A mob attacked Nankana Sahib Gurdwara, the birth- place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, in Nankana in Pakistan on Friday. According to reports, hundreds of angry Muslim residents at Nankana Sahib pelted Sikh pilgrims with stones and held a day-long sit- in outside the Gurdwara to protest the arrest of a few per- sons who are accused of abduc- tion and forced conversion of a teenaged Sikh girl, police said as reported in a Pakistani daily. According to Nankana police, the man named Hassan had married 18-year-old Jagjit Kaur in September last year after abducting her and force- fully converting her to Islam. A police official said they had only summoned some of the family members of Hassan in connection with the FIR reg- istered against them. The FIR earlier was reported to have been sealed after Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar claimed to have amicably resolved the matter. The issue snowballed into a controversy after the girl’s family in a video message, that went viral, claimed that she was abducted and forcibly con- verted to Islam. India’s External Affairs Ministry said members of the minority Sikh community in Pakistan have been subjected to acts of violence at the holy city of Nankana Sahib. “India strongly condemns these wanton acts of destruc- tion and desecration of the holy place. We call upon the Government of Pakistan to take immediate steps to ensure safety, security, and welfare of the members of the Sikh com- munity,” the MEA said in a statement. “Strong action must be taken against the miscreants who indulged in desecration of the holy Gurdwara and attacked members of the minority Sikh community,” the MEA said. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) expressed concern over reports of the mob attack on the Nankana Sahib Gurdwara. In a tweet, Singh appealed to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to ensure that the devotees stranded at the gurd- wara are rescued from the mob. SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the issue with his Pakistani coun- terpart. “The family members of Hassan on Friday held a sit-in outside Gurdwara against the arrest of some of their relatives on the dispute over the Sikh girl,” Evacuee Trust Property Board spokesperson Amir Hashmi told PTI. Replying to a question on reports in the Indian media about the country strongly condemning the vandalism at the revered gurdwara, Hashmi claimed, “The protesters remained peaceful. They ended the demonstration after police released a detained person.” Meanwhile, a local corre- spondent of a Pakistani English daily told PTI that the Pakistani Sikhs, who were present at the gurdwara to celebrate the birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh “got panicky” over the Muslim’s demonstration out- side the shrine. They thought the protesters might attack it. “The protesters also blocked the main road leading to the gurdwara, causing dis- ruption of traffic for several hours,” he said. However, a contingent of police reached the site and secured the gurdwara premises. U nion Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said the Government will not budge an inch on its decision to imple- ment the Citizenship Amend- ment Act despite the Opposi- tion criticism of the law. Launching an “awareness programme” in support of the amended citizenship law, Shah accused the Congress and other Opposition parties of running a misinformation campaign. He said the amended law does not take away Indian cit- izenship from anyone but grants citizenship. Opposition parties have crit- icised the amendment which allows non-Muslims an easier path to citizenship if they have come to India from three neigh- bouring countries before 2015 after facing religious persecution. Shah accused the Congress of playing vote-bank politics by spreading “misinformation”. “No provision in the Citizenship Amendment Act to take anyone’s citizenship away, it is a law to grant citi- zenship. Minorities living hon- ourably in India while their percentage declined in neigh- bouring countries,” the Home Minister said. The Jodhpur rally by Shah is the first of 30 mega rallies planned by the BJP across the country to reach out to people on the new Citizenship law, NRC and NPR. According to Jodhpur MP Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the city has around 25,000 refugees from Pakistan seeking citizenship under the new law. T he Opposition DMK led by party chief MK Stalin con- tinued its dream run in the two-phase election held to the rural local bodies of Tamil Nadu on December 27 and 30, the counting of which began on Thursday. Out of the 515 district panchayat seats at stake in 27 districts where election was held, the DMK and its allies romped home by winning 261 seats. The AIADMK had to content with 242 seats. Results from nine seats are expected by late evening as the counting of paper ballots is taking time, according to an official of the State Election Commission. The DMK won 2,330 seats out of the 5,067 panchayat union seats while the AIADMK finished with 2,165 seats. The elections held in two phases on December 27 and 30 were con- ducted in rural Tamil Nadu to elect 655 district ward pan- chayat members, 6,471 pan- chayat union ward members, 12,524 village panchayat pres- idents, and 99,324 village pan- chayat ward members. Notable losses from the AIADMK include the defeat of the son and daughter of former Ramanathapuram MP Anwhar Raajhaa, who is also the Muslim face of the party. “They were defeated because of the AIADMK’s support for the Citizenship Amendment Act in the Rajya Sabha,” said Nawas Kani, the DMK MP from Ramanathapuram. T he Shiv Sena and the rival BJP on Friday launched a scathing attack on the Congress over a scandalous insinuation by its key frontal organisation Seva Dal about Veer Savarkar’s relationship with Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse. The Sena said the Congress had “dirt” in their mind by questioning Savarkar’s creden- tials as a patriot and his repu- tation for valour, while the BJP described as abhorrent and perverted the comments by the Seva Dal against the Hindutva ideologue in a Hindi booklet. The BJP demanded an apology from the Congress. BJP general secretary Anil Jain took a swipe at the Congress, saying that “the world knows various relation- ships of Congress leaders”, but he does not want to throw such muck.” Nobody in the Congress suffered like Veer Savarkar, a Hindutva icon, Jain said and asked as to what low the Opposition party has fallen to in attacking him. The Congress should answer about such an abhorrent comment made about Savarkar, he said. “Except for a family nobody is worthy of respect for the Congress,” Jain said while accusing the party of deni- grating leaders like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Bhim Rao Ambedkar and Savarkar. A Hindi booklet, distrib- uted at a camp of Congress- affiliated Seva Dal in Madhya Pradesh, has claimed that Savarkar and Mahatma Gandhi’s killer Nathuram Godse were in a physical rela- tionship. Union Minister Smriti Irani asked the Congress if it will continue to humiliate Veer Savarkar and other freedom fighters just because they were “utterly disliked” by Rahul Gandhi. The Congress, which is part of the ruling coalition in Maharashtra, will have to answer to the Marathi people and all patriots in the country as to how long it will continue to “insult the sacrifice” of Veer Savarkar, Irani said at the Delhi BJP office after launching the party’s ‘Meri Dilli, Mera Sujhav’ campaign. The Sena said the Congress had “dirt” in their mind by questioning Savarkar’s creden- tials as a patriot and his repu- tation for valour. “Veer Savarkar was a great man and will remain a great man. A section keeps talking against him. This shows the dirt in their mind,” Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said, responding to the insinuations in the booklet, titled “Veer Savarkar, Kitne ‘Veer’?” The book also alleged that Savarkar received money from the British after he was released from Andaman’s Cellular Jail. Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil said the Congress should apologise for the “perverted” content in the booklet. “The booklet con- tains lies and perverted content. The Congress should tender an apology for the same,” Patil said. “Savarkar was acquitted by the court in the Gandhi assas- sination case. Despite this, the Congress-affiliated organisa- tion is trying to link him and the accused in the case,” he said. D ays after a Kerala Assembly resolution demanded that the CAA be scrapped, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday wrote to 11 non-BJP Chief Ministers asking them to take similar steps against the controversial law and pitching for unity to protect democracy and secularism. The Kerala Assembly had on Tuesday passed the resolu- tion — supported by ruling CPIM-led LDF and Opposition Congress headed UDF — demanding the repeal of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Kerala became the first State to take such a course amid the continuing protests against the citizenship law. Vijayan, who has been stri- dent in his Opposition to the CAA, wrote to Chief Ministers of 11 States, including Bihar’s Nitish Kumar, an ally of BJP, say- ing there was need to stand unit- ed in preserving the country’s democracy and secularism. T wenty residents of unau- thorised colonies in Delhi saved money on registration of land as Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday handed over conveyance deeds and registry papers of houses to 20 residents of unauthorised colonies. The documents were given to the residents of Raja Vihar and Samaypur Badli at a Press conference here, ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls. Karam Wati, Ashok Kumar Singh and Karma Chand Sharma, all residents of Suraj Park here, saved a whop- ping 97 lakh, 66 lakh and 60 lakh respectively on their land registration charges as they got ownership rights under the PM-UDAY (Prime Minister - Unauthorized Colonies in Delhi Awas Adhikar Yojana). Also, residents in Raja Vihar witnessed huge savings by paying as little as 400 towards registration fee. The Centre on Friday released the first list of 20 ben- eficiaries who were given the conveyance deeds and registry documents. So far, the Ministry has received 57,000 applications, which are being processed. D elhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday said BJP is misleading people by issuing fake papers to just 20 people out of the 40 lakh peo- ple residing in unauthorised colonies. His reaction came after Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri handed over conveyance deeds and registry papers of houses to 20 residents of unau- thorised colonies on Friday. “I want to ask Union Minister Hardeep Puri, have you changed the land use? Have you issued any notifica- tion? Without making any pro- vision, BJP have handed over fake documents to 20 people,” Sisodia said. T he US military killed General Qasem Soleimani, the powerful commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, in a drone strike in Iraq on Friday to protect American personnel abroad, dramatically escalating hostilities between the arch- rivals and spiking tensions in the already volatile Persian Gulf region. Gen Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite al-Quds force and architect of its regional securi- ty apparatus, was killed when a drone fired missiles into a convoy that was leaving the Baghdad International Airport early on Friday. The strike also killed the deputy chief of Iraq’s powerful Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force and some local Iran-backed militias. Gen Soleimani, 62, was widely seen as the second most powerful figure in Iran behind the Ayatollah Khamenei. His Quds Force, an elite unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, reported directly to the ayatol- lah and he was hailed as a hero- ic national figure. The Pentagon said, “At the direction of the president, the US military has taken decisive defensive action to protect US personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation.” Following Soleimani’s killing, Trump, on vacation in Florida, initially tweeted an image of the US flag. Hours later, he tweeted again. “Iran never won a war, but never lost a negotiation!” he wrote, in an apparent slight against the nuclear deal Barack Obama negotiated with Tehran. The strike comes days after Trump threatened Tehran after Iraqi supporters of pro- Iranian regime laid siege to the US embassy in Baghdad, fol- lowing deadly American air strikes on a hardline Hashed faction. Gen Soleimani and officials from Iran-backed militias were leaving Baghdad airport in two cars when they were hit. I ran has warned of “severe revenge” and said arch- enemy the United States bore responsibility for the conse- quences after killing one of its top commanders, Qasem Soleimani, in a strike Friday outside Baghdad airport. In Tehran, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said “severe revenge awaits the criminals” behind the attack. He also announced three days of national mourn- ing. “For years it was his wish to become a martyr, and final- ly God granted him his high- est office”, Khamenei said. RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015
Transcript
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Amob attacked NankanaSahib Gurdwara, the birth-
place of Sikhism founder GuruNanak Dev, in Nankana inPakistan on Friday. Accordingto reports, hundreds of angryMuslim residents at NankanaSahib pelted Sikh pilgrims withstones and held a day-long sit-in outside the Gurdwara toprotest the arrest of a few per-sons who are accused of abduc-tion and forced conversion ofa teenaged Sikh girl, police saidas reported in a Pakistani daily.
According to Nankanapolice, the man named Hassanhad married 18-year-old JagjitKaur in September last yearafter abducting her and force-fully converting her to Islam.
A police official said theyhad only summoned some ofthe family members of Hassanin connection with the FIR reg-istered against them. The FIRearlier was reported to havebeen sealed after PunjabGovernor Chaudhry Sarwarclaimed to have amicablyresolved the matter.
The issue snowballed intoa controversy after the girl’sfamily in a video message, thatwent viral, claimed that she wasabducted and forcibly con-verted to Islam.
India’s External AffairsMinistry said members of theminority Sikh community inPakistan have been subjected toacts of violence at the holy cityof Nankana Sahib.
“India strongly condemnsthese wanton acts of destruc-tion and desecration of the holyplace. We call upon the
Government of Pakistan totake immediate steps to ensuresafety, security, and welfare ofthe members of the Sikh com-munity,” the MEA said in astatement.
“Strong action must betaken against the miscreantswho indulged in desecration ofthe holy Gurdwara andattacked members of theminority Sikh community,” theMEA said.
Punjab Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh and theShiromani Akali Dal (SAD)expressed concern over reportsof the mob attack on theNankana Sahib Gurdwara.
In a tweet, Singh appealedto Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan to ensure that thedevotees stranded at the gurd-wara are rescued from themob. SAD chief Sukhbir SinghBadal urged Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to take up theissue with his Pakistani coun-terpart.
“The family members ofHassan on Friday held a sit-inoutside Gurdwara against thearrest of some of their relativeson the dispute over the Sikhgirl,” Evacuee Trust PropertyBoard spokesperson AmirHashmi told PTI.
Replying to a question onreports in the Indian mediaabout the country stronglycondemning the vandalism atthe revered gurdwara, Hashmiclaimed, “The protestersremained peaceful. They endedthe demonstration after policereleased a detained person.”
Meanwhile, a local corre-spondent of a Pakistani Englishdaily told PTI that the PakistaniSikhs, who were present at the
gurdwara to celebrate the birthanniversary of Guru GobindSingh “got panicky” over theMuslim’s demonstration out-side the shrine. They thought
the protesters might attack it. “The protesters also
blocked the main road leadingto the gurdwara, causing dis-ruption of traffic for several
hours,” he said.However, a contingent of
police reached the site andsecured the gurdwara premises.
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Union Home Minister AmitShah on Friday said the
Government will not budge aninch on its decision to imple-ment the Citizenship Amend-ment Act despite the Opposi-tion criticism of the law.
Launching an “awarenessprogramme” in support of theamended citizenship law, Shahaccused the Congress and otherOpposition parties of runninga misinformation campaign.
He said the amended lawdoes not take away Indian cit-izenship from anyone butgrants citizenship.
Opposition parties have crit-icised the amendment whichallows non-Muslims an easierpath to citizenship if they havecome to India from three neigh-bouring countries before 2015after facing religious persecution.
Shah accused the Congressof playing vote-bank politics byspreading “misinformation”.“No provision in theCitizenship Amendment Actto take anyone’s citizenship
away, it is a law to grant citi-zenship. Minorities living hon-ourably in India while theirpercentage declined in neigh-bouring countries,” the HomeMinister said.
The Jodhpur rally by Shahis the first of 30 mega ralliesplanned by the BJP across thecountry to reach out to peopleon the new Citizenship law,NRC and NPR. According toJodhpur MP Gajendra SinghShekhawat, the city has around25,000 refugees from Pakistanseeking citizenship under thenew law.
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The Opposition DMK led byparty chief MK Stalin con-
tinued its dream run in thetwo-phase election held to therural local bodies of TamilNadu on December 27 and 30,the counting of which began onThursday.
Out of the 515 districtpanchayat seats at stake in 27districts where election washeld, the DMK and its alliesromped home by winning 261
seats. The AIADMK had tocontent with 242 seats. Resultsfrom nine seats are expected bylate evening as the counting ofpaper ballots is taking time,according to an official of theState Election Commission.
The DMK won 2,330 seatsout of the 5,067 panchayat
union seats while the AIADMKfinished with 2,165 seats. Theelections held in two phases onDecember 27 and 30 were con-ducted in rural Tamil Nadu toelect 655 district ward pan-chayat members, 6,471 pan-chayat union ward members,12,524 village panchayat pres-idents, and 99,324 village pan-chayat ward members.
Notable losses from theAIADMK include the defeat ofthe son and daughter of formerRamanathapuram MP AnwharRaajhaa, who is also theMuslim face of the party. “Theywere defeated because of theAIADMK’s support for theCitizenship Amendment Act inthe Rajya Sabha,” said NawasKani, the DMK MP fromRamanathapuram.
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The Shiv Sena and the rivalBJP on Friday launched a
scathing attack on the Congressover a scandalous insinuationby its key frontal organisationSeva Dal about Veer Savarkar’srelationship with MahatmaGandhi’s assassin NathuramGodse.
The Sena said the Congresshad “dirt” in their mind byquestioning Savarkar’s creden-tials as a patriot and his repu-tation for valour, while theBJP described as abhorrentand perverted the commentsby the Seva Dal against theHindutva ideologue in a Hindibooklet. The BJP demanded anapology from the Congress.
BJP general secretary Anil
Jain took a swipe at theCongress, saying that “theworld knows various relation-ships of Congress leaders”, buthe does not want to throw suchmuck.”
Nobody in the Congresssuffered like Veer Savarkar, aHindutva icon, Jain said andasked as to what low theOpposition party has fallen toin attacking him. The Congressshould answer about such anabhorrent comment madeabout Savarkar, he said.
“Except for a familynobody is worthy of respect forthe Congress,” Jain said whileaccusing the party of deni-grating leaders like SardarVallabhbhai Patel, Bhim RaoAmbedkar and Savarkar.
A Hindi booklet, distrib-
uted at a camp of Congress-affiliated Seva Dal in MadhyaPradesh, has claimed thatSavarkar and MahatmaGandhi’s killer NathuramGodse were in a physical rela-tionship.
Union Minister SmritiIrani asked the Congress if itwill continue to humiliate VeerSavarkar and other freedom
fighters just because they were“utterly disliked” by RahulGandhi.
The Congress, which ispart of the ruling coalition inMaharashtra, will have toanswer to the Marathi peopleand all patriots in the countryas to how long it will continueto “insult the sacrifice” of VeerSavarkar, Irani said at the DelhiBJP office after launching theparty’s ‘Meri Dilli, Mera Sujhav’campaign.
The Sena said the Congresshad “dirt” in their mind byquestioning Savarkar’s creden-tials as a patriot and his repu-tation for valour.
“Veer Savarkar was a greatman and will remain a greatman. A section keeps talkingagainst him. This shows the
dirt in their mind,” Shiv Senaleader Sanjay Raut said,responding to the insinuationsin the booklet, titled “VeerSavarkar, Kitne ‘Veer’?”
The book also alleged thatSavarkar received money fromthe British after he was releasedfrom Andaman’s Cellular Jail.
Maharashtra BJP presidentChandrakant Patil said theCongress should apologise forthe “perverted” content in thebooklet. “The booklet con-tains lies and perverted content.The Congress should tender anapology for the same,” Patilsaid. “Savarkar was acquitted bythe court in the Gandhi assas-sination case. Despite this, theCongress-affiliated organisa-tion is trying to link him andthe accused in the case,” he said.
Days after a Kerala Assemblyresolution demanded that
the CAA be scrapped, ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan onFriday wrote to 11 non-BJPChief Ministers asking them totake similar steps against thecontroversial law and pitchingfor unity to protect democracyand secularism.
The Kerala Assembly hadon Tuesday passed the resolu-tion — supported by rulingCPIM-led LDF and OppositionCongress headed UDF —demanding the repeal of theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA). Kerala became the firstState to take such a courseamid the continuing protestsagainst the citizenship law.
Vijayan, who has been stri-dent in his Opposition to theCAA, wrote to Chief Ministersof 11 States, including Bihar’sNitish Kumar, an ally of BJP, say-ing there was need to stand unit-ed in preserving the country’sdemocracy and secularism.
Twenty residents of unau-thorised colonies in Delhi
saved money on registration ofland as Union Housing andUrban Affairs MinisterHardeep Singh Puri on Fridayhanded over conveyance deedsand registry papers of housesto 20 residents of unauthorisedcolonies. The documents weregiven to the residents of RajaVihar and Samaypur Badli ata Press conference here, aheadof the Delhi Assembly polls.
Karam Wati, AshokKumar Singh and KarmaChand Sharma, all residents ofSuraj Park here, saved a whop-ping �97 lakh, 66 lakh and 60lakh respectively on their landregistration charges as theygot ownership rights underthe PM-UDAY (PrimeMinister - UnauthorizedColonies in Delhi Awas
Adhikar Yojana). Also, residents in Raja
Vihar witnessed huge savingsby paying as little as �400towards registration fee.
The Centre on Fridayreleased the first list of 20 ben-eficiaries who were given theconveyance deeds and registrydocuments. So far, theMinistry has received 57,000applications, which are beingprocessed.
Delhi Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia on Friday
said BJP is misleading peopleby issuing fake papers to just 20people out of the 40 lakh peo-ple residing in unauthorisedcolonies.
His reaction came afterUnion Housing and UrbanAffairs Minister Hardeep SinghPuri handed over conveyancedeeds and registry papers ofhouses to 20 residents of unau-thorised colonies on Friday.
“I want to ask UnionMinister Hardeep Puri, haveyou changed the land use?Have you issued any notifica-tion? Without making any pro-vision, BJP have handed overfake documents to 20 people,”Sisodia said.
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The US military killedGeneral Qasem Soleimani,
the powerful commander ofIran’s Revolutionary Guards, ina drone strike in Iraq on Fridayto protect American personnelabroad, dramatically escalatinghostilities between the arch-rivals and spiking tensions inthe already volatile PersianGulf region.
Gen Soleimani, the head ofIran’s elite al-Quds force andarchitect of its regional securi-ty apparatus, was killed whena drone fired missiles into aconvoy that was leaving theBaghdad International Airportearly on Friday. The strike alsokilled the deputy chief of Iraq’spowerful Hashed al-Shaabiparamilitary force and somelocal Iran-backed militias.
Gen Soleimani, 62, waswidely seen as the second mostpowerful figure in Iran behindthe Ayatollah Khamenei. HisQuds Force, an elite unit of theIranian Revolutionary Guards,reported directly to the ayatol-lah and he was hailed as a hero-ic national figure.
The Pentagon said, “At thedirection of the president, theUS military has taken decisivedefensive action to protect USpersonnel abroad by killingQasem Soleimani, the head ofthe Iranian RevolutionaryGuard Corps-Quds Force, a
US-designated ForeignTerrorist Organisation.”
Following Soleimani’skilling, Trump, on vacation inFlorida, initially tweeted animage of the US flag. Hourslater, he tweeted again. “Irannever won a war, but never losta negotiation!” he wrote, in anapparent slight against thenuclear deal Barack Obamanegotiated with Tehran.
The strike comes daysafter Trump threatened Tehranafter Iraqi supporters of pro-Iranian regime laid siege to theUS embassy in Baghdad, fol-lowing deadly American airstrikes on a hardline Hashedfaction.
Gen Soleimani and officialsfrom Iran-backed militias wereleaving Baghdad airport intwo cars when they were hit.
enemy the United States boreresponsibility for the conse-quences after killing one of itstop commanders, QasemSoleimani, in a strike Fridayoutside Baghdad airport.
In Tehran, Iran’s SupremeLeader Ayatollah AliKhamenei said “severe revengeawaits the criminals” behindthe attack. He also announcedthree days of national mourn-ing. “For years it was his wish
to become a martyr, and final-ly God granted him his high-est office”, Khamenei said.
President Ram Nath Kovindhas accepted the resignation
of Allahabad University ViceChancellor Rattan Lal Hanglooand ordered an enquiry by athree-member panel into alle-gations of financial, academicand administrative irregulari-ties against him. His resigna-tion was sent to the RashtrapatiBhavan by the HRD Ministrywhich immediately formed thecommittee to probe into alle-gations against Hangloo, whoresigned on Wednesday.
"Hangloo had resignedfrom the post of AllahabadUniversity Vice Chancelloron personal grounds. ThePresident has accepted hisresignation with immediateeffect. The President has alsodirected to conduct anenquiry into the allegations off inancial, academic andadministrative irregularities,including the recommenda-tions contained in the interimreport of the NationalCommission for Womenregarding alleged misconductagainst Hangloo," a seniorHRD Ministry official said.
The HRD Ministry panelhas been formed following adirective from the President toinquire into the allegations.Hangloo has been under thescanner since 2016 for allegedfinancial and academic irregu-larities. "A three-member panelhas been formed to probe the
allegations of academic, finan-cial and administrative irregu-larities against Hangloo," saidthe official.
"The panel will headed byUGC chairman D P Singh. Theother members of the panel areGujarat University ViceChancellor Rama ShankarDubey and Shriprakash ManiTripathi, Vice Chancellor ofIndira Gandhi National TribalUniversity, Amarkantak," theofficial added.
Hangloo has been underthe scanner since 2016 foralleged financial and academ-ic irregularities. He was alsosummoned by the NationalCommission for Women lastweek over allegations ofimproper handling of sexualharassment complaints andlack of grievance redressalmechanism for female stu-dents.
"I resigned because baselessenquiries were initiated againstme. On several occasions it wasproved that there was no sub-stance in the complaints. Iresigned because I was totallyfed up," Hangloo had said in astatement, announcing his res-ignation. He was appointed asthe Allahabad University vicechancellor in 2015.
He had earlier served asvice chancellor of the KalyaniUniversity in West Bengal.However, he had quit the postfollowing a series of spats withthe state government and uni-versity employees.
New Delhi: HRD MinisterRamesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' willconduct a monthly review of thefunctioning of all Central uni-versities and anomalies will bedealt with strictly. The Ministerwill meet the Vice Chancellorsevery month to seek report andaccountability will be fixed forirregularities of any nature, saidMinistry officials.
The review will not onlyconsider the academic progress
made but also whether thefunctioning of the universitywas normal and student griev-ances, if any, were addressed ornot. The move comes againstthe backdrop of allegationsagainst Allahabad UniversityVice Chancellor Ratan LalHangloo for improper han-dling of sexual harassmentcomplaints and lack of griev-ance redressal mechanism forfemale students.
With Pakistan often threat-ening to use the nuclear
option, new Army Chief MMNaravane said here on Fridaynuclear weapons are only adeterrence and they never"came into play" in the pastwhen India carried out opera-tions, in obvious reference tosurgical strikes and Balakot airraid. He also said at least 200-250 terrorists are trying toinfiltrate into Jammu &Kashmir almost every day.
He said even though terrorist camps had again come up in Balakot post theIAF strikes in February lastyear, the Indian action sent astrong signal that terror launchpads and camps can be takendown. They cannot operatewith impunity was the bigmessage which the Balakotaction underlined, Naravanesaid.
On the spectre of crossingthe nuclear threshold, theArmy Chief elaborated duringan interaction with the printmedia that "historicallynuclear weapons are deter-rence and that is where their
role ends." Further, Indiacarried out two or threeactions in the past without thenuclear option coming intoplay. He, however, did notspecify those operationsthough the inference was clearabout the surgical strikesacross the Line ofControl(LOC) two years backand the Balakot action lastyear.
The IAF has carried aeri-al strikes against terroristtraining camps in Balakot,deep inside Pakistan in retal-iation against the killing of 41Central Reserve PoliceForce(CRPF) in a suicidebombing by Pakistan basedproscribed terrorist organisa-tion Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM).
Asked if the air strikesserved any purpose as the ter-rorist camps had again start-ed functioning at Balakot,Naravane said besides sendinga stern signal to Pakistan with-out naming it, the action alsoserved a note of cautionagainst any escalatory action infuture.
Admitting that the terror-ist camps had again sprung up
in Balakot, the Army Chiefsaid even in war timedestroyed buildings are recon-structed after some time andsaid it is not correct to say thatthe Balakot strikes did notachieve much.
On terrorist infrastructureacross the LOC, Naravane saidthey are active and at least 200-250 militants are waiting toinfiltrate adding they are try-ing to coming almost "everyday." He also said there aremore than 25 launch pads andterror camps now active acrossthe LOC.
Asked about the situationin Jammu & Kashmir post theabrogation of Article 370 giv-ing special status to it inAugust last year, the ArmyChief said the law and order isimproving and facts speak forthemselves. Incidents of stonepelting and terrorist initiatedincidents have come downand levels of violence are alsodown, he added.
As regards China, he saidIndia has to be firm in resolvebut need not be aggressive andshould be assertive legitimate-ly. This observation was obvi-ously in the backdrop of
Chinese army many timestransgressing the Line ofActual Control(LAC) leadingto stand-offs.
Stressing the need to becorrect, Naravane said there isno point in raising the ante andnew friction points.Highlighting that over theyears, India has focused on theeastern frontier facing China,he said infrastructure devel-opment is taking place.
Moreover, the situation onthe nearly 4,000 km long LACis constantly reviewed and theArmy is now laying importanceon three factors includinginfrastructure, surveillance andreserves. Clarifying that theentire LAC cannot be mannedas the troop strength will bethinned out, Naravane saidthe focus is now on havinggood defences in vantage posi-tions and using surveillancemethods for less critical sectorsof the LAC.
Replying to a query aboutpaucity funds hamperingmodernization of the armedforces, Naravane said at thenational level there are onlyfinite level of resources andthe budget has to be appor-
tioned to various ministries. Observing that everybody
has a wish list and will notnecessarily get everything, theArmy Chief said solution liesin evolving more efficient sys-tems to save money and cutdown redundant processes.
He lauded the govern-ment for improving the warfighting capabilities of thearmed forces by delegatingmore financial powers to theVice-Chiefs. This resulted inarms and ammunition com-ing in and the Army isabsolutely ready to take anytask assigned to it, Naravanesaid.
Replying to a questionover the perception that theArmed Forces are gettingpoliticised, Naravane denied itand reiterated that theServices have been apoliticalsince independence. "I dis-agree that there is any politi-cisation of the armed forces,"he said adding there is somemisperception on that. Onthe Army being called fre-quently to assist the civiladministration he observedthey are the Army "of the peo-ple and for the people."
Australia, Prime Minister ScottMorrison has called off his four-day visit to India from January13. He was scheduled to holdextensive bilateral talks withPrime Minister Narendra Modiduring the visit.
The Australian prime min-ister was also scheduled to deliv-er the inaugural address at theRaisina Dialogue, the flagshipannual lecture series organisedby the Ministry of ExternalAffairs. Besides Delhi, Morrisonwas also scheduled to visitMumbai and Bengaluru.
"Prime Minister ScottMorrison has called off his visitto India due to the serious situ-ation arising out of bush fires inseveral parts of Australia,"sources said here on Friday.
Bush fires have rippedthrough the states of New SouthWales and Victoria, killing atleast 20 people and destroyingnearly 500 homes. About 4,000people, including nearly 3,000tourists, were stranded inVictoria's Mallacoota regionsince they were forced to takeshelter on the foreshore as the fireapproached on New Year's eve.
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The Congress on Friday ques-tioned Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and HomeMinister Amit Shah on theircontinuous attack onOpposition parties when eventhe BJP-ruled States have con-veyed that they were not accept-ing the Citizenship(Amendment) Act (CAA).
The grand old partyaccused the Home Minister ofimposing a "conspiratorial anddivisive agenda" on India andbringing the country to a 1947-
like situation. "Amit Shah ji. Modi ji and
you have been made PrimeMinister and Home Minister towork for the public welfare andgenerate livelihoods for themand not abuse opposition lead-ers like Rahul Gandhi. Youhave put the entire country ina situation like that in 1947 withyour divisive and conspiratori-al agenda...You should desistfrom slapping your conspirato-rial and divisive agenda on the
country," Congress's chiefspokesperson RandeepSurjewala said in a video post-ed on Twitter.
He alleged that NDA part-ners and BJP Chief Ministers arethemselves not accepting the"divisive" CAA but Modi andShah were "venting out theirgrouse" on the Opposition byabusing them.
"Now your own partnersand allies as also your chief min-ister of Assam Sabananda
Sonowal have refused to acceptand implement the divisiveCAA. Why are you venting outyour grouse on the opposition.You should first set your ownhouse in order and then talk tothe country and take on theopposition," the Congress leadersaid.
Tagging a news report inEnglish about Assam ChiefMinister Sarbananda Sonowalnot being ready to accept theCAA in his state, Surjewalatweeted in Hindi, "Your allies arenot accepting the divisive CAA,your own chief ministers are notaccepting the CAA. Should wesend you a Hindi translation".
Surjewala earlier daredModi to dismiss the Assamchief minister from his ownparty for openly opposing theamended Citizenship Act and
declare him an "anti-national"for doing so.
"Mr Prime Minister, Stopfooling India! Your own CM isopenly opposing CAA. Willyou now declare him 'antinational'? I challenge you to dis-miss him before criticising theopposition," he wrote on Twitter.
Sonowal gave a fresh twistto the debate over the con-tentious Citizenship(Amendment) Act, 2019(CAA), after he said in a tweet,"As a son of Assam, I will neversettle foreigners in my state. ThisSarbananda Sonowal will neverallow this...."
The Congress has beenattacking the BJP-led govern-ment over the CAA and its chiefministers have said they wouldnot implement the new citi-zenship law in their States.
The Enforcement Directorateon Friday questioned for-
mer Union Finance Minister PChidambaram for about sixhours in connection with amoney laundering probe intothe alleged irregularities in theaviation sector during the UPAera.
Chidambaram's statementwas recorded under thePrevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA) evenas he was grilled for six hoursat one of the ED's offices here.
Chidambaram was firstsummoned by the agency inthis case on August 23 last yearbut at that time he was underCBI custody after being arrest-ed in the INX Media corruptioncase.
The latest investigationrelates to losses suffered by AirIndia due to an alleged multi-crore aviation scam and irreg-ularities in fixing air slots forinternational airlines.
The EnforcementDirectorate probe in this casealso covers the purchase ofover 110 aircraft in 2006, cost-ing about Rs 70,000 crore, forpublic sector carrier Air India.
The CAG (Comptrollerand Auditor General) had in
2011 questioned the rationalebehind the Government's deci-sion to purchase the passengeraircraft.
Former aviation ministerPraful Patel has been grilled bythe ED in connection withthese decisions. Following this,the agency questionedChidambaram on some leads itobtained in the case duringPatel's quizzing, officials said.
Chidambaram was headingan empowered Group ofMinisters for these deals and hisquestioning was necessary tounravel the decision-makingprocess undertaken by the UPAGovernment for these contro-versial decisions, officials said.
Chidambaram came out ofjail early December last yearafter over 100 days in CBI andED custody in the INX Mediacase. He was released only afterthe Supreme Court grantedhim bail.
Chidambaram is also beingprobed by ED in a third case ofmoney laundering related to theAircel-Maxis deal. The ED hadquestioned him in this case ear-lier.
Chidambaram had earlierdescribed the ED action in theAircel-Maxis case as a "crazymixture of falsehoods and con-jectures".
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Union Minister and BJP ally Ram Vilas Paswan onFriday said no Government can snatch away cit-
izenship of any Indian and sought to reassure peopleover a number of citizenship measures which have trig-gered protests in various parts of the country.
"Be it Dalits, tribals, backwards, minorities of uppercastes, they are all original citizens of the country.Citizenship is their birthright. No Government cansnatch it away. No Indian citizen will be botheredunnecessarily," Paswan said.
As far as National Register of Citizens is concerned,there has been no discussion on it but it has nothingto with any religion, he said, adding that nobody canbe denied citizenship on the ground of religion Paswansaid social justice and secularism are his party's mis-sion, and he has fought for the rights of Dalits, trib-als, backwards and minorities for his entire life. "Leavealone citizenship, no government can raise a questionabout their rights," he said.
In his tweets, Paswan said confusion is being spread across the country about the Citizenship(Amendment) Act as part of a conspiracy. Muslims have no reason to worry about the law as ithas nothing to do with Indian citizens, he said. Muslims have constituted a bulk of protestors agitat-ing against the CAA.
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The CBI on Friday carried out search-es at the premises of Deputy
Director of the Nehru Yuva KendraSangathan Kh Ibohanbi Singh forallegedly accumulating disproportion-ate assets to the tune of �1.34 crore.
During the searches, the CBI recov-ered �8 lakh in cash, two guns, prop-erty and bank documents and luxurycars, officials said.
Singh who is posted in Kohima,Nagaland as State in-charge allegedlyamassed the assets from January 1, 2013to May 31, 2019 when he was the organ-isation's district youth coordinator,they said.
Singh was promoted to the post ofDeputy Director on May 28, 2019.
Singh allegedly acquired hugeassets, both movable and immovable,worth �2.13 crore during the period but could not give satisfactor y explanation for assets worth �1.34crore, they added.
To allay apprehensions oflocals, the Centre is planning
to introduce mandatory require-ment of 15-year residency inGovernment jobs, ownershipof land, seats in professional andcollege education in Jammu &Kashmir. The move came afterseveral organisations in Jammu& Kashmir expressed fears ofoutsiders grabbing jobs, landsand seats in academic institu-tions after the abrogation ofArticle 370 and bifurcation ofJammu and Kashmir into twoUnion Territories.
"We are examining theoptions of protecting the rightsof locals of the UT of Jammuand Kashmir under the statedomicile rules," a HomeMinistry official said. Theoptions include introducingmandatory requirement of 15-year residency in governmentjobs, ownership of land, seats inprofessional and college educa-tion, the official said.
The special arrangementwill be on the lines of HimachalPradesh and Uttarakhand. In thenortheastern states likeNagaland, this arrangement iscovered under Article 371 of theConstitution. While differentstates have different residencynorms, the central governmentis planning to introduce a 15-year minimum residency normfor an outsider to attain domicilestatus in Jammu and Kashmir.However, this condition may notbe applicable for industrial hous-es to buy land for setting up busi-ness ventures and constructquarters for their employees.There is a possibility of provid-ing relaxation to central gov-ernment employees, who arefrom other parts of the countrybut have been living in the twoUTs in last five years or more.Also, central officials and theirchildren, and students who arefrom other states but may havecleared their Class X or Class XIIboard exams in J&K or Ladakhmay be given residency. Officersfrom all-India services and theirchildren are considered domicileof their respective cadre statesusually but a decision has to betaken on whether to extend thebenefits to the AGMUT cadreofficers who will be now part ofthe two UTs.
��� ��������� ��������������������$��)*' Guwahati: Former Chief
Minister Tarun Gogoi onFriday said the Congress willbring a resolution during thespecial one-day session of theAssam Legislative Assemblyon January 13 to ensure that theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA) is not implemented inthe State.
The resolution will make aplea to ensure that the AssamAccord is not violated or dilut-ed in any way by the CAAwhich should not be imple-mented in the state, Gogoitold reporters here.
"The Assam Accord mustbe implemented in letter andspirit and should not be dilut-ed in any way. The CAA hasviolated the Accord and thePreamble of our Constitution,leading to widespread agita-tions across the country", hesaid.
The stir demanding CAA'swithdrawal is not confined toAssam alone but even in PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'sVaranasi constituency whereSection 144 has been imposed,Gogoi said.
The special session of thestate assembly has been calledon January 13 for constitutionalratification of the extension ofreservations for scheduledtribes and castes.
"There is no dispute on thisratification and we support it.
"If the ruling BJP brings theresolution against the imple-
mentation of CAA, we will sup-port it but if they do not, thenwe will place it in the house",Gogoi, who is fourth termMLA, said.
Assam is passing througha critical period and this issuemust be discussed in the house,the former cm said.
Protests against the CAA inAssam is by all sections of peo-ple and has been democratic sofar but the government led byChief Minister SarbanandaSonowal has adopted repressivemeasures to curb it, he said.
Congress members andother agitators are being putbehind the bars with KMSSleader Akhil Gogoi arrested,handcuffed and the way he wastreated as a criminal made theAssam Human RightsCommission take cognisanceof it, he added.
The BJP has adopted a"double standard" on the for-eigners' issue but "we are veryclear that anyone who hascome after March 24, 1971should be detected and deport-ed and this means even thosewho have come during ourtenure".
The BJP accuses theCongress of doing vote bankpolitics on the issue but "whenAtal Bihari Vajpayee was PrimeMinister and I was the ChiefMinister, they wanted to issuework permits to the illegal for-eigners", he said.
"The BJP then wanted to
give permits to both Hindusand Muslims but now theywant to give it only to theHindus", Gogoi added.
He accused the chief min-ister of betraying people of thestate who had voted for himwith love and trust, but now hedoes not listen to the voice ofthe people.
"He is the greatest betray-er. He was once given the titleof 'Jatiya Nayak' (Peoples' Hero)but now he is considered as'Jatiya Shatru' (Peoples'enemy)", the three time formerchief minister said.
Responding to a query onFinance Minister HimantaBiswa Sarma, the Congressleader said, "forget him. Hemoves to whoever is in power.He is a professional singerwho sings to the tune of thosein power".
"The BJP's arrogance willbring them down. They areundemocratic and are deter-mined to destroy the unity andintegrity of the nation", headded.
Gogoi accused the BJPgovernment of failing to protectthe language and culture of thestate, and added the countrywas in a mess- both political-ly and economically.
Assam Pradesh CongressCommittee President RipunBora and Congress LegislatureParty leader Debabrata Saikiawere also present on the occa-sion. PTI
New Delhi: A fresh plea hasbeen filed by an NGO in theSupreme Court challengingthe controversial Citizenship(Amendment) Act, 2019,claiming that it is violative offundamental rights grantedunder the Constitution andneeds to be set aside.
The plea filed by NGOAssociation for Protection ofCivil Rights (APCR) and oth-ers also sought a direction tothe Centre to refrain frompreparing the National Registerof Citizens (NRC).
The NGO also soughtinterim stay on the CAA say-ing it would lead to irreversibleconsequences as the citizenshiponce granted cannot bereversed and such a person
cannot be rendered statelessretrospectively, even if the dis-puted Act and notificationsare declared unconstitutionalsubsequently.
"The petitioners herein arechallenging the impugned Actas well as the impugned provi-sions and the impugned noti-fications, as being violative ofArticles 13, 14, 15, 21, 51(c) and51-A of the Constitution ofIndia. It is submitted that theimpugned Act, the impugnedprovisions and the impugnednotifications are manifestlyarbitrary and ought to be setaside..." the plea said.
It said the CAA makesprofessing of certain religionsas a ground of eligibility for thestatus of citizenship which is
against the principle of secu-larism and is violative of thebasic structure of the constitu-tion.
The NGO, while challeng-ing the CAA on various othergrounds, said, "the impugnedAct and the impugned notifi-cations are discriminatory as itis directed against Muslims onthe basis of their religion andplace of birth".
In its plea, the NGO said,"if the provisions of the CAAare operationalized and theNRC is prepared, severalundocumented Indians willbecome stateless and there-fore, it is submitted that thisCourt maybe pleased to directthe Respondent Union of Indiafrom refraining to prepare
NRC arbitrarily".The petition filed through
advocate Ejaz Maqbool havealso challenged Section 3(1) ofthe Citizenship Act, 1955,terming it as "arbitrary" andunconstitutional.
It said section 3(1) laysdown different parameters forgranting citizenship to childrenborn in India in different peri-ods.
Section 3(1) of theCitizenship Act, 1955, grantscitizenship to children born inIndia in different periods inthree different scenarios.
In the first scenario — chil-dren born in India on or afterJanuary 26, 1950 but before July1,1987, were entitled to IndianCitizenship by birth. PTI
RAIPUR | SATURDAY | JANUARY 4, 2020chhattisgarh 03
Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Amarjeet Bhagat on Friday inspected paddy procurement centers at various places in Raipur districtand examined the arrangements made to cover the paddy gunny bags to protect them from untimely rains. Pioneer Photo
STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR
For fulfilling the promise ofpaying farmers `2500 per
quintal of paddy ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghel onFriday constituted a commit-tee headed by AgricultureMinister Ravindra Choubey.
Official sources informedthat Chief Minister constitut-ed the committee to ensurepayment of `2500 per quintalto farmers against paddy pro-curement on support price.
Official sources informedTribal Caste DevelopmentMinister Dr Premsai Tekam,Forest Minister MohammadAkbar and Food MinisterAmarjeet Bhagat will be themembers of the committee.
This committee willexamine the schemes ofCentral and State
Governments for provisions offinancial aids for farmers andafter detailed discussion-
deliberation on all the aspects,the committee will submitrecommendation within amonth.
The committee wouldensure payment of the “bal-ance amount” from the mini-mum support price being paidto the farmers.
Notable, the state govern-ment had promised that thepaddy would be procuredfrom state farmers at the rateof `2500 per quintal. But ithad to settle for the centralgovernment’s prescribed rateas otherwise the Centrebecause of its policy decisionwas not be able to take the sur-plus rice from the state forcentral pool under NationalFood Security Act (NFSA)through Food Corporation of
India (FCI).This committee would
ensure the payment of the bal-ance amount of `685 per quin-tal to state farmers as theCongress government in thestate had promised of procur-ing paddy at the rate of `2500per quintal.
Notable, the procurementof paddy for this Kharif seasonin Chhattisgarh which beganon December 1 last year willcontinue till February 15.
The state government hadset a target of procuring 85lakh metric ton (LMT) ofpaddy from farmers thisKharif season, and intends tocontribute surplus rice forNational Food Security Act(NFSA) through FoodCorporation of India (FCI).
Baghel forms committee toensure `2500 paddy price STAFF REPORTER n
RAJNANDGAON
Hema Deshmukh of theCongress was elected as
Mayor of RajnandgaonMunicipal Corporation onFriday.
Also, another of herparty’s candidate managed tograb the Chairman post inthe corporation.
In the voting held onFriday Hema got 31 voteswhile her nearest contenderBJP’s Shobha Soni got 20votes.
Likewise, HarinarayanPappu of Congress got 30votes in the 51 seatscorporation. His closest
competitor Shiv Verma fromBJP got 21 votes.
Notably, Rajnandgaonmunicipal corporation has51 corporators. In the
Seven independent andone CPI Corporator had thekey to elect Mayor inRajnandgaon. Before thevoting both parties triedhard to woo corporatorshowever, Congress managedto secure the required 26votes for the mayoral post.
State cabinet ministerMohammed Akbar closelymonitored the voting andwas present during the elec-tion process. He repeatedlyinstructed the Corporatorson way to vote and alsoabout dos and don’ts.
Cong bags Mayor, Chairman postsin R’gaon Municipal Corporation
STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR
The State capital Raipur willbe hosting a three-day
state level youth festival fromJanuary 12.
Preparations for thefestival have been startedvigorously at the government-administration level, officialsources said. It will beinaugurated on January 12 at10 am in Raipur.
The purpose of the festi-val is to enhance the ruralsports talent and promote theart and culture ofChhattisgarh.
Under Yuva Mahotsav,competitions have beenorganised at all the develop-ment blocks and district levelof the state. The selectedparticipants will showcasetheir sporting talent at the
state-level youth festival inwhich 6521 participants fromthe age group of 15 to 40 yearsand above 40 years of age willparticipate. These include3613 male, 2433 female par-ticipants and 301 male and174 female officer employees.
Various sports competi-tions will be organized duringthis period along with folkdance, folklore, classicalmusic, classical dance, one-actplay, recitation, essay, paint-ing, improvised speech, tradi-tional costumes, debates,quizzes, food festivals.
The organisation of thestate-level youth festival willbe conducted and regulated inPandit Deendayal UpadhyayAuditorium, PanditRavishankar ShuklaUniversity auditorium,Science college auditorium,university sports campus in
the State capital. In variousorganisation centers, from9am till 8 pm, different kindsof skill competitions will beheld.
On January 12, the mainstage of the SportsDirectorate campus willhost Karma dance, sec-ond stage will host folkdance and Raut Nachawill be oragnized in theopen stage while essayand painting competi-tion will be conductedin the hall.
The PanditDeendayal UpadhyayaAuditorium will hear theechoes of the folk songs, clas-sical Hindustani and Carnaticmusic, guitar and sitar instru-ment playing competitions.There will be a tabla playingcompetition at Ekanki Dramaand Science College
Auditorium in Pandit RaviShankar Shukla University
Auditorium. Under sportscategory, Kho-Kho (womenand men), Kabaddi (women)
will be organized in the openground of the universitysports competition campus.
Under the YuvaMahotsav, a competition willbe held on January 13 in the
main stage of theDirectorate of Sports
Complex displaying thefolk dance, Surahdance.
Kathak, Odissi,Kuchipudi, ManipuriDance Contest will beconducted in a 1500
seater hall, improvisedspeech in 100 seater hall,Bharatanatyam and tra-
ditional costumes competi-tion and Flute recital compe-
tition in 60 seater hall will beorganized in PanditDeendayal Auditorium. Therewill be a competition ofHarmonium, Mridangam andVeena instrumemt playing in
Ekanki Drama and ScienceCollege Auditorium in PanditRavi Shankar ShuklaUniversity Auditorium.
On January 14, the mainstage of the Sports Directoratecampus will be filled with theenergy of the rock band andopen stage will be filled withzeal and enthusiasm of fugdi,bumblebee competition.Debate and quiz competitionwill be held in the hall andfood festival in the sportscomplex’s dome.
Organization of gedi racesand semi-finals of Kho-Kho(Female / Male), Kabaddi(Female / Male) and Hardlinematch, will be conducted inPandit Ravi Shankar ShuklaUniversity Auditorium.
The closing ceremony willbe held on January 14 at 2 pmin the Sports Directoratecampus.
Preparations afoot for state-level youth festival
STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR
Regional Center of IndiaM e t e o r o l o g i c a l
Department issued anorange alert in the state andcautioned that medium todense foggy weather wouldprevail over entire state onSaturday.
Situation would be
slightly better on Sunday butfog would continue to bethere and hence it issued yel-low alert for the day.
Meanwhile, cold wavetightened grip all over thestate and several placesrecorded season’s lowesttemperature. Most of theplaces in state recorded min-imum temperature below 10degree Celsius. A dense fog
enveloped state capital tooand several flights duringmorning hours on Fridaywere delayed.
Dr Chandra of regionalmeteorological centre saidthe sudden inclement weath-er was due to cyclone inupper Gujarat and a troughwas developed in westernMadhya Pradesh and Biharto North- western Bengal.
Cold Wave: IMD issuesorange warning forfoggy weather in state
STAFF REPORTER n BHILAI
Six employees, including asenior official, fell ill after
inhaling toxic gas leaked inBhilai Steel Plant (BSP). Fourof them have been dischargedfrom hospital while two arestill in hospital, officials saidhere on Friday.
The incident occurred inthe blast furnace number 8around 2 am, they said.
"Owing to material slip-page inside the blast furnacenumber. 8, pressure increasedinside the furnace and gotreleased through the drainpot of hydraulic U seal that isinstalled for such purposes," astatement issued by the plantsaid.
"One loco operator andtwo shunting staff, who wereinside the locomotive that waspositioned below the U seal,got affected by the release ofgas," it added.
The affected trio wasimmediately taken to themain medical post inside theplant. Two persons, amongthose who shifted the affectedstaff, also suffered minorexposure to the gas, the
statement said.All the five persons were
then admitted to the JawaharLal Nehru (JLN) Hospital &Research Centre Bhilai, itadded.
Later, an official of the
Energy ManagementDepartment, who wasengaged with his team toattend to the gas leakage, wasalso admitted to that hospitalafter he complained ofheadache, it said, adding thatall the affected persons are outof danger now.
Four of them have beendischarged from hospitalwhile two are still in hospital.Their condition is out of dan-ger, a BSP official said.
The leakage of gas waslater stopped and the situationwas brought under control,the release said.
The affected employeeswere identified as AbhishekAnand, K Nagraj, Balkrishna,Santosh Kumar and Kalidas,all belonging to RITES (RailIndia Technical andEconomic Service) andDeputy General Manager ofthe plant Rajesh Kumar, thestatement said.
Jashpur copcommitted suicideat police stnJASHPUR: A 44-year-old policeconstable allegedly committedsuicide at a police station inChhattisgarh's Jashpur districton Friday, a senior police officersaid.
Somendra Bek was foundhanging from the ceiling at hisbarrack in Bagicha police stationpremises on Friday afternoon,Jashpur superintendent of policeShankar Lal Baghel said.
Bek had reported to hisworkplace at around 9.30 amand was later found dead by hiscolleagues, he said, adding thatno suicide note had beenrecovered from the premises.
The deceased's body hasbeen sent for post-mortem,Baghel said, adding that a casehas been registered on the basisof preliminary information. Bekwas recently transferred toBagicha from Jashpur town.
Gas leakage in BSP, six hospitalized
STAFF REPORTER nDANTEWADA
An Assistant Constableand a secret soldier
(Gopniya Sainik) werearrested along with sixothers, while trying tosmuggle leopard skins inthe restive Dantewada dis-trict, police said here onFriday.
According to police,they were nabbed fromKarli village of Geedam inDantewada based oninputs provided by the for-est department offi-cials.
The held persons wereidentified as Lalu (46) res-ident of Bade Surokhi,Arjun Barsa (41) ofHiranar, Ladruram (27)
Bade Surokhi, Ramnath(25) of Bangpal, ShankarPoyam (32) of Bangpal,Masram Kidiyami (28) ofNelasnar and TamoDeepchandra (42) ofKasoli.
Police also seized fourbikes, mobile phones andknives from theirpossession.
Deputy DirectorIndirawati Tiger reserveNK Sharma informed thataction against the heldpersons will be taken asper the provisions of theWild Life Protection Act.
Two Naxals heldin DantewadaDANTEWADA: Two Naxals, carrying rewardsof Rs 1 lakh each on their heads, were arrestedfrom Dantewada district, police said here onFriday.
Acting on specific inputs, Lachhu Kunjam(40) and Kosa Uika (35) were apprehended onThursday evening from Kirandul police stationarea by a joint of team of District Reserve Guardand local police, an official said.
While Kunjam was active as the head ofDAKMS (Dandakaranya Adivasi Kisan MajdoorSangthan- a frontal wing of Maoists), Uika was ajanmilitia commander, he said, adding that theycarried rewards of Rs 1 lakh each on their heads.
The duo was allegedly involved in torchingsix trucks, two bulldozer machines and a poclainmachine engaged in works related to theScreening Plant number 3 of the NMDC in itsBailadila iron ore mining region on November24 last year, he said.
They were mainly tasked with arranging themeeting of villagers for Maoists, spreadingNaxal propaganda and conducting recee onmovement of security forces, he added.
Cop, 6 others held forsmuggling leapord skin
STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR
Leader of OppositionDharamlal Kaushik said it
is shameful that Chhattisgarhis going through a bad phaseof economic crises as indevelopment targets it hasnow been placed in 21stposition in the country.
He alleged that the rank-ing points towards failure ofthe Congress government. Hesaid the state government’slack of intention and policy isbringing disgrace to people ofthe state. He said it is thereason that development hascome to a standstill across thestate, which is now movingbackward.
The four number less innational ranking is anindicator that the Congress
government could notformulate corrective policy,and for this state ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghel isresponsible, alleged Kaushik.
The BJP leader said, nobudgetary provisions hasbeen made based on require-ment and need even as thestate government has alreadytaken `15000 crore loans,pushing the budget defecit to5.5% instead of 3%. Thesepolicies are causing loss to thepeople of the state, he said.
Kaushik flays govt for slip indevpt targets of Niti Aayog
For achieving success specifi-cally under Oilseeds promo-
tion and production, PrimeMinister, Narendra Modi award-ed the Haryana AgricultureDepartment.
Haryana Agriculture andFarmer Welfare Minister, JaiParkash Dalal received the awardat Commendation AwardCeremony in Oilseeds Categoryfor 2017-18, held at Bengaluru
on Thursday. The award con-sisted of a citation and anamount of � 1 crore.
Giving details, AdditionalChief Secretary, Agriculture andFarmers Welfare Department,Sanjeev Kaushal, who alsoaccompanied the Agricultureand Farmer Welfare Minister inthe award ceremony, said that theDepartment had taken variousinitiatives for increasing pro-duction of Oilseeds crops par-ticularly Mustard in Haryana
and consequently, Mustard Croparea ranges between 5.10 lakhhectare to 6.36 lakh hectare inthe State.
He said the StateGovernment has taken majorsteps for providing remunerativeprices to the farmers and initi-ated procurement of Mustard forthe first time in the State during2016-17 and it is continued tilldate. Initially, 37000 MTMustard was procured underPrice Support Scheme at the
MSP fixed by the Government ofIndia. During 2017-18, the totalquantity of 2.69 LMT Mustardwas procured and it has beenincreased to 6.19 LMT during2018-19.
Kaushal said there was aconsiderable increase in the pro-duction of Mustard during 2017-18 (11.08 LMT) in comparisonto 2016-17 (9.35 LMT). He saidthat there was a considerableincrease in the Average Yield ofMustard during 2017-18 (2018
Kg/ha.) in comparison to 2016-17 (1850 Kg/ha.) Apart from this,seed replacement rate increasedto 99.82 per cent under Oilseeds.
The official said AgricultureDepartment initiated specificprogram for low productivityblocks. The farmers wereinformed about the latest pack-age and practices regardinggrowing of new varieties new fer-tilizer and integrated pest anddiseases management.
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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal on Friday
sought to play down his ongo-ing tussle with Home MinisterAnil Vij, who has expressed hisdispleasure over the defiance ofthe officers in his Departmentand the CMO overruling himin the matter of transfers of IPSofficers.
A day after meeting BJP’sworking President JP Nadda inDelhi to seek his interventionto appease Minister Anil Vij,the Chief Minister claimedthat issue is sorted out.
“We have discussed with
him (Anil Vij) and things arefine…,” said Manohar Lal,when asked about his differ-ences with the Home Minister.
“It is a mere speculation.I met Nadda to discussCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA) and forthcoming elec-tions in Delhi,” he added.
Only a day back, senior BJPMinister Anil Vij had chal-lenged the HaryanaGovernment to take back hisHome portfolio if it continuesto function in the same man-ner.
Perturbed over the defi-ance of the officers in hisDepartment and the Chief
Minister’s office taking deci-sions regarding IPS transferswithout keeping him in theloop, Vij had said, “Althoughthe Chief Minister has power tooverrule me, but I should bekept in the loop at least.”
Vij had reportedly alsopulled up the State’s intelligencedepartment (CID) recently forallegedly not sharing informa-tion sought by him on recentassembly polls and had alsomarked a dissent note to theChief Minister over transfer ofnine IPS officers without tak-ing him in confidence.
Commenting on the ongo-ing tussle, Haryana BJP affairs
in-charge Anil Jain has said thatthe Chief Minister is supremein any matter.Notably, in thefirst term of the BJPGovernment in Haryana, theHome Portfolio was kept by theChief Minister himself.
However, in BJP’s secondterm the prestigious HomePortfolio was given to Vij withindependent charge.
The allocation of Homeportfolio to Vij, senior-mostMinister in HaryanaGovernment had come as asurprise to many but the BJP’smove to appoint was crucial tobalance out heavyweightDushyant Chautala of the JJP
who was made the DeputyChief Minister for lending sup-port to the BJP for forming thegovernment.
Meanwhile, it is not thefirst time that the two seniorBJP leaders are locked in apower tussle.
During BJP’s first term inHaryana also, Anil Vij hadhurled barbs at Manohar Lalforinterfering in his Departments.
Vij also did not shy awayfrom questioning the func-tioning of his own governmenton several occasions.
At that time also, the BJPhigh command had intervenedto pacify Vij.
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Delhi Airport has been cho-sen as the cargo transship-
ment centre by China. With thisdevelopment, Chinese cargo tothe Central Asian countries isnow being routed through IndiraGandhi International Airport(IGIA) with new TransshipmentExcellence Centre (TEC).
According to Delhi airportofficials, An Air Asia X (D7)freighter, carrying garment andaccessories , brought the con-signment from Beijing to Delhifor onward delivery to Ukrainein the last week of 2019. This wasthe first instance of internation-al-to-international movementof China’s cargo via DelhiAirport. With this, a new gate-
way has been created for themovement of international trans-shipment cargo connectingChina to Ukraine through Delhi.
Videh Kumar Jaipuriar,CEO-DIAL said, “Delhi hasemerged as a cargo hub forbusinesses in North India andneighbouring countries. Thismovement of international tran-shipment cargo connectingChina to Ukraine via DelhiAirport will give an impetus toregional logistics sectors.” “TECnot only provides a new momen-tum to the efficient movement oftransshipment air cargo throughsecure channel, but also con-tributes significantly in promot-ing Delhi Airport as Air CargoHub of the region and an AirCargo Gateway to the World.”
About 1500 families includ-ing one from Muslim com-
munity, who had came fromBangladesh, Pakistan andAfghanistan and are currentlyliving in Haryana, have appliedfor Indian Citizenship.
“As per the data compiledby Haryana Government, thereare around 1500 families of var-ious religions, who have appliedfor Indian Citizenship.
These families, who facedreligious persecution, wouldnow be eligible for the citizen-ship under the Citizenship(Amendment) Act, 2019(CAA). There is only one fam-ily from Muslim Communityamong them while all othersbelong to other religions,” saidHaryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal while addressinga press conference here onFriday.
According to the CAA,Hindu, Christian, Buddhist,Jain, Sikh and Parsi migrantswho have entered India ille-gally-that is, without a visa-onor before December 31, 2014from the Muslim-majoritycountries of Pakistan,Afghanistan and Bangladeshand have stayed in the countryfor five years, are eligible toapply for Indian citizenship.
Manohar Lal, whiledefending the BJP led CentralGovernment’s decision onCAA and proposed nation-
wide National Register ofCitizens (NRC) said, “India hasprovided all facilities to theminorities in the country butpeople of six faiths includingHindu, Christian, Buddhist,Jain, Sikh and Parsi migrantshave faced persecution in threeIslamic countries but Muslimshaven't.
It was, therefore, decided togive immunity to such refugeesin India.”
Lashing out at the opposi-tion for its allegations that thenew law is discriminatoryagainst Muslims, the ChiefMinister said that the Congressis only interested in vote bankpolitics and hence, misin-forming people and spreadingillusionary fear among minori-ties.
In the last five years, theUnion Government has givencitizenship to around 550Muslims from various coun-tries, who had sought for it, headded.
Responding to a questionrelated to immigrants fromAhmadiyya Muslim commu-nity living in Haryana for sev-eral decades, Manohar Lal saidthat many of them have alreadybeen given citizenship andthey are from good back-ground… I can give verbal cer-tificate that they are national-ists, he added.
When asked whether theMuslim family which is among1500 others seeking Indian cit-izenship would be given the cit-
izenship, the Chief Ministersaid that they would be givencitizenship as per the criteria.
On being further asked ifit is correct to exclude Muslimsfrom CAA and indulge in dis-crimination against a particu-lar religion, the Chief Ministersaid that any kind of discrim-ination is wrong in any coun-try. But, Muslims haven't facedany kind of persecution inthree Islamic countries name-ly Pakistan, Afghanistan andBangladesh… They are inmajority there, he said.
Commenting on NCR, hesaid that opposition partiesare also doing politics on NCR.If we do not implement NRCin India and do not issuenational identity card to the cit-izens, then the entry of intrud-ers would become easier, theChief Minister said.
We have accepted all therefugees who came in 1947.
Former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh and formerUnion Home Minister LalKrishna Advani are also includ-ed in this. Even I, myself is one of such refugees, he added.
Pointing out the figures ofminority in neighboring coun-tries, the Chief Minister saidthat population of minoritypeople in Pakistan has reducedto 3.7 percent from 23 percentof 1947.
It reduced to 7.9 percentfrom 22 percent in Bangladesh,he further added.
New Delhi: Overall Air qualityIndex (AQI) 372 on the NationalAmbient Air Quality Index(NAAQI) recorded under VeryPoor category on Friday.According to SAFAR, under thecold stable night time, near sur-face air is becoming stagnantwithout nay mixing, leads toaccumulation of pollutants.
The AQI is likely to stay atvery poor to the lower end of thesevere category for the next twodays. Slight improvement is
expecting only by January 6th.Top three Air Pollution Hotspots of Delhi are likely to be GTroad, Vasundhara andSahibabad.
According to System of AirQuality and Weather ForecastingAnd Research, values of prima-ry pollutants — SuspendedParticulate Matters (SPMs) 10and 2.5 recorded three timeshigher than prescribed stan-dards recorded 344 and 214.
In a move to push for greateruse of Hindi language inthe State, Haryana Cabinet
on Friday decided to requestthe Governor to take thePresident’s consent in autho-rising the use of Hindi, in addi-tion to English, for judge-ments, decrees or orders of thePunjab and Haryana HighCourt pertaining to the state.
The cabinet, which metunder the chairmanship ofChief Minister Manohar Lalalso approved the proposal ofbringing an amendment tothe Haryana Official LanguageAct of 1969, enabling the useof Hindi for the purpose ofproceedings, judgment,decrees or orders passed ormade by the lower courts andtribunals.
In its first meeting thisyear, the cabinet discussedaround 26 agendas and gavenod to proposals related topromotion of Hindi language,formation of a cabinet sub-committee, convening ofVidhan Sabha session fromJanuary 20, creation of newDepartment i.e. CitizenResources InformationDepartment among othersdecisions.
Briefing the mediapersonsafter the cabinet meeting, ChiefMinister Manohar Lal saidthat the government has decid-ed to request HaryanaGovernor to take consent ofPresident to authorize the useof Hindi language, in addition
to English language, for thepurpose of proceedings, anyjudgement, decree or orderspassed by the Punjab andHaryana High Court pertain-ing to jurisdiction of Haryana.
Article 348 of theConstitution provides thatuntil Parliament by law other-wise provides, all proceedingsin the Supreme Court and inevery High Court shall be inthe English.
It further provides thatthe Governor of a State may,with the consent of thePresident, authorise the use ofHindi, or any other languageused in the State for any offi-cial purpose, in proceedings inthe High Court.
The Chief Minister saidthat the government hadreceived a demand lettersigned by 78 MLAs, theAdvocate General and hun-dreds of advocates for the useof Hindi.
The use of Hindi wouldhelp people of the state under-stand the entire judicial processin their own language, andwould enable them to easilyput their views before thecourts, he added.
The Haryana Cabinet alsoapproved the proposal ofbringing an amendment tothe Haryana Official LanguageAct of 1969, enabling the useHindi for the purpose of pro-ceedings, judgment, decrees ororders passed or made by thelower courts and tribunals,Manohar Lal said.
The neighboring Punjab
had done this a long timeback and Punjabi language isbeing used in official work oflower courts in the state, headded.
Being a Hindi languageregion, Haryana came intoexistence in the year 1966 as aseparate state.
In 1969, under Section 3 ofthe Haryana Official LanguageAct, Hindi was made officiallanguage of Haryana.
Since then, Hindi languageis being used mostly as the lan-guage of administration.
������������%�����������$The cabinet has enhanced
all monthly social security pen-sions and Old Age pensionfrom Rs 2000 to Rs 2250.
The decision would put an
additional financial burden ofabout Rs 70 crore per month onstate exchequer, the ChiefMinister said.
He also announced toenhance the monthly pensionof workers of above 60 years ofage which are registered underthe Building and OtherConstruction Workers WelfareBoard from Rs 2500 to Rs 2750.At present, about 28 lakh ben-eficiaries are getting the bene-fit of these pensions, he added.
The Chief Minister saidthat earlier, the StateGovernment has enhanced thepension being admissible to theworkers of Other ConstructionWorkers Welfare Board fromRs 1500 per month to Rs 2500per month. Now, it has beendecided to further enhance it toRs 2750 per month. At present,
570 workers are getting thebenefit of this pension, headded.
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A new Department name-ly Citizen ResourcesInformation Department(Nagrik Sansadhan SuchnaVibhag) will be created inHaryana.
In order to provide animpetus for the ParivarPehchan Patra for preparing acommon database for imple-mentation of Governmentschemes and delivery ofGovernment services throughthe digital medium, the ChiefMinister said.
The new Department will
be dealing the various subjectsnamely, Parivar Pehchan Patra,Development of CitizenResource's inventory as a com-mon database with the use ofinformatics and informationinfrastructure, Promotion anddevelopment of common data-base across Departments, com-mon networks and informaticsincluding geoinformatics fordelivery of Government to cit-izen services, Manohar Lalsaid.
The Department will alsowork to establish a linked data-base connecting individual,family and property data forutilization by other
Government Departments andagencies in the delivery ofGovernment services by theDepartments and agencies.
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Haryana Vidhan SabhaSession will commence onJanuary 20 and likely to con-tinue till January 22.
The reservation for SCs,STs and Anglo Indians givenfor the past 70 years in LokSabha and state assemblies wasdue to end on January 25,2020, necessitating theConstitution amendment bill.
The Parliament recently passeda Constitution (Amendment)Bill in this regard and the leg-islation has to be ratified bystate legislatures before itbecomes a law, Manohar Lalsaid.
He said that Governor'saddress will also be part of thesession, which will go on tillJanuary 22.
There will also be a train-ing session for the elected leg-islators, he added
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The cabinet gave approvalto the Amendment to thescheme - Financial Assistanceto Women and Girl AcidAttack Victims. The existingscheme is giving financial assis-tance only to any woman or girlvictim, who had faced an acidattack on or after May 2, 2011,and those who have been resid-ing in Haryana for at least threeyears prior to the date of occur-rence.
While, after the amend-ment, any woman or girl victimwho has faced acid attack resid-ing in the State of Haryana willbe eligible for financial benefitin this scheme. However, finan-cial assistance will be givenfrom the current date after shehas applied for financial assis-tance under the scheme. TheCabinet has also decided thatno arrears to such acid attackvictims will be given.
Chief Minister Kamal Nathsaid that the vast scope in
the field of tourism will belinked with employment. Hesaid “We have been workingon a strategy so that thetourism destinations could betransformed into attractioncenters at national and inter-national level and people couldget employment at large scale.”
Nath was inaugurating the4th Jal Mahotsav atHanuvantiya tourist destina-tion, situated at Indira SagarDam in Khandwa districttoday. On this occasion, heflagged off the motor boatcruise at Hanvantiya Reservoirand launched 35 construc-tion works at a cost of Rs 72crore.
The Chief Minister saidthat keeping in view the enter-tainment, tourism sector is themost important. He said thatthere are world-class tourist
destinations in our state. Ourwater and forest wealth isrich. We need to develop thiswealth from economic andemployment point of view.He said that along with theincrease in the income of thecitizens, this can also improvetheir living standards. TheChief Minister further men-tioned that other tourist placeslike Hanuvantiya will also bedeveloped in a planned man-ner. This will provide employ-ment to a large number oflocal people, he added.
Mentioning the achieve-ments of the state govern-ment of the last one year,Nath said that we have madenew paths of progress for thefarmers by waiving off theirloans. In the second phase, aprocess to waive off the loansof the farmers with operativeaccounts has already beenstarted. He further stated thatin order to improve the eco-nomic condition of the farm-
ers, reasonable prices for thegrowing agriculture produc-tion will be ensured. The stategovernment is committed tobring improvement in the eco-nomic condition of the farm-ers, he added.
Minister for TourismSurendra Singh Baghelinformed that a tourist circuitcombining Mahakaleshwar,Omkareshwar, Maheshwar,Mandu, Mohankheda andSingaji will be developed.
He said that the initiativeto introduce tourists with trib-al culture, traditions and foodhas been taken in Mandu.Baghel mentioned that reli-gious and tribal tourism isbeing promoted by the stategovernment. He furtherinformed that a historic workhas been done by the ChiefMinister Kamal Nath by sanc-tioning schemes worth Rs 300crore for Mahakaleshwar-Ujjain and Rs 156 crore forOmkareshwar.
Colombo: President GotabayaRajapaksa on Friday said SriLanka would not kowtowbefore any foreign nation evenas he called for electoral andconstitutional reforms to makethe country a progressive stateand a stronger executive pres-idency to effectively combatextremism.
Rajapaksa was sworn in asSri Lanka’s seventh Presidenton November 18 after he con-vincingly defeated the rulingUnited National Party (UNP)candidate Sajith Premadasa bymore than 13 lakh votes, mark-ing the return of the powerfulRajapaksa dynasty.
In his first ceremonialaddress to Parliament, the pres-ident outlined hisGovernment’s vision for effi-ciency, eradication of corrup-tion and crime with accelerat-ed infrastructure developmentto revive the country’s econo-my. PTI
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Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, aveteran Iraqi militant who
was closely allied with Iranand rose to be a senior militiacommander during the waragainst the ISIS, was killedovernight Friday in a US strikethat also felled Iran’s top general.
Al-Muhandis was thedeputy commander of thePopular Mobilization Forces,an umbrella group of mostlyShiite paramilitaries. He wasalso the founder of the KataebHezbollah, or HezbollahBrigades. The US blamed thegroup, which is separate fromthe Lebanese Hezbollah move-ment, for a rocket attack innorthern Iraq last week thatkilled a US contractor.
The militias, many of whichare backed by Iran and trace theirroots back to Shia insurgencyagainst US forces following the2003 invasion, mobilised in 2014when the ISIS swept acrossnorthern and western Iraq. Al-Muhandis, who had spent muchof his life as a secretive operativein Iran’s regional shadow wars,emerged as a public face of theforce, a tall man with a graybeard and thick glasses who wasoften seen on the front linesdirecting his fighters by radio.
He was killed in anAmerican airstrike nearBaghdad’s international air-port around midnight alongwith Gen. Qassem Soleimani,the commander of Iran’s eliteQuds Force and the architect ofits regional military alliances.
Washington: Democratic pres-idential candidate Joe Bidensaid Thursday that PresidentDonald Trump has “tossed astick of dynamite into a tin-derbox” with the targetedkilling of Iran’s top general inan airstrike at Baghdad’s inter-national airport.
The former vice presidentjoined other Democratic WhiteHouse hopefuls in criticizingTrump’s order, saying it couldleave the U.S. “on the brink ofa major conflict across theMiddle East.” AP
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Global powers warned onFriday that the world
became a more dangerousplace after the US assassinatedIran’s top general, urgingrestraint on all sides. Britainand Germany also suggestedthat Iran shared some blame forprovoking the targeted killingthat dramatically ratcheted uptensions in the Mideast.
China, Russia and France,all permanent members of theUN Security Council, took adim view of the US airstrikenear Baghdad’s airport on earlyFriday that killed Gen. QassemSoleimani and several of hisassociates. The 62-year-oldledIran’s elite Quds Force,responsible for the country’sforeign campaigns.
The White House justifiedthe strike with a tweet allegingthat Soleimani “was activelydeveloping plans to attackAmerican diplomats and ser-vice members in Iraq andthroughout the region.”
Social media flooded withalarm, with Twitter users mor-bidly turning “WWIII” into thetop trending term worldwide.
“We are waking up in amore dangerous world.Military escalation is alwaysdangerous,” France’s deputyminister for foreign affairs,Amelie de Montchalin, toldRTL radio. “When suchactions, such operations, takeplace, we see that escalation isunderway.”
Russia likewise charac-terised the deadly US strike as“fraught with serious conse-quences.” A Foreign Ministrystatement warned that “suchactions don’t help resolve com-plicated problems in theMiddle East, but instead lead toa new round of escalating ten-sions.” Russian ForeignMinistry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova suggestedthat in ordering the killing, USPresident Donald Trump hadone eye on his re-election campaign.
Trump’s election oppo-nents characterised the killingas reckless, with Democraticpresidential candidate JoeBiden saying the US president“tossed a stick of dynamite intoa tinderbox.”
China described itself as“highly concerned.” “Peace inthe Middle East and the Gulfregion should be preserved,”Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Geng Shuang said.“We urge all parties concerned,especially the United States, tomaintain calm and restraint
and avoid further escalation oftensions.”
But while echoing the con-cerns of other Security Councilmembers about spiraling ten-sions, Britain and Germany broke ranks, voicingqualified understanding forthe US position.
German Governmentspokeswoman Ulrike Demmerdescribed the US strike as “areaction to a whole series ofmilitary provocations forwhich Iran bears responsibil-ity,” pointing to attacks ontankers and a Saudi oil facili-ty, among other events.
“We are at a dangerousescalation point and what mat-ters now is contributing withprudence and restraint to de-escalation,” she said. Germanycurrently sits on the UNSecurity Council but is not apermanent member.
The British foreign secre-tary, Dominic Raab, said “wehave always recognised theaggressive threat posed by theIranian Quds force led byQasem Soleimani.” “Followinghis death, we urge all parties tode-escalate,” he said. “Further conflict is in none ofour interests.”
There were also warningsthat the killing could set backefforts to stamp out remnantsof the ISIS. A top EuropeanUnion official, Charles Michel,said “the risk is a generalisedflare up of violence in thewhole region and the rise ofobscure forces of terrorismthat thrive at times of religiousand nationalist tensions.”
Italy also warned thatincreased tensions “risk beingfertile terrain for terrorismand violent extremism.” Butright-wing Italian oppositionleader Matteo Salvini praisedTrump for eliminating “one ofthe most dangerous and pitiless men in the world, anIslamic terrorist, an enemy ofthe West, of Israel, of rights andof freedoms.”
Trump also won the sup-port of Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu “for act-ing swiftly, forcefully and deci-sively.”
Behind the scenes, thestrike triggered urgent flurriesof diplomatic activity. USSecretary of State MikePompeo worked phones, call-ing world capitals to defendTrump’s decision. He said theUS is committed to de-esca-lating tensions that have soaredsince Iranian-backed militiakilled an American contractorand the US responded withstrikes on the militia. That set
off violent pro-Iran protestsoutside the US Embassy inBaghdad, which in turn set thestage for the killing ofSoleimani.
In the Mideast, the strikeprovoked waves of shock, furyand fears of worse to come.
Iraq’s most powerful Shiareligious leader, GrandAyatollah Ali al-Sistani, said ina speech during Friday prayersthat the country must brace for“very difficult times.”
In Iran, a hard-line advis-er to the country’s supremeleader who led Friday prayersin Tehran likened US troops inIraq to “insidious beasts” andsaid they should be swept fromthe region.
“I am telling Americans,especially Trump, we will takea revenge that will change theirdaylight into to a nighttimedarkness,” said the cleric,Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami.
Washington: The StateDepartment on Friday told UScitizens to leave Iraq “imme-diately,” after an Americanstrike killed top Iranian com-mander Qasem Soleimani inBaghdad. “Due to heightenedtensions in Iraq and the region,we urge US citizens to departIraq immediately,” the StateDepartment tweeted.
“Due to Iranian-backedmilitia attacks at the USEmbassy compound, all con-sular operations are suspend-ed. US citizens should notapproach the Embassy.”
The US announced earlier
Friday that it had killed the pow-erful general in a strike onBaghdad’s international airport,in which the deputy chief ofIraq’s powerful Hashed al-Shaabiparamilitary force also died.
Tensions with Iraq werealready running high after pro-Iranian protesters laid siege theUS embassy on Tuesday, react-ing to weekend airstrikes thatkilled at least 25 fighters fromthe hardline Kataeb Hezbollahparamilitary group. The strikeswere in response to a 36-rock-et attack last week that killed anAmerican contractor at anIraqi base. PTI
Jerusalem: Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahucut short a visit to Greece andflew home Friday as Lebanon’sHezbollah demanded revengefor the killing of a top Iraniancommander in a US strike.
A source in Netanyahu’soffice said that the premier wasreturning from Athens but didnot elaborate. Following Fridaymorning’s killing of MajorGeneral Qasem Soleimani,Lebanon’s Iran-backedHezbollah movement calledfor the missile strike by Israel’sclosest ally, to be avenged.
“Meting out the appropri-ate punishment to these crim-inal assassins...Will be theresponsibility and task of allresistance fighters worldwide,”Hezbollah chief Hassan
Nasrallah said in a statement.The Israeli army on Friday
closed a ski resort in the annexedGolan Heights, which borderLebanon and Syria. “Followinga security assessment, it wasdecided to close Mount Hermonto visitors today,” an armyspokeswoman said.
“There are no furtherinstructions for civilians in thearea.” The ski resort on MountHermon lies in the Israeli-occupied part of the GolanHeights, which Israel seizedfrom Syria in the Six-Day Warof 1967 and later annexed in amove still not recognised bymost of the international com-munity. Across the armisticeline sits the Shiite Hezbollah,Israel’s bitter foe with which itfought in 2006. AFP
London: After a remarkablepolitical turnaround, PrimeMinister Boris Johnson is on theverge of taking Britain out of theEuropean Union with the enthu-siastic support of a strong major-ity in Parliament.
After suffering a string ofparliamentary defeats over Brexit— plus the ignominy of beingtold by Britain’s Supreme Courtthat his suspension of Parliamentlast year was unlawful —Johnsoncruised to victory in the coun-try’s December 12 election andfinally got his landmark Brexitbill passed before Christmas.
Expectations for the comingyear are high, fueled by Johnson’supbeat approach. He promisedin his New Year’s message thatresolving the Brexit stalematemeans Britain “can start a newchapter in the history of ourcountry, in which we come
together and move forward unit-ed, unleashing the enormouspotential of the British people.”
He pledged to “work mysocks off” to unite the country.The message was pre-recorded;Johnson spent the holiday on theCaribbean island of Mustiquewith girlfriend Carrie Symonds.Johnson’s predecessor, formerPrime Minister Theresa May,was stung by repeated rebukesfrom a hostile Parliament.
Johnson, however, is in amuch stronger position with ahealthy Conservative Partymajority in the House ofCommons after the electionthat he called two years early.When Johnson’s tenure at 10Downing Street began in Julywith a series of defeats inParliament, many observers saidhe likely would have the short-est reign of any recent PM. AP
Jakarta: Indonesian rescuersmounted a desperate search onFriday for those missing afterflash floods and landslidessparked by torrential rains killedat least 43 people across theJakarta region while healthauthorities raced to prevent dis-ease outbreaks. Around a dozenpeople were still unaccountedfor after record rains that start-ed on New Year’s Eve pounded
the capital and left swathes of themegalopolis, home to some 30million, under water and withthousands homeless.
Around 192,000 residentshave been evacuated to tem-porary shelters, according toauthorities, with many unableto return to waterlogged homesin neighbourhoods turned intowastelands of debris and over-turned cars. AFP
The Inter-State Council, having itsroots in Article 263 of theConstitution, was meant for situ-ations just like the present one butappears to have been lost sight of.
There are several advantages of having a writ-ten Constitution, the foremost being that evenfor certain unforeseen eventualities, aConstitutional approach can be incorporat-ed in specific terms. As such, it is entirely tothe credit of the Constituent Assembly thatit could envisage the importance of Centre-State relations, more than 70 years ago, andincluded Article 263 in our Constitution, with-out a even a debate.
Titled as “Provisions with respect to anInter-State Council”, Article 263 states that itwould be lawful for the President to establishsuch a Council, if at any time it appears thatpublic interest will be served. The Council hasbeen charged with the duty of inquiring intoand advising upon disputes, which may havearisen between States; investigating and dis-cussing subjects in which some or all of theStates or the Union and one or more of theStates have a common interest; or making rec-ommendations upon any such subject and,in particular, recommendations for bettercoordination of policy and action withrespect to that subject. There was, however,no opportunity to operationalise the provi-sions of this Article till almost 40 years afterthe promulgation of the Constitution.
In the current scenario and in the con-text of the political developments between theCentre and some States, it would be relevantto recapitulate the envisaged role of the Inter-State Council and the recommendationsmade by various Constitutional review com-missions on its significance. An initialreview of various aspects of Centre-State rela-tions was undertaken by the FirstAdministrative Reforms Commission chairedby K Hanumanthaiah (1966-70). The polit-ical situation after the 1967 general elections,when for the first time the ruling party at theCentre had to face hostile State Governments,had a definite impact on its recommenda-tions, which among others also included:“The Inter-State or Centre-State differencesshould be settled by mutual discussions. Tothe extent possible, these discussions shouldbe held in camera. Only the decisions maybe issued in the form of Statements. An Inter-State Council should be constituted underArticle 263 of the Constitution; it may con-sist of: (i) the Prime Minister-Chairman (ii)the Finance Minister (iii) the Home Minister(iv) the Leader of the Opposition in the LokSabha (when one is not available, a represen-tative should be elected by the Oppositionparties by single transferable vote) (v) five rep-resentatives, one each from the five ZonalCouncils; any of the Union Cabinet Ministersor Chief Ministers, who may be concernedwith a particular subject, may be invited fordiscussion when the relevant subject isunder consideration; and the proceedings ofthis Council must be secret. (i) The Inter-State
Council will have the functionsindicated in Article 263 of theConstitution. (ii) The inter-StateCouncil may be set up, to beginwith, for a period of two years.A decision may be taken on itscontinuance in the light of expe-rience gained.”
However, despite the deteri-orating Centre-State relations inthe late 1960s, not much could beachieved as the Council was notestablished. Later, as the politicalsituation underwent a changeafter the mid-term poll of 1971and followed a similar trajecto-ry in the States, these recommen-dations were practically forgotten.
In the early 1980s, thedynamics of Centre-State rela-tions once again came understress, leading to a virtual break-down. The atmosphere of con-sensus and cooperation was giv-ing way to politics of confronta-tion. In this strained atmos-phere, the Prime Minister con-stituted a Commission under thechairmanship of Justice (retd) RSSarkaria, formerly of the SupremeCourt. The charter of thisCommission was to “review theexisting arrangements betweenthe Centre and the States whilekeeping in view the social andeconomic developments that hadtaken place over the years. Thereview was also to take intoaccount the importance of unityand integrity of the nation forpromoting welfare of the people.”
While endorsing the recom-mendations of the FirstAdministrative ReformsCommission, Justice Sarkariaadded that there should be a
Standing Committee of the inter-governmental council underArticle 263 of the Constitution.While the general body of theCouncil was to meet at least twicea year, the Standing Committeewas stipulated to meet at leastfour times a year. A permanentsecretariat for the Council wasalso recommended to be estab-lished.
The report of the SarkariaCommission became availablesometime in 1987-88 and it wasleft to the National FrontGovernment of VP Singh toestablish the Inter-State Councilin 1990. Though from time totime several meetings of theChief Ministers have been con-vened at the Centre on varioussubjects, these possibly cannot betermed as Constitutional meet-ings under the Article 263.
Later, the JusticeVenkatachaliah Commission,while reviewing the working ofthe Constitution, affirmed therecommendations of the SarkariaCommission and emphasisedthat “in resolving problems andcoordinating policy and action,the Union as well as the Statesshould utilise the forum of Inter-State Council more effectively.This will be in tune with the spir-it of cooperative federalism,requiring proper understandingand mutual confidence and res-olution of problems of commoninterest expeditiously.”
Yet another Constitutionalreview took place in 2007, whereJustice MM Punchhi, formerChief Justice of India (CJI),expressed that “federalism is a liv-
ing faith to manage diversitiesand it needs to be supported byinstitutional mechanisms to facil-itate co-operation and co-ordina-tion among the units andbetween the units and the Union.Co-operative federalism is easi-ly endorsed but difficult to prac-tice without adequate means ofconsultation at all levels ofGovernment.” The Inter-StateCouncil was seen as an extreme-ly useful mechanism for consen-sus-building and voluntary set-tlement of disputes, in case giventhe autonomy required for func-tioning as a Constitutional body,independent of the Union andthe States.
According to ourConstitution, the administrativerelations between the Centreand the States are to be governedas per the provisions of Articles256 and 257. The provisions ofArticle 257 (1) are quite explicitas it is stated that the executivepower of every State shall be soexercised as not to impede orprejudice the exercise of theexecutive power of the Union,and the executive power of theUnion shall extend to the givingof such directions to a State asmay appear to the Governmentof India to be necessary for thepurpose. A similar provisionexists in Article 256 for imple-mentation by States of the lawsframed by the Parliament.
Several States had raisedobjections to the powers exercis-able by the Centre under Articles256 and 257 on grounds that theynot only diluted the autonomy ofStates but were also not in the
interest of a healthy federalarrangement. In this context,the Commission was of the con-sidered view that there was nocase for amendment of these pro-visions. While at the same time,it must be clarified that “favour-ing the retention of these provi-sions is entirely different fromadvocating easy or quick resortto them. Articles 256 and 257may be viewed as a safety valve,one which may never come intoplay but which is neverthelessrequired to be retained.”
On the subject of Centre-State relations, it would be use-ful to recall the eminent juristJustice (retd) VR Krishna Iyer,who elaborated, “The purpose isnot to weaken the Centre nor toexaggerate the autonomy of theStates, nor to usurp powers right-fully lodged elsewhere. Indiacan be strong only if the Unionis strong and it can be strong onlyif the units are equally strong andoperate on a common wave-length in matters fundamental tothe governance of the country.”
The very rationale of havinga Constitutional body like theInter-State Council has been tohave an extremely wide perspec-tive, which would be all encom-passing, besides having an inte-grated approach towards build-ing a consensus on policies ofnational importance. In the pre-sent context, we may have lost anopportunity but it may still notbe too late.
(The writer is a formerGovernor and a Senior Advisor atthe Pranab MukherjeeFoundation)
Sir — The fires that have engulfedstretches of the eastern and south-ern coast of Australia raise widerissues of climate change, globalwarming and the rising levels ofcarbon dioxide and other green-house gases. The fires have causedwidespread destruction, great lossof lives and death of millions ofanimals. It is evident that globalwarming and toxic emissionshave driven Australia to its worstenvironmental catastrophe.
As a matter of fact, manycountries face the consequencesof global warming and climatechange. But world leaders refuseto acknowledge the truth.Australian Prime Minister ScottMorrison, too, has firmly said thatthere is no link between thebushfires and greenhouse gases.World leaders continue to bedivided over how to fight globalwarming. There is an urgentneed for sustained and jointefforts by world leaders, especial-ly those from advancedeconomies, to curb greenhousegas emissions and lessen theimpact of global warming.
Venu GSKollam
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Sir — The dream of formerPresident APJ Abdul Kalam thatIndia should become a super-power by 2020 stands shatterednow due to the wrong policies of
the ruling dispensation likedemonetisation, the haphazardmanner of implementing theGoods and Services Tax (GST)and the mounting non-perform-ing assets (NPAs) in public sec-tor banks. All of these measureshave resulted in an unprecedent-
ed economic slowdown. Added to this, the agrarian
distress, steep downward trendin industrial and manufacturingsectors and severe unemploy-ment have foisted a crisis uponus. The downslide in the GrossDomestic Product (GDP) and
the spike in inflation have left the country in chaos andconfusion.
The Government’s policieslike the Citizenship AmendmentAct (CAA) and the NationalRegister of Citizens (NRC) havecaused national unrest andprotests by the people from allwalks of life. Dividing the coun-try in the name of religion, bla-tantly violating theConstitutional provisions andtearing the democratic and sec-ular fabric of the nation won’t help the Government saveitself either.
Tharcius S FernandoChennai
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Sir — While people are alreadyreeling under steep petrol anddiesel prices, the latest hike,which has been in effect sinceJanuary 1, by around �20/cylin-der for non-subsidised domes-tic LPG users, is bound to addmore fuel to the fire.
For four days, starting from December 19,2019, Uttar Pradesh (UP) burnt. It all start-ed from Lucknow — the city of tehzeeb (cul-
ture) — where nazakat (delicacy) and nafassat(purity) were torn to shreds as old-timers said thatthey had not witnessed a pogrom and police atroc-ities of such magnitude for the last many decadesas they did during the anti-CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA) protests. People werebeaten up. Innocents were arrested as rioters andsent to jail . The cries and plea of mothers, wives,fathers and children were trampled under the policejackboot on the pretext of maintaining law andorder. Police claim that 19 people lost their livesbut social activists put the number to over 24. Theysay many people are missing. Their relatives do notknow where they are. Had they been arrested andsent to jail or were they killed during the crack-down on protests that spread across the State?
The basic question of this pogrom is — whoorchestrated it? One thing is sure that those whotook part in these protests do not know the tenetsof the CAA. Then, why did this happen? Who ben-efitted from the large-scale destruction? Despitesuch large-scale preparation, that included theimposition of Section 144 and appeals issued byChief Minister Yogi Adityanath and DirectorGeneral of UP Police OP Singh, how were the pro-testers able to reach Parivartan Chowk? Was it anIntelligence failure or a purposeful BJP design toderive political mileage from the emanating dis-cordant notes of the CAA in which officialmachinery played a conduit to political design?
The protest call was given by some socialorganisations, members of civil society and theSamajwadi Party (SP) on December 19. The WinterSession of the UP Legislative Assembly was on.That day, a supplementary grant was to be takenup in the Vidhan Sabha. The SP had announcedthat its units would stage protests across the State.In Lucknow, the SP and other organisations hadannounced that protests would be held atParivartan Chowk — the heart of Lucknow. Theadministration was ready, as Section 144 was pro-mulgated and any gathering was declared unlaw-ful. DGP Singh went on record saying that all theprotests had been “declared illegal”. Then how didthe rioters, armed with stones and sticks, reachParivartan Chowk and the vicinity of Hazratganj?Why did the police not stop them near oldLucknow? Were the policemen not competentenough to handle the high-tension situation? Asthe police force in UP is facing a staff crunch, therecruits were asked to join duties after six monthsof training instead of the mandatory nine months.Did their inexperience add fuel to fire?
On the other hand, the way the riotersattacked the OB vans of different television newschannels and cars and two-wheelers of journalists,shows that they came with a plan. Protesters arebound to get bad Press if they attack the media andthis is exactly what happened. So who stands tobenefit from this design?
The videos of the protests emerging after theriots are disturbing. In many videos, youths andmembers of the minority community were seenthrowing stones at the police. In one of the videograbs from Meerut, a youth was seen firing fromhis revolver. Even more disturbingly, in many ofthe shots policemen are seen damaging publicproperty and vehicles. In one of the videos, a fewpeople coming out of a car sporting BJP stickersare seen asking people to attack private property.
In another video, a senior police officerwas seen asking some Muslim youths togo to Pakistan. The police say that thesemen were shouting anti-India and pro-Pakistan slogans which prompted thepolice officer to curtly tell them to go toPakistan.
Amid this bloodshed and incon-solable wails of mothers and wives, thetrust between the Hindus and theMuslims became the first casualty. TheGanga–Jamuni tehzeeb, the fulcrum ofAwadh’s intrinsic culture, was thrown tothe wind. Instead, mistrust and appre-hension have slowly vitiated the mindsof the Hindus and Muslims alike.
Muzaffarnagar, known as the sugarbowl of UP, which was once ripped apartby one of the worst communal riots in2013 and had seen a thaw in relationsbetween two communities in the last sixyears, again witnessed seeds of distrustbeing sown in the community in thename of CAA.
Amid this massacre and destruction,politics has emerged as the clear winner.Parties of all hues are out on the streetstrying to take advantage of the situation.Every word spoken by the leaders wasused as an opportunity to garner polit-ical support.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’sstatement that his Government wouldtake “revenge” from those involved in theCAA violence was made keeping theHindu voters in mind and used by theOpposition to hammer him.
The Chief Minister, in his statement,said that those people found involved inthe riots would be asked to pay for thedamage caused to public assets and theproperty of those who failed to makegood the damage would be auctioned tocompensate for the losses. Twitter trolledYogi Adityanath for his “revenge” com-
ment. One user wrote, “The Govt willtake revenge??? Govt is supposed to pun-ish the guilty as per law, not takerevenge.”
“Badla (revenge)” became a politi-cal buzzword. From the Congress nation-al general secretary Priyanka GandhiVadra to SP national president AkhileshYadav and from national presidentBahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Mayawati toRashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader JayantChaudhary, all derided Yogi Adityanathfor calling for “badla.” Every policeaction against the rioters was linked tothe CM’s “badla” statement. When thedistrict administration of Muzaffarnagarsealed 67 shops following the anti-CAAprotests the Opposition leaders called it“badla.” When police raided the housesof people of a particular community andarrested social activists, claiming that theyhad pelted stones at the police in whichover 200 cops were injured, theOpposition again called it vendetta.
The Opposition highlighted cases ofan unarmed Sadaf Jafar, a woman socialactivist who was arrested for allegedlyinciting people against the CAA fromParivartan Chowk. This despite a videoshowing that she was pleading with thepolicemen to arrest hooligans who werepelting stones.
Then there is Farooq Rahmani, aknown Muslim face in Rampur and theoffice-bearer of Ittehad NaujawanCommittee, who was arrested andcharged with IPC Section 147 (rioting)and 307 (Attempt to murder) when hewas trying to placate some Muslim youthin Gher Mohalla in the Old City area.
Ishtiaq Ahmad Khan, 28, was arrest-ed and charged with rioting when he wasreturning home after purchasing medi-cines for his ailing mother. He showedthe policemen the doctor’s prescription
and the medicines he had purchased asproof that he had gone out to buy themand had got stuck during the riots but hispleas fell on deaf ears. His only fault wasthat he was wearing a skull cap.
Those who were arrested werebooked under different Sections forrioting, unlawful assembly, attempt tomurder, wrongful constraints, criminalintimidation, criminal assault on publicservant and so on. They were alsobooked for alleged criminal conspiracyand under Public Property DamageAct.
The SP has grabbed this opportuni-ty and Akhilesh Yadav said that if hisGovernment comes to power, it willorder a probe into the violence. He evensuggested action against officials anddeclared that the SP Government woulddrop charges against the rioters.
This statement suits the designs ofthe SP and the BJP alike. The ruling BJPhas always tried to consolidate Hindusin the name of religion. Yadav’s statementgives the BJP that chance and, therefore,the BJP State president Swatantra DevSingh immediately used the opportuni-ty to remind people how the erstwhileSP Government had withdrawn casesagainst terrorists.
Meanwhile, Priyanka Gandhi Vadrasent the police in a tizzy and went to meetfamily members of the activists who werearrested and in turn grabbed headlines.Since December 25, 2019 not a day pass-es when leaders of different politicalshades don’t come out with volatile polit-ical statements to suit their ideology. Forthem, this is the right time to strength-en their political base. Because it is truethat all politicians love a communaldivide.
(The writer is Executive Editor, News,The Pioneer, Lucknow)
The recent uproar over thefelling of trees in Mumbai’sAarey Colony area for setting
up a metro car shed highlighted howIndia is taking the urban greencanopy for granted. It was only dueto the timely intervention of citizensthat 2,500 trees escaped the axe. Butsadly, by the time the SupremeCourt (SC) intervened and put onhold any further deforestation, near-ly 1,500 trees had already been cutand cleared. The fact that even theBombay High Court refused to con-sider Aarey Colony as an urban for-est reserve is not only distressing butalso worrying as it may set a bad
precedent. According to the UnitedNation’s (UN’s) urban forestry esti-mates, trees have excellent pollutioncombatting capabilities. A balancedconcrete to tree cover ratio has theability to bring down ambient urbantemperatures by two to eight degreeCelsius. A healthy urban tree covercan also reduce air-conditioning useby 30 per cent and bring down heat-ing energy requirement by 20-50 percent. A healthy, mature tree, forinstance, has the innate capacity toabsorb 150 kg of carbon dioxide andalso filter harmful airborne pollutantsincluding some fine particulate mat-ter. Trees reduce cortisol levels intheir immediate neighbourhood,thereby bringing down average stresslevels. If given a fair chance, trees canreally turn the tables on rising pol-lution levels. This is the reason whyurban areas with green cover are bet-ter poised to deal with pollution lev-els as compared to industrial areasthat have a high density of construc-tion and a poor green cover.
Given the pollution fighting
attributes of trees, it is advisable forcities to have at least 40 per centgreen cover. This not only helpsreduce pollution but also improvesthe quality of life. According to astudy by the University of Illinois,people residing in high-density greenareas have higher tolerance levels andlow levels of fatigue.
Given what trees can do to fightpollution and improve human andanimal health, it is shocking that inIndia we still cut them down in largenumbers.
Tree felling to make way for largedevelopment projects and housing orcommercial projects is a countrywidephenomena and in the nationalCapital alone, new Governmentcomplexes and residential projectsare poised to take a toll on 14,000-16,000 mature trees.
This reflects the regressive men-tality of all stakeholders and thatincludes even the most respectedinstitutions as well as individuals ofour nation. This needs to change byhighlighting and creating awareness
about the direct benefits trees bringto this world and all life on the plan-et. The authorities need to under-stand that erasing nature for urbandevelopment is an outdated approachand given the harmful impacts of cli-mate change, it is also a very danger-ous thing to do. The puzzling aspectof this is how the authorities are com-pletely unwilling and oblivious to thelatent possibilities of urban develop-ment that is in harmony with nature.There are many examples across theworld where trees and heavy greencanopy have been actively integrat-ed into urban planning and madeeven better by including water bod-ies. This improves the livability quo-tient of the cities to unprecedentedlevels.
Worldwide there are 422 trees toa person, whereas India only has 28trees per person. This disparity withour global counterparts is not onlyadversely impacting our lifeexpectancy and quality of life but alsoresulting in the ambient temperaturesclimbing steadily. Problems like the
ever-dwindling green cover, risingpopulation, pollution and notenough new trees being planned andplanted, besiege today’s environ-ment. The cumulative impact of thisis also increasing the disease burdenof the urban citizen. TheGovernment must take note of therising health disorders arising out ofpollution and related causes and takeimmediate measures to remedy thesame. Increasing the urban greencover is one of them.
Planting of saplings in exchangefor cutting down full-grown treesseems to be the newest way of cut-ting down trees in large numbers andgetting away with it. Many institu-tions and individuals claim thatdouble the saplings have been plant-ed for the actual number of trees cut,but seldom does anyone specifyhow many saplings actually lived andwhether those that had died werereplaced immediately with freshones. Also, in order to be able tocombat pollution effectively, a treehas to be mature (at least 10-years-
old) and saplings cannot do the workof cleaning the air the way a maturetree can. These shortcuts mean thatthe country is losing its tree cover fastand is unable to replenish it in aneffective manner. Moreover, as thesesaplings take 10 years to properlygrow up and start helping to containpollution, this means that we have toendure the absence of trees for at leasta decade after trees are cut and thenew saplings grow up. This gap isunacceptable and not in the bestinterests of both man and nature.
Large-scale tree felling is startingto resemble a genocide. Greedy manmay not sit peacefully till he has har-nessed all natural resources for him-self. Can India avoid this genocide?That depends entirely on who is wit-nessing and appreciating the contri-butions of these silent warriors. It ishigh time that the common mantook up the fight for their survival,as our own future is closely linked tothem.
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Friday
clarified that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has assuredhim the Centre would consider the State’s demands formore funds for developmentand called him a “great visionary.”
He said the Prime Ministerspoke to him personallyassuring him of all help andsuggested that he come to NewDelhi and meet the unionMinisters concerned on thematter.
The clarification came aday after Yediyurappa soughtthe Centres help while address-ing the 'Krishi Karman' awardsevent in Tumakuru, whichModi attended.
In a statement the ChiefMinister said a section of themedia had attached a motive to
his speech, “which was plainand honest in its content.”
Being in a federal set up,there was nothing wrong inplacing the facts before thePrime Minister and makingsubmissions, he said.
He said that as ChiefMinister, he placed the state'sproblems and need of morefunds for development beforeModi.
Yediyurappa said he hadurged the Prime Minister togrant more funds for reliefwork, scientific and remuner-ative price for farm produce,and special fund of � 50,000crore for speeding up of on-going irrigation works.
As it was a farmers meet, Ifelt it worthy and timely toplead with the Prime Ministerfor more funds for all thedevelopmental activities in thestate,” he added.
Jammu : The Congress in Jammu &Kashmir on Friday reiterated its demandof full Statehood with adequate legal andconstitutional safeguards for the protec-tion of the rights of locals in Governmentland and jobs. On the Centre mullingincorporating certain provisions to pro-tect the rights of the locals in Governmentjobs and land, it said the Governmentshould explain as why it first totally nullified all these protection.
“It seems the BJP Government actsfirst and thinks later, as is evident fromtheir present stand on these issues,” a partyspokesperson said.
We seek restoration of full statehoodwith adequate legal and constitutional safe-guards for the protection of the rights oflocals, he said. According to a HomeMinistry official, the Centre is examiningthe option of introducing mandatoryrequirement of 15-year residency inGovernment jobs, ownership of land, seatsin professional and college education inJammu & Kashmir to allay apprehensionsof locals. PTI
Mumbai: A 23-year-old man wasarrested for allegedly molesting a girlin suburban Pantnagar, the citypolice said on Friday.
The incident took place onThursday evening when the girl, whois 12 years old, was returning homefrom a market, a police official said.
Accused Salim Babu Shaikh,who lives in the same locality, accost-ed her and took her to an isolatedplace where he allegedly showed hera porn clip and molested her.
The girl told her parents aboutthe incident, following which theyfiled a police complaint, the officialsaid.
A case under IPC sections 363(kidnapping), 354 (molestation) and506 (criminal intimidation) along-with the Protection of Childrenfrom Sexual Offences Act was reg-istered against Shaikh and he wasarrested. PTI
Lucknow: Amid a politicalstorm over infant deaths inRajasthan’s Kota, SamajwadiParty president Akhilesh Yadavon Friday alleged that over athousand children have died inthe last 12 months inGorakhpur and asked the UPGovernment as to who wasresponsible for it.
Training his guns on theUP Chief Minister, Yadav said,“Yogi Adityanath is worriedabout Kota deaths. When willhe be worried about theGorakhpur deaths”.
Yadav told a Press confer-ence here that the ailing chil-dren in Gorakhpur were suf-fering from encephalitis butwere administered differentmedicines so that the truth did
not come out that they weredying of encephalitis.
“Why wrong medicineswere administered? Who isanswerable? I will soon releasea list of the dead children,” hesaid.
Hours later, Deputy ChiefMinister Dinesh Sharma con-tested his claim. “He (Akhilesh)needs to furnish evidence withthe list and not level baselessallegations,” Sharma said at apress conference.
The Chief Minister had onThursday targeted theCongress over infant deaths inKota, saying party leaderPriyanka Gandhi should havegone there to console the chil-dren's mothers instead of “play-ing politics” in UP. PTI
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Hailed as a pioneer in women'seducation, Savitribai Phule
and her husband, social reformerJyotirao Phule started what isbelieved to be India’s first schoolfor girls here 171 years ago.
Prime Minister NarendraModi was among those who paidtributes to this remarkable womanon her birth anniversary on Friday.
Born on January 3, 1831, atNaigaon in Satara district ofMaharashtra, Savitribai marriedJyotirao at the age of nine, andmoved to Pune with him.
Her husband, fired by modernideas and a reformist zeal, taughther to read and write. Savitribaitook a teachers' training courseand became a qualified teacher in1847. The couple then started aschool for girls in Bhidewada inPune city in 1848, and she becameits first teacher.
The couple had to face tremen-
dous harassment from conserva-tive elements who found the ideaof women' education repugnant.
They faced ostracism; it is saidthat Savitribai carried a sparesaree with her because peoplesometimes threw stones and dungat her as walked to the school.
Actor Renuka Shahanereferred to this in her tweet onFriday.”Savitribai Phule carriedan extra saree because trolls of thattime would pelt her with dung &stones for breaking caste & genderbarriers to get educated & to edu-cate the marginalised. Her resis-tance paved the way for the edu-cation we take for granted today,”Shahane said.
Savitribai and her husbandwere instrumental in setting up`Satyashodhak Samaj' (Society ofTruth-seekers), which champi-oned progressive ideas, denouncedthe dowry custom and encouragedmarriage without exchange ofdowry.
Thiruvananthapuram: The KeralaGovernment on Friday termed as“politically motivated”, the Centrerejecting the State’s proposed themefor the tableau for the Republic Dayparade for the second consecutiveyear.
State Cultural Minister AKBalan said the Defence Ministryrejected the State’s theme in thethird screening and he failed tounderstand why the centre has a“hatred” towards the State.
“We had proposed a beautifultheme in the background of back-waters. We don’t understand whythe centre has a hatred towards allthese.
The Centre gets into a frenzywhen it hears Kerala or Malayali.There was no politics in that tableau.This was rejected in the thirdscreening it seems. This is not pos-sible without a political interven-tion,” Balan said.
He asked why the State can'tshowcase backwaters or Kathakalior boats or anything that represents
Kerala.“Are they (BJP) expecting to
improve their vote share in the statethrough these moves?,” Balan asked.
He also said that the centre hadeven rejected the recommenda-tions for Padma awards fromKerala.
“Barring a few,they have reject-ed all the names,”he said. The statehad proposed a theme of art andarchitecture of the State with aKoothambalam, a model of thestate's architecture, along with per-forming arts, including Kathakali,Kalaripayatt, Mohiniyattom,Theyyam and Chenda.
The front portion of the pro-posed theme has elephant, the offi-cial animal of the State and coconuttrees and others.
Jayaprabha Menon, a jurymember told mediapersons thatthere was nothing fresh in thetableau.
“We have always seen the boatrace, pulikali and others manytimes.
There was nothing new in thisyear's theme. There was no politicsin a committee of artists, whodecide the themes for the parade,”Menon told a television channel.
Last year also, the State's pro-posed 'Vaikom Satyagraha' themewas rejected by the centre for theRepublic Day parade.
The historic Vaikom Satyagrahain Travancore was against untouch-ability that prevailed in Hindu soci-ety.
The movement was centred atthe Shiva temple at Vaikom, nearKottayam during 1924-25.
Apart from Kerala, the Centrehas also rejected the proposals ofWest Bengal and Maharashtra,prompting the TMC, Shiv Sena andthe NCP to attack the Centre.
Twenty-two proposals, 16 fromstates and union territories and sixfrom central ministries — out of atotal 56 have been short-listed forthis Republic Day parade, theDefence Ministry had said onJanuary 1. PTI
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Former Chief MinisterSiddaramaia on Friday
accused Prime MinisterNarendra Modi of betray-ing Karnataka in a “bigway” by not announcingany flood relief for theState during his two dayvisit, despite the mandategiven to him by the peo-ple during the Lok Sbha polls.
There was expectationfrom the people that Modiwould announce something tothe effect, but he 'did not uttera word on it,”
He recalled that duringthe previous election, Modi hadsaid that if BJP comes to powerat both at State and the centre,the doors of good fortune willopen for Karnataka.
“Forget about opening thedoors of good fortune, he didnot even open the doors of hishouse to the leaders of his own
party, Siddaramaiah said.Speaking to reporters here,
he pointed out that the peopleof Karnataka had elected 25BJP MPs during the Lok Sabhapolls.
“With 25 MPs and withtheir own Chief Minister, all wegot was �� 1,200 crore (floodrelief).
Thats why I callYediyurappa a weak CM...Heshould have demanded forabout ��36,000 crore estimat-ed from centre and for decla-ration of floods as national dis-
aster, but he didnt havethe courage, he said.
Modi had begun histwo-day visit to Karnatakaon Thursday, which heended after attending var-ious programmes at bothTumakuru andBengaluru. Noting thatModi should have at leastgiven an assurance toexamine the States
demand of adequate floodrelief, Siddaramaiah said thePrime Minister had notresponded to it despiteYediyurappa raising the issue,which showed his “neglect”towards Karnataka.
“...People of the state votedfor Modi, but today Modi hasbetrayed Karnataka in a bigway, he said. As many as 103taluks in 22 districts ofKarnataka were affected due tounprecedented f loods inAugust, in which over 80 peo-ple were killed.
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BSP supremo Mayawati onFriday demanded that
Rajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot be sacked in thewake of death of over 100infants in a Government-runhospital in Kota.
The former UP ChiefMinister charged that Gehlotwas making political state-ments that were irresponsibleand unsympathetic.
“This is highly shameful,”Mayawati said in a tweet.She demanded that Gehlot bedismissed and replaced by anew dispensation otherwise
more women will losetheir children.
At least 100 infantshave died at aGovernment-run hospitalin Kota in the pastmonth.
Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanathand the BSP chief had onThursday targeted theCongress over infantdeaths, suggesting thatparty leader Priyanka Gandhi shouldhave gone there to con-sole the children's moth-ers instead of “playingpolitics” in UP.
Thane: A 27-year-oldman was arrested onFriday for allegedly rap-ing his three-year-oldrelative in theKasarwadavali area ofMaharashtra's Thanecity, police said.
The accused SubashDubey is unemployed andlived with the victim's fam-ily at Turbhe pada, an offi-cial said.
Dubey would sexuallyabuse the girl in the absenceof her parents, he said,adding that unable to bearthe pain, the victim com-plained to her mother onThursday.
The family lodged acomplaint with the policelate on Thursday night, fol-
lowing which the accusedwas arrested, the officialadded.
The accused has beencharged with section 376(rape) of the Indian PenalCode and relevant sectionsof the Protection of Childrenfrom Sexual Offences(POCSO) Act, he said.
Further investigationswill be carried out after thevictim's medical examina-tion, he said. PTI
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Khadi and Village IndustriesCommission (KVIC) has
opened its first Silk processingplant in Gujarat to boost pro-duction of signature PatolaSaree, while creating liveli-hoods for women.
Patola, the trademark Sareeof Gujarat, is priced very highand is out of reach of commonwomen. The raw material ispurchased from Karnataka orWest Bengal, where silk processing units are situated.This increases the cost of thefabric manifolds.
In a major initiative, theKVIC unveiled its first SilkProcessing Plant atSurendranagar, which wouldhelp cut down the cost of pro-duction of silk yarn drastical-ly and increase the sale andavailability of raw material forGujarati Patola Sarees locally.
The plant has been set upby a khadi institution at a costof � 75 lakh in which KVIC hascontributed � 60 lakh. Theunit has employed 90 localwomen, 70 of which belong tothe Muslim community.
Chairman of KVIC VKSaxena said, “Promoting theIndian Crafts and Culture hasbeen the top most priority ofKVIC since its inception. Therecould have been no better wayto start the new year, than byinaugurating a one of a kindplant, where cocoons will bebrought from Karnataka andWest Bengal and Silk yarn willbe processed in house, thusreducing the cost of productionand giving a major boost to the
sale of famous Gujarati PatolaSarees — one of the most emi-nent symbol of IndianCraftsmanship.
Khadi is the spirit ofIndianness, the fabric of trans-formation. This is the trans-formation that Khadi seeks,and it is just the beginning.”
Surendranagar district is abackward district in Gujaratwhere KVIC has invested � 60Lakhs to build the SilkProcessing Plant, in order togenerate livelihood and boostsales of Patola Sarees by mak-ing silk more ready available ata low cost, for the Patola Sareemanufacturers in the nearbyarea.
Traditionally, every regionin India has had its own uniqueweave for the Silk Saree. It isquite notable that Patola SilkSaree is amongst the top fivesilk weaves which are desiredin every Indian Saree Lover'swardrobe.
Kolkata: A verbal spat has erupted betweenUnion Minister Babul Supriyo and a Muslimcollege student in which he has threatenedon social media to pack off the youth to “hisown country” for his post seeking to knowthe BJP MP’s “education level”.
The student, Mustafizur Rahman said onFriday that he wanted nothing but an“unconditional apology” in public from theBJP leader.
The Union Minister returned the fire byaccusing Rahman of being a “serial offend-er” and saying that he “does not need to apologise to fools”. Supriyo also said that hiscomments had nothing to do with the student's religion. The matter came to lighton December 26 when Supriyo shared a poston the social media advocating CAA andcriticised the act of a female JU student, whotore up the first page of the contentious leg-islation at the annual convocation of the uni-versity while receiving her gold medal onDecember 24.
The next day Rahman commented on
Supriyo's Facebook post and questioned theeducational qualifications of Supriyo and BJPstate president Dilip Ghosh.
“Babul-da (dada) how educated arepeople like you can be gauged from the factthat your mentor (state president) DilipGhosh spots gold in cow milk,” Rahman saidin his comment on Supriyo's post.
To this Supriyo retored “MustafizurRahaman let me first pack you off to yourcountry, then will send the reply in postcard”. The comment triggered a wave ofprotests. Rahman, who is a final year studentof chemistry at a college at Ilambazar inBirbhum district, in a prompt rejoinder said,“I am in possession of enough proof aboutmy identity as Indian and Bengali. You don'tknow how to respect Bengalis and still youare the MP of the state..... Are you drinkingcow urine regularly?” The youth has receivedthe support from a number of netizens andorganisations like 'Jatiya Bangla Sammelan'after screenshots of the comments went viralon social media since December 27. PTI
Lucknow: The Samajwadi Partyon Friday promised pension foranti-CAA protesters if voted topower, drawing a sharp reactionfrom the ruling BJP which said itwas in the “DNA of that party tohonour rioters and anti-social ele-ments”.
Leader of the Opposition inthe UP Legislative Assembly,Ram Goving Chaudhary, saidtheir party would also give com-pensation to the kin of thosejailed or killed during anti-CAAprotests in the State.
“If our party comes to powerat the Centre and in UP, they(protesters) will be given pensionas they have struggled to save theConstitution and the democracy,”said Chaudhary responding to a
question.He said they protect all those
who seek refuge from them. “Johumari sharan mein aa gaye wohhumari sharan mein hain. Humsabki raksha karney wale loghain,” the senior SP leader toldmediapersons here.
Referring to remarks of stateBJP president Swatantra DevSingh that SP chief AkhileshYadav should stay in Pakistan fora month to understand atrocitiesbeing on Hindus, the senior SPleader said the Narendra Modi-led Union government was out todivert people's attention from realissues.
Anyone raising a question isbeing asked to go to Pakistan, healleged. Later, Deputy Chief
Minister Dinesh Sharma lashedout at the Samjawadi Party, say-ing, “It is in the DNA of that partyto honour the rioters and anti-socials.” “They had also tried towithdraw cases against terroristsin the past and the court had tointervene. It is unfortunate thatSP leaders are speaking about giv-ing citizenship rights to theBangladeshis and Rohangiyas,”Sharma alleged.
Commenting on SP chiefAkhilesh Yadav's statement thathe would not fill form for theNational Population Register, theUP deputy CM said,” Perhaps, heis not aware that the NPR is thebasis of all development schemes.He is conspiring to deprive peo-ple of welfare schemes.” PTI
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CPI(M) general secretarySitaram Yechury on Friday
accused the BJP of indulging in “dirty”politics with an intent to con-solidate “Hindutva vote-bank”.
The package of National
Population Register, proposedcountrywide NRC and theamended Citizenship Act hasbeen brought by the saffronparty to create a rift between Hindus and Muslims,leading to tension, an atmos-phere of fear and violence topolarise the nation commu-nally, he claimed.
Jodhpur: Rajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot on Friday targeted theBJP, saying it should shun arroganceand go for a rethink on the amended citizenship act.
He also slammed Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, asking why such asituation has emerged that they hadto clarify to the public about the leg-islation.
His remarks has came on a daywhen Union Home Minister AmitShah is holding a rally in support ofthe Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA) in Jodhpur.
“When the whole country isopposing it, then the BJP-led Centreshould leave behind its arrogance andrethink,” Gehlot said, alleging that thesaffron party was still “adamant” onimplementing the Act despiteOpposition from nine states.
Welcoming Union HomeMinister Amit Shah to his home dis-trict for the rally, the CM said, “PMModi used to give 'Mann ki Baat'speech and people used to listen.Now, why such a situation has devel-oped that he has to give clarificationregarding the CitizenshipAmendment Act, NPR and the NRC.”
“He is sending people all over thecountry, all leaders to go and explainto the public. Why such a situationhas developed. I want to ask,” headded. The chief minister said thesituation was so serious that peoplefrom all over the country were on thestreets.”They have come on thestreets; the new generation has comeon the streets. The youth of the coun-try are worried about theirfuture. PTI
Mumbai: Union MinisterPiyush Goyal on Fridayaccused the Opposition partiesof instigating youngsters on theCitizenship (Amendment) Act(CAA) and triggering violenceby spreading “wrong percep-tion” about the new law.
He alleged that theCongress has become “direc-tionless” and in its bid toremain relevant, it was tryingto spread rumours and sparkviolence. The Railway Ministerwas speaking at IMC Centre atChurchgate in south Mumbaiwhile launching BJP's 10-day-long campaign aimed at mobil-ising support for the CAA.
“Ever since the CitizenAmendment Act was passed inthe Parliament, they (opposi-tion) started spreading wrongperception (about it) in thecountry. They tried to instigateyoungsters and spread vio-lence at different places,” Goyalsaid.
“I believe the Congress has
become a directionless party. Iwould like to appeal to theCongress that it should notspread rumours and violence.It should give priority to theinterest of the country andpeople, and keep humanity attop,” he said.
Goyal alleged that in orderto protect its own politicalinterests, the Congress wasmisleading a specific class ofpeople and trying to spread fearand instability in the countryover the CAA.
“Congress has slowly lost itssupremacy in every state and itis forming Governments inmany states as junior part-ners,” he said, adding that inMaharashtra the party wonjust 44 seats despite contestingon 140-150 seats. Without nam-ing BJP's former ally Shiv Sena,Goyal took a dig at it for its dif-ferent stands in the Lok Sabhaand the Rajya Sabha during thepassage of the CitizenshipAmendment Bill (CAB). PTI
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In a blistering attack onNarendra Modi for “fre-
quently invoking Pakistan as adiversionary tactic from majorissues of unemployment, pricerise and people’s rights”Mamata Banerjee on Fridaysaid the Prime Minister wasconducting himself as thoughhe was an “ambassador ofPakistan.”
Launching her first citi-zenship rally in North Bengalcity of Siliguri the ChiefMinister told a massive turnoutof humanity how “India wantsto listen about Hindustan andnot Pakistan.”
She said “we are Indian cit-izens and we do not want to lis-ten about Pakistan which is asmall country of only 22 crorepeople… Whenever the peopleof India raise questions aboutunemployment, inflation andhunger you start talking aboutPakistan. By doing so you onlyglorify an insignificant country… I want to ask you: Are youthe Prime Minister of India orthe Ambassador of Pakistan?
Why do you always glorify thatcountry?
“We don’t want to listenabout Pakistan. Tell us aboutHindustan,” Banerjee thun-dered from the head of an“unexpectedly big” rally —considering the fact that theTrinamool Congress had in theApril-May parliamentary elec-tions conceded 7 out of 8 LokSabha seats to the BJP from thispart of the State.
Going all guns blazing theChief Minister targeted boththe Prime Minister and HomeMinister Amit Shah for “mak-ing contradictory statements”on the amended citizenshiplaws saying “who is to bebelieved when one person saysNational Citizenship Registerwas never discussed in theGovernment level while theother says NRC will definitelybe invoked.”
She said “it is a shame thateven after 70 years ofIndependence, we have toprove our citizenship,” adding“till she was at the helm “I willnot allow anyone to take awaythe rights of the Indian peo-
ple… There will be no CAA, noNRC, no NPR in Bengal.”
The Prime Minister hadearlier attacked the oppositionparties for protesting againstthe Citizenship AmendmentAct but not raising their voic-es against Pakistan which was
formed on the basis of religionand where the minorities likethe Hindus were subjecteduntold persecution so that“they are forced to migrate toIndia.”
Giving a sharp reply theChief Minister wanted to know
whether Modi had forgottenabout India. “Have you (PrimeMinister) forgotten about
India that you need to talkabout Pakistan regularly? Weare a big country with a richcultural heritage. We do wehave to be compared with
Pakistan so regularly?”Banerjee asked.
Asking all the parties tocome together to protestagainst CAA-NRC Banerjeesaid “today if you do not comeout in protest, then these peo-ple will destroy Hindustan,will destroy Azadi (freedom).Our religion is to protect ourAzadi, our tradition,” appealingto the Opposition parties toconsider the present move-ment as “our second fight forAzadi.”
Meanwhile, the Left Frontleaders on Friday asked theChief Minister to call an all-party meeting on the CAA-NRC issue. CPI(M)’s legislatureparty leader Sujan Chakrabartysaid “we have no problem tojoin an all-party meeting butthe Chief Minister has to callthat at first.”
He was reacting to areported letter from StateOpposition Leader AbdulMannan of the Congress Partyto the Chief Minister suggest-ing an all-party meeting and anall-party movement againstthe CAA-NRC.
Indian equity indices tumbledin tandem with global mar-
kets on Friday after the killingof a top Iranian general by theUS ratcheted up geopoliticaltensions, triggering a flightfrom riskier assets. After drop-ping over 286 points intra-day,the 30-share BSE Sensex ended162.03 points, or 0.39 per cent,lower at 41,464.61.
Similarly, the broader NSENifty closed 55.55 points, or0.45 per cent, down at12,226.65. Global equitiesswooned after top Iranian com-mander Qasem Soleimani waskilled in a US drone strike inIraq, marking a dangerousescalation in Middle East ten-sions. World leaders reacted tothe killing with alarm, even asIran vowed “severe revenge”.
Safe-haven assets like goldand the Japanese yen strength-ened as investors assessed therisk dynamics.
Brent crude futures surged4.4 per cent to $69.16 per bar-rel on supply concerns.
Back home, Asian Paintswas the top loser in the Sensexpack, dropping 2.16 per cent,followed by Axis Bank, BajajAuto, SBI, NTPC and BajajFinance. On the other hand,Sun Pharma, TCS, HCL Tech,Infosys, Tech Mahindra and
Bharti Airtel rose up to 2.08 percent. During the week, theSensex slipped 110.53 points or0.26 per cent, while the Niftylost 19.15 points or 0.15 percent.
“Investors turned cautiousas tensions emerge in theMiddle East. Crude oil pricesrose while strong dollar held ITand pharma stocks higher.With market testing new highs,emergence of geopolitical ten-sions could force people tobook some profits.
“Crude prices could turnvolatile due to risk of possibleretaliation from Iran whichcould impact the performancein the short-term,” said VinodNair, Head of Research, GeojitFinancial Services.
BSE power, auto, bankex,finance, metal, utilities andbasic materials indices skiddedup to 1.20 per cent, while IT,teck and healthcare rose up to1.52 per cent.
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Ratan Tata on Friday filed apetition in the Supreme
Court seeking to quash a com-pany law appellate court orderdirecting Tata Sons to rehire thechairman it had fired in 2016,saying the judgment was“wrong, erroneous and contrary to the record ofthe case”.
His petition is separatefrom the one filed by Tata SonsLtd, the holding company ofthe $110 billion salt-to-softwareconglomerate, in the SupremeCourt on Thursday that soughta stay on the NationalCompany Law AppellateTribunal’s December 18, 2019order to reinstate Cyrus Mistryas the chairman.
Ratan Tata, who is chair-man emeritus and a share-holder of Tata Sons, in the peti-tion said the NCLAT judgmentwas wrong as it treats Tata Sonsas a two-group company.
Mistry, he contended, wasmade the Executive Chairmanof Tata Sons in a purely pro-
fessional capacity and not as arepresentative of the ShapoorjiPallonji Group, which holds18.4 per cent in Tata Sons.
Tata Trusts, of whom RatanTata had been a chairman formany years, holds 65.89 percent of Tata Sons.
The petition said theNCLAT order wrongly suggeststhat “someone from the SPGroup had been a directorbecause of some entrenchedright or convention”.
“This is untrue and con-trary to the records and thearticles of association of TataSons, which are undisputedand binding on the sharehold-ers including the SP Group,” hecontended.
He said Mistry’s leadership“was lacking” in “his reluctanceto timely and meaningfullydisassociate himself from hisfamily business after he becamethe Chairman of Tata Sons andaddress any conflict in thisregard, which was a conditionprecedent to his appointment as Chairman ofTata Sons”.
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The price of oil surged onFriday as global investors
were gripped with uncertaintyover the potential repercussionsafter the United States killedIran’s top general.
News that Gen QassemSoleimani, head of Iran’s eliteQuds Force, was killed in an airattack at the Baghdad interna-tional airport prompted expec-tations of Iranian retaliationagainst US and Israeli targets.
In previous flare-ups intensions with the US, Iran hasthreatened the supply of oil thattravels from the Persian Gulf tothe rest of the world.
About 20 per cent of oiltraded worldwide goes throughthe Strait of Hormuz, where theshipping lane is only 3 kilo-meters (2 miles) wide andtankers have come under attackthis year. The internationalbenchmark for crude oiljumped 4.1 per cent, or $2.70,to $68.95 a barrel in Londontrading.
“Revenge will come, maybenot overnight but it will come
and until then we need toincrease the geopolitical riskpremium,” said Olivier Jakob,head of consultancyPetromatrix, in a note toinvestors.
He noted that Iran’sresponse may not be limited tothe Strait of Hormuz.
In September, Yemen’sIran-backed Houthi rebelslaunched drone attacks on theworld’s largest oil processingfacility in Saudi Arabia.
The strike briefly took outabout half of the supplies fromthe world’s largest oil exporter.
The US directly blamedIran, which denied any involve-ment. Launching attacks thatcan’t be easily linked back toIran limits the chances of directretaliation. But Iran has alsodirectly targeted tankers. Thisyear it seized a British-flaggedtanker, the Stena Impero, forseveral weeks. And it has shotdown a US military drone.
About 80 per cent of thecrude oil that goes through theStrait of Hormuz goes to coun-tries in Asia, including China,Japan, India and South Korea.
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The rupee plunged by 42paise to settle at a one-and-
a-half-month low of 71.80against the US currency onFriday due to a spike in crudeoil prices after US PresidentDonald Trump ordered thekilling of a top Iranian general.
General Soleimani, thehead of Iran’s elite al-Qudsforce and architect of its region-al security apparatus, was killedfollowing a US airstrike atBaghdad’s international air-port on Friday.
The strike also killed thedeputy chief of Iraq’s powerfulHashed al-Shaabi paramilitaryforce.
The Pentagon confirmedthe death of Soleimani, 62, inIraq, saying the strike was car-ried out at the direction ofTrump.
Brent crude surged 4.5 percent to $69.23 per barrel andWTI rose 4.1 per cent to $63.71per barrel after worries over anescalation in tensions.
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The Ministry of CorporateAffairs on Friday told the
company law appellate courtthat it did not commit any ille-gality in granting permission toconvert Tata Sons — the hold-ing company of the $110 billionsalt-to-software conglomerate— into a private company.
The submission was madebefore the National CompanyLaw Appellate Tribunal(NCLAT) during the course ofhearing on a petition filed by
Registrar of Companies (RoC)that seeks modifications in thetribunal’s December 18, 2019judgment reinstating CyrusMistry as the executive chair-man of Tata Sons.
A two-member Bench of theNCLAT headed by ChairmanJustice SJ Mukhopadhaya, whichreserved its order on the RoC’spetition, said it will clarify thatthe December 18 judgementdoes not cast aspersions on theRoC and indicated that its orderis likely to come on Monday nextweek.
Last month, the NCLATset aside the RoC decisionallowing conversion of TataSons into a private company.
During the proceedingson Friday, the Ministry ofCorporate Affairs (MCA) saidit was only discharging its dutyand has not committed anyillegality in the conversion ofTata Sons from a public com-pany to a private company.
Director Prosecution, rep-resenting the MCA, informedthe appellate tribunal that afteramendment in 2015, there is no
such requirement of any min-imum prescribed share capitalfor conversion of companiesfrom public to private ones.
“Nothing has been pre-scribed. There is no require-ment. This has been done forease of doing business,” said theMCA official. The MCA alsosaid that RoC Mumbai was“duty-bound” to change thestatus, over such a request andthere was no hurry from itspart in the conversion of TataSons from a public to a privatecompany.
New Delhi: Niti Aayog andIndian Railways have comeout with a discussion paper forrunning 150 trains on 100routes by private operators,envisaging an investment of�22,500 crore. The discussionpaper titled ‘PrivateParticipation: Passenger Trains’has identified 100 routes,including Mumbai Central-New Delhi, New Delhi- Patna,Allahabad-Pune and Dadar-Vadodara.
Other prominent routesinclude Howrah-Chennai,Howrah Patna, Indore-Okhla,Lucknow-Jammu Tawi,Chennai-Okhla, Anand Vihar-Bhagalpur, Secunderabad-Guwahati and Howrah-AnandVihar. The paper, prepared fordiscussions with stakeholders,has split the 100 routes into 10-12 clusters. As per the paper,the private operator will havethe right to collect market-linked fares and will be pro-vided flexibility of class com-position and halts. The pri-vatisation of train operation,the paper said, will help inintroducing modern technolo-
gy and rolling stocks withreduced maintenance.
Besides, it would provideworld-class service experience topassengers and also help inreducing the supply demanddeficit. The operators could bedomestic or international enti-ties, the paper said. Each bidderwould eligible for award of max-imum three clusters, it added.
The Tejas Express on theLucknow-Delhi route, whichwas flagged off on October 4,is the railways’ first experienceof letting a non-railway oper-ator run a train. The TejasExpress is run by railways’subsidiary IRCTC.
IRCTC has a slew of ben-efits worked out for its passen-gers — combination meals,free insurance of up to Rs 25lakh and compensation in caseof delays. The Railway Boardhad in October last year formedan empowered group of secre-taries, headed by Niti AayogCEO Amitabh Kant, to chalkout the modalities of the bid-ding process and take otherdecisions to fast-track awardingof bids to private players. PTI
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The United Arab Emirateshas extended $200 million
aid to cash-strapped Pakistanfor the development of thesmall and medium-sized enter-prises in the country.
The announcement cameafter Abu Dhabi Crown PrinceSheikh Mohamed bin Zayed AlNahyan concluded his one-day visit to the country onThursday.
Abdul Hafeez Shaikh,Finance Adviser to PrimeMinister Imran Khan, has saidon Thursday that “the moneywill be spent on small businesspromotion and jobs. This sup-port is testimony to theexpanding economic relationsand friendship between ourcountries.”
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Wheat sowing has risen9.28 per cent to 312.8
lakh hectare so far in the ongo-ing rabi (winter) season fromthe year-ago period, thanks tothe good weather.
Sowing of rabi crops beginsin October and harvestingkicks off from March.
As per the agriculture min-istry’s latest data, wheat sowingin this rabi season has not onlyexceeded last year’s level butalso crossed the average normalarea of 305.58 lakh hectare.
Wheat, the main rabi crop,
was sown in 286.23 lakhhectare in the same period lastseason.
Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat,Rajasthan, Maharashtra,Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand,West Bengal and Haryana sawhigher area of sowing, the datashowed.
Better soil moisture helpedfarmers sow wheat in morearea. The crop prospects arebright, a ministry official said.
Besides, pulses acreage roseslightly to 146.24 lakh hectareas on today, when comparedwith 142.22 lakh hectare in theyear-ago period.
Mumbai: India has extended aline of credit of USD 75 million(over Rs 500 crore) to Cuba forfinancing solar parks.
An agreement signedbetween Export-Import Bankof India (Exim Bank) andBanco Exterior De Cuba in Julylast year came into effect fromDecember 12, the RBI said ina statement on Thursday.
Banco Exterior De Cuba isa nominated agency of theGovernment of Cuba.
“Exim Bank has enteredinto an agreement dated July16, 2019 with Banco ExteriorDe Cuba, for making availableto the latter, Government ofIndia supported Line of Credit(LoC) of $75 million for thepurpose of financing installa-tion of 75 MW PhotovoltaicSolar Parks in the Republic ofCuba,” it said. PTI
Wall Street stocks openedsharply lower Friday after
a US strike killed a top Iraniancommander, prompting threatsof reprisal by Tehran. About twominutes into trading, the DowJones Industrial Average stoodat 28,616.27, down 0.9 per cent.
The broad-based S&P 500also shed 0.9 per cent to3,229.22, while the tech-richNasdaq Composite Indexdropped 1.0 per cent to8,999.84. Major indices hadclosed at records on Thursday,but the US attack on QasemSoleimani — and Iran’s threatto avenge his death — shookthe market out of a state of con-tentment that has producednumerous records.
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The faction feud within the All IndiaChess Federation has intensified after
the Federation President PR VenketaramaRaja formed a three-member committeeto oversee the AICF elections inAhmedabad on February 9. AICF secre-tary Bharat Singh Chauhan has accusedRaja of misusing his power and asked himto refrain from taking such arbitraryactions.
In a letter dated January 3, Chauhanhas hit back at Raja, saying, “We are sur-prised and shocked to receive your socalled office order allegedly forming athree member committee to administerthe affairs of the Federation till the elec-tions are conducted on 09/02/2020 atAhmedabad. This is a blatant abuse ofyour office, in no case you have theauthority to take away powers and author-ities of other 14 elected members of AICF.We would also like to bring forward yourconduct in past three months, whereinyou have issued following orders/deci-sions under Article 15 of the byelaws ofthe Federation.”
Chauhan has listed a series of actions,
which he feels, were arbitrary taken byRaja in gross misuse of his power.
Among these are Raja’s decision toappoint an enquiry committee on thecomplaint of Grandmaster DibyenduBarua without consulting the AICF sec-retary. Chauhan has also criticized Rajafor not including him in the committeedespite AICF constitution clearly statingthat the Secretary has to be part of anysuch committee. Chauhan has alsoaccused Raja of unilaterally cancelling theCentral Council meeting called by him onDecember 22. Chauhan has also questionRaja’s decision to serve on him a showcause notice on “flimsy” charges.
“All above orders/decisions have ipsofacto become illegal on their own. It is alsonot out place to mention that many ofyour orders/decisions have already beenrejected by GB (General Body) and CC(Central Council).As per the byelaws, youare required to use these powers inexception and only in emergency, but youstarted misusing the provision for trivial,small and for almost everything. It isexpected from you not to use byelaws foryour ulterior motive. Thus, with this com-munication we would request you to
desist from sending such order/decisionin future,” Chauhan writes.
The AICF is in turmoil mainly overcorruption charges leveled by ArjunaAawardee Dibyendu Barua against WestBengal Chess Association secretary AtanuLahiri. After a three-member committeeof the AICF set up by the FederationPresident and, opposed both by Barua andAICF secretary, gave a clean chit toLahiri, the sports ministry discovered amajor scandal involving Lahiri. Lahiri hadsubmitted a fake utilization certificate ofnational sub junior championship and thesignature of the chartered account wasforged. The CA himself gave this in writ-ing.
In the backdrop of this, the AICF helda special/urgent meeting of office bear-ers and state associations in Bhopal onDecember 28 in the presence of sportsministry observers.
After the meeting, AICF treasurerKishor Bandrekar issued a press releasealleging that Federation Secretary BharatSingh Chauhan snatched mikes andspoke on issues outside the agenda andwas lustily cheered by his “rowdy” sup-porters.
Bandrekar claimed that the AICFPresident didn’t allow Chauhan to discussany other item and concluded the meet-ing after the West Bengal issue was takenup. Bandrekar claimed that Lahiri accusedBarua and Chauhan of leveling frivolouscharges against him and revealed that hehad filed criminal defamation case againstthem.
On January 2, AICF joint secretaryNaresh Sharma, who is also general sec-retary of the Haryana Chess Association,slammed the Federation Treasurer KishorBandrekar, who belongs to the Raja fac-tion, accusing him of misrepresentingthe outcome of the above meeting.
Sharma said the statement issued byBandrekar is misleading and far from thetruth. He said the President did not objectto the proceedings in any manner what-soever. “The Hon Secretary briefed themembers present and the snatching of themike as alleged by the treasurer did nothappen at all. The President only left afterall the points were discussed by the mem-bers present,” Sharma said.
Sharma claimed that only VicePresident DV Sundar tried to suppress thedemocratic open discussion of the con-stituent members and their representa-tives, by exclaiming “Shut up; what do youknow?”
There was no slogan by memberspresent and the members only expressedtheir strong feelings about the variousmatters.
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Jurgen Klopp hailed “exceptional”Liverpool after they made it an entirecalendar year without a Premier League
defeat as the runaway leaders beat SheffieldUnited 2-0 at Anfield on Thursday.
Klopp’s side moved 13 points clear ofsecond placed Leicester thanks to goalsfrom Egypt forward Mohamed Salah andSenegal winger Sadio Mane at Anfield.
Liverpool’s 19th win in 20 leaguegames this season completed an incredi-ble 12 months for a team at the peak oftheir powers.
The Reds haven’t lost in 37 leaguegames since a defeat at Manchester Cityon January 3, 2019 and it looks certain theywill win the English title for the first timesince 1990.
With a game in hand to further bol-ster their advantage, it would take an aston-ishing collapse to deprive Liverpool of theirholy grail.
“It says a lot of positive things. I havenot enough words for it, it is exception-al,” Klopp said.
“I’m really happy and really proud ofthe boys. We should not take things likethis for granted.”
Winners of their last 18 home leaguegames, Liverpool are unbeaten in 51 top-flight matches at Anfield dating back toApril 2017.
As if it wasn’t hard enough to beatLiverpool already, they are proving moreimpregnable than ever lately.
This was their fifth consecutive top-flight clean-sheet — the first time they havemanaged that since 2007 — and they com-pleted more passes than any team in onematch in the Premier League era.
“The way we controlled SheffieldUnited was exceptional. In possession wewere incredible, we were calm but lively aswell. The goals we scored were exception-al,” Klopp said.
“It’s obviously good (to go unbeaten fora year) but the target was not to extend this,but to win the game.
“We did not think about the oneyear (undefeated). We have season res-olutions, not New Year resolutions!”
After a golden 2019 saw Liverpoolcrowned European and Club Worldchampions, the next target is endingManchester City’s two-year spell aschampions after narrowly missing out lastseason.
Their sights set on domestic bliss, thenew year started just as the old one fin-ished, with Liverpool setting standards of
excellence that rival anythingachieved by City’s breath-takingteam.
Premier League immortality iswithin touching distance as Klopp’smen are already over halfway towardsan unbeaten league season that would
replicate the incredible feat of Arsenal’s2003-04 Invincibles.
Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovicwarned on Friday he is not back at
AC Milan as a mascot but for the “lastbit of adrenaline” and to lift a club heloved out of a difficult situation.
“I’m not here as a mascot to dancefor the fans next to the Devil (Milanmascot),” the 38-year-old told a pressconference.
“I’m looking for the last bit ofadrenaline I might have. At my ageyou’re not looking for anything else buta challenge.
“When you’re 38 and get hired byAC Milan it’s something that doesn’thappen very often, coming here meansI still have something to give.
“I got more requests now thanwhen I was 28,” he continued.
“I am ready, I feel more than alive,I hope to play immediately.”
Ibrahimovic has signed a six-month contract worth 3.5 millioneuros ($3.9 million) with the option foran additional year.
It will mark the Swede’s secondstint with Milan, seven years after heleft for Paris Saint-Germain.
He played for the Rossoneri from2010-2012 scoring 56 goals in 85appearances and helped the club wintheir 18th and last league title in2011.
One of the most successful clubsin the world the seven-times Europeanchampions are 11th in the table justseven points above relegation.
“After Atalanta I got lots and lotsof calls, it wasn’t a difficult decision inthe end,” continued Ibrahimovic.
“Last time I left Milan I didn’t wantto leave. Milan gave me the happinessof playing soccer, I hope this will betrue again.
“Things need to be improved inthe field and that’s why I'm here.
“Milan is always AC Milan and theimage of ACM is something that can’tbe deleted, you can’t change history.”
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Eden Hazard’s injury-plaguedstart at Real Madrid will con-
tinue this month after ZinedineZidane said on Friday theBelgian will not play in theSpanish Super Cup nextweek.
Hazard suffered anankle fracture duringMadrid’s draw against ParisSaint-Germain on November 26and was expected to be out foraround four to six weeks.
But Zidane has confirmedHazard will miss Madrid’s LaLiga game against Getafe today
and will not travel to SaudiArabia, where his team faceValencia in the Spanish SuperCup semi-finals on Wednesdaybefore a potential final againsteither Barcelona or Atletico
Madrid four days later.“He is 100 per cent out
of the Super Cup,” saidZidane in a press confer-ence. “He is not travelling,
he is recovering and we hopethat just after the Super Cup, lit-tle by little, we could see himwith us again.”
If Hazard returns againstSevilla in La Liga on January 18he will have been out for almost
eight weeks.The 28-year-old, who
joined Real Madrid fromChelsea last summer, alsomissed three matches at the startof the season with a thigh strain.
Madrid found form withouthim before Christmas but trailBarcelona by two points in thetable after consecutive draws inthe Clasico at Camp Nou andthen at home to Athletic Bilbao.
They play sixth-placedGetafe this weekend at theColiseum Alfonso Perez, whereZidane’s team were held to agoalless draw in April.
Marcelo and Lucas Vazquezare available again after recov-ering from injuries but SergioRamos is suspended, meaningEder Militao is likely to play incentral defence.
Zidane also suggested somefringe players could be allowedto leave in the January transferwindow. Striker Mariano Diazis among those that coulddepart.
“There are players that havenot had minutes and that can bea problem but we speak withthem like always,” Zidane said.“Between now and January 31a lot can happen.”
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Alexander Zverev and StefanosTsitsipas both crashed to defeat in
their first matches of the year on Fridayas day one of the inaugural ATP Cupsprung some big upsets.
The German world number sevenwas stunned by Australia’s fast-improv-ing Alex de Minaur, who rallied froma set and 4-2 down to win 4-6, 7-6 (7/3),6-2.
Greek star Tsitsipas, who won the2019 season-ending ATP Finals inLondon and is now ranked six, slumpedto a 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7/4) loss to youngCanadian Denis Shapovalov.
It led to both Germany and Greecebeing defeated in their opening ties atthe 24-nation event, where the countriesare split into six groups across Sydney,Brisbane and Perth.
The top eight from the round robingo onto the knockout phase in Sydneybefore one is eventually crowned thewinner.
Along with Australia and Canada,Belgium also won, sweeping Moldova3-0, while tennis minnows Norwaypulled off a big 2-1 upset against theUnited States.
Drawcards Rafael Nadal and NovakDjokovic make their debut today, forSpain in Perth and Serbia in Brisbanerespectively.
“It’s definitely up there,” said deMinaur in Brisbane, when asked howthe victory ranked in his career. “Thisone feels very, very good.
Earlier, Nick Kyrgios beat Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).
“First game, first match of theyear is always going to betough,” said Kyrgios, who haspledged Aus$200 (US$140)for every ace he serves duringthe Australian tennis summerto help victims of bushfiresthat are raging across Australia.
“To be honest, I was actual-ly pretty happy with my perfor-mance.”
Tsitsipas went into his match withShapovalov, also in Brisbane, as slightfavourite, with the Canadian rankednine places below him.
But Shapovalov’s left-handed servewas working beautifully and Tsitsipasfaltered at key moments in bothtiebreaks.
With teammate MichailPervolarakis being thrashed by FelixAuger-Aliassime in two quick sets,Greece lost their opening tie.
GREAT FUNThe United States were also upset,
with emerging Norwegian youngster
Casper Ruud beating big-serving JohnIsner. He then backed up in the decisivedoubles alongside Viktor Durasovic toensure the win.
Earlier, Taylor Fritz had thrashedDurasovic 6-2, 6-2 to give the US a 1-0 lead.
The ATP Cup, from January 3-12,features two ties each day in the threecities during the round robin, compris-ing two singles matches then a doubles.
Some US$15 million in prizemoney and up to 750 singles
and 250 doubles ATP rank-ings points are at stake.
Under the innovativetournament rules, on-courtcoaching is allowed and team
zones are in the corners of thecourt, rather than on the side-
lines by the umpire.Real-time statistics, data and match
vision are also available to the captainand players during the match, andthere is a video review system to chal-lenge contentious decisions like footfaults.
“It was great, it was fun,” saidBelgium world number 11 DavidGoffin, who swept past Moldova’s RaduAlbot 6-4, 6-1 on the way to helping histeam to a 3-0 clean sweep in Sydney.
Despite his defeat, Tsitsipas said hetoo was loving the new tournament for-mat.
“It’s good. I mean, I cannot pictureanything better than this right now,” hesaid.
news” on Harry Kane’s ham-string injury after theEngland captain limped outof the 1-0 defeat at
Southampton on New Year’sDay.
The Tottenham boss saidthe full extent of the problemwould soon become appar-ent.
Kane pulled up as heslotted home Christian
Eriksen’s free-kick 15 minutesfrom time on Wednesdaybut was flagged offside.
“I don’t know yet, I thinkmaybe later today we havenews,” Mourinho said. “But ifyou ask me just my feeling,good news or bad news, I am
more bad news than goodnews, what the player felt,Harry Kane leaving a matchthe way he did.
“He didn’t think twice,didn’t take him two secondsto realise the severity of thesituation.”
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Wayne Rooney enjoyed a winningdebut with Derby as the former
Manchester United star helped hisChampionship side to a 2-1 winagainst Barnsley on Thursday.
Rooney was named Derby captainfor his first appearance since agreeingto join the second tier club back inAugust.
United and England’s recordgoalscorer had been training, coachingand sitting in the dugout at Derbymatches for several weeks, butThursday was the first time he hadbeen eligible to play following hisdeparture from Major League Soccerside DC United.
The 34-year-old, included at theexpense of the suspended KrystianBielik in the only change made byDerby boss Phillip Cocu, played the fullmatch, despite it being his first com-petitive game since October.
He set up the opening goalfor Jack Marriott and wasinvolved in Derby’s secondgoal, providing a pin-pointdiagonal pass to Andre
Wisdom, whose low cross wasturned home by Martyn
Waghorn.Elliot Simoes had
equalised forBarnsley, but strug-gling visitors could-n’t ruin Rooney’sreturn to Englishfootball.
R o o n e y ’ sdebut coincidedwith Cocu’s teamwinning succes-sive matches forthe first timethis season, but
Ajinkya Rahane and PrithviShaw faltered yet again as
Karnataka pacers wreaked ahavoc and bundled out Mumbaifor a paltry 194 on the openingday of their Elite Ranji Trophygame at Bandra-Kurla com-plex.
However, skipperSuryakumar Yadav (77 off 94balls; 10x4 and 2x6) stood alonewhen all other batsmen failed.His knock ensured that thehosts at least wentpast the 175-runmark.
Earlier, the four-pronged Karnatakapace attack justifiedskipper Karun Nair’s decision tobowl first on a breezy morningas they ran through the Mumbaibatting line-up.
Mumbai was reduced to86/6 at lunch.
Surya and Shashank Attarde(35 off 51 balls; 6x4) then ralliedthe innings with their 88-runstand off 92 balls with Attardeplaying the second fiddle.
Surya played a responsibleknock as he took the team outof the rubble.
In reply, Karnataka openersDevdutt Padikkal (32; 5x4) andR Samarth (40 not out) gave thevisitors a sedate start by conjur-ing 68 for the first wicket.
However, left arm spinnerShams Mulani pegged backKarnataka by removing Padikkaland Abhishek Reddy (0) in thesame over as Karnataka were 68-2. Rohan Kadam (4) was dis-missed by offie Attarde.
At stumps, Karnataka were79/3 with skipper Karun Nair (0batting) with Samarth asKarnataka still trail by 115 runs.
for arguing with an umpire in atIS Bindra stadium.
Bidhuri (3/62 in 13 overs)and Baroka (2/34 in 10 overs)put the brakes on scoring on theopening day of the Group Amatch. Skipper Mandeep Singh’spainstaking (81 off 181 balls)was the only saving grace for thehosts.
Gurkeerat Mann (65 off 50
balls) entertained for a while ashe struck 12 boundaries in hisinnings before a delivery fromleft-arm spinner Vikas Mishra(1/52 in 29 overs), whose job wasto bowl wicket to wicket andkeep one end tight, castled him.
Mandeep and Anmolpreet
Singh (45) had a 64-run standbefore Bidhuri got one to heldits line and trap Anmol plumbin-front.
Sharad Lumba (0) gave areturn catch to Baroka, who alsoremoved Anmol Malhotra,caught by skipper Dhruv Shorey.
At 223 for six, Mandeep did-n’t have the option to attack asBidhuru struck twice with theold ball, castling MayankMarkande and then gettingMandeep caught by substitutefielder Vaibhav Kandpal.
MAHARASHTRA 44 ALL OUT�4�$����0�Services bowled outMaharashtra for 44 with medi-um pacer P S Poonia returningfigures of 5/11.
By stumps on the openingday, Services took full control ofthe Group C game by taking a97-run lead.
Poonia, who got his wicketsin 10.2 overs, was complement-ed by Sachidanand Pandey(3/18) and Diwesh Pathania(2/13), as Maharashtra wereshot out in 30.2 overs.
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Ollie Pope hit a half-century togive England a late boost after
they struggled against a disciplinedSouth African bowling attack on thefirst day of the second Test againstSouth Africa at Newlands on Friday.
Pope made 56 not out as Englandstruggled to 262 for nine on a daywhen the tourists, 1-0 down in thefour-match series, failed to takeadvantage of what looked like a goodbatting pitch.
Before Pope prospered in aunbeaten last wicket stand of 28 withJames Anderson after six Englandbatsmen perished for scores between29 and 47.
England’s problems were a trib-ute to the pressure exerted by theSouth African bowlers, who sharedthe wickets. Vernon Philander,Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje andDwaine Pretorius took two each,while left-arm spinner KeshavMaharaj kept a tight rein on the bats-men while sending down 27 oversand taking one for 68.
South Africa thought they hadcompleted a highly satisfactory daywhen Pope was caught by Philanderoff Rabada shortly before the close
with the total on 261 — but a reviewby the umpires showed that Rabadahad sent down a no-ball.
The day after his 22nd birthday,Pope, who missed England's 107-rundefeat in the first Test in Centurionbecause of illness, played a composedinnings and shared a 58-run fifthwicket partnership with Ben Stokeswhich threatened to break the SouthAfrican stranglehold.
Stokes reached 47 on the groundwhere he made a career-best 258 four
years ago and wasstriking the ballcrisply before he hitan awkward drive
against the pace of Nortje and wascaught at cover.
Nortje again bowled at highpace and was the most threateningof the South African bowlers, whileDe Kock had another good daybehind the stumps, holding fivecatches.
����������������� ��������� ���� � #�����1
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Marnus Labuschagne hit hisfourth century in just 14
Tests to guide Australia into acommanding position againstvirus-hit New Zealand on theopening day of the third Test inSydney on Friday.
The rock-solid numberthree, last year’s leading Testscorer with 1,104 runs at 64.94,again proved theBlack Caps’ nemesiswith his second tonof the series to con-tinue his remarkable scoringsequence.
Supported by Steve Smith’s28th Test half-century, Australiareached stumps at 283 for threewith Labuschagne unbeaten on130 and Matthew Wade a breezy22 not out.
The South African-bornLabuschagne has now scoredfour centuries in seven Testinnings this southern summeragainst Pakistan and NewZealand.
“Terrific day,” he said.“When you bat on day one youknow it can be a real prosperousday but if you get off to a shakystart it can be tough work.
“It’s all a bit of a whirlwindat the moment. I haven’t reallysat down and completelythought about how amazingthis summer has been for me.”
Smith, who took 39 balls toget off the mark, shared in a 156-run stand with Labuschagne
before he again missed out aftera lengthy stay and was caught atslip off Colin de Grandhommefor 63 off 182 balls.
David Warner fell again tothe leg-side trap on the third ballafter lunch when he was caughtby de Grandhomme at leg gullyoff Neil Wagner for 45.
It was the fourth time in theseries left-armer Wagner hassnared Warner, who has yet to
reach a half-centuryagainst New Zealandthis summer afterscoring an unbeaten
335 and 154 against Pakistan lastNovember.
Opener Joe Burns was dis-missed in the 15th over, squaredup by de Grandhomme andcaught by Taylor at first slip for18.
The Black Caps went intothe Sydney Test without skipperand star batsman KaneWilliamson, who has been ill inthe lead-up.
Batsman Henry Nichollsand spinner Mitchell Santnerwere other illness withdrawalswhile Southee lost his place toleg-spinner Todd Astle.
Paceman Trent Boult is alsomissing after returning homewith a broken hand suffered inthe second Test in Melbourne.
Batsman Glenn Phillips,who made a late dash to Sydneyas cover on Thursday, wasnamed to make his Test debut,with opener Tom Latham to leadthe side in Williamson’s absence.
����� ������
Jasprit Bumrah started offfrom where he had leftbefore being laid low by
stress fracture as he bowled flatout at the India nets ahead oftheir first T20I against SriLanka tomorrow.
Closely monitored byteam’s support headed by RaviShastri, Bumrah hit the strapsstraightway, bowling with paceon a breezy winter eveningeven as the Sri Lankan teamdecided to take rest for the day.
Bumrah was seen mixingup his deliveries as there wereyorkers, variety of bouncers,bowling in tandem withShardul Thakur and ShivamDube. He also did the singlestump practice to get his chan-nel right.
After bowling every deliv-ery, Bumrah was seen engagedin a discussions with the teamthink-tank as he continuedthe exercise for about 45 min-utes.
The Indian fielding sessionwas mainly about taking highcatches with the likes of Kohli,Bumrah, KL Rahul, ShreyasIyer taking turns under lightsto get into the groove.
The likes of ShikharDhawan, Ravindra Jadeja,Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadavand Yuzvendra Chahal werenot seen during India’s option-al practice.
Having missed competitivecricket for more than threemonths due to his lower backinjury, the three-T20I serieswill mark the return of Bumrahin the New Year after achievinga some high points in a phe-nomenal 2019.
From three Tests in 2019,Bumrah picked 14 wickets at anaverage of 13.14 including twofive-wicket hauls — bothagainst the West Indies inNorth Sound and Kingston,becoming the only Asianbowler in history to bag five-fors in South Africa, England,Australia and West Indies. Healso had 25 wickets in 14 ODIsduring the year.
At the Sabina Park,Bumrah became only the thirdIndian bowler after HarbhajanSingh and Irfan Pathan torecord a hat-trick in the longestformat.
There’s a rain forecast forthe remaining two days but the
Assam Cricket Association offi-cials are confident of hostingthe match.
“It’s a T20 fixture and evenif it rains in the morning, it willdry out by evening. Today alsoit rained in the morning butpractice was not affected,” ACA
secretary Devajit Saikia said.According to the local
curator, there could be somedew towards the evening as thepitch wore a tinge of grass andwas closely inspected by Shastriand bowling coach BharathArun.
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Pakistan’s centrally-contract-ed players will have to
meet the fitness standards setby the team management orelse lose 15 per cent of theirmonthly salary, the country’scricket board (PCB) warnedon Friday.
The directive came afternew head coach Misbah-ul-Haq had termed that top levelfitness is paramount fornational team players as lackof it has been the reason forteam’s steady decline.
The PCB has said that aplayer will be subjected to a 15per cent deduction from hismonthly retainer fees in casehe fails to meet the minimumfitness requirements while a“consistent defaulter” will riska chance of getting relegated toa lower grade.
“A player failing to meetthe minimum fitness require-ments will be fined 15 per centof his monthly retainer, whichwill remain effective until suchtime he achieves the minimumfitness standards,” a PCB state-ment read.
“Player failing consecu-tive tests will risk the chancesof retaining his central con-tract category and may facedemotion,” it added
The test will cover fivemajor areas, namely fat analy-sis, strength, endurance, speedendurance and cross-fit, andwill carry equal weightage.
“There has always been an
emphasis on the monitoring ofplayers’ fitness levels,” PCBDirector Cricket —International, Zakir Khan said.
“This time we have decid-ed to enforce penalties, whichis in accordance with the con-tracts, as part of our objectiveto make the players moreaccountable and responsiblefor maintaining high fitnessstandards throughout the year.
“All the players wereinformed last month of thePCB’s expectations and poten-tial sanctions in the scenarioof failures,” he added.
Khan further said thatdomestic players will also haveto undergo the tests.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s cen-trally contracted players,including Babar Azam,Sarfaraz Ahmed and ShaheenAfridi will undergo fitnesstests here on January 6 and 7.
The two-day testing willbe held under the tutelage ofPakistan cricket team’sstrength and conditioningcoach Yasir Malik at theNational Cricket Academy.
“All the available central-ly contracted players willattend the two-day testing,which is aligned to their con-tracts,” the PCB said.
“Wahab Riaz, MohammadAmir and Shadab Khan, whowill be occupied with theircommitments in theBangladesh Premier League,will undergo the tests onJanuary 20 and 21,” it furtheradded.
ball with Jasprit Bumrah inhis six international gamesand no wonder he is excitedat an opportunity to pick thebrains of India’s pace spear-head during the upcomingseries against Sri Lanka.
Saini, has so far played anODI and five T20Is butBumrah has either been rest-ed or was out due to his stressfracture on lower back dur-ing these games.
“I can now share myweaknesses and shortcom-ings with him. I can learnmore by watching him bowl.It will be a good opportuni-ty for me. I am really lookingforward to it,” Saini said onFriday.
The 27-year-old had amemorable last year when hemade impressive debut inwhite ball cricket as he hopesput in those hard yards tocement his place in a highlycompetitive bowling attackahead of the Twenty20 WorldCup in October.
“Our bowling attack isthe strongest at the momentand that gives me that extramotivation. And that I haveto work even harder to securea regular spot,” he said whenasked where does he seehimself in the World Cup-bound Australia squad.
Saini is aware that it’svery tough to secure a placewith so much of competitionin the ranks.
“From hereon, everymatch and series is importantfor me. If I do well, I can alsogrow well as a cricketer andthe team will also win. Idon’t think too far ahead.Always I take one match at a
time and think of giving mybest every time.
“All my hard work paidoff and I had a successful2019. It’s about putting in thatextra mile again so as tosecure my place.”
For Saini, the challengewill be to become mentallystronger when the batsmengo on offensive.
“It’s about becomingmentally strong. Everythingboils down to the fact thathow strong you are mental-ly. You can put in that hard-work of you are strong men-tally.”
Known for his fiery pacewith ability to bowl consis-tently as 140kph, Saini saidhis success mantra is sheerhardwork and nothing else.
“It’s nothing but sheerhardwork. That’s the onlysecret. There is no other for-mula. It’s as simple as that,” hesigned off.
Injury-ravaged South African pacelegend Dale Steyn says this year’s
Twenty20 World Cup is very muchon his “agenda” and he will beginanother effort at an internationalcomeback with the series againstEngland next month.
Steyn, who retired from Testcricket last year, has been battling tokeep his career alive in the other twoformats despite being hampered bya recurring shoulder injury. The 36-year-old is currently playing in the BigBash League for Melbourne Stars. “Iknow I’ll be part of (the T20 seriesagainst England), that was the lastconversation I’ve had. I get a nice two-week break, then straight into it again.I’ll be around for the ODIs — to behonest, I don’t know how much I’llplay (the ODIs) … I’ll be there for thatand then definitely the T20s,” he toldcricket.Com.Au.
“That (T20 World Cup) is verymuch on my agenda. I’m starting toenjoy my cricket a lot more now, Ithink four overs is a lot easier on thebody than the Test matches are,” headded.
“KG (Kagiso Rabada) is veryyoung — to lead the attack at 24, andthe next bowlers to come in are allyounger than him, I think he needssomebody that’s there that is experi-enced, to look around and he knowshe’s not only one there,” Steyn said.
“So I’m putting my hand up forthat and then I’ll wait and see howselections goes. After the MSL(Mzansi Super League) that weplayed, there were a lot of players thatcome out — some fantastic bowlers.
“But the old guys still seem to dothe trick — AB (de Villiers) was there,Imran Tahir was taking wickets, I wasup in the wickets. Maybe we will getthe nod, maybe we don’t — but I’mputting my hand up,” he added.
,�0� �����0��������0 ����������������3���;�0�<������0 Rising star of Indiancricket Shubman Gill wasembroiled in a controversywhen his dismissal was over-turned after an argument withthe on-field umpire duringPunjab’s encounter againstDelhi, leading to stoppage ofplay for around 10 minutes.
The current white-ballcaptain of the India A teamrefused to leave the creaseafter he was adjudged caught-behind by slow mediumbowler Subodh Bhati. Anargument with the umpirefollowed and the batsmanwas reinstated after a discus-sion between the on-fieldofficials.
Showing dissent to theumpire’s decision is a breachof the ‘Code of Conduct’ and
there is a possibility thatmatch referee P Ranganathanwill have a word with the play-er. He could either be let offwith a warning or chargedwith a Level 1 offence.
Gill was batting on 10then. He didn’t last long as heedged one off Simarjeet Singhto Anuj Rawat for 23 off 41balls with the team’s score on60.
DDCA general secretaryVinod Tihara said: “Thematch was halted for seven toeight minutes. There wasnothing untoward. Our boysfelt that Gill was out andthat’s why they asked theumpires why the decision wasreversed. We are not filing anyofficial complaint as the mat-ter is closed for us.” PTI
��Z��������$���� �����5��0Barely a week beforeleaving for New Zealand withthe India A team, PrithviShaw hurt his left shoulderwhile fielding in Ranji game.
The incident happened inthe third session at the BandraKurla Complex ground whenShaw dived to save an over-throw. He was immediatelytaken off the field.
Shaw is named in theIndia A squad for the upcom-ing New Zealand tour and theteam leaves on January 10. Heis there in the limited overs aswell as the squad for the four-day matches.
After the day’s play,Mumbai skipper SuryakumarYadav said Shaw looked bet-ter.
“He (Shaw) looks better.Looking at him on theground, it was not lookinggood but now I think he islooking good.
Later on I will get toknow from the physio onwhat exactly the situation is(with regard to him),” Suryatold reporters. PTI
