side to playagainst, we have to
think we want to quali-fy being the leader of the
group that is our target fortomorrow,” said Sarri.
Sarri conceded he wasspoilt for choice up frontbetween Ronaldo, PauloDybala and Higuain.
“We have three very strongstrikers for just two roles, I think it isan ideal situation, nobody will be ableto play 65 matches, including with thenational team,” continued the Juventuscoach.
“Playing Dybala, Higuain andCristiano all together is difficult becauseof their characteristics, but all threeknow how to play really well and arecomfortable with each other.”
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Zinedine Zidane saidthat his Real
Madrid sideare “notlooking toget revenge” when they
host Paris Saint-Germain in the
Champions Leagueon Tuesday after a3-0 defeat in France
earlier in the groupstage.
Pressure mount-ed on Zidane after thatloss at the Parc desPrinces in September,but the 13-timeEuropean championshave since enjoyed an
upturn in fortunes and sit behindleaders Barcelona only on goal
difference in La Liga.Real can join PSG insecuring a last-16 place
with victory at the Santiago Bernabeu, orif Club Brugge fail to win at Galatasarayin the other Group A match.
“We aren’t looking to getrevenge after what happenedearlier in the group,” Zidanesaid on Monday.
“But we want to play a good game ofcourse and maintain our form.
“It’s the kind of game where you canconfirm you’re on a good run. We want towin because we’re at home and we want toplay good football.
“I want to see my side play 90 minutesat their best.”
The 47-year-old Frenchman also madeclear his admiration for Mbappe ahead oftoday’s encounter.
“You know that I’ve known Mbappefor a long time and that I’m in love withhim as a person because of when he camehere on trial a long time ago,” said Zidane.
“Having said that, he’s our opponentand there’s no more to it.”
Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois is hop-ing the Spanish giants can show how farthey have come since the loss in Paris.
“The first meeting with them helpedus learn a lot — it wasn’t a good game butwe’ve improved a lot lately,” said theBelgian.
“It’s not revenge, more wanting to getone over on another big team who haveaspirations to win the Champions Leagueand we need to show how good we are.”
The Spanish team will alsopocket a cheque worth $2.1million.
Nadal won eight out ofeight rubbers played this weekand at times on Saturday, aswhen he stormed to singles anddoubles victories against
Britain, it was tempting toview Spain’s progress as some-thing of a solo effort.
But, unlike Canada, Spainhave used all five of theirsquad, with Bautista Agut,Pablo Carreno Busta andFeliciano Lopez all playing atleast one singles match, andLopez and Marcel Granollers
joining forces in the doubles.There has also been the
undeniable advantage of thehome crowd and althoughSpain's success has delivered ahuge boost to the event in itsinaugural year, some will argueit might have been fairer to finda new venue in 2020, let aloneconsider keeping it in Madriduntil 2021.
Hosting and mixed atten-dances are among several issues
for Pique and the InternationalTennis Federation to solve inthe coming months but on thecourt, some gripping ties haveensured the new Davis Cuphas got off to an encouragingstart.
.NOTHING LEFT TO GIVE’Rafael Nadal admitted he
gave everything he had left tolead Spain to their sixth DavisCup success.
“I played one of the tough-
est possible opponents at theend of a long and difficultweek, physically too because Iput into this whole event all theenergy that I had inside me,”said Nadal.
“Honestly it’s the perfectend to the season for all of us.We know how difficult it is towin this and how difficult itwill be to win it again. Weknew we had to convert thisopportunity.”
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New Zealand said their comprehen-sive innings victory over Englandwas among their very best after
Neil Wagner’s five-wicket burst sealed thefirst Test at Bay Oval on Monday.
The tireless left-armer took the lasttwo England wickets in successive ballsfor a five-wicket haul and to complete therout by an innings and 65 runs late onthe final day.
While England captain Joe Rootlamented a disappointing batting effort,and the lack of a bowler with Wagner’sapplication, New Zealand skipper KaneWilliamson celebrated his side’s match-defining innings of 615 for nine declared.
“To lose the toss and be 350 behindin the first innings it required somethingspecial,” Williamson said.
“It’s certainly right up there in termsof a tough, grinding Test victory.”
BJ Watling’s 205 and MitchellSantner’s 126 laid the platform for NewZealand’s colossal 262-run first-inningslead.
England, resuming the final day at 55for three and needing to bat through tostumps to save the Test, progressedpatiently to 121 for four before NewZealand removed the last six wickets for76 runs. Wagner finished with five for 44while Santner took three for 53.
“We saw the wicket deteriorate andknew if you could hit the wicket hard youwould get some variable bounce. Thatallowed us to make the breakthroughs,”Williamson said, admitting that he hadconcerns about how the match would fin-ish. “England have experience and someworld-class players who’ve batted outdraws before. If they were better than ustoday they were going to be able tosave it. It did come down to thewire.”
‘COULD UNLEASH MORE’Root said England did not
help themselves with the waythey batted.
“Clearly some of the shotstoday were not good. Everyone’svery aware of that. You can't faulteffort but I put my hand up as well,that ball was treated with far too
much respect.”Root said the England
bowlers also needed tolearn from the effort
Wagner put in.“He runs in all day
and makes sure everyball means some-thing,” Root said,adding there weretimes England quick
Jofra Archer could“unleash a little bit
more”.
“You have to give credit to guys likeNeil Wagner who makes sure he gets themost out of himself and does a reallygood job for his team.”
The lop-sided win put New Zealandin an unbeatable position in the two-Test series and extended their homestreak to a remarkable seven series with-out defeat.
However, their celebrations weretempered by injury, with Trent Boultbowling just one over in the morningbefore leaving the field with a rib prob-lem and taking no further part.
England pacer Jofra Archer onMonday said he was subjected to
“racial insults” by a spectator on thefinal day, prompting the home board toapologise to him for the “unacceptableexperience”. The incident allegedlytook place when Archer was leaving thefield after the end of the first Test.
“A bit disturbing hearing racial
insults today whilst battling to helpsave my team. The crowd was beenamazing this week except for that oneguy, @TheBarmyArmy was good asusual also,” the 24-year-old Archerwrote on his Twitter handle. TheBarbados-born English cricketeraccounted for double centurion BJWatling (205) and scored 30 from 50balls but could not save his team fromgoing down by an innings and 65 runsin Mount Maunganui.
