A fter weeks of deliberations and negotiation with Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Admi Party (AAP), the Congress has agreed in princi- ple to enter into an alliance with its bitter rival in the national Capital in the Lok Sabha polls. Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday held a high-level meeting with Delhi Congress president and former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, AICC general secretary and Delhi affair incharge PC Chacko, KC Venugopal and other senior leaders at his res- idence, where it was reported- ly decided to go ahead with alliance with the AAP. While the Congress has decided to join hands with AAP, the Kejriwal outfit is still tightlipped about the seat shar- ing. The AAP wants the Congress to forge alliance in Haryana and Chandigarh as quid pro quo and also unequivocally support full Statehood demand for Delhi. “An alliance with the Congress is possible only if the party agrees to do it for 10 seats in Haryana, seven seats in Delhi and the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat. Also, the party should also openly declare sup- port to full Statehood for Delhi if it wants to forge an alliance with the AAP,” the source said. The AAP has reportedly conveyed to the Congress that it would support the grand old party in Chandigarh only if it gets to contest three seats in Haryana — Faridabad, Gurgaon and Karnal. “The party wanted to include Punjab in the pre-conditions for an alliance, but that was left out considering Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s rigid stance,” the source said. Although the AAP is press- ing for a 5:2 (five for AAP and two for Congress), the Congress has demanded “noth- ing less than” three seats in Delhi. The AAP may concede to the Congress demand if the party reciprocates to AAP’s demand. As per the seat-sharing formula being worked out, the Congress may get New Delhi, Chandni Chowk and North West Delhi seats while the AAP may contest from East Delhi, South Delhi, West Delhi and North East Delhi. The final seat sharing announce- ment is expected to be soon. This could have serious implication for the BJP which won all even seats in Delhi in 2014 polls. According to sources in the Congress, “Its formula for Delhi is based on a 3:4 ratio (Congress-3 and AAP-4) is calculated on the basis of seats won by them in the 2017 Municipal polls in Delhi. the AAP had won 49 seats and the Congress 31 after getting 26 per cent and 21 per cent vote share respectively. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the AAP polled 33 per cent of the vote share while the Congress got only 15 per cent. Put together, the vote share of Congress and AAP was 48 per cent, just two per cent more than the BJP vote share of 46 per cent. Majority of the Delhi Congress leaders as well as members of the Congress Working Committee are for an alliance with AAP because it is the only way that the Congress can win seats in Delhi. Several senior Opposition leaders, including Sharad Pawar and Mamata Banerjee, had urged the Congress for tie- up with the AAP. A ctor-turned-politician and rebel BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha (72) on Saturday officially joined the Congress at the party head- quarters in the national Capital, on the foundation day of the BJP. The four-term parliamen- tarian has been fielded as the Congress candidate from Patna Sahib. He will be contesting against BJP nominee and Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. After joining the Congress, Sinha lashed out at the BJP leadership, descrbing the saf- fron outfit as a “one man show” and “two man army”. “In the one-man show, two-man army, everything happens from Prime Minister’s Office... the Ministers can’t work freely anyway,” he said, adding “We have seen how democracy turned into autocracy.” The Bihari Babu, as he is known, lauded Congress pres- ident Rahul Gandhi for bring- ing in NYAY scheme in the party manifesto. Sinha said Rahul is a “tried, tested and successful dynamic leader, who is the face of the nation and its future.” “Providing 6,000 to every poor so that his basic mini- mum income could rise up to 12,000 per month is really a commendable step,” said Sinha. Taking a jibe at the BJP over the snub to veteran leader LK Advani by not retaining him from Gandhinagar, Sinha said, “Advaniji was sent to Mardarshak Mandal which hasn’t held even a single meet- ing so far. They did the same to Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha... I was even told that I have been a critic and that I will not be given a Cabinet post... but my image has been clean.” He slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of demonetisation. Calling demonetisation “prob- ably the world’s biggest scam”, Sinha said, “It was a mindless decision... Several people died... Modiji’s mother was in the queue and we were told it was normal.” Turn to Page 4 I n her first poll rally in 2019 ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Sonia Gandhi on Saturday tore into the BJP on the issue of nationalism, saying people who refused to accept the diversity of India are call- ing themselves patriots. Addressing People’s Agenda-Jan Sarokar 2019 in New Delhi, Sonia said the Modi Government has “destroyed the institutions” during the past five years. “The way the soul of our nation is being trampled for the past some time through a well- planned conspiracy is a matter of great concern,” she said, adding, “Regressive forces have systematically dismantled our institutions. The current Government has undermined the welfare architecture that was laid down over last 65 years.” Sonia hit out at the BJP alleging that it does not respect diversity of India. Detailed report on P5 A fter days of speculations, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday decided to field former Social Welfare Minister Annapurna Devi from Koderma and Chairperson of Jharkhand State Khadi Board Sanjay Seth from Ranchi. The party also backed its incumbent Chatra parliamentarian Sunil Singh in his constituency for the second time. The trio featured in the list of 24 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls released by the BJP in New Delhi on Saturday afternoon. The announcement, though not surprising, may stir political debates as the party decided to give preference to a political greenhorn and a turncoat over its two incumbent parliamentarians – Kodarma MP Ravindar Rai and Ranchi MP Ram Tahal Choudhary. Annapurna, who recently joined the BJP cadre after serv- ing as one of the stalwarts of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Jharkhand for years, won the Koderma Legislative Assembly in 2009 and served as State Woman and Child Welfare Minister in former CM Hemant Soren’s Cabinet. Once considered the right hand of RJD chief Lalu Prasad in Jharkhand, Devi enjoys a strong support of Yadav com- munity in Koderma region. She won the 2009 Assembly Elections from Koderma with Turn to Page 4 O ver 20 candidates from Jharkhand cleared the prestigious Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) – Civil Services examination 2018, thus contributing to the long list of civil servants from Jharkhand. Deepak Kumar Dubey of Ranchi scored 46th position in the examination thus scoring the maximum among candi- dates from the State. Anya Das of Jamshedpur bagged the 60th rank followed by Aditya Goyal of Ranchi. Among the others who scored within 100 ranks were Jay Shivani with 81st and Amit Kumar with 91st position, both from Dhanbad. Aditya Goyal, an alumnus of Delhi Public School Ranchi, who bagged the third rank in State and 69th in the country, was also the topper of science stream in class 12, in the year 2012, with 97.4 per cent marks. This year, apart from Goyal, three other students of DPS Ranchi cracked the pres- tigious examination. Aanchal Shrivastava, who had com- pleted her class 10 from the school, bagged the 110th rank while Shivashish Kumar who pursued class 12 from DPS was at the 368th position. K Lalith Rao of 2013 Commerce batch, secured 626th position in UPSC. He said, “I got a very conducive, inclusive and supportive envi- ronment for pursuing acade- mics in the school, which helped me to progress towards my goal without hindrance despite being visually impaired. I always had a dedication and will to serve the people of this great country. Especially, the downtrodden and those who are in dire need of help.” Turn to Page 4
Arvind Kejriwal-led AamAdmi Party (AAP), theCongress has agreed in princi-ple to enter into an alliancewith its bitter rival in thenational Capital in the LokSabha polls.
Congress president RahulGandhi on Saturday held ahigh-level meeting with DelhiCongress president and formerChief Minister Sheila Dikshit,AICC general secretary andDelhi affair incharge PCChacko, KC Venugopal andother senior leaders at his res-idence, where it was reported-ly decided to go ahead withalliance with the AAP.
While the Congress hasdecided to join hands withAAP, the Kejriwal outfit is stilltightlipped about the seat shar-ing. The AAP wants theCongress to forge alliance inHaryana and Chandigarh asquid pro quo and alsounequivocally support fullStatehood demand for Delhi.
“An alliance with theCongress is possible only if theparty agrees to do it for 10 seatsin Haryana, seven seats inDelhi and the Chandigarh LokSabha seat. Also, the partyshould also openly declare sup-port to full Statehood for Delhiif it wants to forge an alliance
with the AAP,” the source said.The AAP has reportedly
conveyed to the Congress thatit would support the grand oldparty in Chandigarh only if itgets to contest three seats inHaryana — Faridabad,Gurgaon and Karnal. “Theparty wanted to include Punjab
in the pre-conditions for analliance, but that was left outconsidering Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh’s rigid stance,”the source said.
Although the AAP is press-ing for a 5:2 (five for AAP andtwo for Congress), theCongress has demanded “noth-
ing less than” three seats inDelhi. The AAP may concedeto the Congress demand if theparty reciprocates to AAP’sdemand.
As per the seat-sharingformula being worked out, theCongress may get New Delhi,Chandni Chowk and North
West Delhi seats while theAAP may contest from EastDelhi, South Delhi, West Delhiand North East Delhi. Thefinal seat sharing announce-ment is expected to be soon.
This could have seriousimplication for the BJP whichwon all even seats in Delhi in2014 polls.
According to sources in theCongress, “Its formula forDelhi is based on a 3:4 ratio(Congress-3 and AAP-4) iscalculated on the basis of seatswon by them in the 2017Municipal polls in Delhi. theAAP had won 49 seats and theCongress 31 after getting 26 percent and 21 per cent vote sharerespectively.
In the 2014 Lok Sabhapolls, the AAP polled 33 percent of the vote share while theCongress got only 15 per cent.Put together, the vote share ofCongress and AAP was 48 percent, just two per cent morethan the BJP vote share of 46per cent.
Majority of the DelhiCongress leaders as well asmembers of the CongressWorking Committee are for analliance with AAP because it isthe only way that the Congresscan win seats in Delhi.
Several senior Oppositionleaders, including SharadPawar and Mamata Banerjee,had urged the Congress for tie-up with the AAP.
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Actor-turned-politician andrebel BJP leader
Shatrughan Sinha (72) onSaturday officially joined theCongress at the party head-quarters in the national Capital,on the foundation day of theBJP. The four-term parliamen-tarian has been fielded as theCongress candidate from PatnaSahib. He will be contestingagainst BJP nominee andUnion Law Minister RaviShankar Prasad.
After joining the Congress,Sinha lashed out at the BJPleadership, descrbing the saf-fron outfit as a “one man show”and “two man army”.
“In the one-man show,two-man army, everythinghappens from Prime Minister’sOffice... the Ministers can’twork freely anyway,” he said,adding “We have seen howdemocracy turned into autocracy.”
The Bihari Babu, as he isknown, lauded Congress pres-ident Rahul Gandhi for bring-ing in NYAY scheme in theparty manifesto. Sinha saidRahul is a “tried, tested and
successful dynamic leader, whois the face of the nation and itsfuture.”
“Providing �6,000 to everypoor so that his basic mini-mum income could rise up to�12,000 per month is really acommendable step,” said Sinha.
Taking a jibe at the BJPover the snub to veteran leaderLK Advani by not retaininghim from Gandhinagar, Sinhasaid, “Advaniji was sent toMardarshak Mandal whichhasn’t held even a single meet-ing so far. They did the same to
Jaswant Singh, YashwantSinha... I was even told that Ihave been a critic and that I willnot be given a Cabinet post...but my image has been clean.”
He slammed PrimeMinister Narendra Modi on theissue of demonetisation.Calling demonetisation “prob-ably the world’s biggest scam”,Sinha said, “It was a mindlessdecision... Several people died...Modiji’s mother was in thequeue and we were told it wasnormal.”
In her first poll rally in 2019ahead of the upcoming Lok
Sabha polls, chairperson of theUnited Progressive Alliance(UPA) Sonia Gandhi onSaturday tore into the BJP onthe issue of nationalism, sayingpeople who refused to acceptthe diversity of India are call-ing themselves patriots.
Addressing People’sAgenda-Jan Sarokar 2019 inNew Delhi, Sonia said theModi Government has“destroyed the institutions”during the past five years.
“The way the soul of ournation is being trampled for thepast some time through a well-planned conspiracy is a matterof great concern,” she said,adding, “Regressive forces havesystematically dismantled ourinstitutions. The currentGovernment has underminedthe welfare architecture thatwas laid down over last 65years.”
Sonia hit out at the BJPalleging that it does not respectdiversity of India.
After days of speculations,the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) on Saturday decided tofield former Social WelfareMinister Annapurna Devi fromKoderma and Chairperson ofJharkhand State Khadi BoardSanjay Seth from Ranchi. Theparty also backed its incumbentChatra parliamentarian SunilSingh in his constituency forthe second time.
The trio featured in the listof 24 candidates for the LokSabha polls released by theBJP in New Delhi on Saturdayafternoon. The announcement,though not surprising, may
stir political debates as theparty decided to give preferenceto a political greenhorn and aturncoat over its two incumbentparliamentarians – KodarmaMP Ravindar Rai and RanchiMP Ram Tahal Choudhary.
Annapurna, who recentlyjoined the BJP cadre after serv-ing as one of the stalwarts of theRashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) inJharkhand for years, won theKoderma Legislative Assemblyin 2009 and served as StateWoman and Child WelfareMinister in former CMHemant Soren’s Cabinet.
Once considered the righthand of RJD chief Lalu Prasadin Jharkhand, Devi enjoys astrong support of Yadav com-munity in Koderma region. Shewon the 2009 AssemblyElections from Koderma with
prestigious Union PublicService Commission (UPSC) –Civil Services examination2018, thus contributing to thelong list of civil servants fromJharkhand.
Deepak Kumar Dubey ofRanchi scored 46th position inthe examination thus scoringthe maximum among candi-dates from the State.
Anya Das of Jamshedpurbagged the 60th rank followedby Aditya Goyal of Ranchi.Among the others who scoredwithin 100 ranks were JayShivani with 81st and AmitKumar with 91st position, bothfrom Dhanbad.
Aditya Goyal, an alumnusof Delhi Public School Ranchi,who bagged the third rank inState and 69th in the country,was also the topper of sciencestream in class 12, in the year2012, with 97.4 per cent marks.
This year, apart fromGoyal, three other students ofDPS Ranchi cracked the pres-tigious examination. AanchalShrivastava, who had com-pleted her class 10 from theschool, bagged the 110th rankwhile Shivashish Kumar whopursued class 12 from DPS wasat the 368th position.
K Lalith Rao of 2013Commerce batch, secured626th position in UPSC. Hesaid, “I got a very conducive,inclusive and supportive envi-ronment for pursuing acade-mics in the school, whichhelped me to progress towardsmy goal without hindrancedespite being visually impaired.I always had a dedication andwill to serve the people of thisgreat country. Especially, thedowntrodden and those whoare in dire need of help.”
What if somebody was to tellyou that a superhero movie iscute, sweet and funny? The
reaction would be — that is notpossible. But the latest film based onDC Comics — Shazam! is not onlylight-hearted, the good part is that it isless angry as well.
The main reason is our hero hereis a 14-year-old who turns into anadult suoerhero with all the trimmings.He is bullet proof, he can fly, he can liftbuses, he has speed and he shoots lightbolts from his fingers! Sound familiar?Yes, he is many superheros rolled intoone. But unlike the other superheros,Shazam (Zachary Levi) aka Billy(Asher Angel) is absolutely delightfulbecause Levi has to act like youraverage American teenager who isinterested in tasting beer, having apeek inside an adult club and makingvideos on his indestructible abilities.And then take money from peoplewho want a selfie with this superhero.
But he is a superhero, there has tobe a super villain who has seven deadlysins — envy, sloth, wrath, pride,gluttony, greed and lust — riding onhis shoulder , whom our kid superherohas to fight.
No prize for guessing who wins.What makes this film a must watch isthat it is refreshing and makes youlaugh.
After Ghazi Attack and Raazi, Bollywoodhas suddenly become interested inmaking movies on subjects and events
that changed the course of history. The latestto join the list is Romeo, Akbar, Walter —RAW. The makers of course, have chosen thenames for a specific reason which is quiteevident.
There are a couple of reasons why JohnAbraham plays the lead. First, he is buff. As anundercover agent, one has to look the partthat he can outrun the enemy. Second, theRocky Handsome star is not known to beexpressive. An agent has to have a poker facewith no tells. Abraham is all this and muchmore.
But RAW is not your usual high speedchase kind of spy thriller. It is a slow burner.Director Robbie Grewal is in no hurry tospeed things despite the suspense and thethrill quotient. Kudos to him. The twists andturns keep up on the edge till the very endespecially the climax.
Go see this one in the name of all thosepeople who have been serving the countryknowing that their work will never bring themaccolades and that if caught,death stares themin the face.
!�" ���������"�����#�Tell us about your character in TenaliRama?
I play Shaikh Chilli. This character hasnot been seen on TV before, so itinteresting to play it. I haven’t startedshooting yet, but I have read the script andit is very exciting. Shaikh Chilli is a verylazy person and wants everyone to be lazytoo. He is influential. Woh dusron ko bhibolta hai ki chhoro na kaam kyun karnahai kya zaroorat hai, apney aap ho jayega.He influences everyone in the village tobecome lazy aur gaon mein itna aalas phailjata hai ki raja usko apney mahal bulatahai par vo raja ko bhi aalsi bana dega.That’s where Tenali will come and try tosolve all this and remove all the lazyness.Whether he will be successful or not, willbe shown in the upcoming episodes.�What are the pointers that you payattention to when such a role comes up?
I am planning different ways in whichI can play Shaikh Chilli so that justice canbe done to the character. But no matterhow many plans you make or what ideasyou come up with, once you start shootingeverything happens organically. Creativitycomes naturally. Once I will reach the setsthen I will get to know the details of thecharacter and it will help me to portray itin a better way.�What prompted you to say yes?
After a long time a channel hasoffered me a role. When a channel callsyou, it is big thing and you have to respectit. I am happy that I am getting to workwith SAB TV because I have neverworked with them before. I do comedy,this is my forte. I am coming back to TVafter four years. In between, I was offereda lot small roles but I didn’t want to dothem. I found this character interestingand unique so I decided to give it a try.And I am very positive about this.�How did you come up with the idea ofPammi Aunty?
When I left Sasural Simar Ka, I tooka break from work. Then one day aesey hibethe-bethe mere mann mein do-chaarlines aayi aur maine woh Facebook aurInstagram par daal di. People liked themvery much. It went on for sometime andI didn’t even realise when did thesevideos went viral. The rest is history. Nowit has been three years since I am playingPammi Aunty and making videos onYouTube and I have won almost 20awards worldwide for this till now. Mazak-mazak mein awards bhi jeet liye. (laughs)�From Code Red to Comedy NightsBachao, how have things changed foryou?
Acting is like cooking. Jitna zyadakhana aap banayengey utna aap improvekarengey. Samegoes with acting, the moreyou work, the more you improve as anactor. When you are working on a project,
and if the creative team knows what theywant to sab kuch naturally acha hota hai.When I did Code Red, the director wasMohit Hussein and he knew what hewanted and sab kuch waisa hi ubhar karaaya. The same thing was with ComedyNights Bachao, maine bahut kuch seekhavahan se. The gist of the things is the moreyou work, the more you learn and themore you will improve.�How was the experience playingShailendra Bhardwaj in Sasural SimarKa?
It was my TV debut. When I went onthe sets on day one, I had no idea of thecamera or the shooting process becauseI was from theatre. Now, when Iremember those days I laugh at thestupid mistakes I made back then. Oncemy director told me to do a cheek shot onthe camera aur main itna confuse hogayathha ki cheek matlab kya, kya look doon.I have learn a lot from that serial and I owemy success to the show. It was where I gotmy training from because I had so manygood actors around me like Jayati Bhatiawho is with me in Tenali Rama also. Thereason that I am still surviving in theindustry, jahan bahut log aake chaley jateyhain, is because my base is strong.�Did you always want to be an actor?
No. I never thought of doing acting.
Kabhi kabhi khyaal aata thha par itnihimmat nahin thhi. Mujhe lagta thhashayad main acting sey utne paisey nahikama paaunga ya career nahin hota issfield mein. I come from a business familyso it has been taught to us to look outfor a secure job. But I started doing smalllevel theatre work, went abroad for myMBA degree. I worked there for 10 years,but felt that something was missing inmy life. Main yeh sab nahi karna chahatathha. Mujhe acting hi karni hai, so I cameback to India. Then I started doingtheatre actively and got offers. I thoughtlet’s see ki sab theek chalta hai ki nahin.�You have been also known for yourresemblance with ShahRukh Khan.How was you reaction to it?
I have been getting complimentssince I was in school. It is a very big thingfor me but sirf looks sey kuch nahin hota,mera talent bhi unkey jesa ho jaye,acting unki jesi kar paun, ya bankbalance unkey jesa ho tab kuch baat ho.(laughs)�What is there in the pipeline?
Apart from TV, I am doing differentthings. I am a part of jury in the panelof a film festival, so I am busy with that.I am also planning to become a producer,so writing scripts for the same. Whetherthey work out or not, time will tell.
!���3����%����.�%��� ������ ��One’s instant visualisation of an
Aghori is that of an ash-smearedman with intense eyes, sporting
dreadlocks and reciting verses of Shivaand spirituality. While it may not be apleasant sight, getting into the characterof an Aghori is even more tediousaccording to actor Parag Tyagi whoessays the character of Aghori Rudranathin Zee TV’s upcoming show Ek Shakti..Ek Aghori. Moving away from his usuallook, Parag is taking all efforts to lendcredibility to his role and transformconvincingly into an Aghori prototype.
It might sound unbelievable at firstbut the changeover is a big investmentand Parag takes close to five hours to getinto his character look. The make-up isa detailed and technical process as his wigweighs 4 kilograms and is 3 feet long. Theoverall makeup and styling take almost4 hours while a lot of time also goes intosmearing ash all over his body.
Elaborating on the process of getting
the look right, Parag said: “I am veryexcited about the show and this uniquecharacter that I am playing. To get intothe skin of an Aghori is not easy and itrequires a lot of preparation and time. Iam not a big fan of long hair but my lookdemands it along with dreadlocks whichis a tiring process. Transformation forroles has become a regular affair for meas for the last few movies which I wasfilming down South, I had to bulk up.On the other hand, for Ek Shakti.. EkAghori, I had to lose six-seven inches. Ilike to believe that convincing portrayalof any role is very important and I amalways up for a little challenge. I havealways had the support of a great themand I hope the viewers like our work andappreciate our efforts.”
A story of love, mysticism, anddeceit, Zee TV’s next high-strung fictionoffering Ek Shakti.. Ek Aghori will shatterall the stereotypes surrounding love andhappy endings
It’s celebration time for the cast of ZeeTV’s Manmohini as the show hits a
century. The show, so far, intrigued theviewers with an unconventional fantasydrama of 500-year-old long last timelesslove, revenge, desire, and obsession ofa sorceress featuring lead actors AnkitSiwach (Ram and Rana sa), ReyhnaPandit (Mohini) and Garima SinghRathore (Siya). In a short span of time,the show received a lot of appreciationfrom the audience and had themrooting for their favorite on-screencharacters. Recently, the cast and crewgot together on the sets of the show tocelebrate this milestone and cut a caketo mark the occasion.
Manmohini started off by theinteresting journey of Ram travellingto Behraamgarh and an enchantressMohini desperately attempting toremind him of their past. But at everystep, Mohini was countered by Ram’swife Siya who tried to stop Mohinifrom using her malicious powers. Asthe drama continues to unfold, viewerswill be in for an interesting twist as theshow is now set to take 1-year leap. Postleap, the storyline will focus on Ramand Mohini wherein Ram is nowcompletely in control of Mohini andhas no memory of Siya or of beingmarried to her. On the other hand, Siyais in a faraway land and decides to cometo Behraamgarh haveli in a disguise sothat Ram and Mohini don’t recogniseher.
Talking about the celebrations,excited Ankit said: “The show has givenme a lot of recognition in a very shortspan of time. Playing Ram character
has been an enriching experience andthe unconditional love and supportshowered by all my fans and viewershas motivated me to do good work. Iwould like to thank my fans from thebottom of my heart and hope that theywill continue to support the show in thefuture as well.” Popular actor ReyhnaPandit added, “It feels really great thatour show has successfully completed100 episodes. I am really thankful to allthe fans who have loved Mohini andManmohini and supported us throughthis incredible journey. It feels greatwhen your hard work pays off and itdefinitely calls for a celebration. GarimaShared, “I am extremely elated asManmohini is my very first show andI feel great to receive so much love fromthe audience and I can’t thank everyoneenough.”
��������������#������It’s truly said that the recipe of a successful
marriage never comes with a manual. But itseems like popular actor Hussain Kuwajerwalahas his own secret recipe to keep the spark alive.Gracing the sets of Kitchen Champion with hiswife Tina as his companion, Hussain will be seencompeting against his close friend Iqbal Khanwho will be joined by his wife Sneha.
The romantic duo, Hussain and Tina areinseparable and are known to give high couplegoals. Witnessing their fabulous chemistry,host Arjun Bijlani curiously asked Hussain aboutthe success of their happy married life duringthe cook off battle. An excited Hussainresponded that the secret behind this is the ‘threeS’ which captured the attention of the viewers.
Replying to Arjun, Hussain Kuwajerwalasaid, “I believe that every marriage has its ownbeauty. For me the success of our marriage is thethree ‘S’ that I follow. They stand for ‘Sorry’, ‘Sunraha hoon na baby’ and ‘Silence’, when youreligiously follow this at the right time, you areat the merrier side of it. Hence, Tina and I don’tfight at all”
Ram and RJD candidateGhuran Ram today filednominations for Lok Sabhapolls flanked by Chief MinisterRaghubar Das and Leader ofOpposition in Bihar AssemblyTejashwi Prasad Yadavrespectively in Medininagaron Saturday. The twocandidates after filingnomination papers amid muchpomp and show also heldpublic meetings in the town.
BJP’s Palamu candidate,VD Ram, who happens to be aformer DGP of the State,thanked the people of hisconstituency and said that hisparty will register win in allseats of Jharkhand. He hailedthe works done by BJP ledgovernment at the Centre andasked the people to support theparty for bringing all rounddevelopment in the country.
Speaking to media personsafter the nomination processChief Minister Raghubar Das,said that the people of the
nation would realise the pledgeof 400 plus seats in 2019 LokSabha elections. He said thatthe NDA will win in all theseats of the State and help theBJP get historic mandate.
Das said that the Congressfor 55 years nurtured richpeople and betrayed the poorpeople. “In previous Lok Sabhapolls people made son of a poorman the Prime Minister of thecountry after being fed upwith the UPA’s corruption,nepotism and favouritism. Heimplemented various schemesfor the welfare of poor andsocially excluded people. Thedouble engine government atthe Centre and the Statebrought development andtightened noose aroundterrorism. India got a distinct
place in the world in leadershipof Modi ji,” he said.
The CM said that whileopposing PM Modi theCongress party have startedopposing issues of nationalinterest. “The‘Mahagathbandhan’ has beenformed to save the politics offamily and dynasty. In thiselection, democracy will bestrengthened while the dynastyand family politics will beeliminated from the country.BJP is a party established forcultural nationalism withdevelopment,” he said.
Talking about developmentin Palamu, Das said thatPalamu is the land of farmerswho provide foodgrains.“Government has thoughtmuch about farmers and given
respect to them. The fundsgiven to farmers for seeds,compost has brought them outof the clutches of the moneylenders. The government isincreasing irrigation facilities inthe district through mandalDam and other irrigationschemes. Emphasis is beinggiven on women'sempowerment through Sakhimandals. Also, Jharkhandgovernment is the first
government, which has givenjobs to more than one lakhunemployed in a day.”
Minister RamchandraChandravanshi, MLARadhakrishna Kishore,Satyendra Nath Tiwari, AlokChaurasia, Palamu District BJPpresident Narender PandeyGarwa District BJP presidentOm Prakash Keeshari and Statemedia charge Shiv PujanPathak.
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Housing and UrbanDevelopment Minister CP
Singh lashed out at Congressparty today and said that theparty mentioned in itsmanifesto that it will remove124(A), of Indian Penal Code,which defines charges againstsedition, because the party hassoft corner with the extremistsand it is trying to get votes onthe basis of fear of extremists.
Addressing a press meet atthe party headquarter here onSaturday, Singh said that theCongress party has a goodrapport with the separatists andleft wing extremists and on thebasis of them the party haschalked out strategy to frightenthe voters to get their votes onthe basis of fear in theupcoming general elections.
Mentioning the name of ahardcore extremist and areacommander of Tritiya PrastutiCommittee (TPC) resident ofHurnali village under Simariapolice station in Chatra district,Niraj Ganjhu alias Niraj Bhoktason of Punit Ganjhu alias PunitBhokta, Singh said that Ganjhuis facing various criminal
charges including Murder andExtortion and at present he ison bail.
“Ganjhu has good rapportwith the Congress party leadersand he is trying to get the partytickets from Kankey StateAssembly seats in theupcoming State AssemblyElections. Ganjhu is in touchwith various senior leader ofthe Congress party includingformer Union Minister,Subodhkant Sahai, StateCongress Chief, Ajoy Kumarand Congress Legislature Partyleader Alam Gir Alam. TPChas good hold in Chatra and
Hazaribagh districts.” Singh also showed photos
of Ganjhu with Ajoy Kumarand Alamgir Alam in supportof his allegation. Criticising theCongress Party on theoccasion, Singh said thatwaving National f lag ofPakistan at the time ofnomination programme of theparty’s National presidentRahul Gandhi’s in Wayanadconstituency shows that howmuch the party has soft cornerswith the extremist. “But it is notgood for the Country. A personcan’t wave flag of enemy’scountry in India,” he added.
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State BJPSpokeperson Pratul
Shahdeo today said thatthe Opposition’s Thugcoalition has startedworking according toits name. Speaking to mediapersons in a press conference inChandwa today Shahdeo saidthat the coalition has staged thedrama of unity before peopleand has started cheating them.
“Now, after seat sharing,different parties have startedcheating each other. In Chatra,Congress and RJD both havefielded their candidates. InGodda, Congress leader FurkanAnsari’s daughter is contestingelection against JVM’s PradeepYadav and Furkan Ansari hasannounced to support her. InPalamu, Dulal Bhuiyan iscontesting the election,” he said.
“Apart from this, there are
six more seats wherethe coalition partnersof the so called grandalliance are gettingready to field theircandidates. Acoalition madewithout any policy
and principles meets the sameend. The BJP has beenconsidering since the beginningthat the next election is betweenChowkidars led by NarendraModi and Baildars (Those whoare out on bail) led by RahulGandhi. The people will againmake BJP win with a hugemargin of votes,” he added.
Answering to a question,Shahdeo said that it appearsthat the Congress manifestohas been made on the opinionsof extremists and separatists. Itis, therefore, the party hasstated in its manifesto aboutremoving AFSPA and seditionlaw, he added.
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In an attempt to increaseawareness among common
masses and improve workingefficiency in tax practitionerson various issues of TaxationLaw in Jharkhand, All IndiaFederation of Tax Practitioners(AIFTP), Eastern Zone withJharkhand Income Tax BarAssociation, Ranchi andJharkhand Commercial TaxBar Association, Ranchi jointlyorganised a two-day NationalTax Conference (NTC) in theState capital on Saturday onsubject of ‘New Tax Laws –Impact and Promotion’.
While inauguration themega event as Chief GuestSupreme Court Justice, VinitSaran said that paying tax isnecessary in building of thenation. In this process tax payersand tax practitioners play avery important role. Propercounting of tax and properpayments of tax is necessary for
development of the country. National president, AIFTP,
Ashok Sarraf said that theunion organises the event ontime to time to improve workefficiency of the taxpractitioners and such kinds ofprogramme proved beneficialfor them. “The main objectiveto organise the conference toimprove good working skill intax practitioners and to simplifythe tax laws to increase incomeof the country which can makeIndia as world’s number oneeconomy,” he added.
Around 700 delegates fromacross the Country have cometo participate in the two dayconference to discuss onvarious issues of the taxationlaws. Such kind of mega eventon taxation is organising inRanchi after eight years. Otherthan Supreme Court JusticeVinit Saran, Chief Justice,Jharkhand High Court (HC),Anirudh Bose was also presentas special guest with all judgesof the HC. The Income TaxAppellate Tribunal presidentPP Bhatt and three vice
presidents including PMJagtaap, Pramod Kumar andGS Pannu were present there toensure success of the event.
After the inaugural sessionof the programme five technicalsessions took place, in whichspecialists from across thecountry addressed on variousimplications of taxations.Detailed discussions on variousissues of Income Tax and Goodsand Services Tax to how simplifythem took place. The discussionalso benefitted tax practitionersas well as common man.
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As per the new regulationsissued by the Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI), customers now notonly have the freedom tochoose the television channelsthey wish to watch but also payaccordingly. This rule has been
enforced upon all DTH andcable TV service providers likeAirtel, Tata Sky, Dish TV, cableand multi system operatorslike GTPL, Siti cable to namea few. The deadline for theviewers to choose the channelsof their choice was March 31.
According to TRAI, thebase pack for all broadcasters
is Rs. 130 plus 18 per cent GSTamounting to a total of Rs. 154per month. This includes 100channels and the mandatoryPrasar Bharati ones. If a viewerwishes to watch more thanthese 100 channels, it can bedone so at an additional cost ofRs. 20 per month for another25 channels.
Even though the viewersnow have the freedom, they arestill unable to figure out on howto select the channels. Theresidents of the State capital arein utter confusion on how toget the maximum value fortheir money.
“I had taken an annualpack from December 2018-
December 2019. Since this newrule has been implemented inFebruary 2019, I don’t knowhow the money which hasalready been paid will beadjusted. Even though I haveselected the channels I wish towatch, there are no kids’channels available in any of thenew packages. Also now one
has to pay for each channelseparately like Star Plus, StarGold, Star World have to bemarked and paid forindividually and not as apackage”, said Amrita Kumar-a Tata Sky consumer.
Similarly Vinita Roy, aGTPL subscriber remarked,“If you subscribe for the most
expensive pack which is for Rs650, you get all the channels,but then if you wish to opt fora slightly cheaper pack, itbecomes very confusing as ithas a number of channels onedoes not want. The cableoperators also push you totake the expensive packs. Alsothere is a lot of disturbance
regarding the telecast since thepast month.”
Puja, a young Tata Skyviewer feels that the newsystem is making a fool of thecustomers. “Earlier in mymonthly pack of Rs. 890, Iwould get about 150 channels,but now for a monthly rental ofRs. 842- I only get 63 channels.”
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Enhancing the basic urbanutility networks ensuring
uniform municipal planning,the State’s biggest Urban LocalBody (ULB) has espoused anew mode to avert drainagesclogging. The RanchiMunicipal Corporation (RMC)is the first civic body ofJharkhand to take up theinitiative of drainages mappingbesides just accomplishing theproject of constructingdrainages, releasing monetaryassistance at a regular intervalfor restructuring the drains.
Drainage clogging is one ofthe most common civicproblems during the monsoonshere that often create mess forthe public while appearing asa major challenge for the RMC.
In the first of its kind attempt,the civic guardians will draft aproper blueprint of all drainscovering all 53 wards aftercompleting the survey.
The MunicipalCorporation has roped in over117 students of Department ofGeography of Marwari College,Ranchi for the comprehensivesurvey in association with thestaffs of RMC. In accordance toRMC City Manager (SanitationCell), the assessment of alldrainages is likely to getcomplete within 10 days. Eachstudent engaged in this projectwill get a stipend of Rs. 2,000.
“On April 16, aconsolidated report will besubmitted to RMC Officer(Health) describing all details.During the survey, details liketotal number of drainages,
number of streets, sources ofdrainages and its main points,areas with maximum andminimum drainages will bedescribed in the report,” saidRMC City Manager (SanitationCell), Sandeep Kumar.
“The survey would notonly aid in maintaining aproper record but will help theMunicipal Corporation indeploying labourers includingother resources in accordanceto the requirement of eachward,” added Kumar.
However, this is not for thefirst time when the civic bodyhas made an attempt todocument the status ofdrainages in the State Capital,since 2018, the officials here aretrying to accomplish the task ofmapping drainages acrossRanchi.
The regular vehicle checkingand cash seizures ahead of
election has left the localtraders and businessmen whodeal in cash worried as theyfear being hassled by theinspecting officers.
The Federation ofJharkhand Chamber ofCommerce and Industries(FJCCI) has been gettingseveral cases wherebusinessmen were stopped bypolice for carrying hugeamount of cash and had to faceunnecessary questioning.
FJCCI president, DeepakKumar Maroo said, “Thebusinessmen are facingproblems and we have haddiscussion about it with thechief election officer of theState too. However, we will also
have to understand that this isa mandatory step to stop wrongpractices. We are ready to facethese problems until anynuisance is not created by theinspecting officer."
He added, "If the moneycaught is for genuine businesspurpose, it should be seizedand our staff should not bebothered."
Citing a recent case thatoccurred in Gumla district,Maroo informed that theinspecting party captured themoney of a businessman andasked him to collect it afterelections. “We informed thelocal chamber of commercethere and after intervention themoney was released,” he said.
The FJCCI chairpersoninformed that the federation istaking this matter seriouslyand requested businessmen to
approach them if they face anyproblem. "The CEO hasassured us that there will be noproblem for the businessmenand if we come across suchcases we should bring it to hisnotice so he can take care of it,"he said.
Another major issue theFJCCI is concerned about isseizure of vehicles used forgoods transportation. Usually,the officers ask the truck driversto carry election related materialfrom one district to other, whichoften leads to delay in supply ofconsignments, thus hamperingthe business. "While the EC hadtold us that they wouldn’t seizetrucks this time, a matter cameto light from Lohardagayesterday when a truck wasstopped. We will again approachthe CEO regarding this," Maroosaid.
interesting. In spite of mutualdifferences with partners in theGrand Alliance, the Congress,which has compromised onfewer seats, is quite convincedof the triumph of its candidates.There is considerableenthusiasm among theCongress leaders, workers andthe organisation is also seenfirmly on the grassroots level.Bihar's Congress in-charge,Shakti Singh Gohil, has madea lot of efforts to bringexperienced and new leaders ofBihar together. His influencehas become visible in the party.
Under the seat agreementin Bihar, the Congress hasfielded its candidates fromnine places.
Former Union Minister andsenior Congress leader MatangSingh is on a tour of Bihar.Speaking on the basis of caste
equations and candidateselection, he said that theCongress will perform very wellin Bihar due to propercoordination between RahulGandhi and Congress unit in theState the party will win at least sixseats in Bihar. He further said,“Sasaram has been our traditionalseat, so it will come in our kitty.We will definitely win on seatsthat we had won earlier.
In the 40 Lok Sabha seatsof Bihar, Congress is trying
hard on Kishanganj, Katihar,Purnia, Samastipur, Munger,Patna Sahib, Sasaram, ValmikiNagar and Supaul. Polling willbegin on April 11 in Bihar andwill run till the last phase i.e.May 19. For the 40 seats ofBihar, polling is beingconducted in seven phases.Political parties are makingtheir own claims on variousseats, but the estimation offormer Union Minister MatangSingh cannot be circumvented.
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In view of Ramnavmiprocession, East Singhbhum
district administration is all setto place a strict securityarrangement with a specialfocus on eve teasing andhooligans.
The administration as partof its security measures hasdecided to ensure electronicsurveillance duringRamnavami procession to keepan eye on rowdy elements,who often create nuisance,during the religious processionespecially as it passes throughcommunally sensitive areas.
The steel city will witnessaround 185-odd licensed RamNavami akharas informed
Jamshedpur Durga PujaKendriya Samiti ( JDPKS), theapex body which monitorsboth the festivals.
The grand Ram Navamiimmersion procession which istaken out by the respectiveakhara committees will takeplace on April 15.
"We have also startedinspecting the river ghats forChaiti Chhath which will becelebrated for two days onApril 11 and 12," said RamBabu Singh, general secretaryof JDPKS. According to Singh,this year the festivals are takingplace in the election season. "The deputy commissioner andSenior SP will hold a meetingwith various akhara committeeand peace committee members
either on April 7 and 8. At themeeting instructions andnecessary guidelines will beissued to the akharas ," he said.
Jamshedpur Notified AreaCommittee ( JNAC) and TataSteel subsidiary, Jusco willcarry out necessary cleanlinessof the river ghats. In all there
are 14 ghatsidentified for thepurpose of RamN a v a m ii m m e r s i o nprocession “Wewant to ensurefool proof securityarrangements. Wehave decided toinstall 12 CCTVcameras onimportant roads.
This would be in addition tothe CCTV cameras alreadyinstalled on roads of Sakchi andBistupur by the district policeto keep an eye on troublemongers. Recordings wouldbe observed by city police at thepolice control room,” said theofficial.
The administration isserious in ensuring first aid andambulance services during thefestivity and the procession.Directives were issued to all theAkharas committees to strictlyabide by the rules laid out intheir licences especiallypertaining to use ofloudspeakers (publicamplifiers).
The administration hasalso directed the respectivelocal urban bodies, Jusco anddrinking water and sanitationdepartment for arranging watertankers during procession.
A police official said that allpolice stations have been askedto interact with local akharascommittee on a regular basisfor a peaceful festival.
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Ateam of Excise along withthe Saria police unearthed
six illegal liquor factory inOrwatard area of Saria. Duringthe raid, the team recoveredillegal liquor in large quantityalong with modern machinery,10 quintal raw material, emptybottles, labels, and drums fromthe spot.
?The team was unable toarrest any culprits while all ofthem who were present on thespot managed to escape. So far,the team has recoveredhundred plastic jars containinghuge quantities of local mademahua liquor and raw materialin large quantity.
Circle Inspector and
station in -Charge BindeshwariDas said, “We had received theinformation from the Exciseofficials to conduct a raid at sixlocal factory in Orwatardvillage area. So far we have notregistered any FirstInformation Report in thiscase as the factory is having thelarge quantity of illicit liquorand other material used forpreparing the liquor. TheExcise Department teams arecalculating the seizure andonce the process is complete,further action will be takenaccordingly. As of now, wecannot disclose all the detailsand relevant action as per lawwill surely be taken once theprocess of counting iscomplete.”
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International Football playerAjay Singh and his wife
Anjola (International Archer)were convicted by the districtcourt Bokaro as they werefound guilty under arms actand sentencing will take placeon 10 April.
Ranjeet Kumar, AdditionalSessions Judge of Fast trackcourt Bokaro district foundthe guilty under arms act andconvicted them on Friday,informed SK Jha AdditionalPublic Prosecutor of DistrictCourt Bokaro adding,“sentencing will be done on 10April.”
On 15 February 2018 policeconducted raid at Ajay’s housein the murder case of a youthSunil Kumar. During the raidpolice recovered severalunlicensed firearms in Ajay’shouse including a carbine, threepistols and 13 live bullets. At thattime his wife Anjola was athome, on concealment chargeshe was arrested, he said.
According to the police, on17 February 2018, Ajaysurrendered before the court inthe murder case of Sunil butlater he was acquitted by thecourt.
On February 14, 2018, Ajayhad a fight with his wife afterwhich he fired indiscriminately,killed friend Sunil Gupta on thespot and injured anotherAmresh Kumar Singh. Later acase was filed and policeconducted raid on Ajay’s house,police said.
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Residents in the poshPhusro, Kathara and
Bokaro Thermal woke up tothe black dust on Fridaymorning. The stretch onBermo, road from Phusrotowards Kathara and Gomiawas covered with mounds ofcoal spilled from theoverloaded dumpers andtrucks, making it difficult forthe commuters and morningjoggers who had to cover theirfaces.
The entire road from JainaMore towards Kathara viaPhusro is facing the coal dustproblem since long time.Despite various representationsfrom the environment activiststo curb the nuisance, thedistrict authorities includingPhusro Municipal Corporationare yet to initiate action.
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MGM School PrincipalFather R Vargis was
allegedly cheated of Rs 4lakh by cyber criminals. Helodged a case againstunidentified fraudsters, atsector 4 police station.
According to the FIR,the fraudsters trapped FatherVargis by sending him anonline notice demanding Rs4 lakhs against their schoolincome. Through a fakewebsite of Human ResourcesDevelopment, Governmentof India’s they asked him paythe amount and given bankaccount number of IndusIndBank, New Delhi.
Later Father Vargisdeposited the said amount inthat bank account.
A case has beenregistered and we areinvestigating into the matter,said Vinod Kumar OC ofSector 4 police station.
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Representatives of JharkhandParents Association (JPA)
on Saturday conducted ameeting in New Delhi with theState Heads of ParentsAssociation regarding thearbitrariness of private schools.
With as many as fivedemands, the representativeswill consult the political leadersin a few days. Over 18 StateHeads participated in themeeting to discuss the furthercourse of action. Members ofJPA have been agitating sincelong to curb the monopoly ofprivate schools operating acrossthe State.
“Representatives of 18States have kept their views onschool monopoly. All theiropinions are being drafted.Soon a meeting will be
conducted with the leaders ofdifferent political parties. Themembers of ParentsAssociation of each State whohad participated in the meetinghave unanimously added thatin this Lok Sabha poll- 2019,only that party will get thesupport that will take the issuesof parents with priority,” saidAjay Rai of JPA.
Recommendations such asimplementation of RTE uptoclass 12, enforcement ofHaryana Education Act, onenation one education policy, oncomplaints to State EducationDepartment/State CPCR/CBSEin a time bound frame,publication of audited annualaccount statements on theprivate schools website,constitution of national parentsbody was given during themeeting.
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Ajoint team of the 26thCRPF battalion and
Bokaro police recovered a hugecache of arms, Ammunitionand explosives from Asanapaniforest area in Jhumra hillyregions under the JageshwarVihar police station in Bokarodistrict on Saturday,said BokaroSP P. Murgon.
Informing about the detailsof seizure, the Bokaro SP saidcord Tex wire 2 bundles,oneloaded gun,giletin sticis 38 pc,electric detonators 7pc,grenades 2pc ,livecartridges.315 bore 72 pc,livecartridges of 7.62 bore 73pc,one Insas magazine,uria one kg, s u l p h u r , 1 0 0 g r a m s ,Ammonition ,naxal postersand and other explosives werefound burried in the iron boxnear Asanapani forestarea,added SP.
The seized items indicatethat they were buried there onlya few days ago, he added. CRPFcammandant Akhilesh KumarSingh confirmed the materials
were buried by the extremists,at a place near the Jhumra andthe intension of the extremistswas to blow up patrollingpersonnel crossing the road.
The ammunitions andexplosives were kept there tocounter attack the securityforces. The Maoists once again
want to recapture the Jhumrahills which was one of theirsafest training centre,commandant added. CRPFassistant commandant ManojDon said: “The operation lastedfor three hours and one platoonof the CRPF along with thepolice teams of Jageshwar Vihar,
Gomia reached the cave after agrueling trek across the jungle.”
He further said that theinformation about the armsand explosives materials wasreceived on Saturday morningand the CRPF, and policepersonnel were advised to bealert while patrolling.
From Page 1an RJD ticket and was defeatedin 2014 by BJP’s Neera Yadav.While political gurus may seeher switch to BJP as a decisionmotivated by the desire of aparliamentary ticket, she stuckto her stand on Saturday,claiming that she wasinfluenced by the BJP’sideologies and wanted to servethe party.
“I did not join the party onan assurance of getting a ticket.All I wanted to do was to workas a dedicated party worker. Iappreciate the trust they havebestowed upon me and wish todo my best for the party,” Devisaid.
However, she has a toughbattle ahead as former ChiefMinister and Jharkhand VikasMorcha (JVM) supremoBabulal Marandi will contestagainst her under the grandalliance umbrella in Koderma.Marandi, one of the veterans ofJharkhand’s politics, is a forceto reckon with. Devi, however,sounded unfazed by thechallenges ahead.
“The people of Kodermahave always supported me andI have complete faith in them,”she said.
BJP’s Ranchi candidateSanjay Seth, who will contesthis first election this year,thanked Party’s NationalPresident Amit Shah forbestowing his trust upon him.Before taking charge as theKhadi Board chief, Seth was anactive member of NaMoMantra Jharkhand, a fan clubof Prime Minister NarendraModi, started by a few BJPleaders.
Winning this election,however, may turn out to be adaunting task for Seth since hewill be pitted against Congressparty’s former Union Ministerand four times MP SubodhKant Sahay in Ranchi.
“The contest in Ranchiwill be between nationalismand the ideology of separatism.The people of Ranchi willensure that BJP gets at least 400Lok Sabha seats this time,”Seth said.
With the announcement ofSeth’s name for the Ranchiseat, a voice of dissent fromincumbent BJPparliamentarian Ram TahalChoudhary echoed onSaturday. Soon after the newsbroke, he said that he willcontest the elections as anindependent candidate and filehis nomination on April 17from Ranchi.
“The BJP thinks I shouldretire, but the voters do notthink so. I don’t care who theparty fielded, I will contestelections for sure,” he said.
From Page 1In 2017, two alumni of
DPS cleared the examination.Principal, Ram Singhcongratulated all the formerstudents. He said that thesuccess rate is increasing everyyear and achievements likethese act as a motivation forother students of DPS.
Debraj Das, presentlyworking at Mecon Ltd in theoffice of director commercial,bagged the 529th rank in theexamination. A graduate inmechanical engineering fromIIT Kharagpur, Das clearedthe examination in his thirdattempt by self study.
Shubhendu BhushanVerma and Rahul Dubey ofGarhwa district bagged the120th and 365th ranks,respectively, in the civil servicesexaminations.
This was second attemptfor Shubhendu, son ofShailendra Kumar Verma and
Kalawanti Verma and aresident of Sihajna Mohalla ofthe town. He completed hismatriculation examination in2008 from RK Public School. In2011, he had cleared IIT with227th rank across country andcompleted engineering fromIIT Kanpur, before taking up ajob in a private company.
He informed that it was hisdesire to become an IAS officeand serve the country sincechildhood.
Another aspirant, RahulDubey, a native of Banpurwavillage also cleared theexamination with 365th rank.He was working as a softwareengineer in USA before hedecided to quit his job andprepare for the UPSCexamination.
Other districts from whereaspirants cleared theexamination were Dumka,Hazaribahg, Madhupur andPalamu.
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The BJP on Saturday criti-cised the Opposition par-
ties alleging that they werestrengthening the hands ofthose harbouring terrorism by“distrusting” the Governmentand the armed forces. The rul-ing party was reacting toqueries on Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan accusingthe BJP of “whipping up warhysteria” and making a “falseclaim” of downing an F-16aircraft.
Railway Minister PiyushGoyal said it was deplorablethat the Opposition was tryingto strengthen the argument ofthe neighbouring country withits attitude. “Here the PrimeMinister Modi sends the airforce to cross the line of con-trol, get into Pakistan, attackterrorism at its roots in Balakot,and on the other hand, theOpposition is trying to
strengthen the arguments ofthe neighbouring country,” hesaid.
“When you have peoplelike Sam Pitroda and FarooqAbdullah and other Congressleaders, distrusting their ownGovernment and their ownarmed forces, obviously you aregoing to strengthen the hand ofthe people and the parties,and the countries, who areharbouring terrorism,” the BJPleader said at a press conferencewhen asked about Khan’sremarks. Goyal said, “It is ashame and completelydeplorable attitude of theOpposition parties.”
National Conference pres-ident Farooq Abdullah onSaturday accused the Modi-ledGovernment of “lying” to thenation on the Balakot air strikeand shooting down of aPakistani F-16 in the aerialdogfight between the IndianAir Force (IAF) and the
Pakistan Air Force (PAF).“He (Modi) said we shot
down their (Pakistani) fighter
plane F-16. Now, the US hascome up saying all thePakistani F-16s are counted.
Not one has been shot down.There must be some basis foreven lies, Modi ji. How long
will you lie to people. And didyou win (the battle)? HasPakistan disappeared? Whyare you lying? Do you think theHindus will buy into all this?”Abdullah said.
Pitroda, Indian OverseasCongress chief, had last monthtold media that one cannot“jump on entire nation”(Pakistan) just because somepeople from there “came hereand attacked”. In an apparent
reference to Pulwama terrorattack, the Congress leadersaid attacks happen all thetime and then referred to theMumbai terror attack in 2008when the Congress-led UPAwas in power, saying the thengovernment could have sent itsplanes but that is “not theright approach”.
Taking to Twitter, PakistanPrime Minister Imran Khansaid on Saturday, “The truth
always prevails and is alwaysthe best policy. BJP’s attempt towin elections through whip-ping up war hysteria and falseclaims of downing a Pak F-16has backfired with US Defenceofficials also confirming that noF-16 was missing fromPakistan’s fleet.”
Washington-based ForeignPolicy magazine reported onThursday that American per-sonnel had recently countedthe Pakistan Air Force (PAF) F-16s and found none of theplanes missing.
It had quoted two seniorUS defence officials with directknowledge of the situation.The Indian Air Force, howev-er, stuck to its stand on Friday,saying that it had conclusiveproof of shooting down a PAFF-16 on February 27.
Reacting to the ForeignPolicy report, Prime MinisterKhan took to Twitter to criti-cise the ruling BJP.
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Situation on the border espe-cially Line of Control (LoC)
with Pakistan post Pulwamaattack on February 14 withceasefire violations on the LoCunabated and operational pre-paredness to deal with anythreat on the Line of ActualControl (LAC) facing Chinawill figure prominently duringthe week long Army comman-ders conference here beginningMonday.
The top brass will reviewthe situation in Jammu &Kashmir after India carriedout air strikes on February 26and Pakistan’s retaliation onFebruary 27. Since then theLoC is “hot” with Pakistanrelentlessly violating ceasefire.
“Important issues that arelikely to be discussed are man-agement of the extant securitydynamics, mitigation of futuresecurity threats and enhance-ment of combat edge overpotential adversaries,” theArmy said in a statement issuedon Saturday.
It said the conference, to bechaired by Chief of Army StaffGeneral Bipin Rawat, willdeliberate on specific issuesrelating to Army formationsand the Army as a whole. Thecommanders will also deliber-ate on infrastructure develop-ment along India’s border withChina, laying of strategic rail-way lines and ways to optimise“limited budget” to ensuremaking up of critical deficien-cy in ammunition, officialssaid. They said implementa-tion of critical projects includ-ing construction of several keyroads along the border withChina will also be discussed.
Issues relating to adminis-
tration and welfare of troopswill be discussed in detail forplanning and execution, theArmy said adding the com-manders will also deliberate onEx-servicemen ContributoryHealth Scheme (ECHS). TheArmy commanders will alsoreview implementation of var-ious reform measures in theforce.
The opening address atthe conference, to be held fromApril 8 to 14, will be deliveredby Defence Minister NirmalaSitharaman. Army comman-ders’ conference is held bian-nually for formulating impor-tant policy decisions throughcollegiate deliberations.
External Affairs Minister andsenior BJP leader Sushma
Swaraj on Saturday askedCongress president RahulGandhi to “try to maintainsome decorum”, responding tohis comment that PrimeMinister Narendra Modikicked his guru LK Advani out.
Her rebuke on Twittercame a day after the Congresspresident slammed the BJPand PM Modi over denial ofticket to veteran leader LKAdvani in Gujarat’sGandhinagar, the parliamen-tary seat he won six times.
“BJP talks of Hinduism. In
Hinduism, the guru is supreme.It talks of guru-shishya tradi-tion. Who is Modi’s guru?Advani. Modi just kickedAdvani out,” Rahul had said.
Swaraj, in a sharp rebuttal,
tweeted: “#Advaniji Rahulji -Advani ji is our father figure.Your words have hurt usdeeply. Please try to maintainsome decorum of your speech.(sic)”
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The BJP on Saturdayreplaced Union Minister
Uma Bharti with AnuragSharma as party’s nomineefrom Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh,Lok Sabha while dropping tensitting MPs. Anurag Sharma,the new candidate from Jahnsi,is the owner of BaidhyanathGroup.
Bharti had alreadyannounced that she would notcontest the elections . Anotherwoman Union MinisterSushma Swaraj (MP fromVidisha, MP) had also optedout from Lok Sabha poll citinghealth reasons. This weekSpeaker Sumitra Mahajan saidshe was not aspiring for the LokSabha ticket and party was freeto nominate anyone from herIndore, MP, seat.
The party announced 24candidates includes eight can-didates in Haryana, four eachin Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan,and three each in MadhyaPradesh and Jharkhand. Partyhas dropped ten sitting MPs
including Bharti and five-timeMP from Ranchi Ram TahalChoudhary. BJP has alsodropped Banda (UP) LokSabha MP Bhairon PrasadMishra and replaced him byRK Patel, while Nilam Sonkarhas retained her Lalganj seat.From Phulpur, the party hasfielded Keshri Devi Patel.
The BJP also announced its
candidates for one seat each inWest Bengal and Odisha.
With this, the party has sofar announced 407 candidatesfor the seven-phase Lok Sabhapolls which will start on April11 and continue till May 19.The counting of the votes willtake place on May 23.
According to sources, BJP’slist of seven candidates forDelhi is ready and will bereleased the moment Congress-AAP take a official call on theirtie-up. A decision on thealliance may come within a dayor two. BJP may drop some ofthe exiting party MPs. Formercricket Guatam Gambir whojoined BJP recently is said tobe a potential candidate one ofthe seats, sources said.
Meanwhile Former vicechief of Army staff LieutenantGeneral (retd) Sarath Chandjoined the BJP on Saturday inpresence of External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj.
Sarath Chand was com-missioned into the GarhwalRifles in June 1979 and retiredas vice chief of Indian Army on
June 1 last year. He has been inactive combat leadership rolesat every stage of command inthe Army.
“In today’s global scenario,the country needs a strongleadership. I was inspired byPrime Minister NarendraModi’s leadership that’s why Iam joining BJP,” said Chand.
Continuing its attack onthe Congress close to the firstphase of poll on April 11, theBJP on accused the Congress ofmaking multiple false promis-es in its election manifestos of2004 and 2009 and said peopleare smart enough to not bemisled by such promises thistime. “For us, manifesto is avery important document. Theway Congress takes its mani-festo, and the way it has beenmaking false promises...Thiscountry’s people are smartenough to reject such falsepromises,” said RailwayMinister Piyush Goyal at apress conference at the BJPoffice here.
“Through lying and bymaking false statements, this
country’s people can not bemisled,” he added.
Going into the detail,Goyal said, “Congress made bigpromises in all of its previousmanifestos. In 2004 and in2009, the Congress promisedthat it will provide directincome to farmers. After run-ning the government for 10years, they did not do anythingabout it.”
Goyal said it was under theModi government that a deci-sion was taken to give �6,000to poor farmers. “It was imple-mented within 24 days, andcurrently, all poor farmers havestarted getting annual �6,000assistance,” he said, referring tothe first installment of �2,000released by the government.
Goyal also accused theCongress of making the falsepromise of providing electric-ity to every home in the coun-try in 2004 — and again in2009. “The then Congress pres-ident even said in 2004 thatwithin 3-5 years, we will pro-vide electricity to every home,”he said.
In her first address in 2019ahead of the upcoming Lok
Sabha polls, chairperson of theUnited Progressive Alliance(UPA) Sonia Gandhi onSaturday tore into the BJP onthe issue of nationalism, sayingpeople who refused to acceptthe diversity of India were call-ing themselves patriots.
Addressing People’sAgenda-Jan Sarokar 2019 inNew Delhi, Sonia said theModi Government has“destroyed the institutions”during the past five years.
“The way the soul of ournation is being trampled for thepast some time through a well-planned conspiracy is a matterof great concern,” she saidadding, “Regressive forces havesystematically dismantled ourinstitutions. The currentGovernment has underminedthe welfare architecture thatwas laid down over last 65
years.”Sonia hit out at the BJP
alleging that it does not respectdiversity of India. “New defin-ition of patriotism is beingtaught to us today. Thoserejecting diversity are beinglabeled as patriots.Discrimination among ourown citizen is being justified onthe basis of caste, religion andideology,” the UPA chairpersonsaid.
The Congress leaderclaimed that the ManmohanSingh led UPA Government
worked spearheaded policiesthat helped shaping the dreamsand aspirations of crores ofIndians.
“When the UPA was inpower, under the leadership ofDr. Manmohan Singh, theGovernment and civil societyworked together. It wasn’t aneasy task, but with the supportof civil society, ourGovernment spearheaded poli-cies that gave shape to thedreams and aspirations ofcrores of fellow Indians,” shesaid.
The UPA chairpersonquoted Congress leader andcountry’s first Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru’s remarksthat there is no place for con-venience or comfort while cre-ating a future. “There should beno difference in the words andactions of the Government.We have shown this before andwill do it even further,” she said.
The UPA chairperson’ssharp criticism of the ModiGovernment has come close onthe heels of a similar referenceby the party veteran LKAdvani. Writing in a blogrecently, Advani said his partyhas never regarded those whodisagreed with it politically as“anti-nationals” or “enemies”.Many observers viewedAdvani’s blog as a message tothe BJP current leadership.
On Saturday, Sonia, in aveiled reference to controver-sies involving alleged con-sumption of beef and the BJP’sstrong opposition to it, said, “It
is being expected of us that inthe matters of food, dresses andfreedom of speech, we shouldaccept the whims of a fewpeople. The present govern-ment is not ready to respectdisagreement at all.”
“If people are assaulted forstaying true to their belief, theGovernment turns blind eye tothem. It refuses to implementthe rule of law, its basic duty,”she said.
Sonia also alleged that theBJP-led Government was notready to fulfill its duty ofenforcing rule of law in thecountry. On the Congress’s pollpromises, the UPA chairpersonsaid if the party comes topower, a system will be devel-oped to monitor their imple-mentations.
“I have no doubts about thepromises we have made. Afterour Government is formed, asystem will be in place to mon-itor their implementation,” shesaid.
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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) on Saturday
arrested an operative ofPakistan-based terror groupJaish-e-Mohammed in con-nection with the 2017 terrorattack on a CRPF camp inSouth Kashmir.
Syed Hilal Andrabi, 35, ofJammu & Kashmir’s Pulwamadistrict, was produced before acourt which sent him to fivedays’ police custody.
According to NIA, he wasarrested from Jammu by theNIA in connection with theattack on the CRPF camp atLethpora in South Kashmir onDecember 30 night in 2017, inwhich five personnel werekilled. Three Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists werekilled during the 36-hour-longgunfight.
The UN-proscribed JeMhad sent two suicide attackersto the camp, including the 16-year-old son of a policemanwho had joined the outfit a fewmonths before the attack.
An active over groundworker of the JeM, Andrabi is
a key conspirator who provid-ed logistic support in the formof sheltering the terrorists andconducting reconnaissance ofthe CRPF group centre beforethe attack, the NIA said.
Andrabi’s arrest came daysafter Nisar Ahmed Tantray,whose brother Noor Trali isbelieved to have helped revivethe JeM in Jammu andKashmir, was arrested by theNIA after being deported fromthe UAE in the same case.
NIA said that with thearrest of Andrabi, total no ofaccused arrested in this casehas risen to four.
Earlier last month, the NIAarrested Fayaz Ahmed Magrayfrom Pulwama for allegedlybeing the “key conspirator” ofthe 2017 attack and accusedhim of providing logisticalsupport such as shelter to themilitants and conductingreconnaissance of the CRPFGroup Centre, Lethpora beforethe attack.
The JeM has claimedresponsibility for the February14 attack on a CRPF convoy inPulwama, in which 40 person-nel were killed.
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Congress leader PChidambaram on Saturday
alleged that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi was misleadingby commenting that theOpposition party will removeimmunity of the armed forcesunder Armed Forces SpecialPowers Act (AFSPA) if voted topower. He asserted theCongress manifesto only Statesthat there would be no immu-nity for armed forces only incases of “enforced disappear-ance, sexual violence or tor-ture”.
Chidambaram sought toknow whether Modi supports“enforced disappearance, sex-ual violence and torture”, theallegations which are commonin areas where AFSPA is inforce. “Mr Modi is lying whenhe says that Congress will
remove the immunity to armedforces. Congress Manifesto saysthere will be no immunityonly in cases of enforced dis-appearance, sexual violence ortorture,” he said in a tweet.
In another tweet, he said,“Mr Modi must also answerthis question: why did he total-ly withdraw AFSPA fromTripura, Meghalaya and threedistricts of ArunachalPradesh?”
The Congress and the BJP
have been engaged in a war ofwords over the former’s pledgein its manifesto to review theAFSPA in Jammu and Kashmir.The prime minister had onFriday accused the Congress ofhurting the morale of thearmed forces by seeking areview of the AFSPA in Jammu& Kashmir.
“What will happen to thecountry (if they do so)? You arecommitting the sin of remov-ing the protective cover fromthe security personnel forvotes? Shame on you for yourpolitics. Any terrorist can fileany kind of FIR against theArmy and security personnel ifthe AFSPA is withdrawn,”Modi had said.
The controversial AFSPAgives a degree of immunityfrom prosecution to the secu-rity forces deployed in “dis-turbed areas”.
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The Indian Union MuslimLeague (IUML) on
Saturday lodged a complaintwith the Election Commission(EC) against Uttar PradeshChief Minister Yogi Adityanathfor calling the party a “muslimvirus” remarks.
After meeting with ECofficials, IUML national secre-tary Khorram Anis Omer said;“We met ECI to file a complaintin regards to claims made byUP CM and by Delhi MLA MSSirsa. They called us terrorists,virus and all kind of things. BJPtroll army is behind it. We haveasked EC to file FIR, they aregoing to look into the matterand immediately respond tous.”
On Friday, Adityanath, inan indirect reference to thegreen flags of IUML, made acomparison with pre-Independence Muslim Leagueand alleged that the MuslimLeague had once led toPartition of the country.
“Muslim League ek virushai. Ek aisa virus jis se koi
sankramit ho gaya to wo bachnahi sakta aur aaj to mukhyavipakshi dal Congress hi is sesankramit ho chuka hai..Sochiyeagar yeh jeet gayi toh kya hoga?Yeh virus poore desh mein phailjayega (Muslim League is avirus, with which if someone isinfected once, he cannot besaved. Today, the mainOpposition party, Congress isinfected with it. Think, if theywin then what will happen?This virus will spread in theentire country),” YogiAdityanath had tweeted.
Comparing the MuslimLeague with that of pre-Independence, Adityanath said,“1857 ke swatantrata sangrammein Mangal Pandey ke sathpura desh Angrezon ke khilafmil kar lad raha tha, phir yehMuslim League ka virus aayaaur aisa phaila ki poore desh kahi batwara ho gaya,” saidAdityanath, adding, “Aaj phirvahi Khatra mandra raha hai,Hare jhande phir se lehar rahe.Congress Muslim leagure virusse sankramit ha, savdhanrahiye.” (In 1857 freedomstruggle, the entire country
was fighting against Britishwith Mangal Pandey. But thenMuslim League virus cameand spread in such a mannerthat there was partition of thecountry. Today again samethreat is looming. Green flagsare being waved again.Congress is infected withMuslim League virus, beaware…)
On Friday, the EC issued acensure to UP CM Yogi overhis “Modi ki Sena” remark.Censure is to express disap-proval of someone/somethingin a formal statement. The EChas advised Adityanath to bemore careful in the future as a“senior political leader.”
Responding to the contro-versy surrounding the wavingof “green f lags” duringCongress president RahulGandhi’s roadshow inWayanad, Omer said, “Therehas been a controversy goingon about Pakistani flags beingwaved at Rahul Gandhi’s rally in Wayanad, Kerala, whichis false and misleading, and isan attempt to malign both parties.”
Haryana Chief Secretary,DS Dhesi said the State has
been divided into 14 clustersfor solid waste managementand for this, in these 14 clusters,places have been identified forsolid waste management.
For waste management inthe State, power would be gen-erated from waste inGurugram-Faridabad, Sonipat-Panipat, Ambala-Karnal andRohtak in four units and com-post would be generated fromwaste in Panchkula, Hisar,Rewari, Yamunanagar,Bhiwani, Punhana, Fatehabad,Sirsa, Jind, Farukhnagar in 10units. In the next six months,the orders of National GreenTribunal (NGT) would becomplied with, in MunicipalCorporation of Rohtak, Karnal,Panchkula and Panipat andMunicipal Councils ofThanesar, Fatehabad and Jindby preparing an Action Plan.
The Chief Secretary wasspeaking at one-day Training-
cum-Orientation programmeon Waste Management inKurukshetra today. PrincipalSecretary, Urban Local BodiesDepartment, Mr. AnandMohan Sharan and DirectorGeneral, Information, PublicRelations and Languages, MrSameer Pal Srow were alsopresent.
The Chief Secretary alsotook feedback report from theDeputy Commissioners of 11districts on the works carriedout on Solid WasteManagement, also invited sug-gestions on cleanliness andimprovement of the environ-ment. He also reviewed therules of solid waste manage-ment.
While interacting withmedia persons, Mr Dhesi saidthat the government of Indiahad formulated new rules relat-ed to Cleanliness Survey 2016like Solid Waste ManagementRule 2016, Plastic WaststManagement Rule 2016,Biomedical Waste Rule 2016, e-Waste Management Rule 2016,
Construction and DemolitionWaste Management Rule, 2016.And, the responsibility ofimplementing these rules wasentrusted to Local Bodies.
He said that after identi-fying a site in every city forwaste management and accord-ing to rules, garbage collectedfrom every house would besegregated in wet and drywaste. Thereafter, arrangementwould be made for taking thegarbage to the site and at site
the waste would be processedand waste would be segregat-ed.
He said that in order toensure compliance of NGT onMarch 6 the target of eachactivity has been fixed with thetimeline and every DistrictMagistrate has been entrustedits responsibility. Every week,each District Magistrate wouldreview the works conducted on18 points fixed by the NGT forsolid waste management in
districts every week and theywould also ensure to send itsreport after 15 days to the gov-ernment.
Not only that, once in amonth, he would also preparereport of activities carried outon solid waste management inthe state, according to NGTorders, by preparing its detailedreport by June, the completereport would be presentedbefore the NGT in July. He saidthat during the workshop thedeputy commissioners wereinformed about 18 points spec-ified by NGT and five rule for-mulated in 2016.
Principal Secretary, UrbanLocal Bodies Department, Mr.Anand Mohan Sharan saidthat the new rules, Solid WasteManagement Rule 2016,Plastic Wastst ManagementRule 2016, Biomedical WasteRule 2016, e-WasteManagement Rule 2016,Construction and DemolitionWaste Management Rule, 2016required to be strictly imple-mented in the state.
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Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyon Saturday said India is
expected to become the thirdlargest economy in the worldby 2030 with GDP touchingUSD 10 trillion, helped byconsumption and investmentgrowth.
Currently, the size of theIndian economy is about USD2.9 trillion, he said whileaddressing students of the ShriRam College of Commercehere.
“We keep oscillatingbetween fifth and the sixthlargest economy, depending onthe dollar rate. As we look atthe years ahead, we would beUSD 5 trillion by 2024 and
USD 10 trillion by 2030 or2031.
“That’s when we will beamongst first three - US, Chinaand India and then of course,we would in the rat race of thebig three wanting to catch upwith much mightier competi-tors. So the sheer size andopportunities is going toexpand,” he said.
Talking about avenues ofgrowth for the next 20 years,the finance minister listedinfrastructure creation, ruralexpansion and gender parity,among others.
Jaitley, himself an alumnusof the college, said the 2011Census showed that 21.9 percent of India’s population livedbelow the poverty line (BPL)
and with the present rate ofgrowth, this might have furtherreduced to 17 per cent today.
It should shrink to 15 percent by 2021 and further downto single digits by 2024-25, hesaid. At the same time, themiddle class population wouldincrease to 44 per cent from 29per cent in 2015, he said citing
a study. “Therefore as you look
ahead you would see povertydeplete, you will see an expo-nential growth of middle classand probably by 2030 almosthalf of India would be in thatcategory (middle class),” hesaid.
“Going by the data, the
size of India middle class wouldbe four times the size of BPLwhen 2024 general electionstakes place and therefore wehave to see (whether) publicdiscourse is still behind thecurve or it takes the curve fur-ther,” he said.
So, consumption will get a
boost with rising number ofmiddle class, he said, addingthat infrastructure creation,both rural and urban, wouldalso help accelerate the growthprocess.
He also said some sectorslike infrastructure and rail-ways need further fillip.
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Boeing announced on Fridayit would cut the production
schedule of its 737 aircraft linefollowing the two recent crash-es that have seen the 737 MAXgrounded worldwide.
The aerospace giant plansto trim production to 42 planesper month, down from 52 permonth, starting in mid-April.
Boeing shares tumbledafter the disclosure, which wasreleased just after the closingbell on Wall Street.
Boeing also announced itwas establishing an advisorypanel to review its company-wide policies for designingand developing planes.
The Federal AviationAdministration earlier thisweek said more work wasneeded before the aerospacegiant could even submit a pro-posed fix that is believed to bea factor in the disasters.
Chief Executive DennisMuilenburg described the pro-duction cut as temporary andsaid it would not affect currentemployment levels for the737 and related programs.
“We are coordinatingclosely with our customers aswe work through plans to mit-igate the impact of this adjust-ment,” Muilenburg said in astatement. “We will also workdirectly with our suppliers on
their production plans to min-imise operational disruptionand financial impact of theproduction rate change.”
Boeing has continued tomanufacture 737s since theMarch 10 Ethiopian Airlinescrash killed 157 people, the sec-ond deadly crash in fivemonths after an October 2018Lion Air crash killed 189 peo-ple.
However, Boeing has beenunable to make deliveries of theplanes to customers, a keystoppage that will dent rev-enues. Boeing is scheduled toreport first-quarter results onApril 24.
On Thursday, an initialreport by the EthiopiaTransport Ministry found thatthe crew of the doomed planerepeatedly followed proceduresrecommended by Boeing, con-firming concerns about theflight control system on theplane.
Scrutiny has centred on theplane’s anti-stall system,Maneuvering CharacteristicsAugmentation System, which isbelieved to be at least partly atfault.
The Washington Post onThursday that US regulatorshad ordered Boeing to fix asecond flight-control problem,not related to MCAS, butwhich officials neverthelessdeemed critical to flight safety.
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US job creation came backto life in March, possibly
assuaging recession fears andallowing Donald Trump asigh of relief.
Government data releasedFriday showed a hiring surge inhealthcare, bars and restau-rants, while unemploymentheld steady and worker wagescontinued to climb.
The return to healthy jobcreation at the close of the thirdquarter followed wild results atthe start of the year, includingan anemic February whenemployers added just 33,000net new positions, the slowestin 17 months.
The world’s largest econ-omy added 196,000 net newpositions for March, wellabove expectations, while thejobless rate held steady at 3.8percent, according to the LaborDepartment.
The broad consensusamong economists is that theUS economy is slowing as theboost from recent tax cuts andfiscal stimulus fades. ButPresident Trump’s administra-tion has forecast that 2019 willbe another banner year forgrowth.
Shortly after the numberswere released, Trump delight-ed in the news. “Our countryis doing unbelievably well,” hesaid.
Average hourly wages rosefour cents for the month,putting them up 3.2 per centover March of last year, morethan twice the pace of con-sumer inflation over the sameperiod — but down fromFebruary’s 3.4 per cent, whichhad been the highest in adecade but which may havebeen distorted by weathereffects.
This gives workers pur-chasing power and suggeststhey will continue to spenddespite surprising recent dips inretail sales and consumption. Ian Shepherdson of PantheonMacroeconomics said thenumbers were good but “nota game changer.”
“Normal service isrestored, after a couple of wildswings,” he wrote in a note toclients.
A dark spot, however, washiring among manufacturers, asector hard-hit by Trump’strade war with China.Automakers shed 6,300 jobs.
Retailers also gave up nearly12,000 workers. This wasoffset by gains in architec-ture, engineering and man-agement services. The labourforce also shrank as morethan 220,000 people stopped
looking for work, driving theparticipation rate down twotenths of a percentage point to63 per cent —a level aroundwhich it has stubbornly fluc-tuated for much of the past twoyears.
After steadily tighteninginterest rates last year, much toTrump’s chagrin, the FederalReserve now forecasts it willnot raise rates at all this year,taking note of slowing eco-nomic activity in the UnitedStates and globally.
However, economists sayeven a slower pace of growth isenough to continue drivingunemployment downward at atime when employers alreadycomplain they are desperate tofind capable workers.
As wages rise as a result offalling unemployment, infla-tion may soon follow, leavingcentral bankers little choicebut to continue pushing theirbenchmark lending rates high-er.
Yet, in his remarks toreporters on Friday, Trumpcalled on the Fed to cut interest rates and resume itspost-financial crisis bond-buy-ing stimulus program, sayinginflation was negligible.
“The data don’t give theFed reason to start tighteningagain soon but they don’t sup-port the case for easing either,” Jim O’Sullivan of High Frequency Economicswrote in an analytical note onthe March employment num-bers. Wall Street forged a lit-tle higher after the news, withthe benchmark Dow JonesIndustrial Average closing up0.2 percent for the day.
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There is an urgent need todevelop synergies between
the telecom service providersand over-the-top (OTT) play-ers for a healthy growth at atime when data consumptionin India has increased multi-fold, experts said here onSaturday.
OTT players like Hotstar,ALT Balaji, Zee5, Voot, BigFlix,Sony LIV, Eros Now — apartfrom the global giants likeNetflix, Hulu and AmazonPrime Video — have becomepopular in both urban andrural areas in the country.
From 2014-2017, OTTplayers have invested over $300billion in hosting, transportand delivery infrastructure.
“There is a strong case foran even stronger relationshipbetween OTTs and TSPs toemerge given the continuedand exponential consumptionof data in India at the lowest
rates globally,a YaduvendraMathur, Special Secretary, NITIAayog, said at an event organ-ised by independent policyforum Broadband India Forum(BIF) here.
There are currently morethan 32 online content andvideo streaming platforms inthe country.
“We need to provide ourrural population an evengreater immersive experiencevia their smartphones - acrossnot just entertainment but alsohealth, education and a rangeof other services,” Mathuradded.
The annual investment bythe OTT players globally hasmore than doubled — from$29.6 billion in 2011-13 to$69.7 Billion in 2014-17.
The Asia-Pacific regionhas seen three times growth,driving higher demand andinvestments as compared toother regions.
“OTT services have addedto the GDP of the country aswell as to the productivity ofpeople. This is in addition tothe other benefits that theydeliver to the TSPs at a timewhen their revenue from voiceis zero,” said TVRamachandran, President, BIF.
OTT is a very powerfuland necessary lever for TSPsand ISPs as revenue generators.
“TSPs must be providedrelief from excessive levies andtaxes to ensure that they’rehealthy. There is a need to cre-ate an ecosystem that is a win-win for them and all otherstakeholders,” he added.
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Drug firm Zydus Cadila on Saturday said it hasreceived tentative approval from the US health
regulator to market Tofacitinib tablets, used for thetreatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
Tofacitinib is used alone or with other med-ications to treat moderate to severe forms ofrheumatoid arthritis, the company said in a BSEfiling.
It helps to decrease pain, tenderness andswelling in the joints, it added.
It will be manufactured at the group’s formu-lations manufacturing facility at Moraiya,Ahmedabad. The group now has 260 approvals andhas so far filed over 350 abbreviated new drug appli-cations (ANDAs) since the commencement of thefiling process in FY 2003-04, it added.
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Biocon’s global contract researcharm Syngene International has
opened a centre for advanced pro-tein studies here as part of thenational biopharma mission, theleading biotech firm said onSaturday.
“The centre has been set upwith the biotechnology industryresearch assistance council at ourcampus, where a good laboratorypractice (GLP) accredited analyti-cal laboratory will be hosted,”Biocon said in a statement here.
Noting regulatory approval ofbiological molecules involvesadvanced analytics, includingassessment of physio-chemicalcharacteristics, efficacy, immuno-genicity (antidrug antibody), con-tamination and strength in a GLP-
compliant facility, it said that thecentre will help address the chal-lenge of getting certified facilities ataffordable costs by start-ups, small,micro and medium enterprises andacademia across the country.
The 2,000 square feet centre willrun under the ‘Innovate in India’programme of the NationalBiopharma Mission and theDepartment of Biotechnology.
“India has scientific and entre-preneurial talent to emerge as thenext research and development
(R&D) hub for the global biotech-nology industry. The centre pro-vides the ecosystem for the talent topursue their research objectives,”Biocon Chairperson KiranMazumdar-Shaw said in the state-ment.
Apart from providing infra-structure support at affordable cost,the centre will focus on advancingtechnical skill development to glob-al standards, by conducting train-ing and workshops involving emi-nent subject experts.
“As the country’s largest scien-tific services provider, the collabo-ration will help us play active rolein the development of the biotech-nology industry and as well as nur-ture the innovative spirit within theindustry,” Syngene Chief ExecutiveJonathan Hunt said in the state-ment.
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Tata Steel Saturday said itsoutput rose 23 per cent to
7.70 million tonne (MT) dur-ing the last quarter of 2018-19.
The company had pro-duced 6.26 MT of steel duringthe same quarter a year ago,Tata Steel said in a statement.
Its India production stoodat 4.47 MT during the January-March 2019 quarter as against3.07 MT in the year-ago peri-od.
Mexican border to deliver amessage to would be illegalimmigrants: The United Stateshas no room left to take them.
Trump sees his campaignagainst a “crisis” on the borderas key to his 2020 reelectionbid, and his trip to Calexico inCalifornia was meant to keepthat message in the headlines.
Numbers of migrants andasylum seekers fleeing vio-lence in Central America haverisen sharply, although thereare enormous political divideson whether this constitutesthe “national emergency” thatTrump has declared.
At a meeting with borderpatrol agents and other officialsin Calexico, he said “it’s over-whelming our immigrationsystem and we can’t let thathappen.” Then in a messageto those heading for the UnitedStates, he said: “The system isfull and we can’t take you any-more.... Our country is full.”
“So turn around, that’s theway it is,” he said.
Around 200 protesters,
accompanied by a giant inflat-able balloon depicting Trumpas a baby, were waiting for thepresident in Mexicali, thetown on the Mexican side ofthe frontier.
Waving US and Mexicanflags, the protesters carriedsigns with messages such as“Stop separating families” and“If you build the wall, my gen-eration will tear it down.”
On the US side, dozens ofpeople lined the road thatTrump’s motorcade took fromthe airport, demonstrating sup-port for his policies. “Build thewall,” said one placard.
Trump is determined topursue a hard line. Before leav-
ing Washington earlier, Trumpsaid that his previous threatsto shut down the border hadbeen successful in persuadingMexican authorities to clampdown by stopping migrantson their journey north.
“Mexico, I have to say, hasbeen very, very good... Over thelast four days since I talkedabout shutting down the bor-der,” he said.
Trump indicated againthat closing the border is nolonger on the cards at present,but reiterated a warning that hewill impose 25 per cent tariffson auto imports from Mexicoif illegal migration and drugsmuggling are not controlled.
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BBritish Finance Minister PhilipHammond said on Saturday the
Government had “no red lines” in talkswith the main opposition party to breakthe deadlock in parliament over Brexit.
“Our approach to these discus-sions with Labour is that we have no redlines,” he told reporters at a meeting ofEuropean Finance Ministers inBucharest.
“We are expecting to exchangemore texts with the Labour Party today,so this is an ongoing process and I expectwe will reach some form of agreement,”Hammond added.
Senior Ministers are negotiatingwith Labour leaders in a bid to find acompromise to end months of politicalcrisis and allow Britain to leave theEuropean Union smoothly after 46years of membership.
But after three days of discussions,Labour said on Friday it was “disap-pointed” by the failure to offer “realchange or compromise” to PrimeMinister Theresa May’s unpopularBrexit divorce deal. MPs have rejectedher agreement finalised with Europeanleaders last November three times,delaying Britain’s original March 29 exitdate and throwing the process intochaos. Ahead of an EU summit onWednesday, May was forced to ask foranother extension, until June 30, to pre-vent the country crashing out the bloc
next Friday.However with European leaders
growing increasingly impatient at theparalysis in Westminster, they couldoffer just a shorter postponement — alonger period of up to a year.
The other 27 EU nations must giveunanimous backing to any deadlineextension.
Hammond, who backed Remain inBritain’s 2016 referendum and is seen asfavouring as soft a Brexit as possible,urged his divided Conservative col-leagues to show flexibility.
“We should be open to listen to sug-gestions that others have made andsome people in the Labour Party aremaking other suggestions,” he said.
Labour is pushing May to accept amuch closer post-Brexit alliance withthe EU that includes participation in acustoms union.
The Prime Ministers has previous-ly dismissed the idea because it barsBritain from striking its own trade dealswith global giants such as China and theUnited States.
But after Brexit hardliners in herown party repeatedly refused to backher plan over fears it would keep thecountry too closely aligned with Europe,she last week turned to Labour — infu-riating many Conservatives.
Labour’s home affairs spokeswomanDiane Abbott said her party was engagedin the talks “in good faith”, but May’steam appear unwilling to compromise.
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Britain has begun issuing passportswith the words “European Union”
removed from the front cover - despiteBrexit being delayed and uncertaintyover when the country will leave thebloc.
The interior Ministry confirmedthat some passports introduced fromMarch 30, the day after Britain was orig-inally due to depart, no longer includereferences to the EU following a 2017decision.
However, it said some newly-issuedtravel documents would still bear thebloc’s name - which has sat atop Britishpassport covers - in a bid to save pub-lic money. “In order to use leftover stockand achieve best value for the taxpay-er, passports that include the words‘European Union’ will continue to beissued for a short period,” a spokes-woman said.
“There will be no difference forBritish citizens whether they are usinga passport that includes the wordsEuropean Union, or a passport thatdoes not,” she added, noting bothdesigns would be “equally valid for trav-el”.
Britain was set to leave the EU onMarch 29 but has been forced to delayits exit amid political paralysis inWestminster over the terms of thedivorce deal.
Prime Minister Theresa May onFriday was forced to ask the bloc for
another extension, until June 30, to pre-vent the country crashing out nextFriday without an accord.
But it is unclear whether the other27 EU members, which must giveunanimous backing, will grant the request or insist on aneven longer delay.
British passports have becomeensnared in the country’s Brexit divi-sions after the Government announcedin 2017 it would return to traditionalblue passports “to restore national iden-tity”.
The travel documents had dark bluecovers from 1921, but Britain switchedto burgundy from 1988, in commonwith other passports in what was thenthe European Community.
Brexit backers are thrilled by thehighly symbolic change, while thosewho support remaining in the bloc havemocked their excitement.
Last year it emerged that Franco-Dutch company Gemalto had won thecontract to make the new blue passports,prompting fury from Brexit cam-paigners and more ridicule fromRemainers that a British company wasnot chosen.
����� 40 ����0�� D0#�
The UN Security Council onFriday called on Libyan
forces under Khalifa Haftar tohalt their advance on Tripoli,warning the military move wasputting Libya’s stability at risk.
Haftar, the commander ofthe self-proclaimed LibyanNational Army (LNA),launched an offensive onThursday to take the capital,held by a UN-backed unitygovernment and an array ofmilitias.
The council “called onLNA forces to halt all militarymovements,” GermanAmbassador ChristophHeusgen, who holds the coun-cil presidency, told reportersfollowing a closed-door meet-ing. “The members of theSecurity Council expresseddeep concern at the military
activity near Tripoli whichrisks Libyan stability andprospects for UN mediationand a comprehensive politicalsolution to the crisis,” he said.
The appeal for Haftar tohalt his offensive was unani-mously backed by the council,including Russia, which hassupported the strongman.
Armed clashes broke outearlier Friday south of Tripolibetween a pro-governmentalliance and forces loyal toHaftar, raising fears of anassault on the city.
The council expressed itsintention “to hold thoseresponsible for further conflictaccountable,” said Heusgen.
UN Secretary-GeneralAntonio Guterres, who metwith Haftar in Benghazi ear-lier, said he hoped that a“bloody confrontation” couldbe avoided.
����� +;�<�D4�
Thousands of Sudanesedemonstrators marched in
Khartoum on Saturday, manyreaching the army headquar-ters for the first time sincedeadly protests againstPresident Omar al-Bashirerupted last year, witnessessaid.
Chanting “One Army, OnePeople,” the protesters ralliedin the capital’s streets, follow-ing a call by organisers tomarch on the army headquar-ters.
Protests have rocked theeast African country sinceDecember, with angry crowdsaccusing Bashir’s Governmentof mismanaging the economythat has led to soaring foodprices and regular shortages of
fuel and foreign currency.On February 22, the veter-
an leader imposed a nationwidestate of emergency to quell theprotests after an initial crack-down failed to rein in protest-ers. Since the emergency rulecame into effect, protests havebeen largely confined to thecapital and its twin city ofOmdurman, but organisershad called for widespread ral-lies and a march on the armyheadquarters on Saturday.
April 6 was chosen for thenationwide rallies as it was theday of a 1985 uprising that top-pled the then regime of presi-dent Jaafar Nimeiri.
Before the demonstrationsbegan, security forces deployedin large numbers in keyKhartoum squares and inOmdurman, across the Nile.
�� � � 0�<���B<�0���
Foreign Ministers from theGroup of Seven advanced
economies were wrapping up atwo-day meeting in the Frenchseaside resort of Dinard onSaturday where they hope toseal joint commitments on arange of global challenges andlay the groundwork for August’sG-7 summit in Biarritz.
Diplomats from G-7 coun-tries, which include the US,France, Canada, Japan,Germany, Italy and the UK,walked side-by-side against therocky Atlantic coast backdropand in the fresh Brittany air toproject a united front before aworking lunch.
They hope to agree on ajoint statement on the fightagainst trafficking drugs, armsand migrants in Africa’s trou-bled Sahel region, fightingcybercrime and stopping sexu-al violence against women inconflict zones, especially inAfrica.
But British Foreign
Secretary Jeremy Hunt wasmissing from the group photoafter attending Friday’s session,as was US Secretary of StateMike Pompeo, raising ques-tions about the relevance of theG-7 meeting.
US officials also said thatpoints of discord will also be dis-cussed at the talks led by thehost, French Foreign MinisterJean-Yves Le Drian.
US Deputy Secretary ofState John J Sullivan said thatWashington will use the G-7forum to galvanise support forVenezuela’s opposition leader,Juan Guaidó, who the US hasbacked to lead the country intoa “democratic transformationfrom the failed regime” ofPresident Nicolas Maduro.
Guaido has embarked on aninternational campaign to top-
ple the socialist administrationof Venezuela’s president amiddeepening unrest in the coun-try, which has been plagued bynearly a month of power out-ages. Washington seems to be atodds with Italy over its stance onthe crisis-hit South Americancountry, being the sole G-7member state to not backGuaidó. The US and Canadahave pursued a pro-active stanceon widening support forGuaidó, according to Frenchofficials.
But there has already beenwidespread alarm after Guaidówas stripped of immunity byMaduro loyalists earlier thisweek. “With Juan Guaidó beingstripped of his immunity ... Wedon’t want the situation to esca-late,” German Foreign MinisterHeiko Maas said in Dinard onSaturday.
“We are still of the opinionthat free elections should takeplace during whichVenezuelans can decide them-selves who will lead the coun-try,” he added.
���� +��47
Multiple Taliban attackshave killed at least seven
policemen and three civiliansacross Afghanistan onSaturday, as insurgents con-tinue with near daily assaultson Government and civiliantargets.
Taliban killed at least fourpolicemen when they stormeda security check point innorthern Sari Pul province, aprovincial official said.
Mohammad NoorRahmani, head of the provin-cial council, said five otherswere wounded in Saturday’sattack on the outskirts of theprovince’s capital city.
In a separate report formeastern Ghazni province,
Taliban launched attacks onsecurity checkpoints onSaturday, killing three person-nel and wounding seven oth-ers.
A spokesman for theprovincial police chief, AhmadKhan Serat, said police killedseven insurgents during thegun battle. Taliban claimedresponsibility for the attack inGhazni, but made no state-ment on Sari Pul.
Meanwhile twin bombblasts killed at least three civil-ians in eastern Nangarharprovince, according to localofficials. Attahullah Khogyani,spokesman for the provincialgovernor, said 19 others werewounded in Saturday’s blaststhe provincial capital ofJalalabad.
���� ��01+D+
The leader of a popular newThai political party that
ran a strong third in lastmonth’s elections on Saturdaydenied the criminal charges ofsedition filed againsthim by the ruling militaryjunta and expressed concernthat he will be tried in a mili-tary court.
T h a n a t h o r nJuangroongruangkit was greet-ed by hundreds of supporterschanting “Keep fighting,Thanathorn!” as he arrived atthe Pathumwan police stationin Bangkok to answer a policesummons on complaints ofsedition, assisting criminalsand illegal assembly filed by ajunta officer. The charges carrya maximum prison sentence ofup to nine years.
“I’m concerned becausethis case is under the militarycourt instead of the criminalcourt,” he said in a statement toreporters.
“That is quite unsettling.”He said he was treated fairly bypolice and added: “There aremany citizens in Thailand thathave been charged with (sedi-tion under Article) 116 includ-ing those that have not receivedany public attention. Theregime creates fear for the
society to silence us,”Thanathorn said. “I insist I aminnocent I am ready to standfirm in the court proceedings.I urge all Thais and the inter-national community to call forcivil rights to stand for humanrights for the betterment of oursociety.” Police Gen. SrivaraRansibrahmanakul, deputychief of police, said onWednesday that the chargesagainst Thanathorn stem fromhis role in a student demonstration on June 24,2015.
He said the case had stalledbecause of several reshufflesamong the responsible officers.
Thanathorn said he viewsthe case as politically motivat-ed because “the timing could-n’t have been more coinciden-tal than this — just one weekafter elections.”
����� ��7�
The Maldives on Saturdayheld its first parliamentary
election since former strong-man leader Abdulla Yameenwas forced to stand down, withhis arch-rival expected to makea big comeback in the vote.
Mohamed Nasheed, anoth-er former president, is thehighest profile candidate up forelection for the 87-memberPeople’s Majlis, or parliament.
He returned from anenforced exile abroad afterYameen lost an election inSeptember to Nasheed’s deputy,Mohamed Ibrahim Solih.
Solih said he expectedSaturday’s poll to return astrong legislature led by hisMaldivian Democratic Party(MDP). “I want to stress that Iwould like the next parlia-ment to be made up of mem-bers who are familiar with ourpolicies, and fully support it,”Solih told a campaign rally onThursday night.
Nasheed is widely expect-ed to play a key role in the newlegislature.
He was jailed for 13 yearson a controversial terrorismcharge when Yameen was inpower. However, the convictionwas overturned last year afterthe presidency changed.
The opposition coalitionthat helped Solih win has comeapart, with constituent partiesgoing their separate ways forSaturday’s election.
Election commissionerAhmed Shareef told reporterspreparations had been com-pleted for Saturday’s vote andthere had been no complaintsof irregularities.
Voting will take place foroverseas Maldivians in neigh-bouring India and Sri Lanka,as well as London.
Former president Yameenis not a candidate, but hisProgressive Party of Maldivesis seen as the main challengerto the MDP.
Last week, the High Courtordered authorities to lift afreeze on Yameen’s bankaccounts holding about $6.5million. But it said a moneylaundering case against himwould proceed.
����� ��#; 01�D0
The US Citizenship andImmigration Services
(USCIS) said it has reachedCongressionally-mandated65,000 H-1B visa cap for thefiscal year 2020, after it start-ed receiving the applicationsfor the most sought-after workvisa among foreign, includingIndian, professionals.
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows theUS companies to employ for-eign workers in speciality occu-pations that require theoreti-cal or technical expertise. Thetechnology companies dependon it to hire tens of thousandsof employees each year fromcountries like India and China.
The USCIS, the federalagency mandated with task ofapproving such applications,
on Friday said “it has receiveda sufficient number of peti-tions projected as needed toreach the congressionally-man-dated 65,000 H-1B visa regu-lar cap for fiscal year 2020.”
The fiscal year beginsOctober 1, 2019 and it theUSCIS started receiving thevisa petitions from April 1.
However, the agency didnot revealed the number ofpetitions received by it in thefirst five days.
The USCIS, said, it willnext determine if it has receiveda sufficient number of peti-tions to meet the 20,000 H-1Bvisa US advanced degreeexemption, known as the mas-ter’s cap.
The agency said it willreject and return visa fees forall unselected cap-subject peti-tions that are not prohibitedmultiple filings. It will contin-ue to accept and process peti-tions that are otherwiseexempt from the cap.
Petitions filed for currentH-1B workers who have beencounted previously againstthe cap, and who still retaintheir cap number, are exemptfrom the FY 2020 H-1B, theUSCIS said.
It did not say if it wouldresort to computerised draw oflots as was the case in the last
several years.Last year, the USCIS
received 190,000 cap-subjectedH-1B petitions. In 2018, itreceived 199,000 applicationswhile in 2017, 236,000 peti-tions in the first five days afterit started receiving the appli-cations.
The USCIS received232,972 H-1B cap-subject peti-tions in 2016 and in 2015, itreceived 172,581 cap-subjectedpetitions.
This is the first season ofH-1B petitions after the USCISannounced enforcing newrules for the most sought-afterUS work visa applications forforeign professionals.
The new rules give prefer-ences to those who have com-pleted their post-graduationdegree course from any USeducational institutions.
����� ��#; 01�D0
The arrest of a Chinesewoman who allegedly
brought malicious software toPresident Donald Trump’sFlorida resort shows thatBeijing poses a threat, Secretaryof State Mike Pompeo saidFriday.
Zhang Yujing was arrest-ed last week at Mar-a-Lago,where Trump was on one ofhis frequent visits, afterattempting to enter while car-rying multiple mobile phonesand a thumb drive containingmalware, according to courtdocuments.
“I think this tells theAmerican people the threatthat China poses, the effortsthat they’re making here insidethe United States not onlyagainst government officials,but more broadly,” Pompeosaid in an interview with CBSNews.
“The theft of Americanintellectual property is a bigbusiness to the tune of hun-dreds of billions of dollars,and President Trump is deter-
mined to push back against it,”he said.
He was referring to ongo-ing trade talks in which theUnited States is pressing Chinato take action to protect intel-lectual property.
Pompeo said the adminis-tration was looking closely atthe arrest but declined furthercomment, saying the investi-gation was ongoing.
There has been no evi-dence presented publicly thatZhang was sent by the Chinesegovernment, although Beijingsays it is providing consularassistance.
Zhang was accused ofmaking false statements to fed-eral officers after first claim-ing to be a member who want-ed to use the pool, and thensaying she was attending anon-existent Chinese-American friendship event.
��� � ��;<�0
Iranian authorities orderedthe evacuation of six cities
along the Karkheh river insouthwestern Khuzestanprovince on Saturday after morerain sparked fears of new flood-ing, state news agency IRNAsaid.
Six cities alongside Karkhehriver in southwestern Iran “mustbe evacuated as soon as possi-ble,” Khuzestan governorGholamreza Shariati toldIRNA. The oil-rich province ofKhuzestan has an extensiverange of dams, which haveswelled upstream due to freshdownpours.
The floodwater’s intensityhas forced authorities to openemergency discharges atKarkheh dam, one of the largestin the area, thus sparking fears
of fresh flooding.The situation appears to be
“critical”, he said. “We advise allwomen and children to be evac-uated to shelters and youngstersto remain and help,” he added.Interior Minister AbdolrezaRahmani Fazli warned that upto 400,000 people in Khuzestancould be exposed to the floods,IRNA reported.
Iran, a usually arid country,has been hit by unprecedentedflooding across most of thecountry since mid-March with70 people killed, according tothe country’s emergency ser-vices. Heavy rain was forecastfor Saturday in Khuzestan. Thecountry’s northeast wasswamped on March 19 beforethe west and southwest of thecountry were inundated onMarch 25, killing a total of 45people.
2����������� ����������������������������/<������-���Paris: Protesters from the yel-low vest movement are takingto the streets of France for a21st straight weekend, withhundreds gathered for a marchacross Paris, one of numerousprotests around the country.
Paris police have fine-tuned their strategy of beingmore mobile and proactive tocounter eventual violence sincethe first Saturday of protestsNov. 17.
The Champs-Elyseesavenue is off-limits to protest-ers after it was hit by riotinglast month.
Hundreds gathered inRouen, in Normandy, a pastflashpoint, and hundreds morein eastern Paris at the Place dela Republique, the start of amarch to the business districton the capital’s western edge.
The yellow vest movement,demanding social and eco-nomic justice, has attracteddwindling crowds but stillremains a challenge toPresident Emmanuel Macron.
No ground is big enough for me, Andre Russellsaid after yet another unbelievable display of
power hitting by the Jamaican in the IndianPremier League.
Russell smashed an unbeaten 48 off 13 ballsas Kolkata Knight Riders plundered 66 runs infour overs to script a memorable win over RoyalChallengers Bangalore on Friday night.
The all-rounder said that he had thoughtAustralian grounds were massive, only to surprisehimself by sending a few into the stands DownUnder.
"A few groundsin Australia andthen I surprisedmyself there by hit-ting a few into thestands. No groundis big enough forme I guess, I justtrust my strengthand trust mypower. I have goodbat speed. I trustthat as well," Russellsaid after hisexploits in KKR'sfive-wicket win atthe ChinnaswamyStadium.
Needing 66runs off 24 balls,KKR were upagainst it before Russell came in and smashedthem to complete the job with five balls to spare.His knock comprised seven sixes and one four.
"The support is good from the boys and I amin a good space so that I can express myself. I tryshort arm jabs as extending the arms can put youin trouble. Can't explain much, rather show thaton the field," Russell said.
KKR were kept alive in the chase throughopener Chris Lynn (43 off 31), Robbie Uthappa(33 off 25) and Nitish Rana (37 off 23) beforeRussell singlehandedly got the job done in thedeath overs.
"I was confident when I went out to bat. DK(Dinesh Karthik) was telling me to take a few ballsto see how the pitch is behaving. I was watchingin the dugout on TV and had a fair idea. Whenyou need 68 off 20-odd balls, it doesn't happeneveryday. Need to put your body on the line.
"The nature of T20 is such that one over canchange the momentum. That's why I never giveup. A part of me was saying that the runs need-ed were too much but I wanted to fight and even-tually, we won with five balls spare," Russelladded.
Skipper Karthik was delighted as this wasKKR's third win in four outings, and lavishedpraise on Russell.
Asked about his conversation with Russell,Karthik said, "I think you don't talk too much.He goes out there, and he's happy and gives hisbest for the team.”
����� ��01�74<4
In charge of a house in com-plete disorder, Virat Kohli
will hope that RoyalChallengers Bangalore play inthe manner that defines hiscricket, when they meet DelhiCapitals in the IPL on Sunday.
RCB have suffered fivestraight losses in this edition,while the visitors are cominginto the game with two winsand three reverses.
After losing the last matchagainst Kolkata Knight Riderson Friday, RCB's position hasbecome precarious, and theyhave to win almost all theirremaining games to keep theirchances alive.
Despite AB de Villiersand Kohli striking form byscoring 63 and 84 respective-ly, RCB bowlers failed torestrict KKR, who was pow-ered by Russell's knock.
The defeat left Kohli frus-trated, and the batting main-stay called it "unacceptable".The Jamaican walloped 29runs in the penultimate over,which helped the visitors pulloff a sensational victory.
Apart from YuzvendraChahal and Pawan Negi, allother RCB bowlers have notbeen among the wickets andconceded far too many runs,which Kohli admitted in thepost-match presentation cer-emony. Against KKR, theyleaked 66 runs in the last fourovers.
RCB's batting has alsobeen dismal.
In their first match againstChennai, RCB were bowledout for a paltry 70 in 17.1 oversafter their top-order crumbled
against Harbhajan Singh andImran Tahir.
Against SunrisersHyderabad, the RCB bowlersallowed SRH to post a mam-moth 232 with centuries fromJonny Bairstow and DavidWarner. RCB then collapsed toan embarrassing 35 for six bythe eighth over, with Kohli andde Villiers contributing just
four runs between them. In theend, they were skittled out for113 to lose the match by amassive 118 runs.
Against Rajasthan Royalstoo, the RCB top-order failed.The RCB think-tank wouldnow be hoping that their top-order batsmen come out goodagainst DC.
Delhi also have their fairshare of worries, having lostthree matches. After making apositive start with a winagainst three-time championsMumbai Indians, their journeyhas been uncomfortable.
Rishabh Pant, who playeda superb knock of 78 againstMumbai in their first match,has been the highest scorer forDelhi, while the likes ofShikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw,Iyer and Colin Ingram, too,have been among the runs.
The bowling departmenthas been spearheaded byKagiso Rabada, and they alsohave Trent Boult and IshantSharma in their ranks.
Young leg-spinnerSandeep Lamichhane has alsoperformed well so far forDelhi.
����� ��01�74<4�
The pitch preparationcontinues to evoke
criticism this IPL withDelhi Capitals' PrithviShaw on Saturday ques-tioning the slow nature ofthe Feroz Shah Kotla trackfor their home matches.
While the young bats-man said the wicket wasnot of their liking, hescored a 99 against KKRin a recent match in NewDelhi.
"The wickets weren'tgood as we were expect-ing it to be. The new ballwas moving slow off thetrack and turning fromball one. Nevertheless, weare just keeping thosethings besides and look-ing for ward to nextgame," he said ahead ofclash against strugglingRoyal ChallengersBangalore.
The slow pitch inChennai also invited crit-icism from CSK skipperMS Dhoni and RCB skip-per Virat Kohli.
Asked if batting sec-ond will be an advantageon the Chinnaswamypitch, Shaw said the wick-et remains the samethroughout the match.
"I don't think it mat-ters too much if you arebatting or bowling first onthis pitch. The wicketremains the samethroughout the 40 overs.There is only the dewfactor that probablycomes in the second
innings," he said.The Capitals started
with a bang but have beenpretty inconsistent. Theyhave won two of the fivematches they have playedso far.
"Everything was goinggood. We are practicinghard and preparing well,but not been able to exe-cute on the ground. It iscricket. It happens.Personally, I don't thinkIPL is very tough. Therewill be ups and downs forteams," he said.
Asked if he fancies thechance of making into theWorld Cup squad aftermaking 99 runs againstKolkata Knight Riders,Shaw said he is not think-ing about it.
"I don't think getting99 can make a big change,so I would rather not thinkabout getting selected forthe World Cup, instead Iwould rather do my jobfirst in the IPL and try andwin games. I think we areat a very crucial stage ofthe IPL," he said.
����� �;�00� �
Led by seasonedHarbhajan Singh,Chennai Super Kings
spinners put on a dominatingshow to help the side reclaim thetop position with a 22-run winover Kings XI Punjab in an IPLmatch, here on Saturday.
Defending 160 for three, CSKrestricted Punjab to 138 for 5despite half centuries from K LRahul (55) and Sarfaraz Khan(67).
The visitors scored at a lowpace and required to score 26 offthe last over, bowled by IPL debu-tant Scott Kuggeleijn. The Kiwipaceman had no trouble defend-ing those runs and also dismissedSarfaraz.
Harbhajan was the bestbowler for the hosts with the fig-ures of 4-1-17-2. In a brilliantspell, he bowled a maiden andgrabbed two wickets, includingthat of the 'universal boss' ChrisGayle.
Ravindra Jadeja (4-0-24-0)and Imran Tahir (4-0-20-0)also helped CSK put thebrakes on the rival batsmen.They, along with Harbhajan,
conceded only 61 runs in 12overs even as the required run-
rate kept mounting.Kuggeleijn did not start very
well, being hit for a six off his veryfirst ball, but did well to finish with2 for 37 in his 4 overs.
Harbhajan struck a huge blowto rivals by dismissing the Gayle,having him caught behind by MS Dhoni for 5 in the second over.
Two balls later, he had thestylish Mayank Agarwal, caughtby Faf du Plessis near the bound-ary with the batsman going for abig hit. Harbhajan started off
with a double wicket maiden toput Kings XI on the backfoot early.
In the 13th over, Rahul'smissed sweep saw Dhoni flick theball on to the stumps but the bailsdidn't come off though the LEDlights lit up, ensuring the batsmansurvived despite being short of hiscrease.
The century partnership forthe third wicket between Rahuland Sarfaraz was a productive onebut they consumed a lot of ballsand stymied the Kings XI chase asthe CSK bowlers kept thingstight.
Earlier, du Plessis hit a fine
half-century up the order whileskipper Dhoni and AmbatiRayudu provided the late flourishto help Chennai Super Kingspost a competitive 160 for three.
Du Plessis made 54 off 38balls with the help of two foursand four hits over the fence andtogether with Shane Watson (26)added 56 runs for the first wick-et after opting to bat.
But it was some late hitting byDhoni (37 not out) and Rayudu(21 not out) and their unbeaten60-run fourth wicket partner-ship in 30 balls helped the defend-ing champions reach a respectabletotal.
Thanks to Dhoni andRayudu, CSK scored 52 runs inthe last five overs after a ratherquiet middle period.
Kings XI skipperRavichandran Ashwin was thebest bowler for the visitors, pick-ing up three wickets for 23 runsfrom his four overs. He was on ahat-trick in the 14th over after get-ting half-centurion Du Plessisand Suresh Raina off successivedeliveries.
Watson fell against the run ofplay, attempting a big shot offKings XI captain Ashwin to bewell caught by Sam Curran in thedeep.
Raina (17), who came in atNo 3, strung together an useful44-run partnership with DuPlessis, who kept the scoreboardticking with a mix of attackingshots and judicious runningbetween the wickets.
The partnership was brokenwhen Du Plessis perished whilegoing for a big hit off Ashwin,caught at long-on by David Millerand then a ball later the off-spin-ner cleaned up Raina as the bats-man went for a sweep.
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Keiron Pollard hammered an unbeat-en 46 off 26 balls, helping Mumbai
Indians reach 136 for seven againstSunrisers Hyderabad in the IndianPremier League here on Saturday.
Hyderabad were well on course tolimit Mumbai to a sub-120 total beforePollard's brute power came to the fore andenabled the visitors to collect 39 crucialruns off the final 12 balls.
Until Pollard cut loose, Hyderabad putup an impressive bowling effort on a slowpitch.
While Hyderabad fielded anunchanged side, Mumbai Indians madetwo changes in the playing eleven withIshan Kishan replacing Yuvraj Singh andWest Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph comingin for Lasith Malinga, who has gone backto Sri Lanka to play in a domestic event.
It wasn't the best of starts for Mumbai,who lost captain Rohit Sharma (11) andSuryakumar Yadav (7) early to be 30 fortwo in six overs. Rohit was dropped in thefirst over by Siddarth Kaul but could notmake much use of that life and was holedout at deep midwicket off MohammadNabi in the fourth over.
Suryakumar, who had hit a crucial 59
in the previous game against CSK, too didnot last long and was adjudged leg beforewicket off Sandeep Sharma.
Stroke play was proving to be difficulton a slow surface and the situationbecame worse for the visitors when the in-form opener Quinton de Kock (19)departed after trying to increase thescoring rate.
The batsmen especially struggledagainst Nabi, who ended with envious fig-ures of 13 for one in four overs asMumbai crawled to 52 for three in 10overs.
After Nabi completed his full quota ofovers, his Afghanistan teammate RashidKhan made life tough for the oppositionbatsmen. The Hyderabad pacers -- Sharmaand Kaul -- too were up to the task, usingtheir pace well on a slow wicket to stiflethe batsmen.
Mumbai's innings hardly had any flowbefore Pollard provided the much need-ed final flourish in the death overs bysmashing Kaul for three massive sixes inthe 19th over that went for 20 runs.
Bhuvneshwar's final over went for 19runs with Pollard collecting two fours anda six, giving Mumbai something to bowlat. Poor fielding let Hyderabad downtowards the end of the innings.
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High on confidence aftertheir maiden victory,
Rajasthan Royals will look tocarry the momentum by exploit-ing familiar conditions whenthey host a rampaging KolkataKnight Riders in the IPL hereSunday.
The visitors will also bebrimming with confidence withtheir batsmen Nitish Rana,Andre Russell, Robin Uthappaand Shubhman Gill in top form.
Rajasthan bowlers JofraArcher, Jaidev Unadkat andBen Stokes have leaked runs inthe death overs. They will haveto rethink their strategy afterRussell's sensational display ofpower hitting (48 off 13 balls)against Royal ChallengersBangalore.
The biggest positive for theRoyals has been Sherays Gopal,who, with his googlies, deceived
the likes of Virat Kohli, A BDvilliers and Shimron Hetmyer,finishing off with 3 for 12.
Despite the victory againstRCB, Royals will still look to ironout certain flaws which haveplagued them recently.They haveoften failed to grab momentslosing to Kings XI Punjab,Sunrisers Hyderabad and
Chennai Super Kings after beingin commanding position.
While star players, includingSteve Smith and Ben Stokes,have failed to live up to theexpectations, the likes of SanjuSamson, who had hit first ton ofthis IPL, Jos Buttler and captainAjinkya Rahane have been good.Smith, although, scored 38against RCB.
Meanwhile, KKR's bowlingdepartment, led by SunilNaraine, Kuldeep Yadav andPiyush Chawla, will look toexploit the wicket at Sawai ManSingh Stadium, which has playedslow and low recently.
KKR will head to the gamewith the belief that the side canwin from any situation, whichthey have demonstrated timeand again.
Both teams will also have todeal with the soaring heat in thethe Pink City with temperaturesnearing 40 degrees celsius.
Spain has the longest network ofmotorways in Europe at over15,000 km and many of Spain’smotorways, called the Autovia,have been built or improved in
the past two decades, thanks to moneyfrom the European Union. While Ihave driven in Spain in the past, theyhave mainly been short loops aroundBarcelona and I have always wanted todrive through the Iberian Peninsula.Coupled with my desire to knock offanother major historical monumentfrom my bucket list, which was thegrand fortress of Alhambra in Granadaand the Nasrid Palaces inside, I zeroedin on a drive from Madrid to theprovince of Andalusia, and after beingoffered a car from Ford, the trip was ago. I was travelling with my motherand we would cover over 1,300 km inless than a week.
We started in the Spanish Capitalof Madrid, which is one of those hid-den gems when it comes to travel.Barcelona is quite rightly one of themost popular tourist destinations inthe world, in fact, the second most vis-ited city in Europe after Paris. In thenorthern Basque country, you have therather picturesque Bilbao and the stun-ning Guggenheim Museum. ButMadrid, the Capital of the country, getsmuch more press for its football thanfor the city. The food and wine arespectacular in Madrid, of course, thiswas the city that churros were inventedin and the Chocolateria San Ginesclose to the centre of the city is a mustvisit. And Madrid has one of the nicesturban parks in Europe, the ParqueRetiro. There are some lovely foodstalls in the Anton Martin meat andfish market and some particularly love-ly restaurants in that area, butas all tourists should,
a visit to Mercado di San Miguel nextto the Plaza Mayor is essential. It mightfeel like a bit of a tourist trap and find-ing a place to stand can be a challengebut some of the tapas and sangria onoffer are excellent.
But it is the city’s museums, partic-ularly the art museums, that you mustvisit. The Prado, which is celebratingits bicentennial this year, has an amaz-ing collection of medieval and classicalart, particularly its collection ofFrancisco Goya, including the royalportraits, the famous ‘Maja’ but cru-cially the stunning as well as disturbing‘Black Paintings’. But the vast PradoMuseum, whose size could rival theLouvre in Paris, is outdone by themodern art museum of the city, theReina Sofia, which has a spectacularcollection of works by Pablo Picasso,Salvador Dali, Juan Gris, and JoanMiro — all Spanish artists, all fatherfigures of modern art. It is in thismuseum that you finally comprehendjust how central Spain and its artistswere to modern art. While one mighthesitate to call the Reina Sofia ‘better’than the Orsay in Paris or the Tate inLondon, it has a grand collection,including Picasso’s amazing Guernicain a massive wing dedicated to artfrom Spain’s brutal Civil War that pre-ceded the Second World War.
We left Madrid after a quick visitto the Ford Spain office to pick up theFord Kuga that I would be drivingover the next few days. The roads inand around the Spanish Capital arefairly crowded, but using Ford’s SYNCinfotainment system, which is alsoavailable in their Indian products, Ihad hooked up my iPhone to the carand started Google Maps through
Apple CarPlay. This
told me that the 450-odd km toGranada would take me just over fourhours. This put me in a bit of aquandary, since it was just 10.30 in themorning and we had informed ourapartment host in Granada that wewould reach at 4 in the afternoon. TheAutovia del Sur did what it said on thelabel — the motorway to the south.For kilometres on end, through theplains of La Mancha, made famous inCervantes’ Don Quixote, the road waspoker straight with the compass on themap pointed south, albeit of excellentquality and some grand viaducts andtunnels made it obvious that it hadrecently been upgraded.
Once we crossed into Andalusia,obvious by the sudden appearance ofArabic script in road signs, weswitched over to the highway toGranada, called the Autovia SierraNevada-Costa Tropical, the road thatcut through the Sierra Nevada moun-tains till the Costa del Sol on Spain’sMediterranean coast. And if you areconfused about the Sierra Nevadamountains being near San Francisco,California, well those Sierra Nevadamountains got their name from theseSierra Nevada mountains.
Granada, whose historic heart is aUNESCO protected zone, was the lastMuslim kingdom in Spain to fall afterthe crowns of Castile and Aragonwere merged under Ferdinand II andIsabella. The story of Boabdil, the lastArab (Moor) king of Granada, formsa major plot point in SalmanRushdie’s The Moor’s Last Sigh, andthe gain (or loss) of the province ofAl-Andalus is critical in understand-ing European attitudes towards Islamto this day. The story of Islamic Spainis a long one, and not a subject for a
travel column but an understandingof history helps. The initial conquestof Spain by the North African Berberstook place in 711, around the sametime the first Turkish invaders cameto the subcontinent.
And while Islamic architecturereached huge highs in India in Mughaltimes, the incredible architecturalachievements of the Moorish rulers,such as the Alhambra and theMezquita (Mosque) Cordoba andSeville, are sights to behold. What wasalso remarkable was that, unlike India,the Islamic rulers were on the wholerather secular in Spain, and bothGranada and Cordoba had large Jewishpopulations. In the aftermath of theReconquista (reconquest) of Spain iswhere many believe modern-day anti-semitism was born with Jews beingforced out, most Muslims were eitherforced out of Spain or forced to convertto Catholicism, but clearly looking atmodern Spanish, it is clear that manyhave a mix of genes. Arab culture obvi-ously deeply influenced modern Spain,and many of Spain’s famous and brutalconquistadors of South and LatinAmerica used the same tactics as theirArab forebears and Arab horses.
The Alhambra and the Generalife(Jannat-e-Arif, the architects garden)are on a hilltop overlooking the cityof Granada. The historic heart of thecity does not allow outside vehiclesin, thankfully our host, Juan, hadparking in his modern apartment inthe ‘new’ city; we were however stay-ing in his apartment in the heartof the old city, rightbehind thePlaza
Nueva. “This building is older thanthe United States,” Juan joked, but thesteep staircase and low wooden tiledceiling was worth it because the viewof the fort from the balcony overlook-ing the old Arab and Jewish quartersof the city was stunning.
The one thing you should knowabout the Alhambra and Generalife isthat the Spanish conservationists onlyallow a certain number of visitorsevery day. A regular entrance ticketcosts only 14 Euro but these often getbooked out very fast and you will thenbe forced to join a tour group with aguide where tickets cost upwards of 50Euro. Thanks to being a bit slow off theblocks, we were forced to take the latteroption. At the same time, the numberof visitors to the Nasrid Palaces is alsorestricted, and you can only enter thepalaces at the time written on yourticket, and you must be careful withyour tickets because you will need toscan them multiple times. But the gar-dens, now filled with bitter Sevilleorange trees, are beautiful, and backwhen they were built, the water engi-neering and the plumbing to bring thewater from the mountains was a mas-sive achievement. It is the oldest sur-viving Moorish Gardens and whilemodern gardeners try and makeimprovements, some of the old skillshave clearly been lost.
Time has played a catalyst inchanging the meaning of thisold proverb from ‘grey shade’
to a ‘positive learning’ and it encom-passes a greater rule to succeed inlife: “Mind your own business”. Thecontinually churning wheels ofevolution have brought infinitedevelopment to life and with all thatdistractions too entered the world.The priority of every individualtoday is to deal with the increasingdistractions, ranging from contin-ually beeping messages and e-mailsto multiple tasks round the clock.And amid all this chaos, it becomesseemingly difficult for people tofocus on important aspects. That iswhere ‘mindful management’comes into the picture.
Mindful leadership is oftendefined as the ability to focus on theinside elements in the present con-text and with careful, non-judgmen-tal evaluation leading the way in acompassionate and thoughtful man-ner. The key to developing this greatability has repeatedly been related topractising self-observation andawareness through meditation,prayer, exercise, and other means.But the true development encom-passes every minute of life as a prac-tice session. Homo sapiens being themost evolved species on earth have
developed great abilities to think,evaluate, and act in every instance.
Leaders accumulate informa-tion from all around regardingevery aspect of business, but theexpert management practicesenable them to process all data bycategorising them on a priority basisand making decisions based on thepresent elements in an unbiased andnon-judgmental approach. Thisbecomes integral for mindful lead-ers to avoid constant distractionsand direct their energies to produc-tive and primary tasks.
Mindfulness is not just a qual-ity but great learning in itself, whichdevelops emotional intelligence,increases productivity, enhancesdecision-making ability, amplifiesability to listen and grasp, andreduces stress and depression to agreat extent. The benefits of mind-fulness have gained great popular-ity in recent times and today, every-one with a zeal to take on leadershiproles is looking forward to develop-ing mindfulness within.
The command over one’s ownabilities to deal with complexitiesand uncertainties without gettingoverpowered by distractions turnsa person into a mindful leader. Withmindfulness going mainstream, anumber of ways have been defined
to inherit this great leadership qual-ity. Although the process of evolv-ing yourself into a mindful leaderisn’t any rocket science, it requiresperseverance, focus, and persis-tence. You are required to focus onyour key priorities to set your goals
and work accordingly. This isn’tabout hard work, instead, it is asmart way to work that pays off. Fora person to become a mindfulleader, he must create and protect anenvironment which promotesorganisational growth along with
individual development. Right from creating appropri-
ate communication channels andmanaging rules that can help in thecultivation of self-awareness, amindful leader requires simulatingand facilitating a nurturing sur-
rounding for others to evolve. Thebest way to inspire others for mind-fulness is through leading by exam-ple, whether it is the work-life bal-ance, stress management, or perfor-mance excellence. From thefounders and CEOs of global indus-try giants to renowned personali-ties, all of them have attributed theirsuccess to mindfulness. They getinvolved in activities such as med-itation, yoga, exercise, jogging,cycling, or creative arts to enhancetheir mindful skills. Practising suchactivities, that help you focus andcreate awareness about your dutiesand priorities, surely paves thepath for you to become a thought-ful, successful, and a mindful leader.
You must help yourself to learnand practice mindfulness beforehelping others learn. The transfor-mation into a mindful leader is agradual process, which begins withdeveloping self-awareness, practis-ing focus, scheduling tasks, andimbibing the positivity within. Smallactions like correcting sitting pos-ture and maintaining a healthybreathing pattern are also a part ofthis process. Moreover, the ability tolive, think, and work in the presentis the most important aspect ofbeing a mindful leader. You mustalways try to be more present.
Focus is one of the fundamen-tals to the formula of success in life.That is why practising mindfulnessleads to better productivity. Oftenpeople don’t realise that to bemindful, all they need to do is tofocus on the present instead of get-ting caught up in the maelstroms oftheir thoughts. It is through prac-tice that one can achieve a state ofmindfulness effortlessly andbecome a true mindful leader.
Avoiding mental distractionsand increasing focus on tasks athand can funnel your brain with theright thoughts. You are also requiredto nurture your creativity and pic-ture a bigger canvas. Quality sleepis also essential for streamliningthoughts and re-energising oneself.
Success isn’t rooted in workinground the clock, instead, it dependson energy harnessed by calmingand creative activities. Traits ofbeing a mindful leader lie in actionsthat inspire others to follow. If youwant to become a mindful leader,start evaluating yourself, observeeverything around, channel yourthoughts, harness your energy,increase your focus, live in the pre-sent, and inspire everyone aroundyou being an example.
Of course, the Nasridpalaces are stunning, withtheir geometric designsand impressive stucco,stone and tile work, which
is being slowly restored, but they canget very crowded and a lot of peoplein a small space meant it would getvery warm even in the nice earlyMarch weather we were in. Ideally,one would want to admire the palacesa bit slower, but the rush of people canbe a bit much. One has to rememberthat the Alhambra-Generalife is thesecond most visited site in Spain afterthe La Sagrada Familia cathedral inBarcelona, and while it is a place thatone should indeed visit, you can, as anIndian, get caught up in comparingIndian Islamic architecture to theAlhambra, but the scale and the factthat much of this was built long beforethe peak of Mughal architecture inIndia should pique your interest, aswell as understanding the history ofIslam in the Iberian Peninsula.
There is a lovely Alhambra museumas well, that is attached to the unfin-ished palace of Charles V — unfinishedbecause of the expulsion of Muslim arti-sans following the Reconquista. Thatsaid, it is remarkable that the SpanishChristian rulers did not demolish theAlhambra and even kept its Islamicnature, with some changes. Andalthough at places you can see theshield of the Spanish crown along withother modifications, much of the ruinsare in good condition and surprisingly,you learn that Napoleon destroyed a lotof the city on his Spanish campaignsmany centuries later.
From Granada, our plan was todrive down to Cordoba, the erstwhileCapital of the province and then theCaliphate of al-Andalus, but we decidedto take a slight detour. After all, mosthotels in Europe are fairly strict aboutearly check-ins. So instead of headingdue West to Cordoba, we continueddown south on the Autovia CostaTropical and eventually joined theAutovia Mediterrano, the stunninghighway that literally hugs the SpanishCosta del Sol (the Sun coast), and therewe decided to pull into the lovely smalltown of Nerja. Here you see the so-called Balcon d’Europa (the Balcony ofEurope) and the view from the town isspectacular with the cliffs of theSpanish coast melting into the Azurewaters of the Mediterranean. On anoth-er trip, this little town would be a greatplace to stop for a couple of days.
Now we found ourselves needing tomove from Nerja via Malaga towardsCordoba. Malaga, the biggest city onthe Costa del Sol, looks immense fromoutside. This stretch of coastline isimmensely popular with sun worship-pers from northern European countriesand it was in the sale of houses andapartments here that the Spanish eco-nomic boom started and also eventual-ly crashed. We moved back onto theAutovia del Sur, but heading north thistime. Soon after passing the moun-tains, we hit the rolling landscapearound the province of Cordoba, againfilled with olive groves as far as the eyecan see. That olive oil you use fordressing your salad most likely camefrom olives grown around here.
Our hotel in Cordoba was on the
edge of the Jewish Quarter and a shortwalk to the famous Mezquita-Catedralof Cordoba. The Mezquita was built bythe Caliphs of Cordoba as a grandmosque to rival those in Damascus andJerusalem. Walking down to theMezquita, you can see ruins datingback to Roman times; Hispania iswhere the great Roman, Seneca, camefrom and there is a statue of himbeside the old walls as is a more recentstatue of the great Sephardic Jewishphilosopher and theologian,Maimonides, in the Jewish Quarter.Much of the historic town of Cordobais again off-limits for cars but there areseveral hotels and apartments in thearea and you can find several parkingspots with municipal parking.
Unfortunately, we had arrived on aMonday and several museums and siteslike the Alcazar (Palace) were shut, butit is still a lovely walk to the river’s edgewhere the old ‘Roman Bridge’ stillstands, albeit much modified over theyears. Most of the taverns and cafes are
open and you can try several local tapassuch as Salmojero, a type of gazpacho,which is a cold tomato soup but madewith bread with a boiled egg andSpanish ham on top. But the absolutemust-have is the berenjas con miel,which is essentially aubergine frittersdrizzled with local honey. Alongsidelocal wine, you really do not need to eattoo many tapas shared between a cou-ple of people to get full.
We visited the Mezquita the follow-ing morning; the tickets are affordableand despite the fact that it remains afunctioning Catholic church, themoney raised goes towards the contin-uing restoration of the immense hallwith its distinctive double archways.There are several reasons this‘Mezquita’ is unique, even though itwas consecrated as a cathedral after theReconquista, but the biggest singularachievement is the immense scale ofthe monument and the fact that it isone of the few extant mosques thathave actually survived from that time
anywhere in the world. There is a levelof controversy to this day becausemodern Muslims wish to offer prayersin the Mezquita but those attemptshave been actively thwarted by theSpanish authorities. Later on, I climbedup the Bell Tower of the Cathedral,which was once the Minaret, with themodern bell tower built over it. Thisoffers a stunning view of the Mezquita-Catedral and you can see where thereconstruction happened as well as thelovely ‘Court of Oranges’ outside.
For the final evening in Spain, wedecided to visit Cordoba’s public foodmarket, the Mercado Victoria, on themain road, a few steps from our hotel.Much like the Mercado di San Miguelin Madrid, this has several food stallsselling small food items from slices ofSpanish Tortillas (stuffed omelettes)and tapas such as olives. There aresome bars attached as well where youcan catch a cocktail or two, and if youlike Gin, try the lovely Spanish ginfrom Galicia, Nordes.
The drive back from Cordoba toMadrid was long and uneventful;Spanish roads as mentioned before arespectacular, but traffic does get a bitchaotic as you enter the city of Madrid.Traffic is orderly in Spain, much moreso than Italy, for example, so chooseyour lanes well in advance and usingindicators is not an option. On thewhole, a driving holiday in Spain is def-initely worth it. While the country has alovely network of buses and trains, aswell as affordable low-cost flights, hav-ing a car allows you freedom to visitplaces like Nerja or even the shoppingdestination of Las Rozas outsideMadrid. Driving in the West is muchless stressful than in India, as peoplefollow rules and you can easily coverhuge distances like the 600 km betweenMadrid and Barcelona in under sixhours. However, the only thing youmust keep in mind is that parking isoften a challenge in city centres. But adrive through Spain is something thatyou must add to your bucket list.
after the removal of the popu-larly elected Government ofYingluck Shinawatra.
She happened to be thecountry’s first woman PrimeMinister and the youngestoccupant of the office in morethan half a century. After herouster, the Generals were surethat Shinawatra clan and theirassociates would find it hard tomake a comeback in Thai pol-itics.
Since then, the entire coun-try has turned out to be a fight-ing ground simply among the“Red Shirts”, largely represent-ing former Prime Minister andexiled political strongmanThaksin Shinawatra and“Yellow Shirts”, the Army andthe royalist elites.
To bring in some normal-cy in the country, the currentmilitary leader, General PrayutChan-o-cha who plotted thecoup d’etat, later introduced anew Constitution in 2016 thatstrongly solidified the juntarule across the nation.
Till the conduct of theelection, General Prayut wasfunctioning as the PrimeMinister, heading a vague bodycalled “National Council forPeace and Order”. In fact, therecent political history of thecountry indicates that thisjunta rule is the longest onesince the1970s.
General Prayut has main-tained a tight grip over thecountry with the help of themilitary drafted Constitutionand massive investments ininfrastructure projects.
Besides, he has been usinghis soft power such as writingnationalistic pop songs toimpress the younger genera-tion, and insisting all publicschool students to recite histwelve values. In Thailand’sbitter political struggle betweenthe rural poor — the so-calledbase of the Thaksin and hisallies — and the urban elites,the bastion of the military, itsproxy parties and the royal sup-porters, Prayut presents himself
as a person who has united thecountry, indicating his presenceas the only alternative to theexisting career politicians of thenation.
Simply put, he is viewed asthe only anti-dote of Thaksinin Thai politics.
Frankly speaking what hasemboldened Prayut and hiscronies is the existingConstitution of Thailand. Itwas indeed pushed through areferendum in 2016, afterstrictly banning the criticsfrom campaigning against it.
Interestingly, the Generalscould hardly convince half thevoters to endorse thisConstitution. It gives solepower to the junta to appointall the 250 members of theUpper House (Senate). Further,it also mentions that the PMdoes not need to be an MP.This makes it very clear thatGeneral Prayut, who does notbelong to any political party,can remain in power as the newPrime Minister. The PM will beselected by a joint sitting of thetwo Houses.
To maintain his currentposition, Prayut needs only126 MPs. What is more dan-gerous to the new Governmentis that the General can declarea “20-year plan”, to which allfuture Governments ofThailand will have to obey.
Another important featureof the current Constitution,Section 44 allows the junta totake any steps in the name ofprotecting the monarchy,national security, maintainingpublic order, etc. Add to allthese, a high-level cyber secu-rity law finally allows theGovernment to monitor onlinetraffic in case of “emergency”.
Taking advantage of thepolitical instability, the militaryhas postponed dates for a freshvote quite a number of times inthe past. Finally, the first post-coup General Election for thecountry’s 500-seater LowerHouse, known as the House ofRepresentatives, took place onMarch 24. The ElectionCommission released the first
preliminary results five daysafter the election was held. But,it will announce the officialresults only after May 9, just afew days after the coronation ofKing Vajiralongkorn.
According to this prelimi-nary result, the pro-militaryparty Palang Pracharath Partywon 8.4 million votes, finish-ing anti-military party, PheuThai, the one backed byThaksin that received 7.9 mil-lion votes.
Ironically, it was Pheu Thaithat won most of the con-stituency seats numbering 137,followed by Palang Pracharthwith 97 seats. But it remainsunclear which party will final-ly form the Government.
With widespread suspi-cion of massive election frauds,this week the country’s ElectionCommission has ordered by-
elections in six polling stations.These irregularities includereports of mismatched num-bers, inclusion of unqualifiedvoters in the list of eligible vot-ers’ list, and finally, continuousdelays in the declaration ofresults. Meanwhile, therumours of electoral discrep-ancies led to countrywideprotests, some calling for theimpeachment of ElectionCommissioners and a promi-nent hashtag, “ElectionCommission busted” is trend-ing across social media.
Many Thais believe thatthis election might have beenrigged just to pave the way forjunta leader Prayut to contin-ue as the PM.
This week, in a rare brief-ing, Thai Army Chief ApiratKongsompong told the mediain the heart of the capital that
Thaksin has never admitted hiscrime. Also it is interesting tonote that King MahaVajiralongkorn revoked royaldecorations given to Thaksin inthe past.
The reason behind is thathe fled Thailand after beingsentenced to prison, that isconsidered as “an extremelyinappropriate behaviour”according to a statement posted on the Royal Gazette’swebsite.
On record, Thaksin has notreturned to Thailand since2008, after being accused in acase, he has termed largelypolitically motivated. It must benoted here that since 2001,Thaksin on his own or his allieshas been winning each electionin the country, but unfortu-nately, they are barred fromforming the Government either
by coup or with the help of thejudiciary.
Sadly, this election, onceagain, does not presage therestoration of democracy andcivilian rule in the one of thelargest nations of South EastAsia.
The 69 million voters whocast their ballot in this historicelection will simply witnessconsolidation of junta rule in adisguised form under GeneralPrayut.
Today, what heralds shamenot only for Thai people, butalso for the entire region is thatThailand, the country thatbecame the first nation tobecome a democracy in 1932,has simply slipped into theclutches of the corrupt andgreedy Generals.
It was once the role modelof democracy and an inspira-
tion for the coup-prone region.Thailand used to be the pioneerin taking fast steps towardsindustrialisation immediatelyafter the end of the absolutemonarchy. It has also remainedas a staunch ally of America inthe region bringing in stabili-ty in South East Asia.
Today, many of South EastAsian nations are encounteringproblems such as ageing pop-ulation, slow growth rate, cor-ruption in public space and thepresence of social safety nets,to name a few. Further, an everemerging and aggressiveChinese presence across theregion under President XiJinping has become a perma-nent threat for their security.Looking at all these, Thai juntaand its politicians must see toit that the country remains sta-ble in the coming days. Thecurrent king must take a pro-active role like his deceasedfather, who was popularlyrevered as the “peoples king” inthe past.
Today, creating a hybriddemocracy in Thailand is nota solution to its people’s woes.Simply to foil the coming ofone Thaksin Shinawatra, theGenerals should not take theadvantage of ruling the coun-try with or without the uni-forms. They must understandthe critical issues facing thecommoners. The elite inThailand doesn’t represent thetrue picture of the nation, nei-ther it could run the countryalone.
Further, the Generals,before trying to crush theopposition in entirety, shouldbetter note that democracy atits heart indicates the existenceof differences. The Thaisdeserve much more than whatthe Generals are currentlyoffering. Hope, a true democ-racy, which enables the right toexpress opinions and freedomto resist anything that goesagainst the public, will soonprevail in the “Land of Smiles”.
(The writer is an expert oninternational affairs)
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The Muslim community inManipur, locally known as
Pangals, has been witnessingissues of manufactured inse-curity of late. Despite the tallpromises and claims in therun-up to the 2019 Lok Sabhaelections for the uplift of thePangals, their “marginalisa-tion” and “otherisation” con-tinues.
It seems there is a con-scious and political sideliningof the Pangals in Manipur.Although at present, Pangalstake part in politics, but theydon’t have political represen-tation in institutions.
A second case of a politi-cal snub was the non-inclusionof a representative of Muslimsin the State Level DraftingCommittee of the Bill for theProtection of Manipuri Peopleproposed by the StateGovernment on May 23, 2018.As per the Governmentspokesperson, the proposedBill would ban the entry of ille-gal migrants with an emphasison Rohingyas, leaving othermigrant communities aside.
A communally-chargednarrative was created aroundthe issue by blaming thePangals and its leaders of giv-ing asylum to Rohingyas. Theensuing Bill was seen by thePangals as a deliberate attemptto harm the community. Afteran outburst on social media,
the Chief Minister of Manipurhad verbally assured to includeone representative from thePangal community.
Politics of displacementOn July 2, 2018 around 400
Pangals were evacuated from areserve forest land, KshetriBengoon Mamang AwangChing, for the allegedencroachment. The AllManipur MuslimOrganisations’ CoordinatingCommittee (AMMOCOC)and other representatives of thePangal civil society organisa-tions (CSOs) through a totalshutdown across the State hadon April 10 demanded thewithdrawal of the show-causenotice issued to the residents asthey had been inhabiting theplace since the late 1970s andavailing a host of civic ameni-ties or entitlements of a citizen.
The Government demol-ished the residential structuresdisrespecting the agreementsigned between theGovernment and the CSOs ofPangals, particularly under theleadership of AMMOCOC, onApril 10, 2018. TheGovernment’s indifference andthe politics of de-recognitionaffected the residents. Theaffected people are yet to berehabilitated though lots ofmeetings, agreements andback-end efforts have been
put in by the CSOs.In a case pertaining to the
acquisition of homestead pattaland belonging to the minori-ty community for the con-struction of MLA quarters inthe Mantripukhri area, theManipur Conservation ofPaddy Land and Wetland Act2014 was invoked to displacethe settlers in the name of pro-tecting the area from non-agricultural usages.
However, nothing of thissort happened in certain paddyland in other areas of Manipur.Encouraged by such moves ofthe Government, Nagaram andadjoining areas of KhumanLampak inhabited by manyPangals and running businessestablishments therein havebeen threatened by the localsand asked to vacate the place.
This is in gross violation ofthe Right to Life (Article 3 ofthe Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights) under whichthe right to settlement andright to earn livelihood areenshrined.
MobocracyThe anti-minority senti-
ment in the State led to anoth-er issue in this chronicle oflynching on September 13,2018. There had been manymob justices in the State,including of Pangals, on thepretext of cattle theft, bicy-
cle/bike lifting and other flim-sy grounds. In the past fewyears, the rate of such heinouscrimes shot up. The mostshocking incident was thelynching of Md Farooque Khanfrom Lilong Mayai Leikai,Thoubal district, Manipur.
Immediately after thecrime, videos of torture of thevictim emerged on socialmedia that led to spontaneousoutrage and protests acrossthe State resulting in the pas-sage of The ManipurProtection from Mob Violence,2018 by the Government.
The Government ofManipur constituted a com-mittee to investigate the inci-dent, but the report has notbeen produced to ascertain asto why Farooque was lynched.
Disproportionate representation
The systematic exclusion ofPangals at various levels of pub-lic sphere and governance wasacknowledged and tried toreverse by granting 4 per centreservation to ManipuriMuslim community inGovernment jobs, and highereducation, especially for admis-sion into professional pro-grammes of study in Manipur.
The role of the Statetowards the improvement ofMuslim community inManipur is dismal if the avail-
able data on health, education,employment and other relevantpublic services are any indication.
The number of first classofficials, second class officialsand third class officials aremuch below the 8.4 per cent(the per cent population ofMuslims in Manipur) evenafter 12 years of implementa-tion of the reservation order,reason being the absence of anymention of filling up of thebacklog vacancies in the order.
Several CSOs havedemanded to conduct a socio-economic survey to assess theimpact of reservation and takeappropriate corrective mea-sures, but the Government hasnot paid heed to it. In a pre-pollstunt, the Government hur-riedly picked and chose a few“token intellectuals” who are itsdiscernible apologists to discussand conduct a socio-econom-ic survey by sidelining themost prominent CSO of thePangals, the AMMOCOC.
The AMMOCOC wasinvited to be a part of the ini-tiative, but the apex body couldsomehow sense the hiddenplan of suppressing the unful-filled promises by merely ini-tiating a survey which by allmeans will not be completedbefore the model code of con-duct for the general elections2019 sets in.
Identity crisisThe Pangals are a mixed
breed of Meitei women ofManipur and Muslim soldiersfrom Taraf in Sylhet (the sol-diers were settled in Manipurthrough a political arrange-ment as described in “TheFormation of MuslimCommunity in Manipur dur-ing the seventeenth and eigh-teenth Centuries”), implyingthat they were either born inManipur or assimilated into theManipuri way of life four cen-turies ago, and the then KingKhagemba (in the early 17thcentury) recognised their skillsand enterprising nature andtapped into it by presentingland, women in marriage andservants for settlement.
Because of seven yearsdevastation war (1819-1826CE) many Manipuris, includ-ing Pangals, fled from Manipurto present day Myanmar,Bangladesh and Assam wherethey are now naturalised citi-zens.
Today, Manipuris, in gen-eral, and the Pangals in par-ticular, form a Diaspora inwestern south-east Asia.Manipur’s total population in1951 was 5,77,635, of which37,197 were Muslims (includ-ing non-Pangal migrantMuslims who came in the late19th century or in the early20th century to Manipur). In
2011, corresponding figureswere 28,55,794 and 2,39,836 asper the Census of India. In2011, Muslim growth was -0.4per cent against that of 2001.The increase of Manipur’s totalpopulation around 4.94 timesduring 1951-2011 was slightlyhigher than that of the Hindus(3.4 times), lower than theMuslims (6.45 times), but theChristians added 17.24 times.Since 1901, Manipur’s popula-tion has increased 10 times.The peaceful co-existence ofthe communities started receiv-ing communal blows since the1980s as a consequence ofwhich the minority communi-ty of Pangals has been mar-ginalised, excluded and subju-gated. The identity politics inthe State became competitiveand sub-nationalist forcesemerged resulting in main-streaming of the reactionaryelements that hitherto formedthe fringe of the political dis-course.
The situation has been fur-ther endangered by the politicsof vilifying the Pangals (byblaming that the community’spopulation has increased dra-matically as a result of harbor-ing migrant workers orRohingyas who are alsoMuslims) over the CitizenshipBill 2016 passed by the LokSabha a few months back cre-ating a fresh wave of insecuri-
ty among certain sections of thePangals even though they havebeen considered indigenouspeople in recognition of theirfour-century-long roots in theland. Although there is noempirical data to support themyth of accommodating out-siders, it has been doing therounds for quite some yearsand, no wonder that in thispost-truth world, this propa-ganda has been even endorsedby some self-proclaimed socialscientists and academics.
Hence, the fear and theidentity crisis are here to stay.And, if the systematic margin-alisation as described in theaforementioned instances ofthe Government is takenbeyond its face value, the hid-den agenda seems to “strip offthe nationality, but do not killthe individual”.
(Md. Chingiz Khan is aPhD Scholar at the Centre forHistorical Studies, JawaharlalNehru University, New Delhi;and Mohammad Imtiyaj Khanis an Assistant Professor atGauhati University, Guwahati)
Sir, you have cast the true picture ofmy son’s present frame of mind.Now I have a question: Ours is a
cultured, religious, and an affluent fami-ly having an overall good home atmos-phere. And we have tried to impart avalue system in him while bringing himup. All that he looked for was madeavailable. Where did he pick up threadsof negativity then?” the lady asked.
Well, so far as the child’s upbringingis concerned, you gave your best to thechild by your self-defined standards. Hewas brought up under a very protectedenvironment. He went to a school whereonly rich children study. So, he had noexposure to the realities of life. He wasbrought up in a way that things wereavailable at his beck and call. He neverhad to digest denial. Now, when youdeny what he is asking for, how can hetake it kindly, no matter how reasonedbe your stand? For, he was never madeto realise the value of money.
In so far as the overall character of aperson is concerned, it is not simplydependent on the family environmentand upbringing. It though makes signif-icant impact, but there is much more toit. The roots are actually grounded in
the Karmic carryover from the past.Remember, life runs in succession. Ondeath, it is just the gross-body thatbecomes dysfunctional and then disin-tegrates. But the subtle body — which isencased in the gross-body that holds thekey to mind functions and their emo-tional reflections — remains intact. Thatgets carried on to the next incarnatebodies with all the memory imprintsacquired during the lifetime.
The sum total of memory imprintspertaining to learning and unlearning,the skill sets acquired, the intellectualdevelopment, good or bad experiences,the unfulfilled desires, if any, during thelifetime sets the premise on which thenext life takes off. These memoryimprints find presence in the nextincarnate body in the form of thought-seeds. They define the mind-traits of aperson — the desire trends, expanse ofvision and level of intellect, likes anddislikes, prejudices and obsessions,habits and attitudes, as well as virtuesand attributes. As and when congenialground becomes available, thosethought-seeds come into play one afterthe other. Had this not been true, twinsbrought up under similar conditions
would not behave differently. “Possibly yes, but how comes the
negative traits were not in evidence tillmy son completed class 10th examina-tion?” the lady asked again. Well, theKarmic carryover doesn’t ordinarilyfind reflection immediately after birth.Even if there are some indications,they invariably get ignored as beingchildish trends that may improve withtime. The true self of a child begins togradually outplay around the eighthyear when a sense of independencebegins to gain ground. It gets firmedup during the teens when the childbegins to exert oneself.
“I had earlier asked you whethersome black magic has been done on mychild? But you have not given a clearanswer,” the lady came up with anotherquestion. Well, truth remains that seedsof the young man’s mind-traits are verymuch in evidence in his astrologicalchart. So, instead of trying to resolve hisissues from the root level, it will be afutile exercise to look for external rea-sons and remedy thereto. If anybodyadvises you to resort to some puja, doyou think the pundit’s words will be ableto strike upon the young man’s innerrealms of mind for necessary correc-tion? If that be true, nobody will suffer
from psychic problems.“What’s the way out then and can
you give a timeline when he is expectedto become normal?” Given the astrolog-ical pointers and his account you haveshared — his sleep disorder and inco-herent thought process — the youngman seems to be suffering from a seri-ous psychiatric disorder, which warrantsimmediate medical intervention. Be itknown that whenever a person is sub-ject to continued stress, the first casual-ty is hormonal imbalance, which inturn, further compounds stress. Theperson, thus, gets trapped in a viciouscycle, difficult to come out of easily. So,towards the first step, immediate psy-chiatric help is required. Unless the hor-monal imbalance is corrected, no otherremedial measure will work. Once, hebecomes calmer and receptive, thenonly even counselling will work, oradvisory, if any, may get registered in hismind. Under such circumstances, it willbe unfair to suggest a timeline either.
