I n all probability, the Government may have to defer the Triple Talaq amendment Bill till the Budget Session of Parliament after Opposition par- ties on Thursday blocked its pas- sage in the Rajya Sabha (RS) demanding that it should be sent to a Select Committee. Amid acrimonious scenes and heated exchange of words between the treasury benches and Opposition members, the RS was adjourned without the Chair giving any specified ruling on the issue. On Wednesday, the House had wit- nessed similar uproar when the Bill was introduced by Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. Friday is the last day of the Winter Session with no legislative business other than Private Members’ Bill. There seems little hope that the Government will be able to persuade the Opposition to fall in line. On Thursday, the Government wanted to initiate a discussion on the passage of the Bill. But the Opposition did not budge from its stand that the House must first discuss their demand to send the Bill to a Select Committee comprising members as suggested by Deputy Leader of Opposition Anand Sharma. Rejecting the demand, Finance Minister and Leader of the House Arun Jaitley said, “A saboteur of a Bill can never be on the Select Committee. It is a par- liamentary proceeding. As such they would be disqualified from being a part of it.” Against the backdrop of dis- ruptions, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu urged members to act responsibly to ensure smooth proceedings and assured them that whatever decision he takes would be to enhance the image of the House. During a meeting with members of various parties on functioning of the House, the Triple Talaq Bill was discussed and the chairman asked both the Opposition and the treasury benches to sort out the issue. Naidu asked the parties to introspect if it is appropriate to cause frequent disruptions and adjournments of the House in order to press their political agen- da. The House has seen disrup- tions on a number of issues in the Winter Session, including on the caste violence in Maharashtra. The ruckus started when the Bill was taken at 5.30pm shortly after a short duration discussion on state of economy and invest- ment in the country. While the Opposition urged the Chair to send the Bill to a Select Committee, Jaitley said the amendment motion brought by Congress member Anand Sharma and TMC leader Sukhendu Sekhar Roy on Wednesday were not as per the rules and hence should be rejected. The Opposition MPs protested Jaitley’s remarks by recalling the Chair’s words that the motions were valid. Sharma said the motion was moved on Wednesday so the unfinished business must be finished. While TMC MP Derek O Brien said the Opposition wanted to empower women and accused the Government of playing politics on the Bill, Union Minister Smriti Irani gave it back to him. “Opposition stands exposed in the RS. For the past 2 days, it has been repeatedly said that if there are any issue on the Triple Talaq Bill, those need to be put out on the floor of the House. Why is the Congress-led Opposition running away from discussion?” Irani said. “Double standards of the Congress-led Opposition are exposed today and I think it is shame on them that they are try- ing to obstruct this path of justice for Muslim women,” Irani added. Congress leader Kapil Sibal said, “The Government is isolat- ed, the Opposition is one. The Bill should be sent to the Select Committee.” The RS was adjourned for the day at 6 pm on Thursday finally. P akistan on Thursday released an obviously “tutored” video of its Indian captive Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav, in which he is heard thanking Pakistan for “treating him well” and denying he has been tor- tured by them. In the “absurd” video, Jadhav instead goes on to accuse the Indian Government of mistreating his mother Avantika and wife Chetana when they came to meet him. India promptly rubbished the video, saying “the absurdity of a cap- tive under duress certifying his own welfare while mouthing allegations of his captors clearly merits no comment” and slammed Pakistan for continuing with its practice of putting out coerced statements. The video comes days after India criticised Islamabad for its abrasive behaviour with the wife and the moth- er of Jadhav, regulating their conver- sation, removing their mangalsutra, bindi, etc, and keeping the accompa- nying Indian diplomat JP Singh away from the conversation. Within minutes of the release of the video, the MEA in a sharp reaction said the statement made by Jadhav under distress and coercion has no value. “This does not come as a sur- prise. Pakistan is simply continuing its practice of putting out coerced state- ments on video. It is time for them to realise that such propagandistic exer- cises simply carry no credibility. The absurdity of a captive under duress cer- tifying his own welfare while mouthing allegations of his captors clearly mer- its no comment. Pakistan is best advised to fulfil its international oblig- ations, whether it pertains to consular relations or UNSC resolutions 1,267 and 1,373 on terrorism and to desist from continuing violations of human rights of an Indian national,” MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. The latest video, fourth in the series, was played out by Pakistan’s Foreign Office at a Press briefing on Wednesday. In the video, Jadhav, the retired Indian Navy official, purport- edly said that he is still a serving offi- cer of the Indian Navy and thanked Pakistani officials for arranging the meeting between him and his family on December 25. He added that he is being treated well in captivity by the Pakistani side. “Don’t worry mummy. They (Pakistan) are taking care of me, they have not touched me. She believed me once she saw me personally,” Jadhav said. He went on to add that an Indian diplomat yelled at his mother. “I saw fear in the eyes of my moth- er and wife. Why should there be fear? Whatever has happened has hap- pened. They felt threatened. The Indian diplomat who had come along with my mother was shouting the moment she stepped out. S pecial (CBI) court judge Shivpal Singh, who con- victed Lalu Prasad in second fodder scam case, created a flutter on Thursday observing that “he got phone calls from the RJD chief’s men” while again deferring to pronounce the quantum of sentence. “Got phone calls from Lalu’s men,” PTI quoted the judge as mak- ing this observation during the proceedings. The judge, how- ever, did not specify who were the people that called him. The quantum of sentence is now expected to be pro- nounced on Friday. The court was yet to decide whether the quantum of punishment will be pronounced through video conferencing or in the court itself. Arguments of only four convicts — Jyoti Kumar Das, Jagdish Sharma, Phoolchand Singh and Gopinath Das — starting their names in alpha- betical order with the letter A to K was heard by the court on Thursday. “I got many references for you but don’t worry, I will fol- low only law”, he reportedly told Lalu, according to ANI. The courtroom, in the meantime, witnessed high volt- age drama after lawyers protested against the judge for making unsolicited remarks made against them during the hearing of the case. T he Kerala Government has ordered the closure of Peace International School in Kochi for teaching of syllabus promoting Islamic orthodoxy and promoting religious enmi- ty. The Peace School and the Peace Foundation were under scanner of probe agencies from late 2016 after it was found that many of 21 persons from Kasaragod and Palakkad, who reportedly joined the Islamic State (ISIS) camps in Afghanistan, had close con- nections with them. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan ordered the closure of the school on the basis of the reports submitted by the Education Department and the Ernakulam District Collector under whose jurisdiction the school came. The Chief Minister has ordered that the students of the school should be shifted to other educational institutions in the same region. The school run by Kozhikode-based Peace Foundation caught the atten- tion of police and Intelligence agencies in 2016 due to its com- munally oriented syllabus and following reports that certain persons who had allegedly been recruiting youths to ISIS were working with it. The foundation is running 13 Peace Schools in Kerala. Whether the action would be applicable to other Peace Schools would be known only when the Government issues the official order in this regard. The Government had also decided that it will not grant the non-objection certificate required for getting CBSE affil- iation for the school after the Kochi police registered a case against its principal, adminis- trator and managing commit- tee members in October, 2016 on the basis of a complaint from the Education Department. As per the FIR, police had registered the syllabus being taught in the school had com- munal orientation and was intended at promoting enmity among different sections of the society. Such subjects that allegedly promoted Islamic orthodoxy and communalism were being taught even to stu- dents of the lower primary sec- tion. The school has been func- tioning in Kochi since 2009. The school, which was not following the textbooks of the NCERT, SCERT or the CBSE, was teaching books compiled by a Navi Mumbai-based Islamic educational institution, Burooj Realisation. The Kochi Police had arrested three per- sons working with the Mumbai-based institution in December, 2016. Merin Jacob, a Christian girl from Kochi who convert- ed to Islam and was part of the group that joined the ISIS, had worked with the school, which had classes from LKG to eighth standard. Merin had assumed the name of Miriyam after embracing Islam. She had left the country with husband Yahia of Palakkad, who also had converted to Islam from Christianity. Abdul Rashid Abdullah of Thrikkarippur, Kasaragod, an engineering graduate who was the chief coordinator of the group that had fled India to join the ISIS, was associated with the Peace School in his district. Rashid had left India with his wife Ayesha and two- year-old daughter Sarah. Bihar native Yasmin Ahmed said to be the second wife of Abdul Rashid Abdullah, had also worked as a teacher in the Peace International School at Kottakkal in Muslim-major- ity Malappuram district four years ago. Yasmin was arrested from Delhi airport while preparing to leave for Kabul as per Rashid’s instructions. M ullah Omar Irani of Jaish-ul-Adl — a terror outfit which allegedly has close links with the Pakistan Army — had abducted Kulbhushan Jadhav from Sarbaz city, around 52 km from Chabahar port, News 18 reported on Thursday. The channel quoted sources in Indian security establishment, say- ing Irani then handed over Jadhav to the Pakistan Army. Jaish-ul-Adl is believed to be fighting against Baloch insurgents along with the Pakistan Army and commanders of the terror outfit visit Islamabad fre- quently. C hief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that prob- lemsof the world can be solved by applying Indian thoughts and perception. He also said that it is a matter of pride that even today non-resident Indians have kept values and culture of India alive abroad. Chouhan was addressing a gathering of non-resident Indians(NRI) from 23 coun- tries after inaugurating the Friends of MP Conclave here at Indore. Commerce and Industry Minister Rajendra Shukla, Indore Municipal Corporation Mayor Malini Lakshmansingh Gaud, Chief Secretary Basant Pratap Singh and other senior officers were present on the occasion. Chouhan said that a cell will be constituted in the State for the redressal of NRI prob- lems. Members of Friends of MP will be honoured with Madhya Pradesh Ratna for outstanding work in foreign countries. Chouhan told the NRIs to stay connected with Madhya Pradesh and that the State would give them all their love and affection. Efforts are on to build new Madhya Pradesh along with a resolve to build a new India by year 2022. Today Madhya Pradesh is fast developing State where in the last 12 years several remark- able works have been under- taken for development of each area. Continued on Page 4 T he State government on Thursday issued transfer list of 13 Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officers. Additional CS Jail VC Semwal has been given addi- tional responsibility of Fisheries Welfare and Development, while Principal Secretary in Fisheries Welfare and Development Vinod Kumar has been sent to ST Finance and Development Corporation as Managing Director. PS UADD Malay Shrivastava has been shifted to Transport department in the same capacity, while Commissioner in UADD and Continued on Page 4 C oncluding Friends of MP Conclave with an Indore Declaration Letter, the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that Madhya Pradesh Government will constitute a single window NRI Cell for resolving prob- lems of overseas Indians'. He appealed to Friends of MP to work as brand ambas- sador. He said that Madhya Pradesh Government will institute ‘Madhya Pradesh Ratna' award for those who will make Madhya Pradesh proud by their work in the country and abroad. Chief Minister Chouhan said that idea to hold Friends of MP Conclave came after his America visit in 2015 and consequently conclave has been held this year. This process will continue. He also made an announcementto hold the conclave on January 4 and 5 next year in 2019. Chouhan said that sug- gestions given by friends, who arrived from 23 coun- tries, will be clubbed and a portal will be launched to invite suggestions from Friends of MP by the State Government in which ‘talent- pools’ will be introduced to get suggestions from subject experts which the Government will examine. The Chief Minister said that a newsletter will be launched to apprise Friends of MP about activities of Madhya Pradesh and prepare data base of all NRIs of the State. The Chief Minister said that Friends of MP chapter will be formed in other coun- tries. He advised to hold pro- gramme in different countries with the help of the chapters and said that if you people invite us, we or State's repre- sentatives will definitely attend it. The Chief Minister also suggested holding cultural programmes on foundation day of Madhya Pradesh on November 1 and plantation on July 2 on environment protection. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008 C M Y K C M Y K
In all probability, theGovernment may have to defer
the Triple Talaq amendment Billtill the Budget Session ofParliament after Opposition par-ties on Thursday blocked its pas-sage in the Rajya Sabha (RS)demanding that it should be sentto a Select Committee. Amidacrimonious scenes and heatedexchange of words between thetreasury benches and Oppositionmembers, the RS was adjournedwithout the Chair giving anyspecified ruling on the issue. OnWednesday, the House had wit-nessed similar uproar when theBill was introduced by LawMinister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Friday is the last day of theWinter Session with no legislativebusiness other than PrivateMembers’ Bill. There seems littlehope that the Government will beable to persuade the Opposition tofall in line. On Thursday, theGovernment wanted to initiate adiscussion on the passage of theBill. But the Opposition did notbudge from its stand that theHouse must first discuss theirdemand to send the Bill to a SelectCommittee comprising membersas suggested by Deputy Leader ofOpposition Anand Sharma.
Rejecting the demand,Finance Minister and Leader ofthe House Arun Jaitley said, “Asaboteur of a Bill can never be onthe Select Committee. It is a par-liamentary proceeding. As suchthey would be disqualified frombeing a part of it.”
Against the backdrop of dis-ruptions, Chairman M VenkaiahNaidu urged members to actresponsibly to ensure smoothproceedings and assured them
that whatever decision he takeswould be to enhance the image ofthe House. During a meetingwith members of various partieson functioning of the House, theTriple Talaq Bill was discussed andthe chairman asked both theOpposition and the treasury
benches to sort out the issue.Naidu asked the parties to
introspect if it is appropriate tocause frequent disruptions andadjournments of the House inorder to press their political agen-da. The House has seen disrup-tions on a number of issues in the
Winter Session, including on thecaste violence in Maharashtra.
The ruckus started when theBill was taken at 5.30pm shortlyafter a short duration discussionon state of economy and invest-ment in the country. While theOpposition urged the Chair tosend the Bill to a SelectCommittee, Jaitley said theamendment motion brought byCongress member Anand Sharmaand TMC leader Sukhendu SekharRoy on Wednesday were not asper the rules and hence should be rejected.
The Opposition MPs protested Jaitley’s remarks byrecalling the Chair’s words that themotions were valid. Sharma saidthe motion was moved onWednesday so the unfinishedbusiness must be finished. WhileTMC MP Derek O Brien said theOpposition wanted to empowerwomen and accused theGovernment of playing politics onthe Bill, Union Minister SmritiIrani gave it back to him.
“Opposition stands exposed inthe RS. For the past 2 days, it hasbeen repeatedly said that if thereare any issue on the Triple TalaqBill, those need to be put out onthe floor of the House. Why is theCongress-led Opposition runningaway from discussion?” Irani said.
“Double standards of theCongress-led Opposition areexposed today and I think it isshame on them that they are try-ing to obstruct this path of justicefor Muslim women,” Irani added.
Congress leader Kapil Sibalsaid, “The Government is isolat-ed, the Opposition is one. The Billshould be sent to the SelectCommittee.”
The RS was adjourned for theday at 6 pm on Thursday finally.
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Pakistan on Thursday released anobviously “tutored” video of its
Indian captive CommanderKulbhushan Jadhav, in which he isheard thanking Pakistan for “treatinghim well” and denying he has been tor-tured by them. In the “absurd” video,Jadhav instead goes on to accuse theIndian Government of mistreating hismother Avantika and wife Chetanawhen they came to meet him.
India promptly rubbished thevideo, saying “the absurdity of a cap-tive under duress certifying his ownwelfare while mouthing allegations ofhis captors clearly merits no comment”and slammed Pakistan for continuingwith its practice of putting out coercedstatements.
The video comes days after Indiacriticised Islamabad for its abrasivebehaviour with the wife and the moth-er of Jadhav, regulating their conver-sation, removing their mangalsutra,bindi, etc, and keeping the accompa-nying Indian diplomat JP Singh awayfrom the conversation.
Within minutes of the release ofthe video, the MEA in a sharp reactionsaid the statement made by Jadhavunder distress and coercion has novalue. “This does not come as a sur-prise. Pakistan is simply continuing itspractice of putting out coerced state-ments on video. It is time for them torealise that such propagandistic exer-cises simply carry no credibility. Theabsurdity of a captive under duress cer-tifying his own welfare while mouthingallegations of his captors clearly mer-its no comment. Pakistan is bestadvised to fulfil its international oblig-ations, whether it pertains to consularrelations or UNSC resolutions 1,267and 1,373 on terrorism and to desistfrom continuing violations of humanrights of an Indian national,” MEA
spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.The latest video, fourth in the
series, was played out by Pakistan’sForeign Office at a Press briefing onWednesday. In the video, Jadhav, theretired Indian Navy official, purport-edly said that he is still a serving offi-cer of the Indian Navy and thankedPakistani officials for arranging themeeting between him and hisfamily on December 25. Headded that he is being treatedwell in captivity by thePakistani side. “Don’t worrymummy. They (Pakistan) aretaking care of me, they havenot touched me. She believed me onceshe saw me personally,” Jadhav said.
He went on to add that an Indiandiplomat yelled at his mother.
“I saw fear in the eyes of my moth-er and wife. Why should there be fear?Whatever has happened has hap-pened.
They felt threatened. The Indiandiplomat who had come along with mymother was shouting the moment shestepped out.
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Special (CBI) court judgeShivpal Singh, who con-
victed Lalu Prasad in secondfodder scam case, created aflutter on Thursday observingthat “he got phone calls fromthe RJD chief ’s men” whileagain deferring to pronouncethe quantum of sentence. “Gotphone calls from Lalu’s men,”PTI quoted the judge as mak-ing this observation during theproceedings. The judge, how-ever, did not specify who werethe people that called him.
The quantum of sentence isnow expected to be pro-nounced on Friday. The courtwas yet to decide whether thequantum of punishment will bepronounced through videoconferencing or in the courtitself.
Arguments of only fourconvicts — Jyoti Kumar Das,Jagdish Sharma, PhoolchandSingh and Gopinath Das —
starting their names in alpha-betical order with the letter Ato K was heard by the court onThursday.
“I got many references foryou but don’t worry, I will fol-low only law”, he reportedlytold Lalu, according to ANI.
The courtroom, in themeantime, witnessed high volt-age drama after lawyersprotested against the judge formaking unsolicited remarksmade against them during thehearing of the case.
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The Kerala Government hasordered the closure of
Peace International School inKochi for teaching of syllabuspromoting Islamic orthodoxyand promoting religious enmi-ty. The Peace School and thePeace Foundation were underscanner of probe agencies fromlate 2016 after it was found thatmany of 21 persons fromKasaragod and Palakkad, whoreportedly joined the IslamicState (ISIS) camps inAfghanistan, had close con-nections with them.
Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan ordered the closure ofthe school on the basis of thereports submitted by theEducation Department and theErnakulam District Collectorunder whose jurisdiction the
school came. The ChiefMinister has ordered that thestudents of the school should beshifted to other educationalinstitutions in the same region.
The school run byKozhikode-based PeaceFoundation caught the atten-
tion of police and Intelligenceagencies in 2016 due to its com-munally oriented syllabus andfollowing reports that certainpersons who had allegedlybeen recruiting youths to ISISwere working with it. Thefoundation is running 13 Peace
Schools in Kerala.Whether the action would
be applicable to other PeaceSchools would be known onlywhen the Government issuesthe official order in this regard.
The Government had alsodecided that it will not grantthe non-objection certificaterequired for getting CBSE affil-iation for the school after theKochi police registered a caseagainst its principal, adminis-trator and managing commit-tee members in October, 2016on the basis of a complaint fromthe Education Department.
As per the FIR, police hadregistered the syllabus beingtaught in the school had com-munal orientation and wasintended at promoting enmityamong different sections ofthe society. Such subjects thatallegedly promoted Islamic
orthodoxy and communalismwere being taught even to stu-dents of the lower primary sec-tion. The school has been func-tioning in Kochi since 2009.
The school, which was notfollowing the textbooks of theNCERT, SCERT or the CBSE,was teaching books compiledby a Navi Mumbai-basedIslamic educational institution,Burooj Realisation. The KochiPolice had arrested three per-sons working with theMumbai-based institution inDecember, 2016.
Merin Jacob, a Christiangirl from Kochi who convert-ed to Islam and was part of thegroup that joined the ISIS, hadworked with the school, whichhad classes from LKG to eighthstandard. Merin had assumedthe name of Miriyam afterembracing Islam. She had left
the country with husbandYahia of Palakkad, who alsohad converted to Islam fromChristianity.
Abdul Rashid Abdullah ofThrikkarippur, Kasaragod, anengineering graduate who wasthe chief coordinator of thegroup that had fled India tojoin the ISIS, was associatedwith the Peace School in hisdistrict. Rashid had left Indiawith his wife Ayesha and two-year-old daughter Sarah.
Bihar native YasminAhmed said to be the secondwife of Abdul Rashid Abdullah,had also worked as a teacher inthe Peace International Schoolat Kottakkal in Muslim-major-ity Malappuram district fouryears ago. Yasmin was arrestedfrom Delhi airport whilepreparing to leave for Kabul asper Rashid’s instructions.
outfit which allegedly hasclose links with the PakistanArmy — had abducted
Kulbhushan Jadhav from Sarbazcity, around 52 km from Chabaharport, News 18 reported on Thursday.
The channel quoted sources inIndian security establishment, say-ing Irani then handed over Jadhavto the Pakistan Army. Jaish-ul-Adlis believed to be fighting againstBaloch insurgents along with thePakistan Army and commanders ofthe terror outfit visit Islamabad fre-quently.
Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan said that prob-
lemsof the world can be solvedby applying Indian thoughtsand perception. He also saidthat it is a matter of pride thateven today non-residentIndians have kept values andculture of India alive abroad.
Chouhan was addressing agathering of non-residentIndians(NRI) from 23 coun-tries after inaugurating theFriends of MP Conclave here at
Indore. Commerce andIndustry Minister RajendraShukla, Indore MunicipalCorporation Mayor MaliniLakshmansingh Gaud, ChiefSecretary Basant Pratap Singhand other senior officers werepresent on the occasion.
Chouhan said that a cellwill be constituted in the Statefor the redressal of NRI prob-lems.
Members of Friends of MPwill be honoured with MadhyaPradesh Ratna for outstandingwork in foreign countries.
Chouhan told the NRIs tostay connected with MadhyaPradesh and that the Statewould give them all their loveand affection.
Efforts are on to build newMadhya Pradesh along with aresolve to build a new India byyear 2022.
Today Madhya Pradesh isfast developing State where inthe last 12 years several remark-able works have been under-taken for development of eacharea.
Continued on Page 4
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The State government onThursday issued transfer
list of 13 Indian AdministrativeServices (IAS) officers.
Additional CS Jail VCSemwal has been given addi-tional responsibility of FisheriesWelfare and Development,while Principal Secretary inFisheries Welfare andDevelopment Vinod Kumarhas been sent to ST Financeand Development Corporationas Managing Director.
PS UADD MalayShrivastava has been shifted toTransport department in thesame capacity, whileCommissioner in UADD and
Continued on Page 4
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Concluding Friends of MPConclave with an Indore
Declaration Letter, the ChiefMinister Shivraj SinghChouhan said that MadhyaPradesh Government willconstitute a single windowNRI Cell for resolving prob-lems of overseas Indians'.
He appealed to Friends ofMP to work as brand ambas-sador. He said that MadhyaPradesh Government willinstitute ‘Madhya PradeshRatna' award for those whowill make Madhya Pradeshproud by their work in thecountry and abroad.
Chief Minister Chouhansaid that idea to hold Friendsof MP Conclave came afterhis America visit in 2015 andconsequently conclave hasbeen held this year. Thisprocess will continue. He alsomade an announcementtohold the conclave on January4 and 5 next year in 2019.
Chouhan said that sug-gestions given by friends,who arrived from 23 coun-
tries, will be clubbed and aportal will be launched toinvite suggestions fromFriends of MP by the StateGovernment in which ‘talent-pools’ will be introduced toget suggestions from subjectexperts which theGovernment will examine.
The Chief Minister saidthat a newsletter will belaunched to apprise Friends ofMP about activit ies ofMadhya Pradesh and preparedata base of all NRIs of theState.
The Chief Minister saidthat Friends of MP chapterwill be formed in other coun-tries. He advised to hold pro-gramme in different countrieswith the help of the chaptersand said that if you peopleinvite us, we or State's repre-sentatives will definitelyattend it.
The Chief Minister alsosuggested holding culturalprogrammes on foundationday of Madhya Pradesh onNovember 1 and plantationon July 2 on environmentprotection.
year-old boy was shownthrough the movie ‘Haathi KaAnda’. The movie was screenedhere on Thursday at MadhyaPradesh State Tribal Museum.The movie was screened underthe regular Children’s filmscreening Ullas.
Directed by Arun Khopkar,the film features Irrfan Khanand Parzaan Dastur in the leadroles. The movie surrounds thestory of friendship betweenParzaan and Irrfan. The moviewas selected for 50th IndianPanaroam India 2003.
Nine year old Kintoo’sfriend is an elderly bookseller-cum-restorer, Baba. One dayBaba tells Kintoo about hisgrandfather’s library and hisfavourite book among them all– Arabian Nights – the bookwhose story never ends. Kintoois fascinated. When he visits hisuncle’s house in the village, hediscovers a tattered copy ofArabian Nights, matchingBaba’s description.
Kintoo now aspires to takethe book to Baba. However thisseems as impossible a task as anelephant trying to lay an egg.Would Kintoo be able toachieve the impossible was therest of the story which was real-
ly enjoyed by the children.Writer, director, producer,
film scholar, teacher and actor,Arun Khopkar is an FTII alum-nus. He has made many shortand documentary film, a fewfeature films, has extensivelylectured on aesthetics and cin-ema and written books on cin-ema. His films have won himmany awards nationally andglobally and have also travelledto festivals across the world.Many of his films are on themusic, dance, painting, archi-tecture and literary traditionsof India. He is also a prolificwriter on cinema and its his-tory and teacher of cinema aes-thetics.
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Aplay which is a tribute towomen and their dreams
Apne Hi Putle was performedhere on Thursday at AntarangHall, Bharat Bhavan. The playdeals with a really serious issueof women insecurities andposition of her in society.
Written by Yogesh Tripathi,the play was directed by VibhaShrivastava. It was presented bythe artists of Ekrang SocioCultural troupe.
The play is a story of ayoung boy who is about to getmarried. The girl is rich and thefather of this girl always makesthe boy realize that he cannever match their status. But,the wedding has to happen.
But what destiny had instore for them was an entirelydifferent story. When the boygets married a rich girl, hestarted to belive that he has beensold in the name of money and
status. So he plans to take therevenge from his father in lawand wife.
Believing this as the truthhe fixed his sister-in-law’s wed-ding to a greedy man who alsohad a criminal background.Now this criminal treats his wifereally brutally.
He tortures her which hadno extent. He asks for more andmore dowry and when his wifedenies, he abuses her. Upsetwith her life and troubled withher husband’s tortures, shecommitted suicide. This puts adeep scar on boy’s soul.
The boy lives with the guiltall his life. With various twistsand turns the play narrates thestory of different characterswith different perspective.
At the end, the writer leavesit to the audience to decide thefate of the characters.
The play was beautifullyperformed leaving an impactover the audience.
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Players of Madhya PradeshState Water Sports Academy
brought laurels to the State bybagging three gold medals anda silver medal at InternationalRegatta Championship.
The championship washeld at Krishnapatnam inAndhra Pradesh. Players ofState water sports academywere representing team India.It is to be noted that players often countries participated in thechampionship and showcasedtheir talent.
Harshita Tomar, thepromising player of the acade-my performed impressively atthe Laser 4.7 event and baggeda gold medal at the champi-onship. Interestingly, Harshita
Tomar was the only girl playeramong top ten players in lazer4.7 open event. Among otherplayers, there were boys fromcountries like U.A.E., Indonesia,Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Another player UmaChahan exhibiting an impres-sive performance at the cham-pionship won a gold medal. Shewon the medal at optimisticevent by gaining first positionleaving behind the Swedenplayer. Academy's emergingplayer Ritika Dangi won a sil-ver medal in this event.Academy champion GovindBairagi also won the bronzemedal in the boys’ category ofLaser Radial event in the cham-pionship.
Prior to this, players of theacademy Harshita Tomar and
Uma Chauhan have won agold medal each, Ritika Dangi,one silver and AshishVishwakarma and Tanu Bisenwon one bronze medal in theYAI Senior and Junior NationalSailing Championship held inAndhra Pradesh'sKrishnapatnam.
The winners of the cham-pionships met Mister of Sportsand Youth Welfare DepartmentYashodhara Raje Scindia ather residence on Thursday.The Sports Minister appreciat-ed the performance of theplayers and congratulated themon winning the medal. Onthis occasion, the Chief Coachof the Academy G.L. Yadav,Assistant Trainer SubDivisional Major P Madhu andAnil Sharma were present.
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Iam really excited to per-form in Bhopal, says the
French singer Hyleen, ayoung and talented author,composer gifted with a charis-matic voice whose equallycharismatic guitar playingskills have never left a personfeeling dispassionate.
Hyleen along with hertroupe is in Bhopal to give alive performance at BharatBhavan under four-monthlong festival Bonjour India2017-18.
Organised by Alliancefrancaise de Bhopal in col-laboration with the FrenchEmbassy in India, Gatecrashand Bharat Bhavan,Department of Culture,Government of MadhyaPradesh the performance willbe held on Friday.
Talking with the mediapersons here on Thursday,
Hyleen said, “I have come tothe city under the festivalBonjour India. Though this isnot my first trip to India butyes I will be performing inBhopal for the first time andI am really excited.”
Talking about herself,Hyleen said that she foundpeace in music since her child-hood. “I feel good in me whenI sing and that’s what I thinkgives my performance thepower,” she added.
Her style of music involvesSoul, Funk, Neo-Soul and Popthat also sometimes includesJazz thereby giving her a styleof her own.
As she talked about herperformances, she said, “I willbe performing various tracksfrom different compositions.Adding to this I will be per-forming songs from my albumB Side. I think it will be a rock-ing evening for the Bhopalites.”
The super talented young artist will be accompanied by Nicolas Viccaro on drums and Julien Boursin on key- board and Moog-Bass.
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Abandh called inBurhanpur town in
Madhya Pradesh to protestBhima Koregaon caste clash-es in Maharashtra's Pune dis-trict took a violent turn onThursday with a mob alleged-ly damaging 12 vehicles andstoning trucks plying onIchhapur-Indore State high-way.
The shutdown was calledby Dalit groups, the BuddhistSociety, Bhim Sena, and otheroutfits, against the Monday'sviolence at Bhima Koregaonvillage and nearby areas inPune district during an eventto mark the 200th anniversaryof a battle between Peshwasand British forces.
The bandh has affectednormal life in Burhanpur town.Burhanpur district shares com-mon border with Jalgaon,Amravati, Buldhana, andAkola districts of Maharashtrawhich witnessed protests dur-ing the bandh called by dalitgroups on Wednesday.
A senior police officialsaid the windowpanes of 11private buses parked at theinter-state bus stand and thewindshield of a truck werebroken by unidentified per-sons in the noon. Eye wit-nesses said that some peoplegathered at the bus stand andvandalised the buses.They alsosaid that the mob attempted totorch a bus but was chasedaway by police personnel pre-sent at the spot."Unknownpeople broke the windowglasses of 11 empty buses anda truck at the bus stand,"Superintendent of PolicePankaj Shrivastavasaid.However, he denied thatany attempt was made to setany bus on fire.
According to eye witness-es, stones were hurled at leastsix trucks on Ichchhapur-Indore state highway as aresult of which traffic came toa standstill briefly. When askedabout the highway incident,the SP denied the reports. Hesaid the situation was undercontrol now.
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Non Resident Indians livingin 23 countries related to
some or the other area ofMadhya Pradesh have come totake part in the Friends of MPConclave in Indore.
These representatives wantto extend support in the devel-opment of Madhya Pradesh.Businessman from LosAngeles, USA Ashish Saburuns a BPO by the name ‘TakeSynergy’ and through this hescripts medical trans-prescrip-tions of US based doctors dig-itally. In America, this work ismedically and legally must forall doctors.Sabu said that heruns a BPO in Indore also inwhich he has given employ-ment to 70 youths. Severalskill development programmeshave been started in the last few
years in Madhya Pradesh.According to Sabu, if theMadhya Pradesh governmenthelps to train youths workingin BPOs, he can provide moreand more youths to getemployment in Medical BPOfield. Young businessmanAshish says he does not gettrained youths for this work inthe state. Because of this he hasto visit Manila in Philippines toget youths trained. Currently hehas got more than 500 youthsemployed in Manila.Talkingabout the conclave, Ashish saidthat Madhya Pradesh govern-ment has made a better plat-form available for people of MPresiding in foreign countries.These people of MP residingabroad want to extend supportin development of the state.They will get this opportunitythrough this conclave.
Ballet showcasing the freedomstruggle and the sacrifices
made by the revolutionaries wasperformed brilliantly at ShaheedBhavan auditorium here onThursday. Marking the secondday of Deshraag theatre festival,the play was wonderfully staged.
The dance drama had all themajor incidents of freedomstruggle that took the audienceback in British era. Directed andchoreographed by PrabhatGanguly, the dance drama wasstaged by the artists of Ranga ShriLittle Ballet Troupe.
The performance of RangaShri Little Ballet Troupe depict-ed the freedom struggle in thedance drama. From the arrival ofthe British, exploitation andindependence struggle. The non-cooperation movement of 1932,the Quit India Movement of1942, the Jallianwala BaghMassacre, the Jungle Satyagraha,the drought-hunger and manyincidents of incest, along with thefreedoms of India's indepen-dence on August 15, 1947.
The light design, the netry ofthe characters and the heavymusic sound made the ballet astromg performance on stage. Asthe Jallianwala Bagh Massacre isone of the horrific instances of
brutality by the British Raj. Thisincident was showcased bril-liantly with the use of songs andwonderful expressions.
It is known that on the dayof Baisakhi various Hindus,
Sikhs and Muslims were gath-ered at Jallianwala Bagh nearGolden Temple of Amritsar onApril 13, 1919.
As the meeting was on,General Dyer of British Indian
Army entered the premises andorders the soldiers to fire theunarmed people in which thou-sand people died. This was oneof the most brutal of all the actsby British Raj.
Other incidents were alsoshowcased with much impact.The use or powerful poetry andslogans of those times addedmuch zest in the performance.
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An Indian Air Force heli-copter carrying three ser-
vice personnel on board madean emergency landing at aMadhya Pradesh Police groundhere today due to a technicalglitch, a police officer said.
The chopper, which tookoff from the IAF's Gwaliorbase, was on a routine sortie,Bhind Superintendent of Police,Prashant Khare told."The heli-copter carrying three IAF per-sonnel, including the pilot,made an emergency landing atthe local Special Armed Force(SAF) ground," he said. Thechopper landed at 3 pm at theSAF ground following a tech-nical glitch, he said.A teamfrom the Gwalior base, whicharrived here, was inspecting thechopper, SAF DeputySuperintendent of Police,Suresh Singh Yadav said. All thepersons on board were safe andno damage was caused to thechopper, he said.
ised in Tikamgarh district onJanuary 6 under BhavantarBhugtan Yojana. ChiefMinister Shivraj SinghChouhan will distributeBhavantar amount at the sam-melan to registered farmerswho have sold notified cropsin notified mandis in the peri-od from November 1 toNovember 30, 2017. The pro-gramme will be telecast live onall local TV channels from 1pm to 2 pm.
Among farmers beingbenefitted at the State-levelKisan Sammelan ofTikamgarh, 1.68 lakh farmerswill receive Rs 393.71 croresfor urad, 2.96 lakh farmerswill receive Rs 247.16 crore forsoyabean and Rs 53.74 croresto 39,366 farmers for maize.
Vidhan Sabha SpeakerSitasaran Sharma will be chiefguest at the district level kisansammelan in Hoshangabaddistrict. The amount will bedeposited in the bank accountsof beneficiaries of the schemeon January 6 in all districtsexcept Mandsaur, Rajgarh,Chhindwada, Balaghat,
Ashoknagar and Raisen dis-trict. District level kisan sam-melan will be organized in 24districts of the state on January6. For this 24 members ofCabinet have been entrustedwith the responsibility of sep-arate districts.
As per the responsibilitiesentrusted to members of theCabinet Finance MinisterJayant Malaiya will be chiefguest in the district level KisanSammelan at Damoh,Panchayat and RuralDevelopment Minister GopalBhargav at Bhopal, ForestMinister GaurishankarShejwar-Jabalpur,
Public Relations MinisterNarottam Mishra- Datia, JailMinister Kusum Mehdele-Panna, School EducationMinister Kunwar Vijay Shah-Khandwa, Farmer Welfareand Agriculture DevelopmentMinister Gaurishankar Bisen-Seoni, Health MinisterRustum Singh- Sheopur, Foodand Civil Supplies MinisterOmprakash Dhurve- Satna,Revenue MinisterUmashankar Gupta- Shivpuri,Women and ChildDevelopment MinisterArchana Chitnis- Burhanpur,Energy Minister Paras Jain-
Ujjain, Industry MinisterRajendra Shukla- Rewa,Animal Husbandry MinisterAntar Singh Arya- Indore,Urban Development andHousing Minister MayaSingh- Morena, HomeMinister Bhupendra Singh-Sagar, Higher EducationMinister Jaibhan SinghPavaiya- Bhind, Minister ofState for School EducationDeepak Joshi-Dewas, Ministerof State for GeneralAdministration Lal SinghArya- Gwalior, Minister ofState for Medical EducationSharad Jain- Narsinghpur,Minister of State for Micro,Small and MediumEnterprises Satyendra Pathak-Katni, Minister of State forBackward Class and MinorityWelfare Lalita Yadav-Chhatarpur, Minister of Statefor Cooperatives VishwasSarang- Alirajpur andMinister of State forHorticulture and FoodProcessing SuryaprakashMeena at Vidisha.
Bhavantar amount will bedeposited in the bank accountsof farmers in those districts alsowhere district level KisanSammelan is not proposed onJanuary 6 in State.
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An 11-year-old girl studentwas mowed down by a
speeding car while other studentsescaped with minor injurieswhen they were waiting for theirschool bus in the early morninghours on Thursday.
Police said that two schoolgirls were hit by a speeding carnear Yadav restaurant and wererushed to a nearby hospitalwhere one of them was declareddead while other escaped withminor injuries. The deceased wasidentified as Garima Shivdasaniof Kailash Nagar and was a stu-dent of Navneet School.
The driver of the vehiclebearing registration number MP04 CA 9856 lost control over thevehicle and rammed into adivider before hitting thedeceased which caused herdeath.
After the preliminary inves-tigation the body was sent for thepost mortem and a case undersection 304 A of the IPC was reg-istered against the errant driver.The accused driver Kanhaiya
Divnani was arrested by thepolice and vehicle was seizedduring the investigation.
Meanwhile, a 27-year-oldyouth committed suicide byhanging with the ceiling at LakePearl Garden society under Koh-e-Fiza police station area onWednesday.
Police said that the deceasedNasir Kalam was found hangingwith the ceiling and was rushedto a nearby hospital where he wasdeclared dead. The body wassent for the post mortem and thepolice have registered a caseunder section 174 of the CrPCand have started further inves-tigation.
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Mama mujhe bhi apnabhanja bana lo. Mein bhi
aapke saath kaam karna chah-ta hun. This was said by ArtistWajid Khan at the MP MeetsMP Session at Friends of MPConclave. To this ChiefMinister Shivraj SinghChouhan replied, ‘You will begiven place in Bharat Bhavan.’
Khan from Mandsaur toldthat he has spent several nightson footpath. Later I got every-thing that I had imagined inIndore. I learnt portrait mak-ing, sculpture, etc, here andearned both money and fame.Now I am teaching this art todisabled children. Khan saidthat if he get an opportunity, hewould prepare the best artistsin Madhya Pradesh.
Khan’s name is registeredin the Guinness Book of WorldRecords and Limca Book ofRecords. He creates sculptureand portrait with finger nailsand iron nail. He has beengiven the work of designing
unique sculpture of FIFAWorld Cup-2022. Khan cur-rently resides in Dubai.
Answering queries of theparticipants Chouhan said thata talent pool will be formed. Weand our officers will plan devel-opment schemes after discussionwith the pool. A ‘Venture CapitalFund’ has been created to assiststart-ups. Chouhan said thatseveral steps have been taken toinstill confidence in the peopleof the state. He said that dis-cussion will be held to workthrough holistic approach.
Industry Minister RajendraShukla said that people of statehave brought laurels both to thestate and foreign countriesalso. He said this conclave wasa platform for NRIs. Shuklasaid that all are influenced bythe state’s growth story. He saidthat their ideas and experienceswill be utilised for the devel-opment of the state.
At the conclave AvaniMishra of Bhopal said thateveryone likes success. Shesaid that for this it is important
to plan and then work oncompleting it. Mishra is thetopper of Company Secretaryexamination 2015. At presentshe is studying in NLIUBhopal.
Anurag Asati, the engi-neer of Bhopal informed thathe saw his future in the mostneeded work for sanitationwhich was considered as thedisrespectful activity like scrapdealing. Therefore, he pre-pared a website called 'TheKabadiwala.com. On gettingrequests on the site, the mate-rial is purchased from thehouses. He further informedthat the energy of the ChiefMinister encourages him.
Impressed by the DigitalIndia campaign of the PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,Tushar Bharthare of villageShivnathpura transformed hisvillage into a Wi-Fi village.Now free net services are beingprovided in the village throughWi-FI. Besides, he is workinghard to provide Wi-Fi facilityin other villages too.
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The Hanumanganj police onThursday nabbed three
miscreants involved in smug-gling sandalwood and recov-ered 130 kg of sandalwoodworth Rs 1.2 lakh from theirpossession.
SP Bhopal (North) HemantChouhan while speaking withthe media persons on Thursdaysaid that the sandalwood wasfilled in eight bags which wererecovered from a car. TheSandalwood was stolen fromShajapur and the three were ontheir way to dispose but thedetails of the disposal are yet tobe obtained from theaccused.The three have con-fessed their involvement incrimes in different parts of theState and details of theSandalwood has been askedfrom Shajapur for furtherinvestigation. During the fur-ther investigation more detailsof the three and their nexuswould be revealed, he added.
Acting on a tip off regard-ing three youths carrying 7-8bags in car bearing registrationnumber MP04CR9260 nearSyndicate bank inHanumanganj area a policeteam rushed to the spot anddetained the three personsand when the car was searched
8 bags were recovered whichwere carrying Sandalwood.The three were asked regard-ing the Sandalwood but thethree were not able to provide
details regarding theSandalwood.The three wereidentified as Mubarik Khan(26) of Shajapur, TajjudinKhan (26) of Sadar and Tausif
Shah (20) of Kannauj UttarPradesh.During the investiga-tion police have recovered acar bearing registration num-ber MP 04 CR 9260 in which
the Sandalwood was car-ried.The quantity of the sandal-wood was huge which suggestthat the accused were involved inthe crime for long, said police.
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Four miscreants were nabbednear Bal Vihar at Hamidia
road planning dacoity. Thepolice recovered one countrymade pistol, two cartridges, twosharp edged weapons, nylonrope and chilli powder fromtheir possession onWednesday.
Acting on a tip off regard-ing some miscreants planningdacoity, two teams were formedand were rushed to the spotand nabbed four miscreants,while one of the miscreantsmanaged to escape.
The nabbed accused wereidentified as Mukhtar Ali aliasRaja Ali (34), Hasan Ali aliasHasni (20), Jitendra Rai (24) of
Nishatpura and Ising Pardi(22) of Berasia while theabsconding accused was iden-tified as Zaheer Abbas.
During the investigationwhen Hasan who hails fromBeed Maharashtra was quizzedconfessed that they have agang which includes his broth-er and others also.
The gang confessed thatthey have committed severalcrimes across the country andhave been booked at differentpolice station of the country.
The gang gathered at thespot to rob an ATM whichwould be used for marriage ofthe Hasan who was scheduledto marry in Aman Colonywith Siraj Irani’s daughter. Thepolice have registered a case
under section 399, 402 of theIPC and section 25 and 27 ofthe Arms Act.
Meanwhile in a joint effortMP Nagar and crime branchhave nabbed an abscondingaccused of robbery and carry-ing a cash reward of Rs 10000;accused was nabbed fromShahpura area who was want-ed in robbery on December 22,2016.
The nabbed accusedAkshay Rathore along withShubham Mishra have robbeda bag carrying a mobile phoneand Rs 10000 cash.
Police managed to nabShubham but Akshay wasabsconding in Mumbai andwhen he came to the city onWednesday he was nabbed.
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Eleven roller skaters fromCampion School Bhopal,
after their performance in Statelevel competitiont qualified for55th National Skating TrialsRound Competition.
This National SkatingTrails Round Competition willbe held for two days fromJanuary 6 at DPS School,Indore. It would be organisedby ‘Malwa Roller SkatingSociety Madhya Pradesh’.
Campionites AnmolDhanesh from std XI, AakashPandey from std XI, ShashwatShukla std IX, AtharvaDeshpandey std IX, Rahul Koristd VII, Maaz Athar std VII,Rushil Tripathi std VI, MohdAnas Baksh std VI, TegbeerSingh std V, Arya Shiralkar stdV and Divyansh Chouhan stdIV will be participating in‘Roller Hockey Skating’ and‘Speed Skating’ category in thisTrail Round of National SkatingCompetition.
All the Skaters were pre-pared themselves for thisNational Level Trial roundcompetition under the guid-ance of Physical EducationTeacher and Coach SanjayMishra. In this competitionmore than 400 skaters from dif-ferent Government, Private,CBSE schools from theDistricts of Madhya Pradeshwere participated.
In trial round competitionthe skaters who performedexceptionally well, will beselected and participate in
National skating competitiongoing to be held from January27 to 31 in Jawaharlal NehruStadium, Chennai.
Principal Fr Athnas LakraSJ and Vice-Principal Fr AjayKerketta SJ, Headmistress SisterPramila AC and Physical
Education Department HODJohnsy Koshy congratulated tocoach Sanjay Mishra and all theeleven skaters.
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Cleaning up the city is notonly vital for a healthy
environment, but also impor-tant for attracting more touriststo the city. This was stated bydistrict Collector Rahul Jainduring a meeting at theMunicipal CorporationHeadquarters to take stock ofthe cleanliness program of theCorporation.
Gwalior has been acknowl-edged as the No 1 in down-loading the Cleanliness Appresulting in the city once againbeing declared OpenDefecating Free City underthe Swatch Bharat Mission.The main test of the cleanlinessprogram will be the 2018 sur-vey to be conducted by theCentral Government.
Collector Rahul Jainexhorted the officials con-cerned to leave no stone
unturned in making Gwaliorthe top clean city in the state.He further said that competi-tion for the 2018 Survey will betough as the city is competingwith big and medium sizedcities. He further cautioned theofficials to take note of the factthat there is minus marking fornegative features.
The meeting to take stockof the cleanliness program wasattended by Vinod Sharma, theMunicipal Commissioner;Rinkesh Vaishy, the AdditionalMunicipal Commissioner, R KSrivastava; District officials ofthe Women and ChildDevelopment, Education,Health and Industries depart-ments.
Later, the collector andthe officials watched the pre-sentation of the Laser Shows tobe held in various parts of thecity to entertain the tourists.The District Administrationand the Corporation are plan-ning to have laser shows at theItalian Gardens, Phoolbagh,Bharahdari and Baija Tal.Rakesh Jadon, Chairman,SADA; Abhaya Chowdhary,Chairman, GDA; RakeshMahor, Chairman, MunicipalCouncil and Mahip Tejaswi,the CEO of Smart City, amongothers were present duringthe presentation.
is expected to announce a setof specific actions that itexpects Islamabad to take interms of cracking down on ter-rorist safe havens.
“In terms of specific actions,I think you’ll see some moredetails come out on that in thenext 24 to 48 hours,” WhiteHouse Press Secretary SarahSanders had told reporters onTuesday, adding, “They can domore to stop terrorism and wewant them to do that.”
Apart from the WhiteHouse, National SecurityCouncil’s confirmation thatthe Trump administration willwithhold $255 million in mil-itary aid, US Ambassador tothe UN Nikki Haley has heldout the possibility of PresidentTrump putting a stop to all aid if Islamabad does notmend its ways.
The State Department hascommented that Pakistan needsto earn the money it gets fromWashington, with spokespersonHeather Nauert saying, “They(Pakistan) need to better earn,essentially, the money that wehave provided in the past in for-eign military assistance, theyneed to show that they are sin-cere in their efforts to crackdown on terrorists.”
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Taking note of arbitrary air-fare hikes by airlines during
festivals seasons, a ParliamentaryCommittee on Transport,Tourism and Culture has askedthe Ministry of Civil Aviation tofix an upper limit of the air tick-ets for every sector. The panelhas also said that airlines havenot passed the benefit of reduc-tion in Aviation Turbine Fuel(ATF) to the consumers evenafter a 50 per cent reduction inthe ATF prices.
“A deregulatory environ-ment does not mean unlimitedfreedom of exploitation.Windfall profits cannot be takenfrom the hapless passengersespecially from those workingclass passengers who are trav-elling in the Gulf sector. TheMinistry of Civil Aviation has asocial responsibility towards itscitizens and economic viabilitycannot be the only criteria fordecision making,” the commit-tee said in its report. “TheMinistry of Civil Aviation,though aware of the rampantexploitation, is not showingany proactive role in regulatingthe airfares,” the Parliamentpanel said.
The committee wasinformed that the domestic air-
line pricing runs in multiple lev-els (bucket or reservation book-ing designator which is in linewith the practice followed glob-ally. The lower fare in the farebucket is available for advancebooking much earlier. “As timelapses and date of journeyapproaches closer, the fare inhigher side of fare bucket ismade available as per therespective airline policy.Advance Purchase Schemeoffers low fares when tickets arebooked 90 days, 60 days, 30days, 15 days and seven days
prior to departure. Under immediate purchase,
fares are offered in multiple lev-els or buckets (up to about 14levels) and the fares move tohigher buckets as the lowerones get filled,” the committeesaid.
A Chief Executive Officer ofan airline informed the com-mittee that as regards pricing ofair tickets, it is a deregulatoryenvironment and the airlines arefree to price anything.Theoretically, there is no cut-offprice. The tickets are priced at
cost plus basis. Deposing before the com-
mittee, the Secretary, CivilAviation submitted that air-fares are not controlled by theGovernment, but varies with themarket forces of demand andsupply and that this is a globalpractice in the aviation indus-try.
The members of the com-mittee have also raised the issueof charging high airfares by air-lines to the Gulf countries dur-ing festival seasons and on theeve of New Year.
On the incidents of misbe-haviour by airlines staff, thecommittee also noted thatrecently there were many inci-dents of manhandling, dis-courteous and rude behaviourby airlines staff, both groundstaff and cabin crew. “Some ofthem were reported in themedia and a large number ofthem went unreported. Whilenarrating some of the incidentsof misbehaviour in airlines,especially in Indigo, majority ofthe members opined that theattitude of airlines staff is very
condescending, often uncoop-erative and on many occasions,downright rude,” it said.
As per the Ministry’s data,606 complaints were lodgedagainst airlines in Septemberthis year. The number shot upto 656 in October this year.While 30.5 per cent of the fly-ers blamed customer service, 16per cent pointed fingers at flightproblems like sudden cancella-tion and delay, 22 per cent hadissues with their baggage and 7.5per cent did not like staff behav-iour.
The committee opined thatmerely taking strictest actionagainst the employees does notabsolve the airline of its guilt ofthe incident. “The problemsaffecting the airlines are not per-sonal; it is institutional. Aninstitution like Indigo has todevelop a consumer-friendlyapproach in dealing with theirpassengers,” it said.
The committee believes thatbeing a leader in market share,Indigo needs to look inward andfind out the reasons for the dis-courteous attitude and rudeand indifferent behaviour oftheir employees, whether it istheir cabin crew or the groundstaff. Keeping in view the recentincidents of misbehaviour of air-lines staff including the man-handling of a passenger by staffof Indigo Airlines, the commit-tee emphasised on the need forsoft skills training and func-tionality training for all employ-ees across airlines.
in the development rate of theState. Production has been onthe rise in every field of agri-culture apart from rise in veg-etable and fruit production.Food processing is beingencouraged in State.
Chouhan told the guests atthe conclave that MadhyaPradesh is now a power sur-plus state and is now provid-ing power to other states. A750 MW solar power plant iscoming up in Rewa. Efforts arebeing made to use solar ener-gy in cooking. After havinglinked Kshipra with Narmada,state is moving fast in thedirection of supplying water inareas facing short supply ofwater. Irrigation area in state
has increased from 7.50 lakhto 40 lakh hectare. Efforts arealso being made constantly tochange the face of cities of theState.
The Chief Minister toldNRI youths residing in foreigncountries that if they can besuccessful abroad they shouldcontribute for the state andtheir country as well. MadhyaPradesh government is mak-ing an attempt to connectIndian entrepreneurs whohave carved a niche for them-selves in foreign countrieswith Madhya Pradesh. TheCM has urged NRIs connect-ed with Indian culture to sendtheir children to MadhyaPradesh. He told that theFriends of MP Conclave aimsat making an annual work plan
and work for the state’s welfare.For this suggestions will beinvited from NRIs.
NRIs who have made thestate proud abroad includingSatinder Singh Rekhi, JitendraSingh Muchal, RajeshAgrawal, GS Sarin, CPGurnani, Anurag Asati andSunil Naik were felicitated bythe Chief Minister at the con-clave. He relied to queries ofNRIs and told them that theirsuggestions will be included inthe conclave. The NRI com-munity presented the CM witha memento.
Principal Secretary PublicWorks Mohammed Suleimanand Principal Secretary to theChief Minister and PublicRelations SK Mishra were alsopresent on the occasion.
From Page 1CPA and PS to CM Vivek
Agrawal has been made PS inUADD, MD MPRDC and PSin PWD Manish Rastogi hasbeen shifted to revenue depart-ment in the same capacity,MD AKVN DP Ahuja toMPRDC in the same capacity,
Secretary to CM BChandrashekhar has beengiven additional responsibilityof MD in MPSEDC.
(Indore) Anand KumarSharma to Commissioner inTribal Welfare department,Additional CommissionerRevenue (Gwalior) DayaldasAgrawal to Secretary inMedical Education, Secretaryin Revenue Rajneesh KumarShrivastava to Shahdol as divi-
sional Commissioner,Additional Secretary TransportRajeev Chandra Dubey to MPState WarehousingCorporation as MD andAdditional Secretary AYUSHPatiram Katroliya to Revenue(Ujjain) in the same capacity.
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After getting a tumultuousresponse during his visit to
his home district, HimachalChief Minister Jai Ram Thakursaid that the State would be onthe path of progress as the daysof the rajas and emperors wereover.
As many as 150 archesand gates had been erectedbetween Slappar and Mandi
where thousands of peoplehad lined up on both sides ofthe road to give him a floralwelcome.
He stopped at every gate toexchange greetings.Consequently he reached at theSeri Pavilion over three hourslate for the public meeting.
Watching a sea of peopletrekking down from the greenand snowy vales in bone-chill-ing cold, Thakur said, “My joy
knows no bounds. It is ineffable”.
He said he would make allefforts to repay the debt andconfidence reposed in him bythe God-fearing people of thesacred land of Gods despitehuge debt of about �50, 000crores. He added that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi wasthe only ray of hope to bail outthe backward hill State
He assured the people of
Himachal Pradesh that thenightmarish arbitrary rule ofthe ex-rulers was over anddemocratic Government ofBJP would continue in thehill state in place of the rule offamilies of ex-rulers.
.He declared that his gov-ernment would be the gov-ernment of the poor and thedowntrodden and work fortheir welfare and prosperity.
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Cold wave conditions anddense fog at several places
in the State made the weatherconditions unbearable for thecitizens in past 24 hours.
After foggy conditionswould fade away temperatureswould further fall in the next 24hours, said Met official onThursday.
State which is witnessingintense cold conditions haswitnessed temperatures nearto freezing temperatures at fewplaces and the regions whichcame closer to record freezingtemperature were
Umaria, Gwalior and
Khajuraho which recorded 2degree Celsius.
City recorded day temper-ature at 24.8 degree Celsius andnight temperature at 9.4 degreeCelsius. The temperatures arelikely to dip in the next 24 hoursand night temperatures arelikely to witness steep dip.
Among the major citiesIndore recorded day and nighttemperature at 27.2 and 9.6degree Celsius respectively,Gwalior recorded day and nighttemperature at 23.3 and 1.9degree Celsius respectively andJabalpur recorded day and nighttemperature at 22.3 and 5.4degree Celsius respectively.
Apart from the three
regions which witnessed nighttemperature at 2 degree Celsiusfew others recorded night tem-perature below 5 degree Celsius.The regions were Rewa whichrecorded 3.6 degree Celsius,Nowgong, Tikamgarh andSatna recorded 4 degree Celsius,Sidhi and Chhindwara record-ed 4.6 degree Celsius andDamoh recorded 5 degreeCelsius.
Narsinghpur and SheopurKalan witnessed cold day con-ditions while Umaria,Khajuraho and Gwalior wit-nessed severe cold waves con-ditions and Rewa, Satna,Mandla and Malajkhandrecorded cold waves condi-
tions on Thursday.Warning of intense cold
wave conditions in Gwaliordistrict, cold wave conditions atfew places in Rewa, Jabalpur,Shahdol and Sagar divisionsand isolated places in Gwaliordivision(except Gwalior dis-trict) and Chambal division.
Night temperatures wit-nessed significant dip in theJabalpur division.
Temperatures in Shahdoldivision witnessed significantdecrease, Jabalpur and Sagardistrict witnessed low temper-atures, Rewa and Hoshangabaddivisions witnessed tempera-tures below normal tempera-ture.
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National secretary of VidhyaBharti Avinash Bhatnagar
would deliver lecture atVivekanand auditorium wasorganised by Jawaharlal NehruKrishi Vishwavidhyalaya(JNKVV) Professor andScientists Council at 3 pm onFriday. Providing informationGeneral secretary AbhisekShukla said that Bhatnagarwould deliver lecture on‘Education, Family andValues’.The chief guest of theprogramme would be ViceChancellor of Rani DurgawatiUniversity Kapildev Mishraand Vice Chancellor ofJawaharlal Nehru AgricultureUniversity Pradeep KumarBisen.President of JNKVVProfessor and Scientists CouncilRM Sahu said that VidhyaBharti institute works to createNationalist education atmos-phere .
Cutting across lines, members in theRajya Sabha on Thursday con-
demned recent incidents of caste vio-lence in Maharashtra and called foraction against the perpetrators. TheOpposition demanded a judicial probeby a sitting Supreme Court judgealleging failure of the State adminis-tration in checking the incident stokedby communal elements. The rulingBenches rejected the charge and said thelocal Government took timely actionto contain violence.
Before the members expressedtheir views, chairman M VenkaiahNaidu urged the Elders to appreciate thesensitive nature of the subject and saidefforts should be made to restore nor-malcy. Terming the incidents as "socialconflict," he also appealed to the mem-bers not to say anything that may "esca-late" the situation. Most of the Eldersadhered to the Chair's advice duringtheir short speeches calling for peaceand unity among various sections ofsociety. The House had witnessedrepeated adjournments on Wednesday
over the issue. Initiating the discussion, Rajani
Patil (Congress) alleged that atrocitiesagainst dalits had taken place under thewatch of the Maharashtra Governmentand claimed "Manuwadi" ideologycoupled with some Hindu outfits wereresponsible for the incidents inKoregaon. Nadimul Haque (TMC) saidmarginalised sections of society weretargets of violence and a pattern wasemerging after the Maharashtra inci-dents. Demanding an impartial probe,he said "this political lynching shouldimmediately stop."
Veteran politician and NCP leaderSharad Pawar, a former Chief Ministerof Maharashtra, in his measured speechappealed for normalcy and forget theincident in order to move on. He saidsuch violence had not taken place in thelast 50 years.
He said the State administrationshould have been more vigilant as alarge gathering was expected in Punewhile tracing the historical backgroundof Bhima-Koregaon event and senti-
ments of dalits associated with it.Pawar suggested that everyone shouldcooperate to bring about peace and har-mony among the different sections ofsociety, amid thumping of desks bymembers of both ruling andOpposition parties.
Alleging that some parallel outfitsof BJP were flexing their muscle,Naresh Agrawal(SP) said such perverseminds treated dalits and minorities assecond class citizens. He demanded acommission of enquiry to fix respon-sibility for violence. T KRangarajan(CPM) alleged "tactical"support of the Maharasthra adminis-tration, ruling party and police for theincident. In this background, a probeby a sitting judge of Supreme Courtshould be ordered, he said. Veer Singh(BSP) seconded the CPM's demand ofa judicial enquiry.
While condemning the spate ofviolence, Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena),however, rejected the charge that theState administration did not act time-ly and appreciated its "patience" in deal-ing with the situation. He also said suchincidents should be not linked withHindu organisations and alleged thatan "invisible hand" is working to divideand rule society. D Raja (CPI), RamdasAthavale (RPI), Amar Sable (BJP), B SBhunder(SAD), Sambaji Chhatrapati(BJP), Dilip Tirkey(BJD) and ANavaneethkrishnan also expressedtheir views.
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News of children being sold and traf-ficked from an orphanage in West
Bengal led the Supreme Court onThursday to turn the spotlight on theworking of orphanages across thecountry. The Court directed all Statesand Union Territories to take stock ofthe NGOs and other organisationswhich are engaged in running orphan-ages to know whether adoption isbeing used as a front to traffic children.
The issue engaged the attention of theCourt in a matter brought by the NationalCommission for Protection of ChildRights (NCPCR). The Commission cameacross a news item that reported about anorphanage in Jalpaiguri (WB) where chil-dren were being sold away or trafficked.The Commission wrote to the AdditionalDirector General of Police (ADGP),CID, West Bengal Police to ascertain thefacts. The said officer approached theCalcutta High Court to restrain theNCPCR from further proceeding in thematter as the same was already beingmonitored by the State Commission.After the HC stayed the hands of NCPCR,the apex child rights protection bodycame to the SC for vacating the order ofAugust 29, 2017 passed by the HC.
While staying the HC order andproceedings, the apex bench headed byChief Justice Dipak Misra said, "As theissue pertains to trafficking of children,which has a vital national concern andrecognises no boundary, we think itappropriate to entertain the special leavepetition." The Court directed
Additional Solicitor General (ASG)Tushar Mehta appearing forCommission to include all States andUTs and posted the mat-ter for hearing onJanuary 22.
The Bench, alsocomprising Justices AMKhanwilkar and DYChandrachud, said, "Aright of a child in a soci-ety is sacred, for thefuture of the countrydepends upon the char-acter and the destiny of the child and theState has a great role in that regard."Taking this view, the Bench added, "Itis necessary to have a comprehensiveview of the entire country pertaining torunning of orphanages, the mode andmethod of adoption, the care given andthe treatment meted out to the children."
In addition, the Court wantedStates and UTs to inform about theavailability of special courts and specialprosecutors to try child traffickingcases which essentially are humanrights violations under the Protectionof Human Rights Act 1993.of HumanRights Act 1993.
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TThe Supreme Court onThursday asked the Centre
and States whether it is yet toset up complaints committee toreceive complaints of sexualharassment against women atworkplace despite the law beingpassed five years back.
Doubts arose about theimplementation of the ambi-tious law enacted 15 years afterthe apex court's landmark ver-dict in Vishaka case of 1997after a PIL filed by NGOInitiatives for InclusionFoundation presented infor-mation provided under Right toInformation Act which revealed"shocking" state of affairs on theimplementation front.
According to advocateSanjay Parikh, who representedthe NGO in Court, informationwas sought from each Stateand UT on the progress madeon the appointment of DistrictNodal Officers to receive com-plaints, constitution of LocalComplaints Committees at dis-trict level, compilation ofAnnual Compliance Reportsfrom every organisation in eachdistrict, and awareness activities
undertaken by State to encour-age affected women to step for-ward.
Only five States - MadhyaPradesh, Karnataka, Kerala,Chhattisgarh and Haryana andtwo Union Territories of Daman& Diu, and Dadra and NagarHaweli constituted local com-plaints committee while Statesof Telangana, Goa, Rajasthan,Maharashtra, were still in theprocess of setting them up.Rest of the States and UTs didnot respond to the RTI query.
On the appointment ofDistrict Nodal officers for col-lection of complaints, only 12States and four UTs had detailsabout the same. Rest States/UTswere either in the process ofappointing them or chose not
to give response to the query.The shocking part was aboutthe Annual ComplianceReports which no State or UTproduced barring the exceptionof Haryana and Rajasthan. Theabsence of Delhi was conspic-uous as under no head, theCapital provided informationunder the Act.
The Bench of Chief JusticeDipak Misra, Justices AMKhanwilkar and DYChandrachud issued notice onthe PIL posting the matter forhearing after four weeks. Thepetition said, "It is quite wellknown that the women work-ing at the grass-root level arevictims of sexual harassmentbut in the absence of any griev-ance redressal mechanismavailable to them for makingcomplaints, they suffer the actof sexual harassment silently."
The Act was enacted togive a legal imprimatur to theVishaka guidelines formulatedby the Court in its judgment ofAugust 13, 1997 where everyorganisation, private,Government, or semiGovernment had to constitutea committee to deal with com-plaints of women facing sexu-al harassment at workplace.
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Three Central Ministrieshave come together to drive
a technology mission forIndian Railways, which wouldbe beneficial for both thetational transporter and acad-emic and research institutions.
A memorandum of under-standing (MoU) onTechnology Mission for IndianRailways (TMIR) was signedtoday by the Ministries ofRailways, Human ResourceDevelopment (HRD), andScience and Technology. Theagreement will "facilitate col-laboration and cooperation"between the Ministries.
"While the Indian Railwayswould get the world class tech-nologies, academic andresearch institutions would getinvolved in numerous appliedresearch projects which wouldhelp them in reorientingresearch towards nationalobjectives," Railway Boardchairman Ashwani Lohani said.
"This MoU will facilitatethe co-financing of TechnologyMission for Indian Railways byinvestment sharing for identi-fied railway projects for appliedresearch," he said. The fundingcomponent of the railwaysministry is 30 per cent, theHRD ministry is 25 per centand the department of scienceand technology (DST) 25 percent.
Lohani further said that the
indigenous technologies wouldsuccessfully be developed with"win-win scenario" to all theconsortium members. TheTechnology Mission will takeup research and developmentprojects in the areas of heavyhaul, safety, energy, environ-ment and urban railways.
The projects will be imple-mented through a MissionImplementation andCoordination Committee hav-ing members from the threeministries, academia and theindustry. The projects will beimplemented in the nationalresearch and development labs
and academic institutions.Collaborations, whereveressential, will be entered intowith similar foreign institu-tions.
The MoU was signed byTMIR chairman Professor N SVyas, Alok Kumar, co-chair-man, TMIR, on behalf of theMinistry of Railways, RSubrahmanyam, AdditionalSecretary, on behalf of Ministryof Human ResourceDevelopment and Dr NeerajSharma, Adviser, DST onbehalf of the Ministry ofScience and Technology.
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Congress president RahulGandhi on Thursday
utilised figures of declininginvestments to taunt the ModiGovernment over its 'Make inIndia' initiative, terming thenumbers an update on the
"Fake in India programme"."Guys a quick update on
the Fake in India program," hetweeted using the hashtag"#FakeinIndia" with it.
He also tagged a newsreport with his tweet thatclaimed fresh investments inIndia plunged to a 13-year lowas the number of stalled pro-jects rose in the Decemberquarter.
The news report quotingthe project-tracking database ofthe Centre for MonitoringIndian Economy (CMIE)claimed new project announce-ments by Indian companiestouched a 13-year low at � 77,000 crore in the Decemberquarter.
Rahul has been takingswipe at the Government andPrime Minister Narendra Modiwith his one-liners in the recentpast.
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Lok Sabha MPs, cutting acrossparty lines, on Thursday said
judiciary should refrain from"framing" laws and getting intothe domain of the legislature.
While supporting the HighCourt and the Supreme CourtJudges (Salaries and Conditions ofService) Amendment Bill, whichaims at hiking the salaries ofJudges in the Supreme Court andthe High Courts, several membersstressed on the supremacy ofParliament over judiciary.
Kalyan Banerjee (TMC)demanded that MPs across thepolitical spectrum shouldapproach the Supreme Courtand said that "it is not your func-tion" to legislate.
"Legislation should be left toParliament... Day by day the con-flict is emerging and unless it isstopped by the judiciary, in 10-15 years, there will be a directconflict between judiciary andParliament," Banerjee said.
Deputy Speaker MThambidurai, who was in theChair, too said the function ofjudiciary is to interpret the law."They can't legislate the law".
Supporting Banerjee'sviews, P Ravindra Babu (TDP)said Parliament is supremebecause "we represent the col-lective mandate of people."
Babu said the constitution-al mandate was vested onParliament and hence "we(Parliamentarians) should pre-vail over Supreme Court".
He demanded an 'All IndiaJudicial Service' for recruitmentof judges so that they comeunder the civil services rules.
"Why should judges enjoyimmunity," he asked and sug-gested that there should beaccountability of judges and forwrong judgments passed, theyshould be punished. Severalmembers also pitched for live tele-cast of proceedings within theHigh Courts and the SupremeCourt. "If Parliament proceedingsare telecast live, then why not havelive telecast of court proceedings,"Banerjee said, adding that if thishappens, then people can witnessthe behaviour of judges.
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Following the verdict in the 2Gspectrum scam case, the Supreme
Court on Thursday decided to exam-ine the status of investigation in theremaining cases linked to the 2G spec-trum scam and directed the Centre tofile a status report in this regardbefore January 23.
While the case against formerTelecom Minister ARaja resulted in acquit-tals by a Delhi courtrecently, there are fourother cases pendingprobe with the CentralBureau of Investigation(CBI) andE n f o r c e m e n tDirectorate of whichone is the Aircel-Maxis
deal involving former FinanceMinister P Chidambaram's son Karti.
The Bench of Justices ArunMishra and MM Shantanagoudardirected the Centre to file a statusreport on the pending cases in thebunch of 2G spectrum scam cases. Itsaid, "Although the trial court recent-ly has pronounced an order in the 2Gcase, that does not conclude the peti-tion pending before us."
The Court asked the SpecialPublic Prosecutor Anand Grover tolist the matters which are currentlyunder probe. Besides the Aircel-Maxis
deal, Grover referred to a case of irreg-ularities in grant of excess spectrumto major telecom companies such asAirtel and Vodafone that resulted ina loss of over �840 crore to the pub-lic exchequer. However, the trial courtdischarged all the accused in the casefollowing which the SPP opined thatit's a fit case for filing a review peti-tion. To this, Centre differed andsought opinion of Attorney Generalwho was in favour of a partial review.
Senior BJP leader SubramanianSwamy also raised another issue con-cerning a senior investigating officerof Enforcement Directorate who wasbeing deprived of promotional bene-fits for acting against certain politicalbigwigs accused in the 2G scam.
Swamy said anonymous com-plaints were made against Singh andthe Court had in the past protected allinvestigating officers from being influ-enced in any manner while conduct-ing the probe in the 2G cases.
The Bench said it would look intothe matter once the Centre filed the reply.
Singh had said that complaintswere filed against him soon after heattached assets worth Rs 1.16 crore ofthe accused in the Aircel-Maxis case.These assets were of Kart iChidambaram and a firm allegedlylinked to him in connection with ED'smoney laundering probe into thedeal.
Opposition members in the LokSabha on Thursday alleged a
conspiracy to drive out Bengali-speak-ing population from Assam by notmentioning them in the NationalRegister of Citizens (NRC), a chargerejected as "baseless" by HomeMinister Rajnath Singh.
He said the finalisation of NRCwas being done under the supervisionof the Supreme Court.
Trinamool Congress memberSaugata Roy raised the issue as soon asthe Zero Hour began, pointing out thatnames of 1.3 crore people out of 3.29crore population of Assam had notappeared in the first draft of NRC,which aims at identifying illegal immi-grants.
"We fear this is a conspiracy todrive out Bengali- speaking peoplefrom Assam," Roy said, drawing vocif-erous support from his party MPs andsome members of the Congress andthe Left parties.
Responding to the claim, theHome Minister said the NCR's workwas going on under the supervision of
the Supreme Court and there was noneed for anyone to feel concerned.
"Those whose names have beenleft out can approach a tribunal. It isa baseless allegation that some peopleare being driven out," said Rajnath.
Assam Chief Minister SarbanandaSonowal had on Wednesday said allthose excluded in the first NRC draftshould not worry as no one will be dis-criminated against on the basis of casteor community and given opportuni-ties to prove their citizenship.
Sonowal also said a mechanism hasto be devised "humanely" by the Centreon what to do with those found to beillegal immigrants after finalisation ofthe NRC, a list of the State's citizens.
The BJP had made identificationof illegal immigrants in Assam fromBangladesh, an overwhelming numberof whom are Muslims, its key pollplank during the Assembly polls in2016. BP won the Assembly polls inAssam, forming its first Governmentin the North-Eastern State.
Some of the Opposition MPs andother leaders from Assam have alsocomplained that there names have notfigured in the draft NRC.
Some of the opposition MPs andother leaders from Assam have alsocomplained that there names have notfigured in the draft NRC.
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In a move to reduce defor-estation in the country and
increase the carbon stock, Indiamay dole out incentives, like taxexemption to owners to pre-serve their land.
Incidentally, Brazil, whichhas the world's largest tropicalAmazon rainforest that soaksup vast amounts of carbonand its preservation is seen asimportant in the fight againstclimate change, is also mullingpayments for "environmentalservices" to landowners whomaintain a minimum percent-age of their land in its naturalState.
In fact, a recent study pub-lished in the journal 'Science'too has said deforestationdropped by more than half inUgandan villages where landowners were paid about USD28 per hectare each year if theypreserved their trees.
India may follow the suitwith the Union EnvironmentMinistry seeking nod from theFinance and RuralDevelopment Ministries fortax exemption, exemption fromapplication of the restriction ofRural Land Ceiling to the pri-vate land which can be pre-served as forest land.
As restriction on area thatcan be developed (Not exceed-ing 5 per cent for instance)attracts the provision of Forest(Conservation) Act, 1980 as
this would involve land usechange, the RD Ministry'sintervention is being sought.
The EnvironmentMinistry's move follows anadvice from a Parliamentarypanel which suggested the for-mer to incentivize the privateland owners to grow the landavailable with them as forest toenhance the country's greenarea cover.
"The Committee feels thatas the forest cover of the coun-try has been drastically andconstantly depleting, there is aneed to involve private sectorin increasing the forest cover byencouraging private land par-ticipation in preservation andconservation of forests," saidthe panel headed by RajyaSabha MP Anand Sharma.
In its report tabled inParliament on Thursday, thepanel noted that many peoplehaving large landholdings werekeen to contribute to increas-
ing the forest cover of thecountry. This would also givea boost to the shrinking forestcover of the country, the panelsaid as it favoured tax exemp-tions and compensations tothose who propose to raiseforests on the big areas of landavailable with them.
"They should be incen-tivized only when the landavailable with them grows asforest, so that the green areacover of the country grows," thereport said adding that this willnot only increase India's forestcover, meet some of the GreenIndia Mission requirementsbut also bring in much need-ed private participation in con-servation and preservation offorests.
In its reply, the Ministryagreed with the panel's recom-mendation, saying that it wouldalso encourage the people fortaking up plantation on privatelands on voluntary basis.
By now, the heartbreaking death ofSantoshi Kumari, an 11-year oldresident of Karimati village inJharkhand, has been well report-ed in the news across Jharkhand
and the country. It has been widely report-ed that the death of this poor girl was dueto starvation after her family’s ration card wascancelled since it was not linked to theirAadhaar number. Governmental authoritiesin the State of Jharkhand, however, seem tobe of the view that her death was due to‘malaria’ and not starvation. There, howev-er, is no denying the fact that Santoshi’s fam-ily was unable to access food grains throughthe Public Distribution System (PDS).
To focus on what ultimately cost Santoshiher life and to ignore the structural issues thatthreaten to cripple families across the coun-try is to miss the forest for the trees and reeksof the callousness that is now synonymouswith the approach of the Centre.
How Aadhaar and PDS work together: Currently, for a person to accessfood through PDS, it is mandatory to followAadhaar-based biometric authentication(ABBA) system that is the practice of usingan electric Point of Sale (PoS) machine foreach transaction. As part of implementingthe ABBA system, it is imperative thatAadhaar seeding, which is the practice of get-ting an Aadhaar number linked to the rationcard, is completed. This process is riddledwith issues that have been well document-ed. One such issue is that there is a possibil-ity that for the Aadhaar seeding to be effec-tive, there can be no discrepancy in detailsbetween the ration cards and the Aadhaardatabase. Therefore, any sort of discrepan-cy creates a situation wherein a person isdenied access food. Additionally, since thisseeding is compulsory and the Governmentis carelessly pushing this process, there aremore and more cases that are coming outwherein individuals are just not aware of thisrequirement of seeding. This is not only thecase with respect to PDS but has been foundin other areas as well, such as availing ben-efits under the Mahatma Gandhi NationalRural Employment Guarantee Act (MGN-REGA) and pensions.
Another step that needs to be complet-ed in order to avail benefits under PDS is theactual biometric authorisation that is requiredto be completed at the time of each purchase.This authorisation requires each individualto cross multiple hurdles, including powersupply, a functioning PoS machine, ensur-ing that the State and Central identities datarepository servers, which stores relevantinformation, is up and running and ensur-ing that there is adequate mobile andInternet connectivity. Therefore, every timea person has to get food that she is entitledto, she has to pray that all of these variablesthat are not in her control work in her favour.
Have the objectives been met and what
about the costs? The apparent benefits thathas been touted by the Government is thatlinking of Aadhaar with PDS will help ensurethat fake ration cards, which are in use, willautomatically be removed from the systemand, therefore, help reduce corruption thatails the PDS system. What is obviously over-looked, however, is the fact that in theirenthusiasm to ensure 100 per cent seeding,the Government found it acceptable to affectthe lives of thousands of people. When theGovernment in Jharkhand ordered that thoseration cards, which had not been linked toAadhaar, be canceled and then went on tostate with remarkable confidence that thecancelled ration cards were fake, individu-als like Santoshi (possible ‘malaria’ infectionnotwithstanding) were the unnecessary vic-tims of this enthusiasm.
Another benefit that has been touted isthat this move will help remove corruptionthat otherwise ails the PDS. This argumenttoo has been found lacking. This is becauseas per reports, corruption in the PDS is pri-marily in the form of ‘cuts’, which is the prac-tice of giving an individual lesser food thanwhat the person is entitled too. Surveys indi-cate that there is little or no differencebetween the amount of corruption in theform of these cuts before and after ABBA wasimplemented. Therefore, the benefits ofABBA do not seem worth the costs that arenumerous and have been discussed below.
Access to ration: The obvious cost isaccess to ration. That is, however, only a prob-lem if the Government is willing to acknowl-edge that people have been excluded in itsenthusiasm to show ‘100 per cent seeding’.
The Government in Jharkhand announcedon September 7 that it had achieved 100 percent seeding. In truth, however, of the 2.3crore people in Jharkhand, who are coveredunder the PDS, only 1.7 crore have linkedtheir Aadhaar numbers. And these are notjust statistics, each of those individuals, whohave wrongly been excluded from the PDS,are going to potentially go hungry becauseof the Governments callousness.Additionally, since the person needs to bepresent in person to avail the benefit of PDSunder ABBA, often if a person is unwell ortoo old to make the trip to the shop to getfood grains, he/she will automatically beexcluded from the PDS.
Increase in transaction costs: As dis-cussed before, the implementation of ABBArequires a number of variables to work infavour of a person. Since all factors, such asInternet connectivity and a working PoS sys-tem need to be in place at the time of obtain-ing food grains, people have to make mul-tiple trips to get food.
General callousness of theGovernment: The implementation ofABBA with the PDS has been riddled withnumerous issues and experts on theground, such as Jean Dreze, have oftencommented on the ails of the current sys-tem. However, what is not surprising is thecallousness of the Government when itcomes to issues that have been raised. Itis apparent that the Government has inbeen in a hurry to implement ‘reforms’and ignored the high cost of human life.This is not only the case with PDS but isalso apparent from the other ‘reforms’ that
it has instituted. In the case of demoneti-sation, there were numerous deaths thatwere a result of the Government’s ill-informed and poorly implementedscheme. The Government had stated thatdemonetisation will help it achieve itsobjectives of removing black money fromthe economy and prevent counterfeiting.Similar to PDS, in the case of demoneti-sation the Government failed to achieveits objectives and when the shortfalls werehighlighted, it reacted the only way itknows how by deflecting blame.
Demonetisation had caused many indi-viduals both in cities in towns tremendousproblems. Try to remember the time whenyou were unable to withdraw cash and were,therefore, essentially paralysed by the lack offunds where you had to borrow and beg formoney. Now try and imagine the difficultiesthat an individual who has to access foodgrains through the PDS has to go through.
This person cannot ask someoneelse to get the food, he has to get hisAadhaar card seeded and has to be luckyenough to have all Government infra-structure working in his favour. Imaginefor a moment how severely affected thisman’s family has been by this entireprocess if he cannot ensure that he willbe able to get the food grains. If you havemanaged to imagine the trials and tribu-lations of this family, pat yourself on theback. Because it is clear that thisGovernment is unable to.
(The writer, Jharkhand PCC president,is a former MP and IPS officer. Viewsexpressed are personal)
Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Well begun’s half done” (January3). The New Year brought a well-deserved jolt for Pakistan from USPresident Donald Trump. In hisfirst tweet in the New Year, Trumpwrote, “The United States has fool-ishly given Pakistan more than 33billion dollars in aid over the last15 years and they have given usnothing but lies and deceit, think-ing of our leaders as fools. Theygive safe haven to the terrorists wehunt in Afghanistan with littlehelp. No more!”
The US President has onlyspoken the truth about Pakistan.India has since a long time beenemphasising that the US aid wasbeing misused by Pakistan inhelping financially and militarilyanti-India terrorist groups oper-ating on Pakistani soil. But thereare contradictions among the USadministration itself.
According to media reports,recently, the US Department ofDefence put pressure on keyCongressional committees todrop a provision linking finan-cial aid to Pakistan withIslamabad, taking demonstrableaction against the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), insisting thatcurbing the Haqqani networkmust remain the top priority andadding LeT was like “shifting thegoal post for Pakistan”.
Such differentiation betweenterror groups is self-defeating.However, after Trump’s toughtalk, suspension of $255 millionmilitary aid to Pakistan is a pos-itive development for India.
MC JoshiLucknow
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Sir — The proposed NationalMedical Commission Bill is going tospell disaster for the healthcare sys-tem and Indian medical doctors arerightly concerned about the Bill. Aclause in the Bill, which was recent-ly tabled in Parliament, has proposedto enhance the interface between tra-ditional and modern systems ofhealing. If the Bill is passed, practi-tioners of ayurveda, unani, siddhaand homoeopathy will have the rightto prescribe modern medicinesafter completing a ‘bridge course’.
‘Medical pluralism’, a philosophythat is suggestive of integratingdiverse systems of healing, is notnecessarily a bad idea. It is likely towiden the choice of treatmentoptions for patients. But the propos-al to assimilate traditional systemswith modern counterparts raisespertinent questions.
For instance, would a bridgecourse be enough to train ortho-dox healers? Scientific fervourand temperament of all forms ofmedicine will be stifled. This willencourage the spawning of half-baked doctors armed with thelicence to err. Remember, MBBSdoctors will have to compulsorilypass the licentiate exam, despitegoing through the tough NEETentrance. Given the MedicalCouncil of India needs to bereplaced by a robust, corruption-free proactive integrated system,ethical practice and guidelines, butthe NMC Bill, in its present form,is a far cry from that vision.
The year 2017 registered adetracted track record in thestate of the environment as well
as in our responses to the problem. InIndia, as well as globally, while a wors-ening environment was afflicted byextreme natural disasters — manywith potential links to climate change— and consequent livelihood crises inthe form of farm distress and migra-tion, the solutions so embraced, tookus several steps backward.
This is brought out most clear-ly by the numerous global environ-mental conferences that have takenplace over the year. Instead of own-ing up responsibility for harmfulenvironmental degradation and cli-mate change and taking serious mit-igation action, the tendency has
been to encourage polluters toremain complacent; allow countriesto pass-off their dubious environ-mental track-record as achieve-ments; foist off their burden ofaction on private players and busi-nesses; and come up with ideas toensure incoming climate disastersrather than preventing them andseeking to make business out ofdoubtful ‘technology’ to mitigateenvironmental harms.
In the mess that environmentaland climate negotiations have become,it is not that all countries, such asIndia, necessarily act out of oppor-tunistic or malign intentions. ToIndia’s credit, it must be acknowledgedthat the climate policy under the ModiGovernment has been hauled out ofits erstwhile slumber and dynamisedto such an extent that India hasbecome a leader in climate negotia-tions — the pre-Modi climate policywas highly bureaucratic and focusedon building more bodies and institu-tions rather than consolidating thecountry’s gains in global negotiationsor bringing the climate discourse to
the Indian public. But this success is a virtue of
India’s diplomatic and foreign poli-cy prowess and of national narrative-building, instead of climate or envi-ronmental policy per se, coupled withthe general nature of the UnitedNations Framework Convention onClimate Change negotiations thatfocuses more on visions, talks/solu-tions, partnerships and very little onany concrete improvements.
Whatever positive initiatives canbe anticipated for our climate actionor environmental future have becomeoverwhelmingly dependent on themercy of private investments and cir-cumstantial fall in cost of new tech-nology. Pro-active initiatives to phaseout coal and other polluting sub-stances have been missing.
India’s success in the renewableenergy transition can mainly be cred-ited to the falling cost of renewablesand a global push towards makingthem more business-conducive. Thus,not just India, but variously, severalcountries are benefitting from therenewables transition. But the real test
of our commitment to combating cli-mate and environmental crisis isrevealed by what is being done to thestate of the environment and how weare responding to it.
It is here that India has taken sev-eral steps backward. Several trendsare, at once, visible. The most glaringis the dilution of environmentalnorms and institutions, which havebeen a constant refrain throughout theyear, and which reveals our ingrainedbelief that money and institutions arethe answer to solving environmentalills, without any behavioral change.
The history of ill-abled institu-tions like National Clean Energy &Environment Fund, whose ‘unspent’funds were diverted for Goods andServices Tax compensation, showsthat environmental protection can-not be brought about by fattening thecoffers of bureaucratic bodies. Yet,while the Government was slammedfor diverting unspent funds, noquestions were raised about why thefunds were lying unspent andwhether we require more money forsolving environmental problems.
For instance, India did vie formore funding at the climate changenegotiations, but the problem is notof insufficient funds but of the factthat we have not prioritised our envi-ronmental imperatives. REDD plus isalready giving a lot of funding.Similarly, India received $745 millionfrom four multilateral climate fundsbetween 2013 and 2016 — the high-est in the world.
Yet, action on climate change atground level continues to be muddled.Particularly, the year 2017 saw —besides liberal environmental clear-ances for irrigation and other projects— extensive violations of rules bythermal plants, in terms of sulphurand nitrogen oxide emissions, exces-sive water consumption and imper-missible levels of particulate matter.No progress was made in retrofittingexisting power plants to new stan-dards — many of this can be done byamending and relaxing existing rulesby the Ministry itself.
Not formulating regulations forindustries and power plants, whichemit majority of sulphur and nitro-
gen oxides in the air, has also con-tributed to air pollution in Delhi,which earned India wide disrepute.
But wasn’t this trajectory to beexpected? The prioritisation of insti-tution-building and funding overpractice is evident through a starkcontrast between India’s leadershiprole on the global climate talks andits environmental record back home.These outcomes are not due to meredevelopment-environment trade-off— a narrow way of viewing the prob-lem — but of the godhead we havemade out of so-called ‘development’.
While, on a positive note, theModi Government has been tryingto overcome such sharp divisions, ona negative note, pervasiveness ofdevelopment ideal has been overes-timated and overplayed. Perhaps, theideal has a limited utility in unifyingthe national psyche and overcomeexisting social divisions, but carry-ing it too far, too seriously, has start-ed spelling disasters for us.
(The writer is with the Institute forPeace and Conflict Studies and writesfor The Resurgent India Trust)
As more and more peopleget educated and theimpact of education onquality of life and successbecomes known to the
people, demand for good and glob-al education increases. Mobility forgood education has been in practiceand it will increase in the future asmodes of transport becomes avail-able and affordable.
If we look at some of the bestuniversities in the world, it will beclear that universities, which attract-ed students from far and wide,emerged as the best centres of learn-ing. The opposite is also true; cen-tres of learning where the best stu-dents went, emerged as renownedcentres of learning.
We have evidence of learnerstravelling to distant locations insearch of knowledge. The betterknown amongst them are theChinese travellers Fa Hien, SungYun, Hsuan Tsang and I Tsing dur-ing 400 to 700 AD. They travelled allthe way on foot to India to get accessto knowledge preserved in Sanskritand Pali texts. Knowledge is for glob-al good and countries, which succeedin generating knowledge, emerge asleaders and India has been one suchland which was a global leader inknowledge generation.
In modern times, international-isation of education has also beenseen as a process of brain drain infavour of the rich nations. Resource-rich nations are able to establish andsustain universities. Universitiesrequire constant supply of funds forsupplies to the library, laboratoriesand also human resource.
Bright students from poor anddeveloping nations, either for asmall scholarship or on their own,migrate to the best universities forhigher education to rich and devel-oped nations. The best minds whocould have contributed to their owncountries also migrate to the richnations for a small scholarship. Eventhe few bright students from poornations migrate to the rich andprosperous countries but this a natural process which we can subvert artificially.
We often lament on none of theIndian institution finding a place inthe list of best 100 institutions in theworld, but we never try to introducemeasures to catapult our institutionsto the group of best institutions.
The first condition for any insti-tution to become ‘best’ will be toattract the best learners.Internationalisation means attractingstudents as well as teachers from allparts of the world. The brightest stu-dents be attracted from differentcountries through offer of scholar-ship and other facilities, like safe and
decent accommodation and teacherswith good academic backgroundand publications be invited to teachfrom any part of the world on com-petitive salary and not identicalsalary structure.
Most Indian institutions do nothave learners from more than 300kms away from its location. Indianuniversities which use to attractlearners from other parts of thecountry now mostly have local stu-dents. Universities have becomelocal. Look at the student populationof universit ies l ike CalcuttaUniversity, Madras University,Mumbai University, Banaras HinduUniversity and Patna University, itwill become clear that these univer-sities used to attract learners as wellas teachers from all parts of thecountry but today, they neither havelearners coming from distances morethan 500 kms and also the teachersappointed in last 10 years are most-ly local. Even the Vice Chancellorsare all from the same State or nearby States.
A major drawback of institutionsbecoming ‘local’ is that their curricu-lum too slowly becomes local. If wewere to look at the curriculum ofsome of the best institutions, it willbe apparent that their curriculum isglobal. The international studentand teacher community make itunavoidable for the institutions to
constantly update their curriculumto remain in the list of best institutions.
A number of colleges have beengiven autonomous status in the lastfew decades. These colleges couldconstitute their own Board ofStudies for the disciplines theywere offering. On examination, ithas come to notice that the inviteesto the Board of Studies were all localand in the minority autonomousinstitutions, the invitees were most-ly from their community.
The content of education cannotbe local and also cannot be commu-nity driven. A good scheme of pro-viding autonomy to good institu-tions has been reduced to morelocalisation and parochialisationof education.
Only brick and mortar institu-tions do not have the capacity to goglobal. More and more distancemode institutions are now global.Neither the faculty nor the learnersneed to re-locate. The best institu-tions would be providing courses on-line and across border.
We have badly meshed up ourdistance education in the last fiveyears since the Distance EducationCouncil (DEC) was merged with theUniversity Grants Commission(UGC). This is a national loss. Wecould have reached out to globalteaching and learning communities
through the SWAYAM programmeif our distance education policy wasnot neglected. The Government setup a committee in 2014 to submitits report on revamping distanceeducation but the recommenda-tions were shelved and no changewas brought in distance educationsystem. The real benefit of digitaleducation will not be reaped if wedo not quickly re-energise the dis-tance education system and make it globally accepted.
The Indian higher education isat crossroads. Private institutionsare fast adopting ways and meansnecessary to become global and amust to become the best. Privateinstitutions are attracting studentsand teachers not only from differ-ent parts of the country but alsoabroad.
The most alarming trend is thatof the best teachers from public uni-versities migrating to private univer-sities because they are paid for aca-demic achievements and allowed toteach and research in dignity andpeace. One of the crucial gaps hasbeen the failure to enforce qualityparameters in our institutions. Theassessment and accreditation policyhas not worked. We either reformfast or be prepared to perish.
(The writer is Chairman,National Institute of Open Schooling.Views expressed are personal)
dering a Hindu activist, 32-year-old Deepak Rao atKatipalla in the coastal town ofMangaluru on Wednesday. Thebrutal murder of Deepak Raohas sent shock waves and theright wing organisations havedemanded an NIA probe.
According to HomeMinister Ramalinga Reddy,four persons have been arrest-ed in connection with the mur-der of Deepak Rao and policeare further investigating thematter to ascertain the detailsabout the arrested persons. Hesaid on Thursday that thecoastal town was peaceful andpolice have taken all measuresto prevent any untoward inci-dents.
He said, “Four people havebeen arrested in the murder ofDeepak Rao in Mangaluru.Two were shot at and arepresently recovering in thehospital. Police are enquiringwhether they belonged to PFIor any other organisation. Icondemn the incident. Byevening we will come to knowall the details. Body has beencremated”. “The Governmenthas announced �10 lakh com-pensation to the deceased. I
request all the parties to coop-erate in maintaining the peaceat Mangaluru,” he added.
He also said that theCongress party does not haveany link with PFI as alleged bythe BJP. The Home Ministersaid only 11 Hindu activistshave been killed in the com-munal violence.
The deceased has beenidentified as Deepak, an exec-utive in a mobile SIM cards dis-tribution shop. Police said thepolitical affiliation of the victimwas not immediately known.
The State BJP came downheavily on the ruling CongressGovernment led by ChiefMinister Siddaramaiah fordeteriorating law and orderespecially murders of Hinduactivists in coastal districts.
Strongly condemning the“cold-blooded murder”, BJPleaders R Ashok andAshwathnarayana demandedNIA probe into it. Theycharged that the CongressGovernment in the State hadallowed “jehadi forces” to havea field day and to indulge in“wanton killings” of Hinduworkers in pursuance of its‘vote-bank politics’ and minor-ity appeasement.
With this heinous killing,the number of Hindutva work-ers who have fallen to the
‘murderous agenda of jehadiforces’ has risen to 22, they said.
The costal district ofMangaluru a communallyvolatile and sensitive districthas been witnessing a spate ofviolence in the poll boundKarnataka.
Many leaders, includingVHP Karnataka South PresidentMB Puranik, MLC GaneshKarnik, BJP leader Satyajith,former Ministers B NagarajaShetty and Krishna J Palemarand others were present.
Meanwhile, shops and
establishments in and aroundSurathkal including Katipallaand Krishnapura, remainedclosed throughout the day.
Meanwhile in HassanChief Minister Siddaramaiahsaid the Home Minister cannotbe asked to resign for every-thing. BJP has demand thatHome Minister RamalingaReddy must step down owningresponsibility for the murder ofHindu activist Deepak Rao inMangaluru on Wednesday.
He said, “The incidentmust not have taken place. All
lives are important and theguilty must be punished. Thepolice have already arrestedfour people and investigationsare on. The BJP is responsiblefor all the communal violencein the State. They are the onesspreading bitterness in society,”the CM added.
BJP State President BSYeddyurappa accused DakshinaKannada district in-chargeMinister Ramanth Rai of ‘hav-ing a hand in the murder ofHindu activist Deepak Rao inMangaluru on Wednesday.
“Reign of bloodbath con-tinues unabated in theCongress-ruled Karnataka.Hindutva workers are dyinglike Guinea pigs,” said a state-ment issued by the State BJP.The saffron party, apart fromaccusing the Popular Front ofIndia (PFI) for the murder, hassought an NIA probe into thematter.
The Mangaluru policechased and arrested Naushad,Rizwan, Pinky Nawaz,Nirshaan on suspicion of com-mitting the crime. The motivebehind the murder is yet to beestablished.
FIR against West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee forterming the ongoing process ofupdating of National Registerof Citizens (NRC) as a con-spiracy to drive away theBengalis even as several socialorganisation and political par-ties condemned the ‘irrespon-sible’ statement of the WBChief Minister.
All Assam Lawyers’Association lodged a FIRagainst Banerjee at the Latasilpolice station in the city onThursday under Section 153(A) of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) and said that the state-ment of the West BengalChief Minister has communalovertones to destabilise thepeace and communal har-mony in the State.
Based on the FIR, theLatasil police has registered acase against the West BengalChief Minister under Section153 (A) of the IPC for alleged-ly trying to promote dishar-mony among communities.
It may be mentioned herethat Banerjee while speaking ata public meeting at Birbhumdistrict stated that the BJPGovernment in Assam hashatched conspiracy to driveaway the Bengalis and termedthe process to update the NRCas ‘Bengali Hatao’ movement.
Several social organisationas well as the political partiescondemned the statement ofBanerjee and took to the streetsto protest against the WestBengal Chief Minister. Severalorganisations also demandedthe Government to arrest theleader under National SecurityAct (NSA).
“The statement shows herlack of knowledge. The upda-tion of NRC is being done atthe instruction and guidance ofthe Supreme Court. So thestatement by the WB ChiefMinister is a contempt of court.I think the Supreme Courtwill take a suo moto cognisanceagainst her soon,” said AssamFinance Minister HimantaBiswa Sarma while reacting tothe statement of Banerjee.
Adviser of All Assam
Students’ Union (Aasu)Samujjal Bhattacharyya alsocondemned the statements ofBanerjee and said that it is‘instigative’ in nature.
“The West Bengal ChiefMinister is not aware about thehistory of Assam. NRC hasbeen updated according to theAssam Accord and under con-sistent monitoring of theSupreme Court. According tothe Assam Accord those whohave entered Assam after mid-night of March 24, 1971 has togo. There is the question ofBengalis or Muslims. Thosewho have entered Assam afterthe midnight of March 24,1971, they have to leave theState,” he said urging the WestBengal Chief Minister toapproach the apex court if shehas any grievances.
Former Chief Minister andsenior Asom Gana Parishad(AGP) leader Prafulla KumarMahanta termed it as a political move to destabilise thepeace in Assam. “I could see a scheme to flare up communal tension and desta-bilise the peace in Assam,”Mahanta said.
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In a setback to the KeralaNCP, a court in Kottayam on
Thursday directed theVigilance and Anti-CorruptionBureau (VACB) to conduct adetailed investigation by regis-tering an FIR against its leaderThomas Chandy, who hadresigned as State TransportMinister in November overcharges of land and lakeencroachment and illegal land-filling of paddy field for con-struction of a road by misap-propriating public funds.
The Court of EnquiryCommissioner and SpecialJudge (Vigilance), Kottayam,ordered the probe againstChandy, one of the only twoMLAs of the NCP, a partner ofthe CPI(M)-led ruling LDF, onthe basis of the VACB’s findingthat he had constructed a roadto the Lake Place Resort heowned in Alappuzha by violating the Paddy Land and Wet Land ConservationAct of 2008.
Vigilance Judge V Dilipissued the order while hearinga petition filed by MK Subhash,a lawyer and Alappuzha districtsecretary of the Janata Dal (S),another LDF constituent. Thecase would now be taken up onJanuary 18. The Vigilance court
directed the VACB to submit itsreport by that day.
The probe against Chandywould be held on the chargesof violating the Paddy Landand Wet Land ConservationAct and conspiracy. Chandy,the richest legislator in Kerala,had constructed the road using�28 lakh allotted by theHarbour EngineeringDepartment and �25 lakh fromthe fund of two MPs.
The Vigilance court had onNovember 4, 2017 directed theVACB to conduct a preliminaryinquiry into the charges againstChandy and had asked it tosubmit its report within amonth. However, the agencygot a month’s extension. Thecourt ordered the probe onThursday on the basis of areport filed by M JohnsonJoseph Superintendent of Police(Vigilance), Kottayam.
The Vigilance had throughits preliminary probe foundthat the one-kilometer roadleading to Chandy’s resort wasconstructed by land-fillingpaddy field without obtainingclearances from the State anddistrict paddy field conserva-tion committees and theGovernment. Johnson recom-mended probe into the allega-tion by stating that officialscould have connived in this.
The Vigilance SP submit-ted his report to the court onThursday after it was cleared byState police chief LoknathBehera, who is also the VACBDirector. The preliminary find-ing is that Chandy had got theMP funds released by creatingan impression that this was aproject for the local people butonly his resort got the benefitof the road on completion ofconstruction.
Chandy, who has busi-nesses in Kerala and the Gulf,had resigned as minister onNovember 15 following thecontroversies over his allegedencroachment of land and lakeand illegal construction of theroad. He had become Ministeron April 1 last after the otherNCP legislator, AK Saseendran,resigned from the LDF Cabinetfollowing a sexual harassmentscandal.
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Gujarat unit of the BJP aswell as the Vijay Rupani
Government are all set to facefirst litmus test post Assemblypolls in February this year inwake of elections of 75 munic-ipalities, 17 taluka panchayats,1,400 village panchayats andcouple of district panchayats.
Though the BJP could winthe Assembly polls but the saffron party got only 99 seatsout of 182 compared to 117 inprevious 2012 elections.Moreover, the party is also fac-ing discontent in several MLAsincluding few Ministers overthe exclusion in the Council ofMinisters and allocation ofportfolios respectively.
On Thursday a meeting ofGujarat BJP office-bearers as wellas district presidents and secre-taries was held at the party’s Stateheadquarters – Shri Kamalam inpresence of CM Rupani to discussstrategies for the upcoming pollsof local bodies.
In the meeting it wasdecided that from 11th to 13this month, observers appoint-ed for all the municipalitieswhere elections would be heldwould visit and meet localworkers and office bearers.Door to door campaign wouldalso be conducted duringJanuary 16 to 18, said GujaratBJP spokesman Bharat Pandya.
The saffron party is inpower in 58 out of 75 munici-palities at present and 13 out of
17 taluka panchayats. Both thedistrict panchayats are alsowith the ruling party. It wouldbe a big challenge for the saf-fron brigade to maintain thesimilar situation as last timethese local bodies were wonunder the able leadership ofNarendra Modi, but this timehe wouldn’t be around.
Although village panchayatelections are not fought on partysymbols but the political outfitshave sway over the candidatescontesting such elections.
The Congress on its part ishoping to win more number oflocal bodies as the oldest polit-ical outfit in the countryimprove its tally from meagre 60seats in 2012 to 77 in the recent-ly concluded Assembly polls.
heavy casualties and smashed atleast two mortar positions ofPakistan Rangers in strong retal-iatory action along theInternational Border oppositeSamba sector to avenge loss oflife of BSF head constable in‘unprovoked’ ceasefire violation.
Hours later alert BSFtroops foiled an infiltrationbid in Arnia sub sector of RSPura early Thursday morningby eliminating an ‘unarmed’intruder close to the barbedwire fence. BSF jawans had ear-lier noticed suspicious move-ment of an intruder around5.45 a.m in the same sector.
Taking advantage of thefoggy weather conditions anintruder had sneaked inside theIndian territory when he waschallenged by the BSF troopersand later fired upon in which hewas killed around 7 am. He wasbelieved to be either part of thebig group of infiltrators or wasone of their local guide.
Inspector General of BSF,Jammu Frontier Ram Awtarafter paying tributes to martyredBSF jawan RP Hazra at BSFheadquarters on Thursday toldreporters, “BSF jawans gave‘solid response’ to unprovoked
firing from the Pakistani side ofthe border late Wednesdaynight”.
He, however, refused toconfirm the total number ofPakistan Rangers killed in retaliatory action. “We haveinflicted heavy damage insidetheir posts. We destroyed theirweapons, solar panels andinflicted injuries”, he added.
“Post injury to BSF trooperHead Constable RP Hazra fromunprovoked fire by Pakistanforces on Jammu IB in Sambasector yesterday, the retaliationcontinued till late night,” the BSFsaid in a separate written state-ment on Thursday.
The unprovoked firingfrom Pakistan side started firstfrom small arms and later theyused automatics coupled withmortar shellings. “BSF troopersconsolidated their positions,located and marked Pakistanfiring positions and started pre-cision targeted fire. TwoPakistan mortar positions werelocated, targeted and destroyedby BSF troopers wednesdaynight only. The coordinatedprecision fire of BSF trooperssilenced Pakistan guns,” theBSF said in a statement.
Senior BSF officers sus-pected fresh round of firingalong the International Border
could be a deliberate tactic byPakistan to provide cover fireto intruding terrorists.
IG BSF Ram Awtar also con-firmed the latest intelligencereports of movement of infiltra-tors along the International bor-der. “There are inputs that thereis movement of militants andaccordingly, we have declared‘Ops Alert’ on the border”.
Earlier,the BSF gave a mil-itary send off by organisingWreath-laying ceremony atFrontier headquarters here inthe honour of the late HeadConstable Radha Pada Hazara,who was killed in sniper firingby Pakistan rangers along the IB
in Samba sector onWednesday. J&K DGPSP Vaid, IGP JammuZone and SD Singhattended the ceremonyalong with the othersenior officers andJawans of BSF. “It isbecause of that alertness,that they have acted likethat (resorting to sniperfiring). The moral of theBSF is high and willcontinue to remainhigh,” the IG said.
Due to fresh flareup of tensions along theInternational Border thelocal police authoritiesin Samba and Hiranagarhad taken certain pre-cautionary measuresincluding shifting ofwomen and children tosafer places in mobilebullet proof bunkers toensure their safety.
Kolkata: The BJP workers onThursday staged road blockadesat Howrah Bridge and jammedparts of Bombay Road after twosenior party leaders including aparty district president and aState committee member wereon Wednesday attacked byalleged Trinamool Congressgoons. Their cars were smashedand two rounds of bullets werefired while they were cam-paigning in Uluberia a sub-divi-sion town by the Bombay Roadwhere a by-election would bestaged on January 29.
“The Trinamool is scared bythe rise of BJP as an alternative
in the State which is why they aretaking this terror tactic to stop usfrom campaigning. But we willnot be deterred,” said State BJPleader Shantanu Bose addingHowrah SP Gaurav Kumarrefused to take action against theTrinamool goons despite repeat-ed complaints. If he continues todo like this then we shall beforced to lodge a complaint withthe Election Commission seek-ing his removal from the post,”Bose said.
The seat fell vacant follow-ing the death of sittingTrinamool MP Sultan Ahmed.
Investigation bringing chargesof non-cooperation anddestruction of evidence in theSaradha and other chit fundcases before the Supreme Court,an apparently mellowed KolkataCommissioner of Police RajeevKumar is learnt to have writtento the Agency Director offeringcooperation but not beforealleging prejudice against theinvestigating officials. He soughtthe multi-crore scam to beprobed by “impartial” officials.
After a prolonged war ofnerves between the CBI andRajeev Kumar known for having
the trust of Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee, the Kolkatatop cop has written to CBIDirector seeking an unpreju-diced investigation into the scam.
Kumar requested the CBIto appoint an impartial officerwho was not part of the teaminvestigating the Sharada caseeven as the Agency refuted thesenior IPS officer’s allegationsof prejudice.
Earlier the Agency peti-tioned the Supreme Court inthe wake of Kumar’s repeatedfailure to respond to the sum-mons issued by the CBI — forquestioning. The case was
being probed by the centralAgency after Calcutta HighCourt and the Apex Courttransferred the case from theSpecial Investigation Team ofthe State Police led by Kumarto the CBI in 2014.
Mamata BanerjeeGovernment many of whoseMinisters and MPs were alleged-ly involved in the scam vainlyfought a long judicial battle —spending about �11 crore — toprevent the CBI investigation. Italso alleged, in an apparent actof intimidation the KolkataPolice even summoned the CBIofficials handling the probe toshare the details of investigations.
The CBI alleged thatdespite repeated reminders to
Kumar his Department failedto transfer the call details of twomost powerful Sharada mas-terminds Sudipto Sen andDebjani Mukhejee. The inves-tigation had hit road block forwant of the stated call detailsbetween Sen and Mukherjeeand the top politicians whosename had repeatedly appearedin the chit fund fraud.
Bengal had been thehotbed of chit fund fraud sincepast one decade with a host ofcompanies including Sharada,Rose Valley, Angel, Tower,Sumangal etc together alleged-ly doing a business in excess of�50,000 crore.
After the name of State rul-ing party Trinamool Congressgot entwined with the chit fundcase following allegations ofactive destruction of evidencesby the police the opposition par-ties moved the judiciary fol-lowing which the High Courtand the Supreme Court direct-ed the probe to be handed overto the CBI rejecting the StateGovernment’s stubborn oppo-sition against the investigationtaken off the police hand.
The SIT is allegedly in pos-session of vital evidences seizedsoon after the multi-crore scambecame public and the ChiefMinister who is also the presi-dent of the Trinamool Congressordered a probe to be led byKumar.
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Gujarat’s newly elected MLAand Dalit leader Jignesh
Mevani and JNU student leaderUmar Khalid found themselvesat the centre stage on Thursday,as the Pune police registered anFIR against them for “inciting”enmity between differentgroups and the Mumbai policedenied permission for a con-vention at which both the lead-ers were to speak.
Acting on a complaint byone Akshay GautamraoBhidkar, Pune’s Vikrambaugpolice registered a FIR againstMevani and Khalid underSections 153-A (promotingenmity between differentgroups on grounds of religion,race ... etc), 505 (statementsconducing to public mischief)and 117 (abetting commissionof an offence) for allegedlymaking inflammatory speech-es at a public rally organised atShanivarwada on Sunday last.
Talking to media persons inPune, Additional PoliceCommissioner RavindraSenagaokar said that the policewould initiate action againstMevani and Khalid for theiralleged inflammatory statementsat the speeches at Sunday’s rally.“We have in our possessionvideo and audio footage of thespeeches made by the two lead-ers at the rally. Having registereda complaint filed by one AkshayBhidkar against the inflamma-tory speeches made by Mevaniand Khalid, we are examiningthe audio and video footages. Wewill take necessary action againstthe two leaders as per law”.
Bhidkar has, in his com-plaint, taken exception to a few“inflammatory” statements
made by Mevani and Khalid ata Yalgar Parishad” organised atPune’s Shanivarwada ahead ofthe 200th anniversary of theJanuary 1, 1818, victory of Britishtroops over Peshwa Bajirao II’sarmy at Koregaon Bhima.
In his complaint, Bhidkarobjected to Mevani’s followingremarks in the latter’s speech: “Ifwe have to score a victory overnew Pashwas then we have totake the 200-year-old BhimaKoregaon struggle forward. Ifwe are to take the struggle for-ward or get inspired January 1,1818 struggle, there should notbe electoral politics in it.”
The other remarks byMevani that the complainanthas referred to in his complaintare: “But, all the same, I feel thatsome people who are part of thisstruggle should also be in theAssemblies of Maharashtra andGujarat and also Parliament.But, if we are wage againstcastes, then we will have to taketo streets to crusade for it. The
dominance of one caste over theother can only be eliminated bybattling it out on the streets”.
The remarks made byKhalid at the rally that Bhidkarhas objected to, are: “We canconvert the Bhima-Koregaonstruggle into our future. It istime for us to retaliate againstthose who attacked Dalits (atBhima-Koregaon). Waging thebattle and winning it will be areal tribute martyrs who laiddown their lives during theJanuary 1, 1818 Bhima-Koregaon struggle”.
The complaint went on toadd that “incited” by thespeeches made by Mevani andKhalid, some anti-social ele-ments hurled stones at thememorial set up BhimaKoregaon to celebrate the vic-tory of the 200th anniversary ofthe the January 1, 1818, victo-ry of British troops overPeshwa Bajirao II’s army atKoregaon Bhima on the occa-sion of its 200th anniversary
and indulged in violence andarson on Monday last.
In a related developmentthat took place in Mumbai, thepolice abruptly refused per-mission for a daylong studentconvention organised byLeftist-oriented ChhatraBharati at which Mevani andKhalid were to speak.
Aggrieved by the “sudden”cancellation of permission fortheir convention, the ChhatraBharati members staged a noisyprotest and raised anti-Government slogans in front ofthe Bhaidas Hall at Vile Parle,where their All India NationalStudents Summit was to beorganised.
Confirming the cancella-tion of permission, a MumbaiPolice spokesperson said: “Yes.We have denied permission tothe Chhatra Bharati’s All IndiaNational Students Summit con-vened at Bhidas Hall”.
Official sources attributedthe denial of permission to theChhatra Bharati summit inthe wake of prohibitory ordersimposed in Mumbai and otherparts of the State ahead of“Maharashtra bandh” organ-ised on Wednesday in which astudent was killed, a few policepersonnel were injured andscores of buses were damaged.
Reacting to the cancellationof the permission for ChhatraBharati’s Vice Sagar Bhaleraotweeted: “Had booked BhaidasHall for All India NationalStudents’ Summit here, butnow we are being denied entry.Reason police is citing is thenews doing the rounds aboutUmar Khalid and JigneshMewani for the past few days”.
“Umar Khalid and JigneshMewani have been invited atthis event here, this had beenfixed earlier,” ANI tweetedquoting Bhalerao.
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The Syro-Malabar CatholicChurch of Kerala suffered
a huge embarrassment onThursday when a scheduledmeeting of the council ofpriests of its Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese, whichwas to consider a report on theland scam rocking it, had to bepostponed amidst dramaticdevelopments after the Churchhead, Major ArchbishopCardinal Mar GeorgeAlencherry, was allegedlyblocked by some influentialmembers of the laity fromattending the meeting.
In a letter written to thecouncil’s secretary, the Cardinalreportedly said he was forcedto postpone the meeting as hewas blocked by certain influ-ential members of the laityfrom attending it.
The meeting was calledspecifically for discussing thereport of an Archdiocese-appointed commission thatfound grave lapses from thepart of the Church, particular-ly Mar Alencherry himself, inthe controversial land sale car-ried out by the Church.
Church representativesclaimed that the meeting wasnot abandoned but had beenput off on the basis of a deci-sion that the council’s meetingneed not be held before thepastoral council comprisingthe Cardinal, bishops, otherpriests and representatives ofthe laity met. They also claimedthat certain people had inter-
fered to ensure the cancellationof the meeting and had blockedthe Cardinal with this objective.
While a section said thatnobody had blocked theCardinal but a drama was beingstaged to avoid discussions onthe commission’s report on theland scam that had pushed theentire Syro-Malabar CatholicChurch into a crisis of credi-bility, supporters of MarAlencherry said a conspiracywas going on to tarnish him.Sources said that a scheduledmeeting of the priests’ councilwas postponed for the firsttime in the Church’s history.
As per the report of the six-member commission, the rulesof the Church had not beenabided by in the controversialsale of Church lands and thedeal was held without theknowledge of the concernedcommittees and councils ofthe Archdiocese. The com-mission has reportedly con-cluded that the Archdiocesehad suffered a loss of over �30crore in the land deal.
The report said thatCardinal Alencherry had com-mitted serious lapses in the dealas he was in charge of the entiresale process. Though the deci-sion to sell the lands was takenby the Archdiocese in order torepay a �58-crore bank loan,the processes that followedhad been carried out withoutthe knowledge of the various
councils.The controversy pertains to
the sale of over three acres ofprime land belonging to theArchdiocese in Kochi cityworth tens of crores of rupeesto private persons. The landswere sold in two schedules to36 persons in September, 2016and between January andAugust last year and CardinalAlencherry himself had signedin all the sale documents.
The Archdiocese had suf-fered a loss of huge financiallosses through the land sale forwhich a middleman, whosecredibility has now come undersuspicion, had been engaged.Cardinal Mar Alencherry hasalso been accused of taking theinitiative to bring in the mid-dleman, Saju Varghese Kunnel.
The Church had decided tosell the prime land for �27 crore– it could have fetched a muchbigger price – but it was sold for�13 crore as per the sale docu-ments. However, the amountthat had reached the Church’saccount was only �9.30 crore. Asection of the laity – and evencertain priests – have alreadyaired suspicions of stamp dutyevasion and role of black money.
The controversy had wors-ened with a section of the laitypetitioning the Pope against theCardinal and a believer fromthe Archdiocese lodging acomplaint with the police seek-ing an investigation into thealleged irregularities involvedin the deal. There are allega-tions that there had been stampduty evasion and play of blackmoney in the land sales.
Mumbai:Activists owing alle-giance to Shiva Prathishtan onThursday took out a morchato the district collector’s officeat Sangli in westernMaharashtra demandingwithdrawal of offences regis-tered against Sambhaji Bhide.
In a memorandum sub-mitted to Sangli district collec-tor Vijay Kalam, a delegationof Shiva Prathishtan con-demned the allegations madeby senior Dalit leader andBharip Bahujan Mahasanghpresident Prakash Ambedkaragainst Bhide and Hindu EktaAghadi leader Milind Ekbote
for their alleged role in theattack on Dalits at Bhima-Koregaon, and demanded thewithdraw of offences regis-tered against Bhide underSection 302 of IPC.
The Pimpri police haveregistered an FIR againstEkbote and Bhide in connec-tion with the disturbances atBhima-Koregaon. Based on acomplaint registered by aDalit woman, the police havealso registered offencesagainst Bhide and Ekboteunder the Atrocities Act andother sections of the IPC.
PNS
Mumbai: A week after an inferno at three city pubs claimed14 lives, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) onThursday sought a detailed report on the incident from theBrihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
Acting on a complaint lodged by a city BJP leaderVivekanand D Gupta, the SHRC directed MunicipalCommisioner Ajoy Mehta to submit a report on the incidentby January 29. Gupta’s complaint had come in the wake of amajor fire that ripped through and gutted Mojo’s Bistro loungeand spread to neighbouring 1Above casual dining restaurantand London Taxi Gastropub at Trade House building in the lux-urious building complex on December 29.
The blaze had claimed the lives of 14, including 11 women,and left 55 others injured. Following the mishap, the BMC hadcarried out massive anti-encroachment drive and pulled down700-odd illegal constructions and structures in hotels, restau-rants, eateries across the city for four consecutive days, in var-ious parts of the city.
The city police have so far arrested two managers of the1Above pub, while the investigators are looking for its owner-partners – Kripesh Sanghavi, Jigar Sanghavi and Abhijit Manka.The police have also booked owners of The Mojo’s Bistro andothers for the mishap. PNS
Newly-appointed CEOof Infosys Salil Parekhwill draw an annual
salary of up to �18.6 crore,including variable component,from April onwards.
For the first three monthsof 2018, Parekh will be paid an“initial variable pay” of �2.37crore, apart from fixed salaryand other benefits, as perInfosys’ postal ballot.
Infosys has sought share-holder approval for Parekh'sappointment, who assumedoffice on January 2 for a peri-od of five years.
The ballot, which will beput to vote between January 22to Febraury 20 — also seeksnod for re-designation of UBPravin Rao as Chief OperatingOfficer and whole-time direc-tor. The results will beannounced on or beforeFebruary 24.
As per the proposal,Parekh will get an annualsalary of �6.5 crore (fixedpay), and will be eligible formaximum 125 per cent ofthe annual variable pay of�9.75 crore (which comes toup to �12.18 crore), subjectto achievement of certainmilestones.
In addit ion, the ex-Capgemini executive will alsoreceive �3.25 crore in restrict-ed stock units, �13 crore inannual performance equitygrants and a one-time equi-
ty grant of �9.75 crore. Thestock compensation will vestat various intervals duringParekh's term.
Vishal Sikka — who hadquit from the CEO position in
August last year after a pro-tracted row with Infosysfounders — had drawn a totalcompensation, includingbonus and grant of stocks, of�45.11 crore in 2016-17.
Wipro CEO AbidaliNeemuchwala's pay packagestood at $2.09 million (�13.2crore) during FY2016-17,while TCS CEO RajeshGopinathan took home �6.22crore during the said fiscal.
High salary hikes for theleadership team and huge sev-erance packages being doledout to former employees wereamong key issued raised by theInfosys founders last year.
After the resignation ofSikka and Board members likeR Seshasayee (Chairman) inAugust, Infosys brought in co-founder Nandan Nilekani tosteer the company. InDecember, it named ex-Capgemini executive Parekh asits new CEO and MD.
Parekh's contract also out-lines the amount he will be paidin case the minimum perfor-mance targets are not met.
“Should Mr Salil Parekhfail to achieve minimum per-formance targets, his remu-neration as proposed will fallto, �6.5 crore annually of fixedsalary and �3.25 crore of annu-al equity grant,” the postalballot said.
Salil Parekh's employmentcontract also stated that he willnot be allowed to work withnamed competitors for sixmonths from the day he leavesthe company.
He will also not work withor for a client to whom he hasrendered service for the last 12months, Infosys said.
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Benchmark Sensex reverseda three-session slide to end
at 33,970 on Thursday afterthe Government moved for-ward on its bank recapitalisa-tion programme.
Investors also took heartfrom upbeat macro indica-tors and firm global cues,brokers said.
The Finance Ministry onThursday sought Parliament'snod for extra expenditure of�80,000 crore towards recap-italisation of bad loans-sad-dled public sector banksthrough bonds.
State-run lenders madehandsome gains inThursday's session. Indexheavyweight SBI rose 1.72 percent, while UCO Bank, IDBI,Punjab National Bank, Bankof India, Bank of Baroda andOriental Bank of Commerce,among others, rallied by up to8.50 per cent.
Market sentiment was bol-stered after a monthly survey
showed the Indian servicessector returned to marginalgrowth in December as neworders broadly stabilised.
The BSE benchmarkSensex opened higher at33,912.49 and hovered in arange of 33,995.40 to 33,802.13before finishing at 33,969.64,showing a gain of 176.26points or 0.52 per cent. Thegauge had lost 263.45 points inthe previous three sessions.
The NSE 50-share Niftyalso closed higher by 61.60points, or 0.59 per cent, at10,504.80 after shuttlingbetween 10,513 and 10,441.45.
“Positive global cues andimprovement in services PMIdata for December helped themarket move out of the sub-dued phase of trading. Globalgrowth expectation and con-tinued buying in metal stocksraised the market sentiment,while PSU banks outper-formed on account of finali-sation of recapitalisation,” saidVinod Nair, Head of Research,Geojit Financial Services.
Meanwhile, foreign port-folio investors (FPIs) boughtshares worth �96.31 crore,while domestic institutionalinvestors (DIIs) were net sell-ers to the tune of �269.20 croreon Wednesday, provisionaldata showed.
Asian bourses displayed afirm trend, led by Japan whichbegan the first trading of 2018on a strong footing. Europeanmarkets opened higher.
Back home, Tata Steel wasthe biggest gainer in theSensex kitty, rising 3.74 percent, followed by Dr Reddy's,which advanced 3.14 per cent.
Other gainers were L&T,ONGC, Asian Paints, SunPharma, Coal India, SBI,IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel,TCS, Bajaj Auto, RelianceIndustries, Yes Bank, AdaniPorts, HDFC Ltd and HDFCBank, rising by up to 3.08per cent.
Among the sectoralindices, metal climbed 2.77 percent, consumer durables 2.53per cent, capital goods 2.11 per
cent, PSU 1.55 per cent, infra-structure 1.03 per cent, health-care 0.99 per cent, oil and gas0.80 per cent, bankex 0.51 percent and power 0.33 per cent.
The broader marketscontinued to outperform thebenchmark. The BSE small-cap and mid-cap indices roseby 0.88 per cent and 0.71 percent, respectively.
Globally, Asian stocksended higher as soaring oil
prices helped energy firmspost bumper gains, followingmore records on Wall Street.
Japan's Nikkei rose 3.26per cent, Hong Kong's HangSeng gained 0.57 per centand Shanghai CompositeIndex was up 0.49 per cent.
In Europe, Frankfurt'sDAX rose 0.94 per cent,while Paris gained 0.85 percent. London FTSE was up0.15 per cent.
NEW DELHI: The Governmenton Thursday invited bids fromtransaction advisors for the saleprocess of three PSUs, includingDredging Corporation of India.
The Government plans tosell 100 per cent stake in HLLLifeCare Ltd and IndianMedicines PharmaceuticalCorporation Limited (IMPCL)through strategic sale via a two-stage auction process.
Entities willing to act astransaction advisors for thesecompanies would have to sub-mit their bids by January 29.
The Government current-ly holds 73.47 per cent inDredging Corporation, which isunder the administrative controlof the Shipping Ministry. Thetotal turnover of the companyin financial year 2016-17 was�599.69 crore. The networth ofthe company as on September30, 2017 was �1,547.57 crore.
Shares of Dredging
Corporation were trading at�882.05, up 2.98 per cent onthe BSE.
IMPCL, under theMinistry of AYUSH, is a jointventure of the Government ofIndia (97.61 per cent) and theUttarakhand state govern-ment (2.39 per cent).
The total turnover of thecompany in financial year2016-17 was �66.45 crore.The networth of the compa-ny as on September 30, 2017was �65.49 crore.
Listed firm HLL Lifecare isunder the administrative controlof the Ministry of Health andFamily Welfare. Total turnoverof the company in 2016-17 was�1,064.71 crore.
The networth of the com-pany as on September 30, 2017was �487.93 crore. The gov-ernment has budgeted to raise�72,500 crore this fiscal throughdisinvestment. PTI
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The Finance Ministry onThursday sought
Parliament's nod for extraexpenditure of �80,000 croretowards recapitalisation of pub-lic sector banks through bonds.
Meanwhile, sources saidthe proposed recapitalisationbonds to be given to public sec-tor banks would have non-SLRstatus and will be non-tradeable.
The �80,000-crore expendi-ture has been sought by theGovernment in form of theThird Batch of SupplementaryDemands for Grants for 2017-18.
It is part of �1.35 lakhcrore recapitalisation bond tobe provided to NPA-hit state-run banks over two years toshore up capital, they said.
Parliament's approval hasbeen sought for “meetingadditional expendituretowards recapitalisation ofPublic Sector Banks throughissue of government securi-ties”, said the Finance Ministrydocument.
The additional expendi-ture of �80,000 crore towardsbank recapitalisation throughissue of government securitieswill be matched by addition-al receipts on issues of securi-ties to the banks and “will notentail any cash outgo”, it added.
Statutory Liquidity Ratio(SLR) is a portion of depositsthat banks need to invest ingovernment securities.
The SLR status to anyinstrument provides traceabil-
ity option and they can be trad-ed in the secondary market.
These bonds will havenon-SLR status, the officialsaid, adding these bonds tobe cash neutral for the gov-ernment.
Asked by when the infu-sion would take place, theofficial said this would hap-pen soon during this quarter.
Interest payout and otheraspect is looked at by theDepartment of EconomicAffairs, the official added.
Finance Minister ArunJait ley in October hadannounced an unprecedent-ed �2.11 lakh crore two-yearroad map to strengthen PSBs,reeling under high non per-forming assets (NPAs) orbad loans.
Their NPAs haveincreased to �7.33 lakh croreas of June 2017, from �2.75lakh crore in March 2015.
The plan includes floatingre-capitalisation bonds of �1.35lakh crore and raising �58,000crore from the market by dilut-ing government’s stake.
NEW DELHI: The CompetitionCommission has dismissed alle-gations of abuse of dominanceagainst K Sera Sera DigitalCinema and seven other entitieswith regard to supply of equip-ment used for the purpose offilm exhibition.
The others are Viacom 18,Aditya Chowksey, UFO MoviesIndia, E-City Digital Cinema,Real Image Media Technology,United Media Works and theFilm and TV Producers Guildof India.
The complaint was madeby a Madhya Pradesh-basedcinema hall proprietor, whohad entered into an agree-ment with K Sera Sera, where-in the latter had agreed toinstall al l the necessaryDigital Cinema Equipment(DCE) required for the pur-poses of screening films at theformer's theatre premises.
It was alleged that K Sera
Sera had abused its dominantposition by unlawfully termi-nating the agreement and thatthe Film & TV Producers Guildhad done the same by issuingdiktats to all producers to notdeal with the complainant.
For the case, theCompetition Commission ofIndia (CCI) considered themarket for the “provision ofDigital Cinema Equipment ser-vices for the purpose of screen-ing/ exhibiting films in India”, asthe relevant one.
Noting that there are vari-ous other players in the relevantmarket offering DCE, the fair-trade regulator said K Sera Sera“does not seem to hold a dom-inant position” in it.
In the absence of domi-nance, no case of abuse ofdominance in contravention ofSection 4 of the CompetitionAct can be made out K SeraSera, CCI said in its order
dated December 29. Section 4relates to abuse of dominantmarket position.
The fair-trade regulator alsosaid that the dispute between thecomplainant and K Sera Sera foralleged unlawful termination ofthe agreement by the latter pri-marily appears to be a contrac-tual dispute, for which the for-
mer “may approach an appro-priate forum”.
With regard to the allega-tion against the Film and TVProducers Guild, CCI notedthat there is no evidence to sub-stantiate the same.
Observing that there doesnot seem to be any material onrecord to establish that the Film
and TV Producers Guild hadissued any oral or written dik-tat to any producer, CCI saidthere is nothing in the infor-mation to form an adverseprima facie view against it.
The complainant had alsoalleged that the eight entitieshad prevented him from car-rying on his business by abus-ing their dominant position inrespect of supply of equipmentto be installed in cinema the-atre, in contravention of theprovisions of Section 4.
Rejecting the allegationof collective abuse of domi-nant position, CCI said theCompetition Act does notallow for more than one enti-ty to hold a dominant positionwithin the meaning of Section4. The argument of the com-plainant regarding the collec-tive anti-competitive conductby the eight entities is reject-ed, CCI said. PTI
NEW DELHI: Sajjan Jindal-ledJSW Energy on Thursday saidit has incorporated a whollyowned subsidiary JSW SolarLtd to pursue business oppor-tunities in renewable energyand related segments.
“The company has, onJanuary 1, 2018, incorporateda wholly owned subsidiaryJSW Solar Ltd to, inter alia,pursue business opportunitiesin the renewable energy space,energy storage systems, microgrids, etc,” JSW Energy said inBSE filing on Thursday.
The company's board inAugust last year had approvedthe proposal of entering intoelectric vehicles, energy storagesystems and associated busi-ness, directly or through one ormore subsidiaries.
The company had said thatthe expected capex to beincurred on these businessesover the next three years wouldbe in the range of �3,500 to�4,000 crore. PTI
Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyon Thursday assured that
the positive impact of the eco-nomic measures being taken bythe Government would be seenin medium to long term.
The minister, in a debate‘short-term discussion on thestate of economy’ inthe Rajya Sabha, saidthe coming genera-tions will rememberthis Government forcreating a ‘new eco-nomic history’ of thecountry.
Members ofOpposition parties, especiallythose from the Congress,attacked the government, sayingunemployment is growing andall key economic parametershave witnessed a decline in thelast three-and-a-half years.
Countering the charges, thesenior minister mentioned con-taining of inflation, recapitalisa-tion of public sector banks andGST rollout as major policy ini-tiatives of the Narendra Modi-ledgovernment.
“All the steps we have taken,we have also paid price in theshort term. But I want to tell youthat in the medium and longterm, these steps would be seenon the economy of the countryand coming generations willremember that due to thesesteps a new economic history ofthe country has been written,”Jaitley said.
On concerns being raisedover GDP growth decline post-noteban, the minister said
although the country's economygrew at a rate of 7-8 per cent, peo-ple aspire for more.
“The beauty of this countryis and I consider it as a strengthof this country is that at even agood 7-8 per cent growth rate,India is not a satisfied nation. Weare not satisfied even if we arehighest in the world, we aspire for
more. That's an aspi-rational India, it is agood sign,” Jaitley said.
He further saidthat India is the onlyeconomy which couldmaintain a growth rateof 7-8 per cent in thesechallenging times.
On steps being takentowards improving health ofPSU lenders, Jaitley said thegovernment is trying to revive thepublic sector banks by all means.
“This bail-out which we aredoing is not a very ideal situa-tion but because public sectorbanks are property of the gov-ernment, it is our legal as wellas moral responsibility to keepthem alive,” he said.
So, the government isundertaking such a huge recap-italisation plan of over �2.12lakh crore, the FinanceMinister added. “The idea is tokeep the public sector banksalive so that the banks' abilityto support growth is not weak-ened,” Jaitley said.
He further said the “reck-less lending which happened”did not take care of risk man-agement and adversely impact-ed the banks' capability to sup-port growth as well as impact-ed private investment.
Avirtual war has broken outbetween President Donald
Trump and his former chiefstrategist Steve Bannon after thelatter described a Trump Towermeeting with Russians in therun-up to the 2016 election as“treasonous” and “unpatriotic”.
Within hours of Bannon’sscathing comment, containedin an explosive book on thefirst year of Trump presidency,a furious Trump lambastedhis former top aide, remarking:“When he was fired (lastAugust), he not only lost hisjob, he lost his mind.”
Dubbing him a “pretender”and “leaker”, Trump accused
Bannon of leaking false infor-mation to the media during histime at the White House andmaking himself seem far moreimportant than he was. “Stevewas rarely in a one-on-onemeeting with me and onlypretends to have had influenceto fool a few people with noaccess and no clue, whom hehelped write phony books,”Trump said in a statement.
Trump’s lawyers followedthis up by sending a legal noticeto Bannon that his actions ofcommunicating with authorMichael Wolff “give rise tonumerous legal claims includingdefamation by libel and slander,and breach of his written confi-dentiality and non-disparage-ment agreement with our clients”.
The book itself, titled Fireand Fury: Inside the TrumpWhite House, was slammed byWhite House Press SecretarySarah Sanders as “trashy tabloidfiction” that is filled with “falseand misleading accounts from
individuals who have no access or influence with theWhite House”.
In the book, author Wolffquotes Bannon as suggestingthat Trump’s son, Donald TrumpJr, son-in-law Jared Kushnerand former campaign chief PaulManafort had been “treaso-nous” and “unpatriotic” formeeting with Russians at TrumpTower in June 2016 after beingpromised incriminating docu-ments on rival Hillary Clinton.
“Even if you thought thatthis was not treasonous, orunpatriotic, or bad shit, and I
happen to think it’s all of that,you should have called theFBI immediately,” the bookquotes Bannon as saying.While the book itself is set forrelease only next week, TheGuardian obtained an advancecopy and published the “dis-paraging” Bannon comments.
Apart from the attacks onTrump’s son and son-in-law,Bannon has also been quotedin the book as calling thePresident’s daughter Ivanka “asdumb as a brick”. As for DonaldTrump J., Bannon predictedthat he would “crack like an egg
on live television”.Pooh-poohing the claims
made in the book that Trumpdid not want to win the presi-dential race and that his wife,Melania Trump, was “in tears —not of joy — on knowing abouthis surprising electoral victory”,a spokeswoman for the FirstLady commented that this bookwas “clearly going to be sold inthe bargain fiction section”.
“Mrs Trump supported herhusband’s decision to run forPresident and in fact, encour-aged him to do so. She was con-fident he would win and wasvery happy when he did,” said a statement put out by hercommunications directorStephanie Grisham.
In the book, Wolff quoteanother Trump aide SamNunberg as saying at the outsetof the race that he never plannedto win the race. “His ultimategoal, after all, had never been towin. I can be the most famousman in the world,” he writes.
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Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump on Thursdaycredited himself for the moveon talks between North andSouth Korea, asserting that itwould not have happened butfor his firm and strong policyagainst Pyongyang.
“With all of the failed‘experts’ weighing in, does any-body really believe that talksand dialogue would be going onbetween North and SouthKorea right now if I wasn’t firm,strong and willing to commitour total ‘might’ against theNorth. Fools, but talks are agood thing!” Trump tweeted.
Trump’s tweet on Northand South Korea comes amidstnews reports that the twoneighbours tested a specialhotline in almost two years.
In his new year message,North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had indicated he was will-ing to talk with South Korea.
South Korea has proposedface-to-face talk with the NorthKoreans next week on the pos-sibility of the latter participatingin the Winter Olympics. PTI
Houston: With the autopsy report of SherinMathews ruling that the Indian girl died of“homicidal violence,” police in the US state ofTexas on Thursday said they would pursue thecase to ensure justice for the 3-year-old.
The Dallas County Medical Examiner’sOffice yesterday ruled that the death of Sherin, the adopted daughter of Indian-American couple Wesley Mathews and SiniMathews, was homicide.
Sherin went missing from her home inRichardson on October 7 and her body wasfound on October 22 in a culvert in suburbanDallas after an intense search. The toddler’s bodywas identified days later using her dentalrecords. The Richardson Police Department onWednesday said the Dallas County MedicalExaminer’s Office has completed its work andreleased the Sherin’s autopsy report.
“It has listed the cause of death as homicideand the manner as homicidal violence,” thepolice said in a Facebook post. “The RichardsonPolice Department is continuing to work withthe Dallas County District Attorney’s Office inpursuit of justice for Sherin,” it said. PTI
Jerusalem: Israeli jets bombarded Hamas basesin Gaza overnight in response to rocket fire fromthe Palestinian enclave, the military said onThursday. “In response to the projectiles firedat southern Israeli communities throughout yes-terday from the Gaza Strip, IAF (Israeli air force)fighter jets targeted a significant terror infra-structure in the Gaza Strip,” Israeli forces saidin a statement.
Palestinian terrorists in Gaza have fired atleast 20 rockets or mortar rounds at Israel sinceUS President Donald Trump’s controversialDecember 6 recognition of Jerusalem as thecountry’s capital, at least six of which have beenintercepted by the Iron Dome defence system.
The projectiles are often fired by fringe rad-ical ISIS, but Israel holds Gaza’s militant rulersHamas responsible for any attacks from the territory and retaliates by targeting Hamaspositions. AFP
United Nations: Iran on Thursday charged thatthe US “has crossed every limit” in internationalrelations by expressing support for Iran’s anti-government protesters and said PresidentDonald Trump’s “absurd tweets” have encour-aged disruption.
In a letter to UN officials, IranianAmbassador Gholamali Khoshroo complainedthat Washington was intervening “in a grotesqueway in Iran’s internal affairs.”
He said Trump and Vice-President MikePence were personally stirring up trouble.
“The President and Vice-President of theUnited States, in their numerous absurd tweets,incited Iranians to engage in disruptive acts,” theambassador wrote to the UN Security Council President and UN Secretary-GeneralAntonio Guterres.
The US didn’t immediately respond to theletter, which maintains that Washington “hascrossed every limit in flouting rules and prin-ciples of international law governing the civi-lized conduct of international relations.” AP
Tokyo: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saysNorth Korea should change its policies to helpenrich its people. Abe told reporters on Thursdaythat Japan would do its utmost, working withthe US and South Korea, to pressure Pyongyangto shift its course and end its missile tests andnuclear programme.
Abe said Tokyo is cautiously watching to seethe impact of sanctions against North Korea,especially at this coldest time of the year whenconditions are harshest.
He said North Korea’s diligent people andabundant resources could make the countryricher if its leaders adopt the right policies. Abedid not directly mention recent overtures byNorth Korean leader Kim Jong Un toward SouthKorea, including a reopening of a communica-tions link between the rival countries. AP
Reiterating that the electoralsystem in the US is “rigged”,
President Donald Trump onThursday pushed for a voteridentification system duringvoting. Trump tweeted on thesubject a day after he signed anexecutive order to abolish acontroversial panel which hehad set up to study allegationsof voter fraud.
“As Americans, you needidentification, sometimes in avery strong and accurate form,for almost everything you do,except when it comes to themost important thing, VOT-ING for the people that runyour country. Push hard forVoter Identification!” Trumpargued in a series of tweets.
Trump justified his deci-sion to abolish the PresidentialAdvisory Commission onElection Integrity, headed byVice-President Mike Pence.
He blamed the oppositionDemocratic party and statesrun by them for being non-co-operative in its investigation.
“Many mostly Democratstates refused to hand over data
from the 2016 election to theCommission On Voter Fraud.They fought hard that thecommission not see theirrecords or methods becausethey know that many peopleare voting illegally. System isrigged, must go to Voter ID,”Trump said.
Trump has now asked theDepartment of HomelandSecurity to review its initial find-ings and determine next courseof action, White House PressSecretary Sarah Sanders said.“Despite substantial evidence ofvoter fraud, many states haverefused to provide thePresidential AdvisoryCommission on ElectionIntegrity with basic informationrelevant to its inquiry,” she said.The formation of the 11-mem-ber panel eight months ago wasopposed by Democratic leaderswho argued that this was notnecessary and raised the issue ofprivacy and data-sharing.
The commission met onlytwice. Senator Chuck Schumer,senate minority leader, saidthe commission never had any-thing to do with electionintegrity.
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Mahendra Singh Dhoniwas back at his 'spiritu-al home' Chennai Super
Kings while Royal ChallengersBengaluru retained India captainVirat Kohli during the much-publicised yet predictable IndianPremier League retentions herethis evening.
Mumbai Indians had theleague's most successful captainRohit Sharma back in their sta-ble as most of the retentions hap-pened on expected lines.
Current Australia skipperSteve Smith was RajasthanRoyals' only pick while hisdeputy David Warner remainswith Sunrisers Hyderabad alongwith pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
One of the notable namesnot to be retained is long-timeKolkata Knight Riders skipperGautam Gambhir, who is nowback in the auction pool withWest Indians Sunil Narine andAndre Russell being the ShahRukh Khan co-owned fran-chise's two picks.
Kings XI Punjab had left-arm spinner Axar Patel in theirranks while South African ChrisMorris, young guns RishabhPant and Shreyas Iyer are backwith Delhi Daredevils.
The franchises that has gonefor full three retentions are CSK,Mumbai Indians, DelhiDaredevils and RCB.
CSK have retained theirpowerhouse performersRavindra Jadeja and SureshRaina as their second and thirdchoice respectively.
AB de Villiers is RCB's sec-
ond retention while they havekept uncapped Sarfaraz Khan forRs 3 crore while putting ChrisGayle back in the auction pool.
For Mumbai Indians, HardikPandya and Jasprit Bumrah aresecond and third retentions.
The purse that one spendsfor retention of three cappedplayers is Rs 15 crore for Player
1, Rs 11 crore for Player 2 and Rs7 crore for Player 3 while for tworetentions -- it's Rs 12.5 crore forPlayer 1 and Rs 8.5 crore for play-er 2.
However for Virat Kohli,the retention was Rs 17 crore,which incidentally is his leaguefee. A single player retention hada deduction of Rs 12.5 crore.
!"!�����������Purse Remaining: �47 crore
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To save their ship from sink-ing in Indian Super League,
Delhi Dynamos roped in formerLa Liga goalkeeper Xabi Iruretaas a desperate measure toreplace injured Albino Gomes atthe post. The club's directorRohan Sharma announced theshot-stoppers signing here onThursday.
Delhi currently sits at thebottom of the table with justthree points from seven gamesand are on a six-match losingstreak since their solitary winagainst FC Pune City on theirseason opening game. Theyhave conceded 18 goals in sevengames as all the shot-stopper -including reserves in SukhdevPatil and Arnab Das Sharma -failed to impress at the post.
The new arrival, who pre-viously played for La Liga clubEibar — expressed his happinesson his new venture in IndianSuper League and was poised tohelp the team improve.
"Well, I am very happy tocome here and I am very happyto get a chance of playing in theISL with Delhi Dynamos," saidIrureta. "The most importantpart is to add to the team frommy side and to help the team. Iwant to enjoy my stint in the ISLand give good performances thisseason."
After playing all his careerin Spain, Irureta enunciated onhis decision for opting to play inIndia.
"I've heard from a lot ofSpanish players playing in Indiaabout the ISL and I can't wait toget going. People have had pos-itive things to say about theleague and the club and I amvery excited. This will be a newexperience for me after spend-ing so much time in Spain," hesaid.
Coach Miguel AngelPortugal feels that Irureta is theperfect match for the club'sfootball philosophy.
"Xabi brings a lot of expe-rience and can help us to stabi-lize our way of playing. I'm surehe would fit in well in ourscheme and in our game phi-losophy," the gaffer said.
But Portugal will have towait till 15th January before hecould use his new signing forDelhi's game as the ISL wintertransfer window for players willofficially open on the day.Irureta will be available forselection on 21st January againstJamshedpur FC.
Dynamos are expected tosign few more players before thetransfer window closes on 31stJanuary.
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Hector Bellerin came to Arsenal's res-cue in stoppage time to clinch a 2-2
draw against Chelsea after conceding in anabsorbing Premier League encounter onWednesday.
All four goals came in the final halfhour of a game that left third-place anddefending champion Chelsea 16 pointsbehind Manchester City and Arsenal 23adrift of the leaders.
The deficit would have been even worsefor the sixth-place hosts had Bellerin notredeemed himself. The right back's chal-lenge on Eden Hazard had allowed theChelsea winger to cancel out Jack Wilshere'sopener in the 67th minute.
Marcos Alonso fired Chelsea in frontin the 84th with his sixth goal of the sea-son, but wasn't as meticulous back ondefensive duties in the second minute ofstoppage time. A headed clearance wentstraight to Bellerin, who leveled with a half-
volley.Chelsea was still pursuing the winner
in the third minute of stoppage timewhen defender Davide Zappacosta struckthe crossbar.
Had striker Alvaro Morata not missedso many chances this could have been athird consecutive win for Chelsea.
Chelsea is becoming reliant on Alonsofor goals, with the left-sided defender theteam's second-highest scorer behindMorata.
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World number one ViktorAxelsen of Denmark is
glad to see several young bad-minton players emerge fromIndia and other countries,which he said is good for thesport.
"A lot of good youngIndian players are comingthrough. It is very nice. Also,players are coming from othercountries as well. It is good forbadminton," the reigningWorld Champion said here.
Talking to PTI ahead of thepremier badminton leaguePBL's Chennai leg beginningtomorrow, the lanky Dane saidIndians shuttlers like KidambiSrikanth, H S Prannoy and theother were good players andone has to prepare really wellfor matches against them.
"Of course, they are reallygood players. I respect them alot. When I play against anIndian player, I really preparewell. Otherwise you will real-ly lose," he added.
Asked who his toughestopponent was, the World No.1said there were several whocould win big tournaments ontheir day.
"There is Srikanth,
Prannoy, Lin Dan can alsoplay well. Chen Long, LeeChong Wei... There are a biggroup of players in the men'ssingles category, who can wintournaments," he added.
He said PBL was good forthe game and was helpingyounger players gain experi-ence and improve.
"I think the PBL is a reallygood chance for many playersto come here and play well.And get some good matchesand good experience. It is real-ly good match practice,"Axelsen said.
The Danish shuttler fur-ther said he liked playing inIndia and the PBL adding thecrowds here were very nice.
"I love coming to India. Ihave been playing well in theIndian Open as well. I am
happy to be here," he added.The world champion, who
has been critical of the worldbody (BWF) with regard to theschedule for 2018, said a longseason was not good for theplayers physically.
"Yeah definitely. I thinkthat more tournaments will betough for the body. So, youreally have to take good care ofyourself," he said.
The Dane, who has wonthe Dubai Super Series Finalstwice in a row, criticised thenew rules, terming the new ser-vice rule to be tested at theforthcoming All-England tour-nament as "ridiculous".
"I think the new servicerule is a ridiculous rule. I thinkit is not wise to try it out at theAll-England Championship,the most traditional tourna-ment that started out there.Changing so many rules is notgood for the sport," he said.
"The points system may begood. I think the service ruleand the other stuff is a bit hardto understand," he added.
Axelsen had a memorable2017 and achieved the WorldNo. 1 ranking in September,following his good run whichincluded a maiden gold at theWorld Championship inGlasgow and now aims to dowell at the All-England and theWorlds.
"My target for the year isAll-England, the WorldChampionship and ThomasCup," he noted.
The 23-year-old shuttlersaid the legendary MortenFrost was a huge inspiration forplayers in his country and hetoo looked up to him.
"Every player.. Peter Gade,me.. Has been influenced byMorten Frost. Badminton isbecoming popular in Denmarkbecause of the good resultsachieved by the players," hepointed out.
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South Africa is not known for pro-ducing spin-friendly tracks and
that's why Sachin Tendulkar wantsIndian pacers to create "enoughrough" on the Newlands pitch forR Ashwin, something that ZaheerKhan did for Harbhajan Singh in2010-11.
India will play the openingTest in Cape Town starting onFriday, and Tendulkarrecalled how that pitchwas made conducivefor Harbhajan by theZaheer-led Indianpace attack.
"During theCape Town Test of2 0 1 0 - 1 1 ,Harbhajan gotseven wickets inthe secondinnings (7/120 in38 overs). Zaheerand LonwaboTsotsobe beingleft-armers creat-ed enough rough.Ishant andSreesanth alsocame round thewicket and the roughhelped when Bhajji bowled toright-handers," Tendulkar rec-ollected during an exclusiveinterview.
The maestro wants a repeatof the teamwork from the cur-rent pace battery.
"The conditions will be morechallenging for Ashwin and thewicket may be a bit damp. But ourIndian pacers will need to helpAshwin by creating enough roughfor him," Tendulkar explained.
The legend has high expecta-tions from Virat Kohli's men as theyhave the luxury to play three fastbowlers, apart from an all-rounderlike Hardik Pandya, who is verymuch in the mix.
"This time, we have the luxuryof playing three fast bowlers plus a fourthpace bowling all-rounder (Pandya), who
can bowl at 138-140 kmph and also bateffectively at No 7 or 8. Hardik has doneit in Sri Lanka.
"In my 24-year career, I never hadthe luxury of the fourth fast bowlerwho is an all-rounder. Of course,we had Kapil Dev and ManojPrabhakar but they were amongthe top three pacers," Tendulkarsaid.
"In 2010-11, we played somereal good cricket and should
have won the Cape TownTest had Harbhajan gotsome support fromthe other end. ThenKallis and Boucheralso had a goodpartnership (103runs)," he remem-bered.
There is stillsome debate on
whether the Indianteam management
should play RohitSharma as the extra
batsman or go with thebelief that Pandya has
good enough techniqueto survive the secondnew ball batting at No 6-- a position that VVSLaxman had made hisown for a decade.
Tendulkar made itclear that it is a decision ofthe team management andhe will never compare one
player with another."That's a big call
(Hardik or Rohit) but Iwould not like to commenton who should be playing.It depends on the teammanagement, what kind oftrack is being provided, howmuch grass is on offer. Thereare a lot of factors and sit-ting here, I shouldn't bemaking a comment,"Tendulkar said.
Similarly, he did notwish to comment on whobetween KL Rahul andShikhar Dhawan should
open with Murali Vijay."All these boys are very close to me.
I am in touch with all of them, they dis-cuss their cricket with me and it is notfair on my part to give my opinion onwho should play and who should not. Ihave never liked comparisons," saidinternational cricket's highest-ever run-getter.
Tendulkar has watched JaspritBumrah from close quarters growing intoa potent white-ball bowler at the MumbaiIndians and is confident that he woulddo well as and when he gets a chance inTests.
"He (Bumrah) is a bright prospect.He is sharp and got the temperament forthe highest level. But then MohammedShami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav andBhuvneshwar Kumar have been regularmembers for sometime. So we will haveto assess that," the 43-year-old said.
Tendulkar's duel with Dale Steynduring the Cape Town Test of 2010-11 isa part of cricketing folklore and the leg-end termed it the most challenging trackon which he had played.
"The Cape Town pitch of the 2010-11was the most challenging track. I remem-ber while fielding, I told Rahul Dravid thatthis was a proper seaming track. You neverfelt settled even after scoring runs. You hadto play on the rise," said Tendulkar.
Asked about the secret of success forbatsmen on challenging tracks, Tendulkarreferred to his double hundred in Sydney,where he was an epitome of patience nothitting a single cover drive till he got tothe double ton.
"The Australian pacers during thatinnings were bowling straight and into thewicketkeeper's gloves. I told myself, 'Good,you people want to bowl where you want,I would wait and make you bowl, where Iwant'," he recalled.
"A good batting line-up is the onewhich makes a bowling unit bowl wherethey want to. Each wicket has a certain char-acter where you should know which shotsto play and which ones not to," he elabo-rated.
But is it that easy?"Not exactly easy but that's what you
work hard for. There will be days when youwould let your instincts take a call and dayswhen your mind takes a call," he signed off.
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The Indian cricket team onThursday skipped the
optional practice sessionahead of the opening Testagainst South Africa, whileskipper Virat Kohli also gavethe pre-match press briefing amiss, a noticeable departurefrom convention for a bilateralengagement.
India's assistant coachSanjay Bangar instead arrivedto address the media, that tooafter a delay of over an hour.
Early in the day, the teammanagement declared the pre-Test practice session would bean optional one.
However, it was surprisingto see none of the playersarrive for even a brief session.Even those, who are notexpected to play a part in theCape Town Test, didn't comeout for practice.
Only the support staff,including coach Ravi Shastriand chief selector MSKPrasad, showed up to take afinal look at the match wick-et.
A source in the teammanagement outlined thatnothing should be read into it
"since it is only an optionalpractice session" ahead of ahectic series.
The bigger surprisethough was the absence ofKohli from the media briefing.It is a general convention forthe two skippers to addressthe press at the start of anyseries.
His predecessorMahendra Singh Dhoni nevermissed a pre- Test briefing,
especially when travellingoverseas. Even in the WestIndies last year or recently inSri Lanka, Kohli was presentin all pre-Test briefings.
The gathered local mediain Cape Town expressed theirdispleasure with this turn ofevents.
The reasoning given forKohli's absence was his mediabriefing with Shastri on arrivalin South Africa last week.
Additionally, the Indianmedia manager confirmedthat there was no word fromCricket South Africa eitherthat the captain should bemade available for the brief-ing. After waiting for justover an hour, in a bid toexpress their displeasure atthis development, two televi-sion crews walked off whileBangar's press conference wasstill going on.
Adding a new member to thefamily may be exciting, mys-terious, terrifying, and beau-
tiful all at the same time but there’sno doubt that the event is life-changing for all parties involved.
Nine months is an eternity fora toddler and the concept of a babyjoining the family is abstract, sodon’t expect your child to wrap herhead around the idea. And if youtell your child too early, you mayhear “is it today?” for months onend.
Choosing to have a secondchild can be a daunting experience.Whether your second pregnancy isplanned or a surprise, you may feelsome fear and apprehension, whichare normal feelings. Luckily, youwill have nine months to prepareyourself, your partner, and yourfirst-born child.
Each pregnancy can come withdifferent experiences and compli-cations. These differences can bedue to maternal age, the gender ofthe baby, the seasons you are preg-nant, as well as the numerous cir-cumstances surrounding the preg-nancy.
Involve your partner with alldecisions regarding the secondbaby. It can be easy to take on allof the decisions yourself, but
involving your partner may help tofeel included in the pregnancy.Consider taking a small vacationbefore the baby comes. Spend timetogether, just the two of you, to fillyour love tanks and enjoy eachother before the stress, whichcomes with a new baby, arrives.
Discuss the care of your firstchild. How will you help the firstchild feel special after the babycomes? Who will care for the firstchild while you are giving birth?
Be open and honest with yourfeelings about the pregnancy. Talkabout what sex might be like afterhaving another baby, how you mayfeel with two children, and anyother problems you foresee having.Discussing these things before thebaby arrives may reduce the chanceof hurt feelings and arguments inthe heat of the moment.
Tell your child first, beforetelling any friends and family. Thiswill eliminate the chance of herfinding out from someone else.
Find ways to involve yourchild, such as making a calendar(she and you can mark off the daysleading to the birth). Purchase abook or video that discusses thebirth of a second child and watchor read these materials often withhim. Talk about how the baby willimpact your family. She may becurious about how to be involvedwith the new baby. Decide which
tasks you are comfortable with yourchild completing. These tasks canbe throwing diapers away, gettingyou supplies, reading a book to youwhile you’re breastfeeding, or othersmall tasks, depending on herage.
Make any changes regardingthe new baby well in advance of thebirth. For example, if you areplanning on potty training yourchild, aim to complete this goal afew months before your due dateto reduce the chances of regression.In addition, start preschool, moverooms, and take away any “baby”items, such as a pacifier or Sippycup, well before the baby arrives.
This will reduce the chances ofyour child blaming the new babyfor these changes. Teach yourchild about babies, and practicebeing gentle with new babies bypurchasing a baby doll and askingyour child to care for the doll.
The happiness and love thatyour first baby brought into yourlife is beyond measure, and nowyou're expecting another child.Preparing can be as rewarding andspecial as the first time. Having asecond child and handling twokids can be a bit overwhelming atfirst. Getting organized before thebaby is born is your best bet, eventhough that might be challenging.
You might tire more easily,even before the baby is born, sincecaring for your older child whileyou're pregnant takes a lot of ener-gy
One positive change that a sec-ond child brings is an increasedconfidence in your own abilities,knowledge, and experience. Thethings that seemed so difficult withyour first child breastfeeding,changing diapers, handling illnesswill seem like second nature nowinstead of a crisis.
Share the fun of designing anursery with your eldest child. Sithim down and ask if he'd be will-ing to help you make the baby's
room extra special by adding hismuseum-worthy work to the walls.Either have him create a new mas-terpiece or sift through his collec-tion to come up with the perfectpicture. And be sure to proudlypoint out the work of art to every-one who enters the nursery.
Be aware that your energychanges at the end of pregnancy.You may be going into a baby bub-ble as the due date approaches. Beaware that this can affect yourolder child.
Create a way to celebrateyour older child by making abook with pictures from yourchild’s birth with all the fanfare and
loving relatives around. It helps herknow what’s coming and under-stand she got the same treatmentwhen she was born.
Your child is coming to seeyou, not necessarily the baby: Inthe hospital, your older child willbe excited to see you . At this point,realize that the baby may be anafterthought for her.
Before your child arrives,consider putting your baby in thenursery so that you can go pick herup as a family. This might feel bet-ter to your older child than walk-ing in to see you nursing the newbaby.
Instead of sequestering your-
self in a glider like you did the firsttime, consider feeding the new-born on the couch where your tod-dler can sit next to you.
Greet your toddler with openarms. See if you can set yournewborn down when you hearyour toddler coming in the door soyou’re ready for a welcome hug.
Your newborn will have to waitsometimes. You may not be able tojump at every peep as you did thefirst time around, and that’s okay.It can be fun and helpful for yourtoddler to laugh and remembertimes when it was just the three ofyou. Remember how importantthat phase of life was for everyone.
Actor Hugh Bonneville, best known forplaying Robert Crawley in the ITV
period drama series Downton Abbey willmake a return as Mr Brown in the longawaited Paddington 2.
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We were all so thrilled by the way thefirst film enchanted the audience aroundthe world that it would be childish not tocome back. It’s lovely to be in the compa-ny of the bear again.
!������He ended up in the last film having
found his mojo again and not being quitea straight jacket and boring like his life hadbeen. Since he has had children, he hasbeen very protective of them. And a partof Paddigton’s influence on the family wasto release Mr Brown from his straight pro-tective ways.
!������=���� ���We find him midst a mid life crisis as
he gets passed over for promotion. Hestarts dying his hair, wants to buy a fastcar. Well the craziness doesn’t end here,he tries be fit, thus taking up a new dis-cipline called “chakrobatics” which is afusion of Eastern tradition and body bend-ing.
�����������������!!"����Paddington is always the most stable
character in the film, he doesn’t reallychange. Even when a mishap befalls him,he doesn’t really learn from it, rather resetsto a positive attitude all the time andeverything is alright. So when he sets hisheart on getting a present for aunt Lucy,he needs to earn some pennies to get themoney to buy it. He sets out to do odd jobsto make money. This brings him in con-tact with lot of people in this multi-cul-ture community around Windsor gardens,from a local doctor to the news agent whoalways has parrot on her shoulder,bereaved colonel who has forgotten his selfrespect and dignity and doesn’t reallyshave and shuffles around in his dressinggown. All these are characters in the com-munity that Paddington touches upon orcomes in contact with.
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To be British is to be quirky and tol-erant yet full of contradiction. The firstfilm was a love letter to London. It was fullof these glorious chocolate box images thatoverseas people take home when theycome to visit. Even this film underlines itwith greater definition as a part of the plotinvolves going to some of the iconic land-marks around London. It absolutely
draws from the very strengths of Britishculture and all its quirks.
����������" �����Paul’s contribution cannot be praised
highly enough because it really is whathe has been thinking about, his creativeprocess and his imagination. He goesinto this strange hard stare and keepsworrying in his head on why he can’t getthe scene done properly. He thencomes up with a new way of doing it orrevisits the scene in few days. I don’thave the imagination he has and Ialways admire it. He is always strivingto be more cinematic and more enter-taining.
�"��������We were sitting in rehearsal, actual-
ly, and I was looking at Hugh, and I said,“Do you realise it’s 19 years since we didNotting Hill?” and we both suddenly feltreally quite old, except the difference is,he doesn’t look a day older. It’s a veryfunny part, and I said to Paul, “Who areyou thinking of for Phoenix Buchannan,that’s a tough part to get the tone right,because it could be so over the top thatyou don’t buy it, and don’t believe it. Andit could be so sold fashioned in style, asa ham, that people won’t get it either”,and he said, “I’m thinking of HughGrant”, and I said, “Perfect”.
Hugh doesn’t get to play that broadso often, and he’s a very, very, as we allknow, his comedic instincts are brilliant,but to actually be able to do some phys-ical comedy like that, and adopt thosecharacters, I’m hoping was a lot of funfor him.
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Cruising has become a majorpart of the tourism industry andnow attracts over a few million
passengers each year. Cruise industryhas seen an exciting growth in theentire leisure travel segment. Since theyear 1990, the industry has had anaverage growth of around 7.4 per centper annum.
Some of the published statisticsshow that since 1980, more then 150million passengers have taken a deepwater cruise (2 days or more), out ofthis number 37 per cent of the passen-gers i.e. approximately 56 million havecruised only in the past five years.
The cruise market has a verystrong potential and maintains highoccupancy levels. In the year 2009,there were approximately 17.8 millioncruises and the projected numbers for2017 were 25.8 million passengers.
The demand for cruising hasincreased by 62 per cent from 2005 to2015 within a period of just 10 years.
The leisure cruise products are welldiversified which offers a vacation toall age groups and travellers. Cruisecompany regularly adds new destina-tions, new ship design concepts, newon board, on shore activities, newthemes and newentertainment
options. Sincethe cruise com-panies con-stantly evolveand improvetheir offerings,they alsoattract cus-tomers, repeat-edly in additionto the new clients.
The cruise industry’sproduct delivers unparalleledcustomer satisfaction.Whether a frequent or thefirst time cruiser, theexperience consistently
exceeds expectations on awide range of important
holiday attributes. On a com-parative basis versus other hol-
iday categories, cruising consis-tently receives top markets. The on
going challenge for the industry is toconvert the cruise prospects into newcruisers.
��������������������������"������"�����Rise of river cruise industry
�Addition of
new ships, upgrading of old ships �Increase in the number of travelagents selling cruises ships globally andthe agents continue to be the match-makers between passengers and cruiseliners. �New and younger generations alsogetting interested in cruising �Cruise liners offering visits to privateislands �Several cruise liners feature restau-rants or menus by celebrity chefs
Jay Kantawala from WIYO Travelcommented that statistics has shownthat the cruise industry has beensteadily growing and has seen an excellent growth in past 5 years, theyear 2017 has seen a investment of overUS Dollars 6.8 billion in new cruiseships, this will add capacity further and the cruise companies are expect-ing the industry to grow at a good pacein the coming years. Lot of cruisers would use the cruise experi-ence to feel a destination to onlyreturn there again at a later date toexplore in depth.
2017 was the year of theautomatic in India as
Automated ManualTransmission (AMT) vehi-cles gave Indian buyers anaffordable and economicalclutchless experience. In-Carinfotainment systems pro-gressed rapidly as well, butwhat will 2018 bring? Moretechnology but driver aids inthis case. Recently, I had achance to drive a couple ofbrand-new products fromVolvo, the XC60 and theXC40 and I was amazed bythe onboard technology.Earlier, I also drove severalnew products from BMW,including the electric i3s andonboard technology is amaz-ing. And with the costs of thetechnology coming down,some of these features shouldmake it onto affordable carsin India as well, but there isa problem, that is the Indianmotorists inability to followrules.
Late last year, I drove theforthcoming VolkswagenPassat, which is a lovely lux-ury car but what was uniqueduring the test drive, is thefact that for a large part of thejourney I drove with mythumb using Cruise Control.The roads were relativelyempty and honestly, as I getolder I become less of aspeed demon on the road,and honestly it was aVolkswagen passat with atwo-litre diesel, it can gofast but most buyers won’tbuy a Passat to go fast. Theywould buy a Passat to travelat a decent highway speed,and the cruise control featureon most Volkswagen groupcars is incredibly easy to use,it can hold 90 kilometers anhour over dips and turns andall that. Earlier in the year, Idrove the forthcoming AudiQ2 and the S3 down SheikhZayed road in the UAE andthe Emiratis are extremelystrict on speed, but eventhose cars held 120 kilome-ters per hour easily on theroad between Dubai and Rasal Khaimah. I understandthat on many roads in Indiayou can’t use Cruise Controlbut modern systems and bedisengaged and re-engagedeasily, with the push of a but-ton.
But it were the cars Idrove in Europe that werereally impressive. The newBMW’s and Volvo’s all had abunch of camera and radarassisted features. One of themis radar-assisted cruise con-trol and braking, what hap-pens is that the car maintainsa safe distance from the carahead, and it measures thedistance to the car ahead byradar. So even if your cruisecontrol is set at normalEuropean highway speeds of120 kilometers an hour but
the car ahead of you is doing110, that is what your car willdo, until you switch lanes andovertake. On Volvo’s, this isa feature even in India, youcan’t just switch lanes with-out an indicator, otherwisethe steering wheel will give alittle shake to warn you. Infact, on the XC60 in India,Volvo has a feature that willactively brake and turn thesteering in case you try andmerge into traffic comingfrom the back or the front.You can switch this off, butthe car aims to keep you safe.Heck, the autobrake featureeven brakes Volvos whencows cross the road, a hugeissue in India.
But what I like about thelane feature is the activelane-assist, I tried this a bit onthe BMW 6GT and i3s aswell as the Volvo XC40. Thesystem uses a combination of
the radar-assisted cruise con-trol and a multitude of cam-eras to actively keep a car inthe middle of the lane, evenif the road is curving. This isone step away from fullyautonomous cars, and whileI would not recommend this,I actually took my hands offthe wheel recently on theXC40 while I was at highwayspeeds – 120 kilometers anhour, we were on a curvewith all these active featureturned on and the car turneditself. The idea is that yourhands have to be on thewheel all the time, there is apressure sensor on the steer-ing that sounds a audiblewarning. This even happenedon the BMW when I tried it,but this is the future of dri-ving in India.
Unfortunately many fea-tures may not actually workthat well in India, because
traffic rules get thrown outthe window when you startdriving here. Lane markingsare crazy, for example themain road in South Delhi’sposh Greater Kailash 1 is sep-arated by double white lines,which, if you know the rulesmean ‘no cutting acrossunder any circumstances’.Having double-whites in aresidential neighbourhoodis ridiculous but nine out often drivers wouldn’t evenknow they’re breaking therules if you told them theywere, I’m not sure most traf-fic policemen would knoweither. And then there areIndian roundabouts, whichare insane. When I experi-enced Volvo’s autobrake fea-ture there once and I was a bittaken aback. You can dialdown these features and evendisable them, but I believethat they will gradually makeit on more affordable cars inthe coming months. TheVolvo XC40 for examplewould be in the 30-35 lakhmark but cruise control andeven radar-assisted cruisecontrol might make it on asub-15 lakh car by the end of2018.
Maybe having all thesesafety and driver assistancefeatures on cars might actu-ally make Indians start to fol-low rules because the carswill be programmed to followrules even if the drivers arenot. That won’t be a badfuture at all.
Aplace where you have a kitchen space,raw materials and a restaurant set up
— all you need is a brilliant idea to runthe eating joint for a certain time peri-od. The Trial, a company which will pro-vide the infrastructure to budding chefsat minimal investment is offering just theopportunity that many in the hospitali-ty industry are looking out for. What’smore, these chefs would be mentored byinternational chefs such as Hari Nayak,Adam Simmonds, Arun Tyagi along withThe Trial team.
“We as a team have been ponderingabout this idea since long. The problemin our country is that while the technol-ogy startups are getting a lot of fundingand sponsorship, the food sector does notget enough funding and support toreach a bigger level. So, we though thatthis would be a great platform as the con-cept has never been tried before in Indiaand abroad. At one point, only two con-cepts will be adhered to in the kitchen,”says Gaurav Mehta, Director, The Trial.
Adds Chef Simmonds, “I think theplatform for young talent in India or inthe United Kingdom is pretty much thesame. The youth wants to experiment andhence, this is a good way of gettingyoungsters involved into the culinaryindustry and draw leaders from there.”The idea is to set up incubations for chefswho have great concepts but due to lim-ited execution don’t venture into the field.Accordingly, some entities would beselected and educated to create recipeswhich could help them set up kitchenswhere they can practice and utilise a co-working facility. The chefs can also get afew mentoring tips from the company’score team of mentors and if the feedbackfrom customers on their products is goodthen they will go ahead and help themget funded.
The launch of this innovative conceptthrough social media has garnered about25-30 entries from all across India par-ticularly from Pune, Delhi NCR,Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata and hasreceived a positive response.
“For a period of six months, the planis to to integrate a lot of things in busi-ness where on one side there are chefs andon the other there are professional rec-ommendations and funds collections.How successful the chefs are depends on
how well they adapt and their commit-ment towards the mentoring that theyreceive and the various ways they are ableto execute each idea,” said Mehta . So ifeverything goes well, the team would help
them fund their dream and introducetheir concept to the world. Says celebri-ty chef, Hari Nayak: “It’s about support-ing these people in the right direction andalso giving them the flexibility to devel-
op their own style. We have to allow themcomfort and liberty to do it with otheraspects.”
The idea was to get top notch men-tors like Nayak and Simmonds. The teamdecided to bring chefs who have beenpart of this business and training as theywould have faced similar issues in thepast. Says Nayak, “We will be focusing notonly on the food, but giving them a holis-tic view of the business to ensure that theydo well.”
The candidates would be asked tosend in their entries and submit theirideas so that their progress can beviewed and critiqued for their short-comings. A place would be set up in thenext one month in Gurugram and Delhiwith three kitchens. Bengaluru is the nextstop. The format would work on the con-cept of home delivery trials and then getinvolved in marketing. There are alsoplans to start a Trial Show on YouTube,which would be a platform of whateveris being done behind the scenes.
Says Nayak, “We believe that Indianaudience is ready for this concept. It isexciting to see this concept build up grad-ually in a place like India which will offera whole lot of opportunities for the localtalent to do something new. I wish we hadsomething similar 10-15 years backwhen we wanted to try something new.”
Statistics show 60 per cent of theIndian population is below 35 years. Andwith the kind of global exposure, they areaware of various cuisines, love experi-menting and they do not want to get intoa staid 9-5 job. They would rather exper-iment or look at different aspects of life.
“Healthier cooking is going to be thenext trend in the forthcoming years.Indian food can be unhealthy because itis quiet greasy and heavy. So makingIndian or any other cuisine healthier is
With quirky quotes adorning therugged brick walls, high seatingchairs, a well-equipped bar with an
array of glasses defying gravity and a calm out-door seating, The Irish House is the perfectplace to unwind with your colleagues after along day of work for it has an excellent selec-tion of drinks. The restrobar boasts of the Irishelements ambience-wise as it has shamrock(a young sprig of clover, used as a symbol ofIreland), beer barrels, Irish proverbs et al.
With a wide array on offer whichincludes everyhting from Irish Whisky tococktails including the partystarter Irish teaparty (whisky, vodka, gin, rum, triple sec andmint tea), elegant Sparkling passion (sparklingwine, passion fruit extract and mango juice),warm your hands with Winter’s call (whiskyand spiced apple juice) served hot, this placecan leave you sloshed.
In the food selection there are a rangeof appetisers — burgers, pastas and grills. Istarted with the Crispy sriracha rigatonipasta. The crumb fried rigatoni pasta wasstuffed with sriracha cheese and served withcreamy ranch. True to its name, thecrumbly texture came to the fore as I bitin and was followed by a burst of the creamygoodness of sriracha cheese which matched
well with the flavourful dip. The dish is onthe spicier side and can be munched on withdrinks.
Next on offer was Skewed cottage cheese,grilled and moderately spiced cottage cheeseand baby corn skewers topped with pineap-ple butter sauce (reduced pineapple juicemixed with butter). While the server had saidthat that it would be sweet and spicy but itwas way to sweet for my taste. What addedto the the disappointment was the under-cooked cottage cheese. The drink, Sparklingpassion proved to be the saving grace as it hadsparkling wine, passion fruit extract whichinfused the right amount of sourness that wasbalanced with the sweetness of mango juice.It’s a good option for a girl’s night out.
The house speciality Grande nachos gotnothing right. The nachos were under-cooked, tasted like papad and reeked the smellof oil. What made them even more bizarrewas the addition of ajwain. There were manythings wrong with it at different levels. It wasserved with veggies and cheese, the quanti-
ty of which was way less than expected.Interestingly, the dips-salsa, avocado-basedguacamole and sour cream turned out to bebetter than the dish itself.
Served in a Highball glass, Seven islandiced tea is the perfect drink to get wasted, asit has Vodka, rum, gin, triple sec, tequila,peach extract, topped with red wine. I couldfeel the punch with every sip, although themix had a variety of alcohol, vodka, tequila,
triple sec and red wine stood out. I paired it it with Open farmhouse, a pita
bread with toppings. It was hot owing to spicypickled smoked peppers sauteed with babycorn on toasted pita bread. The sweetness ofthe caramelised onions was toned down bybalsamic vinegar. The pita bread was toppedwith a generous helping of mozzarella andcheddar cheese. Had it been toasted well, thedish would have been elevated to a different
level as its softness didn’t compliment thedressing.
Original Italian spaghetti was the high-light of the afternoon as it was undoubtedlyone of the best versions of the dish that I havehad. For once, the chef got everything right.A combination of canned Italian tomatoes,garlic and basil tossed with the perfectlycooked spaghetti garnished with goat cheese.
I paired it with Smoked wisdom, it hadwhisky, cranberry infused tea, topped withrosemary smoke which won me over with thestrong yet sweet fragrance of rosemary. I ama little biased towards whisky and prefer itwithout any frills. But this little wonder provedme wrong as the cranberry infused tea tookits taste a notch higher. The drink was moreon the sweeter side so those who prefer lessbitter drinks can go for it.
I completed my brunch with The Irishriver dance that was served in a beer mug. Thelayered dessert had gooey brownie fused withbeer, brownie bits, dark chocolate bites,chocolate truffles, chocolate coated cookiebits, caramelised nuts, topped with caramelsauce and ice cream. Be prepared for a sugarrush owing to the overdose of chocolate.Infusing the brownies with beer was not agood idea. Rum would have been a betterbet. Overall, the dessert was toothsome anda must for chocoholics. The redeeming ele-ment was the service that was spot on andthe server had a pleasant smile on his facethat looked genuine. He was also armedwith an impressive array of informationabout the dishes.
Towering giants in the sub-conti-nent, India would be aiming toassert themselves as good travellers
when they face South Africa in the open-ing chapter of a 12-Test overseas chal-lenge, starting here on Friday.
The three-Test South Africa series isthe first of a gruelling 2018-19 seasonthat includes tours to England andAustralia.
The assignments are being seen as amake or break season for Virat Kohli andhis men to prove their worth as a goodtravelling unit.
But for this, they will have to relyheavily on their pacers to come good.
As the numero uno Test side, Indiahave a healthy points' lead over second-ranked South Africa and will not losetheir crown even if they lose by a land-slide 0-3 margin. This, however, is notmerely about points and rankings forKohli's side.
The Proteas will be relying on theirformidable fast bowling attack to dis-mantle India's strong batting line-up, butafter nine successive Test series wins,India are brimming with confidence anda belief that they can thrive in any con-ditions.
Six of India's series wins have comeat home and three others — two in SriLanka and one in the West Indies — werein favourable conditions.
India last lost a series in 2014-15when they were beaten 2-0 in Australiain a four-Test contest.
India boast of a poor record in SouthAfrica as they lost five out of six serieswith one drawn.
Since 1992, India have only won twoout of 17 Tests played on South Africansoil — in 2006-07 under Rahul Dravidand in 2010-11 under MS Dhoni.
Significantly, though, the Indianshave pushed South Africa hard on theirtwo most recent tours — in 2010-11 and2013-14, sharing the first series and nar-rowly losing the second.
Thirteen players of India's 2013-14side are part of the current squad theyhave become a vastly more experiencedteam, which has become accustomed to
winning.As fas as the venue is concerned,
India have never won in four Tests hereat Newlands, losing twice and drawingon the other two occasions.
And it remains to be seen if Kohlican do one better, in not only winninga third-ever Test in the Proteas' backyardbut also setting a noteworthy tone forIndia's arduous overseas cycle.
This time around, India boasts of apotent pace attack which is capable ofdismantling any batting side.
Despite the prevalent drought here,the green-top Newlands wicket contin-ues to be at the center of attention.
Given the pitch laid out for this firstTest, India will go in with at least threepacers. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, IshantSharma and Mohammed Shami arelikely to get the nod.
Ravindra Jadeja is a doubtful starterowing to viral illness and this puts RAshwin in contention to take the lonespinner's spot in the playing eleven.
India are also likely to opt for anextra in-form batsman in Rohit Sharma
while Hardik Pandya could provide theall- round flavour to the team composi-tion.
India's batting line-up picks itself.Shikhar Dhawan has been declared fitand he would be the first-choice open-er along with Murali Vijay ahead of KLRahul.
Despite his lack of runs, it is unfath-omable that India will leave out vice-cap-tain Ajinkya Rahane in the very first Testof this overseas cycle.
Rohit didn't feature in Kolkata Testagainst Sri Lanka when India last playedon a green-top wicket. But since then, hehas brought himself into contention with
three hundreds across all formats.Just like India, South Africa too have
selection dilemmas.Dale Steyn has been declared fit in
the build-up to the first Test but the paceris not a confirmed starter. Of late theProteas have fielded a three-plus-onecombination with left-arm spinnerKeshav Maharaj complimenting thepacers.
Thus, Kagiso Rabada, VernonPhilander and Morne Morkel are obvi-ous choices as the hosts too want to playan extra batsman given the anticipatedquick nature of the pitch.
With Quinton de Kock recoveringfrom his hamstring strain, South Africahave only one concern regarding theirbatting line-up and it is about fitting inAB de Villiers.
De Villiers was the stand-in captainversus Zimbabwe, but since then Faf duPlessis has regained full fitness. But thehosts are keen to play their talismanicbatsman and could drop an all-rounderto fit in de Villiers.
In turn, this inadvertently closes thedoor on Steyn, who is just returning froma career-threatening injury he sufferedwhile playing against Australia inNovember 2016.
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South African skipper Faf du Plessis ratcheted upthe rhetoric on the eve of the much-anticipat-
ed opening Test against India, saying they have a"score to settle" with the World No 1.
He talked about the 3-0 loss in 2015 away toIndia, highlighting that the Proteas are keen to eventhe score. The three-match series begins heretomorrow with the first Test.
"I don't know when the next Test series againstIndia is, but it's probably the last time all of us(senior players) play against India and there's nobetter way than playing a series in South Africa.We were disappointed the last time we went thereand we've got a score to settle, so we're excited forthis series," he added.
Du Plessis said that the Newlands' green-topwicket gives South Africa an advantage going intothe first Test.
"I like the fact that there is some sort of pref-erence that we can try to get an advantage. I thinkthe groundsman has done a fantastic job with theheat. The wicket looks good. It looks like it's goingto be exactly what we wanted."
Du Plessis downplayed rivalry with Virat Kohlior any other Indian player for that matter, and out-lined that South Africa instead intend to target theentire playing eleven to get the desired result.
"Obviously Virat is a very good player. His statsdon't lie. We are hoping we can put some pressureon him. If we can keep him quiet, we have a muchbetter chance. But I see it as South Africa againstIndia, I don't see a rivalry between us.
"We don't look at Virat alone. He doesn't getmore time than any of the other Indian batsmen,"du Plessis signed off.
Du Plessis is returning from injury and sat outthe day- night Test against Zimbabwe. South Africaalso have AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn to con-sider, both of whom are returning to Test cricketafter long lay-offs.
De Villiers led against Zimbabwe in duPlessis' absence, but is not a confirmed starter forthe first Test. Steyn's exclusion cannot be ruled outeither in case South Africa opt for only three pac-ers.
"It was frustrating at times. It's 11 weeks nowand I just feel now like I'm ready to play.Obviously time at home is nice, and the good thingis I didn't miss much cricket for South Africa.
"I'm extremely hungry to play again. I wouldhave liked to play against Zimbabwe but the bat-ting feels good and hopefully I can take off fromhere," said the skipper. "This selection is probablyone of the hardest that we are going to have tomake. There are just so many combinations youcan look at. It's a nice headache to have, a possi-bility to play four seamers but we're still talkingabout what could be our strongest eleven," headded.
When asked specifically about Steyn's possi-ble inclusion, he replied, "It's a tough call. For me,he is the best bowler in the world. He hasn't playedfor a while and he hasn't got the overs under hislegs that he would have wanted. "But facing Dalein the nets, the skill feels like it hasn't gone any-where. He has got the same pace, and the sameswing. Skill-wise it's like he has just jumped backon that bicycle and is riding again."
Even with the sun beating down at Newlands,the pitch retained its green hue and it could be acrucial factor in the hosts fielding three or four pac-ers in their line-up.
The South African captain stressed that theyhave options to cater to conditions irrespective ofwhere they are playing. "In a perfect world it willbe a quick wicket that nips around a bit. We alsowant to try and eliminate spin as much as possi-ble. When we played Sri Lanka here last time, itwas a really good wicket. "You don't want exces-sive seam movement because that brings bothbowling attacks into the game. We feel with ourseam resources, on a wicket that has some pace andbounce, we can exploit some of those areas in theirbatting line."
India's last tour in South Africa ended in a 1-0 loss for the visitors. "I think with the make-upof our squad we have so many different optionsyou can look at picking a different team for dif-ferent venues. That's our thinking."
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Assistant coach Sanjay Bangaron Thursday said neither oppo-
sition nor conditions would reallymatter for a supremely-confidentIndian team, eyeing its first serieswin in South Africa.
The entire Indian contingentskipped the optional practice withonly support staff and selector MSKPrasad arriving to take a final lookat the pitch.
Bangar said: "We are very, veryconfident about our preparationbecause we got four-five days herebefore the first Test. And out of thosedays we made sure we got plenty outof it. All the boys are in a positivestate of mind.
"It is a Test match and it is no
different from any other Test matchthat we play wherein the oppositionskills are taken into account. Wereally focus on our own inwardprocesses, how our mental approachis and how our mindset is in termsof batting rhythm where we stand.
"So the opposition doesn't real-ly matter nor do the conditions.What we are feeling as a battinggroup is what matters more and wework towards achieving that sort oflevel that we desire to," he added.
Asked about the team composi-tion given an expected green-topwicket for the first Test, he said,"Whenever the wicket suits, if it's abowling-friendly track then obvi-ously we might go with four bowlersand if conditions are perceived to bebatting-friendly we might opt for five
bowlers."Well, more or less that has
been the pattern for the last 24months or so wherein the team man-agement has made the choices aboutthe team composition.
"As of now the conditions wefound, we expect the ball to seamaround a bit on day one. On daystwo and three, they are going to bevery good batting conditions. Wewill take into consideration theextent of moisture tomorrow on thesurface and we will take it fromthere," he added.
Bangar lent support to seasonedpacer Ishant Sharma for the third-pacer role and said the discipline dis-played by the Indian pacers in thehome season would held them ingood stead in the first Test.
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Australia's paceattack took two
late wickets with thenew ball to reduce England to 233-5 at stumps andwrest back control on a dramatic first day of the fifthAshes test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
After winning the toss and batting after a two-hour rain delay, England slipped to 95-3 before skip-per Joe Root and Dawid Malan shared a 133-runpartnership that frustrated the Australian bowlers formost of the evening session.
But with the sun setting and the new ball in hand,Mitchell Starc had Root caught by Mitch Marsh atsquare leg for 83 in the penultimate over and thenJosh Hazelwood had new batsman Jonny Bairstowcaught behind with the last ball of the day.
Root, in particular, appeared disconsolate as he
left the field after batting for 4 1/2 hours and in sightof his first century of the series, after scoring three50s in the first four tests. The England captain nowhas converted just 13 hundreds from 48 half-cen-turies. Despite riding his luck at times including beingdropped by Steve Smith at slip and nearly run out
in the space of two Nathan Lyon overs, Malan wasnot out 55 at stumps and will need to stay at the creasewith the lower order to give England any hope of sal-vaging one win in the series after surrendering theAshes with losses in the first three tests.
After the first session was lost to passing show-ers, Australia's quick bowlers made early inroads intothe top order after lunch with Pat Cummins claim-ing the first two wickets, having Mark Stoneman (24)and James Vince (25) caught behind.
Alastair Cook, who scored an unbeaten 244 inthe drawn fourth test in Melbourne last week, con-tinued his good form in Sydney, reaching 39 beforebeing trapped lbw by Hazlewood, just five runs shortof being only the sixth player to tally 12,000 test runs.
Hazlewood pinned the veteran opener on hisfront pad and had the initial not-out decision over-turned by the TV umpire on review to leave Englandat 95-3.
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The Indian blind cricket teamis still awaiting clearance
from the government to playtheir scheduled matches in the5th edition of the Blind CricketWorld Cup in Pakistan.
"The current situation inPakistan is not good. We are stillawaiting clearance from the gov-ernment for playing in Pakistan.The team is going to Dubai fornow but if we don't get the clear-ance, we have a plan B - that isto play our matches in UAEinstead," GK Mahantesh,President of the CricketAssociation for the Blind inIndia (CABI), told mediapersonsin a press conference here onThursday.
As per the official scheduleof the tournament, India isscheduled to play its matches in
UAE but the Final of the tour-nament is slated to take place atthe Gaddafi stadium in Lahore- with the proviso that if theIndian team isn't given the clear-ance to travel to Pakistan, thevenue would be shifted toSharjah.
The Indian team is thedefending champion in thetournament and have enjoyedgreat success in last couple ofyears. They had won the BlindT20 World Cup played in Indialast year as well.
Mahantesh also said, inresponse to a question, thatthey are yet to receive any helpfrom the government so far inrelation to this tournament andthanked the sponsors for theirsupport.
"We have been trying toreach the Sports minister andour people have called his office
a 1000 times but are yet to getthrough to him. Former minis-ter Vijay Goel once told us thatwe would be officially recog-
nized the next day but that dayis yet to come. Getting recogni-tion would be helpful to us asmany of our players have to take
leave and forego their salary totake part in the event. For theWorld Cup, things are finebecause of the help we have got
from our sponsors," Mahanteshadded.
The captain of the Indianteam Ajay Kumar Reddy alsoechoed the same sentimentsand said it would be great if theBCCI takes blind cricket underits wings.
"BCCI should help blindcricket. They should have abudget for the game and issueannual grants. This would helpblind cricket in a big way asyoungsters would get encour-agement to play this sport.
"There is so much passionfor the game in the country.Many of our players don't havejobs but they still play the gamebecause they love it. The gov-ernment should also help usmore so that players can see thesport as a viable career option,"the 27-year old from Gunturasserted.
