C laiming that “most political parties supported” the “One Nation, One Election” proposal, the Government on Wednesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will constitute a committee for giv- ing “time-bound” suggestions on the issue. “We had invited 40 politi- cal parties, out of which pres- idents of 21 parties participat- ed and 3 other parties sent their opinion on the subjects in writing. Most parties gave their support to One Nation, One Election,” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told mediaper- sons after the meeting. Interestingly, Rajnath said, “The CPI(M) and the CPI had a difference of opinion but they didn’t oppose the idea, just the implementation of it.” However, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury reit- erated his party’s categorical opposition to the move terming it fundamentally anti-federal and anti-democratic and thus against the Constitution. He dubbed the Government’s move as “not practical” and an “artificial move” that would tamper with the constitution- al scheme of accountability of the Government to the legisla- ture. Yechury and CPI’s D Raja, however, attended the meeting convened to push for Modi’s pet proposal. The Congress, the TMC, the BSP, the SP, the DMK and the TDP were among the par- ties from the Opposition camp who gave the meeting a miss, but National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah, PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti and NCP chief Sharad Pawar attended it. The AAP deputed Raghav Chadha for the meeting even as it demanded a vision document on the matter. The Shiv Sena skipped the meeting owing to its founda- tion day celebrations but BJP’s other allies JD(U) and the SAD were represented by Nitish Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Badal respectively. Odisha Chief Minister and BJD leader Naveen Patnaik and NPP leader Conard Sangma too attended the meet- ing. The TRS was represented by its working president KT Rama Rao. BJP’s new working president JP Nadda represent- ed the party in the meeting. BSP chief Mayawati tweet- ed saying she would have attended the meeting if it was on electronic voting machines (EVMs). “One Nation, One Election” is not an issue before the country, she said, adding “elections through ballot papers are actually the national issue and our party will continue its struggle for it.” SP leader Akhilesh Yadav said several parties would not agree to the PM’s proposal. “They should focus on the promises they have made to people, we hope they will work more on fulfilling those promises,” Akhilesh tweeted. The SP is not opposed to the idea though. The TMC has demanded a white paper on the issue and cautioned against rushing to the subject without giving ade- quate thought to it. The PM later tweeted, “Had a great meeting with presidents of various political parties. Multiple issues of national importance were dis- cussed. I thank the various leaders for their informed sug- gestions.” Modi had invited the heads of all political parties which have at least one member either in the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha for the meeting to dis- cuss several issues, including the “One Nation, One Election” idea, celebration of 75 years of Independence in 2022 and the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi this year. Continued on Page 4 T he Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) on Wednesday rejected the claims of former Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian regarding over-estimation of GDP growth after 2011, saying his analysis ignores data on ser- vices and agriculture and shows blind trust in private firm Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). In a paper released by EAC-PM, India’s GDP estima- tion methodology stands at par with its global standing as a major and responsible econ- omy. Primary contributors of the paper are economists Bibek Debroy, Rathin Roy, Surjit Bhalla, Charan Singh, Arvind Virmani. Last week, the advisory body had said it would issue a point-to-point rebuttal of the Subramanian’s research paper. In a research paper, Subramanian, who stepped down last year, said India’s economic growth rate has been overestimated by around 2.5 percentage points between 2011-12 and 2016-17 due to a change in methodology for calculating GDP. Subramanian’s paper titled “India’s GDP Mis-estimation: Likelihood, Magnitudes, Mechanisms, and Implications”, published at Harvard University, also comes at a time when concerns have been raised in various quarters about the official economic growth numbers. Subramanian was the CEA in the Finance Ministry for nearly four years from October 2014. Observing that Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) Subramanian seems to have made a “hurried attempt to draw conclusions” about India’s complex economy and its evo- lution, the paper said he has used 17 high frequency indi- cators, but ignores the repre- sentation of “services sector (60 per cent in GDP) and agricul- ture sector” (18 per cent of GDP) in the analysis. The paper notes that Subramanian used 17 indica- tors to express his skepticism about the growth rates after 2011-12. Majority of the 17 indicators have been taken directly from the CMIE, a pri- vate agency that is not a pri- mary source of information but collects it from different sources, it said. “For anyone who reads Dr Subramanian’s paper, it is evi- dent that he trusts CMIE but distrusts CSO (Central Statistics Office)... This blind trust in a private agency (CMIE) and blind distrust in a Government institution that has served India (CSO) appears unwarranted for a neutral aca- demic,” it said. The paper further said the former CEA has overlooked the tax data. The EAC-PM paper said Subramanian chooses to over- look tax data arguing that “we do not use tax indicators because of the major changes in direct and indirect taxes in the post-2011 period which render the tax-to-GDP relationship different and unstable, and hence make the indicators unreliable proxies for GDP growth”. Continued on Page 4 N DA nominee Om Birla was on Wednesday elect- ed Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Opposition assured him of their wholehearted sup- port in the smooth conduct of proceedings in the House and he himself resolved to be even- handed in his treatment to all the parties irrespective of their numerical strength. Elected unanimously, Birla received fulsome praise from the Prime Minister who men- tioned his social work in Kota, humanitarian initiatives in 2011 Gujarat earthquake and 2013 floods in Uttarakhand. Modi expressed confidence that the new Speaker with his gentle smile would conduct the House in a just manner and be tough even with the Treasury Benches. Birla was declared elected by pro-tem Speaker Virendra Kumar. The two-time MP from Rajasthan’s Kota-Bundi Lok Sabha constituency, Birla, a surprise pick by the PM, was led to the presiding officer’s chair by Modi. Continued on Page 4 U S President Donald Trump formally launched his 2020 re-election campaign with a jam-packed rally in Florida on Tuesday, urging his supporters to “keep this team in place” for four more years as he vowed to “Keep America Great”. The 73-year-old real estate investor-turned-politician, who became the 45th President of the United States of America in 2017, told a crowd of 20,000 people in Orlando that the economy of the US under him has become “the envy of the world”. Trump said his victory three years ago was a “defining moment in American history” and vowed to maintain his “America First” policy as he touched the hallmarks of his 2016 campaign, hard-line immigration policies and defence spending. He said that the country has made significant progress during his presidency and all that is at risk if he were to be defeated in the presidential elections next year. Unveiling a theme of “Keep America Great”, Trump in a speech that lasted 79 minutes exuded confidence of winning the general elections. In his 2016 election campaign, he had popularised the slogan “make america great again”. Addressing his supporters who filled the Orlando’s Amway Center, brimming with enthusiasm for the President, Trump said, “We’re going to keep on going. We’re going to keep on fighting and we’re going to keep on winning, winning, winning”. Continued on Page 4 I ndian batsman Shikhar Dhawan was on Wednesday ruled out of the ongoing World Cup matches and was replaced by young wicketkeeper-bats- man Rishabh Pant, after failing to make enough recovery in a fresh assessment of his thumb fracture. Dhawan, 33, picked up the injury on his left thumb during the June 9 clash against Australia and was initially ruled out of three games — against Pakistan (June 16), Afghanistan (June 22) and the West Indies (June 27). “Shikhar Dhawan has frac- tured the base of the metacarpal (bone) of his left hand. His hand will remain in cast till mid July which rules him out of the ICC 2019 World Cup,” team’s administrative manager Sunil Subramanium told mediapersons. Rishabh Pant Pant comes in with an accumulated ODI experience of five matches but is considered a trump card owing to his fearless cricketing approach. O zone pollution has esca- lated in Delhi’s air as per the findings of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Ozone, the deadly gas, has emerged as a dominant pollu- tant along with the Particulate Matter (PM) on at least 28 days during the summer this year as compared to only 17 days in 2018 summer, which is much higher than the standards. Significantly, levels of ozone gas have been measured on a higher side in National Capital Region (NCR). The analysis has found that among all NCR towns, Faridabad is on top with 80 per cent of days when ozone was exceeding the standards, fol- lowed by Ghaziabad with 67 per cent and Gurugram with 21 per cent days. Interestingly, Noida shows much less impact with only 1 per cent of the days exceeding the standards. Revealing the research findings, CSE in its report highlighted the places where ozone was measured high. Marking areas like Siri Fort, Najafgarh, and some areas of NCR — Faridabad, Ghaziabad. CSE mentioned that levels of ozone in these areas have crossed the permissible limit to very high. “The NCR region experienced the biggest spikes,” said CSE. Ozone is not directly emit- ted from any source, but is formed from reaction between gases in the air under the influence of sunlight and high temperature. “Controlling emissions from vehicles and industry is the solution,” said CSE. The analysis concluded this summer, when the Capital witnessed searing tempera- tures; average ozone levels exceeded the prescribed stan- dard on 16 per cent of the days overall. CSE Executive director (research and advocacy) Anumita Roychowdhury said this is a matter of serious con- cern as ozone is a highly reac- tive gas and can have immedi- ate adverse effect on those suf- fering from asthma and respi- ratory conditions. Continued on Page 4 S hoo them or scare them but there’s no escaping from the creepy crawly lizards. If at times you wonder how despite your best efforts lizards man- age to enter into your well-for- tified house then you must know that these reptiles are smart enough to adapt to new and ever-changing urban sur- roundings by learning the tricks necessary to survive. This is what has been dis- covered by the researchers after they studied the “survival of the fittest” motto mechanism adopted by lizards, which are closely related to snakes. They found that lizards in the city’s suburbs were street-smart, and learn faster than their rural brethren, to stay safe. The study has been published in the recent edition of international journal Biology Letters. The study demonstrates for the first time that suburban lizards have faster learning and reversal learning skills for a key survival-related behaviour, finding safety in unpredictable environments. Anuradha Batabyal and Maria Thaker, both from Indian Institute of Science, probed the learning abilities of the Indian rock agama after capturing a few male species from rural and suburban parts of Bengaluru and placed them in an enclosure with a perch in the middle and two identical refuge spots. Continued on Page 4 W ith experts holding litchi responsible for aggravat- ing encephalitis deaths in Muzaffarpur, the summer fruit, mainly produced in this Bihar’s district, is facing the heat as its industry is estimated to have suffered losses of around 80- 100 crore. Price of shahi litchi has gone down by 50 per cent, cur- rently selling around70 a kilogram in the retail market. Several consignments of litchi juice are lying at the ports of US, Australia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), New Zealand and United Kingdom. In fact, people are scared of consum- ing even packed litchi juice available in the market. Industry experts believe that thankfully the epidemic has struck at the fag end of the litchi season leading to lesser losses for them. And as death toll has increased due to the Acute Encephalitis syndrome (AES) epidemic, the Bihar Government has advised par- ents against giving the fruit to their children on empty stom- ach even as Odisha has ordered litchi’s lab tests. The Rajasthan Government on its part has directed officials to remain alert in the State. Experts believed that litchi contains a toxin which can cause a drop in blood sugar lev- els if consumed by a malnour- ished child, leading to death. According to the Agriculture Ministry, 250,000- 3,00,000 metric tonne of litchi were produced on 32,000 hectare in Bihar in 2018. The Ministry has projected 7,10,000 MT production of litchi in its first advance estimate, released last month. India is the second largest producer of litchi in the world after China. Bacha Prasad Singh, president of Litchi Growers Association of Bihar, told The Pioneer that litchi growers have witnessed near- ly 50-60 per cent decline in sale of litchi in the past one week after it was reported that AES has some connection with this sweet and juicy summer fruit. Continued on Page 4 T he Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a plea seeking a direction to the Centre to urgently consti- tute a team of medical experts for the treatment of the chil- dren in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur, who are suffering from sus- pected Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), which has killed 113 children so far on Wednesday. The plea also sought a direction to the Union Government for providing all necessary medical equipment and other supports for the effective treatment of the chil- dren suffering from the epi- demic disease.
Claiming that “most politicalparties supported” the
“One Nation, One Election”proposal, the Government onWednesday said PrimeMinister Narendra Modi willconstitute a committee for giv-ing “time-bound” suggestionson the issue.
“We had invited 40 politi-cal parties, out of which pres-idents of 21 parties participat-ed and 3 other parties sent theiropinion on the subjects inwriting. Most parties gave theirsupport to One Nation, OneElection,” Defence MinisterRajnath Singh told mediaper-sons after the meeting.
Interestingly, Rajnath said,“The CPI(M) and the CPI hada difference of opinion butthey didn’t oppose the idea, justthe implementation of it.”
However, CPI(M) generalsecretary Sitaram Yechury reit-erated his party’s categoricalopposition to the move termingit fundamentally anti-federaland anti-democratic and thusagainst the Constitution. Hedubbed the Government’smove as “not practical” and an“artificial move” that wouldtamper with the constitution-al scheme of accountability ofthe Government to the legisla-ture. Yechury and CPI’s D Raja,however, attended the meetingconvened to push for Modi’spet proposal.
The Congress, the TMC,the BSP, the SP, the DMK andthe TDP were among the par-
ties from the Opposition campwho gave the meeting a miss,but National Conference’sFarooq Abdullah, PDP leaderMehbooba Mufti and NCPchief Sharad Pawar attended it.The AAP deputed RaghavChadha for the meeting even asit demanded a vision documenton the matter.
The Shiv Sena skipped themeeting owing to its founda-tion day celebrations but BJP’sother allies JD(U) and theSAD were represented byNitish Kumar and SukhbirSingh Badal respectively.Odisha Chief Minister and
BJD leader Naveen Patnaikand NPP leader ConardSangma too attended the meet-ing. The TRS was representedby its working president KTRama Rao. BJP’s new workingpresident JP Nadda represent-ed the party in the meeting.
BSP chief Mayawati tweet-ed saying she would haveattended the meeting if it wason electronic voting machines(EVMs). “One Nation, OneElection” is not an issue beforethe country, she said, adding“elections through ballot papersare actually the national issueand our party will continue its
struggle for it.”SP leader Akhilesh Yadav
said several parties would notagree to the PM’s proposal.“They should focus on thepromises they have made topeople, we hope they will workmore on fulfilling thosepromises,” Akhilesh tweeted.The SP is not opposed to theidea though.
The TMC has demanded awhite paper on the issue andcautioned against rushing tothe subject without giving ade-quate thought to it.
The PM later tweeted,“Had a great meeting with
presidents of various politicalparties. Multiple issues ofnational importance were dis-cussed. I thank the variousleaders for their informed sug-gestions.”
Modi had invited the headsof all political parties whichhave at least one member eitherin the Lok Sabha or the RajyaSabha for the meeting to dis-cuss several issues, includingthe “One Nation, One Election”idea, celebration of 75 years ofIndependence in 2022 and the150th birth anniversary ofMahatma Gandhi this year.
Continued on Page 4
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The Economic AdvisoryCouncil to the Prime
Minister (EAC-PM) onWednesday rejected the claimsof former Chief EconomicAdviser Arvind Subramanianregarding over-estimation ofGDP growth after 2011, sayinghis analysis ignores data on ser-vices and agriculture and showsblind trust in private firmCentre for Monitoring IndianEconomy (CMIE).
In a paper released byEAC-PM, India’s GDP estima-tion methodology stands atpar with its global standing asa major and responsible econ-omy. Primary contributors ofthe paper are economists BibekDebroy, Rathin Roy, SurjitBhalla, Charan Singh, ArvindVirmani.
Last week, the advisorybody had said it would issue apoint-to-point rebuttal of theSubramanian’s research paper.
In a research paper,Subramanian, who steppeddown last year, said India’s
economic growth rate has beenoverestimated by around 2.5percentage points between2011-12 and 2016-17 due to achange in methodology forcalculating GDP.
Subramanian’s paper titled“India’s GDP Mis-estimation:Likelihood, Magnitudes,Mechanisms, and Implications”,published at HarvardUniversity, also comes at atime when concerns have beenraised in various quarters aboutthe official economic growthnumbers.
Subramanian was the CEAin the Finance Ministry fornearly four years from October2014.
Observing that ChiefEconomic Adviser (CEA)Subramanian seems to havemade a “hurried attempt todraw conclusions” about India’s
complex economy and its evo-lution, the paper said he hasused 17 high frequency indi-cators, but ignores the repre-sentation of “services sector (60per cent in GDP) and agricul-ture sector” (18 per cent ofGDP) in the analysis.
The paper notes thatSubramanian used 17 indica-tors to express his skepticismabout the growth rates after2011-12. Majority of the 17indicators have been takendirectly from the CMIE, a pri-vate agency that is not a pri-mary source of information butcollects it from differentsources, it said.
“For anyone who reads DrSubramanian’s paper, it is evi-dent that he trusts CMIE butdistrusts CSO (CentralStatistics Office)... This blindtrust in a private agency(CMIE) and blind distrust in aGovernment institution thathas served India (CSO) appearsunwarranted for a neutral aca-demic,” it said.
The paper further said theformer CEA has overlookedthe tax data.
The EAC-PM paper saidSubramanian chooses to over-look tax data arguing that “wedo not use tax indicatorsbecause of the major changes indirect and indirect taxes in thepost-2011 period which renderthe tax-to-GDP relationshipdifferent and unstable, andhence make the indicatorsunreliable proxies for GDPgrowth”.
Continued on Page 4
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NDA nominee Om Birlawas on Wednesday elect-
ed Speaker of the Lok Sabha.Prime Minister Narendra Modiand the Opposition assuredhim of their wholehearted sup-port in the smooth conduct ofproceedings in the House andhe himself resolved to be even-handed in his treatment to allthe parties irrespective of theirnumerical strength.
Elected unanimously, Birlareceived fulsome praise fromthe Prime Minister who men-tioned his social work in Kota,humanitarian initiatives in2011 Gujarat earthquake and2013 floods in Uttarakhand.Modi expressed confidencethat the new Speaker with hisgentle smile would conduct theHouse in a just manner and betough even with the TreasuryBenches.
Birla was declared electedby pro-tem Speaker VirendraKumar.
The two-time MP fromRajasthan’s Kota-Bundi LokSabha constituency, Birla, asurprise pick by the PM, wasled to the presiding officer’schair by Modi.
Continued on Page 4
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US President Donald Trumpformally launched his 2020
re-election campaign with ajam-packed rally in Florida onTuesday, urging his supportersto “keep this team in place” forfour more years as he vowed to“Keep America Great”.
The 73-year-old real estateinvestor-turned-politician, whobecame the 45th President ofthe United States of America in2017, told a crowd of 20,000people in Orlando that theeconomy of the US under himhas become “the envy of theworld”.
Trump said his victorythree years ago was a “definingmoment in American history”and vowed to maintain his“America First” policy as hetouched the hallmarks of his2016 campaign, hard-lineimmigration policies anddefence spending.
He said that the countryhas made significant progressduring his presidency and allthat is at risk if he were to be
defeated in the presidentialelections next year.
Unveiling a theme of “KeepAmerica Great”, Trump in aspeech that lasted 79 minutesexuded confidence of winningthe general elections. In his2016 election campaign, hehad popularised the slogan“make america great again”.
Addressing his supporterswho filled the Orlando’sAmway Center, brimming withenthusiasm for the President,Trump said, “We’re going tokeep on going. We’re going tokeep on fighting and we’regoing to keep on winning,winning, winning”.
Continued on Page 4
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Indian batsman ShikharDhawan was on Wednesday
ruled out of the ongoing WorldCup matches and was replacedby young wicketkeeper-bats-man Rishabh Pant, after failingto make enough recovery in afresh assessment of his thumbfracture.
Dhawan, 33, picked up theinjury on his left thumb duringthe June 9 clash againstAustralia and was initially ruledout of three games — againstPakistan (June 16), Afghanistan(June 22) and the West Indies(June 27).
“Shikhar Dhawan has frac-tured the base of themetacarpal (bone) of his lefthand. His hand will remain incast till mid July which ruleshim out of the ICC 2019 WorldCup,” team’s administrativemanager Sunil Subramaniumtold mediapersons.
Rishabh Pant Pant comesin with an accumulated ODIexperience of five matches butis considered a trump cardowing to his fearless cricketingapproach.
������������� #-&�,-.24
Ozone pollution has esca-lated in Delhi’s air as per
the findings of Centre forScience and Environment(CSE).
Ozone, the deadly gas, hasemerged as a dominant pollu-tant along with the ParticulateMatter (PM) on at least 28 daysduring the summer this year ascompared to only 17 days in2018 summer, which is muchhigher than the standards.
Significantly, levels ofozone gas have been measuredon a higher side in NationalCapital Region (NCR).
The analysis has foundthat among all NCR towns,Faridabad is on top with 80 percent of days when ozone wasexceeding the standards, fol-lowed by Ghaziabad with 67per cent and Gurugram with 21per cent days.
Interestingly, Noida showsmuch less impact with only 1per cent of the days exceedingthe standards.
Revealing the researchfindings, CSE in its reporthighlighted the places whereozone was measured high.Marking areas like Siri Fort,
Najafgarh, and some areas ofNCR — Faridabad, Ghaziabad.CSE mentioned that levels ofozone in these areas havecrossed the permissible limit tovery high. “The NCR regionexperienced the biggest spikes,”said CSE.
Ozone is not directly emit-ted from any source, but isformed from reaction betweengases in the air under theinfluence of sunlight and hightemperature. “Controllingemissions from vehicles andindustry is the solution,” saidCSE.
The analysis concludedthis summer, when the Capitalwitnessed searing tempera-tures; average ozone levelsexceeded the prescribed stan-dard on 16 per cent of the daysoverall.
CSE Executive director(research and advocacy)Anumita Roychowdhury saidthis is a matter of serious con-cern as ozone is a highly reac-tive gas and can have immedi-ate adverse effect on those suf-fering from asthma and respi-ratory conditions.
Continued on Page 4
��������)$����� #-&�,-.24
Shoo them or scare them butthere’s no escaping from the
creepy crawly lizards. If attimes you wonder how despiteyour best efforts lizards man-age to enter into your well-for-tified house then you mustknow that these reptiles aresmart enough to adapt to newand ever-changing urban sur-roundings by learning thetricks necessary to survive.
This is what has been dis-covered by the researchers afterthey studied the “survival of thefittest” motto mechanismadopted by lizards, which areclosely related to snakes. Theyfound that lizards in the city’ssuburbs were street-smart, and
learn faster than their ruralbrethren, to stay safe. Thestudy has been published in therecent edition of internationaljournal Biology Letters.
The study demonstratesfor the first time that suburbanlizards have faster learning andreversal learning skills for a keysurvival-related behaviour,finding safety in unpredictableenvironments.
Anuradha Batabyal andMaria Thaker, both fromIndian Institute of Science,probed the learning abilities ofthe Indian rock agama aftercapturing a few male speciesfrom rural and suburban partsof Bengaluru and placed themin an enclosure with a perch inthe middle and two identicalrefuge spots.
Continued on Page 4
��)���������� #-&�,-.24
With experts holding litchiresponsible for aggravat-
ing encephalitis deaths inMuzaffarpur, the summer fruit,mainly produced in this Bihar’sdistrict, is facing the heat as itsindustry is estimated to havesuffered losses of around �80-100 crore.
Price of shahi litchi hasgone down by 50 per cent, cur-rently selling around��70 akilogram in the retail market.Several consignments of litchijuice are lying at the ports ofUS, Australia, United ArabEmirates (UAE), New Zealandand United Kingdom. In fact,people are scared of consum-ing even packed litchi juiceavailable in the market.
Industry experts believethat thankfully the epidemichas struck at the fag end of thelitchi season leading to lesserlosses for them.
And as death toll has
increased due to the AcuteEncephalitis syndrome (AES)epidemic, the BiharGovernment has advised par-ents against giving the fruit totheir children on empty stom-ach even as Odisha has orderedlitchi’s lab tests. The RajasthanGovernment on its part has
directed officials to remainalert in the State.
Experts believed that litchicontains a toxin which cancause a drop in blood sugar lev-els if consumed by a malnour-ished child, leading to death.
According to theAgriculture Ministry, 250,000-
3,00,000 metric tonne of litchiwere produced on 32,000hectare in Bihar in 2018. TheMinistry has projected 7,10,000MT production of litchi in itsfirst advance estimate, releasedlast month.
India is the second largestproducer of litchi in the worldafter China. Bacha Prasad
Singh, president of LitchiGrowers Association of Bihar,told The Pioneer that litchigrowers have witnessed near-ly 50-60 per cent decline in saleof litchi in the past one weekafter it was reported that AEShas some connection with thissweet and juicy summer fruit.
a plea seeking a direction tothe Centre to urgently consti-tute a team of medical expertsfor the treatment of the chil-dren in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur,who are suffering from sus-pected Acute Encephalitis
Syndrome (AES), which haskilled 113 children so far onWednesday.
The plea also sought adirection to the UnionGovernment for providing allnecessary medical equipmentand other supports for theeffective treatment of the chil-dren suffering from the epi-demic disease.
Peripheral Road (SPR). Thestretch is set to be revampedwith three flyovers and twounderpasses at crucial junc-tions. The project plan hasbeen prepared by theGurugram MetropolitanDevelopment Authority(GMDA). A Detail ProjectReport (DPR) of the project hasalready been prepared.
The eight-kilometre stretchstarts from Faridabad road. Itwill be connected to Vatikachowk on National Highway248 also known as Sohna road.The estimated cost of the pro-ject is around �360 crore.
The main points to berevamped include the stretchfrom the Delhi-Jaipur Road toVatika Chowk and the ensuingdistance from Vatika Chowk toGhata village in Sectors 55-56.
According to traffic sur-veys conducted by the GMDA,over 3,700 vehicles use this
stretch every hour, putting ithigh on the GMDA’S priority.
In addition, the SPR is setto get two underpasses, one atVatika Chowk and the other atthe Sector 55-56 intersection.There are also plans for threeflyovers to ease traffic conges-tion at Rajesh Pilot Chowk,Tigra Mod, and the four-lanethe intersection betweenSectors 49-50 and 65-66.
These developments arepart of the GMDA’S largerplans to turn the SPR into anarterial road and ease the flowof traffic on the Delhi-JaipurExpressway.
“The flyover and under-pass would bring relief to tens
of lakhs of commuters whostruggle currently throughunending traffic jams on thestretch which traffic cops finddifficult to manage,” said aGMDA official.
According to the GMDA,the project will directly bene-fit around 12 sectors and 6 sixvillages. The agency has alsostated collect samples of soil. Itwill also prepare traffic volumeon the stretch.
“The project will help thedevelopment of both residen-tial and commercial real estateprojects along the SPR. Theareas to benefit from thisinclude commercial sectors 74and 75, residential sectors 63Ato 67, and sectors 49 to 66,” hesaid. “The stretch will providegreat relief to thousands ofcommuters who travelled fromFaridabad and neighbouringareas. The stretch will connectsectors as well as a rural area.Also, the authority will keep aneye on the traffic volume on adaily basis,” said A K SinglaSuperintendent Engineer,GMDA.
���%%����������� #-&�,-.24
The Delhi Police has arrest-ed two persons for alleged-
ly supplying arms and ammu-nition to criminals in Delhiand its peripherals. Police haverecovered a 0.32 bore country-made pistol, four desi kattas of0.315 bore and 30 cartridgesfrom the possession of the duo.
The accused have beenidentified Mohammad Parvez(42), a resident of Jasola villageand Mohammad Iqbaal, a resi-dent of Hapur, Uttar Pradesh.Police said Parvez was previouslyconvicted in a murder case reg-istered at Kalkaji police stationand on his instance seller of ille-gal arms and ammunition, Iqbal
was arrested from Hapur. Deputy Commissioner of
Police (DCP), South district,Vijay Kumar said, “In order tocurb use of arms in crime insouth Delhi and other parts ofNCR region, a police team ofspecial staff of South district wastasked to nab the criminalsusing arms and also the suppli-ers of these illegal weapons”.
“On June 18, specific inputswere received that one arm sup-plier identified as Parvez wouldbe coming to supply illegal
weapons to someone inChitranjan Park area,” said theDCP.
“Acting on the inputs a trapwas laid and the accused wasapprehended with one country-made pistol, two desi kattasand 10 live cartridges in his pos-session,” said the DCP.
“During interrogationParvez disclosed that he hadpurchased arms and ammuni-tion from Iqbaal. Parvez wasplanning to sell illegal armsand ammunition in Delhi and
NCR to make some profits,” saidthe DCP.
“On the instance of accusedParvez a raid was conducted atvillage Hardypur, Hapur andIqbal was arrested with twomore illegal arms with 20 live
cartridges which were kept in hisresidence,” said the DCP addingthat further interrogation isgoing on to explore the sourceof illegal arms and ammunition.
���%%����������� #-&�,-.24
With the arrest of a 34-year-old man, the Delhi Police
on Wednesday claimed to havesolved an attempt to murder casewherein the accused had firedupon a man, along with his twoassociates, after he suspectedhim of having illicit relationshipwith his wife and sister in law.
The accused, identified asJitender alias Jitu, a resident ofDelhi’s Najafgarh area used towork as masonry contractorwith the victim NabodhKumar for many years. Policesaid the partnership in busi-ness between the duo fell outa year ago after the victimexpressed his liking for theaccused’s sister-in-law. “Jituwas also miffed with the vic-tim as he was losing workbecause of the competitionsince both parted ways,” saidpolice.
According to AntoAlphonse, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), Dwarka District, onJune 18, specific informationwas obtained that one of theassailants who is involved infiring and stabbing a youngman, a week ago, will be com-ing on his blue colour motor-cycle near Balli Farm,Paprawat Village to pick hisfamily in pursuant of his planto flee to Mumbai with fam-ily.
“The team swung intoaction and a trap was setup.The accused was interceptedand overpowered by the team.During interrogation, theaccused revealed that the vic-tim was having an illicit affairwith his wife due to whichtheir partnership had brokenup. He was also the source ofcompetition due to whichthe accused was incurringfinancial losses. So he along
with two of his associates, Rajbiralias Billy and Santosh, for Rs.50,000/- to eliminate NabodhKumar,” said the DCP.
“According to the plan, theylured Nabodh Kumar to an iso-lated spot alongside drain nearPaprawat Village. There while allfour were having cold drinksand snacks, Rajbir fired uponNabodh with country madepistol and Santosh attackedNabodh Kumar with knife. Theyfled the spot after injuring thevictim,” said the DCP.
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The Delhi Police Special Cellon Wednesday arrested the
25-year-old man who waswanted for allegedly molestinga woman at Huda City CentreMetro Station complex inGurugram a few days back.
The accused had allegedlyflashed at the woman and waswanted by police for outraging
the modesty of a woman.“The accused has been
identified as, Dinesh (25) a res-ident of Sector-57, Gurugramand a native of Hamirpur dis-trict in Uttar Pradesh (UP). Hewas apprehended onWednesday,” said PramodSingh Kushwah, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), Special Cell.
It was alleged by
woman that, on June 14 when the complainant waswalking out of Huda City Centre Metro station,while she was climbing downescalators, one person flashed exposed himself inap-propriately.
A 29 year old Delhi basedinterior designer had earlieralleged that a man masturbat-ed on her when she was climb-
ing down an escalator at theHuda City Centre MetroStation complex.
The victim said she hadgone to visit a friend inGurugram on June 14 and theincident happened when shecame out of a clothing store onthe first floor of the metro sta-tion.
“After exiting the store, Ifelt something was wrong onmy back. I turned and realisedthat a man masturbated on me.I was shocked, scared and trau-matised. I confronted him. Heflashed me and said indecentwords; I slapped him,” the vic-tim alleged.
After taking cognisance ofthe woman’s complaint onTwitter, Gurugram police hasregistered a First InformationReport (FIR) under section354A/509 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Metro police sta-tion in the neighbouringGurugram. The accused wasclearly seen in the CCTV graband his movements weres c a n n e dby the sleuths to locate andbring him to justice, a policeofficial said.
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The Delhi Police onWednesday arrested two
members of infamous ‘BachhanGang’, including the kingpinallegedly involved in variousincidents of snatching and auto-lifting across national Capital.The gang was active in NorthWest, Rohini, West and Outerdistricts of Delhi. The accusedduo was identified as Rohit (22)alias Bachhan, also the kingpinof the gang and his associateRahul (22), both residents ofDelhi’s Sultanpuri area. Policesaid that the duo during inter-rogation disclosed involvementin more than 80 incidents ofmobile phone and women’shandbag snatching in Outer,Rohini, North-West and WestDistricts of Delhi.
Police have also recovered
10 stolen bikes and threesnatched mobile phones fromthe possession of the accused.
According to Rajiv Ranjan,Additional Commissioner ofPolice, Crime Branch, on June18, acting on specific inputsregarding the duo, a trap was
laid and the accused wereapprehended near SultanpuriBus terminal.
During interrogation theaccused disclosed that theyadmitted to their involvementin a large number of auto-lift-ing and snatching cases.
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The Delhi Police has arrest-ed three robbers who first
used to choke the victims andmake them unconscious andthen snatch their belongings inthe East Delhi area.
The accused have beenidentified as Kunal aliasChachu (20 yrs.) of Nangloi ,Manoj alias Rohit alias Kana(27 yrs.) of Trilokpuri andVicky who is also a resident ofTrilokpuri.
According to JasmeetSingh, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP)East District, a Police ControlRoom(PCR) call was receivedon June 15 in Pandav NagarPolice Station about a robberyof purse and mobile by threepersons by choking the victimunconscious.
When the police teamreached the spot, the victimDeepak Kumar, resident SoniyaVihar, stated that he wasrobbed by choking the neckand three people fled on ascooty with his mobile andpurse containing some cashand his essential documents.
Union Minister ofParliamentary Affairs PralhadJoshi, seeking a vision docu-ment on the issue of ‘onenation, one election’ so that aninformed and wide-rangingdiscussion can happen on theissue.
AAP national spokesper-son Raghav Chadha, in a letterto Joshi, said in absence of aclear basis or vision, it would befutile for any political party tocomment on the merits or thedemerits of a proposal such asthis. “A vision document ordetailed proposal or whitepaper is required to be able toapply their mind to it and pro-vide meaningful, detailed,“comprehensive, unbiased,accurate and informed view”on the same,” he said.
He further stated in the let-ter that it is our view that ideassuch as constitutional amend-ments for simultaneous elec-tions and imposing President’sRule without constitutionalbreakdown are an attempt to fixwhat isn’t broken, and under-mines India’s plural democra-tic polity. “Tinkering with time-tested conventions without anyneed other than to providepadding to a slogan can dam-age institutional equilibriumand create political unrest andregional instability,” he said.
“Presently if a governmentchooses to dissolve itself, orloses its majority, the Governor,acting on behalf of thePresident of the Republic, willbe obliged either to call uponanother party or coalition toform the government, or mustperforce call for fresh elections,”he said.
He said “But under asimultaneous elections’ regime, whether by an amend-ment to the statute or mere design, will the people ofthe state have to wait till theLok Sabha elections to getanother democratically electedstate assembly? What if thatwaiting period is one or twoyears or more; is the State
expected to be beholden to theUnion government for elec-tions to its State?” he said,adding that such a situationgoes against the very grain ofpolitical autonomy under ourfederal structure.
“The concept of compelledsimultaneous elections has ananti-democratic tint basing itsfoundation on premature dis-solution of any government -something that at any level willlead to political turmoil, uncer-tainty, and undermining ofdemocracy as mandates at var-ious levels will be cut short,even assuming we were toignore the unnecessary burdenon the exchequer,” he stated inthe letter.
Recalling the ‘harrowing’experience of emergency peri-od, he claimed that someassemblies were extendedbeyond five years and otherassemblies dissolved to “suitCongress’s political interest isworth recalling as a caveatagainst enforcing elections inany manner contrary to thefive-year cycle being followed”.
Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal skipped theall-party meeting called byPrime Minister Narendra Modion Wednesday and sent partymember Raghav Chadha torepresent the party.
Prime Minister had invit-ed heads of all parties who havean MP either in Lok Sabha orRajya Sabha for a meeting onJune 19 to discuss severalissues, including the “onenation, one election” idea, cel-ebration of the 75 years ofIndependence in 2022 and 150years of Mahatma Gandhi’sbirth anniversary this year.
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In a major reshuffle, 11Assistant Commissioner of
Police (ACP) of Delhi Policewere transferred in nationalCapital on Wednesday. This isthe first transfer list issued byDelhi Police head quartersafter the model code of conductfor general elections 2019 waslifted.
Amit Kaushik (DANIPS)who was posted as ACP, KamlaMarket in Central Delhi will betaking new charge as ACP inChanayka Puri in New Delhidistrict. Uma Shankar(DANIPS) who was ACP atSouth-West district Delhi Cantthas been transferred as ACPoperations in West district.
Whereas, Mayank Bansal(DANIPS) will be taking chargeas ACP, Vivek Vihar in Shadaradistrict after his transfer fromLakshadweep. Manish Jorwal
(DANIPS) who was posted asACP with traffic will now beACP of Delhi Cantt.
Sanjeev Tyagi who wasposted as ACP operations inWest has been given newcharge as ACP, Outer Northdistrict. Satish Kumar, ACP ofPG Cell has been transferred toSpecial Branch. Raghu Rajposted at vigilance departmenthas been transferred as ACP,Kamla Market.
Gulam Sabir, who was inPolice Control Room (PCR)unit, has been transferred asACP traffic. Chittar MalMeena, ACP of Police TrainingCollege (PTC) has been giventhe charge of ACP, CAW Cell,Outer district.
ACP Sanket Kaushik whowas in security has been trans-ferred to traffic while ACPRajbir Malik has been trans-ferred from security to PCRunit.
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South Delhi MunicipalCorporation’s (SDMC)
decentralised waste processingbiogas plant established atPunjabi Bagh has become thefirst plant to install net meter-ing. The plant generatesapproximately 800 units ofelectricity and around 800 kilo-grams organic manure per day.
The net metering conceptwas successfully implementedin rooftop solar till now; this isfor the first time wherein a biogas based decentralized wasteto energy project is working onthe same concept, the officialsaid, adding that it allows theplant to store the overpro-duced electricity in a grid andwhen the plant is under-pro-ducing; the stored power can beused to meet the requirement.
The bio-methanation plantcalled - ‘Yasasu Green’ wasinaugurated by DelhiLieutenant Governor Anil
Baijal in February this year tomanage and process a largequantity of waste produced inthe national Capital.
A senior SDMC officialsaid that Delhi generates10,000-ton waste every dayand it has become a dauntingchallenge to manage andprocess the entire quantity ofwaste. “The process is indige-nously developed to suit Indianconditions and effectivelyprocess Indian city waste, deliv-ered mixed or segregated to theplant. The biogas producedon digestion which is similar tonatural gas quality can be usedto produce electricity and themanure generated is of highquality which can be usedfrom urban to rural spaces,” hesaid.
“Incorporation of Net-metering with our decentral-ized waste processing technol-ogy ‘Yasasu green’ deployed atPunjabi Bagh and Pali Hill,Mumbai, projects gives us an
edge, as it will help easy distri-bution of energy being pro-duced from decentralized wasteto energy plant,” said YashasBhand, CEO & Co-founder,Yasasu EMS Pvt. Ltd., technol-ogy provider for Pali Hill andDelhi Project.
Bhand further said thatearlier the corporations, gatedcommunities or RWA, had toinvest in additional infrastruc-ture for using this power, butwith the deployment of netmetering at decentralized level,we have given a New hope fordecentralized waste to energyplants and this shall increasethe acceptability among peoplefor the technology”,
The system is based on theproven bio-methanation andtreating waste as sourcemethodology as promotedunder Solid WasteManagement (SWM) Rules,2016 which promotes decen-tralized SWM plants, he said.
The plant which receives
10 tonnes of waste daily andafter the process of segregationfive tonnes of waste is leftwhich further goes for furtherprocessing into decentralizedbio-methanation plant basedon anaerobic digestion tech-
nology. It aims at being India’s leading decentralizedwaste management solutionprovider to construct, operateand maintain waste processingplants.
Till now, four such plants
are operational in areas ofPunjabi Bagh, Dwarka Sector14, Roshan Arah Bagh andGTB Nagar under municipalcorporations. Further, six moreplants to be operational inDelhi by June 2019.
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In order to keep a tight vigilon the activities of children,
South Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC) hasinstalled closed-circuit televi-sion cameras (CCTV) in all its581 schools.
A senior SDMC officialsaid that the installation ofcameras started in October2018 and completed weeksbefore the deadline.
“The aim of installing thesecameras is to ensure safety ofchildren and also to monitorthe activities of the children,” hesaid.
“The move will ensureaverting any untoward inci-dents. CCTV will be installedat isolated places of schoolsbesides gates and corridor. Thestep has been taken to fulfillour commitment towards pro-viding foolproof security tothe students. It will also help uskeep a check on teachers aswell,” he said.
The civic body in its bid totransform children lives in its
schools has taken a number ofmeasures, including turningthe classroom into a smartone with a smart board, pro-jectors, Interactive pad,Podium, UPS, speakers and
other hardware and software tomake the study interesting.
The official also mentionedthat the agency will monitorCCTV cameras to fix the qual-ity of primary education apartfrom keeping an eye on thesecurity of children. “A monitoring team will be con-stituted in every zone and theSDMC officials at the head-quarters will supervise it fromthe control room at the CivicCentre,” he said.
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In a major relief to the stu-dents especially applying
under the reserved categories,the Delhi University (DU) hasdecided to accept the admis-sion applications from stu-dents under EconomicallyWeaker Section (EWS) andOther Backward Castes (OBC)who has applied for the EWSand OBC (non creamy layer)certificate. Students now canapply for the admissions underthe category by uploading the‘Acknowledgement receipt’.
“It is hereby notified thatthe aspirants who have appliedfor the EWS / OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) certificates andhave not received the same tilldate may upload theAcknowledgement Receipt ofthe application for issuance ofthe said certificate towardsconsideration of their applica-tion,” announced the admissionCommittee on Wednesday.The 10 percent reservation
was implemented in the varsi-ty this year for EWS category.
However, with a shortnotice, the students comingunder the category were seenrunning from pillar to post asmany has not got the EWS cer-tificates. “It is very good newsfor the students belonging tothe economically weaker sec-tion as many students werefrom pillar to post get their cer-tificates done, now the studentscan fill the application andsubmit the certificates lateronce they received,” said Heena,a student applying under EWScategory.
Another student happilysaid, “Now I can also apply inDU and will get admission byuploading the Acknowledgeof Receipt. Till now, I wasdaily visiting the Sub DistrictMagistrate (SDM) office to getmy certificate done but theysaid the certificate will beissued only after a month,”said Megha Sharma, a DUaspirant.
Another student, JyotiKumari said, “I come fromJharkhand and people from myplace do not have a clue aboutthe scheme being implement-ed. I had to run here and thereto apply for the certificate only.Thanks to the varsity studentswill get a chance to apply inDU.”
Besides, EWS category, the
varsity has allowed the OBC(non creamy layer) students toapply for admission to UGcourses with uploadingAcknowledgement of receipt.
The BJP MLA VijenderGupta also held a protest andwrote a letter to the varsity vicechancellor (VC) Yogesh Tyagito extend the date of online reg-istrations for the students
belonging to EWS category. As per the data available on
the DU website, the varsity hasreceived a total number of353500 applications of which245835 are paid application.Category wise, a total of 145950received under general catego-ry, 52093 from OBC, and 32758under Scheduled caste (SC),6744-Scehduled Tribes (ST)and 8290 from EWS category.
The DU admissions forUG courses were started onMay 30 and will continue tillJune 22. The Cut-off list areexpected to out by end of thismonth.
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Delhi Congress presidentSheila Dikshit planted a
sapling at Rajiv Bhawan, Stateheadquarters on Wednesday tomark the party national presi-dent Rahul Gandhi’s 49thbirthday.
Extending her greetings toGandhi, Dikshit said that croresof people in the country con-sider Rahul Gandhi as theirdear leader and the Congressparty will surely gain greatheights under his dynamicleadership.
She said that the Congressworkers will follow his guid-ance to serve the people of thecountry as well as in Delhi.
Dikshit, after planting thesapling, exhorted the Congressworkers to plant at least one sapling in their respectiveareas as the erosion of Delhi’sgreen cover was one of the rea-sons for the high levels ofatmospheric pollution in theCapital.
“When Congress was inpower in Delhi under her ChiefMinistership for 15 years, everyeffort was made to enhance thegreen cover but for the past fiveyears, Delhi has witnessed a
depletion of the Capital’s greencover that resulted in the rising levels of atmosphericpollution, which has crossedthe danger levels many times inthe recent years,” she said.Dikshit also exhorted theCongress workers to be anexample for others to emulatein protecting and enhancingthe green cover in Delhi byplanting more and moresaplings in their areas.
Many senior Congressleaders and a large number ofCongress workers were present on the occasion including party’s working pres-idents Haroon Yusuf, RajeshLilothia and Devender Yadav, former Delhi MinistersMangat Ram Singhal,Ramakant Goswami(spokesperson) and Dr KiranWalia, spokesperson HarnamSingh, Rohit Manchanda,District president MadanKhorwal and a large number ofCongress workers.
Meanwhile, students andsocial institutions of dalits andblock congress committeemembers of Sultan Pur Mazracelebrated birthday of theCongress president RahulGandhi.
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New Delhi MunicipalCouncil (NDMC) is all set
to organise the 5th InternationalDay of Yoga in collaborationwith Ministry of AYUSH onFriday at Rajpath. According toa senior NDMC official,Minister of Defence RajnathSingh will be the chief guest andDelhi Lieutenant Governor AnilBaijal will be the guest of hon-our on the occasion.
At the outset, the culturalprogrammes will also be com-menced followed by a massyoga protocol from 7.00 to 7.45am. Besides this, the civic bodywill also organize ‘Yoga Protocol’at Lodhi Garden, TalkatoraGarden and at Nehru Park. Onthe occasion Union Minister ofRailways, Commerce & IndustryPiyush Goyal, Union Minister ofPetroleum, Natural Gas & SteelDharmendra Pradhan, Ministerof State (Independent Charge) ofShipping, Chemicals & Fert-ilizers, Mansukh L. Mandaviyaare invited as chief guests.
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Assuring every possiblemedical assistance to
Bihar to cure children afflict-ed with Acute EncephalitisSyndrome (AES), the DelhiGovernment on Wednesdayoffered to send medicines andspecialist doctors.
Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia, flanked byHealth Minister Satyendar Jain,said the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) Government was readyto send a team of doctors, para-medics, medicines and ambu-lances to Bihar.
According to reports,around 113 children have diedso far due to AES in the state.“I offer all possible assistance tothe Bihar government in thiscrisis. We are ready to providehelp such as sending teams ofour doctors, para-medical staff,medicines and ambulances, tothe state government,” Sisodiasaid.
Taking jibe on Central gov-
ernment’s health schemeAyushman Bharat and termingit as “White Elephant”, DeputyChief Minister Manish Sisodiaand Delhi Health MinisterSatyendar Jain said that AAPgovernment is ready to send ateam of doctors, paramedics,medicines and ambulances toBihar.
Delhi has provided a modelto the country; enriching insur-ance companies cannot be thesolution” Sisodia added.
Hitting out at the centralgovernment, Jain sought toknow as to why no child wasgetting medical treatment underits Ayushman Bharat pro-gramme. The Delhi health
minister had recentlyannounced that the AAP dis-pensation would not imple-ment the central government-sponsored healthcare scheme inthe national capital.
Raising question on the‘effective’ implementation ofAyushman Bharat, Jain said,“Bihar children should have qualified for treatment under AyushmanBharat; why has the schemefailed in Bihar?”
“The Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) and their Central gov-ernment ministers have beenadvertising the AyushmanBharat scheme lately.Unfortunately, this crisis hasproven that the scheme is awhite elephant,” sisodia said.
“During such severehealthcare crises, it becomesclear that what people truly needis a strong network of healthcareinfrastructure, not insuranceschemes like Ayushman Bharat.Instead of enriching insurancecompanies, the government
should have focused on build-ing Mohalla Clinics, PolyClinics, adding capacity to exist-ing hospitals and building morehospitals.
Delhi has provided a modelto the country by setting upMohalla clinics, Polyclinics, andhospitals. More beds, moreICUs, more modern machineryis the need of the hour. That isthe solution for today’s health-care problem,” added Sisodia.
It may be recalled that ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal hadwritten to Union HealthMinister Harsh Vardhan twoweeks back, saying the Delhigovernment’s health scheme is“ten times bigger and compre-hensive” than the Centre’s flag-ship Ayushman Bharat pro-gramme.
“Hardly any citizen of Delhigoes to Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to get treatment,which indicates that Delhi’s health scheme is func-tioning well”, Kejriwal had saidin the letter.
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Lieutenant Governor AnilBaijal on Wednesday
reviewed problem of faecalmaterial disposal in drains andbad order near drains and vio-lation of C &D material dis-posal rules in the nationalCapital.
Notably as per the DelhiGovernment records, nearly50 per cent population isdependent on-site sanitationsystems like septic tanks espe-cially in the periphery of thecity however these septic tanksare cleaned using private oper-ators and the faecal sludge isoften dumped in the nallahs ordrains.
In the meeting theEnvironment Protection con-trol Authority (EPCA)informed that nearly 4 millionliters of septage and faecalsludge is collected per day inDelhi.
In the meeting, it wasdecided that all vacuumtankers in the city should beregistered. all tankers musthave GPS so that the move-ment of the vehicle can betracked and must be mappedto STPs where they can taketheir sewage for discharge andeach STP must keep record ofthe sewage coming from thetankers; the location and vol-ume
It was further informedthat C&D Waste is not beingdisposed off properly and canbe seen dumped all over cityalong the major roads andcontributing significantly inconcentration of PM 10. Itwas discussed that followingaction needs to be taken.“Improve C&D collection anddisposal system in the city.Track transportation of wastefrom the collection points andmandate its transfer to therecycling facility only andIncrease the percentage formandatory uses of recycledC&D waste in all governmentprojects. Incentivise use ofrecycled C&D waste products,”the review team of EPCA members and corpora-tion officers discussed theeffective implementation of C&D waste rules.
Congress, the grand old partydissolved its unit in the south-ern State on Wednesday, whileretaining its president andworking president.
“The AICC has decided todissolve the present committeeof (the) Karnataka PradeshCongress. The president andworking president remainunchanged,” a statement issuedby AICC general secretary(organisation) KC Venugopalsaid.
Rumblings within theKarnataka Congress havegrown ever since the Lok Sabhapoll debacle in the State. Therehave also been problems ofcoordination in the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalitiongovernment in the southernstate.
Voices of dissent have beengrowing in the KarnatakaCongress for some time nowdue to differences over thefunctioning of the coalitiongovernment in the state, evenas the Congress and JD(S)leadership have been accusingthe BJP and its leader YSYeddyurappa of luring their
leaders to topple the coalitionGovernment.
Two members of theCongress were recently induct-ed in the Karnataka cabinet.
State Congress chiefDinesh Gundu Rao said disso-lution of the KPCC wouldpave the way for reorganizationof the party at all levels andwould create an opportunity fornew leaders.
The intention is to reorga-nize the party at the state, dis-trict and block levels, which isimportant, Rao said, adding healong with party’s WorkingPresident Eshwar Khandrewould have to start reorganis-ing and strengthening theparty.
He said discussions will beheld with legislature party
leader Siddaramaiah, DeputyChief Minister GParameshwara, AICC GeneralSecretary K C Venugopal andothers about the way forward.
“We will look for givingopportunity to new leadershipin the party. Those loyal to theparty and honest workers willbe identified and given anopportunity in the organiza-tion.
“We have also startedworking towards appointingmembers to various boardsand corporations and it will befinalized in a month,” he said,adding this would instill con-fidence among workers.
The move comes in thewake of the worst ever LokSabha poll performance of theCongress in Karnataka, where
the party won only one of the21 seats it had contested.
Congress’ ruling coalitionpartner, the JD(S), won one outof the seven parliamentaryseats it had contested, while theBJP had swept the polls, bag-ging 25 out of the 28 seats.
Sources say the move willprovide an opportunity to freshfaces towards strengtheningthe organisation from the grassroot level.
Meanwhile, Yeddyurapparefuted Chief Minister H DKumaraswamy’s allegation thatthe BJP was attempting tobribe JD(S) legislators andasked him to name thoseinvolved.
“If the chief minister didnot give out the names beforelevelling such allegations, itwill be seen as he is suspectinghis own party MLAs,”Yeddyurappa said and claimedthe chief minister was makingallegations against the BJP “outof desperation.”
Senior Karnataka legislatorR Roshan Baig, who was sus-pended by the Congress onTuesday night for “anti-party”activities, said he was a “disci-plined soldier of the party” andwas being punished for speak-ing the truth.
In order to give a boost tobattery-operated or electric
vehicles in the country, theMinistry of Road Transportand Highways has decided towaive registration charges forelectric vehicles.
The draft notification ofthe amendment in Rule 81 ofthe Central Motor VehiclesRules 1989, proposes to exemptBattery Operated Vehiclesfrom payment of fees for thepurpose of issue or renewal ofregistration certificate andassignment of new registrationmark.
This means that ElectricVehicles would be exemptedfrom such registration charges.The move, aimed at promotingelectric vehicles (EVs) in India,comes at a time when thecountry plans high penetrationof such vehicles by 2030.
Issuing the draft notifica-tion to amend the CentralMotor Vehicles Rules (CMVR),1989, the ministry said battery-operated vehicles “shall beexempted from the payment offees for the purpose of issue orrenewal of registration certifi-cate and assignment of newregistration mark”. The exemp-tion will apply to all category of
vehicles, including two-wheel-ers. The amendments will bedone in exercise of the powersconferred on the central gov-ernment under various sectionsof the Motor Vehicles Act,1988. “The said draft rulesshall be taken into considera-tion after the expiry of a peri-od of 30 days from the date onwhich the copies of this noti-fication as published in theGazette of India, are madeavailable to the public,” thedraft notification said.
The Maharashtra govern-ment had earlier asked theMinistry to consider exemptionfrom registration for the batteryoperated rickshaws. The gov-ernment has already exemptedbattery operated two-wheelersfrom registration.
Earlier last year, the Centrehad notified rules for plying e-rickshaws, making driver’slicence mandatory and cappingspeed limit at 25 kmph. Thegovernment had also notifiedthe Central Motor Vehicles(16th Amendment) Rules,2014, paving the way for plyingof the “special purpose batteryoperated vehicles”. The newrules allowed e-rickshaws tocarry four passengers and 40kgluggage while e-carts couldtransport goods up to 310kg.
New Delhi: Trust UnionMinister and Republican Partyof India (RPI) leader RamdasAthawale for his straight-facedhumour. Wednesday was oneof those occasions as he leftPrime Minister NarendraModi, UPA chairperson SoniaGandhi and Rahul Gandhialong with other Lok Sabhamembers in peels of laughter byhis witty remarks, some aimedat the Congress president.
In his congratulatoryremarks after the unanimouselection of Om Birla as LokSabha Speaker, Athawale, whohas a knack for spontaneoushumour, said he is happy thatRahul got a chance to sit in LokSabha though as an oppositionmember. While Rahul wonfrom Wayanad in Kerala, helost the Gandhi stronghold ofAmethi in Uttar Pradesh toSmriti Irani.
“Rahul ji aapko wahanbaithne ka mauka mila isiliyeaapko badhai deta hoon. Jabapki satta thi tab main aapkesaath tha. Chunav ke pehlemujhe Congress wale bol rahethe idhar aao. Maine hawa karukh dekha ki woh Modi ji ki
taraf ja rahi hai (I congratulateyou on getting an opportunityto sit there (in the Oppositionbenches). I was with the UPAwhen it was was in power.Congress leaders asked me tojoin them again ahead of elec-tions. But I saw which way thewind was blowing and decidedto remain with NDA,” he said.
Rahul and Sonia took hisremarks sportingly and wereseen smiling. When the RPIleader was speaking, Modi wasseen laughing on more thantwo occasions. “Now, our gov-ernment will run for five years,and for another five years ...Modi sahib will continue to dothe good work. We will not letyou come this side (treasurybenches) so easily,” Athawalesaid, amid thumping of desksby NDA members.
He evoked laughter whenhe recited a poem andpromised to make Birla laugh.Referring to the Congress andRahul Gandhi, he said whenthe Congress was in power hewas with them and then heshifted to NDA. “You (Birla) donot laugh, but I will make youlaugh,” he said. PNS
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External Affairs Minister SJaishankar met Russian
Deputy Prime Minister YuryTrutnev on Wednesday anddiscussed ways to strengthenbilateral ties as well as PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s visitto Vladivostok for the EasternEconomic Forum later this year.
Jaishankar’s meeting withTrutnev comes days after PrimeMinister Modi met RussianPresident Vladimir Putin onthe sidelines of the ShanghaiCooperation OrganisationSummit in Bishkek, where thetwo leaders reviewed all aspectsof bilateral relations to furtherstrengthen the strategic rela-tionship.
“EAM @DrSJaishankarmet with Deputy PrimeMinister & Presidential Envoyto the Far Eastern FederalDistrict of Russia Yury Trutnev.
From Page 1Highlighting special reason for
tracking ozone during summer,Roychowdhury said this is mainlybecause ozone is not directly emittedfrom any source. “Other gases suchas nitrogen oxide and volatile organ-ic compounds that are emitted fromcombustion sources like vehicles,industry or power plants, react in theair under the influence of sunlightand temperature to form ozone,” saidRoychowdhury.
“Summer months, with theirhigh sunshine and high ambienttemperatures, increase our vulnera-bility to ozone impacts. It seems theintense heat wave experienced thissummer may have influenced thistrend in the region, which is alreadysuffering from severe air pollution,”
she added further.Citing ozone gas reading on
CPCB index, environmentalist said,“If this trend continues and worsens,the Graded Response Action Planwill also have to initiate action toaddress the precursor gases thatform ozone -- NOx, hydrocarbons etc-- and crack down on vehicles andindustry.” However, there are someareas in Delhi where days of ozoneexceeding recorded less. In locationslike Aya Nagar, Karni Singh ShootingRange, IGI airport, Lodhi Road,Mandir Marg, Pusa Road, Patparganj,North Campus, ITO and AnandVihar less than 5 per cent of the dayshave experienced it.
While areas like ITO, IGI air-ports, Anand Vihar marked underred zone in terms of pollution though
these areas recorded less days ofexceeding ozone.
“This is a complex atmosphericchemistry and needs investigation,point out CSE researchers and some-times in highly polluted locations thatmay generate ozone, levels can dipdue to further reaction with gases likeNOx. Ozone also drifts to otherplaces and builds up in low pollutedareas,” CSE experts said.
“Even as Delhi is battling seriousparticulate pollution, newer roguesare beginning to raise their ugly headsto add to the health risk. The num-ber of days exceeding or crossing thestandard have certainly gone up thissummer. It can be a serious health cri-sis if the short duration levels beginto increase hereafter,” Roychaudhurysaid.
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“Exporters are not liftingthe fruit consignments inDubai, Europe and Englanddue to outbreak of AES inMuzaffarpur. Even in localmarket, traders are scared oflitchi. Some of the mandishave asked to hold up litchiconsignments till further order.Litchi business has been badlyhit this year,” rued Singh,adding that as many as 8-10lakh people, involved in thelitchi trade and transportationare affected.
“It is ridiculous to blamelitchi,” Singh added.
Shyam Lal, a trader, saidsale of litchi juice packets hasalso declined in the past fewdays in the national Capital.“On an average, I used to sell40-50 bottles of litchi juice perday but for the past one week,I sold only half a dozen bottles,”he said.
Generally, litchis hit themarket prior to the arrival ofmangoes. Hence, the markets
are full of litchis as mango willtake another 10 days or so to hitthe market. If the sale contin-ues to be low for the next cou-ple of days, traders will sufferhuge losses this season. Bihar’sfamous shahi litchi has gotGeographical Indication taglast year. A GI is an indicationused on products that have aspecific geographical originand possess qualities or a rep-utation due to that origin.
The worst-hit district isMuzaffarpur with the viral dis-ease claiming lives of 120 chil-dren, followed by Vaishaliwhere 12 children have lost thebattle with AES. Another sixchildren have lost their lives inBegusarai district, five inSamastipur, and two each inMotihari and Patna.
The symptoms of AESinclude high fever, vomiting,losing consciousness andseizures. The deaths have beenreported from Sri KrishnaMedical College and Hospitaland Kejriwal Hospital.
Democratic leaders are aspir-ing to contest against him inthe November 2020 presiden-tial elections. The winner of theDemocratic primary begin-ning early next year would getto challenge him.
Vice President Mike Penceand the entire First Familyalong with First Lady MelaniaTrump were on the stage dur-ing his speech.
Trump also asked his out-going press secretary SarahSanders to address the enthu-siastic crowd. Trump is seekingher to run for the Governor ofArizona.
Unlike many indicators, itsaid tax data is not collectedthrough surveys or by agenciesthrough arcane techniques,these are hard numbers andshould be an important indi-cator of growth.
“Further, there have beenno major changes in tax lawsuntil the end period in theauthor’s analysis (March 31,2017). GST was introduced onJuly 1, 2017.
“The author’s logic of notusing tax data appears to be aconvenient argument meantto avoid inconvenient conclu-sions based on hard facts,” itsaid.
The EAC-PM paper alsonoted that India’s GDP esti-mation is by no means a per-fect exercise. “Is it better thanbefore? Yes.”Is the process tofurther improve it in place?Yes,” it added.
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From Page 1Its backers contend it
would save the country frombeing continuously in “ anelection mode”, save an esti-mated Rs 4,500 crore as elec-tion expenditure and help indevelopmental works not get-ting affected. But many oppos-ing are apprehensive nationalpoll issues could subsumeAssembly polls and thus couldmarginalise or prove to be dis-advantageous to the regionalparties. Many national partiestoo are wary of the BJP’s move.
Last August, the LawCommission had recom-mended holding simultaneouselections to the Lok Sabha andState Assemblies to save pub-lic money and avert disruptionin governance with the coun-try always being in the poll-mode and ElectionCommission’s code of conductcensuring launching of devel-
opmental projects.The draft, submitted to
the Law Ministry, however,cautioned that “holding simul-taneous elections is not possi-ble within the existing frame-work of the Constitution”.
“The Prime Minister calledfor widespread debate and con-sultations on simultaneouselections for Lok Sabha andVidhan Sabhas, keeping inview various aspects such as theresulting financial savings andconsequent better utilisation ofresources,” an official releasesaid last week after Modiaddressed a NITI Aayog meet-ing here.
The Government think-tank, NITI Aayog, too had lastyear suggested synchronisedtwo-phase Lok Sabha andAssembly polls from 2024 toensure minimum campaign-mode disruption to gover-nance.
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BJP MP from GudaspurSunny Deol may be in trou-
ble as the Election Commission(EC) has asked him to explainhis overspending on his elec-tion campaign during therecent Lok Sabha elections.Against the statutory limit of Rs70 lakh, Deol is alleged tohave spent Rs 86 lakh for hiselection campaign.
Earlier, on May 15, the EChad issued directions foradding Rs 1.74 lakh to Deol’spoll expenditure after he failedto respond to its query about aFacebook page being run in hissupport.
In a notice to Deol, the ECasked him to “reconcile” hispoll expenditure account. Thenotice was issued by GurdaspurDistrict Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner VipulUjjwal.
New Delhi: The Supreme Courton Wednesday sought a responsefrom the EC by June 24 on a pleaof the Gujarat Congress, chal-lenging the EC’s decision tohold separate bypolls to twoRajya Sabha seats in the State.
A vacation bench of jus-tices Deepak Gupta and SuryaKant listed the matter for hear-ing on June 25, saying the
issue required to be heard.The Bench said, “It is not an
issue which can be taken upthrough an election petition andtherefore, requires to be heard.”
Senior advocate VivekTankha, appearing for theGujarat Congress, said therewere judgments of the DelhiHigh court which were in theirfavour. PTI
Aiming to move swiftly anddeliver the knockout punch,
the Indian Army plans to set upIntegrated Battle Groups byOctober this year on the borderfacing Pakistan. These groupswould comprise the combinedmight of the long range guns,tanks and ground troops andwould move in tandem toachieve the desired militaryobjective in the shortest possi-ble time.
Once these Integrated BattleGroups are functional, the Armywould then move to have simi-lar combined units in the areasfacing China. The first four tofive such groups will come up inthe Western Command whichguards the entire Punjab regionand some adjoining parts ofJammu and Rajasthan wheretanks can move at a fast pace
given the rather flat terrain. These groups are part of the
overall move to make the Armylean and mean. Army ChiefGeneral Bipin Rawat is keen tohave these groups start func-tioning as soon as possible,sources said here on Wednesday.In fact, the top commanders metin New Delhi some days back toreview the performance of theIBGs which have already con-ducted exercises to test their effi-cacy. The results were found tobe satisfactory and easily imple-mentable, they added.
The concept of such groupsinvolve artillery, armour involv-ing tanks and infantry or groundtroops, moving together in asynchronised manner andbringing effective fire on theenemy to gain victory in theshortest possible time withoutgiving time to the adversary toregroup. It will do away with theartillery, infantry and armourworking in silos and make theIndian Army battle-ready tofight modern day warfare wherespeed is of the essence, they said.
After reviewing the perfor-mance of the proposed groups,the Army top brass gave its nodand the service will now seekfinal approval by the defenceministry before going aheadwith the setting up of these high-ly mobile groups by October,sources said. The groups willalso be aided by attack heli-copters to deny the enemy tanksand artillery to time and spaceto react, they added.
These composite units arelikely to be headed by a MajorGeneral rank officer and will beequipped to perform offensiveand defensive roles. While theoffensive action means makingquick and effective thrust intothe enemy territory stealthily, thedefence role will see these unitsguarding its own territory in caseof retaliatory action from acrossthe border. Each unit, both indefensive and offensive forma-tions will have six battalions(onebattalion has 1,000 men) trainedto fight in a synergised mannerand the recent exercises provedthem to be effective, they said.
lines for the death of the kids dueto Acute Encephalitis Syndrome(AES), but experts point out thatthe disease has been endemic tothe entire State with all the dis-tricts reporting the cases that arefatal to kids.
Following the analysis oftotal 4,400 cases of AES report-ed between 2009 and 2014,with an average of 733 cases peryear, a team of researchers intheir study also noted that theAES cases start appearing inApril and reach a peak in Juneand then decline.
"There is another peak ofJapanese Encephalitis (JE) casesin October. The confirmed fatalrate (CFR) of AES and JE rangesfrom 5 per cent to 35 per centin Bihar," said the researchers intheir study 'Status and trend ofacute encephalitis syndromeand Japanese encephalitis inBihar, India' published inNational Medical Journal ofIndia in 2018. There were a total1309 deaths during the period.
"The disease peaks wereduring the start and end of theIndian summer and monsoon
months for AES and JE, respec-tively. Districts such as Patna,Jehanabad, Nawada, Gaya andEast Champaran reported themaximum number of AES andJE cases with annual incidencerates of 4.7-25.0 and 0.546-1.78per 100 000 population, respec-tively," said the study.
The experts have stressed onstrengthening the reporting andsurveillance mechanism in allthe districts of the state. Theyalso called for encouragingreluctant private practitioners insurveillance activities especial-ly for cases of AES. Intense infor-mation, education and com-munication (IEC) activities mustbe started at the village level toincrease participation from thecommunity and to improve thelong-term passive surveillance.
The team included PraveenKumar and PP Sarthi fromCentre for EnvironmentalSciences, Central University ofSouth Bihar, Patna, PM Pisuddefrom ESIC Medical College,Sanat Nagar, Hyderabad, MPSharma, State ProgrammeOfficer (Malaria), Chief MalariaOffice, Patna and VR Keshrifrom Bihar Technical SupportProgramme, Care India, Patna.
Acute encephalitis syn-
drome (AES) is a multifactori-al clinical condition, the mostcommon cause being Japaneseencephalitis (JE). JE is a vector-borne viral disease caused by theJE virus of group B arbovirus(Flavivirus) and is transmitted tohumans by the Culicine mos-quito.
JE affects the central ner-vous system (CNS), and can
cause serious complications anddeath. The CFR is high andthose who survive may sufferfrom neurological squeal such asconvulsions, episodic headache,autonomic disturbance, abnor-mal behaviour, mood disorder,intellectual deficit, paresis, inco-ordination of movements, jerkylimb movements, speech disor-der, cranial nerve palsy, gaze
palsy, Parkinsonian features,impaired hearing, etc.
An estimated 25 per cent ofaffected children die from thedisease, and among those whosurvive, 30 per cent-40 per centsuffer from physical and men-tal impairment. Children sufferthe highest attack rate due to lackof cumulative immunity fromnatural infections, said the study.
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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Wednesday agreed tohear a plea seeking a directionto the Centre to urgently con-stitute a team of medicalexperts for the treatment of thechildren in Bihar'sMuzaffarpur, who are sufferingfrom suspected AcuteEncephalitis Syndrome (AES),which has claimed more than100 lives.
A vacation bench of jus-tices Deepak Gupta and SuryaKant agreed to hear the pleanext Monday after the peti-tioner's counsel sought an
urgent listing of the matter.The plea also sought a
direction to the Centre for pro-viding all necessary medicalequipment and other supportsfor the effective treatment ofthe children suffering from theepidemic disease.
The petition, filed byadvocate Manohar Pratap,claimed that he was deeplypained and saddened by thedeaths of more than 126 chil-dren, mostly in the age groupof one to 10 years, in the pastweek and the figures wererising day by day.
"The deaths of children area direct result of negligenceand inaction on the part of therespective state governments ofBihar, Uttar Pradesh andUnion of India in handling theepidemical situation whicharises every year due to out-break of AES also calledJapanese encephalitis," the pleasaid.
It claimed that thousandsof young children were losingtheir lives yearly from the dis-ease but the governments (stateand Centre) had done nothingto prevent its spread. PTI
chaired all party meet that theidea of ‘one nation, one poll’ isfundamentally anti-federal andanti-democratic and thus,against the Constitution.Terming the Government's moveas “not practical” and “artificialmove” CPI(M) general secretarySitaram Yechury said in his notedistributed in the meeting thatholding simultaneous pollswould tamper the the constitu-tional scheme of accountabilityof the Government to the legis-lature.
“Apart from the technicalissues involved in holding simul-taneous elections to Parliamentand State Assemblies, ourOpposition to this is based onthe fact that it is fundamentallyanti-federal, anti-democratic andstrikes at the roots of the parlia-mentary democratic system, asordained in the Constitution.
“Article 75(3) states that thecollective responsibility of theCouncil of Ministers is to theHouse of the People. Similarly,Article 164(1) concerning theCouncil of Ministers states thatit is collectively responsible to the
legislative Assembly of a state,"said Yechury.
He said under theConstitution, if a governmentloses the confidence of the legis-lature either by being voted outon a no-confidence motion or bylosing a vote on a Money Bill, itis bound to resign and if no alter-native government can beformed, the House is dissolvedand a mid-term election held.
There is no fixity of tenureenshrined in the Constitutioneither for the Lok Sabha or thestate legislatures, the Left leadersaid, adding that both Article83(2) and Article 172(1) speci-fy that the term of the Lok Sabhaand the Legislative Assembly willbe for five years, "unless soonerdissolved".
"Any attempt to prolong thelife of the Lok Sabha or legisla-ture will not only be unconsti-tutional, but also, anti-democ-ratic. It is the will of the peoplethrough their elected represen-tatives that must prevail," he said.
"We are, therefore, totallyopposed to any artificial attemptto bring about simultaneous elec-tions, which can only be done bytrampling upon the existing con-stitutional scheme of parliamen-tary democracy,".
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BSP supremo Mayawatiskipped the Prime Minister-
convened meeting on 'onenation, one poll' saying that con-ducting simultaneous nationaland State elections is an "unde-mocratic and unconstitutional"idea for a vast country like Indiaand that she would have attend-ed meeting had it been called toaddress the "national concern"over EVMs.
'One nation, one election' isnot an issue before the coun-try.Elections through ballotpapers are actually the nationalissue and our party will contin-ue its struggle for it," she saidadding elections in any democ-
racy can never be a problem northey should be weighed from thepoint of view of expenditureand extravagance.
She said the 'one nation,one election' is in fact an attemptand a new drama to divert theattention from burning nation-al issues such as poverty, infla-tion, unemployment and increasein violence, and is simply an illu-sion.
The BSP chief alleged thatthe people's faith in the EVMshad dwindled to a worrisomelevel. "The stubbornness of con-ducting elections through elec-tronic voting machines instead ofballot paper is the real threat tothe democracy and Constitutionof the country," she said.
In a boost to India-Bangladeshand India-South Korea coop-
eration, the Union Informationand Broadcasting MinisterPrakash Javadekar on Wednesdayannounced that Doordarshan(DD) India will now be telecast inBangladesh and South Korea.
The development came aftera Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) was signedbetween Prasar Bharati andBangladesh TV (BTV). In return,BTV World, a channel owned byBangladesh TV, would now beavailable on DD Free Dish, thestate-owned direct-to-home(DTH) free-to-air platform.
The Minister said India hadsigned an agreement withBangladesh to telecast state-runDD India in the neighbouringcountry. A ministry statement
said BTV World would be of spe-cial interest to viewers in easternIndia.
"We have decided to showBTV World, a channel owned byBangladesh TV, on the DD FreeDish which will be available forthe viewers of Doordarshan in ourcountry. At the same time, DDIndia would be made available inBangladesh," Javadekar said.
The Union Minister furthersaid that KBS World, a 24×7English channel of the SouthKorean government, would alsobe available on DD Free Dish.
"We have entered into anagreement with South Korea also,where South Korea will show DDIndia and we will also allowSouth Korean KBS channel, it willbe available in India. This mutu-al cooperation with neighbouringcountries is very important," hesaid.
Sir — The Prime Minister’s plea tothe Opposition to forget aboutpaksh and vipaksh and have onlynishpaksh spirit and work active-ly in the larger interest of the nationis welcome. His tone was that ofreconciliation and warmth and isan assertion that in unity lies thebetterment of the nation and itspeople. The Opposition shouldtake the Prime Minister’s statementin the right spirit. That theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and itsallies were able to form a majori-ty Government should not makethem arrogant or lead them toignore crucial issues that need tobe raised in Parliament.
At the same time, theOpposition should not obstruct orstall proceedings of the House toput the Government on the mat.Good actions and motions mustbe supported. The growth, devel-opment and progress of the coun-try should be of prime impor-tance. Let us hope that the rulingparty and the Opposition main-tain decorum of the house byupholding the good values ofintegrity, propriety and sobriety.
M PradyuKannur
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Sir — The idea of simultaneouspolls is not new. In 1951-52, thefirst general election to the LokSabha was held simultaneously
with elections of all StateAssemblies. This practice contin-ued till the general election of1967, after which it got disrupt-ed due to premature dissolutionof some State Assemblies in 1968and that of the Lok Sabha in
1970. Besides saving hugeamount of taxpayers’ moneyspent on holding separate Centreand State elections, simultaneouspolls will spare considerable timeof security and administrativeset-up to do their normal job and
the country will get rid ofremaining in poll mode almostthroughout the year. If aGovernment falls midway, amid-term poll should be held forthe rest of the term. The next LokSabha election will be held inMay 2024. Of course, this time isstill not enough to synchroniseterms of all Assemblies. At leastan idea has been floated. It is timeto apply our minds to it.
MC JoshiLucknow
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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Children of a lesser God”(June 20). While researchersexamine the exact cause behindthe encephalitis syndrome, it isa sorry state of affairs in Biharwhere over 100 children havedied due to this disease. It isreflective of the fact that theState’s healthcare system is inshambles. The State must takeradical measures to improve thehealth infrastructure.
Somya Via email
Chinese President Xi Jinping istravelling a lot these days; hewent to Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan)for the Shanghai CooperationOrganisation (SCO) meet, then
he is visiting North Korea and later Japan.At the same time in Hong Kong, two mil-lion people (25 per cent of the population)walked down the streets to reject a lawwidely believed to have been piloted by Xi.
Bill Bishop, author of the SinocismNewsletter analysed: “The Hong Kongprotestors succeeded in scuttling the pro-posed extradition law, at least for the fore-seeable future…Regardless, the rebuke ofthe mainland and its political system bymillions of Hong Kongers could not beclearer and the damage to Xi and the party’sreunification project that is core to theGreat Rejuvenation, is real.”
The Chinese leadership is keen not torepeat the Hong Kong fiasco in Tibet. Thisis one of the reasons why Beijing is promot-ing Gyaltsen Norbu, its own Panchen Lama,who recently visited Thailand. Back inBeijing, he affirmed “that he was able todeeply appreciate the greatness of the moth-erland while he was in a foreign country.”
The information about his foreign visitcame out in the open a month afterNorbu’s return; he was part of a Buddhistdelegation led by Yanjue, the acting pres-ident of the Buddhist Association ofChina. Interestingly, Norbu had attendeda Buddhist conference in Hong Kong in2012 but this was not counted as a foreignvisit. In Thailand, he explained that he hasthe responsibility to adapt TibetanBuddhism to the socialist society… withChinese characteristics “to constantlyadhere to develop Tibetan Buddhism in theChinese context, to maximise the positiverole of religion and to make due contribu-tions to safeguarding the unification of themotherland and promoting ethnic unity.”
But what does “adapting TibetanBuddhism to the socialist society withChinese characteristics” mean? An articleon a Chinese website run by Xinhua gavean answer. All monks in Tibet were recent-ly invited to pass “legal knowledge” exam-inations “in order to promote the basic andleading role of the rule of law and active-ly guide the adaptation of religion to thesocialist society and enhance the legalknowledge level and the rule of law aware-ness” among monks and nuns in Tibet.
The website reported that the new pro-gramme was jointly organised by theTibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) justicedepartment, the law office, the communistparty’s united front work department andthe religious bureau. According to the sta-tistics quoted by Xinhua, 30,000 membersof the Sangha went through the examina-tions. On which topics were the monks test-
ed? They had to answer ques-tions on the ChineseConstitution, state securitylaws, anti-terrorism laws, anti-spying laws, environmentalprotection laws, internet safe-ty laws and regulations on reli-gious affairs matters.
But that is not all. Apartfrom these topics, the monksand nuns had to demonstratetheir great knowledge on thecommunist party’s 19th nation-al congress, Xi’s new era ofsocialism with Chinese charac-teristics, the national flag law,the national anthem law, thenational security law, thenational regional autonomylaw and ethnic and religiouspolicies as well as related reg-ulations. This probably includ-ed the rules for the reincarna-tion of “living Buddhas” (howthe Dalai Lama will be select-ed by the party).
Don’t ask me where is theBuddha in all this! TAR’s “legal”big shots visited the test centres.Xinhua cited LobsangGyurmey, vice chairman ofthe political consultative con-ference and Danba, the head ofthe TAR justice department,who inspected the GandenMonastery’s examination cen-
tre. Gao Yang, deputy secretaryand vice chairman of the partycommittee of the political con-sultative conference, showed upat the Sera Monastery and XuXueguang, deputy director ofthe People’s Congress StandingCommittee, went to Drepung.Many other party importantcadres participated.
According to Xinhua,after the launch of these (com-pulsory) tests, “the legal liter-acy and the rule of law aware-ness of religious faculty mem-bers in our region have beenfurther improved.” The web-site affirmed that “nationallaws are higher than religiouscanons and obeying theseshould come before adheringto the [Buddhist] precepts.”According to Xinhua, the pur-pose was to create a harmo-nious and stable social situa-tion for Tibet…
In these circumstances,one understands why studentsin Hong Kong or in Taipei area nervous lot. Who wants tojoin the motherland’s legal sys-tem? Examinations wereorganised all over TAR, partic-ularly in Lhasa, Shigatse, inLhoka (Lhuntse County), inNagchu and Shangda
Monastery in Chamdo area.They were conducted in twoways: A Tibetan-Chinese bilin-gual “open-book” written testand an oral test.
Xinhua reported that inorder to ensure a smooth andorderly examination process,“three-level patrol groups fordistricts, cities and counties”were formed. The patrolschecked each test centre undertheir jurisdiction; they weresaid to have been “deep into therelevant temples to conduct anin-depth and detailed under-standing of the examinationarrangements and the order ofthe examination room.”
Moral of the story: You bet-ter know Comrade Xi’s speech-es! And guess what? The atten-dance of the examination was100 per cent. It was to be animportant initiative by partysecretary Wu Yingjie for“strengthening the educationon the rule of law,” said the offi-cial website. Is it the reason whyNorbu deeply “appreciated”the greatness of the motherlandwhen he was abroad?
The “new” education isnot restricted to Tibet. Xiwants to “educate” all classes ofChinese. According to the
Taipei-based Central NewsAgency, the Chinese commu-nist party, which celebrates its70th anniversary, launched aneducation campaign called“Remain true to our originalaspirations and keep our mis-sion firmly in mind.”
The Central PublicityDepartment called some 500journalists to retrace the routeof ‘Long March’ and writeabout the epic journey of theRed Army. The journalistswere told that they need to“make a long journey” and intheir writings, “profoundlyecho how Red Power cameinto being; how the newChina was built.” The aim wasto educate the masses aboutthe revolution.
On May 20, Xi hadinspected Jiangxi Yudu, thestarting point of the LongMarch. It was like “exploringthe source of the party’s origi-nal heart,” affirmed Xi. TheHong Kongers may escapethese education schemes forthe time being but it will bemore difficult for the Tibetans,the Uyghurs or even the main-landers to avoid them.
It is the scale of the Indian elections that baf-fles the world. Most countries view ourdemocratic electoral exercise with utter dis-
belief and astonishment. The 2019 Lok Sabhaelections were interesting for the fact that polit-ical communication in our country seemed tohave finally come of age. Among the parties,the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stood out tobe the savviest in mastering the image-build-ing and perception management exercise andalso gained a decisive edge over its rivals.
Agenda-setting: Take for instance verbalcommunications. The BJP’s colourful andearthy slogans were an instant hit. They wereat their simplistic and comprehensible best.The party managed to pull the rug under thefeet of the Opposition with short and punchycoinages like mahamilawat, which was used tobrand the Opposition parties. This conjoinedword summed up the unprincipled and rag-tag coalitions formed by various political par-ties just before the elections and instantlyrobbed them of political relevance.
Similarly, majboor sarkar vs majboot sarkarwas a lethal jibe as compared to the Congress’weary slogan of ab hoga nyay. Roughly trans-lated, the Congress slogan meant that justicewould be delivered if it came back to power.Oddly enough, the party’s strategists did notrealise it would automatically trigger a counterquestion in the minds of the voters: If justicewas still pending to be delivered, what did theparty do all these years when it was in powerfor the longest time and capable of changingthe system? The Congress campaign appearedto be centred around superficial populist slo-ganeering coined in splendid isolation devoidof any social connect. On the other hand, theCongress’ somewhat catchy chowkidar chor haijibe misfired and it faced national embarrass-ment for being flippant and more personali-ty than issue-oriented. Slogans formed by otherOpposition parties were limp. Regional partyleaders, followed the old-style book of politi-cal communication. So they found themselvesout of breath with the BJP’s national campaignblitzkrieg.
Yet another slogan coined by the BJP kaamruke na, desh jhuke na advanced the party’sdevelopmental agenda that remained to beachieved and contextualised the nationalpride as a rallying point.
Instead of offering progressive ideas andproviding a constructive alternate developmen-tal framework, the Opposition mounted a bit-ter and shriller negative campaign with per-sonal level attacks, some of which were unbe-coming of their stature and the public officethey occupied. Many parties even reduced theelectoral campaigns to ugly street-level brawls.Negative campaigns can work when left-handed compliments are delivered to oppo-nents, dripping with sarcasm and humour.Perhaps none in the Opposition had theshowmanship to pull it off. Resorting to per-sonal attacks made them appear as a fringemob pelting stones.
Such messaging and slogans itself achievedhalf the electoral success for the BJP. So muchso that even when its own senior leaders hittheir opponents below the belt, it was seen as
avenging barbs and a victim’s right to defendhimself.
Bespoke framing: Besides, verbal commu-nication, the BJP’s near total obsession with non-verbal communication was equally fascinating.Public appearances suggest a well thought-out, meticulously crafted, immac-ulate and bespoke visual styling of its leader.Camera lenses were trained to capture and curateradiating energy and dynamism in the shots.Low angle camera shots and measured distancemaintained in the foreground and backgroundaround the leader decluttered the frame and pro-vided for just one single focal point.
The penchant was to clear the hoi-polloifrom the frame to get singular visuals. Thoughamusing, such optics manage to build and rein-force a pattern of power and perception. Theprimacy given to staging, planning and visu-al framing is both formal, ceremonial, profes-sional and unparalleled. It successfully trans-mits and conveys non-verbal cues to the mass-es besides giving a sleek and larger-than-lifepersona, always in command, at ease and incontrol. The new-age and savvy political par-ties are not leaving anything to chance in thishyper-saturated 24X7 media environmentwhich is dictated by the power of visuals andimagery. The Opposition is yet to comprehendthis to its fullest. Remarkably, even bitter crit-ics of the BJP were floored with rousing andstatesman-like speeches one heard from itsleaders. There were eloquent, unscriptedwords laced with a higher purpose, conveyingthe big picture to the entire nation in a lucid,uplifting and scintillating manner. Sadly, theOpposition speeches appeared merely trans-actional and tutu-mai mai.
Media snobbery: Another humbling fea-ture of this election was the media. The BJP’sdisdain for the “Lutyens’ Delhi” and the“Khan market gang” is well-known. In spite ofthe relentless and stinging attacks mounted by
a large section of the media, the BJP pulled offthe perception battle on its own terms by high-lighting its “common man’s spokesperson”image.
The election results neutralised and bust-ed egos of self-styled opinion-makers in thenational capital, who once bragged to make orbreak the fortunes of the ruling party by thesheer force of their publishing ink. They havebeen clearly bypassed and they need to dealwith this hard reality. On election results day,the meltdown on the faces of television newsanchors and newly-minted YouTube activistswas relished by millions of Modi’s voters. Theloss of credibility, neutrality and fairness of the‘erudite’ mainstream media calls for examin-ing if the fourth estate indeed has its ear to theground. As if the ongoing electoral circus wasnot enough, the international Press jumped intothe ring to lecture the Indian electorate onwhom to vote. Notwithstanding the unsolicit-ed advice and unwarranted trespassing into theongoing sovereign democratic electoral process,‘influential’ publications earned another roundof egg on their faces after the results for thisneedless and meddlesome adventurism.
Overall, the BJP’s political communicationstood out for its highly organised, targettedcommunication and one-to-one grassrootsconnect with the voters. Social media lost itsnovelty but it kept the electorate engaged andentertained till the end. The deft use of polit-ical communication — both verbal and non-verbal — played a key role in positioning theBJP in the minds of the electorate and con-tributed in elevating its fortunes to a historichigh. It is never too late for the Opposition totake a leaf or two from this exercise and resetits communications tools to achieve both reachand relevance among the masses.
(The writer is a seasoned communicationsprofessional and management consultant basedin New Delhi)
Chennai is an apt example of allthat is wrong with environmentin India. The year 2015 saw the
city reel under the worst floods expe-rienced by the region. This year, thecity is a witness to the worst everdrought in the recent times, prompt-ing the Central Government to takenotice and put in emergency measuresto tackle the problem. The crisis isquite severe as the city is left with justtwo per cent of water in local reser-voirs. Some rains would have gone along way towards lifting its collectivespirit but they are still elusive.
The rapid fluctuation of waterresources for this city is evident as thecity has oscillated between plenty toscarcity within a gap of four years.
What is the reason behind these omi-nous problems? One of the issues is theupstream of Chennai — there is over-exploitation of lake and groundwaterresources here as farmers use theunsustainable flood irrigation tech-nique for watering their fields. This inturn adversely impacts ground watertables. This can be avoided with theTamil Nadu government helping tofund more advanced drip irrigationsystems for farmers. This, if imple-mented on a large scale, can rejuvenatethe lakes around the city and thegroundwater table as well.
Furthermore, it is high time thatthe city invests in robust, efficient andsustainable rainwater harvesting sys-tems that not only complement thewater table and water bodies but alsolend a helping hand in times ofscarcity. It is also crucial to find waysto imaginatively re-use wastewater inorder to handle and regulate demandpressures. But it is quite clear that thecity infrastructure is faced with pop-ulation overload and this can be mit-igated by creating economic opportu-nities outside of Chennai so that thepressure on the city is reduced. These
measures can prevent Chennai andother Indian cities from continuingtheir inexorable march towards ‘dayzero’ scenarios for natural resourceswhen the price to be paid will be morethan we can afford.
The water shortage has also beencompounded due to less rainfall,which has been half its normal quota.The northeast or ‘retreating’ monsoon,which occurs in November andDecember, usually accounts for more
than 60 per cent of Chennai’s annualrainfall on which the city now pins itsearnest hopes. But right now the sit-uation is quite grim as the city hasreceived zero rainfall since March andthe recent rise in temperatures has leftthe city high and dry. Add to this con-secutive drought years, which havedried the city lakes and led to dras-tic drops in water tables.
The four major city reservoirs,with a total capacity of 11.5 thousand
million cubic feet (TMC ft), have only0.3 TMC ft of water in them. To putthings in perspective, even in 2017,when Tamil Nadu experienced theworst drought in 140 years due to thefailure of the monsoon, the city reser-voirs had 0.7 TMC ft during the begin-ning of May. Cyclone Fani, whichformed over the Bay of Bengal at theend of April, gave some hope to thecity. However, the storm changed itscourse and curved towards Odisha,leaving Chennai high and dry again.
Chennai requires around 850million litres of water everyday andstudies suggest that groundwaterextraction here has been highly unsus-tainable. In the last decade, ground-water levels across the city havedropped by 85 per cent. Moreover,continued uncertainties in monsoonrainfall owing to global warming andother environmental triggers havecompounded people’s woes. The lakesand reservoirs are drying up more fre-quently, making the traditional waysof water supply unviable for thefuture.
In order to arrest the crisis, theCentral Government, in tandem with
the State Government, must firstfocus on alleviating water shortage.Then it must strictly monitor the con-struction industry to ensure that allnew projects are in compliance withwater harvesting systems. This mustbe combined with lake and reservoirconservation mechanisms that help inmaintaining critical levels of waterthroughout the year. The CentralGovernment must also ensure that thecitizens have an alternate option to logtheir protests regarding their woes.
Chennai’s state of affairs must notbe seen as one-off. This plight canaffect any city of India which has notbeen careful with its resources. TheGovernment plays a pivotal role inensuring that this chaos does not pre-vail across the country. The NationalGreen Tribunal must take cognisanceof environmental factors that con-tribute to such circumstances. It mustensure strict action against errant par-ties who stress and tax the environ-ment and even impose punitive mea-sures. Unless strict measures aretaken, results cannot be expected.
for sale of Air India, incorpo-rating issues like crude oilprices and exchange ratevolatility, flagged by EY lastyear on possible reasons of theGovernment failing to attractbidders for the national carrier.
The Ministry’s proposal, tobe placed before Air IndiaSpecific AlternativeMechanism (AISAM), will alsoinclude option of selling either100 per cent or 76 per cent gov-ernment stake in Air India.
The AISAM, which is basi-cally a Group of Ministers, haveto be reconstituted as ArunJaitley and Suresh Prabhu areno longer ministers in the newgovernment. They will bereplaced by Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman and CivilAviation Minister HardeepSingh Puri. Transport MinisterNitin Gadkari is likely to con-tinue in the panel when it isreconstituted.
The Government last yearinvited bids to sell 76 per cent
stake in Air India, along withtransfer of management con-trol. However, it did not attractany bidder. Following thattransaction advisor EY pre-pared a report citing probablereasons that led to failure of thesale process.
The reasons cited include24 per cent government stakeand corresponding rights, highdebt, volatile crude oil prices,fluctuations in exchange rate,changes in macro environ-ment, profitability track recordof bidders and restriction onbidding by individuals.
An official said that the EYreport was discussed at theAISAM meeting in June lastyear following which it wasdecided that the Air India saleshould be deferred.
During the meeting, whichwas presided over by the thenFinance Minister Jaitley, it wasalso decided to infuse morefunds into the carrier and takesteps to lower debt of Air Indiaby selling its subsidiaries andnon-core assets.
“We will present a freshproposal for Air India sale toAISAM. It would includeupdates on the issues raisedwhen Air India disinvestmentfailed last year. It would be leftto the AISAM to decidewhether the Governmentshould go in for 100 per cent or76 per cent stake sale,” an offi-cial told PTI.
The Government hasalready asked Air India tofinalise its accounts for 2018-
19 by June 30.Once the updated accounts
are available and AISAM givesa go-ahead for Air India sale,the Department of Investmentand Public Asset Management(DIPAM) and Ministry of CivilAviation will draft thePreliminary InformationMemorandum (PIM) givingdetails of about the companyand stipulating conditions foreligibility of bidders.
In 2018, AISAM had ear-lier decided to sale 76 per centin Air India and the buyer wasrequired to take over �24,000crore debt of the carrier alongwith over �8,000 crore of lia-bilities. However, the stake salefailed to attract any bidderwhen the auction process com-pleted on May 31, 2018. At thattime, Air India’s total debt bur-den stood at �55,000 crore.
As precursor to the strate-gic disinvestment of Air India,the Cabinet in Februaryapproved setting up of a specialpurpose vehicle (SPV) — AirIndia Assets Holding Company— to transfer �29,464 croreworth loans of the national car-rier and its four subsidiaries.
The official said that theprocess of transfer of �29,464crore to the SPV is not yet com-plete.
“The Department ofEconomic Affairs, CivilAviation Ministry and thebanks are still working out themodalities of debt transfer.The process is likely to takesome time,” the official added.
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Shares of Jet Airways furtherplummeted 18.5 per cent
Wednesday after the consor-tium of bankers took thegrounded airline to the NCLT.
The scrip tanked 18.17per cent to close at �33.10 onthe BSE. During the day, itdropped 28.18 per cent to hitan all-time low of �29.05.
On the NSE, shares of theairline plunged 18.51 per centto close at �33.
This is the 13th consecu-tive trading day fall for JetAirways, which has tumbled78 per cent during this period.
The consortium of 26bankers led by the State Bank
of India Tuesday took the air-line to the National CompanyLaw Tribunal (NCLT) torecover their dues of over�8,500 crore.
Jet Airways, started over25 years ago, stopped flying onApril 17 after it ran out of cashand the unpaid lessors tookaway most of its 100-oddoperational airplanes.
The scrip has also been onback foot following announce-ment that stock exchangeswill impose restrictions ontrading in Jet Airways’ sharesfrom June 28 as part of pre-ventive surveillance measuresto curb excessive volatility,according to a circular issuedlast week.
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The rupee inchedup 2 paise to end
at 69.68 against theUS dollar Wednesdayahead of the US Fed’sinterest rate decision.
Hopes of abreakthrough in US-China trade talks andsoftening crude oilprices supported thelocal unit, forextraders said.
At the interbankforeign exchange(forex) market, thedomestic currencyopened at 69.57 to adollar and gainedfurther strength totouch a high of 69.49 duringthe day.
However, it could not holdon to the gains and finallyended at 69.68, up 2 paiseover its previous close.
The rupee had settled at69.70 against the US dollarTuesday.
“Global markets would alsoawait the outcome of the ongo-ing FOMC policy meetingwhich will conclude on June 19.The central bank is highlyexpected to come out in dovishnote and markets would behighly anticipating any kind ofhints on future rate cuts by thecentral bank,” Angel BrokingResearch Associate Vaqar Khansaid. Khan further said therupee is likely to remain range-bound in the coming daysdespite marginal increase inglobal risk appetite.
“The Fed is widely expect-
ed to stand pat on monetarypolicy this time but open thedoor for an interest rate cut atthe next meeting in July,” saidV K Sharma, Head PCG andCapital Markets Strategy,HDFC Securities.
Meanwhile, the 10-yeargovernment bond yield rose to6.84 per cent Wednesday.
“The benchmark 10-yearsovereign bond yield rose 3 bpsto 6.84 per cent after slumping12 bps on Tuesday to its low-est level since October 2017,amid reports that a panel mayrecommend transferring one-third of the RBI’s surplusreserves to the Government,”Sharma added.
Foreign institutionalinvestors (FIIs) were net buy-ers in the capital markets, pur-chasing shares worth �31.73crore on Tuesday, according toexchange data.
The dollar index, whichgauges the greenback’s strengthagainst a basket of six curren-cies, fell 0.09 per cent to 97.55.
The BSE Sensex endedmodestly higher Wednesdayafter a highly volatile session.After rallying nearly 400 pointsduring the day, the BSE gaugesettled 66.40 points, or 0.17 percent, higher at 39,112.74. Thebroader NSE Nifty closedalmost flat at 11,691.45.
Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, eased0.77 per cent to trade at $61.66per barrel.
The Financial BenchmarkIndia Private Ltd (FBIL) set thereference rate for therupee/dollar at 69.8010 and forrupee/euro at 78.4233. Thereference rate for rupee/Britishpound was fixed at 87.4602 andfor rupee/100 Japanese yen at 64.47.
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Fi n a n c eMinister
N i r m a l aSitharamanWednesdayreviewed thestate of econ-omy at themeeting ofthe FinancialStability andDevelopmentC o u n c i l( F S D C )attended by sectoral regulators,including RBI GovernorShaktikanta Das, here.
The meeting also discussedproposals releating to theBudget to be presented bySitharaman on July 5 in the LokSabha, Das told reporters afterthe meeting.
The RBI Governor furthersaid that the Bimal Jalan com-
mittee, which is looking intothe size of capital reserves thatthe RBI should hold, is likely tosubmit its final report by June-end.
It was the first meeting ofthe FSDC after the new gov-ernment assumed office.
The FSDC is the apex bodyof sectoral regulators, headedby the finance minister.
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China’s global Belt andRoad Initiative could
boost economies and reducepoverty rates in dozens ofdeveloping countries, but risksenvironmental damage, debtand corruption if improve-ments aren’t made, the WorldBank said Wednesday.
President Xi Jinping’s sig-nature foreign policy aims toreinvent the ancient Silk Roadto connect Asia to Europe andAfrica through massiveinvestments in maritime, roadand rail projects -- with hun-dreds of billions of dollars inf inancing from Chinesebanks.
Critics, however, say thesix-year-old BRI is a plan toboost Beijing’s global influ-ence, riddled with opaquedeals favouring Chinese com-
panies, and will saddle nationswith debt and environmentaldamage.
The World Bank’s “Beltand Road Economics” reportsaid the project has “thepotential to substantiallyimprove trade, foreign invest-ment, and living conditions”,but only if China and corridorcountries make policy reformsto improve transparency,expand trade and mitigateagainst environmental andcorruption risks.
While trade will “increasesharply, if unevenly” foreconomies along the routes,the “potential gains come withconsiderable risks”, accord-ing to Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, aWorld Bank vice president.
The report estimated thatthe BRI would boost trade by2.8 to 9.7 per cent for partic-ipating countries and between
1.7 and 6.2 per cent for theworld.
However, the study foundthat around a quarter of thoseeconomies already have highdebt levels and for some them,“medium-term vulnerabilitiescould increase”.
The report said largeinfrastructure projects are“inherently risky,” as they cancreate corruption and fail-ures in public procurement.
This has caused the US,India and some Europeannations to look at the projectwith suspicion.
The World Bank studyfound Chinese firms accountfor the majority of BRI con-tracts, although “limited data”was available. According toone estimate, it said morethan 60 percent of Chinese-funded BRI projects are allo-cated to Chinese companies.
“Little is known about theprocesses for selecting firms,”the World Bank report said.“Moving toward internation-al good practices such as openand transparent public pro-curement would increase thelikelihood that BRI projectsare allocated to the firms bestplaced to implement them.”
“Belt and RoadEconomics” recommendedthe BRI made informationregarding planning, fiscalcosts, budgeting and pro-curement more available tothe public to improve theeffectiveness of individualinfrastructure investmentsand national developmentstrategies.
“Greater transparency isessential to encourage com-munity involvement and buildpublic trust in investmentdecisions,” the report said.
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India has imposed anti-dumping duty on the import
of jute sacking cloths fromBangladesh which will have apositive impact on WestBengal’s ailing jute sector.
“Anti-dumping duty onsacking cloth from Bangladeshwas our long standing demandto save the Indian jute sector.With active efforts of UnionTextile Minister Smriti Irani,this has been achieved,” juteindustry veteran Sanjay Kajariasaid in his reaction.
“It will be applicable for 5years effective from June 18,2019,” he said.
This will help jute farmers
and the jute mills of WestBengal which are ailing orrunning in a very low capaci-ty, Kajaria said.
The IJMA had filed anapplication for initiation of anti-circumvention investigationconcerning import of the prod-uct exported from Bangladesh.It has requested for extension ofthe existing anti-dumping dutieson the imports, alleging cir-cumvention of the duty.
Countries carry out anti-dumping probe to determinewhether their domestic indus-tries have been hurt because ofa surge in cheap imports.
Jute sacking accounts for thelion share of the total jute goods.The notification showed anti-dumping duty imposed between$125.21 and 138.97 per tonne.
Currently, the duty existson jute yarn, sacking bags andhessian fabric (made from skinof jute plant) and imposed inthe range of $6.3-351.7 pertonne.
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Thomas Cook (India) Ltd., anintegrated travel and travel
related financial services com-pany, has observed a vibrant22% growth this summer withemergence of significant trends.
Thomas Cook India haswitnessed a definitive growth ofover 25% with today’s cash rich,but time poor generation opt-ing for travel to bond with theirfamilies. Parent-Child bondingtours are in high demandresulting in a surge of ThomasCook India’s Theme ParkHolidays, outdoors-adventure,music and culture tourism;sports tourism being a signif-icant driver.
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The GovernmentWednesday proposed to
waive registration charges forelectric vehicles to boost adop-tion of environment-friendlyvehicles.
The proposal comes at atime when the country planshigh penetration of such vehi-cles by 2030.
Issuing the draft notifica-tion to amend the CentralMotor Vehicles Rules(CMVR), 1989, the road trans-port and highways ministrysaid battery-operated vehicles“shall be exempted from thepayment of fees for the pur-pose of issue or renewal of reg-istration certificate and assign-ment of new registrationmark”.
The exemption will apply
to all category of vehicles,including two-wheelers.
The ministry has issuedthe draft notification foramendments in CMVR wherethe amendments in Rule 81 areproposed for such waiver.
The amendments will bedone in exercise of the powersconferred on the central gov-ernment under various sec-tions of the Motor VehiclesAct, 1988. Comments fromstakeholders have been soughtin a month.
“The said draft rules shallbe taken into considerationafter the expiry of a period of30 days from the date onwhich the copies of this noti-fication as published in theGazette of India, are madeavailable to the public,” thedraft notification said.
The objections or sugges-
tions that may be receivedfrom any person with respectto the said draft rules beforethe expiry of the aforesaidperiod will be considered bythe central government, itsaid.
Last year, Road Transportand Highways Minister NitinGadkari said a blueprint hasbeen drawn to boost produc-tion of electric vehicles in thecountry and take their share to15 per cent of total automo-biles in the next five years.
It is time India shouldthink to promote green vehi-cles and curb pollution,Gadkari said.
Earlier to promote electricvehicles in India, the govern-ment had approved greenlicence plates bearing numbersin white fonts for private e-vehicles and yellow for taxis.
Srinagar: Security forces havearrested five overground work-ers of proscribed terror outfitHizbul Mujahideen in Jammu& Kashmir's Shopian district,police said on Wednesday.
"Based on specific input,police arrested five associates ofterrorists from Shopian district,"an official spokesman said.
He said on IED, which themilitants were planning to useagainst security forces, wasrecovered at the instance ofarrested persons.
The arrested individualshave been identified as AqibNazir Rathar, Amir MajeedWani, Sameer Ahmed Bhat,Faisal Farooq Ahanger andRayees Ahmed Ganai, the offi-cial said.
"During questioning of thearrested persons, it wasrevealed that terrorists of pro-scribed outfit HM, along withabove stated associates, wereplanning to target police andsecurity forces by planting anIED in the area," he said. PTI
legislator R Roshan Baig, whowas suspended by the Congresson Tuesday for attacking its Stateleadership, Wednesday said hewas a "disciplined soldier of theparty" and was being punishedfor speaking the truth.
Asserting that his com-ments against state Congressleaders were the opinion of theparty workers, he said he was inthe Indian National Congressheaded by Rahul Gandhi and"not in the Siddu(Siddaramaiah) Congress".
"Last night, I got the infor-mation that I have been sus-pended from the party...Is it acrime to speak the truth? WhatI have said is the truth," Baigsaid.
Speaking to reporters here,he said he had not criticisedGandhi and that he continuedto be a "disciplined soldier of theparty".
"My criticism of state lead-ers is true. Is speaking the trutha crime?" said Baig, who wassuspended on Tuesday nightwith immediate effect, citing
"anti-party" activities.Hitting out at Karnataka
Congress leaders for the party'sdismal show in the Lok Sabhapolls, Baig had recently heldCongress Legislature Party(CLP) leader Siddaramaiah's"arrogance" and KPCC presi-dent Dinesh Gundu Rao's"immaturity" responsible forthe "flop show".
He had also called Congressgeneral secretary KC Venugopala "buffoon".
Baig had dropped hints ofquitting the party and appealedto Muslims to "compromise"with the situation on the BJP-ledNDA returning to power at theCentre.
The Karnataka PradeshCongress Committee (KPCC)had issued a show-cause noticeto the MLA for his conduct, towhich he had not responded.
Noting that Gandhi hadoffered to resign as the AllIndia Congress Committee(AICC) president, takingresponsibility for the poll defeat,Baig said, "When we criticisehere in the state for the party
winning only one seat in theLok Sabha polls, action is beingtaken."
"What I have said about afew of our state leaders is theopinion of thousands of ourkaryakartas," he said.
Baig, a seven-time MLAand a former Karnataka Minister,has been unhappy with the StateCongress leadership over notbeing included in the coalitioncabinet headed by Chief MinisterHD Kumaraswamy.
The senior leader said hefelt "sorry" for Gandhi andalleged that the Lok Sabha pollcampaign in Karnataka wasrun in such a way that "we werenot involved and there was nopolitical management".
"...I have not criticisedRahul Gandhi. He is the IndianNational Congress president. Iam in the Indian NationalCongress, not in the SidduCongress.
"I am a disciplined soldierof the Indian National Congressand was upset about the state ofthe party in Karnataka," hesaid. PTI
Thiruvananthapuram: TheCPI(M)-led LDF Governmentin Kerala on Wednesdaydemanded that the Centre bringa legislation to protect the faithof Lord Ayyappa’s devotees vis-iting the hill shrine inSabarimala, which was orderedby the Supreme Court last yearto open its doors to women ofall age groups.
The state government'sdemand comes in the backdropof Kollam MP N KPremachandran moving a pri-vate members bill in the LokSabha against women's entryinto the Lord Ayyappa temple.The bill is likely to come up thisweek in the Lok Sabha.
"The Sabarimala issue willbe coming up before the centralgovernment as a private bill.Everybody knows the fate of theprivate bills... ," DevaswomMinister KadakampallySurendran told reporters here.
To ensure that such a situ-ation does not arise, the BJP stateleadership should prevail on
the Centre to bring in a legisla-tion and ensure legal protection,he said.
The BJP government has a"brute majority" in the Houseand hence should bring in a leg-islation on the matter, he added.
Kerala had witnessed mas-sive protests by right-wing out-fits and the BJP after the LDFgovernment decided to imple-ment the apex court's September28 verdict last year, lifting therestriction on entry of women ofmenstruating age into the hillshrine to offer prayers.
Earlier, the temple's customsdid not allow girls and womenin the menstrual age of 10-50years to enter the shrine as thepresiding deity, Lord Ayyappa,is a 'Naishtika Brahmachari'(perennial celibate). PTI
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Five months after the BJP-ledMaharashtra Government
agreed to shift the Nanar oilrefinery project out of eco-sen-sitive Ratnagiri district in coastalKonkan region, MaharashtraChief Minister DevendraFadnavis on Wednesdayannounced that the controver-sial refinery project would nowbe located in the neighbouringRaigad district.
In a written reply to a queryraised in the Assembly duringthe ongoing monsoon session ofthe State Legislature, Fadnavissaid that his government wouldlocate the Nanar Refinery pro-ject in Raigad district instead ofRatnagiri district, followingOpposition to the project fromthe local villagers and variouspolitical parties.
“There is no Opposition tothe refinery project from thepeople in Raigad district. Thepeople from 40 villages have notshown any resistance to theacquisition of the land for theproject,” the Chief Ministersaid.
It may be recalled that aspart of the seat-sharing agree-ment for the Lok Sabha pollsarrived at between the rulingBJP and its alliance partnerShiv Sena on February 18 thisyear, the Devendra Fadnavisgovernment had accepted theSena’s demand to shift the Nanarproject out of Ratnagiri project.The shifting of Nanar projectwas one of the Sena's demandsfor entering into seat-sharing
pact with the ruling BJP for theLS polls.
The Shiv Sena has beenopposing the location of Nanaroil refinery project in Ratnagiridistrict right from day one. Somuch so that Shiv Sena chiefUddhav Thackeray had on June27, 2018 refused to PetroleumMinister Dharmendra Pradhanwho wanted to call on the for-mer to allay the former’s fearsabout the contentious Nanar oilrefinery project.
On his part, Pradhan hadsaid: “This is a very ambitiousproject for India, especiallyMaharashtra. We are with anopen mind discussing all theissues with stakeholders andwill continue to do so. I will per-sonally go and explain the pro-ject to Uddav Thackeray. Thereare some genuine concerns.Our companies will try andaddress those concerns.Fundamentally there is no oppo-sition. There are concerns offarmers which will be listened toand addressed”
The Sena had registered itsfirst protest against the Nanarproject on April 12, a day afteran Indian consortium compris-ing Indian Oil Corporation(IOC), Bharat PetroleumCorporation Ltd (BPCL) andHindustan PetroleumCorporation Ltd (BPCL) signeda Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) withSaudi Arabian Oil Co (SaudiAramco) for setting an oil refin-ery and petroleum productscomplex at Nanar in Rajapurtaluka of Ratnagiri district.
Barmer: Nineteen Pakistanimigrants living in Rajasthan'sBarmer for the past severaldecades were granted Indian cit-izenship on Wednesday, an offi-cial said.
Certificates of Indian citi-zenship were handed out tothem at an event held at the dis-trict collectorate.
The state government hasgranted Indian citizenship to 19Pak migrants who have been liv-ing in Barmer district for morethan a decade, District CollectorHimanshu Gupta said.
He, along with AdditionalDistrict Collector Rakesh KumarSharma, handed out the certifi-cates to the migrants.
Expressing their happiness,the migrants said getting Indiancitizenship after years of wait isa dream come true.
The decision to grant citi-zenship to these 19 migrants liv-ing in Barmer, along with 10 liv-ing in Pali and five in Jalore wasannounced by the Rajasthangovernment on Tuesday. PTI
Mumbai: In a rebuke for the Government led by hisown party, senior BJP leader Eknath Khadseclaimed on Wednesday that Maharashtra has wit-nessed the highest number of malnutrition deathsin the last five years.
He was speaking during a discussion in theLegislative Assembly on ashram-shalas (residentialschools for tribal children) run or aided by the TribalDevelopment Department.
A code prescribing mandatory facilities at theseschools was prepared eight months ago but its copieswere yet to be made available and therefore it couldnot be implemented, the BJP leader alleged.
The code also prescribes how much salary thesecurity guard employed at ashram schools shouldget. Guards get �5,000 per month for round-the-clockduty at present, and their duty hours should be cur-tailed, he said.
Tribal Development Minister Ashok Uike saidthe decision on pay scale of security guards wouldbe taken soon.
Khadse said decisions taken by the Governmentare not implemented immediately. PTI
Sambhal/Fatehpur: At least 15people lost their lives and 36 otherssustained injuries in two separateaccidents in the State, police said onWednesday.
Seven people were killed and 25injured when a bus collided with atruck in Fatehpur on Wednesdaymorning, they said.
Additional Superintendent ofPolice Pooja Yadav said the accidenttook place at the Bilari-KaunhModh under the Chaandpur policestation area.
"In the collision of a private buswith a truck, at least seven personslost their lives, while 25 other sus-tained injuries. The injured havebeen hospitalised for treatment,"Yadav said, adding that the identi-ty of the victims is being ascertained.
Police officials suspect that thetoll might go up.
The bus was going fromFatehpur to Jahanabad when theaccident occurred.
In another accident that took
place late Tuesday night, at leasteight people were killed and 11 oth-ers injured when their vehicle col-lided with a mini-goods carrier onthe Moradabad-Agra NationalHighway in Sambhal, the officialssaid.
Superintendent of Police(Sambhal) Yamuna Prasad said onWednesday that the victims werereturning home after attending awedding when the accident tookplace near Lehrawan village in thedistrict.
The injured were hospitalisedand the bodies sent for postmortem,the SP added.
Uttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath expressed griefover the loss of lives and conveyedhis condolence to the family mem-bers of the bereaved, a statementissued by the UP Government inLucknow said.
The Chief Minister has direct-ed officials to ensure that the injuredpersons get adequate treatment, itadded. PTI
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��"���"������� ������<���������3��� ���=� ��'� ���Mumbai: A person cannot be
branded as a terrorist merelyfor using the word "jehad", aMaharashtra court observedwhile acquitting three accusedof terror charges.
The Akola-based court ofspecial judge AS Jadhav madethe observation while hearinga case against the three personsaccused under the stringent theUnlawful Activities PreventionAct (UAPA), the Arms Act andthe Bombay Police Act.
Abdul Razzaque (24),Shoeb Khan (24) and SalimMalik (26) were booked undervarious Indian Penal Codesections, including 307(attempt to murder) and 332(voluntarily causing hurt to
deter public servant from hisduty), following an attack onpolicemen outside a mosque inPusad area of Akola onSeptember 25, 2015, on theoccasion of Eid uz Zoha, overbeef ban in the State.
According to the prosecu-tion, Razzaque arrived at themosque, took out a knife andstabbed two policemen onduty and said before the attackthat because of the beef ban, hewould kill the cops.
The Anti-Terrorism Squad(ATS) claimed they accusedwere part of a conspiracy toinfluence Muslim youths tojoin terrorist organisations.
Jadhav observed, "Itappears that accused Razzaque
exhibited his anger by violenceagainst the Government andsome Hindu organisations forban on cow slaughter."
"No doubt he used theword 'jihad'. But, it was adven-turous to jump to the conclu-sion that only for using theword 'jihad' he should bebranded as a terrorist," hesaid.
According to dictionary,the word 'jihad' literally means"struggle", he pointed out.
"Jihad is an Arabic wordwhich literally means strivingor struggling... Thereforemerely the use of word 'jihad'by the accused would not beproper to brand him as a ter-rorist," the judge said. PTI
Narsinghpur (MP): A localcourt on Wednesday sentUnion Minister Prahlad Patel's26-year-old son Prabal Patel,who was arrested in an attemptto murder case, to police cus-tody for a day.
Prabal Patel was amongseven persons arrested in con-nection with an attack on agroup of persons at Gotegaontown on Monday night that leftfive people injured.
Efforts have been intensi-fied to nab the minister'snephew, Monu, and four othersalso wanted in connection withthe case, police said.
Judicial Magistrate AjaySingh sent Prabal to a one-daypolice custody on Wednesday.Six other accused were remand-ed in judicial custody till July 1.
Prabal Patel, a resident ofKisani Mohalla in Gotegaon,has been named as the mainaccused in the case, police offi-cials added.
Prahlad Patel, the BJP MPfrom Damoh, was recentlyinducted in the Union cabinetas the Minister of State(Independent Charge) forTourism.
Monu Patel (27), who is atlarge, is the son of PrahladPatel's younger brother JalamSingh Patel, a former MadhyaPradesh minister and sittingBJP MLA from Narsinghpur.
As per the complaint,Himanshu Rathore and RahulRajput were returning homeafter attending a marriage cer-emony when they were alleged-ly intercepted and abused byPrabal Patel and his associates.
They were taken to MonuPatel's office and beaten up, thecomplainants alleged.
Later, the accused took theduo to the residence of oneShivam Rai, where they beat upShivam, his father Ishwar Raiand his friend Mayank.Gunshots were also fired andone of the bullets hit Rathore,injuring him in the hand, thecomplaint said.
Police are yet to find outwhat led to the attacks, the offi-cials said.
The accused were bookedunder IPC sections 307(attempt to murder) and 365(kidnapping with intent towrongfully confine a person),they added. PTI
3����������;����������������������������������������������� Mumbai: A local who first
spotted the remains of SheenaBora in a Raigad jungle in2012 deposed before the trialcourt here on Wednesday.
Sheena (24) was allegedlykilled by her mother and mediaexecutive Indrani Mukerjeawith the help of others in April2012 and the body was burnt ina jungle in neighbouring Raigaddistrict.
As per the prosecution,Ganesh Dhene had spotted askeleton at Gagode village inPen teshil of Raigad days afterthe murder.
Dhene is a 'police patil' whoare appointed in villages wherethere is no police station. Theirjob is to keep police informedabout happenings in the area.
Sheena's murder came tolight in 2015 following thearrest of Indrani Mukerjea's dri-ver Shyamvar Rai.
Then it was establishedthat the skeleton found in theRaigad jungle in 2012 was ofSheena, the biological daughterof Indrani, born from a previ-ous relationship.
During his testimonybefore CBI judge J C Jagdale,Dhene said he was collectingmangoes when he spotted aburnt skeleton. PTI
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Mumbai: The special courthearing the bail pleas of thethree accused in the Dr PayalTadvi suicide case onWednesday said proceedingswill not be video recorded inthe absence of necessary facil-ities.
The court had orderedvideo recording of the bailproceedings earlier under theprovisions of the ScheduledCastes and Scheduled Tribes(Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
But the prosecution sub-mitted that police were unableto make necessary arrange-ments, and sought some time.
Defence lawyer AbadPonda pointed out that as perthe law, recording was required
only during the main trial.Advocate Gunratan
Sadavarte, appearing for thevictim's family, claimed that theState Government and thepolice were "not serious" whenit came to atrocities againstscheduled castes and scheduledtribes.
Judge PB Jadhav noted inhis order that though theSC/ST Act was amended andvideo recording of all the pro-ceedings was made mandato-ry two years ago, infrastructurewas yet to be made available.
It was the StateGovernment's responsibility,he said. The court had direct-ed the police to make thearrangements but "police
machinery has its own diffi-culties", Jadhav said.
"Bail proceedings arerequired to be decided expedi-tiously. Therefore this court hasno option but to proceed with-out video recording," he said.
The bail pleas will be heardon Friday.
Tadvi, 26, a second-yearpostgraduate medical studentattached to BYL Nair Hospital,allegedly committed suicide inher hostel room on May 22.
Her family alleged thatthree of her seniors — HemaAhuja, Bhakti Meher andAnkita Khandelwal — raggedher and hurled casteist abus-es at her, forcing Tadvi to takeher life. PTI
It is with some trepidationthat I wait for actor ShahidKapoor. Isn’t he the one
who embodied the teeteringon-the-edge, insane Haider, astuttering sibling and anotherwho lisped in Kaminey or thedrug addict rockstar in UdtaPunjab, a portrait of humanaberration or realism, depend-ing on which way you look atit? But over the course of 15minutes, Shahid articulates hispoints to perfection, elaborateson anything that we want to dis-cuss further, even engaging inself-deprecating humour. Hecan afford to, for the actor hasstretched out his arc wide whileplaying characters that are grey,edgy and sear the mind. Nextup, he plays Kabir Singh in aneponymous film, the trailer ofwhich has been grabbing eye-balls for his portrayal of acharacter who seems to bewhirling out of control.
When we meet the actor,who started out as a back-ground dancer in Dil to PaagalHai (1997) and Taal (1999), heelaborates on what makes thisshade of grey different. “I’vedone my fair share of characterswho are complex, multi-layeredand unpredictable. The originalcharacter, Arjun Reddy, in theTelugu film had a combinationof aggression with vulnerabili-ty, a sense of angst with pathos.These are conflicting emotionsand feelings which attracted meas they made the charactervery different,” he says. In thefilm, he plays an alcoholic sur-geon and an aggressive lover.“There were so many shadesthat I hadn’t done before whichmade it appealing,” he adds,measuring each of his words.
However, as cine goers arewell aware, it is not the first timethat a film delves into the psy-che of a character, who finds anescape in alcohol to make up forthe loss of a beloved. The dif-ferent versions of Devdas,including regional, silent and amodern take (Dev D) come tomind, as well as a contemporaryfilm which was powered bymusic that became a rage. Evenas everyone, including Shahid,his manager and I start laugh-ing as it is impossible to put thelast one in the same league, theactor says, “The first time I sawArjun Reddy I was reminded ofDevdas. I can’t deny it. But theway this character behaves isvery new age, surprising andunpredictable. He is in yourface but all his reactivity is com-ing from a place of vulnerabil-ity.”
However, this is not theonly classic that he has takenon. There was of course Haider,a take on William Shakespeare’sHamlet. “It is a privilege for anactor to do a classic which isentrenched in our tradition.These are amazing opportuni-ties but I don’t want to feel pres-sured by drawing such parallels.Classics are classics,” he says andgives out a nervous laugh.
But is the idea of a protag-onist who is so consumed bylove that he embarks on a self-destructive path relevant orrather in sync with the timeswhere young people are swip-ing left and right for what theybelieve is love? While Shahiddoes agree, he points out thatlove is not an emotion that canbe trivialised. “Of course thingsare faster and easier today.Often, we might say it is lovebut it isn’t. I felt that this filmtakes you through the entire arcand shows all shades of the
emotion. It addresses self-destruction through the path oflove but falling apart or notbeing in control or being in astate of mind which is erraticand reactive is something thatall of us are going through forvarious reasons. Love could bejust one of them. With Kabir,you will be able to connect withthat journey and view it minusany candy floss,” says the actor,who before getting married toMira Rajput, was in a relation-ship with actor KareenaKapoor.
He is in a mood to scruti-nise the industry as he sips onhis “protein, vegan shake.”Dressed in an all-black ensem-ble, he says, “Sometimes filmsare too candy flossy but peopleare not connecting with thoseany more. They want to see thepurity or the angst of love in allof its rawness and reality. KabirSingh depicts that in a veryunapologetic manner. Theemotional state of Kabir Singhis a phase in all our lives. Butwhat makes him different is thathe wears his emotions on hissleeves. Most people don’texpress it so strongly and pre-fer to suppress it in keepingwith the norms of the society.I connected strongly with himbecause everything is explodingwith this character,” he says.
However, if one talks ofcontent that is edgy and realis-tic, one cannot but discuss theweb space. Shahid believes thatevery medium has its advan-tages and disadvantages. As isobvious, watching movies is asocial and public experiencewhich you share with 300, 400or sometimes 800 people that isdifferent from experiencing iton your phone. “The wordhard-hitting or real is some-times used to create an impactand I’ve never been a fan of that.It should come from a placewhich is organic and real andis a good balance of white andblack, which you can call grey.But sometimes things arepushed more towards black orbright just for the heck of it.There should be a natural rep-resentation,” he says. A combi-nation in a film, he believes, isessential as everyday in life, too,we go through both abrasiveand beautiful moments. Hebelieves this film has it as “itdoesn’t shy away from where itneeds to go as a story. Or as acharacter. Everything is fullydeveloped,” he says.
When we delineate howfilms are often named aftermale protagonists or told fromtheir point of view, he says,“People have said that the malecharacter is strong here but Ihave done a film, Jab We Met,
where the female character wassuch and in Padmavat, I was thesubtle one. There was a timewhen every story was being toldfrom a male point of view. Wehave come a long way.” He didnot see the protagonist as maleor female but rather “as asenior, a brilliant student whohas anger management issues.He falls in love with a simplepure girl and they connectbecause opposites attract. Ihave seen that the oddest ofrelationships work out whilesome of which are perfect onpaper just don’t,” he says.
Placing the emotion with-in the framework of life, Shahidpoints out that we need tounderstand the depth of love. “Ithink people say that they arein love too easily. It is a deepemotion and you need to spendsome time to understand howlegit it is,” he says as we findourselves nodding sagely inagreement. Shahid pauses andlets it sink in before adding,“Love is a very selfless emotion.Kabir is self destructive becausehe is so in love with her that hedoesn’t mind destroying him-self. And that is high level oflove even though it is abrasiveand destructive but mostly tohimself.”
Shahid, who initially cut histeeth in the industry playing alover boy in films like Ishk Vishk(2003), Chup Chup Ke (2006),Vivaah (2006) and Jab We Met(2007), changed his trajectorywith Kaminey (2009). The cur-rent story is unique for anoth-er reason. It is the first time thata remake is being made by thesame director who helmed theoriginal. And for a reason.“When I was considering doingit, I said that Sandeep Vanga isthe only person who can makeit provided he is comfortablewith Hindi and wants to do it,”he says.
Given that the story as wellas the director were common,how did Shahid impart hisown special stamp on the char-acter? “A careful balance had tobe found. Just because youwant to be different, you can-not reject things that are beau-tiful and intrinsic. At the sametime, just because you don’twant to lose that, you cannotcopy paste. Kabir Singh is anindividual in his own rightwho has to come alive in thisfilm just the way Arjun Reddydid in the original. I know howthe original made me feel. Idon’t want the audience to loseout on that emotional journeybut Kabir will do it in his ownway,” says the actor and thewords come tumbling outquickly making it clear that hehas thought over the role care-
fully. There was a reason for
him to take up the project. “Ihave never done a remakebefore. Most of the time whenremakes come to you, they tellyou the box office numbers andthe money that the film hasmade. Though money is animportant part of the film-making business, somewhereyou need to feel moved oraffected to give one year of yourlife to a film. And I fell in lovewith this one as it overcame thathurdle of language and culture.I felt privileged to take it to awider audience,” he says.
Getting into the characteris a process that different actorsapproach in a variety of ways.For some it is more sponta-neous, while others haverehearsals stretching overmonths. “Film making to someextent can be a....,” he pausesfor a long time searching forthe right word and goes on todefine it by saying, “Cerebralprocess and an emotional oneas well. You have to find theemotionality of the charactersthat we represent for people tofeel that. You must research, asit is good to do your home-work and have some under-standing of the backgroundand the mindset. I always lookfor the whys to understandwhy he is doing what he isdoing. It helps me to get intohis head and then everythingmakes an impact.”
The process has workedfor sure as even though hiscareer graph might have seenhighs and lows commercially,his characters have more oftenthan not come in for praisefrom the audience and the crit-ics. “I am lucky that some veryinteresting and exciting oppor-tunities have come my way. Ihave been lucky that filmsturned out well and thosecharacters made an impact.And because of that I’ve gotmore opportunities,” he laughshumbly.
His journey, Shahidbelieves, has been that of selfdiscovery. “When I started in2003, I just wanted to be aHindi film hero and slowly Idiscovered that there is a desireand the need to perform, actand delve into different char-acters. The chocolate boystopped exciting me when Istarted playing characters thathad meat. The satisfactionwhen I enjoy a scene is incom-parable,” he says talking abouthis evolution.
Shahid does not mindextending his repertoire toOTT platforms as well. “In anycase, I do very few films. I amvery instinctive if something
excites me, I will do it,” he says. Despite having come so
far, there is still an everydayordinariness which makesmost people connect with theactor and one can understandwhy when he talks about jug-gling parenthood with doingjustice to his profession, astruggle most of us face. “I ama father who is very particu-lar about giving as much timeas possible to my two youngchildren. You always feel youare falling short time-wise,either on the home front or atwork place. I am on duty 18hours a day,” he says as he signsoff, still at work.
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While the denim industry is growing with a billion jeans beingsold around the world every year, it is also costing us envi-
ronmentally as its manufacturing methods and processes are stress-ing our water availability in resource-scarce times. Your seeming-ly harmless pair of new jeans might have contributed towards anirrepairable damage to a river somewhere in the world.
Did you know that the main concern for denim is that it usesa repetitive dip-and-dry method to transfer indigo on to yarn, andaround 20,000 litres of water can be consumed to produce a sin-gle pair of jeans, which involves growing cotton, washing it anddyeing it? Also, looking at its manufacturing processes, they major-ly impact the health of workers, who are at a constant risk of tuber-culosis and silicosis while giving the jeans a perfect “worn out”look during sandblasting.
As per global data, the totalinvestment in the denim sectorhas surpassed $900 millionworldwide since 2015, wherein ahuge volume of 1.3 trillion gallonsof water is used only for dyeingthe fabric. The dyes are washedout and the untreated wastewater is uninhabitable for aquat-ic life and undrinkable forhumans. However, even thoughthe multi-million dollar brandscould afford to treat the waterwhich enters the rivers, not allbrand can.
So is there a way out? Candenim be sustainable? Well,organic and eco-friendly isincreasingly becoming the newrage among designers as well ascustomers, who prefer them overchemically-treated ones.
Mumbai-based designerArtivijay Gupta tells us how the carbon footprint can be reducedsignificantly. She says, “This entire process in manufacturing thedenim products should be done using less than a cup of waterand eliminating toxic chemicals in the washing process. Thismethod also increases the lifespan of the denim as there is lessdamage to the cotton fibres, hence preserving the natural stateof the fabric.”
While brands are experimenting with ethical ways of produc-ing jeans which create less waste and reduce water usage and pol-lution, researchers and designers have come up with other alter-natives. These include Laserblast and Iceblast techniques, whichuse laser-based and dry-ice technology respectively, to create var-ious washed out effects in denims. Manu Sharma, business head,REPLAY (which uses the same techniques), says, “As a brand, wetry to reduce the usage of water and chemicals in washes to avoidwastage. During fabric creation, we make sure we use as muchrecycled polyester and upcycled material. Wherever possible, weuse organic cotton.”
Talking about what has triggered this change of methods andprocesses, Manjula Gandhi, chief product officer at Numero Uno,says that a lot of factors, besides the ethical reasons, are forcingdenim manufacturers to go green. “Denim brands have recentlyrealised the value of investing in sustainable and more responsi-ble products. This realisation came as a result of different factorscoming into play, one of them being changing values of society.It is necessary for fashioncompanies to talk about theirgreen ambitions. They have toprove that they are takingactual steps in making theirpractices sustainable and eth-ical,” says Gandhi.
Charu Vij, a fashiondesigner who runs a store inNew Delhi named Aekatri, isstill researching an alternativeto denim. “In terms of theyarns, we are yet to createsomething that is sustainable.A lot of designers are workingtowards sustainability becausewe need to maintain that eco-logical balance. Denim has itsown uses as it is immune torapid wear and tear. If we areable to crack through a sustain-able denim fibre which is 100per cent natural, that will be it.”
(NALCO) performance over thelast four years have come in for
praise from all quarters, withCMD Dr Tapan Kumar Chandbeing awarded the ‘global
Indian business leader’ for hisprofessional achievements andinspiring social contributions. Onbehalf of Dr Chand, the award wasreceived by Asutosh Rath, DGMcorporate communication,NALCO.
Organised by IndianAchievers’ Forum, this award
comes on the back of Dalal StreetJournal, rating NALCO as thefastest growing high growth PSUand Dr Chand receiving the roll of
honour for leading the companytowards growth. Under his leader-ship, NALCO has been consistent-ly delivering across all parameters
of production, productivity andprofitability with the net profit of�1,732 crore in 2018-19. Alongwith significant achievements onthe production front, NALCOachieved the distinction of becom-ing the lowest cost producer of alu-mina in the world for three con-secutive years, as per the WoodMackenzie report. The companyhas also been ranked as the low-est cost producer of bauxite in theworld for the year 2018-19.NALCO is way ahead of its privatesector peers by registering EBID-TA Margin of 28 per cent.
Bharat Heavy ElectricalsLimited (BHEL) has achieved
yet another milestone in Bhutanwith the successful commission-ing of unit 1 of the 4x84 MWChhukha hydro electric project(HEP), following complete reno-vation and modernisation (R&M)of the generator. Unit 3 of thesame project was earlier commis-sioned by BHEL and has beenrunning efficiently. With the com-missioning of unit 1, the organi-sation has executed the R&M con-tract for two units (1 and 3), there-by consolidating its position fur-ther and rising up to the expec-tations of the customer, DrukGreen Power Corporation(DGPC).
DGPC in their commenda-tion letter wrote, “We appreciatethe efforts made by the expertsfrom the organisation towards theR&M work, which has led toresult-oriented performance.”
DGPC had placed the R&Morder for replacement of genera-tor stator and rotor coils of unit1 and 3. These machines were
originally supplied and commis-sioned by BHEL in the 1980s. Theorganisation’s units at Bhopal andBengaluru have provided theequipment and technical sup-ports for the R&M job.
BHEL has executed majorprojects like Chhukha, Kurichuand Tala in Bhutan and is present-ly executing export orders for6x200 MW Punatsangchhu-I,6x170 MW Punatsangchhu-IIand 4x180 MW MangdechhuProjects, which once commis-sioned, would take BHEL’s shareto 93 per cent of the total powergenerating capacity of Bhutan.
The organisation is executinghydro-electric projects of around3,000 MW across the country, inaddition to 3,904 MW abroadwhich includes 2,940 MW inBhutan and 900 MW in Nepal.Significantly, more than 500hydro-electric generating sets ofvarious ratings have been orderedon BHEL with a cumulativecapacity of more than 30,000MW, including 6,680 MW foroverseas projects.
Adelegation from French embassy,led by Sophie Gauthier, counsel-
lor (political) strategic affairs andRomain Otal, second counselor calledupon Jammu and Kashmir KVIBvice chairperson, Dr Hina Shafi Bhatto have first hand review of the secu-rity and political situation in the val-ley.
Dr Hina told the visiting delega-tion that the unfortunate socio-polit-ical scenario of Jammu and Kashmiris on account of the fact that previousgovernments did not pay attention toinfrastructural development of thestate. Nobody talks about half widowsand their problems. She said said thatArticle 370 is misunderstood by peo-ple of the state. The previous govern-ments have withered away the sanc-tity of the Article and now they areinstigating people over what remains.
On assembly elections in thestate, Dr Hina said that election com-mission of India has to take the finalcall but it would be based on the sit-
uation in Kashmir.“All these years, elections exploit-
ed the aspirations of the common peo-ple. Mainstream political parties inconnivance with separatists habitual-ly fooled people but we want cleanelections to keep democracy alive,” shesaid and added that under BJP all thethree regions of the state have receivedequitable treatment.
While deliberating on presence ofBJP in Kashmir, she said the waythings are changing at ground level
shows that the party is preferred by theright minded and progressive people.
“BJP is now a recognised party inKashmir valley, with more than twolakh members. People are showingfaith in the policies of incumbentPrime Minister and they have hugeexpectations,” said Dr Hina and addedthat opposition parties have nowresorted to creating apprehensionsabout abrogation of Article 370 and35 A, as they do not find any substan-tial grounds to criticise the BJP.
Bharti AXA General Insurance, ajoint venture between Bharti
Enterprises and AXA, has registered itsmaiden full-year profitability in thefinancial year 2018-19.
The company recorded an increaseof 29 per cent in its gross written premi-um that is �2,285 crore in the financialyear 2018-19 up from �1,772 crore in2017-18. The growth is driven across allproduct segments and all channels of dis-tribution. It achieved this performanceagainst an overall industry growth of 12.9per cent and private sector growth of 25per cent in the financial year ending onMarch 31, 2019. During the same peri-od the company had a net profit of �3crore as compared to a loss of �92.6 croreduring 2017-18.
The company is happy to notch upits first ever full year profitability andgrowth. This has been achieved byexpanding the distribution network,adding number of strategic distributionpartnerships, business alliances anddiversification of product lines. “We willcontinue to focus on channel and seg-ment diversification, productivity andprudent expense management to drivegrowth in years to come,’’ said SanjeevSrinivasan, managing director and chiefexecutive officer, BhartiAXA GeneralInsurance.
Srinivasan said,“Our focus on increas-ing distribution net-work and businessalliances hasbeen a key dri-ver for the com-pany’s overallgrowth in bothretail and corpo-rate business. Wecontinue to buildon a steady pathahead of industrygrowth with supe-rior risk selectionand cost manage-ment to boostgrowth in the yearsahead.’’
Joshua Pollock, author of The Heartfulness Way delivered a lecturein the Samvaad series organised by PRSI Delhi chapter as a part of
knowledge sharing initiatives for communication, media, advertis-ing professionals and PR fraternity. Pollock said if there’s no heart,no sincerity, you cannot produce pure music. Music produced with-out honesty is imitation. Similarly, you cannot remove the heart fromcommunication because with their unification, you produce betterresults.
Pollock explained that feeling is the language of heart. PR pro-fessionals ought to understand that an element of compassion is use-ful in storytelling. PR is all about swaying opinions and winning hearts.It is often that that in order to win an argument, people tend to losesomeone’s heart. Anger management is important. It is crucial to under-stand ‘how does the other person feel about us?’
Earlier chairman Naresh Kumar and vice chairman Dr HS Paulfelicitated the speaker and SS Rao, secretary, PRSI, delivered the wel-come address, joint secretary Sarvesh Tiwari presented a mementoto the speaker. PRSI’s member Vinod Agrahari, delivered the welcomenote while GS Bawa gave the vote of thanks.
There are several heritage sites in dis-tricts of Bijnor, which are unprotect-
ed and as a result their condi-tion has deteriorated. The landmafia has taken advantage ofthis lacuna and destroyed themfor the sake of money.
District collector SujitKumar has taken an initiativetowards protection of thesedeserted and isolated heritages.Taking help from social work-ers and historians, these heritage struc-tures will be identified and protected sothat future generations can be sensitisedand benefit from them. Monuments that
need to be preserved are Nagina Bai Baghwhere the freedom fighters of 1857 sac-
rificed their lives. There is alsoPurani Munsafi of Nagina,Beguma Maqbara,Patthargarh fort of Sultanadacoit of Najibabad, Shivmandir of Kotkadar built dur-ing the period of Aalha Udal,palace of Munshi Hashmat Aliin Mandawar, fort Parshanathin Badapur.
Archaeological Survey of Indian(AIS) will also be informed about theseheritage monuments and severe actionwould be taken against the land mafia.
Saints and other people fromour country have been try-
ing to spread the knowledgeabout yog education in India aswell as abroad for the last sev-eral years. In fact, India hasbeen a land of rishi-munis,yogis and Rajrishis, whorespected the eternal Vedicknowledge and thereby theAshtang yog philosophy. Theypractised the same in theirdaily lives. But it is sad thattoday the eternal tradition hasbeen changed by human beingsmostly because the so-calledsaints don’t study or teach firstthe Vedic knowledge anymore.
The question that ariseshere is why did ancient Rishisgave so much respect to yogeducation? In this connection,the study of eternal Vedas, ourancient religious texts like theMahabharata, Ramayana ,Shastras, and more reveal thatthey followed the yog philoso-phy traditionally, and attendedgurukuls. But today, only asana,prannayama and meditation,which are just three parts of theAshtang yog philosophy, arebeing taught.
Rigveda, right from firstmantra, starts giving the knowl-edge of worshipping God byperforming Yajyen with vedamantras and not the yog philos-ophy. Our ancestors obeyedand so must we. The said tra-dition enables us to know theknowledge, unlimited power,divine deeds, form of God,worship and thereafter Ashtangyog philosophy, which is also apart of worship of god and notjust a way to improve health.Before we start learning yogphilosophy, the knowledge offour Vedas has to be gained tra-ditionally.
Yagyavalkya states:HirrannyagarbhahaYogasyaVakta, that is Almighty is himselfthe preacher of Ashtang yog.Keeping in view that Vedasand Ashtang yog philosophy hasbeen preached by god himself,we must learn and follow thesame respectfully. It is alsoclear that practice of Ashtangyog is a part of worship, whichhelps to attain Samadhi torealise salvation.
Moreover, there is not evena single ancient or present saintwho followed or follows yogeducation alone, keeping asidethe Vedas. So, we must learnthat when they followed allthem, there was no scope ofcorruption, vices or makingthe yog education as a source ofincome. It was being preachedfree because it was followedcomplete Vedic educationwhich enabled or enables theaspirant to control his senseswhereas due to lack of knowl-edge of Vedas, the practice ofonly yog has mostly become asource of several shortcom-ings. Many people do not evenknow what Atharvaveda states.“If you steal away only a smallportion of Vedas education likeyog education and leave the restof the Vedic education then youare punished by god. Had yogeducation been learnt along
with Vedas philosophy, as wasdone in previous yugas, then novices or malpractices wouldhave crept in but now learningyog alone has given way tonumber of vices and people areusing it as means of earningmoney, making it professional.”
While it is a matter of greatjoy that June 21 is celebrated asInternational Yoga day, there, itis also a matter of great concernthat due to lack of knowledge ofVedas, mostly a distorted andfalse image of yoga, asana andprannayaama has been por-trayed to the world because oureternal and ancient Vedic cul-ture has been very wellpreached.
Although it is true that onYoga Day, the entire world hasbeen familiarised to the wordyoga, yet the presentation of adistorted and untrue shape ofthe eternal, everlasting andunchangeable Ashtang yog phi-losophy mentioned in the Vedasamounts to causing its insult.
Therefore, nobody can eventhink about adopting any alter-native to Vedas or Ashtang yogphilosophy. We must alsoremember that according toVedas the main aim of practis-ing the Vedic Ashtang yog phi-losophy is to realise god.However, its practice inciden-tally provides the devotee withhealthy body and mind. Theostentatious and glamourousway of performing asana andpranayaama does not comeunder the tradition becauseVedas preach that Vedic path isthe subject matter of deep, seri-ous thoughts.
In view of the above, if wehave failed to produce the eter-nal, unchallengeable andunchangeable form of yog phi-losophy which was adopted byour ancient and present saints,who practised the same insecluded places, caves and morein calm and peaceful atmos-phere on the banks of river andgot the best result thereof thenat least some of the fundamen-tals should have been main-tained in the present scenario toavoid a distorted form. The saiddignitaries have mentioned theyog philosophy with full respectand utmost faith.
Yogi Aurobindo Ghosh andRishi Dayanand Saraswati Jihave given the eternal, immor-tal explanation of Vedic Ashtangyog, worship and popularisedits concept amongst the publicand while carrying forward thetradition of ancient, great dig-nitaries like Guru Vasishth,Patanjali Rishi, Kapil Muni,Yagyavalkya Rishi, Shring Rishi,Vishwamitraji, Narad and so ondedicated their entire lives inyog.
So while celebrating theInternational Yoga Day, wherethe divine Vedic word ‘yog’echoes, is a praise-worthy stepbut the true form of yog philos-ophy is usually not being pro-duced before the public andhence, the ingratitude.
(The author is the chief edi-tor of Ved Ishvareeya Vani, a bi-annual magazine.)
Union environment minis-ter, Prakash Javadekarspeaking at an event in the
capital on the occasion of worldday to combat desertification anddrought, said that we as a coun-try make targets not under anyglobal pressure but for our owncountry's real sustainable develop-ment. India will lead by examplein combating desertification.
He further announced thatIndia will be hosting the four-teenth session of Conference ofParties (COP-14) from August 29to September 14 at the India ExpoMart Limited, Greater Noida.
The union minister furtherhighlighted that with about 30 percent of country's total geograph-ical area being affected by landdegradation; India has high stakesstrongly committed to the conven-tion. He said that various schemeshave been launched by the gov-ernment of India such as: PradhanMantri Fasal Bima Yojana(PMFBY), soil health cardscheme, soil health managementscheme, Pradhan Mantri KrishiInchayee Yojna (PKSY), etc, whichare helping to reduce land degra-dation. The union minister alsounveiled the logo of COP-14 onthe occasion.
Amitabh Kant, NITI Aayog,CEO said that the world day tocombat desertification is a uniqueoccasion to remind global com-munity that desertification can beeffectively tackled, that solutionsare possible, and that key tools tothis aim lay in strengthened com-munity participation and cooper-ation at all levels. Secretary, min-istry of environment, forest andclimate change, CK Mishra saidthat the world day to combatdesertification in 2019 will retro-spect and celebrate the past yearsof progress made by India on sus-tainable land management.
The union minister alsolaunched a flagship project onenhancing capacity on forest land-scape restoration (FLR) and BonnChallenge in India, through a pilotphase of 3.5 years implemented inHaryana, Madhya Pradesh,Maharashtra, Nagaland andKarnataka. The project will aim todevelop and adopt best practicesand monitoring protocols for thestates and build capacity withinthe five pilot states on FLR and theBonn Challenge. This will beeventually scaled up across thecountry through subsequent phas-es of the project. The challenge is
a global effort to bring 150 millionhectares of the world's deforestedand degraded land into restorationby 2020 and 350 million hectaresby 2030. At the UNFCC confer-ence of the parties (COP) 2015 inParis, India also joined the volun-tary Bonn Challenge pledge tobring into restoration 13 millionhectares of degraded and deforest-ed land by the year 2020 and addi-tional eight million hectares by2030.
United Nations has three rioconventions namely — UnitedNations Framework Conventionon Climate Change (UNFCCC),
Convention on BiologicalDiversity (CBD) and UnitedNations Convention to CombatDesertification (UNCCD).Established in 1994, UNCCD isthe only legally binding interna-tional agreement linking environ-ment and development issues tothe land agenda. In 1994, the unit-ed nations general assemblydeclared 17 june the “world day tocombat desertification anddrought” to promote publicawareness and the implementa-tion of the UNCCD in the deser-tification affected countries.
One of the primary functionsof the COP is to review reportssubmitted by the country partiesdetailing how they are carryingout their commitments. Indiawill take-over the COP presiden-cy from China for two years untilthe next COP is hosted in 2021.
Over 5,000 representativesfrom over 197 countries drawnfrom national, regional and localgovernments, science and researchcommunities, the private sector,international and non-govern-mental organisations and all formsmedia will address the issue ofcombating desertification, landdegradation and drought duringthe two-week event.
There is “credible evidence”linking Saudi Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman to themurder of journalist JamalKhashoggi, a UN expert saidWednesday, calling for sanc-tions on the prince’s personalforeign assets.
Meanwhile, A Saudi min-ister on Wednesday slammedas "unfounded" a UN expertreport. "The report... Containsclear contradictions andunfounded allegations, cast-ing doubt on its credibility."
The allegation regardingPrince Mohammed’s possibledirect role in Kashoggi’s exe-cution last October wasdetailed in a new report by theUN special rapporteur onextrajudicial, summary or arbi-trary executions, AgnesCallamard.
Callamard, an indepen-dent human rights expert who
does not speak for the UnitedNations, also called on UNSecretary General AntonioGuterres to initiate a formalcriminal investigation into thecase.
Khashoggi, a WashingtonPost contributor and critic ofPrince Mohammed, was mur-dered at the Saudi consulate inIstanbul on October 2. Riyadhinitially said it had no knowl-edge of his fate. It later blamedthe murder inside the consulateon rogue agents.
Saudi prosecutors haveabsolved the crown prince ofresponsibility.
But Callamard said herinquiry had “determined thatthere is credible evidence, war-ranting further investigation ofhigh-level Saudi Officials’ indi-vidual liability, including theCrown Prince’s”.
The UN expert noted thatinternational sanctions issuedso far in response to
Khashoggi’s killing “simply failto address the central questionsof chain of command and ofsenior leadership’s responsi-bilities for and associated withthe execution”.
Given “the credible evi-dence into the responsibilitiesof the Crown Prince for hismurder, such sanctions oughtalso to include the CrownPrince and his personal assetsabroad, until and unless evi-dence is provided and corrob-orated that he carries noresponsibilities for this execu-tion,” she added.
Callmard carried out herhuman rights inquiry on herown initiative as part of hermandate as a special rappor-teur. She stressed that “no con-clusion is made as to guilt,”within her findings that werebased on a large body of evi-dence, including CCTVfootage from inside the con-sulate of the killing itself.
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Iran’s defence minister “cate-gorically rejected” on
Wednesday accusations thatTehran was behind two tankerattacks in the Gulf of Oman,describing evidence presentedby Washington as “unsubstan-tiated”, official news agencyIRNA reported.
Washington has blamedIran for last week’s attacks,releasing images and a grainyvideo it alleges shows Iranianson a patrol boat removing anunexploded limpet mineattached to one of the tankers.
“Accusations levelledagainst Iran’s armed forces andthe published film with regardsto the incident (that) hap-pened to the vessels ... Areunsubstantiated and we cate-gorically reject these accusa-tions,” IRNA quoted DefenceMinister Brigadier-General
Amir Hatami as saying.“The armed forces and the
port organisation were amongthe first to approach the tankersafter the incident for reliefoperations and they rescued 23people in the first tanker,” headded.
Hatami did not explicitlyspecify which of the two shipshe was referring to, but Iran’sEnglish-language Press TV atthe time broadcast footage of23 sailors rescued from theFront Altair, a tanker owned bya Norwegian listed company.
Hatami added that theIranian forces then headed tothe second tanker, but the crewsaid another vessel had alreadyrescued them. “This meansAmericans had arrived soonerto the scene where they claimthe video was recorded”,Hatami said, with apparentreference to the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous.
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Members of Hong Kong’slegislature met on
Wednesday for the first timesince the largest anti-govern-ment protest in the city’s his-tory, with many oppositionlawmakers slamming the pro-Beijing administration’s han-dling of the crisis.
Hong Kong has been shak-en by a series of massivedemonstrations against a pro-posed law that would haveallowed extraditions to main-land China, and the city’s policeforce has been criticised forusing excessive force to dis-perse protesters.
Videos of police beatingunarmed protesters went viraland sparked public anger, andthe tactics were widely con-demned. Police said force wasnecessary to fend off protestersthrowing bricks and metalbars.
In a tense session, opposi-tion lawmakers grilled HongKong’s head of security, JohnLee, over the clashes.
Many pro-democracymembers of the LegislativeCouncil wore black and carriedwhite chrysanthemums in trib-ute to a man who fell to hisdeath while protesting the law.
Some placed placards ontheir desks reading “No ChinaExtradition” and “Withdraw,Withdraw” — referring to thecontroversial bill.
“We are sad that somepeople were hurt while express-ing their views,” Lee said, as herepeated the government’sapology for the turmoil causedby the bill. He said police wereresponding to threats fromprotesters, but opposition law-makers ridiculed his com-ments.
“The police were well-trained, and you have all thegear and you say the policewere under threat,” pro-democ-racy lawmaker Claudia Mosaid. “This is utterly uncon-vincing.”
An opposition lawmakerwas due to introduce a non-
binding motion of no-confi-dence in pro-Beijing chief exec-utive Carrie Lam, but it was nottabled before the session wasadjourned. The motion was notexpected to pass in the body,which is dominated by Lam’scamp.
Council president AndrewLeung said there would not bea session on Thursday. It wasnot immediately clear when thecouncil would meet again.
Lam suspended the extra-dition bill after the first massrally on June 9, and June 12clashes between police andprotesters.
But that failed to quellpublic anger and protestersstaged an even larger rally onSunday which drew over twomillion people, according toorganisers, who demanded thebill be withdrawn and Lamresign.
Lam apologised Tuesdayand indicated the law is unlike-ly to be revived, but did notannounce a formal withdraw-al and vowed to continue as thecity’s leader.
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Russia and China haveblocked the UN Security
Council committee monitoringsanctions against North Koreafrom declaring that Pyongyangbreached the annual limit forimporting refined petroleumproducts which are key for itseconomy, two U.N. diplomatssaid Tuesday.
The diplomats said theRussians and Chinese notifiedthe committee before Tuesday’sdeadline for objections.
The United States and 25other countries accused NorthKorea of violating U.N. sanc-tions by importing far morethan the annual limit of500,000 barrels of refinedpetroleum products.
A US-led complaint had
asked the sanctions committeeto rule that Pyongyangbreached the cap and demandan immediate halt to deliveries.It said most of the excess petro-leum products were obtainedfrom dozens of illegal ship-to-ship transfers.
A Security Council diplo-mat said North Korea isbelieved to have obtained 3.5million barrels of refined petro-leum in 2018, seven times thelimit. This year, North Koreahas already imported morethan the limit and is “on pace”to obtain about the sameamount as last year throughillegal ship-to-ship transfers,the diplomat said, speakingon condition of anonymitybecause he was not authorizedto speak publicly.
The complaint said the
500,000-barrel annual limit onrefined petroleum products “iscritical to maintaining pres-sure” on North Korea toachieve the denuclearization ofthe country.
Last July, Russia and Chinablocked a similar request fromthe U.S. to get the U.N. sanc-tions committee to publiclyaccuse North Korea of violat-ing the annual quota. TheRussians and Chinese are keysuppliers of petroleum prod-ucts to North Korea.
The Security Councilimposed sanctions on NorthKorea after its first nuclear testexplosion in 2006 and hasmade them tougher andtougher in response to furthersuch tests and its increasinglysophisticated ballistic missileprogramme.
new Acting US DefenceSecretary, is an Army veteranwho fought in the Gulf war andworked as a lobbyist for one ofAmerica’s biggest military con-tractors.
The 55-year-old ex-class-mate of Secretary of State MikePompeo was chosen afterActing Defence SecretaryPatrick Shanahan withdrewhis nomination, which took
many by surprise.Esper is taking over against
the backdrop of soaring ten-sions between the US and Iranwhich has said it would surpassthe uranium-stockpile limit setby its nuclear deal in the next10 days.
Making the announcementof the new appointment,President Trump said that hiscurrent Army secretary Esperwould lead the DefenceDepartment.
“I know Mark, and haveno doubt he will do a fantas-
tic job!” he said in a tweet.Trump told reporters that
he is likely to nominate Esperfor the permanent job.
Esper, elevated from his jobas Army secretary to be ActingDefense Secretary, became thethird person to lead thePentagon under PresidentTrump. James Norman Mattiswas the first one to leadPentagon after Trump assumedoffice.
Esper, after graduatingfrom West Point, served in theArmy, the Army Reserve andNational Guard in some capac-ity for more than two decades,The New York Times reported.
The NYT report said that Shanahan’s 30-year careerat Boeing complicated hisnomination and Esper’s tenureas Raytheon’s top lobbyist couldleave him facing a similar issue.
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Dutch prosecutors are to putfour people on trial for
murder next year over theshooting down of flight MH17over Ukraine, in which 298 peo-ple were killed, relatives said onWednesday.
The court case over thecrash of the Malaysia Airlinesplane will start in theNetherlands in March 2020,according to family memberswho were briefed ahead of anannouncement by internation-al investigators due about 1100GMT.
The identities of the fourpeople to be charged were notimmediately available but aUkrainian minister and reportssaid on Tuesday they includedat least one senior Russian offi-cer.
The airliner travellingbetween Amsterdam and KualaLumpur was torn apart in mid-air after being hit by a missileover territory in eastern Ukraineheld by pro-Russian separatistson July 17, 2014, investigatorssay.
“There is a court case onMarch 9 2020 against four peo-ple for murder,” Silene Fredriksz,whose son and daughter-in-lawwere killed in the disaster, toldreporters.
“I am happy that the trial isfinally going to start and that thenames have been announced.It’s a start. I’m satisfied.” Thecharges come nearly a yearafter the international probeinto the crash said the BUK mis-sile which hit the Boeing 777had originated from a Russianmilitary brigade based in thesouthwestern city of Kursk.
Asked if she personallyblamed anyone for the crash,Fredriksz said: “Mr (RussianPresident Vladimir) Putin.
“Because he made this pos-sible. He created this situation.He is the main responsible per-son.” Russia has vehementlydenied all involvement in theshooting down of MH17. OnWednesday it complained ofbeing excluded from the probedespite “proactively” trying to beinvolved.
“You know our attitudetowards this investigation.
Russia had no opportunity totake part in it even though itshowed initiative from... Thevery first days of this tragedy,”Putin’s spokesman DmitryPeskov told reporters.
Ukraine’s deputy foreignminister Olena Zerkal said onTuesday that four people wouldbe named over MH17 andsenior Russian army officerswere involved. Zerkal said thetransfer of weapons like theBUK anti-aircraft missile system“is impossible without the(Russian) top brass’s permis-sion”.
Dutch media have namedseveral suspects including thehead of the 53rd anti-aircraftbrigade, the Russian unit iden-tified by the probe last year.
The Joint InvestigationTeam (JIT) probing the attackincludes Australia, Belgium,Malaysia, the Netherlands andUkraine.
The Netherlands andAustralia said in May last yearthat they formally “hold Russiaresponsible” for the disaster,after the findings on the originof the missile were announced.
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More than 70 million peo-ple were counted last year
as displaced from their homes,a record that underestimatesthe real number of refugees andasylum seekers, the UN saidWednesday.
In its annual global trends report, the UnitedNations refugee agency(UNHCR) described the figureof 70.8 million at the end of2018 as “conservative”, partic-ularly because the number ofpeople who fled Venezuela’sdevastating crisis is under-counted.
At the end of 2017, bycomparison, 68.5 million peo-ple were counted as beingforcibly displaced by violenceor persecution.
The UNHCR attributed the increase partly tosurging displacement inEthiopia caused by inter-ethnicconflict, and in Venezuela,where thousands are fleeingevery day amid an economiccollapse that has triggeredshortages of basic food andmedicine.
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Sudan’s military council onWednesday on urged oppo-
sition leaders to resume nego-tiations on the transition ofpower, without preconditions,but the comments could fur-ther complicate the alreadystalled transition process asprotest organisers continuetheir night-time demonstra-tions demanding civilian rule.
Negotiations collapsed inthe wake of a violent crack-down of a protest camp in thecapital Khartoum earlier thismonth. At least 128 people have
been killed across the countrysince security forces moved into clear the sit-in area outsidethe military’s headquarters onJune 3.
Authorities offer a lowerdeath toll of 61, including threefrom security forces. Gen.Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head ofthe council, told a gathering ofhealth workers in Khartoumthat the council did not havepreconditions for returning tothe negotiating table with theForces for Declaration ofFreedom and Change, whichhas represented protesters, soneither should the protesters.
Wednesday for wronglyattributing a famous quote ofIndian poet and Nobel laureateRabindranath Tagore toLebanese-American poetKhalil Gibran.
Khan, 66, took to share aninspirational quote which goesas "I slept and dreamed that lifeis all joy. I woke and I saw thatlife is all service. I served andI saw that service is joy".
The Prime Minister cap-tioned the quote, saying "Thosewho discover and get to under-
stand the wisdom of Gibran'swords cited below, get to live alife of contentment".
The tweet garnered 23,000likes and was retweeted over5,000 times, while more than2,000 people commented on it.
But the netizens were quickto pick the Prime Minister'smistake and started making funof him.
Most of the Twitter usersteased Khan for his poorknowledge and asked him toconfirm things before goingpublic.
Mr Khan it doesn't hurt toGoogle a quote if you are notinto reading.
The big bad news is that openerShikhar Dhawan has been ruledout of the entire tournament due
to a metacarpal fracture in the left hand.“Several specialist opinions have
revealed that Shikhar Dhawan has sus-tained a fracture at the base of his firstmetacarpal of the left hand. His handwill remain in a cast till mid-July whichrules him out of the rest of the ICCWorld Cup 2019,” team manager SunilSubramaniam announced at a Pressconference at Hampshire Bowl onWednesday.
He said the Team India manage-ment has “written to the ICC’s techni-cal committee seeking a replacementand Rishabh Pant will be the person cov-ering Dhawan”.
After being left out of the 15, Panthad been flown in last week and hadjoined the team to train in Manchesterwhere India played against Pakistan andwon by 89 runs.
In the late evening proceedings, ICCapproved Pant’s inclusion into theIndian squad.
Dhawan, however, wasseen playing football withthe team at nets justbefore the announce-ment was made andseemed to be relaxed andreconciled to his fate. Hehad just made a return toform after a wishy-washyinaugural against SouthAfrica in the opening game.He scored a scintillating 127runs in the second game againstAustralia at The Oval where a PatCummins rising delivery hit his handand did him in. The player, known tohave a high pain tolerance level, contin-ued to play 20 more overs after his frac-ture and mid-field first aid.
After the match, assistant coachSanjay Bangar had said the team wouldnot like to lose a fiery opener likeDhawan and had decided to wait for twoweeks before taking a final decision withfollow-up scans. Dhawan attended allpractice sessions, taking jogs of the sta-dium and playing football with the boyson most occasions.
India’s mega opening worries were,however, settled down by KL Rahul who
has since been promoted up the orderfrom No 4. He made a solid 57 againstPakistan in his newly accorded position.He contributed to a record 136-runopening partnership with Rohit Sharma.Rahul’s form and determination at thetop of the order would have Pant wait-
ing in the wings for now and give Kohlia little less angst about Shikhar's absence.
Though Team India’s strength andconditioning coach Shanker Basu saidlater in the day that fitness was thenewest and most potent tool of the cur-rent Indian squad, and that the Indianteam has the becoming record of thelowest injury rate despite playing dou-ble the amount of cricket that otherteams, Kohli and the management havetheir concern caps on for BhuvneshwarKumar who sustained a “hamstring stiff-ness” during the match against Pakistan.He had to leave the field without com-pleting his over and the ball was givento Vijay Shankar who took Imam UlHaq's wicket in his very first delivery ofthe World Cup.
Bhuvneshwar has been ruled out forat least two matches, maybe three, whichmeans against Afghanistan, West Indiesand England. At nets on Wednesday, thepace bowler took three rounds of thefield along with the support staff, notjogging but walking.
Mohammed Shami, meanwhile,bowled consistently during training toRohit Sharma, KL Rahul and ViratKohli. “Bhuvi is a huge concern butShami is fit and raring to go,”Kohli hadsaid at Manchester after packing offPakistan.
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Fitness, training and nutrition arethe three tools with which Team
India has turned into an athletic unitwith minimal injuries despite playingconstant cricket through the year. Thebowlers are bowling quicker, they areall fit and the fielding has been opti-mal, not to mention the players car-rying their blades for long inningswithout much fatigue.
“Fitness has become a lifestylewith this new Indian team. Training,sleep-wake cycle and nutrition are thethree hallmarks of a professional ath-lete and everybody is down and run-ning in that direction. It is not anArmy drill type of thing. They dotheir own personal stuff, they knowtheir bodies very well. We all func-tion very differently from the inside.So one man’s food can be anotherman’s poison,” said the team’s strengthand conditioning coach ShankerBasu.
He, however, said that is was amajor challenge to get the boys backinto working condition after theIPL.
“Jokingly we would talk aboutIPL as the Mount Everest. Then wecome to base camp and then we hitKilimanjaro. During IPL, the boysstart sleeping very late, 2 am, some-times 3. To get them back to sleep-ing early, back to a training regimewas a challenge. We had only eightdays for that. But, in the past fouryears, the boys have started quicklyunderstanding the value of sleep-wake cycle, good nutrition pro-gramme, supplement, training,strength work and conditioning. Wetry to educate them about the humanbody has a particular sleep-wakecycle. During IPL, whether you likeit or not, the boys take a beating. ThisWorld Cup preparation was very crit-ical,” he said.
So the team took to technologyand introduced several gadgets tomonitor the players’ fitness quo-tient. First came the dexa scan whichgenerally measures bone density butthe team doctor used it to ascertaineach player’s fat percentage. “Themoment you have a number in yourhand, it brings a healthy coemptionin the team. Healthy eating habits is
the only way to bring down the fatpercentage. So, everybody starteddoing that like fish takes to water.Everybody started eating better. Oncethey did that they lost the extra fatand they all started moving well,”Basu explained.
The biggest achievement, howev-er, was that the Indian team havingthe lowest number of injuries eventhough it plays double the amount ofcricket than other any other team inthe world. The boys are keen on eat-ing the right stuff. “To cut a long storyshort, we have cut on junk big timeand this has made this team as goodas an athletic team. We don’t need totell them to do that. All we did wasa dexa scan and subsequently a DNAtest that gives you what sort of a per-son are you whether you are glutenintolerant or you are lactose intoler-ant etc. So they are all aware and mak-ing informed decisions based on theirreport cards,” Basu added.
“During season, especially thejourney started in 2015 what we are
seeing today is the culmination ofefforts in the last few years. The brandof training and the culture is fantas-tic
Talking about the makeover inthe camp where fast bowlers are con-cerned, Basu was all praise for theirself-applied brakes. “The manage-ment wanted a fast bowling unit
which was good and could go on andon. In the last year, the proof of thepudding has been seen in the results.Bumrah, Bhuvi, Umesh Yadav — allof them have started bowling muchquicker. The reason for that is con-sistent work with a few lifestylemodifications with regards to nutri-tion and the way we train. We got theGPS last year. It gives you data ofimmense value. Based on that westarted understanding our trainingmethodology a lot more and based onthat we started preparing a schedule.All this has helped us in our fastbowlers bowling 145 clicks consis-tently, even in Test matches. This didnot happen overnight,” Basu point-ed out.
The team made it a point in 2015that they would train consistently.Just like batting, bowling and field-ing, they planned to work on fitnessseriously. “The captain and thecoach wanted to use fitness as a vehi-cle and I was there to augment that,”Basu said.
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Boost is the secret of pacer MohammedShami’s energy. Not the drink, but the boost
that came from his personal problems and aseries of failed fitness tests. So much so that hisstrength and conditioning coach ShankerBasu calls it a blessing in disguise.
“Shami failing the fitness test was a bless-ing in disguise. After that, we was a changedman, so determined. He is blessed with someamazing gene. We all know about intermittentfasting. Hedoesn’t evenknow what itis , but hedoes it on hisown. His fatpercentagein threeyears hasr e m a i n e dexactly thesame. He is apiece ofwork,” hesaid.
S h a m ihas long beens t r u g g l i n gwith maritaldiscord anddivorce issuesbut his mainfailing hadbeen hisaversion tofitness train-ing. “He usedto be the last one to get into the bus,” Basu said.Which makes the bowler’s present makeover abig achievement.
“The best part is he has changed his entiretraining regime. Now training is part of hislifestyle which never used to be so. But afterhis personal setback and failing the fitness testhe is a changed man. This is the 2.0 version ofMohammed Shami,” a proud Basu said.
Indeed, one look at the way he was bowl-ing at nets on Wednesday, and you would knowthis right-arm-fast-medium quick has changedsince 2015 when he took 77 or the 80 wicketsat hand. The intervening years brought in fat,a failed marriage, a public spat, hovering banand a lazy fitness drive. But bowling to RohitSharma and then Virat Kohli, in the absenceof hamstrung Bhuvneshwar Kumar, he did notlook one bit rusted.
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England fast bowler Mark Woodsaid he had no regrets about persist-
ing with short-pitched deliveries afterhitting Afghanistan batsmanHashmatullah Shahidi with a bouncer.
Shahidi had made 24 when hetook his eye off a 90 mile-per-hour (145kilometres-per-hour) delivery from theDurham quick that thudded into theside of his helmet at Old Trafford onTuesday and saw him hit the turfimmediately after the impact.
But instead of retiring hurt, the 24-year-old donned a new helmet and car-ried on to top-score for Afghanistan,with 76 in a lopsided 150-run loss.
Wood, while concerned enough tocheck on Shahidi's condition, had noregrets about testing him and the otherAfghanistan batsmen with more short-pitched deliveries.
"Well, I was concerned when I firsthit him, obviously," said Wood.
"It was a bit of a bad blow and thenit's out of my hands really. You have tolet the medical staff do their thing. Ichecked he was all right himself, said'are you OK?'. Then I was back in thegame mode."
"Morgy (England skipper EoinMorgan) wanted me to fire another fewdown. If that's what the captain wants,you listen to orders," the 29-year-oldDurham quick added.
"Once you know he (the batsman)is all right, it's game time again."
Told he had split Hashmatullah'shelmet, Wood grinned: "I'm bowlingthem quite fast... For a change!"
Wood and fellow England fast
bowler Jofra Archer shared five wick-ets against Afghanistan as they contin-ued an effective partnership that hashelped take the hosts to the top of the10-team World Cup table.
"I thought, collectively, we bowledreally well," said Wood.
"It was difficult at times because Ididn't feel the Afghanistan batsmenwere coming at us and we had to try tomix it up, get them to play a few shots.
"It was nice to try something differ-ent and get a few wickets." England'svictory over basement side Afghanistanwas set up by an extraordinary inningsfrom Morgan who, defying a backproblem, hit a one-day internationalrecord 17 sixes in his blistering 148.
"It was amazing, amazing," saidWood.
"I was delighted for him. Comingoff his back injury scare and stuff, andnot knowing how he would play or feel,I was just astounded by how well heplayed out there.
"A lot of the bowlers tend to sit inthe back of the dressing room and tryand relax but even I came out andwatched that because it was great to seeon such a big occasion."
Under Morgan's captaincy, Englandhave risen to the top of the ODI rank-ings since their woeful first-round exitat the 2015 World Cup.
"I know we've played like this forfour years now, and there's been someremarkable things," said Wood.
"But to do it in a World Cup gamespeaks volumes about how Eoin wantsthe team to play and the values we'vekept going throughout those fouryears."
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Even Eoin Morgan wasshocked by his record-breaking innings against
Afghanistan but claims hisEngland teammates still won’t beimpressed.
Morgan blasted an incredible17 sixes — the most in ODI his-tory — as part of a game-chang-ing knock of 148 at Old Trafford,breaking the previous record of 16jointly-held by master-blastersAB de Villiers, Chris Gayle andRohit Sharma.
It paced England to a score of397/6 — their highest at an ICCMen’s World Cup — and theyeventually recorded a 150-run tri-umph to return to the top of thetable.
Morgan brought up his cen-tury off 57 balls, although that was11 slower than Jos Buttler’sEngland record of 46 deliveriesagainst Pakistan in 2015 — mean-ing the skipper doesn’t have com-plete ownership of braggingrights.
“I think I’m probably justbecoming a target for the guys inthe changing room to take down,”joked Morgan. “The hundred Iscored is considered a slow one inour changing room — guys talkabout it all the time. So it’s a toughschool!
“Never have I ever thought Icould play a knock like that butI’m delighted that I have.
“It’s weird. It’s very strange tohave that sixes record. It’s some-thing, along with the innings, Inever thought I’d do. It’s a niceplace to be.
“The last four years, I’veprobably played the best in mycareer but that hasn’t involved a50 or 60-ball hundred.
“I thought I would have it inthe locker somewhere but it’snever happened, so I sort of gaveup on it a little bit.
“When I came to the crease,it was a 50/50 shout whethermyself or Jos [Buttler] went in andthat probably helped becauseafter I faced a few balls, I had nochoice.
“I had to start taking risksbecause of him coming in nextand then after I got dropped [on28], it was a matter of just keepgoing. It was one of those days.”
Morgan's innings was evenmore remarkable given the fact hestruggled with back spasms dur-ing the last game against WestIndies and had to face a late fit-ness test in order to play againstAfghanistan.
That certainly didn’t hinderhim at the crease and onceEngland had set an intimidatingtotal, the bowlers clinically fin-ished the job to secure an emphat-ic victory.
And among the excitementsurrounding batting records,Morgan was quick to praise hispace attack — headlined by JofraArcher taking 3/52 and MarkWood an impressive 2/40 fromten overs.
“They were very good on awicket that didn’t offer a greatdeal,” added Morgan. “It hadgood bounce and turned a bit forthe spinners but seam movementor swing — it had none.
“So when guys execute hittinga good length and using theirbounce well, it is satisfyingbecause it’s very hard to do.
“When the ball doesn’t movearound, it obviously means yourpace is important and all threeguys’ [Wood, Archer and ChrisWoakes] pace looked good.”
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Adejected Afghanistan coachPhil Simmons on
Wednesday hinted that chiefselector Dawlat Ahmadzai hada role in shock removal ofAsghar Afghan from captaincydays before the World Cup.
Lying at the bottom of thetable after losing all of their fivematches so far, a blame gamehas started with Ahmadzaiholding the Simmons-ledcoaching set-up responsible forAfghanistan's below-par showin the ongoing World Cup.
“I am in the middle of aWorld Cup and trying to get ourteam to perform to the level weexpect but at the end of theWorld Cup I will tell theAfghanistan people about thepart that Mr Dawlat Ahmadzaihad to play in our preparationand his part in the dismissal of#AsgharAfghan,” Simmons
tweeted.Simmons was reacting to a
tweet by an Afghanistan jour-nalist where he wrote thatAhmadzai believes the poorshow of the national team wasbecause of lack of preparationon the part of the coaching staff.
In a surprising move,Afghanistan Cricket Board(ACB) named Gulbadin Naib asthe limited-overs captain,replacing experienced AsgharAfghan.
But the decision didn’t godown well with the team mem-bers with senior players likeMohammad Nabi and RashidKhan openly questioning themove.
Afghanistan has so far suf-fered defeats against Australia,South Africa, Sri Lanka, NewZealand and Sri Lanka.
Afghanistan is set to playIndia in their next game onSaturday.
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Af g h a n i s t a n ' sH a s h m a t u l l a h
Shahidi said his desirenot to worry his moth-er was the main reasonhe got back up afterbeing felled by a MarkWood bouncer in aWorld Cup matchagainst England.
Shahidi had made24 when he took his eyeoff a 90 mph deliveryfrom the fast bowlerthat thudded into theside of his helmet andsaw him hit the turfimmediately after thesickening impact.
It seemed the 24-year-old was about toretire but, donning anew helmet, Shahidicarried on to top-score
for Afghanistan with76 in an otherwise lop-sided 150-run loss.
"I got up earlybecause of my mum,"Shahidi told reportersafter Afghanistan's fifthdefeat in as manymatches this tourna-ment.
"I lost my fatherlast year so I didn'twant her to hurt. Mywhole family waswatching, even my bigbrother was here in theground watching. I did-n't want them to beworried for me," addedShahidi, with thePresident ofAfghanistan, AshrafGhani, also in atten-dance at Old Trafford.
But the fact he wasallowed to ignore med-
ical advice is bound toraise questions abouthow the InternationalCricket Council aredealing with headinjuries at this WorldCup.
"The ICC doctorscame to me, and ourphysios, and my helmetwas broken in the mid-dle," Shahidi recalled.
"They just told mejust, 'let's go'. I toldthem I can't leave myteam-mate at thatmoment. My teamneeded me. I carriedon.
"After the match Iwent to the ICC doctorand talked to them.They took care of meand said it will be fine,Inshallah (god will-ing)."
Afghanistan teamofficial, Naveed Sayeh,confirmed Shahidi hadacted against advice inbatting on.
"The doctors toldhim, 'please come off 'and to leave theground. He told them,'no, I'm now OK so I'llcontinue my batting',"Sayeh said.
����������������Tuesday's match
was tough onAfghanistan bowlingstar Rashid Khan, whoconceded the second-most expensive figuresin one-day internation-al history with a returnof 0-110 in nine overs.
Yet things mighthave been different forthe star leg-spinner hadnot England captainEoin Morgan -- who hita record 17 sixes in amatch-winning 148 --been dropped off
Rashid on 28 whenDawlat Zadran made amess of a catch at deepmidwicket.
"It happens, for anyplayer, so not onlyRashid," saidAfghanistan captainGulbadin Naib."Everyone knows howgood Rashid is.
"I think today wasnot his day, but it'scricket, so sometimesyou do well, sometimesthis kind of stuff."
M e a n w h i l e ,Morgan insistedEngland did not have aplan to target Rashid."It certainly wasn'tdeliberate," he said.
"We don't go intoany game with any pre-conceived ideas.
"But like all goodplayers, you probablylearn the most aboutyourself when yourbacks are against thewall."
tive innings was the best he has everseen after his side slipped to defeatagainst England at Old Trafford.
England skipper Morgan blasteda mesmerising 148 off 71 balls, includ-ing 17 sixes — a world record num-ber of maximums for an ODI.
Afghanistan’s star spinner RashidKhan struggled with final figures of0/110 but Gulbadin was keen toabsolve Rashid of any blame and con-ceded that a drop of Morgan in thedeep on 28 was the pivotal momentin the match.
“From the start of the game, theboys did well for 30 overs but afterthat, England smashed every ball,” saidGulbadin.
“We dropped Morgan on 28, so ifwe didn't then maybe they don’t getthat score. Maybe we lost from there.
“I’m not disappointed by Rashid— he’s one of the best spinners, a starplayer in the world. This happens toany player, not just Rashid.
“It wasn’t his day but that’s crick-et — sometimes you do well, some-times it’s like this. I'm happy with him,
it’s not a big deal. Inshallah he willbecome stronger from this.
“But you have to give credit toEngland and Morgan especially for hisbatting. He showed his class and I havenever seen this kind of batting before.”
While England climbed back to thetop of the table, Afghanistan are stillbottom of the pile with five defeats fromfive games.
However, for the first time in thistournament they completed 50 overswith the bat — making 247/8 asHashmatullah Shahidi led the waywith an impressive 76 from 100 balls.
It was a battling performance andGulbadin claims his side showedenough fight in defeat to leave him feel-ing good about the upcoming match-es.
“We take a lot of positives from this— I thought we did well in everydepartment,” he added. “We missed onecatch off Morgan and we lost fromthere.
“After 30 overs, the score wasn’t toobad, so we take a lot of things from here— we are improving day by day in eachdepartment.
“It was definitely a good thing forthe team that we batted 50 overs as well— that is a positive sign.”
It has been a smooth if not dominantride for Australia thus far but thedefending champions run into a tricky
Bangladesh when they strive to get closerto World Cup semifinals, here today.
The Aaron Finch-led side is at num-ber two behind table-toppers England,though it also has eight points from fivematches. Australia (0.812) are marginallybehind the hosts (1.862) when Net RunRate is taken into account.
Australia will start favourites in today'sclash but a passionate Bangladesh areexpected to make life tough for the hold-ers. The Tigers have shown what they arecapable of when they comprehensively beatthe West Indies, riding on a magnificent124 not out from all-rounder Shakib AlHasan.
In the form of his life, Shakib hasalready hit back-to-back centuries andAustralia would still remember that it washe, who had plotted their downfall inBangladesh's historic Test victory againstthem two years ago with a 10-wicket matchhaul.
The format is different but coach JustinLanger admitted that his side will have todeal with Shakib. “He (Shakib) probablyis the world's best all-rounder and a left-arm spinner,” said Langer.
The good news for Australia is that all-rounder Marcus Stoinis is fit after missingtwo matches due to a side strain thoughhe is not a definite starter againstBangladesh. Langer also hinted that a spe-cialist spinner may come in in his elevenin view of the ‘dry’ strip at the Trent Bridge.
“That (playing four fast bowlers)might change. That was more broughtupon us because Stoinis got injured. It'sbeen wet, it's been overcast, the wickets geta bit drier. This one (Trent Bridge) looksdry,” he said.
Australia played leg-spinner AdamZampa in their first three matches, win-ning two of those, but in the last twomatches they have not fielded any special-ist spinner. They have used part-timerGlenn Maxwell as their main spinner in the
last two matches, with captain Finch alsochipping in against Pakistan. Off-spinnerNathan Lyon has not played so far in thetournament.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, arenown to raise their level agianst top seides,Before getting the better of West Indies,they had shocked South Africa by 21 runsin their campaign opener. With five pointsfrom as many matches, Bangladesh havebecome a contender for the semifinal spot.
After his unbeaten 124, Shakibdeclared that he held no fear for theAustralian pace brigade, led by MitchellStarc and Pat Cummins.
“We’ve been facing some of the best
fast bowlers in the last four matches.We’vebeen coping well and we're not worriedabout that because we played England, weplayed WI. Both the teams got 140, 150-plus bowlers. “We just need to do our basicsright. I think we’re a skilled team and weare capable enough to counter those chal-lenges.”
The likes of opening batsman TamimIqbal and wicketkeeper batsmanMushfiqur Rahim have been in good touchwhile Liton Das hit a blistering 69-ball 94not out against WI. But the bowling depart-ment of Bangladesh will have to rise up tothe occasion if they have to notch up theirfirst win against Australia in the WC.
�G����Australia: Aaron Finch (c), David
Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith,Shaun Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), MarcusStoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc,Kane Richardson, Pat Cummins, JasonBehrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile, AdamZampa, Nathan Lyon.
Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza (c),Abu Jayed, Liton Das (wk), Mahmudullah,Mehidy Hasan, Mohammad Mithun (wk),Mohammad Saifuddin, MosaddekHossain, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk),Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, SabbirRahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar,Tamim Iqbal.
�After the WI-Bangladesh match (indis-cernible) against Bangladesh?
Bangladesh are playing some reallygood cricket at the moment and it's led byShakib. We’ve obviously put our time intoShakib and all the players at the top of theorder as well as their bowling. � Is Australia scared of Bangladesh’sspin attack?
No, we’re not scared of the spin attack.We’ve done our preparation. We knowShakib’s a big threat and has done a lot ofthe work for Bangladesh at the moment aswell as Mehedi and a couple of the otherspinners. We’ve prepared accordingly forthe spin attack as well as the same attackas well. Mushfiq is bowling really well atthe moment as well. So we've prepared forthe conditions and for the attack.�What did you have to do to change thegame plan to move into the middle?
Just assessing the situation. If it’s in thefirst innings, obviously last time we werehere we were in a bit of trouble. So therewas, I guess, a chance to just bat for a lit-tle while and I guess try to change themomentum.�Do you think Australia is playing theirbest cricket in this tournament?
We’re playing really good cricket.We’ve got areas where we can still improveand be more consistent at. I think the topof the order, batting-wise, have done a lotof the work and making a lot of the runswhich is great. It’s their job. We’re bowlingthrough the middle really well and at theback end, obviously Starc, Cummins, theguys that have come in have done their job.But there's little areas we can do better at. �Do you have a plan mapped out for howyou'll advance that format over the nextfew years?
No, at the moment my experience atthe international level has been with thewhite ball and I guess limited opportuni-ty back in Australia in shield cricket. Iwouldn’t change anything. If I’m playingwhite ball cricket for Australia, then I’mreally happy to do that.�Do you feel like a strong World Cup canput you ahead of (indiscernible) for theback-up role come the Ashes?
I haven’t really thought about it to behonest. I’m not sure what the selectors willgo with there. He’s obviously over playingin the Australia A set-up. But I want to playgroup cricket here for sure and I guess therest of it will take care of itself.� Is it going to be a battle betweenB’deshi batsmen versus Aus pace bowlers?
Bangladesh are playing really well. It’sexciting to come up against a team that’sin good form. We’re in really good form aswell. It’s going to be a great game.�Finch has lost seven straight coin toss-es in a row, any advice for him?
No, I don’t. It’s interesting, though.We’ve lost a lot of tosses, but the last sevengames we’ve played some pretty good crick-et. In a tournament like this, although youwant to win the toss, I don’t think it mat-ters too much in terms of the outcome. Ifwe get sent in, we know it’s going to be agood wicket; or if we’re chasing, we knowwhat we’ve got to chase.�Any planning regarding Shakib?
We’ve had a look at the vision. He’s inprobably career best form with the whiteball. We sort of know the areas and line andlength we want to bowl to him and I guessout there we'll assess the conditions as well.We normally have our plans going intoevery game and we assess each playeraccordingly. We’ve gone through all the bat-ting list and hopefully plans go according-ly.
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All-rounder Marcus Stoinis is now fitto make a comeback for the remain-
der of Australia’s World Cup campaignhaving recovered from a side strain butcoach Justin Langer is not sure of hisimmediate return.
Langer said there is no guarantee ofStoinis, who missed the last two WorldCup games due to injury, being a part ofplaying XI in today’s clash againstBangladesh. Stoinis suffered the injurywhile bowling in the match against Indiaon June 9 which Australia lost by 36 runs.
“We’ve been monitoring him. He’s anelite athlete, he’s an elite professional. He’sdone everything possible to get himselffit. He wouldn’t give up the opportunityfor anything, would he?” Langer wasquoted as saying by Cricket Australia offi-cial website cricket.Com.Au.
“He (Stoinis) is determined, so itdoesn’t surprise me with where he’s atnow. It’s a credit to him, it’s a credit to themedical staff that are getting him up. Sohopefully he can have a real impact on thetournament,” added Langer.
While Langer said Stoinis will remainin Australia’s 15-man squad, he gave aguarded response when asked if the all-rounder could come straight back into theXI (against Bangladesh), saying: “He’s achance.”
Australia A vice-captain MitchellMarsh, who had been on standby toreplace Stoinis, left the Australian squadafter training on Tuesday and re-joinedthe A group in Northampton ahead oftheir game this week.
Stoinis, meanwhile, bowled almost for
an hour on Tuesday, first on an emptytraining wicket in close consultationwith team medical staff and bowlingcoach Adam Griffith, and then joined themain nets session. He also showed nosigns of pain while batting and fielding.
Australia skipper Aaron Finch hadearlier admitted that the loss of Stoinis hadthrown out the balance of his side, as hehad to scramble to eke out 10 oversbetween his own part-time spin andGlenn Maxwell’s off-breaks againstPakistan.
Maxwell though played a key role inpegging back Sri Lanka with the ball onSaturday after their openers got off to agood start, and Langer insisted his side’sversatility is their trump card.
“We’ve played really well with anoth-er (team) balance. We played in India andDubai with two spinners. I'm really con-
fident with whatever balance we go in. It’sactually really exciting,” said Langer.
“We said at the start of the tour thatwe’ve got lots of options, (we are) veryadaptable and that’s our strength not ourweakness.
“I get the sense some people thinkthat's our weakness. I actually think it’s ourstrength that we can play according to ouropposition, we can play accordingly togrounds, we can play accordingly tomanaging players,” the coach insisted.
Langer also confirmed NathanCoulter-Nile, who was not a part of theteam against Sri Lanka due to soreness, isavailable for selection against Bangladesh.
“He is getting a bit tight in his back.He played three games (in seven days) andI don’t think he has done that for a longtime. He’s fit and he’s certainly fit to playthe next game,” said Langer.
Confidence in abundance anda dressing room full of
believers means Bangladesh area side to watch out for accord-ing to captain MashrafeMortaza.
The Tigers are back roaringin the ICC Men's World Cupafter a seven-wicket win overWest Indies last time out kepttheir semi-final chances welland truly alive.
But when it comes to hold-ing their own, Bangladesh are farfrom done there with defendingchampions Australia in theirsights in an exciting Trent Bridgetussle on Thursday.
Not since 2005 haveMashrafe's side beaten Australiain an ODI — with the skipperhimself one of the stars of theshow when dismissing AdamGilchrist for a duck in Cardiff.
Fourteen years on and pro-gression has been all to see forthe 35-year-old and his side,with a new-found mentality akey factor in their confidenceahead of the Nottingham clash.
"I know a few players are inour dressing room who believewe can beat anybody," saidMashrafe. "But against Australia,it won't be easy, for sure, espe-cially the conditions and theform they are in.
"It won't be easy. But, as Isaid, these boys can believe,especially if you had a good start,you never know. So let's see.We'll fight and you never know.
"It won't be easy like othermatch, it's the same with anymatch, but the confidence is themain thing, which bowlers haveright at the moment.
"I think if we took that con-
fidence into the ground anddeliver to our best and we canassess the wicket very well. Younever know.
"West Indies was a must-wingame for us. Losing pointsagainst New Zealand andEngland, and the wash-outagainst Sri Lanka, this was muchneeded and the boys are prettymuch confident."
Lots of Bangladesh's recentsuccess has been down to ShakibAl Hasan, with the man atop theODI Rankings for all-roundersleading the way with the bat thistournament.
No man has scored morethan his 384 runs this WorldCup with his unbeaten 124 thekey factor in the seven-wicketwin over West Indies whichkept alive their semi-finalhopes.
But captain Mashrafe, whoseside also beat South Africa fortheir first win of the tournament,insists his charges are not over-reliant on one man.
He added: "I wouldn't say it'sa one-man army. Shakib is scor-ing runs; that's a great thing forthe team. But if you look at it, theother boys have stepped up.
"Mustafizur Rahman gotsome wickets, MohammadSaifuddin comes in and took thewicket of Chris Gayle early, weall know what he can do.
"So it's not been a one-manarmy, but Shakib has been doingoutstandingly. Some otherbowlers have to step up a littlebit with what Shakib is doing.
"We really appreciate whatShakib is doing, and some of theother bowlers with what they'vedone, and we hope it will be car-ried on from here. It will be greatto see."
in the Copa America as a latestrike from Philippe Coutinhowas disallowed after a contro-versial VAR decision.
Coutinho thought he hadfired Brazil into the quarter-finals in the 87th minutewhen he bundled home a fin-ish from Everton Soares’ dri-ving run down the left wingat Salvador’s Arena FonteNova on Tuesday.
But for the second time inthe match, Chilean refereeJulio Bascunan ruled out theBrazilian goal after beingalerted to an infringement bythe video assistant referee.
The goal appeared to havebeen disallowed due to atouch by Liverpool strikerRoberto Firmino, although itwas not clear that Firminohad been offside as the ballgrazed him on the way intothe net.
Brazil left the field toboos but remain top of GroupA with four points from twogames, and one game to play.
Venezuela have twopoints from two games andwill fancy their chances ofadvancing with their finalgame coming against Bolivia,who suffered their secondstraight defeat earlier onTuesday in a 3-1 loss to Peru.
Brazil, who had made
hard work of beating Boliviain their opener, once againstruggled to find a creativespark against well-organizedopponents.
Firmino was kept quiet byVenezuela's defense withYordan Osorio and MikelVillanueva neutralizing theLiverpool striker.
The tale of the first halflay in the statistics from theopening 45 minutes, withBrazil recording only oneshot on target despite enjoy-ing 75 percent possession.
In fact, the best chance ofthe half fell to Venezuela,when Salomon Rondon head-ed Yangel Herrera's cross justinches wide with Alissonbeaten.
%�������������Firmino did get the ball in
the Venezuela net in the 38thminute but the goal was dis-allowed after Bascunan ruledVillanueva had been fouled inthe build-up.
Brazil left the field toloud boos and whistling, andmanager Tite wasted no timein making a change at half-time, bringing on ManchesterCity 's Gabriel Jesus forRicharlison.
Jesus made an instantimpact looking lively downthe left flank and curling ashot just wide of the post on57 minutes.
Moments later Jesus
looked to have fired Brazilinto the lead.
Once again the strikeradvanced menacingly on theVenezuela penalty area andunleashed a fierce low shot.
The ball deflected offVillanueva into the path ofFirmino, who then squaredfor Jesus who continued hisrun.
The striker took a touchand buried his finish as thehome fans erupted. But thefestive atmosphere fell flat asthe goal was referred to VAR,who promptly chalked thescore off after ruling Firminohad been offside when hecollected the ricochet.
A deflated Brazil tookseveral minutes to regroup butgrew increasingly desperate asvaluable minutes ticked awayand Venezuela held firm.
Jesus went close again inthe 76th minute when DaniAlves whipped a cross into thesix-yard box.
But again Venezuela'sdefense was rock-solid, withJesus bundled off the ball andunable to get a shot away.
Coutinho looked to havebroken the deadlock threeminutes from time, but VAR'sintervention rescued a pre-cious point for Venezuela.
Fernandinho almostsnatched victory with a head-er in the 10th minute of timeadded on, but his effort rolledjust wide of the post.
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Marta secured her place among thelegends of football after the
Brazilian become the World Cup’s all-time leading scorer in the 1-0 winagainst Italy in Valenciennes.
“This record doesn’t belong to me,it belongs to all of us,” said the 33-year-old after crashing home a penalty with16 minutes left to score her 17th WorldCup goal on Tuesday.
“I share it with anyone fighting formore equality.”
Brazil set up a knockout stageclash with either hosts France orGermany after the 74th-minute strikemoved Marta one goal ahead of theGerman Miroslav Klose in the recordbooks.
“Do you think he’ll change his mindabout retiring and play at the nextWorld Cup?" Marta joked.
Brazil finished third on goal differ-ence in Group C behind Italy andAustralia — who beat Jamaica 4-1 —after all three ended level on six points.
Marta wasn’t fazed by the possibil-ity of facing France, who topped GroupA with a perfect nine points after scrap-ing past Nigeria on Monday.
“To play against the host nationwould be a privilege. The stadiumwould be full of fans singing,” she said.
“I love playing in front of a big
crowd whether it’s supporting me or isagainst me. I just want there to be fanswho are watching us.”
Marta is widely considered thegreatest player in the history of thewomen’s game and was hailed by herteammates as an inspiration for otherswanting to take up the male-dominat-ed sport.
“She is like an icon for us and Ithink every year she is breaking recordsand that’s no just important for us butfor all of women’s football. I’m sohappy she is Brazilian,” said centre-backMonica.
Fellow defender Tamires added:"We have a lot of young players comingup and I hope they look to her and howshe plays, what makes her so special andso incredible and follow her."
The Matildas will play Norway inNice in the last 16 on Saturday.
England need a point against Japanon Wednesday to ensure they top GroupD and avoid a potential last-16 clash withEuropean champions the Netherlands.
Topping the group would, however,also put them on the same side of thedraw as both France and potentially theWorld Cup holders USA.
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Manchester United tied downmidfielder Juan Mata to a
new two-year contract onWednesday with an option toextend the deal a further season.
Mata, 31, had been free to talkto other clubs with his previouscontract expiring this month afterprotracted negotiations betweenthe two parties.
However, having already seenAnder Herrera and club captainAntonio Valencia leave OldTrafford on free transfers thissummer, United were keen stopMata from following suit.
"It is a real honour to contin-ue to represent this amazing cluband our incredible fans. I havebeen at Manchester United for fiveyears and I am proud to call OldTrafford my home," said Mata,who joined from Chelsea in 2014for a fee of £37 million ($46 mil-lion).
"I am looking forward toworking with Ole (Gunnar
Solskjaer) and his fantastic coach-ing staff; the vision that they havefor the club is truly exciting andI am so happy that I will be a partof that."
In his five years at United,Mata has scored 45 goals in 218appearances and won the EuropaLeague, FA Cup and League Cup.
Solskjaer has a major rebuildon his hands after United finishedsixth in the Premier League lastseason to miss out on ChampionsLeague qualification.
"Juan is the ultimate profes-sional and one of the most intel-ligent players I have worked with,"said Solskjaer.
"He is a great example to ouryounger players in his approach.He understands what it means tobe a Manchester United playerand has embraced everythingabout this great club."
United have only made onesigning so far this window insecuring the services of Waleswinger Daniel James fromSwansea.
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French Open championAshleigh Barty got her
grass court season off to awinning start, but JohannaKonta's Wimbledon prepa-rations suffered a blow withdefeat at the BirminghamClassic on Wednesday.
Barty saw off a brightstart from Croatia's DonnaVekic in her first matchsince lifting a first GrandSlam title to win 6-3, 6-4 andset up a second round meet-ing with American JenniferBrady.
"I think it was probablyas smooth as it could havegone," said Barty.
"I felt really good withmy feet on the grass. Wehaven't had a hell of a lot ofgrass court time because ofthe weather but in a sensethat made it even betterbecause it was fresh, it wasnew.
"I could really just playby feel and try and work myway into the match."
The Australian shot to
number two in the worldrankings by winning in Parisearlier thismonth andcould evenend the weekas number oneif she outperforms NaomiOsaka in England'sMidlands.
However, Barty insistsshe is not yet feeling anystrain of being a Grand Slamchampion.
"I don't feel any differentmyself," she added. "I'm stillthe same Ash Barty that Iwas three weeks ago. I'm thesame Ash Barty I was twoyears ago."
Konta also made the lastfour at the French Open, buther return to the grass wascut short in the secondround by Jelena Ostapenko6-3, 6-4.
A former French Openwinner herself, Ostapenkohas struggled with injuriesthis season but has nowposted back-to-back winsfor just the second time thisyear. Venus Williams pro-
gressed to round two as the39-year-old eased pastAliaksandra Sasnovich 6-3,6-4.
World number threeKarolina Pliskova will face hertwin sister Kristyna Pliskovalater on Wednesday for aplace in the last eight.
Skipper Kane Williamsonstruck a composedunbeaten century as New
Zealand virtually knockedSouth Africa out of the WorldCup with a four-wicket victo-ry in a last over finish here onWednesday.
Chasing a target of 242 in49 overs in rain-truncatedmatch, New Zealand recoveredfrom a mini slump at 137 forfive riding on a 91-run standbetween Williamson (103 notout off 138 balls) and Collin deGrandhomme (60 off 47 balls)to reach home with three ballsto spare.
Needing 12 off last sevenballs, Williamson steered aLungi Ngidi slower delivery tothird man boundary to bringdown the equation to 8 off thelast over.
With Ngidi (1/47), KagisoRabada (1/42) and ChrisMorris (3/49) all bowling theirfull quota, Faf Du Plessis hadno option but to use theirweakest l ink AndilePhehlykwayo.
Williamson promptly hitthe second delivery for hisfirst six of the match to closethe encounter.
With this win, NewZealand for a day went on topof points table with nine pointsfrom five games while SouthAfrica after their fourth defeatin six games have little chanceof making it to the last four.
Williamson's innings hadeight fours and a six, while DeGrandhomme was the aggres-sor during the stand with fivefours and two sixes.
Earlier, New Zealand'sbowling unit fired in unison as
they restricted South Africa to241 for six in the rain-truncat-
ed encounter.The match was reduced to
49-a-side affair after wetground outfield delayed the
start.Despite half centuries from
Hashim Amla (55 off 83 balls,4x4s) and Rassie van derDussen (67 not out off 64balls, 2x4s, 34x6s), the BlackCaps managed to keep theSouth African batsmen undertight leash.
Lockie Ferguson (3 for 59in 10 overs) was the most suc-cessful bowler for NewZealand, while Colin deGrandhomme (1/33 in 10overs) turned out to be themost economical.
De Grandhomme and left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner(1/45 in 9 overs) maintainedtight discipline during the mid-dle overs and did not allow anyopposition batsmen to getaway.
Van der Dussen and DavidMiller (36 off 37 balls) added72 runs for the fifth wicket in12.2 overs but facing a must-win situation, South Africacould never really up the ante.
Van der Dussen hit twofours and three sixes whileMiller hit two boundaries anda six.
The last nine overs pro-duced 72 runs after Faf DuPlessis (23) added 50 withAmla, who completed 8000ODI runs and became secondfastest to complete the feat.
Trent Boult cast ledQuinton de Kock early in theinnings and Matt Henry (0/34in 10 overs) bowled tight linesfrom the other end after NewZealand won the toss and elect-ed to bowl first.
Du Plessis was yorked byFerguson and Amla wasbowled by a classical left-armspinners delivery that hit thetop of off stump.
