T he BSE Sensex crashed 788 points, its worst session in about six months, as escalating US-Iran tensions sent crude oil prices soaring and also made investors shun equities and rush to safe haven assets. At the closing bell, Sensex was at 40,676.63, down 1.90 per cent or 787.98 points — the biggest single-day drop since July 8. Similarly, the 50-scrip NSE Nifty closed at 11,993.05, falling by 1.91 per cent or 233.60 points. On the Sensex chart, Bajaj Finance was the top loser, dropping 4.63 per cent, fol- lowed by SBI, IndusInd Bank, Maruti, HDFC, Hero MotoCorp, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries. Bucking the broader trend, only Titan and PowerGrid ended with gains. All sectoral indices ended in the red, with BSE metal, finance, realty, bankex, energy, auto, oil and gas, capital goods and healthcare indices cracking up to 2.96 per cent. Detailed report on P10 T he elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly will take place on February 8 and results will be declared on February 11, the Election Commission announced on Monday. Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said the notification for the polls will be issued on January 14 while the last date for the withdrawal of candidature will be January 24. With the issuance of the notification, the nomination process will commence. Responding to a question on the law and order situation in the national Capital, the Chief Election Commissioner said, “I won’t say we (the Commission) are very sanguine, but we are hopeful that they (police) will be able to con- trol the situation (and make it) conducive for polls. And in any case in the polling process, if there is some kind of an extra-ordinary situa- tion, always (there) are provisions for kind of deferring the polls. All these provisions are there. The Constitution empowers ECI to take a call if needed.” This time Delhi will have 13,659 polling sta- tions as compared to 11,763 in 2014, a jump of 16.89 per cent, according to an EC press note. Over 1.46 crore voters can exercise their franchise in the February 8 Assembly election. The Commission has decided to extend the facility of postal ballot for “absentee voters”, peo- ple with disability and those above 80 years of age in all 70 Assembly constituencies. In a separate press conference earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Ranbir Singh said there were no instructions regarding reg- istration of refugees covered under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the elec- toral roll this time. He said that as compared to the final vot- ers list in 2019, the number of voters in Delhi has increased by 9.96 lakh in the final roll of 2020 (up to January 1). For Delhi elections, the Commission will deploy 33,600 ballot units, 18,200 control units and 20,600 paper trail machines. W ith the Election Commission declaring the dates of Delhi Assembly elections, the dye has been cast for a humdinger of a poll. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government led by Arvind Kejriwal is expecting to reap rich dividends on the basis of its performance and the works done in various fields whereas its main political rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has come out with all guns blazing to corner Kejriwal. The AAP and the BJP both are locked in tussle on the issue of ‘regularisation of 1,734 ille- gal colonies’. While BJP leaders are painting the town red with the posters and hoardings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for having passed a Bill in Parliament to provide owner- ship rights to the people living in these colonies. Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri handed over registry papers to 20 persons.The AAP has been quick to punch holes in the claims of the BJP Government. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and AAP leaders have targeted the Centre for having befooled the people of Delhi as the registry of properties in the unauthorised colonies has not started yet. The AAP claimed to have carried out develop- mental works in all the listed unauthorised colonies from laying sewer lines to building roads and other amenities. AAP convener and its main face Kejriwal on Monday addressed the media and said the AAP will fight Delhi Assembly election on basis of its work. He appealed to the people of Delhi to “vote for us (AAP) only if you think we have done good work in the last five years”. The AAP’s poll cam- paign has listed its notable performances in the fields of education, health, transport, free power and water and women safety. Reacting to Kejriwal’s state- ment, Union Home Minister and BJP president Amit Shah claimed that people of Delhi will defeat the AAP Government which has misled everyone for 5 years and the BJP will form a Government on the policies of Modi. The Assembly elections in Delhi will be fought on basis of performance, and not “lies and hollow talks”, Union minis- ter Prakash Javadekar said on Monday after the EC announced poll dates.Shah said the people of Delhi are still looking for free Wi-Fi, 15 lakh CCTV cameras, new colleges and hospitals, as promised by AAP Government. A day after the masked assailants attacked several students, including Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Aishe Ghosh, and faculty members with sticks and iron rods on the uni- versity campus on Sunday, no arrest was made by the Delhi Police till Monday night. Even as the palpable sense of unease filled the campus after the unprecedented assault on students and faculty mem- bers, with allegations of unholy nexus among JNU adminis- tration, local police and hooli- gans, scores of apolitical stu- dents preferred to leave their hostels till normalcy returns on the campus. Despite massive deployment of security per- sonnel on the JNU campus and outside and authorities allow- ing entry of only students with valid ID cards, these measures did not assuage the concerns of students over their safety. As the horrific first-person accounts of the violence that left 34 people injured emerged, the Delhi Police on Monday transferred the case to the Crime Branch, which claimed to have found “vital clues” about the masked attackers. They are sifting through CCTV footage to identify the rioters and have registered an FIR against unknown assailants. The JNU administration, which had called in the police soon after the Sunday attack, on Monday appealed to the stu- dents to keep calm and has sent an initial report to the Human Resource Development Ministry which took stock of the situation. The JNU Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) on Monday took out a march from Sabarmati T-Point to the main gate of the campus to protest against the attack on students and demanded sack- ing of the Vice Chancellor. Meanwhile Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday also spoke to Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and directed him to call representatives from JNU for discussion. The Delhi Police has reject- ed the charge of reaching the JNU late, asserting that they responded to the Police Control Rooms (PCR) calls and law-and-order situation professionally to control the violence on the campus. According to Mandeep Singh Randhawa, the Deputy Commissioner of Police and PRO, the internal security of the JNU lies with the varsity administration. “Police have responded to the PCR calls, and law-and- order situation professionally. A fact finding committee under Shalini Singh, Joint Commissioner of Police, Western range, has been formed and the committee will be looking after all aspects. The Crime Branch also visited the spot on Monday and they have collected vital clues. Police are also collecting CCTV footages and even the entry register at JNU gate is being checked to identify the miscreants behind the vio- lence,” said Randhawa. A day after the violence, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Vice- Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar ‘s absence from Ministry of Human Resource Department (HRD) meeting and him not meeting injured students have raised question on his way of functioning. Though, a state- ment was released by the V-C appealing students to maintain peace on the campus. Alleging that the V-C was unable to cope with the present situation, the JNU Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) demanded his resignation on Monday. “Where was our supreme authority, the V-C when this attack was happen- ing? Where was he? Why no action was taken?,” asked for- mer JNUTA president Sonajharia Minz. The HRD Ministry on Monday met offi- cials from the JNU adminis- tration and took stock of the situation on the campus fol- lowing Sunday’s violence. The meeting was attended by the JNU Registrar, Proctor and other admin officials who briefed the Ministry officials on the sequence of events that took place on the campus and the measures taken to restore normalcy. However, the V-C did not attend the meeting. The HRD Ministry had called an urgent meeting over the violence that took place at JNU. The Ministry had on Sunday sought an immediate report from JNU Registrar Pramod Kumar after the vio- lence broke out and students and teachers were attacked. Former JNU Chancellor and senior Congress leader Karan Singh on Monday slammed the V-C over the vio- lence on campus, alleging that he had been “absent” at this crucial juncture and was com- pletely ineffective.“As a former Chancellor of the JNU, I have been shocked beyond belief at the violent and condemnable incidents that took place,” said Singh. C ampuses across the country as well abroad reverberat- ed with voices of protest and anguish on Monday over the violence in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and attacks on students and faculty members by an armed masked mob on Sunday evening. Oxford University and Sussex University in London besides Columbia University in the US witnessed protest over the JNU violence while within the country, demonstrations took place at Pondicherry University, Bangalore University, University of Hyderabad, Aligarh Muslim University, University of Mumbai, Delhi University, Ambedkar University, Banaras Hindu University, Chandigarh University, National Law University in Bengaluru, Savitri Bai Phule University in Pune, TISS Mumbai, Jadavpur University, Presidency University, Kolkata and IIT Bombay. Students staged peaceful marches to register their protest against the violence on the JNU campus and also took to twit- ter with hashtag “SOSJNU” trending on social media. Continued on Page 4 A day after the violent attack on some students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) by masked miscreants on the campus, JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) president Aishe Ghosh — receiving injuries on head — on Monday alleged that the incident was a pre-planned attack by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarti Parishad (ABVP) and some “RSS affili- ated professors”. “It was an organised attack. They were singling out people and attacking. There is a clear nexus of JNU security and vandals. They did not intervene to stop violence,” Ghosh told reporters. “For last 4-5 days, some RSS-affiliated professors were promoting violence to break our movement. Are we wrong to ask for the safety from the JNU and Delhi Police?” the JNUSU president added. “I was surrounded by 30 people who hit me with iron rods continuously. We were punched. They were about to lynch us and were abusing us,” said Ghosh. However, the ABVP alleged that the masked goons belonged to the Left-backed students union. The ABVP said the secretary of ABVP JNU unit and ABVP’s JNUSU presidential candidate Manish Jangid sustained severe injuries and was left with a fractured hand. “Many ABVP activists have suffered head injuries, while eleven are missing. Rumours are making round that the masked men belong to ABVP. Such mischief must be unequivocally condemned by every right-thinking citizen,” said the ABVP spokesperson. RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015
The BSE Sensex crashed 788points, its worst session in
about six months, as escalatingUS-Iran tensions sent crude oilprices soaring and also madeinvestors shun equities andrush to safe haven assets.
At the closing bell, Sensexwas at 40,676.63, down 1.90 percent or 787.98 points — the biggest single-day dropsince July 8.
Similarly, the 50-scrip NSENifty closed at 11,993.05, fallingby 1.91 per cent or 233.60points. On the Sensex chart,Bajaj Finance was the top loser,dropping 4.63 per cent, fol-lowed by SBI, IndusInd Bank,Maruti, HDFC, HeroMotoCorp, Axis Bank, ICICIBank and Reliance Industries.
Bucking the broader trend,only Titan and PowerGridended with gains.
All sectoral indices endedin the red, with BSE metal,finance, realty, bankex, energy,auto, oil and gas, capital goodsand healthcare indices crackingup to 2.96 per cent.
Detailed report on P10
���##��������� 467�8690*�
The elections to the 70-member DelhiAssembly will take place on February 8 and
results will be declared on February 11, theElection Commission announced on Monday.Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora saidthe notification for the polls will be issued onJanuary 14 while the last date for the withdrawalof candidature will be January 24. With theissuance of the notification, the nominationprocess will commence.
Responding to a question on the law andorder situation in the national Capital, the ChiefElection Commissioner said, “I won’t say we (theCommission) are very sanguine, but we arehopeful that they (police) will be able to con-trol the situation (and make it) conducive forpolls. And in any case in the polling process, ifthere is some kind of an extra-ordinary situa-tion, always (there) are provisions for kind ofdeferring the polls. All these provisions are there.The Constitution empowers ECI to take a callif needed.”
This time Delhi will have 13,659 polling sta-tions as compared to 11,763 in 2014, a jump of16.89 per cent, according to an EC press note.
Over 1.46 crore voters can exercise theirfranchise in the February 8 Assembly election.
The Commission has decided to extend thefacility of postal ballot for “absentee voters”, peo-ple with disability and those above 80 years ofage in all 70 Assembly constituencies.
In a separate press conference earlier in theday, Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Ranbir Singhsaid there were no instructions regarding reg-istration of refugees covered under theCitizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the elec-toral roll this time.
He said that as compared to the final vot-ers list in 2019, the number of voters in Delhihas increased by 9.96 lakh in the final roll of 2020(up to January 1).
For Delhi elections, the Commission willdeploy 33,600 ballot units, 18,200 control unitsand 20,600 paper trail machines.
���##��������� 467�8690*
With the ElectionCommission declaring
the dates of Delhi Assemblyelections, the dye has beencast for a humdinger of a poll.The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)Government led by ArvindKejriwal is expecting to reaprich dividends on the basis ofits performance and the worksdone in various fields whereasits main political rival BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) has come outwith all guns blazing to corner Kejriwal.
The AAP and the BJP bothare locked in tussle on the issueof ‘regularisation of 1,734 ille-gal colonies’.
While BJP leaders arepainting the town red with theposters and hoardings of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi forhaving passed a Bill inParliament to provide owner-ship rights to the people livingin these colonies.
Union Housing and UrbanAffairs Minister Hardeep Singh
Puri handed over registrypapers to 20 persons.The AAPhas been quick to punch holesin the claims of the BJPGovernment.
Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal and AAP leaders havetargeted the Centre for havingbefooled the people of Delhi asthe registry of properties in theunauthorised colonies has notstarted yet. The AAP claimedto have carried out develop-mental works in all the listedunauthorised colonies fromlaying sewer lines to buildingroads and other amenities.
AAP convener and itsmain face Kejriwal on Mondayaddressed the media andsaid the AAP willfight DelhiAssembly electionon basis of its work.He appealed tothe people ofDelhi to“vote for us(AAP) only ifyou think wehave done
good work in the last fiveyears”. The AAP’s poll cam-paign has listed its notableperformances in the fields ofeducation, health, transport,free power and water andwomen safety.
Reacting to Kejriwal’s state-ment, Union Home Ministerand BJP president Amit Shahclaimed that people of Delhiwill defeat the AAPGovernment which has misledeveryone for 5 years and theBJP will form a Government onthe policies of Modi.
The Assembly elections inDelhi will be fought on basis ofperformance, and not “lies and
hollow talks”, Union minis-ter Prakash Javadekar said
on Monday after the ECannounced polldates.Shah said thepeople of Delhi arestill looking for freeWi-Fi, 15 lakh CCTVcameras, new collegesand hospitals, aspromised by AAP
students, including JawaharlalNehru University Students’Union president Aishe Ghosh,and faculty members withsticks and iron rods on the uni-versity campus on Sunday, noarrest was made by the DelhiPolice till Monday night.
Even as the palpable sense
of unease filled the campusafter the unprecedented assaulton students and faculty mem-bers, with allegations of unholynexus among JNU adminis-tration, local police and hooli-gans, scores of apolitical stu-dents preferred to leave theirhostels till normalcy returns onthe campus. Despite massivedeployment of security per-sonnel on the JNU campus andoutside and authorities allow-
ing entry of only students withvalid ID cards, these measuresdid not assuage the concerns ofstudents over their safety.
As the horrific first-personaccounts of the violence thatleft 34 people injured emerged,the Delhi Police on Mondaytransferred the case to theCrime Branch, which claimedto have found “vital clues”about the masked attackers.They are sifting through CCTV
footage to identify the riotersand have registered an FIRagainst unknown assailants.
The JNU administration,which had called in the policesoon after the Sunday attack,on Monday appealed to the stu-dents to keep calm and has sentan initial report to the HumanResource DevelopmentMinistry which took stock ofthe situation.
The JNU Teachers’
Association (JNUTA) onMonday took out a marchfrom Sabarmati T-Point to themain gate of the campus toprotest against the attack onstudents and demanded sack-ing of the Vice Chancellor.
Meanwhile Union HomeMinister Amit Shah onMonday also spoke to DelhiLieutenant Governor AnilBaijal and directed him to callrepresentatives from JNU fordiscussion.
The Delhi Police has reject-ed the charge of reaching theJNU late, asserting that theyresponded to the PoliceControl Rooms (PCR) callsand law-and-order situationprofessionally to control theviolence on the campus.According to Mandeep SinghRandhawa, the DeputyCommissioner of Police andPRO, the internal security ofthe JNU lies with the varsityadministration.
“Police have responded tothe PCR calls, and law-and-order situation professionally.A fact finding committee underShalini Singh, JointCommissioner of Police,Western range, has beenformed and the committee willbe looking after all aspects. TheCrime Branch also visited thespot on Monday and they havecollected vital clues.
Police are also collectingCCTV footages and even theentry register at JNU gate isbeing checked to identify themiscreants behind the vio-lence,” said Randhawa.
���##��������� 4678690*
Aday after the violence,Jawaharlal Nehru
University (JNU) Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar‘s absence from Ministry ofHuman Resource Department(HRD) meeting and him notmeeting injured students haveraised question on his way offunctioning. Though, a state-ment was released by the V-Cappealing students to maintainpeace on the campus.
Alleging that the V-C wasunable to cope with the presentsituation, the JNU Teachers’Association (JNUTA)demanded his resignation onMonday. “Where was oursupreme authority, the V-Cwhen this attack was happen-ing? Where was he? Why noaction was taken?,” asked for-mer JNUTA president
Sonajharia Minz. The HRDMinistry on Monday met offi-cials from the JNU adminis-tration and took stock of thesituation on the campus fol-
lowing Sunday’s violence. Themeeting was attended by theJNU Registrar, Proctor andother admin officials whobriefed the Ministry officials
on the sequence of events thattook place on the campus andthe measures taken to restorenormalcy. However, the V-Cdid not attend the meeting.
The HRD Ministry hadcalled an urgent meeting overthe violence that took place atJNU. The Ministry had onSunday sought an immediatereport from JNU RegistrarPramod Kumar after the vio-lence broke out and studentsand teachers were attacked.
Former JNU Chancellorand senior Congress leaderKaran Singh on Mondayslammed the V-C over the vio-lence on campus, alleging thathe had been “absent” at thiscrucial juncture and was com-pletely ineffective.“As a formerChancellor of the JNU, I havebeen shocked beyond belief atthe violent and condemnableincidents that took place,” saidSingh.
���� 467�8690*
Campuses across the countryas well abroad reverberat-
ed with voices of protest andanguish on Monday over theviolence in Jawaharlal NehruUniversity (JNU) and attacks onstudents and faculty membersby an armed masked mob onSunday evening.
Oxford University andSussex University in Londonbesides Columbia University inthe US witnessed protest overthe JNU violence while withinthe country, demonstrationstook place at PondicherryUniversity, BangaloreUniversity, University ofHyderabad, Aligarh MuslimUniversity, University ofMumbai, Delhi University,Ambedkar University, BanarasHindu University, ChandigarhUniversity, National LawUniversity in Bengaluru, Savitri
Bai Phule University in Pune,TISS Mumbai, JadavpurUniversity, PresidencyUniversity, Kolkata and IIT
Bombay.Students staged peaceful
marches to register their protestagainst the violence on the JNU
campus and also took to twit-ter with hashtag “SOSJNU”trending on social media.
Continued on Page 4
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Aday after the violent attackon some students of
Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU) by masked miscreantson the campus, JNU Students’Union (JNUSU) presidentAishe Ghosh — receivinginjuries on head — on Mondayalleged that the incident was apre-planned attack by the AkhilBharatiya Vidyarti Parishad(ABVP) and some “RSS affili-ated professors”.
“It was an organised attack.They were singling out peopleand attacking. There is a clear
nexus of JNU security andvandals. They did not interveneto stop violence,” Ghosh toldreporters.
“For last 4-5 days, someRSS-affiliated professors werepromoting violence to breakour movement. Are we wrongto ask for the safety from theJNU and Delhi Police?” theJNUSU president added.
“I was surrounded by 30people who hit me with ironrods continuously. We werepunched. They were about tolynch us and were abusing us,”said Ghosh.
However, the ABVP
alleged that the masked goonsbelonged to the Left-backedstudents union. The ABVPsaid the secretary of ABVPJNU unit and ABVP’s JNUSUpresidential candidate ManishJangid sustained severe injuriesand was left with a fracturedhand.
“Many ABVP activists havesuffered head injuries, whileeleven are missing. Rumoursare making round that themasked men belong to ABVP.Such mischief must beunequivocally condemned byevery right-thinking citizen,”said the ABVP spokesperson.
unleashing “state-sponsoredterrorism” on campuses acrossthe country and said the vio-lence in the Jawaharlal Nehru(JNU) campus reminded it ofthe Nazi rule. Party chief SoniaGandhi appointed a four-mem-ber fact-finding committee tocarry out a detailed inquiry intothe violence at JNU.
Demanding a judicialprobe into the violence thaterupted in the JNU campus, theparty said the enquiry shouldlook into the role of the gov-ernment, the JNU administra-tion and the Delhi police.
Questioning the role of theDelhi Police in the entireepisode, former Home MinisterP Chidambaram demandedthat Delhi Police CommissionerAmulya Patnaik be heldaccountable for the attacks onstudents saying the perpetratorsmust be identified and arrest-ed. The buck starts with theCommissioner of Police andstops with Home Minister AmitShah,” Chidambaram said.
Chidambaram said theJNU violence was an exampleof the country’s “descent intofascism” and the incident wasthe most clinching evidence ofIndia rapidly descending intoanarchy. He said he was
“absolutely sure” that therewere intelligence inputs onSunday’s attacks and pointedtowards the failure of the DelhiPolice in preventing the vio-lence on JNU campus.
“This incident is perhapsthe most clinching evidencethat we are rapidly descendinginto anarchy. It has taken placein the national Capital in India’sforemost University under thewatch of the CentralGovernment, the HomeMinister, the L-G and theCommissioner of Police. Thisis the gravest act of impunitythat we have seen in recent
times. Nothing can be moreshocking and shameful,”Chidambaram said.
Congress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra met injured JNUstudents at AIIMS and allegedthat it was “deeply sickening”about the Government thatallowed violence inflicted onstudents. AICC chiefspokesman Randeep Surjewalasaid the ABVP goons wentfrom hostel to hostel andentered girls hostel, Sabarmatihostel, Periyar hostel and KaveriHostel. They entered half adozen hostels and they beat upeach and every student on their
way, calling them “anti-nation-als and urban naxals”.
“What is the enmity thatyou have with students and theyouth of India Modi ji andAmit Shah ji, that’s the questionthe INC and the people of Indiaask. Why are you torturing, suf-focating, subjugating the youthof India under your autocraticrule. The more you suppressvoice of the youth, moreemboldened it will become,”Surjewala told reporters.
“The manner in whichyouth is being attacked andtheir voices stifled, reminds usof the Nazi Germany of 1933which seems to have comeback under the rule of Modiand Amit Shah after 90 years,”he said. The Congress presidenthas appointed a fact-findingcommittee on the JNU inci-dent. The members of the fact-finding committee areSushmita Dev, the MahilaCongress chief, Hibi Eden, anMP and former NSUI presi-dent, Syed Naseer Hussain, anMP and former president ofJNU NSUI and AmritaDhawan, a former NSUI pres-ident and ex-DUSU president.
They have been asked toconduct a detailed inquiry intothe incident of violence inJNU campus and (will) submitthe report to the party chiefwithin a week, a statementfrom AICC general secretaryKC Venugopal said.
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Three days after an attack onNankana Sahib Gurdwara
in Pakistan’s Punjab threeprovince by a mob, India onMonday summoned Pakistan’sCharge d’affaires Syed HaiderShah here and lodged a strongprotest over the desecration ofthe holy shrine and killing of aSikh youth in Peshawar.
Pakistan was called upon toensure safety, security and wel-fare of members of minoritycommunities there, the exter-nal affairs ministry said addingIslamabad was asked to takeimmediate steps to bring to jus-tice perpetrators in NankanaSahib incident and killing ofSikh man.
The External AffairsMinistry statement saidPakistan’s Chargé d’affaires wassummoned to lodge strongprotest at the recent acts of van-dalism and desecration of theholy Gurdwara and the target-ed killing of minority Sikhcommunity member inPeshawar, Pakistan.
India also shared strongconcerns raised by members ofcivil society, parliamentariansand others at the continuedpersecution of religious andethnic minorities in Pakistan,including the recent despicableand heinous acts. Pakistan wascalled upon to ensure safety,security, and welfare of themembers of the minority com-munities in Pakistan, includingtheir places of worship, andtake immediate measures toexpeditiously bring the perpe-trators of such despicable andheinous acts to justice.
A Sikh minority commu-nity member Ravinder Singhwas on Sunday murdered inPeshawar by an “unidentified”gunman, leading to a strongprotest from India which con-demned the “targeted killing”of the young Sikh man.
The Ministry of ExternalAffairs on Sunday had saidPakistan should stop “prevar-icating” and take immediate
action to apprehend and giveexemplary punishment to theperpetrators of the crime.
The incident involvingkilling of 25-year-old Sikhminority community membercame two days after a mobattacked, desecrated and van-dalized the most revered gur-dwara at Nankana Sahib. Thevictim Ravinder Singh was thebrother of Public News anchorHarmeet Singh. He was shotdead in Peshawar by anunidentified man, according tomedia reports.
Ravinder Singh was a res-ident of Shangla district atKhyber Pakhtunkhwa and wasin Peshawar for shoppingahead of his planned wedding.His Peshawar visit came soonafter he returned home fromhis Malaysia visit. After killinghim, the murderer made aphone call to Ravinder Singh’sfamily, a media report saidquoting the Peshawar police.
“India strongly condemnsthe targeted killing of minori-ty Sikh community member inPeshawar that follows therecent despicable vandalismand desecration of the holyGurdwara Sri Janam Asthan at
Nankana Sahib and the unre-solved case of abduction, forcedconversion and marriage of aSikh girl Jagjit Kaur,” the MEAhad said.
India also said Pakistanshould stop “prevaricating”and take immediate action toapprehend and give exemplarypunishment to the perpetratorsof the crime.
“India strongly condemnsthe targeted killing of minori-ty Sikh community member inPeshawar that follows therecent despicable vandalismand desecration of the holyGurdwara Sri Janam Asthan atNankana Sahib and the unre-solved case of abduction, forcedconversion and marriage of aSikh girl Jagjit Kaur,” the MEAsaid.
It said the Government ofPakistan should act in defenceof their own minorities insteadof “preaching sermons” aboutit to other countries.
The MEA said these rep-rehensible actions followed theforcible abduction and con-version of a Sikh girl who waskidnapped from her home inthe city of Nankana Sahib inAugust last year.
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The Supreme Court onMonday set up a nine-
judge Bench to hear cases relat-ed to entry of women of men-struating age into Sabarimalashrine which had earlier creat-ed a political divide in the stateof Kerala and triggered a heat-ed debate whether a time-hon-oured temple-tradition bereplaced by modern law, givingequality to all on the questionof entry to the famed temple.
The nine-judgeConstitution Bench of the apexcourt will hear from January 13the issue of allowing womenand girls of all ages to enterKerala’s Sabarimala templealong with other contentiousissues of alleged discriminationagainst Muslim and Parsiwomen in mosque, dargarhand Parsi holy fire place of an“Agyari” respectively.
The top court issued anotice informing listing of peti-tion filed by Indian YoungLawyers Association seekingreview of its historic 2018judgement allowing womenand girls of all ages to enterSabarimala temple.
“Take notice that the fol-lowing matters will be listed forhearing before a Nine JudgesConstitution Bench commenc-ing from Monday the January
13, 2020,” the notice said.On November 14, last year,
a five-judge ConstitutionBench in a 3:2 majority verdicthad referred to a larger seven-judge Bench, the pleas seekingreview of its historic 2018judgement allowing womenand girls of all ages to enterSabarimala temple.
It had however said that thedebate about the constitution-al validity of religious practices like bar on entry ofwomen and girls into a place ofworship was not limited to theSabarimala case.
The top court said suchrestrictions are there withregard to entry of Muslimwomen into mosques and ‘dar-gah’ and Parsi women, marriedto non-Parsi men, being barred from the holy fire placeof an Agyari.
It said it was time for theapex court to evolve a judicialpolicy to do “substantial and
complete justice”. While saying last year that
it will endeavour to constitutethe larger Bench at the earliestto hear the matter, the top courthad declined to pass any orderon the pleas by two womenactivists seeking a direction tothe Kerala Government toensure safe entry of women inthe Ayyappa temple underpolice protection.
The Left parties and theBJP in Kerala had earlier takenlegal and traditional view onthe entry of menstruatingwomen into the temple andtried to arouse public opinionaround their respective stands.With the apex court’s largerBench set to hear the issue ofequality of opportunity forentry of women in all religiousplaces, the contentious issue ofSabarimala is expected to besettled along with other con-troversies relating to Muslimand Parsi communities.
���� 467�8690*
The Supreme Court onMonday said fugitive eco-
nomic offender Vijay Mallyacannot use pendency of his pleain the apex court to stall insol-vency proceedings initiatedagainst him by lenders in othercountries.
A Bench headed by ChiefJustice SA Bobde passed theorder after the Centre told thecourt that Mallya used pen-dency of his plea to stall the UKcourt from delivering verdict ininsolvency proceedings.
Pendency of the case is nota ground for holding any caseanywhere in the world, theapex court said.
“In view of the letter cir-culated by Advocate-on-Record for the petitioner, listthese matters on January 10,2020...Subject to the condi-tion that the pendency of thesespecial leave petitions shallnot be used as a cause for seek-ing adjournment in any matterbefore any Tribunal, Court orAuthority anywhere,” said theBench, also comprising JusticesBR Gavai and Surya Kant.
Solicitor General TusharMehta, appearing for theCentre, informed the courtthat proceedings in the UK in
an insolvency case filed by SBIagainst Mallya, have been con-cluded and the order reserved.Mallya’s lawyers have askedthe UK court not to pass anyorder contending that settle-ment proposal is pending in theapex court here, Mehta saidand asked the court to clarifythe position. Mallya, current-ly in the UK, has been chargedby the Enforcement Directorateof defaulting on bank loansamounting to Rs 9,000 crore.He is facing extradition trial inthe UK.
Mehta told the court thatMallya has been assuring theconsortium of banks since2013 that he will repay themoney and not a single rupeehas come from him till date.
Mallya had earlier movedthe apex court challenging theconfiscation of propertiesbelonging to the companiesowned by him and his familymembers. He said in the pleathat no property other thanthat of Kingfisher Airlines, fac-ing cases of alleged irregulari-ties, should be attached.
On July 11, last year theBombay High Court hadrefused to grant stay on pro-ceedings before a special courton confiscation of Mallya’sproperties.
���� 467�8690*
The Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) has
booked 51 entities for alleged-ly remitting Rs 1,038 crore ofblack money to Hong Kongduring 2014-15.
The 51 accused entities,mostly owned by Chennai res-idents, remitted Rs 1,038 croreunaccounted black money toHong Kong in connivance withunidentified officials of threepublic sector banks — Bank of
India, SBI and Punjab NationalBank, according to an FIR reg-istered by the CBI in Bangalore.
The CBI had receivedinformation that 51 currentaccounts of 48 firms wereopened in four branches ofthese banks “solely for effectingoutward remittances” to thetune of Rs 1,038.34 crore,according to the FIR.
The CBI has alleged that 24accounts were used for outwardforeign remittances in USDequivalent to Rs 488.39 crore as
advance payment of goods’imported and 27 were used toremit Rs 549.95 crore towardsforeign travel of Indian tourists.
The agency has named threeindividuals — MohammedIbramsa Johny, Zinta Midharand Nizamuddin, besides 48companies in the FIR, it said.
The CBI has alleged thatout of 24 companies, 10 hadmade imports in small quanti-ties but the goods imported andvalue of imports did not matchwith the invoices submitted by
the firms to the banks.“It is further revealed that
the accused and others whowere involved...Were paid com-mission on the basis of amounttransferred and duration forwhich the bank accountsremained active and that theconcerned bank officials werealso bribed in cash,” it furtheralleged.
The agency also allegedthat most of the remittanceswere made in the second halfof 2015 and annual turnover of
the firms was shown in lakhswhereas the amounts remittedwere in crores, which was“fraudulently and dishonestly”facilitated by the bank officials.
“It is further revealed thatthe imports and travels havenot taken place and theamounts so credited is fraud-ulently transferred for the pur-poses and thereby causedwrongful loss of foreignexchange equivalent to Rs1038.34 crore to Governmentof India,” the FIR added.
������� ����� 467�8690*
Delhi has become the thirdState in the country, after
Kerala and Madhya Pradesh, todevelop an action plan to tack-le antimicrobial resistance(AMR) menace. A global pub-lic threat, AMR primarilycaused by indiscriminate usageof antibiotics could kill near-ly 10 million people by 2050 upfrom current 70,000 people.
As per the WHO, AMR isthe “resistance of a microor-ganism to an antimicrobialdrug that was originally effec-tive for the treatment of infec-tions caused by it”.
To take the AMR head on,the Delhi Government onJanuary 3, 2020 launched theState Action Plan to CombatAntimicrobial Resistance(SAPCAR), focusing on a ‘OneHealth’ approach through sixkey strategic priority areas andmulti-sectoral involvement.
The State plans followsNational Action Plan (NAP) onantibiotic resistance framed bythe Union health Ministry in2017, on the lines of the WHO’sglobal action plan.
Speaking at an event hereduring the launch of the SAP-CAR , Dr Sujeet Singh,Director of National Centre for
Disease Control (NCDC) saidthat the move will help combatthe AMR threat while Dr SunilGupta, MS Safdarjung Hospitalemphasised the need forstrengthening and expandingthe regulatory mechanisms forproduction, sale and use ofantibiotics.
Echoing similar views, DrRavindra Aggarwal, addition-al MS Lok Nayak Hospital andChief coordinator AMR, out-lined the evolution and devel-opment of SAPCAR and theway forward. Six Strategic pri-orities along with key focusareas have been identified foroverall coordination and sur-
veillance, research, infectionprevention and control, antimi-crobial stewardship for AMRcontainment. SAP-CARD inaddition, has included moni-toring and evaluation indica-tors to check the implementa-
tion of SAP-CARD and reduc-tion in AMR.
Dr Sangeeta Sharma, nodalofficer AMR and PresidentDSPRUD, shared the “AntibioticAwareness Campaign in SchoolChildren” organized in collabo-
ration with the DelhiGovernment’s School HealthProgramme to make Delhi’syouth aware about AMR.
Later, she said that Delhi,being the transit point for var-ious agricultural and animal
husbandry products besidespharmaceuticals face differentkind of AMR threat. Moreover,major reason for emergence ofantibiotic resistance is inap-propriate use of antibiotics byhealthcare practitioners withover the counter sale of antibi-otics and poor regulatorymechanisms. Also, antibioticsare also being misused in agri-culture leading to supply ofantibiotic-laden foods. Thepoor handling of sewage wastein treatment plant, domesticwaste, disposal of pharmaceu-tical products are other majorissues that need concerted andcollaborative efforts across var-
ious departments.Though AMR in India came
into limelight way back in 2010with the discovery of superbugsharbouring New Delhi metallo-lactamase (NDM-1) gene, ignit-ing much needed discussionand action on AMR at the glob-al and national level, so far onlythree States, (Kerala, MadhyaPradesh and Delhi ) in Indiahave come forward with theAMR containment plan. TheWHO warns that the economiclosses could be devastating, esti-mated to be about $100 trillionin total by 2050. AMR couldpush 2.4 crore people intoextreme poverty by 2030, it said.
not been seen anywhere sincethe brutal attack by mask menat the university campus onSunday evening, is not availableeven for the Human ResourceDevelopment (HRD) Ministry!
The man who should havebeen there to pacify the vio-lence, skipped a high-levelmeeting convened by HRDSecretary Amit Khare to takestock of the situation at JNU inthe aftermath of massive vio-lence. The HRD Ministry onMonday had summoned theentire JNU administration toreview the steps taken to con-trol the situation.
Sources in the Ministrysaid for almost few minutes, theJNU officials kept conveyingthat the V-C was on his way andwill reach shortly for the meet-ing which lasted for almost twohours in the afternoon.
During the meeting, theJNU administration apprisedthe HRD Ministry of what ledto the Sunday’s violence at thecampus. A source present in themeeting said a JNU adminis-trative official complainedabout the “lackadaisical”approach of the V-C who was
already informedabout the situationprevailing and wasbriefed that situa-tion might “worsen”in the campus as“restlessness” wasobserved within thestudent community.
The official washowever interruptedby another JNU offi-cial saying thatKumar was very much peevedabout the second such incidentin the campus and has soughttime from “two cabinet” min-isters to brief them about theprevailing condition in thecampus in last couple ofmonths.
With the Home MinisterAmit Shah himself asking forimmediate reports into theincident from Delhi L-G aswell as Delhi Police, HRDMinistry too is preparing adetailed report based on thetwo page facts provided byJNU administration.
“HRD Secretary AmitKhare held a meeting with ateam of JNU authorities,including Pro-VC ChintamaniMahapatra, Registrar PromodKumar, Rector Rana PratapSingh and Proctor DhananjaySingh. The secretary held a
detailed discussionwith them and wasalso briefed aboutthe current situa-tion in JNU,” asenior HRDMinistry officialsaid. There washeavy deploymentof police onMonday outsidethe ShashtriBhawan which
houses the HRD Ministry.Though the V-C remainedconfined, he took to socialmedia to express his displea-sure over the incident.
Sources also said theincumbent HRD Secretary isalso treading in the matter cau-tiously as his predecessor RSubramanyam was axed fromHRD last month after the JNUfee related agitation.Subramanyan during a toplevel meeting of HRD Ministryto resolve the fee agitationhad advocated for the JNUStudents’ concern and in themeeting it was pointed that hehimself is a JNU alumni.
The Ministry had onSunday sought an immediatereport from JNU RegistrarPramod Kumar after the vio-lence broke out and studentsand teachers were attacked.
JNU registrar, proctor andother admin officials werebriefed the ministry officials onthe sequence of events thatunfoded on the campus andthe measures taken to restorenormalcy.
HRD Minister RameshPokhriyal asserted educationalinstitutions cannot be allowed tobecome “political adda”, andvowed “strong action” againstthe perpetrators of violence atJNU. “I have said this earlier alsothat these autonomous institu-tions cannot be allowed tobecome political ‘adda’ (dens).Strong action will be initiatedagainst people involved in suchan attack,” Pokhriyal said on thesidelines of an event inBhubaneshwar. The HRDMinister urged JNU students tomaintain the dignity of the uni-versity and peace on campus.
Violence broke out in thecampus as a group of maskedpeople armed with sticksattacked students and teachersand damaged property on thecampus, prompting the admin-istration to call in the police.Many sustained injuries andwere admitted to AIIMSTrauma Centre here. They weredischarged on Monday. JNUStudents’ Union president AisheGhosh suffered a head injury.
Congress cadres celebrating victory of party candidates in urban local bodies Mayoral and Chairman’s elections held across thestate at the party’s state headquarters, Rajiv Bhawan in the capital city on Monday. Pioneer Photo
STAFF REPORTER nKAWARDHA
Once again the IndianAdministrative Service
officer (2009) andKabirdham CollectorAwanish Kumar Sharan hasrelied on the government-run Kawardha districtHospital for delivery of hissecond daughter on Monday.
As per reports, DoctorHeena Ahmed Khan andstaff did the procedure and itwas a normal delivery andboth child and mother arehealthy. The doctors andstaff are happy as they couldassist wife of collector for asuccessful delivery.
Awanish Sharan has beenknown for taking unconven-tional steps to instill faith of thecommon people on govern-ment-run institutions.
Once again, he preferred totake health services ofGovernment district hospital fordelivery of his second daughter.He had tweeted the picture onhis twitter handle to confirm thebirth of his daughter.
Earlier, he had caught theattention of national media, foradmitting his first daughter ina government primary school tocommence her education. Hehimself had dropped her to theschool.
Kabirdham Collectorsets example once again
STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR
As expected it was a smoothsailing for Congress in the
Mayoral elections of RaipurMunicipal Corporation.
Congress candidate EjajDhebar in a direct contest beathis BJP rival Mrityunjay Dubeyby 12 votes on Monday andsecured victory for the partyfor third consecutive term.
Outgoing Mayor PramodDubey was later made Congresscandidate for Chairman’s post.Beating BJP candidate DrPramod Sahu, Dubey waselected to the coveted post.
Earlier, CongressCorporators assembled atparty’s state headquarters inthe morning where, followingdiscussions with PCC Chief,they came to consensus on thename of Ejaj Dhebar formayoral post. Keeping in viewseniority and skill to handleCorporators, Pramod Dubeywas pleased with the
candidature of Chairman’s post.Two other contenders for
the Mayoral post, GyaneshSharma and ShreekumarMenon proposed Dhebar’sname. In the elections Dhebar
secured 41 votes. All the sevenindependents voted forCongress candidate while BJPcandidate Dubey succeeded ingetting only 29 votes.
PCC Chief Markam,
MLAs Satyanarayan Sharmaand Vikas Upadhyay werepresent during the elections toboost the morale of theCongress candidate.
Notably, this was third
consecutive victory ofCongress in Mayoral electionsand Kiranmayi Nayak andPramod Dubey have earlierserved as Congress Mayorbefore Dhebar.
Ejaj Dhebar is new Raipur Mayor, Dubey Chairman
Cong captures mayoral posts in 8 corporations across C’garhSTAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR
Chhattisgarh’s rulingCongress managed to
ensure victory of its may-oral candidates in all theeight municipal corpora-tions, out of the ten in thestate, in which electionswere held recently.
These corporationsare Rajnandgaon,Jagdalpur, Bilaspur, Durg,Dhamtari, Chirmiri,Raigarh and Raipur.
Elections inAmbikapur and Korbamunicipal corporationsare yet to be held.
Congress’s HemaD e s h m u k h( R a j n a n d g a o n ) ,Ramsharan Yadav(Bilaspur) and Safira Sahu(Jagdalpur) were electedearlier while Ejaj Dhebar(Raipur), VijayDewangan (Dhamtari),Kanchan Jaiswal(Chirmiri), DhirajBakliwal (Durg), JankiKatju (Raigarh) wereelected on Monday.
Elections in two, Ambikapur and Korba are yet to be heldHema Deshmukh - Rajnandgaon
Ramsharan Yadav - Bilaspur
Safira Sahu - Jagdalpur
Ejaj Dhebar - Raipur
Vijay Dewangan - Dhamtari
Kanchan Jaiswal - Chirmiri
Dhiraj Bakliwal - Durg
Janki Katju - Raigarh
STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR
From an ordinary functionary ofthe Congress-affiliated National
Students Union of India (NSUI),Aiyaz Dhebar has traversed a longpolitical journey to become theFirst Citizen of Raipur City.
After becoming the Mayor ofRaipur Municipal Corporation, hesaid it is the same city where hetook his first step. Recalling contri-bution of his father in his life, healso thanked Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel and ChhattisgarhPradesh Congress Committee pres-ident Mohan Markam for reposing
faith on him and selecting him tolead the Corporation.
He further said within a year
the city will be made beautiful, allthe planning has been already putin place. He said now he is Mayor ofRaipur and for him all the 70 wardsare equal.
He will take along with him allthe corporators irrespective of anypolitical affiliation. The win andloss has been finally decided.
People have handed over aresponsibility and in next five yearsit will be fulfilled. Developmentalworks will be undertaken at fasterpace. He said there is need to retainthe faith of the people and his onlytarget is to fulfill the aspirations ofthe people.
New Raipur Mayor underlineshis vision for capital city
STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR
Government ofChhattisgarh has recom-
mended the removal of GahiraGuru Vishwavidyalaya, SurgujaAmbikapur, (Formerly SargujaVishwavidyalaya) ViceChancellor and had forwardedit to Governor.
According to an informa-tion received here, the stategovernment had issued thenotification regarding theGahira Guru University,Surguja taking cognizancemal-administration and mis-management, lack of coordina-tion, internal rife, lack ofhealthy educational and
administrative environment,fall of credibility of universityamong the common man andstudents.
The recommendation wasmade using the inherentpowers vested underChhattisgarh University Act1973, section 13, 14, 23 to 25,40, 47, 54 and 68.
As per the enforced provi-sions, the sitting ViceChancellor Dr Rohini Prasadwill be removed based on rec-ommendation of state govern-ment as already the recom-mendation for the same hasbeen sent to the Governor forissuance of the removal order.
The university was
established on September 2,2008 and in its 11 years of exis-tence, for the first time a deci-sion to remove the VC hasbeen taken. Recently, the uni-versity has been in controversyover the cancellation of themaiden convocation ceremony.The students had agitated overthe issue creating resentment.
Higher departmentsources, said it is first such rec-ommendation after Congressgovernment took over. Earlier,most of the Vice Chancellors ofthe government universitiesbased in the state had put downtheir papers after fall of BJPgovernment.
Govt recommends removalof VC of Gahira Guru Varsity
CM seeks proposalfor DKS hospitalmanagementRAIPUR: Chhattisgarh ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghel hasdirected the committeeformed under the chairman-ship of Chief Secretary R.P.Mandal to immediatelysubmit a proposal regardingefficient management of DauKalyan Singh Post GraduateInstitute and Research Centre,capital city, Raipur.
He has also asked theHealth Minister to present adetailed proposal in thisregard. It is noteworthy that acommittee was formed by theChief Minister, to conduct astudy of the DKS Hospital andsubmit a detailed proposalregarding its management.The committee hasn't present-ed any proposal till date.
STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR
Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel on Monday con-
demned the attack inJawaharlal Nehru University(JNU), Delhi calling it a terri-ble warning for the nation.
The Chief Minister wroteon his twitter handle: “Faces ofthose who had sent maskedpeople to unleash violence in
Jawaharlal Nehru Universityhas been unmasked before thenation. They should not try tohide.”
“Dictatorship is loweringthe mask. Fascism does nothave any place in Democracy.If such things are happeningwith students then this is afearful warning for nation,” theChief Minister wrote.
CM terms attack in JNU as‘terrible’ warning for nation
STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR
If any common man has any com-plaint against police pertaining to
inaction even after lodging reportswith police stations, misbehavior ofpolice personnel, delay in takingaction or dissatisfaction over policeaction, then he/ she can now directlysubmit an application to the DirectorGeneral of Police D. M. Awasthi.
The DGP will then immediatelyforward the application for immedi-ate redressal to the ‘ComplaintAgainst Police Cell’, constituted in hisoffice.
Rajesh Agrawal, AssistantInspector General of Police, CrimeResearch Department, PHQ has
been made in-charge of the cell.All the complaints registered by
the applicants will be legally taken upfor immediate action.
DGP forms cell to redresspublic complaints against police
STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR
An 18-member team of2019 batch IAS officials
from National AdministrativeAcademy (NAA) on Mondayinspected the importantprojects of Raipur Smart City.
They also met DistrictCollector, Raipur, Dr S.Bharatidasan and MunicipalCommissioner, Raipur, ShivAnant Tayal and enquired indetail about the civic pro-grammes being run in thecity. The duo explained theteam in detail about theimplementation of theschemes as well as the welfareworks undertaken.
The team also visited
Nalanda Parisar and sharedtheir experiences with theadministrative servicesaspirants.
The team which is on a
5-day tour of the state onSunday visited Sakritrenching ground constructedfor solid waste management,Command centre of traffic
system, ‘Daksha’, Bhatagaonwater purification plant andTelibandha lake where biowater purification is beingdone.
Trainee IAS officials from NAAinspect Raipur smart city project
���������������� ��������� ��� ! ! ������ �.
�������������� ��������������������� �0�48*;�-0
Aday after violence by somearmed miscreants at New
Delhi’s Jawaharlal NehruUniversity (JNU), HaryanaAssembly Speaker on Mondayfaced outrage of students at thePanjab University campus here.
Gupta, who was speaking ata seminar on the topic,"Women's Participation inDecision-Making" at PU wasdisrupted by students belongingto some Left-leaning studentbodies, who shouted slogansagainst the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP), RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS) andAkhil Bharatiya VidyarthiParishad (ABVP).ChandigarhAdministrator and PunjabGovernor VP Singh Badnoreand local Member of ParliamentKirron Kher, who were to attendthe programme had cancelledtheir visit while the chairpersonof the National Commission forWomen, Rekha Sharma attend-ed it. Carrying banners, the pro-testors which also includedfemale students questionedBJP’s Beti Bachao, Beti Padhaocampaign and shouted slogansagainst the ruling party.
���� �0�48*;�-0
Punjab ChiefMinister Capt
Amarinder Singh onMonday describedthe violence atJawaharlal NehruUniversity in Delhias “barbaric andatrocious” andsought strict actionfrom the Delhipolice against thosewho were involvedin the incident.
“Situation inJNU is clearly out of hand.DelhiPolice cannot remainsilent spectators to this mayhemunleashed by a handful of goonsin the premier university. Thisis barbaric, atrocious and needs
to be tackled with iron hand,”Capt Amarinder tweeted.
In wake of violence at JNU,the chief minister directed thestate police to enhance securi-ty around universities and
ensure the safety of students inPunjab, officials said adding thatSingh had stated that nobodywould be allowed to disturbpeace in the Sate.
����$���"�(������� ��� ���������A�&�����'��� ������C h a n d i g a r h : P u n j a bGovernment is considering toconvene a special session ofPunjab Vidhan Sabha to ratifythe Constitution (126thAmendment) Bill that propos-es to extend reservation forScheduled Castes/ScheduledTribes in the Lok Sabha andstate assemblies by another 10years.
“The Constitution Bill waspassed by the Lok Sabha andthe Rajya Sabha on December10 and 12 in 2018, respective-ly. The provisions under the Billhave been effective fromJanuary 25, 2020. As perArticle-168 of the Constitution,the Bill must be ratified by atleast 50 percent of the stateassemblies before its imple-mentation,” the state govern-ment official told The Pioneer.
The official said that thedecision to convene the sessionwould be taken on the Cabinetmeeting, scheduled for January9. The session is required to beconvened before January 25 —before the expiry of the periodto provide reservation.
The Indian Constitutionprovides for reservation ofseats for the SCs and STs andrepresentation of the Anglo-Indian community by nomi-nation, in the Lok Sabha andlegislative assemblies of certainstates.
This has been providedfor a period of 70 years sincethe enactment of theConstitution and will expire onJanuary 25, 2020. The Billseeks to extend the reservationfor SCs and STs by another 10years till January 25, 2030.
“During the special session,the members of the Housewill hold discussion on a StateGovernment’s proposal to rat-ify the Bill,” said the official,adding that there was not muchofficial business to be carriedout in the session. PNS
Punjab Government employ-ees are up in arms against the
Congress-led State Government’sfor its new diktat “no work nopay” for those indulging in stag-ing protests or dharnas affectingofficial functioning.
Slamming the Governmentfor its ‘no-pay-no-work’ formu-
la, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)has expressed solidarity withthe employees saying that theGovernment should first applythe same formula upon itself.
“Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh is trying tosuppress the dissenting voicesagainst the dispensation’s tyran-ny and highhandedness insteadof delivering on its poll promis-
es…The anti-people stance ofthe government is untenablebesides being undemocratic,”said the AAP’s state core com-mittee chairman and MLAPrincipal Budh Ram, DeputyLeader Opposition in VidhanSabha Sarabjit Kaur Manukeand political review committeechairman Harchand SinghBursat, in a joint statement.
���� �0�48*;�-0
Haryana Chief SecretaryKeshni Anand Arora on
Monday directed all the DeputyCommissioners to work on pri-ority basis for providing 55 literspure drinking water per personper day in households of ruralareas, under Jal Jeevan Mission,so that the target of providing100 percent FunctionalHousehold Tap Connection
(FHTC) in every household ofrural areas can be completed byJune 30, 2022.
Chairing a review meetingof the 'Jal Jeevan Mission' withsenior officers and DeputyCommissioners through videoconferencing here, the ChiefSecretary directed the officersthat under this mission, firstly asurvey should be conducted inthe rural area to get completeinformation about how manyhouseholds are getting water
from the taps.Apart from this, it should
also be surveyed how manyhouses have illegal water con-nections. She said that SukshamYuvas should be involved in thistask. She directed that surveyresults should be matched withthe Billing Information Systemfor Water and Sewerage data andthereafter the legal and illegalconnections should be identified.
Arora said that as per thedirections of the Chief Minister,
such illegal connections shouldbe legalized by March 31, 2020,for this, a scheme has been pre-pared by the State Government,under which the departmentofficials will visit the house-holds and will take the consentof the house owners for con-verting the illegal connectioninto legal one.
While after taking the con-sent, the officials will have tocomplete the procedure of mak-ing the connection legal on thespot.
She directed the DeputyCommissioners to hold weeklyreview meetings of the workbeing done under this mission.
She said that under the JalJeevan Mission, for providingFunctional Household TapConnection (FHTC), � 2000 asroad cut charges have beenwaived off by the Government and citizen wouldbe provided with two options.
Union External AffairsMinister Dr S Jaishankar toseek a categorical assurancefrom Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan that assets andlives of minorities would beprotected in the neighbouringcountry.
Pak PM should also assurethat all those responsible forthe hate attack on the Sikhs aswell as stoning of GurdwaraJanam Asthan in NankanaSahib would be arrested andawarded exemplary punish-ment, the party demanded.
The demands were madeby the party delegation, led bySAD president Sukhbir Badal,which called on the UnionExternal Affairs Minister.
Sukhbir also urged DrJaishankar to raise the issue ofatrocities being committed by
Pakistan against minorities inthe United Nations.
“From a total of 40,000 in2002 Census, the Sikh popu-lation had come down toaround 5,000…This itself isproof of forced conversions,” hesaid.
Sukhbir said that the del-egation members, who includ-ed MPs Balwinder SinghBhundur, Prof Prem SinghChandumajra and NareshGujral, Delhi Sikh GurudwaraManagemnet Committee(DSGMC) presidentManjinder Singh Sirsa, TakthPatna Sahib Committee pres-ident Avtar Singh Hit andHarmeet Singh Kalka, alsobriefed the External AffairsMinister that the situation wasso bad in Pakistan that eventhose looking after gurdwaraswere not safe.
Urging for urgent inter-vention on this issue at thehighest level, Sukhbir said “if
anybody can attack and stoneGurdwara Janam Asthan, nominority is safe in Pak”.
SAD delegation also point-ed out that the PakistanGovernment should be askedto take prompt and exemplaryaction in case any minoritycommunity is targeted in anymanner. “If the Governmenthad acted decisively in the caseof attack on Sikh communitymembers at Gurdwara JanamAsthan and stoning of theGurdwara, it would not haveset off the chain reaction whichled to the killing a Sikh youthin Peshawar,” he added.
The delegation membersalso conveyed to Dr Jaishankarthat the recent events inPakistan had hurt the senti-ments of the Sikh communityworldwide.
They said that the Sikhsliving in Pakistan had alreadystated that they were feelinginsecure.
In a bid to generate clean andaffordable energy from waste,
Punjab Government has decid-ed to build a 7MW waste to ener-gy plant, over an area of 50 acresat Simgauli in Mohali district,under the Build Own Operate(BOO) model.
Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on Mondaygave the go-ahead for the project,to be completed within twoyears as part of GMADA-PatialaMunicipal Solid Waste cluster.The project would generatepower from 600 tonnes per day(TPD) waste collected fromMohali and Patiala.Chairing ameeting here, Capt Amarinderalso gave approval to the LocalGovernment Departmen for anMoU between the NationalThermal Power Corporation(NTPC) and MunicipalCorporation Mohali, being thenodal agency, for the executionof the project.
The Chief Minister said thatthis project would contribute sig-nificantly to the implementationof the State Action Plan onClimate Change (SAPCC) andalso the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.Though Municipal Solid Waste(MSW), which had always poseda major challenge to urban localbodies, could now be effective-ly used as a source of renewableenergy.
duties would be terminatedfrom the state health andfamily department and intheir place new doctors wouldbe recruited. The DirectorGeneral (DG) of health ser-vices, Dr Amita Upreti gavethese orders while undertak-ing a review meeting of thedepartment on Monday.
On a stern note, the DGdirected the officials to issuewarning letters to all thoseemployees who are abscond-ing from their works from 15days and more. In an impor-tant decision taken during themeeting the departmentdecided that to streamline itsaccounts and financial wing.Dr Upreti said that now the
department would appointregular accounts officers inthe hospitals and ChiefMedical Off icer (CMO)offices. She informed that thedepartment would hold spe-cial training session for thoseemployees who are below 45years of age and are dis-charging the accounting andfinancial works.
The DG said that theCMOs, CMS and all drawingand disbursing of f icers(DDO) would be given train-ing of financial issues underthe Uttarakhand HealthSystem Development Project.
She said that the CMOsshould send monthly reportson the Bonded MedicalOfficers (MO), conduct reg-ular inspections of hospitalsand ensure thequality of the food provided
to the patients. The DG saidthat the hospitals of the statewould now be operated on thenorms prescribed by the IPHSand all the hospitals shouldsend a work plan to her officeso that the appointment ofdoctors and para medicalstaff can be made on thesenorms. She said that IntensiveCare Units (ICU) on all dis-tricts should become opera-tional in this year.
The DG directed that‘birth waiting homes’ shouldbe opened on the hospitals forthe relatives accompanyingthe expectant mothers com-ing from remote areas forinstitutional deliveries.
She said that birth waitinghomes would be opened withthe budget provided by the National HealthMission (NHM) inPithoragarh, Chamoli,Uttarkashi, Champawat andNainital districts while inAlmora and Bageshwar dis-tricts these centres would beopened by the departmentalbudget.
The meeting was attend-ed by all the officials of thehealth department.
The little respite that the res-idents of Jharkhand
received from the gloomy rainyweather seems to be shortlived. It is again being predict-ed that the State is likely toreceive rainfall from January 8onwards for a few days.
According to theMeteorological Centre, Ranchithere are chances of showers onJanuary 8 and January 9.
“This time again the rain-fall will be because of aninduced western disturbance.The western disturbance is apermanent system and is pre-sent throughout the year and itsfrequency generally increasesin the winter months. It is nor-mally active at 30 degrees orabove latitude but in the win-ter season it affects 30 degreeand below latitudes as well.When this system is active,there are induced circulationswhich cause clouds and rain,”said Deputy Director, METCentre Ranchi, AbhishekAnand.
During this system, dryand wet winds have an inter-action forming clouds andrainfall. When this system isapproaching, the minimumtemperature increases whilewhen it ends, the minimumtemperature falls.
“Because of this system,on January 7 during the dayit will be sunny while clouds
will start forming in theevening in the northern partsof Jharkhand. On January 8and January 9, there will bescattered rainfall across theState,” added the official.
Northern and centralparts of Jharkhand are likelyto receive rainfall on January8. Parts of central and southJharkhand will witness show-ers on January 9. The weath-er will be clear on January 10and January 11 while tenta-tively another system of west-ern disturbances is expectedto be active from January 12.
Shallow to moderate fogwill also be witnessed in manyplaces across the State fromJanuary 10. There will also bea decrease in the minimumtemperature increasing the
chill across the State.“The system of western dis-
turbances which has recentlyoccurred is not normal for thispart of the country. Even thoughits frequency is more in winters,it is normal for North West partsof India but not so frequent forJharkhand,” added Anand.
Because of this system thecoldest day recorded was inRanchi on December 28 withthe minimum temperaturedropping to 4.8 degree Celsiuswhile the city was also declaredas a severe cold day on January1 with the minimum tempera-ture dropping to 6 degreeCelsius in the Kanke area.
The severe cold along withrains occurring in the month ofJanuary is also having an adverse effect in
the agriculture sector acrossthe State. The weather is havinga dual affect on the crops. Oneis due to the prolonged chillingtemperature in rural areaswhere the minimum tempera-ture was around 5 degreeCelsius and on some days even4 degree Celsius.
“When temperatureremains at or around 4 degreeCelsius, there is a frost effect. Inthis the water inside the plantfreezes which causes raptures tothe plant. Many tender cropslike wheat, mustard, chana andvegetables like cabbage, cauli-flower and peas are being affect-ed and the crops are gettingdamaged,” said A Wadood, anagro- meteorological scientist at Birsa AgricultureUniversity (BAU), Ranchi.
Gurdwara Nankana Sahib inPakistan’s Punjab province wasarrested and charged with anon-bailable section of thestringent anti-terrorism actand blasphemy, a senior policeofficer said on Monday.
Gurdwara Nankana Sahib,also known as Gurdwara JanamAsthan, is a site near Lahorewhere the first Guru of Sikhs,Guru Nanak, was born.
The suspect, identified asImran Chisti, is the elder broth-er of Mohammad Hassan whomarried a teenage Sikh girl inSeptember last after allegedlyabducting and converting herto Islam, triggering a contro-versy.
Chisti, a Governmentemployee working in theFisheries Department, wasarrested on Sunday for his rolein the violent incident at the Gurudwara, Nankanapolice station InspectorMuhammad Jamil told PTI onMonday.
“We have arrested ImranChishti, a Governmentemployee, under terrorism andblasphemy charges. He hasbeen booked under sections295A, 290, 291, 341,506, 148and 149 of Pakistan PenalCode and 7-ATA (anti-terror-ism act),” the officer said.
According to the FIR,Chishti incited a mob on Fridayin the name of religion andthreatened to destroy a worshipplace of a minority communi-ty (Gurdwara Janam Asthan) tobuild a shrine there.
“The suspect incited thesentiments of Muslims in orderto have settled his family issueand created a law and order sit-
uation in the Nankana city,” itsaid.
A large number of people,led by Chishti on Friday, helda day-long sit-in outsideGurdwara Janam Asthanagainst the alleged policeharassment and arrest of theirfamily members over theabduction and conversionissue. He also vowed to build aMuslim shrine in the place ofthe Gurdwara.
Chishti claimed that hisbrother Hassan was beaten upby police for “lawfully andconsensually” marrying thedaughter of the Gurdwara’sgranthi.
Police officer Jamil saidthat Chishti had deliberatelymisled Muslims in the areaagainst the Sikhs. He also saidpolice patrolling has beenincreased around all the holyplaces of the Sikhs in NankanaSahib.
When asked Hassan andany other member of his fam-ily are detained too, Jamil said:“We have only arrested Chishtias he is the main suspect mis-leading the people in the nameof religion.”
Interestingly, earlier neitherpolice nor Evacuee TrustProperty Board which looksafter the minority places inPakistan admitted thatGurwara Janam Asthan cameunder attack/threat by the localMuslims.
The arrest of Chishti cameafter Prime Minister ImranKhan Sunday broke his silenceon the incident and said it goesagainst his “vision” and theGovernment will show “zerotolerance” against thoseinvolved in it.
India has strongly con-demned the incident of van-dalism at the revered.
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President Donald Trump onMonday threatened to
impose “very big” sanctions onIraq after its Parliament calledon the US military to leave thecountry for assassinating topIranian General QasemSoleimani in a drone attack inBaghdad.
The Iraqi Parliament onSunday voted to expel the UStroops from its territory whichhave been there to help the Iraqdispensation fight the IslamicState terror group.
Some 5,000 US soldiersare in Iraq as part of the inter-national coalition against the ISterror group.
Iraq’s move comes inresponse to the killing of MajGen Soleimani, 62, the head ofIran’s elite al-Quds force andarchitect of its regional securi-ty apparatus, in a US droneattack on a convoy that wasleaving the BaghdadInternational Airport early onFriday. The strike also killed thedeputy chief of Iraq’s powerfulHashed al-Shaabi paramilitaryforce Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
Soleimani’s killing was themost dramatic escalation yet inspiralling tensions betweenIran and the US, already hit byserious differences overTehran’s ambitious nuclear pro-gramme.
“We’re not leaving (Iraq)unless they pay us back for it,”Trump said while respondingto a question on the resolutionpassed by the Iraqi Parliament.
He was speaking toreporters aboard Air ForceOne while travelling from Mar-a-Lago in Florida to AndrewsJoint Base in Maryland as hereturned to the White Housefrom his Christmas and NewYear vacation.
“We have a very extraordi-narily expensive air base that’sthere. It cost billions of dollarsto build. Long before my timeWe’re not leaving unless theypay us back for it,” he said.
However, Trump did notname the airbase.
“If they do ask us to leave,if we don’t do it in a very friend-ly basis. We will charge themsanctions like they’ve neverseen before ever. It’ll makeIranian sanctions look some-what tame,” Trump said issuing
a strong warning to Iraq.Trump also threatened to
put “very big” sanctions on Iraqif there is any opposition fromthe Gulf country.
“If there’s any hostility, thatthey do anything we think is
inappropriate, we are going toput sanctions on Iraq, very bigsanctions on Iraq,” he said.
Trump said that the US hasspent a lot of money in Iraq.
“I told you, Iraq, was theworst decision, going into the
Middle East was the worstdecision ever made in the his-tory of our country, and I’vesaid that publicly so I guess Ican say that right now goinginto the Middle East was theworst decision ever made in the
history of our country, but weare there and they went intoIraq,” he said.
“Iraq, by the way, they did-n’t knock down the WorldTrade Center. That’s been verynicely proven. But we went in
and we’re there and we’repulling out, pulling out of a lotof different areas. With Syria,I pulled out because I’m notgoing to guard his border. Whyshould I be guarding the bor-der?” he asked.
The Iran nuclear deal wasalready in tatters before
the country announced thelatest rollback of its commit-ments under the 2015 accordfollowing the US assassinationof a top general.
But Iran has not said itwants to quit the agreement,leaving some room for thedeal’s remaining parties -Britain, China, France,Germany and Russia - to tryto save it, according to ana-lysts.
Iran had been expected toannounce a new step backfrom its commitments underthe deal following a series ofmeasures since May last yearin response to the US pullingout of the accord in 2018 andreinstating sanctions.
The latest decision -- toforego the limit on the num-ber of centrifuges used inuranium enrichment -- was inline with Iran’s previousannouncements, according to
a diplomat.“There is nothing enor-
mously new,” the diplomatwho is familiar with the mat-ter told AFP, adding it was a“relief ” the Islamic republicdid not go even further.
Iran is “politically verycareful. They are not saying weare leaving the deal,” saidRobert Kelley, a former inspec-tions chief at the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency(IAEA), which monitors thedeal’s implementation.
Friday’s US killing of a topIranian commander, QasemSoleimani, in Baghdad in adrone strike has added togeopolitical tensions, whilethe 2015 accord -- known for-mally as the JointComprehensive Plan ofAction -- had already beenshaky.
The JCPOA offered Iransanctions relief in exchangefor scaling back its nuclearprogramme, but remainingparties to the deal have so farbeen unable to find an effi-
cient way to skirt reimposedUS sanctions.
“Iran’s decision to putaside the cap on the numberof centrifuges as its fifth stepaway from its JCPOA com-mitments is less harsh thanthe initially feared resumptionof 20 per cent enrichment,” AliVaez of International CrisisGroup tweeted.
The accord capped Iran’suranium enrichment at 3.67per cent, sufficient for powergeneration but far below themore than 90 per cent levelrequired for a nuclear weapon.
Iran has already brokenthat limit with enrichmentreaching 4.5 per cent byNovember - still below the 20per cent level it had previouslyoperated. It has always deniedany military dimension to itsnuclear programme.OnSunday, Tehran also stressedit would continue to workwith the UN’s nuclear watch-dog, the IAEA, which sendsinspectors to Iran to monitorits activities.
cuss the future of the alliance’straining mission in Iraq asMiddle East tensions mountafter US forces killed a topIranian general.
Ambassadors from the 29allies will gather at theirBrussels headquarters at 3.00pm (local time) with SecretaryGeneral Jens Stoltenbergexpected to brief journalistsafterwards.
US officials are due to givean update on the situationafter Washington killedQasem Soleimani, head ofIran’s Middle East operationsas commander of theRevolutionary Guards’ QudsForce, in a US drone strike atBaghdad airport.
“The North AtlanticCouncil will address the situ-ation in the region,” a NATOofficial said.
“The secretary generaldecided to convene the meet-ing of NATO ambassadors fol-lowing consultations with
allies.” Stoltenberg had spokenby telephone with USSecretary of Defence MarkEsper since Friday’s strike,but the killing of Soleimanisurprised many ofWashington’s allies and trig-gered calls for de-escalation.
The situation has alsodeteriorated in Iraq, wherelawmakers have called for the5,200 US soldiers deployedthere to leave.
NATO maintains a 500-strong training mission in Iraq,preparing local forces to takeon Islamic State group extrem-ists, but this would be in doubtif coalition forces pull out.
“The big issue is the futureof the NATO mission in Iraqafter the demand of the Iraqiparliament yesterday toremove US-led coalition andforeign forces. We have to seewhat we will do now,” a NATOdiplomat told AFP.
On Saturday, a NATOspokesman said the mission,which involves several hun-dred allied personnel, wascontinuing “but training activ-ities are currently suspended”.
at Tehran’s latest step awayfrom the beleaguered 2015Iran nuclear deal as the Islamic republic seethes overUS killing of a top comman-der.
Josep Borrell, the EU’shigh representative for foreignaffairs, tweeted that the accord,which has been teetering onthe brink of collapse since USPresident Donald Trumppulled out, was “now moreimportant than ever”.
European-led efforts tokeep Iran in the deal - whichcurbed its nuclear programmein return for sanctions relief -- have borne little fruit sincethe US withdrew in May 2018and reimposed punishingsanctions.
In line with the usual EUpolicy, Borrell said the blocwould wait for further detailsof Iranian breaches from theInternational Atomic EnergyAgency (IAEA) before decid-ing how to respond.
“Deeply regret Iran’s latestannouncement on #JCPOA.As ever we will rely on
@iaeaorg verification,” Borrelltweeted, using an abbreviationfor the deal’s formal name.
“Full implementation of#NuclearDeal by all is nowmore important than ever, forregional stability & globalsecurity.
I will continue workingwith all participants on wayforward.”
On Sunday Iran said itwould forego the “limit on thenumber of centrifuges” it hadpledged to honour in the 2015agreement, casting doubt onan EU push for talks to salvagethe deal.
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The Nepal Govt has initiat-ed the process to deport
122 Chinese nationals detainedfor alleged cross border cybercrimes and criminal activitieslast month from different partsof Kathmandu, authorities said.
On Sunday, KathmanduDistrict Court imposed a fine of�1,000 each on Chinese nation-als for their ‘indecent behaviour’and ordered their release.
The Department ofImmigration has started
process of screening docu-ments in an attempt to deport122, who were arrested oncharges of attempting to com-mit cyber crime and cross bor-der criminal activities.
Of those arrested, 92Chinese do not have any validtravel documents and author-ities here have asked theChinese Embassy to providethe necessary travel document,according to official sources.
They will be deported afterthe immigration departmentcompletes all the legal proce-
dures, Senior Superintendent ofPolice Teku was quoted as say-ing by the Himalayan Times onSunday.
Director General ofDepartment of ImmigrationEshwor Raj Poudel said theChinese would be deported toChina within two days.
“Since police investigationhas shown that the arrestedChinese were not involved incrime related to Nepal, we willhave to deport them from thecountry after recording theirstatement,” added Poudel.
sanctions on Iraq shouldBaghdad expel US troopsbased there “is not very help-ful”, German Foreign MinisterHeiko Maas said Monday.
“I don’t think you canconvince Iraq with threats, butwith arguments,” Maas toldDeutschlandfunk radio,warning that years-longefforts to rebuild Iraq “couldall be lost” if the situationescalates.
Trump earlier vowed tohit Iraq with sanctions “likethey’ve never seen before” ifUS troops are forced to leavethe country.
The threat came afterIraqi lawmakers voted onSunday to request Govt end anagreement with a US-ledinternational coalition to fightthe hardline Islamist group ISin the region.
Tensions have soared fol-lowing the killing of topIranian general QasemSoleimani by a US dronestrike in Baghdad on Friday.
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Asea of black-clad Iranianson Monday mourned the
top commander killed in lastweek’s US drone strike thatinflamed tensions across theMiddle East as NATO ambas-sadors met to discuss the spi-ralling crisis.
Iranians clutching anti-American signs and portraits oftheir hero Qasem Soleimanimassed as supreme leaderAyatollah Ali Khameneipresided over the emotionalservice for the slain head of the
Revolutionary Guards’ QudsForce.
The targeted killing of 62-year-old Soleimani ordered byUS President Trump saw theIslamic republic vow “severerevenge” before Tehran also tooka further step back from thealready tattered 2015 nuclearaccord with world powers.
In an escalating war ofwords that has heightenedinternational concern andrattled financial markets,Trump threatened yet more“major retaliation” if Tehranhits back, including strikes on
Iranian cultural sites.Iraq’s parliament has
meanwhile demanded theGovernment expel the 5,200American troops stationed inthe country in response to thedrone attack.
The paroxysms of religious intoler-ance increasingly engulfingPakistan and sections of its civilsociety, not to mention the frenziedanti-India exhortations of its
favourite militant outfits, are inexorablypushing the nation towards political incoher-ence and religious apoplexy, from whichreturn to sanity seems unlikely.
Two recent events best exemplify thistrend. One is the attack on Nankana SahibGurdwara (January 3) led by the brother ofMohammad Hassan, the boy who alleged-ly abducted Jagjit Kaur, daughter of asenior gurdwara official, from her home inAugust 2019 and forcibly converted andmarried her. Reports suggest that ahead ofthe court hearing on January 9, policeentered the Hassan family home and arrest-ed some members. Enraged, Hassan’s broth-er collected a crowd, surrounded the gur-dwara, pelted stones on pilgrims and threat-ened to convert all shrines into mosques. Asauthorities moved to control the situation,he issued an apology on video.
In India, the incident embarrassed polit-ical parties opposing the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA) and forced them tocondemn it. The ruling party, the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP), the Congress and theShiromani Akali Dal (SAD) protested near thePakistan High Commission in Delhi, whichwas placed under tight security.
The second and more serious incidentconcerns Pakistan’s treatment of its own cit-izens. Junaid Hafeez, a teacher in the liter-ature department of Bahauddin ZakariyaUniversity, has been languishing in solitaryconfinement since March 2013, after anIslamist group claimed he had made blas-phemous remarks during a lecture.
A gold medallist, Junaid was studyingmedicine at Lahore’s prestigious King EdwardMedical College when the poet in him sur-faced; he moved to Bahauddin ZakariyaUniversity, Multan, to study English litera-ture. In 2009, he went to study American lit-erature at the Jackson State University, the US,on a Fulbright scholarship and returned toteach at his alma mater. Here, in the univer-sity’s growing Islamic environment, hepushed for secular debate around differenttopics. Though eminently qualified for a per-manent faculty position, the Islamist studentgroup on the campus, the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba, wanted the post to Islamise thedepartment. Suddenly, blasphemy chargesprevented him from getting the job.
One accusation was that Junaid sharedblasphemous content on a Facebook account,which has never been linked to him.Nevertheless, Junaid, then just 27-years-old,was jailed and his career ruined. When lawyerRashed Rahman was assassinated (2014),advocate Asad Jamal courageously took thebrief, despite several death threats. OnDecember 21, 2019, Junaid Hafeez was sen-tenced to death for “outraging religious sen-timents” (under Section 295-C of the Pakistan
Penal Code that was introducedin 1986 by Zia ul-Haq). His par-ents have appealed to ChiefJustice Asif Saeed Khosa, point-ing out many problems — fromrefusal to hear the case, constanttransfer of judges and delay tac-tics by the prosecution — to denyjustice to the young teacher.Many journalists and writershave supported them.
Within Pakistan, criticsquestion the very need for thislaw, pointing out that it inhibitsreforms in Islam and sanctionsdeath for words, cartoons andother forms of free thought.They point out that critique ofa religion does not mean vio-lence against that faith or denythe rights of its adherents.Instead, the blasphemy lawsundermine basic human rights.
Asiya Bibi, a poor Christianwoman, received the deathpenalty in 2010 for alleged blas-phemy, and Punjab GovernorSalman Taseer was assassinatedfor supporting her and trying totake up cudgels against the well-known abuse of this law. Taseersaid the Pakistan of MohammadAli Jinnah did not have such alaw and such a cruel punish-ment. Claiming that Islam pro-vided for the protection ofminorities, he promised to takeher appeal to the President, forpardon. As the case became aninternational cause célèbre, theSupreme Court of Pakistanacquitted her in October 2018,citing insufficient evidence.However, as frenzied mobs came
on the streets chanting that theywould not let her leave Pakistan,it was only in May 2019 that shewas discreetly flown to Canada,where her family had alreadybeen given asylum.
It is an open secret thatPakistan’s blasphemy law is aweapon to harass individuals orgroups for personal or pettyagenda or to persecute religiousminorities for vicarious majori-tarian satisfaction. Invariably,the accused are unable to defendthemselves and have to sufferpainful imprisonment beforereceiving capital punishment,though the Supreme Court hasoften overruled judgments of thelower courts for having poor evi-dentiary value. At times, howev-er, the apex court has upheld thesentence, leaving the lucklessaccused with no recourse but tobeg for pardon from thePresident. Along the way, intre-pid lawyers have lost their lives,fighting for justice, dignity andhuman rights.
Vigilantism, as seen atNankana Sahib, has become thenew confession in Pakistan.Rabble-rousers reminiscent of theDominican monk, GirolamoSavonarola, but without his pietyand learning, exhort intoleranceof secular dissenters and minori-ties as a national creed. Mini-tyrants populate every village andcity street, sniffing out potentialvictims. Former President Zia-ul-Haq’s tweaking of the British-made blasphemy law (that Indiajunked because Hindu dharma
has no canon and, therefore, nolaw, and Pakistan retainedbecause it was a religion of theBook) has rained hell on its poorvictims.
As of now, there is no onewho can put the genie back in thebottle. Many lament that Jinnah’splea for a secular nation, made onAugust 11, 1947, before Pakistanwas officially born, was not hon-oured by the elite of the newcountry. Some say the speech wasoptics at the behest of LordIsmay to stem the communalfrenzy and bloodbath. Others saythat the communal passionsunleashed by Jinnah to achievePakistan had assumed a momen-tum of their own and could notbe controlled.
Secular thinkers in Pakistanassert that there is no blasphemylaw in the Quran or in anyHadith or in the writings of thedominant Hanafi school.Blasphemy is a man-made deviceto control dissidence or tormentinnocents, who may have earnedone’s ire for some petty reason orother. In Asiya Bibi’s case, it wasdrinking water from a potreserved for Muslims.
Pakistan’s Islamic revolu-tion, like all revolutions, is eat-ing its own children. It needs tobe reversed by an Ataturk-typeof powerful leader but theArmy has been thoroughly rad-icalised. Islam has becomePakistan’s cul-de-sac; the way inis the only way out.
Sir — It was heart-breaking toread about all the animals thatdied when a fire tore through amonkey enclosure at the KrefeldZoo in northwestern Germany atthe dawn of the new year. Policesuspect that paper lanterns lit andlaunched into the sky by revellers— in spite of there being a ban onthese items — caused the fire. Thelanterns, bought off the internet,fell into the enclosure where rarespecies of apes — including mar-mosets, chimpanzees, orangutansand gorillas — as well as birdswere kept. This might have beenan accident but it occurred onlybecause of the carelessness andnegligence of human beings.
M PradyuKannur
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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “We didn’t start the fire”(January 6). The recent killing ofIranian military commanderQasem Soleimani by forces in theUS has heightened fears of anattack from Iran directed atAmerica, raising fears of an all-
out war. But it’s unclear how orwhen a response might come. Ifa disproportionate responsecomes from the Iranian side, itcan have catastrophic repercus-sions for the US as well as for Iran.As the Middle-East simmers,
prices of crude oil are likely toincrease. One hopes that theongoing stand-off betweenTehran and Washington doesnot escalate into a serious conflict.
Devendra KhuranaBhopal
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Sir — Justice delivery is the basicingredient of a civilised society,but it seems to have collapsed inour case. The alarming rise in the
pendency of cases in Indiancourts is worrisome. The presentstatus of 19 judges for 10 lakhpeople is woefully inadequate.The Law Commission’s recom-mendations to increase the ratioto 50 has been observed more inbreach than in honour.
Even if the courts work roundthe clock, making severe dent onthe pendency of cases is a hopeagainst hope. Besides, corruptionwithin the judiciary has gainedground. Delayed delivery of jus-tice must become a thing of past.Only then can the courts existmeaningfully.
KV SeetharamaiahHasaan
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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “New Year births” (January 3).Overpopulation gives birth toseveral serious problems in anycountry. India must undertakeexpeditious measures to pre-vent such huge increase in itspopulation.
2020 is an election year in the USA. PresidentDonald Trump is trying for a second term. TheAmerican public will definitely review his per-
formance before giving him a second chance. Asfar as foreign policy is concerned, Trump’s recordhas been a mixed bag. While many term it as a “termof controversies,” the cornerstone of the TrumpAdministration’s foreign policy has been “principledrealism” or more popular “America First.” After all,what else is the purpose of any country’s foreign pol-icy except to put its own interests first? Trump’s for-eign policy vision smacked of sabre rattling ratherthan reconciliation. He was not only distrustful ofUS allies, scornful of international institutions andindifferent to the liberal international order that theUS had sustained for nearly eight decades but alsodisplayed inconsistency by blowing hot and cold onmany occasions.
Trump is bound to tout his record on foreignpolicy as a resounding success. While he hasn’t builta wall and expensed it to Mexico, he has followedthrough on pledges to withdraw from the Irannuclear agreement and the Paris climate accord, torenegotiate NAFTA and to aggressively pressChina on trade. He has delivered on many of hiscampaign promises, whether the rest of the US sup-ports them or not. In doing so he has earned thetitle of “international bully,” annoying many alliesand friendly nations, undermining internationalinstitutions, dishonouring treaties and accords andcreating flashpoints. Conventional wisdom says thatforeign policy does not win polls. But Trump seemsto be faced with a challenge that may break this.
The majoritarian view in the US still favoursengagement and shared leadership in global affairs,as well as US participation in alliances and pacts,while Trump continues to move in the oppositedirection. As per a survey, 57 per cent Americansdisapprove his foreign policy performance. The lat-est episode in the Middle East will definitely addto his woes and the democratic hopefuls will exploitthese vulnerabilities during campaigning. This time,foreign policy might be a major theme for the elec-tion and just might tip the balance.
The tension in the Middle East has been build-ing for quite some time and Trump did displayrestraint. Iran, no doubt, was testing Trump’spatience by repeated misadventures like the shoot-ing down of a US surveillance drone, mining theStrait of Hormuz and an assault on Saudi oil facil-ities in response to sanctions. Trump all the whileavoided retaliating militarily, preferring to tightenthe noose with additional sanctions. The brainbehind Iran’s defiance was the commander of Iran’sIslamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) QudsForce, Major General Qasem Soleimani.
Soleimani had been in the bad books of the USever since he emerged as the mastermind of Iranianuse of proxies to target US and Western assets andservicemen, promoting terrorism and conductingdestabilising activities in countries hostile to Iran.He was credited with conducting proxy wars in Iraq,Syria and Yemen. He controlled much of Lebanonthrough the Hezbollah. He was also the mastermindbehind the survival of the Assad regime in Syria.The Americans hated him for being responsible forthe deaths of hundreds of soldiers in Iraq at thehands of Shia militias after US invasion of Iraq in2003. Though, later he cooperated with the US infighting the ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
But once Trump called off the nuclear treaty
with Iran and imposed sanctions, he onceagain became a sworn enemy of the US.He crossed the red line by attacking anUS military base in Iraq that resulted inthe death of a US contractor and injuredseveral servicemen. That Trump wouldnot tolerate any loss to American lives wasclear by the way he ordered air strikesagainst five targets in Iraq and Syria asso-ciated with Iran-backed Shia militiaKataib Hezbollah that was believed to beresponsible for the attack on the US basenear Kirkuk. Justifiably, the Pentagontermed these strikes as “defensive” sincethey were in retaliation to attacks on USservicemen and civilians in Iraq. ButTrump surprised the world by using USmilitary power to kill Soleimani througha rocket attack. Pentagon once againtermed it as “defensive” since Trump wasconvinced that Soleimani was visiting Iraqto intensify attacks against US bases inIraq. The US strike also killed a top Iraqimilitia commander Abu Mahdi alMuhandis, an adviser to Soleimani anda dozen of militia men, evoking a quickand angry response from both Iran andIraq. While Ayatollah Khamenei of Iran,to whom Soleimani reported directly,vowed revenge, the Iraqi Prime Ministertermed it as a violation of a deal for keep-ing US troops in his country.
Is it really a defensive act or aprovocative one? Has Trump overreact-ed? The chances of an all-out war may notbe very high but it would lead to escala-tion in the low-level conflict between theUS and Iran with global consequences.Violent retaliations will be there.Considering that the Americans are thinon the ground and widely dispersed inforeign lands, a chain of reprisals is goingto hit them unless the US is willing toescalate to a full blown war. This mayprove costly as far as American casualties
are concerned. Under such circum-stances, would Trump be able to sustainhis doctrine of military retaliation when-ever an American life is lost, is a milliondollar question. That, too, in an electionyear. Additional deployment of 3,000troops in Kuwait to ward off the Iranianthreat and failure to reduce the jackbootstrength in Afghanistan may also provecostly for Trump. What is surprising iswhy Trump decided to strike now whenhe is also facing an impeachment? Trumpwas possibly irked by ransacking of theUS Embassy 104 acre Green Zone com-pound in Baghdad. Yet, killing the IranianGeneral on Iraqi soil will remain a ques-tionable strategic decision. Continuationof American troops in Iraq will comeunder pressure in view of the response ofthe Iraqi Prime Minister.
Apart from usual attack on US mil-itary commanders and soldiers or launch-ing operations to destroy its bases andassets, Iran may also resort to cyber-attacks considering the over dependenceof Americans on the internet. In a worstcase scenario, Iran may try to enlistChinese and Russian support and com-bined with their cyber forces launch a pro-paganda cum perception operationagainst Trump, which may mar his cam-paign. Americans should prepare for theunexpected. There has been fair amountof criticism from the Democratic oppo-nents of the President.
The situation in the Middle East willbe highly tense, with Israel and SaudiArabia at the receiving end. Shia terrorgroups in Pakistan may also becomeactive against US targets as well as troopsin Afghanistan. Soaring oil prices andtumbling share markets will be theimmediate global consequences.Democratic presidential frontrunner JoeBiden has termed it “a highly escalatory
move in a highly dangerous region.” Thepossibility of it turning into a Shia versusSunni conflict may disturb peace inmany countries in the region.
Former Foreign Secretary NirupamaRao has criticised Trump’s decision, “USmilitary personnel are in Iraq supposed-ly on an anti-IS mission. Under the Trumpadministration, there appears to have beenmission creep, in Iraq as well as Syria, inwhich somehow confronting Iran hasbecome part of a new mission. That mis-sion has never been justified.”
India cannot remain unaffected bythe events in the Middle East since itremains one of the largest oil importersof the world. Soaring oil prices apart fromhitting the pockets of the common manare also going to add to India’s econom-ic woes when it is struggling to revive asluggish economy. Tensions in the regionmay also affect the smooth oil supply.Strategically, it would have an adverseimpact on India’s bid to develop ChabaharPort and develop an alternative rail,road axis to Afghanistan bypassingPakistan and the open trade route to land-locked Central Asian Republics.
Majority across the globe term it asan “unnecessary provocation.”Surprisingly, a usually hyper Trump haschosen to remain quiet. He will be in adilemma since he ran his campaign andcontinues to do so ahead of 2020 election-on the promise of an end to Middle Eastwars. Does he have that choice now?
While US troops will remain on ten-terhooks, Trump has provided enoughammunition to his Democratic opponentsfor a very interesting election campaignat home. While the target will not be ques-tioned, timing will definitely be the con-tentious issue.
(The writer is a political commenta-tor, political, security and strategic analyst)
If the Iranians played the gamethe same way that the AmericanPresident Donald Trump does,
then their revenge for the Americanassassination of Iran’s leading gen-eral, Qassem Soleimani, would be asimple tit-for-tat. Just kill UnitedStates (US) Secretary of State MikePompeo, the man who actuallyorganised the hit and then boastedabout it.
If Pompeo was too hard to getat, the Iranians could get even bymurdering any one or two of a hun-dred other senior US officials.Probably two, because the US dronethat hit Soleimani’s car coming outof Baghdad airport also killed Abu
Mahdi al-Muhandis, the leader ofKata’ib Hezbollah, the most power-ful pro-Iranian militia in Iraq.
An eye for an eye, and so forth.Tit-for-tat is clearly the game Trumpthought he was playing. That’s whyhe warned late on Saturday onTwitter that the US has identified 52Iranian sites, some “at a very highlevel and important to Iran and theIranian culture”, and warned theywould be “hit very fast and hard” ifTehran retaliates for Soleimani’smurder.
But that’s not the game theIranians are playing at all. It’s a muchlonger game than tit-for-tat, andtheir targets are political, not per-sonal.
Tehran’s first response has beento announce that it will no longerrespect any of the limits placed onits nuclear programmes by the 2015nuclear treaty, the JointComprehensive Plan of Action(JCPOA).
Donald Trump pulled the USout of that treaty in 2018 and Iranhas given up hope that the other sig-natories to the pact, i.e. China,
France, Russia, the UnitedKingdom, and Germany, woulddefy the US and go on trading withIran.
It signed the deal in order to endthe sanctions but all the sanctionsare effectively still in place.
Tehran didn’t say that it is nowgoing to start working on nuclearweapons but it will resume produc-ing enriched nuclear fuels in quan-tities that would make that possible.
Iran knew that it was going tohave to pull the plug on the JCPOAeventually but Trump’s assassinationof Soleimani lets it do so with theopen or unspoken sympathy of
almost every other country in theworld.
And there’s a second, less visi-ble benefit for Iran from Soleimani’smurder. It greatly strengthens Iran’spolitical influence in Iraq, which hasbeen deteriorating quite fast inrecent months.
Ever since the US invasion in2003, Iraq has been the scene ofintense competition for influencebetween the US, which dominatedthe country militarily and Iran,whose State religion, the Shia ver-sion of Islam, is also the faith of themajority of Iraqis.
There are still about 5,000American troops in Iraq but they arenow vastly outnumbered by localpro-Iran Shia militias, who did theheavy lifting during the 2014-17military campaign to crush IslamicState (IS) militants in northernIraq. Lately, however, the pro-Iranfaction has been losing ground.
When popular protests brokeout in September against the hugecorruption of Iraqi politicians andthe impoverishment of the generalpopulation, the pro-Iran militias
started killing the protesters. Thatwas General Soleimani’s idea and avery serious mistake on his part:The street protests began to targetIranian influence as well.
But Soleimani’s murder haslargely erased that resentment: Heis now yet another Shia martyr tothe cause. The Prime Minister ofIraq showed up at his huge funeralprocession in Baghdad and anextraordinary session of the IraqiParliament passed a resolutiondemanding the expulsion of UStroops from Iraq.
The Iraqi political elite may ormay not carry through on that pol-icy but there is genuine outrage thatthe US, technically an ally, wouldmake an air strike just outsideBaghdad airport without tellingIraq. All the worse when it kills aninvited guest of the IraqiGovernment who is the secondmost important person in Iraq’sother main ally, Iran. This is whatcontempt looks like and it rankles.
In just one careless stroke by theUS, Iran has had two big diplomat-ic wins thanks to Soleimani’s assas-
sination. The Iranians will certain-ly go on making deniable, pin-prickattacks on US assets and allies in theGulf in retaliation for the US sanc-tions that are strangling the coun-try’s economy but they may feel thatthey have already had their revengefor Soleimani.
Iran doesn’t want an all-out warwith the US. The US could not winthat war (unless it just nuked thewhole country) but neither couldIran and it would suffer huge dam-age if there were a flat-out Americanbombing campaign using only con-ventional bombs and warheads.
Apocalyptic outcomes to thisconfrontation are possible, butthey’re not very likely.
The Iranians will probably justchug along as before, staying with-in the letter of the law most of thetime, cultivating their allies in theArab world and waiting for Trumpto make his next mistake in theirfavour. He’s reliable in that, if innothing else.
(Gwynne Dyer’s new book is‘Growing Pains: The Future ofDemocracy and Work.’)
Nehru University (JNU) to the26/11 attacks in Mumbai,Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray says thatthe masked men behind theviolence were “cowards” andthey needed to be identified and punished stern-ly.
“From we saw on televisionof what happened at JNU, I cansay that the masked men whoindulged in violence were cow-ards. If they were brave enough,they would not have indulgedsuch kind of violence. When they did whatever theydid, why they wear masks?...Whatever I saw on televisionreminded me of 26/11 attacks in Mumbai,” Uddhavsaid.
Talking to media personshere, Uddhav said: “This kindof cowards will not get supportfrom any quarter in the country.... I will not tolerate thiskind of attack in Maharashtra....All those masked men behindyesterday’s violence at JNUneed to be identified and dealtwith sternly”.
When his attention to theprotests being witnessed in thenational capital in the after-math of the violence at JNU,Uddhav said: “The protestswill definitely take place.Because, whatever happened atJNU should not have hap-pened in the country. All those responsible for the
incident —be it even police —should be identified and pun-ished”.
Asked about the protestsbeing witnessed in Mumbaiand other parts of the State, theChief Minister said: “There isnothing to worry about theprotests happening in Mumbaiand other places in the state.We are here to take care ofthem. I would like to assure thestudents in the state that I willnot only not allow JNU-likeincidents in Maharashtra, butI will also not tolerate such inci-dents here”.
“If there is need to increasesecurity on the university campuses in the State, we willdefinitely do it. But, we will notlet anyone harm our studentsin the state. If someone tries toharm, we will deal with themsternly,” the Chief Ministersaid.
‘At the same time, we allneed to come together, takecognisance and address theunrest that is being witnessedamong the students across thecountry, by taking the stu-dents concerned into confi-dence... The incident has happened in Delhi.. The anger within thestudent community in the stateis coming out. I would like tothe students that I share theiranger and assure them thatthere is no need for them tofear,” Uddhav said.
Maintaining that he did notwant to politicise the incidentat JNU, Uddhav said: “I do notwant to politicise the incident.
At this stage, I do not want totake sides on the incident. But,I am all for baring the masks ofthe people behind the JNU.They deserve to the unmasked.The real faces of those behindthe incident should comebefore the country.. Whoeverwere behind the incidentshould be punished”.
Uddhav agreed with aquestioner that the policeappeared to be biased in han-dling the JNU incident. “If thepolice have not performedtheir duty, the needle of suspicion also turns towardsthem,” he said.
Asked if Union HomeMinister Amit Shah should beheld responsible for the inci-dent, Uddhav said: “Like I saidearlier I do not want to politi-cise the incident. What I wantimmediately is that all thosebehind the incident should bebrought to book and punishedseverely. What we need now isan impartial inquiry into theincident....If no action is taken,then questions will arise if itwas a sponsored attack andthere is politics in the wholething”.
Asked if he concurred withthe demand made by the teach-ers’ association of JNU that thevice chancellor should besacked, Uddhav said: “Don’tworry, things will come out (onwhether there was derelictionof duty on his part). Things cannot be hidden for long...Ultimately, it is for theGovernment there to initiateaction”.
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Aligarh: Aligarh MuslimUniversity students on Mondaydemanded the resignation ofJawaharlal Nehru University vicechancellor Jagadesh Kumar ashundreds took part in a rally hereover violence by masked men atJNU’s campus in Delhi.
In a statement, the AMUStudents CoordinationCommittee (AMUSCC) demand-ed JNU VC’s resignation, askinghim to take “moral responsibili-ty” for the violence in the varsity.
Terming as “shocking” thereports that even medical teamsheading to assist the injured wereprevented by the mob from enter-ing the JNU campus, theAMUSCC, in a statement saidonly a time-bound judicial inquirywould uncover the full truth.
The AMUSCC has beenspearheading an agitation against the amended citizenshiplaw.
The alleged involvement ofgoons linked to the ABVP wouldbe confirmed by a judicial probe,it said, while strongly condemn-ing the manhandling of SwarajParty President Yogendra Yadavby miscreants allegedly under thepolice patronage.
The AMU’s students also helda Tiranga March inside the AMUcampus later in the day in soli-darity with the JNU students andall other student bodies current-ly holding peaceful protestsagainst the CAA.
Raising slogans “JNU tumsangharsh karo, hum tumharesaath hain” (JNU! You fight, weare with you), the protesters hand-ed over a memorandum,addressed to President of India, tothe district authorities here.
The memorandum by theprotesting students, among otherthings, also demanded “immedi-ate punishment to those respon-sible for attack on JNU studentsand teachers”. PTI
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Terming the Sunday’s attackon Jawaharlal Nehru
University campus a “fascistsurgical strike,” Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onMonday called upon theOpposition parties to uniteagainst the “fascist rule beingperpetrated by the BJP-ledGovernment.”
Even as academic campuses all over Bengal erupted in protest against theSunday’s “barbaric attack” onstudents of JNU the ChiefMinister said an “emergency-like situation” wasprevailing in India which hadto be countered immediately toretrieve and save the Indiandemocracy.
“I started my politicalcareer as a student worker buthave never seen a situation likethis where the academic cam-pus of the entire country isbeing attacked just to gag theprotesting voices,” the ChiefMinister said adding “if anyoneraises his voice he will betermed as anti-national … thiswas not how politicians workedin the past.”
Lambasting the BJPGovernment for allowing theviolence to be perpetrated bythe members of its students’arm Akhil Bharatiya VidyarthiParishad in JNU campusBanerjee said “I was watchinghow one side they sent their
ABVP goons inside the campusto brutally attack the studentsand on the other they kept thepolice administration inactive… similar things hap-pened at Jamia Millia Islamia,Lucknow, Muradabad. Theyare doing whatever they like…this (JNU attack) is nothing buta fascist surgical strikeabsolutely.”
India had been shamedand its democracy tormentedas never before, Banerjee said“It is shameful to speak abouthow democracy is beingattacked by a planted game. Ifanyone speaks anything inprotest they call them anti-national, a Pakistani… What ishappening? Pakistan is not ademocratic country. The dif-ference between India andPakistan is that we are secularcountry and they are funda-mentalist country. So whyalways compare with Pakistan?Does it mean that you want topull India to the level of thatcountry?”
Banerjee’s angry remarkscame at a time when parts ofBengal including educationalcampuses in Kolkata erupted inrevolt against the JNU incident
with thousands of studentstaking out rallies fromPresidency College, JadavpurUniversity and other places.
A massive procession ofthe civil society members wastaken out from North Kolkatapast the BJP State party officeto the Governor’s House.
In the evening the policehad a tough time to keep JUstudents and the followers ofthe ABVP separated from eachother. “An apparent BJP sup-porter was roughed up by thealleged JU students for callingthe, Pakistanis even as theywere taking out a processioncondemning the Sunday’s inci-dent.
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In what the Opposition Leftparties promptly called an
“admission” on the part of theBJP of its involvement in theSunday’s attack on JNU cam-pus, Bengal BJP president DilipGhosh on Monday justified theJNU incident saying suchaction was long overdue andthat the Left had been paidback by their own coin.
When asked to commenton the Sunday’s incident thatleft about 30 students andteaching staff injured, Ghoshjustified the action saying, “thecommunists deserved this.They are getting their due.”
He said “why campuses inBengal, Kerala and Tripura areviolent? This is because the Left
had perpetrated this culture inthese regions. Today they aregetting paid back. They are getting what they deserved.There is nothing wrong in it.”
When asked to commenton whether the level of politicsshould stoop to such levels theState BJP chief said “they hadperpetrated silent terror earli-er, now they are getting itback. Good that the score isbeing settled,” adding however “the BJP does notbelieve in violence.”
Reacting strongly toGhosh’s comments formerCPI(M) MP Samik Lahiri said“when such comments comeout of the mouth of none otherthan the chief of the Statewing of a party then one has tobelieve that the attack was pre-planned.
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Hundreds of students fromvarious student
organisations, NGOs andprominent personalities stageda sit-in protest at the historicGateway of India in southMumbai against the hooliganism witnessed on theJawaharlal Nehru University(JNU) campus on Sundaynight.
The students from variouscolleges, carrying the nationaltricolours, banners and posters,staged a dharna, shouted slo-gans against the violence at theJNU and expressed their soli-darity with the affected stu-dents and professors in thenational capital. Protests werealso staged at the IIT Bombay
Powai campus.The protests were
continuing in Mumbai till verylate in the evening.
Bollywood film makersAnurag Kashyap, AnubhavSinha, Zoya Akthar, actorsRahul Bose, Gauhar Khan andcomedian Kunal Kamra stageda demonstration at Carter Roadin Bandra’s Carter Road innorth-west Mumbai onMonday night, to condemnthe violence at JNU and expresssolidarity with the students.
State Housing Minister andNCP leader Jitendra Awhad,who joined the protest at theGateway of India in the morn-ing, hit out at the NJP govern-ment at the Centre for itsattempts to “destroy” democracy in the country.
Talking to media persons,Awhad said: “The JNU violenceis (Amit) Shah-sponsored ter-rorism. The country condemnsthis barbaric act. Its nice to seethat #Modi #Shah are scared ofonly one thing, that’s theintellect in JNU”.
On Sunday night, studentsstaged a “torch protest” infront of the Film and TelevisionInstitute of India (FTII) inPune to express their solidari-ty with the affected JNU stu-dents.
Students from various col-leges in Pune and the PuneUniversity had joined the FTIIstudents in the protest whichwent on till 1 am on Monday.
The FTII students are plan-ning a “silent march” from
their institute campus to thePune University at 5.30 pm onTuesday in protest against theviolence at the JNU anddemand action against thosebehind the incident. “ Weexpect the students from vari-ous colleges and PuneUnviersity and also peoplefrom various walks of life tojoin the silent march,” a studentleader said.
Meanwhile, students owingallegiance to Akhila BharatiyaVidyarthi Parishad (ABVP)staged a protest near RuiaCollege at Matunga in north-central Mumbai against theJNU attack and alleged that theLeft backed students werebehind the incident. Theyraised slogans against the leftparties and JNUSU.
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Mumbai: Several political leaders, including NCP chiefSharad Pawar and State Environment Minister AdityaThackeray, have come out against violence on Jawaharal NehruUniversity campus on Sunday. “JNU students and professorswere subjected to a cowardly but planned attack. I strongly con-demn this undemocratic act of vandalism and violence. Useof violent means to suppress democratic values and thoughtwill never succeed,” Pawar tweeted. “The violence and brutalityfaced by students, while protesting, is worrisome. Be it Jamia,be it JNU. Students mustn’t face brutal force! Let them be! Thesegoons must face action. They must be brought to time boundand swift justice,” Aditya Thackeray tweeted.
Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik strongly con-demned the JNU violence and demanded strict action againstthe culprits. “Hostels are being attacked. Students and staff arebeing beaten up. Police is not acting upon to protect them. BJP’spolitics is playing with the future of the country,” Malik said.
Today’s protest was a continuation of the demonstrationswhich started at midnight at the Gateway of India in Mumbaiand Pune. PNS
began on a stormy note onMonday with the DMK, theprincipal Opposition party andits allies staging a walk out inprotest against the controversialCitizenship Amendment Actpassed by both Houses ofParliament.
The opening sequences ofthe session had all theingredients of a drama as theproceedings which commencedin a sober mood turned volatileas Governor Bawarilal Purohitstarted his customary address tothe members of the House. MKStalin, leader of the Oppositionwho had given notice for a private resolution condemn-ing the CAA was on his feet shouting slogans and demand-ing a thorough discussion in theHouse about the “discrimina-tory Act”. An unperturbedPurohit asked Stalin and his col-
leagues to be calm and listen tothe speech. “You are a best ora-tor. Use your skills for debate.Let this House be used fordebate,” said the Governor whoreverted to his prepared speech.
Stalin along with the con-stituents of the DMK — ledfront shouted slogans andwalked out of the House.
Interestingly, TTVDhinakaran, the lone memberof the AMMK and TamimumAnsari , an ally of the rulingAIADMK too joined the DMKin the walk out which also gaveindication of a future possiblealliance between the DMK andthe AMMK.
The Governor steered clearof any controversies throughouthis speech and was silent aboutthe CAA. The close he came toreferring the CAA was aboutthe move by the AIADMKGovernment to help SriLankan Tamils who have takenrefuge in the State . “TheGovernment of Tamil Nadu willurge the Government of India
to provide dual citizenship toSri Lankan Tamil refugees inTamil Nadu. Government ofTamil Nadu will ensure that theinterests of all citizens regard-less of religion or creed are pro-tected,” said the Governor.
While patting the EdappadiPalaniswami Government forits efforts in making the State adeveloped one and the leadState sought after by investors,the Governor declared thatTamil Nadu has become thenumero uno State in India asenvisaged by former ChiefMinister late J Jayalalithaa.Purohit paid glowing tributes toAmma at least half a dozentimes in his hour long speechand this drew thumping ofdesks by the AIADMK legisla-tors. The Governor was criticalof the 14th FinanceCommission recommendationsthat led Tamil Nadu, a best per-forming State in the county los-ing heavily despite its com-mendable achievements.“There has been a diminution
in the overall flow of Centralfunds to Tamil Nadu. Contraryto the impression thatthe Fourteenth FinanceCommission’s recommenda-tions increased the gross flow ofresources from the Centre tothe States, in reality there hasbeen a reduction in the grosstransfers from the Centre toStates. Moreover, Tamil Naduhas faced a more severe adverseimpact due to the horizontaldistribution formula of theFourteenth FinanceCommission,” said Purohit.
The Governor also saidthat Tamil Nadu lost Rs 4073crore because of the discrep-ancies in allocating the share ofGST to the State and he blamedthe 14th Finance Commissionfor the same. The MekedatuDam to be built by Karnatakaacross Cauvery River and thereservoir to be built byKarnataka along theMarkandeya River too came forsharp attacks in the Goernor’sspeech.
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Jammu: Sikh organisationsstaged a protest in Jammu &Kashmir's Kathua district onMonday against the vandalism at GurdwaraNankana Sahib in Pakistan'sPunjab province.
Over 300 Sikhs raisinganti-Pakistan slogans blockeda highway in Rajbagh area anddemanded protection tominorities and their places ofworship in Pakistan.
The protesters burnt effigyof Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan as they con-
demned the killing of a Sikh inthe mob attack at the Gurdwaraon Friday.
“We demand protection tominorities and their places ofworship in Pakistan,”Charanpreet Singh, a sikhleader, told reporters.
He said the incident was amatter of “shame” for PrimeMinister Imran Khan.Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, alsoknown as Gurdwara JanamAsthan, is a site near Lahorewhere the first Guru of Sikhs,Guru Nanak, was born. PTI
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Crimes against womenincreased nearly 50 per cent
in Rajasthan in 2019 with a totalof 41,155 cases being registered,which is 13,561 more than theprevious year.
The maximum rise in crimesagainst women was in molestation(68 per cent) while rape cases tooincreased by 38.34 per cent ascompared to the cases registeredin 2018, according to the crimedata released by the State's
Director General of PoliceBhupendra Singh here onMonday.
The cases of rape committedagainst minors also registered anincrease of 22 per cent.
Singh said police have registered every FIR that hasresulted in an increase in thenumber of registered cases in2019. The overall increase incases registered under varioussections of the Indian Penal Codewas 31.08 per cent.
“Our focus in 2019 was on
ensuring that every case is regis-tered and no grievance gets leftunattended. We took effectiveaction against organised crimeslast year,” the DGP told a pressconference here.
For 2020, he said maximumpriority will be given to focussingon crimes against women andchildren.
Last year, a total of 41,155cases of crimes against womenwere registered which is 49.14 percent more than 2018 and 61.01per cent more than 2017.
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The BJP is set to raise thepitch in Bihar in support of
the Citizenship (Amendment)Act, with two of its top lead-ers flying down to the State toaddress public meetings andraise awareness about the contentious legislation, a seniorparty official said on Monday.
Union Home Minister andparty chief Amit Shah is sched-uled to address people inVaishali district on January 16,two days after Uttar PradeshChief Minister Yogi Adityanathholds a public meeting inGaya, state BJP vice- presidentDevesh Kumar told PTI.
A massive door-to-doorcampaign is currently under-way in the State, after itslaunch on Sunday with rallies
addressed in Patna by Unionminister of state for HomeNityanand Rai and DeputyChief Minister Sushil KumarModi.
Notably, Bihar witnessedmassive anti-CAA protests inthe recent past, includingstatewide bandhs called ondifferent days by Left partiesand the RJD and its allies.
A demonstration staged bya motley group of student outfits in December hadcaught the police off guard asthe agitators went on the ram-page, setting on fire a policeoutpost and many vehicles atKargil Chowk, a stone's throwfrom the district police chief 'soffice and the collectorate.
Meanwhile, the State BJPmocked Pavan K Varma, thedisgruntled national general
secretary of the JD(U), for hisopen letter in protest against“unilateral announcement” onNational Population Register(NPR) exercise by the deputyCM.
Modi had made the dis-closure at a press conference onSaturday and issued a sternwarning that “administrativeand punitive action” will betaken against officials, foundguilty of dereliction of duty.
State BJP spokesmanNikhil Anand came out with aflurry of tweets, addressed toVarma, pointing out that whathe assumed to be a “unilater-al announcement” by thedeputy CM has been set inmotion by a notification issuedby the State Government lastmonth. PTI
Lucknow: A Bahujan SamajParty delegation on Mondaymet Uttar Pradesh GovernorAnandiben Patel and soughther intervention for the releaseof “innocent” people jailed inconnection with protestsagainst the amended citizenship law and immediatewithdrawal of cases againstthem.
The delegation, led byparty MP Satish Mishra, hand-ed over a memorandum to theGovernor at Raj Bhawan a day
after BSP chief Mayawati askedthe Uttar Pradesh Governmentto apologise to the people forputting anti-citizenship lawprotesters behind bars withoutthorough investigation.
“The BSP has opposedthis law which grants citizen-ship on the basis of religion,making it divisive and uncon-stitutional... And had alsovoted against it in Parliament,”the memorandum signed byMayawati said.
“There was widespread
opposition to this law all overthe country and in UP therewas violence. Earlier the policeand state government held theprotestors solely responsiblefor it and also acted in a vin-dictive manner, putting peoplein large numbers behind thebars,” it said.
It claimed media reportshad brought to fore the attitudeof the state government, policeand administration which hadbeen most barbaric and biased. PTI
Shahjahanpur (UP): FormerUnion Minister SwamiChinmayanand, who has beenaccused of sexual exploitationby a law student, appearedbefore a local court here onMonday.
Chinmayanad was broughtto the court of Chief JudicialMagistrate (CJM) Omvir fromthe jail amidst tight security,said his counsel Om Singh.
He said the court has fixedJanuary 20 as the next date forhearing.
The counsel for the lawstudent, Kalvinder Singh, saidshe could not appear before thecourt as she was unwell.
Chinmayanand, whosetrust runs Shahjahanpur LawCollege, where the studentstudied, was arrested underSection 376C of the IPC, anoffence pertaining to abuse ofone's position by a person inauthority to “induce or seduce”a woman under his charge to
have “sexual intercourse notamounting to the offence ofrape”. Chinmayanand also facescharges of stalking underSection 354D, wrongful con-finement under Section 342and criminal intimidationunder Section 506 of the IPC.
The 23-year-old law student, who was arrested forallegedly trying to extort � 5 crore from Chinmayanand,was released on bail onDecember 11.
The former Union minis-ter had alleged that they hadthreatened to make publicsome video clips that showedhim getting massage from thelaw student, who was arrestedon September 25. PTI
Bengaluru: Karnataka ChiefMinister BS Yediyurappa onMonday said the much await-ed Cabinet expansion will takeplace in about a week to 10 daysand that he wants to completethe exercise before his pro-posed visit to Davos to attendthe World Economic Forummeet later this month.
“Cabinet expansion has tobe done in a week or 8-10 days.
There is also informationthat Amit Shah (Union HomeMinister and BJP nationalPresident) will be coming toBengaluru on January 16 or 18.Before that I will go to Delhiand get things cleared and willexpand the Cabinet at the ear-liest,” Yediyurappa said.
Speaking to reporters here,he said he wanted to completethe exercise before his Davosvisit. He said he was not keenon leaving for Davos, but wastold that some Chief Ministerswould have to g and so wouldattend it as it is a very impor-tant event.
“I will make all efforts toexpand the cabinet before that,”he said. With Yediyurappamaking it clear that 11 of thedisqualified JDS-CongressMLAs who got re-elected in theDecember 5 bypolls on BJPtickets will be made Ministers,lobbying has been on withinthe party for the remainingministerial berths.
Currently there are 18Ministers, including the ChiefMinister, in the cabinet that hasa sanctioned strength is 34.
Cabinet expansion will notbe an easy task for the ChiefMinister as he willhave tostrike a balance by accommo-dating the victorious disquali-
fied legislators as promisedand also make place for oldguards, upset at being “neglect-ed” in the first round of theinduction exercise.
He also has to give adequate representation to var-ious castes and regions in his-cabinet and also deal with allo-cation of key portfolios.
The Chief Minister, whohas indicated that the Ministryexpansion may take place anytime after Sankranti, is likely totravel to Davos on January 20,according to sources.
Yediyurappa, along withUnion Ministers Piyush Goyaland Mansukh Mandaviya, aswell as Chief MinistersAmarinder Singh (Punjab),Kamal Nath (Madhya Pradesh),are expected join over 100Indian CEOs at Davos inSwitzerland later this month forthe WEF's 50th annual meeting,which will be attended by thou-sands of rich and powerfulfrom across the globe.
PTI
Bengaluru: JD(S) leader HDKumaraswamy on Mondaysaid he would not get involvedin any 'wicked act' of bringingdown the BS Yediyurappa-ledGovernment in Karnataka,amid claims that 15 to 20 BJPMLAs were ready to comeout.
Clarifying that he wouldnot disturb the Government,the former Chief Minister said for him develop-ment of the State was impor-tant.
“With great difficulty you(Yediyurappa) have becomeChief Minister for the fourthtime, (i am) happy, I havenowhere said that I will disturbyour Government.
Even now some peoplecome and ask why Im sittingsilent when 15-20 people areready to come out of BJP andwhy dont I make an attempt (topoach them), Kumaraswamysaid. PTI
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Samajwadi Party chiefAkhilesh Yadav on Monday
demanded a probe by a sittingSupreme Court or High Courtjudge into deaths of children atGorakhpur Medical College.
Blood tests conducted on1,800 children admitted in thehospital between January andOctober last year showed thatthey were suffering fromencephalitis, but the govern-ment admitted only 500 such cases by “tweaking therecords”, he told reporters here.
He alleged that acting atthe behest of the government,the doctors there describedillness of the children as acutefever and claimed that around1,500 children had died therebetween January and Octoberlast year.
New Delhi: Gold prices in thenational capital hit an all-timehigh level on Monday andzoomed �720 to �41,730 per 10gram following a pick-up insafe-haven demand for themetal amid weak equities andbullish global trends, accordingto HDFC Securities.
Silver also witnessedincreased buying as it surged Rs1,105 to �49,430 per kg from�48,325 per kg in the previoustrade.
Gold had in the previoustrade closed at �41,010 per 10gram.
"Safe-haven demand con-tinued in the precious metalwith word of war between theUS and Iran. Along with aweaker rupee, rise in interna-tional gold prices supporteddomestic gold prices to trade atlife-time high level," DevarshVakil, Head (PCG-Advisory),
HDFC Securities, said.In the global market, gold
traded with gains at $1,575 perounce and, likewise, silver alsoquoted higher at $18.34 perounce.
International gold pricesat COMEX climbed as much as2.3 per cent to USD 1,588.13 anounce, the highest level sinceApril 2013, and traded at $1,575an ounce. Along with the otherAsian currencies, the rupeetraded with a loss of 25 paiseamid higher crude oil prices.
In the morning trade, therupee depreciated 31 paise to72.11 weighed by the spike incrude oil prices, amid risingconcerns over US-Iran ten-sions.
The Sensex crashed near-ly 788 points on Monday asheightened tensions in theMiddle East kept investors onedge. PTI
Mumbai: The rupee plunged 13paise to settle at 71.93 against theUS currency on Monday,weighed down by the spike inglobal crude oil prices as esca-lating US-Iran tensions fannedfresh fears of conflict in theMiddle East.
Forex traders said growinggeopolitical tensions could con-tinue to keep the domestic unitunder pressure.
At the interbank foreignexchange, the rupee openedweak at 72.03 against the US dol-lar. During the day, the domes-tic unit touched a low of 72.11.
The local unit recoveredsome lost ground and finallyclosed at 71.93 against the USdollar, lower by 13 paise over itsprevious closing.
The rupee on Friday hadclosed at 71.80 against the USdollar.
This is the third straight ses-sion of loss for the domestic cur-rency, during which it has lost 71paise.
Meanwhile, Brent futures,the global oil benchmark, rose1.49 per cent to $69.62 per bar-
rel. "The renewed geopolitical
worries will remain for couple ofdays, lending support to oilprices and taking a toll on theemerging market currenciesincluding rupee," said RahulGupta, Head of Research-Currency , Emkay GlobalFinancial Services.
US President Donald Trumphas warned Iran of "major retal-iation" if Tehran carries out anyattack against America to avengethe killing of top military com-mander Qasem Soleimani andhinted at striking its cultural sites.
His statement came hoursafter Iran announced it will nolonger abide by the limits con-tained in the 2015 landmarknuclear deal.
"Most Asian markets also fellafter news of the air strikes.Market participants are awaitingfor more clarity on the same butescalation in geopolitical tensionscould continue to keep the cur-rency weighed down," saidGaurang Somaiyaa, Forex &Bullion Analyst, Motilal OswalFinancial Services. PTI
New Delhi: Amazon India onMonday said it has entered intolong-term business agreementswith Future Group for expand-ing the reach of the latter's retailstores and consumer brandsthrough its online marketplace.
The development comesafter Amazon had agreed to buy49 per cent stake in FutureCoupons Ltd that in turn holdsstake in Future Retail Ltd (FRL)last year.
"FRL and Amazon Indiasigned two agreements focusingon key categories - grocery andgeneral merchandise, and fash-ion and footwear," according toa statement released Monday.
Amazon India will alsobecome the authorised onlinesales channel for FRL stores, andFRL will ensure participation ofits relevant stores and pro-grammes on the Amazon Indiamarketplace, it added.
Besides, Future ConsumerLtd (FCL) has also inked a long-term agreement with AmazonRetail India Pvt Ltd (ARIPL) fordistribution of FutureConsumer's portfolio of brandsonline. Some of FCL brandsinclude Tasty Treat, Voom,
Dreamery, Karmiq, MotherEarth, Kara, CleanMate andothers.
As part of the partnership,FRL will augment existing store-infrastructure at its retail outletsfor facilitating seamless packag-ing and pickup of productsordered online. FRL andAmazon India have alreadylaunched this service across 22stores. Both companies plan onrolling this out across the entireFRL store chain based on agreedtimelines.
"FRL will leverage its exist-ing infrastructure, strong prod-uct knowledge and extensivebrand portfolio resulting in high-er store productivity andimproved margins," as per thestatement.
Currently, FRL attracts over350 million footfalls across itsretail network, and AmazonIndia's marketplace will enableFRL to reach a wider customerbase. Also, FRL will list on theAmazon Prime Now pro-gramme, allowing customers toget food, grocery and generalmerchandise delivery withintwo hours in Delhi, Mumbai,Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.
FRL plans to soon list storeslike Big Bazaar, and Foodhall inmore cites on the Amazon Indiamarketplace.
"In order to drive efficien-cies, the two organisations willwork closely through a dedicat-ed team, and will explore syner-gies in distribution, customeracquisition, and marketing ini-tiatives. This creates an enviablecollaboration bringing togetherthe best of consumer insights andgeographical reach from theonline and offline world," thestatement said.
Kishore Biyani, Chairmanand Managing Director of FRL,said "this arrangement will allowus to build upon each other'sstrengths in the physical and dig-ital space so that customers ben-efit from the best services, prod-ucts, assortment and price".
"FRL's national footprint ofstores offering thousands ofproducts across fashion, appli-ances, home, kitchen and gro-cery will now be available to mil-lions of customers shopping onAmazon.In, in hours across over25 cities,” Amazon India SeniorVice President and CountryHead Amit Agarwal said. PTI
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Investor wealth tumbled by a whopping�3.36 lakh crore in two successive ses-
sions of decline in the equity market fol-lowing escalation in tensions in the MiddleEast.
Equity markets fell for second con-secutive session, with the 30-share key BSEindex plummeting 787.98 points, or 1.90per cent, to close at 40,676.63, on Monday.During the trade, it dropped 850.65 pointsto 40,613.96.
The Sensex had ended 162.03 points,or 0.39 per cent, lower at 41,464.61 onFriday as well.
Led by the weakness in equities in twoconsecutive trading sessions, the marketcapitalisation of BSE-listed companiesplunged by �3,36,559.82 crore to�1,53,90,312.60 crore.
"Indian markets started the week ona negative note amid escalation of geopo-litical tensions between the US and Iran.Rising crude oil prices and adverse rupeemovement too impacted the sentiments,"
Religare Broking Ltd VP — Research AjitMishra said.
"Amongst the broader markets, BSEmidcap and smallcap underperformed. Allthe sectoral indices witnessed heavy sell-ing pressure and ended with losses where-in auto, banking and metals were the toplosers," he added.
US President Donald Trump onSunday vowed "major retaliation" if Irantries to avenge the killing of its key mili-tary commander Qasem Soleimani.
Brent crude oil futures surged near-
ly 2 per cent to $69.81 on Monday, whilethe rupee depreciated 24 paise against theUS dollar to 72.04 (intra-day).
On the Sensex chart, Bajaj Financewas the top loser, dropping 4.63 per cent,followed by SBI, IndusInd Bank, Marutiand HDFC.
At the BSE, 1,944 stocks declined,while 604 advanced and 181 remainedunchanged.
The S&P BSE Smallcap index closed1.96 per cent lower, while the BSE Midcapindex fell 2.31 per cent.
New Delhi: The NationalCompany Law AppellateTribunal on Monday dismissedthe Registrar of Companies'petition seeking modification ofthe judgement in the Tata-Mistry case and said its rulinghad not cast any aspersions onthe RoC.
"There is no ground toamend judgement datedDecember 18, 2019," a two-member NCLAT bench said.
On December 18, the tri-bunal ruled reinstating CyrusMistry as the ExecutiveChairman of Tata Group andalso termed conversion of TataSons from a public company toa private one by the RoC as "ille-gal".
Tata Sons, Chairman
Emeritus Ratan Tata and TataConsultancy Services (TCS)have separately moved theSupreme Court against theNCLAT order.
In its plea, RoC -- underthe corporate affairs ministry -- had sought to be impleaded asa party in the two petitions anddeletion of words "illegal" and"with the help of the RoC" usedby the NCLAT in its 172-pagejudgement.
In its plea, RoC, whichfunctions under the Ministry ofCorporate Affairs, had sought tobe impleaded as a party in thetwo petitions and deletion ofwords "illegal" and "with thehelp of the RoC" used by theNCLAT in its 172-page-longjudgement.
The tribunal had termedthe appointment of NChandrasekaran, as 'illegal' fol-lowing the October 2016 sack-ing of Mistry as Tata Sons'executive chairman. It had alsodirected the RoC to reverse TataSons' status from a 'privatecompany' to a 'public company'.
In its urgent application,which was mentioned onDecember 23, just five days afterthe NCLAT's December 18,judgement, RoC Mumbai hadasked the appellate tribunal "tocarry out requisite amend-ments" in Para 186 and 187 (iv)of its judgement "to correctlyreflect the conduct of the RoC,Mumbai as not being illegal andbeing as per the provisions ofthe Companies Act". PTI
Mumbai: Lubricants makerGulf Oil has extended its pactwith auto major Bajaj Auto forsupply of its engine oil byanother three years, the com-pany said on Monday.
At present, Gulf Oil sup-plies engine oil to Bajaj Auto inmarkets across 20 countries,including India, it said in arelease.
The company has beenable to use its channel to sub-stantially increase the pres-ence of its product offerings,designed for Bajaj Auto'srequirement, in more than15,000 outlets and grow thebusiness consistently, therelease stated.
"I am glad to renew theagreement with Bajaj Auto.Our association with the brandstarted in 2016. This was ourfirst OEM association in thetwo-wheeler category thathelped us grow further inmotorcycle oils where wealready had a strong presencein the 'Bazaar' segment," GulfOil Lubricants ManagingDirector Ravi Chawla said.
PTI
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The US-Iran standoff canpull down Indian equities
and small caps are expected tobe dominant investmentthemes in the markets, ICICIPrudential Mutual Fund saidon Monday.
The extent to which geo-political tension in the MiddleEast can hurt the domesticmarkets, however, cannot bepredicted, the second largestasset manager's chief invest-ment officer S Naren toldreporters here.
The small cap segment isset to dominante the land-scape for the next three to fiveyears, after under-performingfor two years, he added.
The large caps are extreme-ly over-valued at present mak-ing them a no-go area, despitethe vital roles that the compa-nies are playing, he said.
Awashed out series-open-er means ShikharDhawan has one game
less to make a statement in hisquest to outperform an in-formK L Rahul, making the opener’sfortunes an interesting sub-plotof India’s second T20I against SriLanka at Holkar stadium today.
Dhawan, 34, is a provenperformer in limited overs crick-et but with age on Rahul’s side(27), time is running out for theeasy-going Delhi-based crick-eter to cement his place for theT20 World Cup later this year.
The left-hander’s strike ratein the shortest format has beenan issue for a while and that isone thing he must address in theremaining two matches.
The fact that Dhawan iscoming back from an injury, oneof the many he suffered in2019, makes his task all the morechallenging.
In the year that went by,Dhawan managed 272 runs in12 games at a strike rate of 110.
Rahul, on the other hand,has made the most of his oppor-tunities at the top and was inscintillating form in the previ-ous limited overs series (threeODIs and three T20s) againstthe West Indies, scoring a hun-dred and three fifties in sixinnings.
Skipper Virat Kohli has
already stated that choosingbetween Dhawan and Rahulwill be a tough call after Rohit,who is rested from the Sri Lankaseries, returns to opening theinnings.
Considering not a ball wasbowled in Guwahati, it is unlike-ly that Kohli will make changesto the playing XI, having pickedthree specialist pacers and twospinners for the series-opener.
India are being experimen-tal ahead of the World Cup inOctober-November but themanagement has so far notgiven an opportunity to Pandeyand Samson, who are likely to sitout again.
Star pacer Jasprit Bumrah’scomeback after four monthswas highly anticipated in
Guwahati but rain and subse-quent wet outfield played spoil-sport. He is certain to get gametime today with clear weatherpredicted in Indore.
All-rounder AngeloMathews, one of Sri Lanka’smost experienced players along-side skipper Lasith Malinga,did not find a place in the play-ing XI in Guwahati with the vis-itors also going for three special-ist pacers and two spinners. Itremains to be seen if Mathewsmakes the team today.
Sri Lanka, who have notwon a bilateral series againstIndia across formats for morethan 10 years now, will have toproduce a special performanceto upstage the domineeringhosts here.
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Plagued by injuries in 2019, open-er Shikhar Dhawan is aiming for
a fresh start in the new year and wantsto become a “more impactful” bats-man in his quest to help India lift theICC T20 World Cup in Australia.
“Last year I had lots of injuries butthat’s part and parcel of our work. It’sa new year and I am looking forwardfor a new start and it’s gonna go a longway,” Dhawan told bcci.Tv.
“This year looking I am forwardto score lots of runs for the team andfor myself and be a more impactfulplayer, win matches for my team andwin the World Cup,” he said, elabo-rating on his goal for 2020.
Dhawan, who is back in theIndian team for the three-match T20series against Sri Lanka, believes theongoing rubber is a great opportuni-ty for him to be back among runs.
“I am really looking forward tothis series. It’s a good opportunity forme to come and express myself andscore big runs,” he said.
“I am always developing my game,developing new shots. I always makesure that I do my preparation well andcome on the ground and enjoymyself.”
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Nathan Lyon captured five for50 and 10 match wickets as
Australia crushed New Zealandby 279 runs on Monday, cappinga golden domestic summer asthey swept the three-Test series.
The off-spinner led thepowerful Australian bowlingattack to dismiss the Kiwis for136 and seal another heavy winover the Black Caps after simi-lar victories in Perth andMelbourne.
Australia have been unbeat-able this season, winning all fiveTests at home — two againstPakistan and three against NewZealand — after retaining theAshes by drawing the series 2-2 in England.
“It’s been a great summer forthe Australian Test side,” Lyonsaid.
“It’s pretty special to be partof it, we have been impressive,pretty clinical, the batters havedone well and given us bowlersplenty of time.”
Australia declared their sec-ond innings at 217 for two withDavid Warner scoring anunbeaten century, leaving theBlack Caps with a revised 416-run target in the fourth inningson a wearing Sydney CricketGround pitch.
But the Kiwis buckled underthe pressure of Australia’s supe-rior bowling attack with MitchellStarc taking three for 25 tosupport the wiles of spinnerLyon.
“They were clinical in allareas and after the first matchthey put us under pressure ses-sion after session,” said skipperKane Williamson, who missedthe Test with a virus.
������ The ICC’s cricketcommittee is set to discuss thefour-day Test proposal inMarch despite growing criti-cism from the world’s leadingplayers including India skipperVirat Kohli.
Former India captain AnilKumble, who heads the crick-et committee of the sport’s gov-erning body, said the propos-al will be discussed in the nextround of the ICC meetings, toheld in Dubai from March 27-31.
“Since I am part of thecommittee, I can’t tell what Iam thinking about it (propos-al) at the moment. We will dis-cuss it in the meeting and letyou know,” Kumble said,adding that he is fine with pastand current cricketers haveexpressed their views aboutfour-day Tests.
The likes of AndrewStrauss, Rahul Dravid, MahelaJayawardene and ShaunPollock are also on cricketcommittee.
The proposal, which hasbeen floated for the 2023-2031 cycle, has not gone downwell with the greats of the gameincluding Kohli, SachinTendulkar and Ricky Ponting.
However, member boardsfrom England and Australiaare open to the idea whileBCCI boss Sourav Ganguly hassaid that “it is too early” to talkabout it. PTI
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Ben Stokes launched an astonishing assaultwhich enabled England to give themselves
plenty of time to push for victory, but thetourists had to work hard to take two SouthAfrican wickets before the close on the fourthday of the second Test at Newlands onMonday.
Set to make a world record 438 to win,South Africa were 126 for two at the close.They used up 56 overs on Monday but willneed to bat out another 90 today to preventEngland from levelling the four-match series.
Opening batsman PieterMalan, making his Test debut,scored 63 not out and sharedhalf-century partnerships with Dean Elgar (34)and Zubayr Hamza, who was caught behindoff James Anderson in the penultimate over ofthe day for 18.
Stokes slammed 72 off 47 balls to over-shadow a maiden Test century by DominicSibley, who continued his sedate progress ashe took his overnight score of 85 to 133 notout. He reached his hundred off 269 balls andfaced 311 deliveries in his innings.
England’s batting on Monday was in dra-matic contrast to their effort on Sunday whenthey ground their way to 218 for four off 79overs. Sparked by Stokes they added another157 runs off only 32 overs before declaring fiveovers after lunch on 391 for eight.
While Sibley continued to play the anchorrole, Stokes went on the attack against everybowler he faced. He survived a chance on 38when an attempted pull against Kagiso Rabada
could not be held by a diving Quinton de Kockafter the wicketkeeper ran about 35 metres intrying to take the catch.
Stokes was caught at long-on off left-armspinner Keshav Maharaj after an inningswhich included three sixes and seven fours andhad a large English contingent in the crowdroaring their approval.
Ollie Pope fell quickly but Jos Buttler con-tinued the attack, hitting 23 off 18 balls as thelead went beyond 400.
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Ritwik Roy Chowdhury struck anunbeaten fifty under pressure on his
Ranji debut while Akash Deep claimedsix wickets as Bengal snatched threepoints against Gujarat in their rain-affected group A fixture here onMonday.
Making his debut in place of theout-of-form Sudip Chatterjee, the 24-year-old showed both aggression andcomposure on way to his 53 not outfrom 67 balls (7x4, 1x6), as Bengal tookthe first innings lead in the final sessionof the concluding day.
It was rising Bengal pacer AkashDeep who had set the tone with a six-wicket haul in his second Ranji appear-ance to bowl out Gujarat for 194 insidethe first-hour's play on the final day.
Left with little time, Bengal had ashaky beginning and skipperAbhimanyu Easwaran (42) could notconvert his start, while the senior-mostManoj Tiwary (37) departed at 137 forfour.
Batting at number six, Ritwikstitched an important 48-run partner-ship with Shreevats Goswami (29), butit was number eight Shahbaz Ahmed(27 not out) who extended the helpinghand to ensure the lead.
"I was really in the zone, played witha lot of intent, it's about striking the rightbalance. I put in a lot of thought on howI wanted to bat. It paid off. It was verymuch expected. They threw at me andI was ready for it," Ritwik said.
Rain had washed out the first day'splay while the match was truncated onboth the second and third days beforeGujarat resumed on 169 for seven.
The 23-year-old Akash Deep, whowas adjudged Man of the Match, ranthrough the tail en route to impressivefigures of 6/60 from 18.3 overs.
Bengal's last match, against Andhra,too was affected by the weather.
"Weather has denied us somepoints. But I'm feeling good about theteam. Under the circumstances, we arehappy to get three points. In both thegames we were sitting pretty in the gamewe should have got six in one of them.
"Unfortunately you cannot do any-thing about the weather. But the teamis in a roll. They are playing well, look-ing good. The belief is there," Bengalcoach and mentor Arun Lal said.
Showering praise on Akash Deepand Ritwik, he said: "As a coach I can'task for anything more. New stars are
born. Bengal will look as a force as goodas any other team in a couple of yearswith these youngsters doing well."
UP SETTLE FOR 1!����� Tamil Nadu grabbed threepoints on the basis of their first inningslead after their Elite Group B matchagainst Uttar Pradesh ended in a tamedraw.
The game was evenly poised whenUP resumed the fourth and final dayat the Green Park Stadium at 170 for9, needing 11 more runs to overhaulTamil Nadu's first innings total.
However, Tamil Nadu's 28-year-oldleft-arm medium pacer T Natarajan (4for 24) quickly accounted for rival skip-
per Ankit Rajpoot (2) as hosts werebowled out for 175, with the visitorssnatching the all-important lead.
In their second essay, UP left-armorthodox spinner Saurabh Kumar (5-39) spun a web around the TN bats-men as the visitors collapsed to 154 allout.
For the southern side, two-downBaba Aparajith (53) scored a half cen-tury, while captain Vijay Shankar (28)was the second highest run-scorer.
Other batsmen, including openersV Ganga Sridhar (1) and LSuryapprakash (2), failed as UPbowlers wrecked havoc.
Kumar was ably supported byRajpoot (3-39) and off- spinner Rinku
Singh (2-11).UP were set an ambitious 160-run
target for an outright victory. UPopeners Rinku Singh (27) and AlmasShaukat (14 not out) added 41 runs forthe first wicket before Natarajan sentback the former.
Natarajan also dismissed one-down Mohammed Saif (0) in the sameover. However, bad light stopped play,bringing the proceedings to a close.
TN picked up three points forsecuring the innings lead for the firsttime this season. Uttar Pradesh had tobe content with a solitary point.
Meanwhile at Dharamshala, theMadhya Pradesh versus HimachalPradesh game ended in a draw with theformer earning three points courtesytheir first-innings lead. HP had to becontent with a lone point.
In the next round, TN take ondomestic heavyweights Mumbai inChennai from January 11, while UPplay Baroda in Kanpur.
J&K THRASH JHARKHAND������Left-arm medium-pacer AbidMushtaq took five wickets as Jammuand Kashmir thrashed Jharkhand by aninnings and 27 runs in Group Cmatch.
Resuming on overnight 103 forfour on the final day, Jharkhand lost sixwickets for 52 runs in 26.4 overs to tastetheir first defeat in four matches.
The experienced Ishank Jaggi (34,96 balls, 2 fours) defied the J&K attackon the final day but the others, includ-ing the talented Ishan Kishan (8, 28balls, 1 four) and Virat Singh (1), did-n't rise to the occasion.
Mohammed Mudhasir providedthe breakthrough by removing ViratSingh.
Kishan and Jaggi resisted for eightovers before the two were dismissed inthe space of three runs by Umar Nazirand Aquib Nabi respectively.
Nabi then removed Rahul Prasad(6), Shahbaz Nadeem (9) and VarunAaron (0) to finish things off forJammu and Kashmir.
J and K improved their tally to 20points from four matches whileJharkhand are on 16 points.
In another match, Haryana beatChhattisgarh by 89 runs in Raipur totake their points tally to 21.
Odisha conceded the first inningslead to Tripura in Agartala but are ontop of Group C with 22 points from forgames.
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South African driver Giniel De Villiers won thesecond stage of the Dakar Rally on Monday
while former Formula One world championFernando Alonso dropped two and a half hoursafter losing a wheel.
De Villiers, who lost 23 minutes when hefinished 14th in Sunday's opening stage, bouncedback strongly over the 401 kilometre-route, ofwhich 367 were a special between Al-Wajh andNeom.
Many drivers had navigational problems andDe Villiers took advantage of a mistake by longtime stage leader Yazeed Al-Rajhi to guide hisToyota home in 3hrs 37mins 20secs.
The 47-year-old crossed the line 3mins57secs ahead of Orlando Terranova who nowheads the overall standings in his Mini.
The Argentinian, who was sixth in the open-ing stage, is almost five minutes ahead of fellowMini driver Carlos Sainz.
Defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyahcame in fifth on stage two and is six minutes offthe lead while 13-time champion StephanePeterhansel already trails by 13 minutes.
Alonso suffered his first major problem inhis first Dakar when he ground to a halt with adamaged wheel. He was running fourth after 100kilometres of the special when the problem
occurred.The Spaniard had no option but to wait for
his assistance team before he was able toresume. However, his chances of reaching thepodium already look unlikely.
On the motorcycles, Ross Branch won hisfirst stage on the Dakar after a perfectly con-trolled day's riding.
The Botswanan finished 1min 24secs aheadof 2017 winner Sam Sunderland who now leadsthe bikes category, 1min 18secs ahead of PabloQuintanilla.
On Tuesday, the rally heads out on a 489 kmround trip which starts and ends in Neom.
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Spin legend Shane Warne onMonday said he has decid-
ed to auction his Baggy Greencap to raise funds for the dev-astating bushfire victims ofAustralia.
Warne made theannouncement by posting a statement on his twitter handle dur-ing the third Test between Australia and New Zealand at the SCGhere.
"The horrific bushfires in Australia have left us all in disbelief.The impact these devastating fires are having on so many peopleis unthinkable and has touched us all. Lives have been lost, homeshave been destroyed and over 500 million animals have died too,"he said in the statement.
"Everyone is in this together and we continue to find ways tocontribute and help on a daily basis. This has led me to auctionmy beloved baggy green cap (350) that I wore throughout my Testcareer. "I hope my baggy green can raise some significant fundsto help all those people that are in desperate need," the 50-year-old former leg-spinner added.
Warne has joined a growing list of cricketers, who are raisingmoney for the bushfire victims.
Australian players Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell and D'Arcy Shorthave already announced that they will donate AUD 250 each forevery six they hit in the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL) to sup-port bushfire victims.
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In an effort to counter theeffects of dew, the Madhya
Pradesh Cricket Association(MPCA) has been spraying aspecial chemical on the outfieldat the Holkar Stadium.
MPCA chief curatorSamander Singh Chauhan saidon Monday that to beat theeffects of dew, a special chem-ical was being sprayed over theground since the last three
days. Besides, he said, the grasson the ground was also notbeing watered since the lastthree days to minimise theeffects of dew.
“We sincerely hope thespectators will get to see foursand sixes raining in the match,”he said.
Since the game will com-mence at 7pm, dew could be afactor in deciding the out-come, especially in the secondhalf of the match.
His performance not up to the mark by hisown admission, Sri Lanka wicket-keeper
batsman Kusal Perera says the senior players inthe side will have to share more responsibility ifthey are to beat India in the T20 series.
“I didn’t play consistent Test cricket but inwhite ball cricket, I played last series in Australia.
There I played well but not upto the mark. So Iwill try to do my best in this series,” Perera, whohas played 18 Tests, 98 ODIs and 43 T20s.
“We need to play together as a team.Obviously the senior players will have to pull uptheir socks. They will have to do much better butat the same time the good thing is we have someyoung bowlers and batsmen in the squad,”Perera told bcci.Tv.
An ominous Rafael Nadal was incruise control for Spain at the ATPCup on Monday but Serbia’s Novak
Djokovic was forced to sweat through bru-tal conditions for his second win in a row.
The Spanish world number one sweptpast Uruguay’s experienced Pablo Cuevas6-2, 6-1 in just 73 minutes in Perth to ensurehis country won their second consecutivetie at the inaugural 24-team event andmoved closer to the quarter-finals.
He came on court after teammate andworld number 10 Roberto Bautista Agutmade short work of Franco Roncadelli 6-1, 6-2.
“A great match. I played better than theother day. It was a very positive victoryagainst an opponent for who I have a lotof respect,” said 19-time Grand Slam win-ner Nadal. “I’m super happy.”
Djokovic was back to his dominant bestagainst France’s Gael Monfils, but the sap-ping heat and humidity made the 6-3, 6-2win harder than the score suggested.
“It was definitely one of themost humid conditions that Ihave ever had in my career.Tonight was brutal,” said theworld number two, whoextended his record overMonfils to 16-0, dating back 15years.
“Obviously playing Gael, youknow you are going to have a lot ofexchanges, a lot of rallies. He is a great fight-er and a great friend of mine. Tough lucktoday.”
Eight of the 24 nations will make thequarter-finals in Sydney from the roundrobin — six group winners and two bestrunners up.
Other winners on Monday includedJapan, Croatia, South Africa and Austria.
World number four Dominic Thiembounced back from a shock loss in hisopening match to beat tenacious DiegoSchwartzman in two tough sets to steerAustria to victory over Argentina.
The unbeaten Croats are sitting pret-ty, spearheaded by former US Open cham-pion Marin Cilic who eased past Poland’sKacper Zuk in straight sets — his secondvictory in a row.
One of the biggest surprises has beenJapan, which has won both its ties — againstUruguay and Georgia — despite beingwithout injured stars Kei Nishikori andYasutaka Uchiyama, their third best play-er.
Yoshihito Nishioka has stepped up,beating world number 26 NikolozBasilashvili in straight sets in Perth afterthrashing world number 45 Pablo Cuevason Saturday.
South Africa, spearheaded byAnderson, remain in contention afterclean-sweeping Chile 3-0 in Brisbane.
�����Paris Saint-Germainrested superstars Neymarand Kylian Mbappe beforedefeating sixth-tier Linas-Montlhery 6-0 in the FrenchCup on Sunday as theamateur side, and self-confessed fans of theirmonied rivals, were left torue a missed penalty whentrailing just 1-0.
The part-timers, whosebudget is 2,000-times small-er than the Qatari-backedParisian giants, fell behindto a goal on the half-hour byteenager Adil Aouchiche.
However,they were thenawarded apenalty afterColin Dagbabrought downIssa Cisse.
Up stepped IdrissaKanoute but his tamespot kick was well-saved by Sergio Rico inthe PSG goal.
Less than a
minute later, Uruguayanstar Edinson Cavani, namedcaptain for the night, tuckedaway PSG’s second and thegame was up.
Cavani, starting forthe first time in twomonths, added his sec-ond just on the hour
mark before PabloSarabia (63rd and 70th min-utes) and Eric MaximChoupo-Moting (87th)completed the rout.
“We played seriouslyand with humility,” saidPSG coach Thomas Tuchel.
“We deserved to win,it was a good match forthe team and the club
and a good start to2020.”
Tuchel wasfull of praise for
Cavani whohas beenlinked with awinter trans-fer move.
AFP
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India’s P V Sindhu will hope to start thenew year on a positive note when she
begins her campaign at the MalaysiaMasters Super 500 tournament, startinghere from today.
World number six Sindhu had adream run at the World Championshipsin Basel, winning the title last year, butshe made early exits in the rest of the sea-son, including her failure to defend theWorld Tour Finals crown in December.
With the Olympics less than sevenmonths away, Sindhu will look to ironout the flaws and hit the right note whenshe begins her women’s singles campaignat the $ 400,000 event.
Sixth seed Sindhu will have an easyopponent in Russia’s EvgeniyaKosetskaya in the first round and theIndian will look to stay on course for an
expected clash with world number 1Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying in thequarterfinals.
The other Indian women’s singlesplayer, Saina Nehwal, whoclaimed the IndonesiaMasters last year beforeslumping to a series of earlyexits in the rest of the year,will open against a qualifier at
the Axiata Arena.Kidambi Srikanth will start the new
year with a clash against second seedChou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei.
B Sai Praneeth will open againstDenmark’s Rasmus Gemke, whileSameer Verma, having endured a diffi-cult 2019, will square off againstThailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen inthe first round. Former world numbersix Parupalli Kashyap, who showedsome sparks of his earlier self last year,
will face top seed and world number oneKento Momota of Japan in the firstround, while H S Prannoy, who wasdown with health issues for most partof last season, will meet Japan’s KantaTsuneyama.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and ChiragShetty will open against local shuttlersOng Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi.
Ashwini Ponnappa will pair up withher women’s doubles partner N SikkiReddy, to take on Korea’s Chang Ye Naand Kim Hye Rin.
However, Ashwini and Sikki will havea tough task at hand in mixed doubles.
While Ashwini and Satwik will facesecond seeded Chinese pair of Wang YiLyu and Huang Dong Ping, world num-ber one Zheng Si Wei and Huang YaQiong will stand in the way of Sikki andPranaav Jerry Chopra in the openinground.
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Pep Guardiola says ManchesterUnited are starting to play the way
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants them toas he prepares for a blockbuster LeagueCup semi-final between the two sides.
City head to Old Trafford for the first leg of thelast-four encounter today, having won the compe-tition for the past two seasons.
Guardiola’s side are third in the PremierLeague, 13 points ahead of fifth-placed United, butlost 2-1 to their rivals last month as Solskjaer’s menproduced an exhilarating display of counter-attack-ing football at the Etihad Stadium.
Asked what he had learned from that defeat, theSpaniard added: “How fast they are. How they runon the counter-attack. How solid, how aggressive.
“We conceded a few counter-attacks and in justtwo or three seconds they were in the box.”
Speaking about Solskjaer, he said: “I think heis starting to see his team like he wants. The last(league) game against Arsenal they lost, but you seeclearly what he wants.
“It was not easy to handle a team at a big, bigclub, always demanding to be champions in all com-petitions, but I think every manager needs time.
“I have the feeling United have started to playthe way he wants.”
With the Premier League title apparently head-ing to Anfield, Pep is forced to focus on the cup com-petitions after winning a domestic treble last year.
“A third semi-final in a row. It is not the bestcompetition in the world but it is nice to be hereagain and against our city opponents,” said City boss.
Guardiola will have Nicolas Otamendi availableagain after an injury but has not yet settled on a start-ing XI.
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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp describedTakumi Minamino as “super and outstanding”
after the Japanese international made his debutin the 1-0 FA Cup win over Everton on Sunday.
The 24-year-old Minamino, who signed for£7.25 million ($9.4 million) from Salzburg inAustria, was part of a much-changed Reds line-up at Anfield.
The 22-time international almost enjoyed agoal-scoring debut when heglanced a header wide of themark before he was eventu-ally replaced by AlexOxlade-Chamberlain after70 minutes.
“Super, outstanding.Exactly the player wewanted, exactly the play-er we wished for,” saidKlopp of his new for-ward.
“Your first game ina team you don’t know,if it’s a settled team it’salready difficult — thisteam we threw more or less onthe pitch with two sessionstogether.
“And then showing this kindof game understanding, footballskills are exceptional, attitude isoutstanding, led the chasing packso often in different situations,which I loved.”
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Cristiano Ronaldo scored hisfirst Serie A hat-trick to lift
Juventus top of Serie A with a 4-0 win over Cagliari on Monday asZlatan Ibrahimovic made hisdebut for AC Milan in a goallessdraw against Sampdoria.
Portugal forward Ronaldostruck for the fifth consecutiveleague game to move the cham-pions back above Inter Milan intheir first match since the ItalianSuperCup defeat to Lazio in SaudiArabia last month.
Maurizio Sarri’s side had beenpegged back in the first half by thesixth-placed Sardinians who have
been pushing for a spot in theChampions League placesthis season but fell to theirthird consecutive defeat.
The second-half was allone-way traffic with 34-year-old
Ronaldo breaking the deadlockjust after the interval.
He added a second from thepenalty spot on 67 minutes withArgentina’s Gonzalo Higuaincoming off the bench to strike athird on 81 minutes, beforeRonaldo completed his hat-tricka minute later.
Juve are three points ahead of
Inter in the table with AntonioConte’s side travelling to Napoli,looking to keep pace with theeight-time reigning champi-ons.
Atalanta closed to with-in a point of fourth-placedRoma, who lost 2-0 to Torinoon Sunday, with a 5-0 rout ofParma, having also beaten ACMilan by the same scorelinebefore the winter break.
The side from Bergamo werealready three goals up before thebreak thanks to Alejandro Gomez,Remo Freuler and Robin Gosens,with Josip Ilicic adding a doublein a nine minute second-halfspell.
IBRAHIMOVIC RETURNSAt the San Siro, Swedish star
Ibrahimovic made his debut forMilan coming off the bench after55 minutes against Sampdoria.
The 38-year-old came on forPoland striker Krzysztof Piatek todeafening applause from the58,000 crowd in his first appear-ance after rejoining the club lastweek.
But there was little else tocheer for the hosts who extendedtheir winless run to three gamesand remain 12th in the table.
New Fiorentina coachGiuseppe Iachini had to settle fora 1-1 draw against Bologna in his
first game after taking overfrom Vincenzo Montella.
The Tuscany side hadlead for most of the gameafter Marco Benassi volleyedin on 27 minutes but
Riccardo Orsolini grabbed a pointfor Bologna deep into injurytime.
They’re friends, they’re former WorldNo 1s in singles and on Monday
they became doubles partners for thefirst time as Serena Williams andCaroline Wozniacki teamed to win afirst round match at the ASB Classic inAuckland.
Williams and Wozniacki over-whelmed Japan’s Nao Hibino andMikoto Ninomiya 6-2, 6-4 in a matchwhich was both historic and poignant.
Serena hasn’t played doubles withanyone other than Venus since 2015and last played a WTA tournamentwith anyone other than Venus in 2002.
Wozniacki hasn’t played doubles atall in the last three years.
But the pair have long harbored adesire to take the court as a doublespairing and on Monday theytook what may be their lastopportunity to do so.
Wozniacki is playing theAuckland tournament for thesixth-straight year as a prelude tothe Australian Open after whichshe will retire from competitive tennis.
Wozniacki and Williams will faceeach other one last time in an exhibi-tion match in Copehagen in Maywhich will be Wozniacki’s tennisfarewell.
On Monday the pair formed arelaxed and intuitive combination,laughing and exchanging high-fives as they swept past Hibino andNinomiya in 70 minutes.
Earlier, American teenagerCoco Gauff beat Slovakia'sViktoria Kuzmova 6-3, 6-1 in 61
minutes to stay on course for a quar-terfinal meeting with Williams.
Williams, the top seed, playsCamilia Giorgi of Italy in her first roundsingles today while Wozniacki playsNew Zealand wildcard Paige Hourigan.
from a slow start to avoid an upsetat the Shenzhen Open on Monday.
The 26-year-old Spaniard beatChinese youngster Wang Xinyu 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 and plays the AmericanShelby Rogers in round two insouthern China.
The Shenzhen Open serves asbuild-up for the Australian Open atthe end of the month.
It was the two-time Grand Slamwinner Muguruza’s first match sincean early exit at the China Open inlate September.
“I think it was my first match ina long time and you cannot expectto play your best tennis,” saidMuguruza, now 35th in the world.
Defending champion ArynaSabalenka made a fast start to
her season, blowing awayRussian qualifier MargaritaGasparyan in just 71 min-utes.
The world number 11from Belarus eased to a 6-3,
6-0 victory as she looks to seala place inside the top 10 for the
Australian Open. The 21-year-oldwill play Kristyna Pliskova of theCzech Republic next.
“It was a tough match and real-ly tough to start,” said the powerfulSabalenka, who won three titles lastyear in China, including inShenzhen.
“She’s a great player and it wastough to play against her. She hasstrong strokes. I tried my best andI’m happy I finished with the win.”
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����������7�����7����� ���%������������ AmericanDanielle Collins thrashedfourth seed and formerchampion Elina Svitolinain the first round of theBrisbane International onMonday as AngeliqueKerber also crashed out.Svitolina, the world num-ber five, went into thematch as firm favouritebut was never in the hunt againstCollins, going down meekly 6-1, 6-1 in just 56 minutes.
She joins two other US players in the second roundfollowing wins by Sophia Kenin and Alison Riske.
Kenin beat Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova 7-6 (7/1),6-4 while Riske downed Czech player KarolinaMuchova 6-4, 6-2.
In a battle of former Grand Slam champions,Australia’s Samantha Stosur upset former German worldnumber one Kerber in two tough sets.
In other matches, Barbora Strycova upset seventhseeded Johanna Konta 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, and AjlaTomljanovic beat Priscilla Hon 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. AFP
