E nding years of speculation, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the sister of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday finally plunged into active pol- itics ahead of the Lok Sabha elections to take on the might of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the crucial Hindi heartland that has 80 Lok Sabha seats. Dubbed as the “brahmas- tra” of the Congress, Priyanka will debut as the party’s gener- al secretary incharge of the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh having Modi’s constituency in Varanasi and also UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath bas- tion in Gorakhpur. Congress leaders said Priyanka’s entry into active party politics will galvanise the workers, helping them take on the dual challenge posed in the State by the BJP and the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance. The Congress hopes that Priyanka will be able to the turn the projected direct fight between the BJP and SP-BSP alliance into triangular contest where the Congress could ben- efit on a number of seats due to division of votes. Congress leaders also feel that while it is too early to assess the impact of a possible Congress revival under Priyanka stewardship on the prospect of the BJP and the SP- BSPP alliance, but care may be taken in the selection of can- didates to ensure that the BJP suffers most. Congress list of candidates, sources said, may be dominat- ed by upper castes, since the BJP hopes to capitalise on 10 per cent reservation to gener- al category candidates in edu- cational institutions and employment to woo the upper caste voters. Priyanka can play vital role there in bringing back the traditional upper caste voters to the Congress fold. Soon after her appoint- ment as an office-bearer in AICC, speculation is rife that she may be fielded as the party candidate from Rae Bareli, the constituency currently being represented by her mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who is not keeping well of late. Though no reactions came till late evening from Priyanka as she is reportedly in New York and scheduled to return on February 1, Rahul said he is happy that Priyanka will assist him in the Lok Sabha polls. “I am very happy that my sister Priyanka will assist me in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha polls, she is very capable,” Rahul said at Amethi after making some of the crucial appointments in the party sys- tem. The brother-sister duo will formally announce the begin- ning of Lok Sabha poll cam- paign in UP on February 4 at a Press conference. Senior party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia will be on par with Priyanka as AICC general secretary for Uttar Pradesh West region. Rahul added Jyotiraditya is a dynam- ic youth leader. Both Priyanka and Scindia replace Ghulam Nabi Azad, who has been appointed AICC general sec- retary for Haryana, where the party is facing factionism. “UP is central to building a new hope fulfilled. The new UP AICC team led by Priyanka and Jyotiradiyta will herald the dawn of a new kind of pol- itics in the State. We will offer the youth in UP a dynamic new platform to transform the State,” said Rahul. Husban Robert Vadra con- gratulated Priyanka on a Facebook post: “Congratulations P... always by your side in every phase of your life.” The BJP has been repeatedly targeting Vadra, a businessman being investigat- ed for allegedly corrupt land deals in Haryana and Rajasthan and is facing probes by the Enforcement Directorate. The party is not immedi- ately clear on the division of the 80 parliamentary seats between the two new incharges but sources said it could be 40 each. Both Amethi and Rae Bareli, the two Gandhi family bas- tions, fall in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Priyanka has been extensively campaigning since 2004 in all national and state level elections. T he BJP on Wednesday interpreted the entry of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra into the active politics in the Congress as an admission of his brother Rahul’s leadership fail- ure and likened the move to the party opting for a “family alliance” after having been “rejected by various parties in the proposed mahagathban- dan”. “Priyanka ji has become the general secretary, my good luck to her. Since the party is a family concern, these kinds of postings are nothing unusual, except to say with a caveat why has she been given the limited role of eastern UP? Perhaps her persona merited a wider role,” said Union Law Minister and senior BJP leader Ravishankar Prasad. Claiming that the appoint- ments made by the Congress reflected the outlook of the party, Prasad said it was a case of a brother (Congress presi- dent Rahul Gandhi) appointing his sister to a party position. Railway Minister Piyush Goel accused the party of car- rying out dynasty politics and said, “In the Congress party there is reservation only for one family, nobody gets anything beyond them.” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra claimed the new appoint- ment reflected crisis of confi- dence within the Congress against Rahul. “The Congress has basically publicly announced that Rahul Gandhi has failed and needs crutches from within the family. Because of his rejection by grand alliance parties, he has opted for a family alliance,” Patra said. Patra said it was natural that the Congress had to “coro- nate” somebody from within the family and added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has projected the Lok Sabha elections as a battle between “naamdar” (dynasts) and “kaamdar” (those who have worked). The new India is asking the question who will be the next leader in the Congress, Patra said referring to its succession line from Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira followed by Rajiv, Sonia and Rahul. “All appointments are from one family. And this is the fun- damental difference between the Congress and the BJP. In the Congress, the family is party. In the BJP, the party is family,” Patra said. In 2014 elections, Congress could win only two seats — Sonia from Rae Bareily and Rahul from Amethi — from UP which has the largest num- ber of 80 Lok Sabha seats in the country. T he Standing Committee of the National Board of Wildlife (NBWL) has given in-principal approval for diverting nearly 215 hectares of forestland for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 1.1 lakh crore worth Mumbai- Ahmedabad bullet train pro- ject. However, the approval for the high-speed rail project which has drawn flak from the conservationists has come with certain conditions. The patches of forest land will be carved out from the eco- sensitive zone of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), Tungareshwar wildlife sanctu- ary and Thane creek flamingo sanctuary for the 500 km long rail corridor. The NBWL in its meeting on January 10, 2019, allowed diversion of 3.2756 hactares of forestland from Creek Flamingo Wildlife Sanctuary and 97.5189 hactares from deemed ESZ. In-principle approval was also given for diversion of 32.75 hectares of forestland and 77.30 hectares of non-forestland from Sanjay Gandhi National Park and 0.6902 ha of forestland and 4.7567 ha of non-forestland from Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary. The NBWL, under the Union Environment Ministry, is responsible for framing India’s policy and strategy for wildlife conservation and one of its key tasks is to regulate development projects to safe- guard wildlife. To ensure that the bullet train project does not have adverse impact on the adjoin- ing biodiversity, the NBWL has enlisted several conditions on the project proponent before initiating the construc- tion, implementation of animal passage plans on the basis of the Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII) guide- lines “Eco-friendly Measures to Mitigate Impacts on Linear Infrastructures on Wildlife” being the major one. The train will run at a speed of 320-350 km per hour and will have 12 stations between Mumbai and Ahmedabad across its 500 km stretch. The project is being implemented by National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited and financed by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) which is lend- ing 88,000 crore at the 0.1 per cent interest which is required to be repaid in 50 years. The NBWL approval lists out a number of measures like underpasses for wildlife, restriction on the movement of vehicles to existing roads and tracks. It has also suggested that the project agency will provide funds for compensatory plan- tation of trees. Sources in the Ministry said that after intense discus- sions, the Standing Committee decided to rec- ommend the project “subject to the conditions that per- mission for construction of the project shall be granted by the State Government only when animal passage plan is prepared by the project pro- ponent in consultation with the State Chief Wildlife Warden on the basis of WII guidelines named eco-friend- ly measures to mitigate impacts on linear infrastruc- tures on wildlife. T he entry of Priyanka Gandhi into active poli- tics and her appointment as AICC general secretary incharge of Uttar Pradesh (east) has come as a major boost for the party workers and leaders ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. The morale of the youthful cadre received a further fillip as along with Priyanka Gandhi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi appointed Jyotiraditya Scindia as AICC general sec- retary incharge of UP (west). In his first reaction after appointment of his sister Priyanka as the party general secretary, Rahul said the deci- sion was taken to strengthen the party and this two power- ful Congress leaders will pave way for the spread of the Congress ideology of the youths, elders, and other sec- tion of the society. “I trust Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jyoitraditya Scindia. We will not play on the back foot,” he told reporters at Fursatganj. He added the party has appointed both the leaders in a permanent basis in UP and had not sent Priyanka and Jyotiraditya for just two months or till the Lok Sabha polls. “I have sent them to take Congress’ ideology forward in Uttar Pradesh. Our ideolo- gy is of standing and fighting for the poor, for the youth, for the farmers. Both Priyanka and Jyotiraditya are very capa- ble and dynamic, and will surely take Congress forward in UP,” he added. The sudden appointment of Priyanka on the day Rahul is visiting UP has changed the political dynamics in the State which will elect 80 Lok Sabha members. When asked if Priyanka would be contesting the Lok Sabha polls, Rahul said, “It is up to Priyanka to take the deci- sion. I have already said that the Congress will not play on the back foot and will only bat on the front foot in UP and elsewhere.” Related copy on P7 R ailway Minister Piyush Goyal was given the addi- tional charge of the Finance and Corporate Affairs min- istries on Wednesday in view of the indisposition of Arun Jaitley, who is currently under- going treatment abroad. According to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique, the President, as advised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, directed that during the peri- od of Jaitley’s indisposition, the portfolios of the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Corporate Affairs, held by him, be temporarily assigned to Goyal, in addition to his exist- ing portfolios. Further, Jaitley has been designated as a Minister with- out portfolio during the period of his indisposition or till such time when he is able to resume his work as the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Corporate Affairs. A ll India Congress Committee (AICC) presi- dent Rahul Gandhi would visit Odisha every month till the general elections, said Congress Odisha in-charge Jitendra Singh here on Wednesday. Speaking to reporters on Gandhi's scheduled visit to the State on January 25, Singh said, "This will be Rahul Gandhi's first tour to Odisha in 2019. He will attend public ral- lies and meet party workers during his visit on the day. Besides, he is scheduled to visit the State every month for the next three months." Singh said that during his visit, Gandhi would target both the BJD and the BJP since both the parties have betrayed the people of Odisha and played with their emotions. "Rahul Gandhi's family is closely associated with Odisha since long. Rahul has a special place in his heart for the peo- ple of Odisha, especially the tribal and the underprivileged population," said Singh. Replying to questions on quitting of several party lead- ers in the recent days, Singh said, "There might be some vested interest behind some leaders quitting the party. Besides, this is an indicator that both the BJD and the BJP are afraid of the Congress. Therefore, both the parties are leaving no stone unturned to lure Congress leaders to widen their support bases ahead of the elections." B JD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is all set to hold public meetings where the BJP has organised rallies for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in recent months. As Modi addressed three public meetings at Jharsuguda, Khordha, Baripada and Balangir between December 24 and January 15, Patnaik too has plans to speak to the people in these places, according to BJD sources. While Modi had addressed a meeting at Jharsuguda on September 22 last year, Patnaik would visit the western Odisha town on Thursday (January 24). "We are planning a con- gregation of over 1 lakh people at the Chief Minister's meet- ing," said local MLA Naba Kishore Das, who is to join the BJD at this meeting after his recent resignation from the Congress. As Modi visited Balangir on January 15, Patnaik would also visit this second western town on January 24, he said. Similarly, the Chief Minister would visit Baripada on January 30. He would address a meeting at Khordha in near future. B JP national president Amit Shah would visit the State twice for party programme rescheduled on January 29 and February 3 in Cuttack and Puri districts respective- ly. He would address a pub- lic rally at Kulia on January 29 in Salepur of Cuttack district. Earlier, his Salepur visit scheduled on January 18 had been cancelled as he suffered from swine flu. He would visit Puri to attend the BJP's two-day national tribal convention scheduled on February 2 and 3. He would address the con- vention on the concluding day. Notably, Puri has become the focus for both the BJP and the BJD ahead of the elec- tions. The BJP's programme was changed in the last moment in view of the BJD's farmers' rally scheduled on January 25 in Puri.
Transcript
����� ��������
Ending years of speculation,Priyanka Gandhi Vadra,
the sister of Congress presidentRahul Gandhi, on Wednesdayfinally plunged into active pol-itics ahead of the Lok Sabhaelections to take on the mightof the BJP and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in the crucialHindi heartland that has 80Lok Sabha seats.
Dubbed as the “brahmas-tra” of the Congress, Priyankawill debut as the party’s gener-al secretary incharge of theeastern part of Uttar Pradeshhaving Modi’s constituency inVaranasi and also UP ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath bas-tion in Gorakhpur.
Congress leaders saidPriyanka’s entry into activeparty politics will galvanisethe workers, helping them takeon the dual challenge posed inthe State by the BJP and theSamajwadi Party-BahujanSamaj Party alliance.
The Congress hopes thatPriyanka will be able to the turnthe projected direct fightbetween the BJP and SP-BSPalliance into triangular contestwhere the Congress could ben-efit on a number of seats dueto division of votes.
Congress leaders also feelthat while it is too early toassess the impact of a possibleCongress revival underPriyanka stewardship on theprospect of the BJP and the SP-BSPP alliance, but care may betaken in the selection of can-didates to ensure that the BJPsuffers most.
Congress list of candidates,sources said, may be dominat-ed by upper castes, since theBJP hopes to capitalise on 10per cent reservation to gener-al category candidates in edu-cational institutions and
employment to woo the uppercaste voters. Priyanka can playvital role there in bringingback the traditional upper castevoters to the Congress fold.
Soon after her appoint-ment as an office-bearer inAICC, speculation is rife thatshe may be fielded as the partycandidate from Rae Bareli, theconstituency currently beingrepresented by her mother andUPA chairperson SoniaGandhi, who is not keepingwell of late.
Though no reactions cametill late evening from Priyankaas she is reportedly in NewYork and scheduled to returnon February 1, Rahul said he is
happy that Priyanka will assisthim in the Lok Sabha polls.
“I am very happy that mysister Priyanka will assist me inUttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabhapolls, she is very capable,”Rahul said at Amethi aftermaking some of the crucialappointments in the party sys-tem. The brother-sister duo willformally announce the begin-ning of Lok Sabha poll cam-paign in UP on February 4 ata Press conference.
Senior party leaderJyotiraditya Scindia will be onpar with Priyanka as AICCgeneral secretary for UttarPradesh West region. Rahuladded Jyotiraditya is a dynam-
ic youth leader. Both Priyankaand Scindia replace GhulamNabi Azad, who has beenappointed AICC general sec-retary for Haryana, where theparty is facing factionism.
“UP is central to buildinga new hope fulfilled. The newUP AICC team led by Priyankaand Jyotiradiyta will heraldthe dawn of a new kind of pol-itics in the State. We will offerthe youth in UP a dynamic newplatform to transform theState,” said Rahul.
Husban Robert Vadra con-gratulated Priyanka on aFacebook post:“Congratulations P... alwaysby your side in every phase of
your life.” The BJP has beenrepeatedly targeting Vadra, abusinessman being investigat-ed for allegedly corrupt landdeals in Haryana andRajasthan and is facing probesby the EnforcementDirectorate.
The party is not immedi-ately clear on the division of the80 parliamentary seats betweenthe two new incharges butsources said it could be 40 each.Both Amethi and Rae Bareli,the two Gandhi family bas-tions, fall in eastern UttarPradesh and Priyanka has beenextensively campaigning since2004 in all national and statelevel elections.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra intothe active politics in theCongress as an admission of hisbrother Rahul’s leadership fail-ure and likened the move to theparty opting for a “familyalliance” after having been“rejected by various parties inthe proposed mahagathban-dan”.
“Priyanka ji has becomethe general secretary, my goodluck to her. Since the party is afamily concern, these kinds ofpostings are nothing unusual,except to say with a caveat whyhas she been given the limitedrole of eastern UP? Perhaps herpersona merited a wider role,”said Union Law Minister andsenior BJP leader RavishankarPrasad.
Claiming that the appoint-ments made by the Congressreflected the outlook of theparty, Prasad said it was a caseof a brother (Congress presi-dent Rahul Gandhi) appointinghis sister to a party position.
Railway Minister PiyushGoel accused the party of car-rying out dynasty politics andsaid, “In the Congress partythere is reservation only for onefamily, nobody gets anything
beyond them.”BJP spokesperson Sambit
Patra claimed the new appoint-ment reflected crisis of confi-dence within the Congressagainst Rahul. “The Congresshas basically publiclyannounced that Rahul Gandhihas failed and needs crutchesfrom within the family. Becauseof his rejection by grandalliance parties, he has optedfor a family alliance,” Patra said.
Patra said it was naturalthat the Congress had to “coro-nate” somebody from withinthe family and added thatPrime Minister Narendra Modihas projected the Lok Sabhaelections as a battle between“naamdar” (dynasts) and“kaamdar” (those who have
worked).The new India is asking the
question who will be the nextleader in the Congress, Patrasaid referring to its successionline from Jawaharlal Nehru toIndira followed by Rajiv, Soniaand Rahul.
“All appointments are fromone family. And this is the fun-damental difference betweenthe Congress and the BJP. Inthe Congress, the family isparty. In the BJP, the party isfamily,” Patra said.
In 2014 elections, Congresscould win only two seats —Sonia from Rae Bareily andRahul from Amethi — fromUP which has the largest num-ber of 80 Lok Sabha seats in thecountry.
Wildlife (NBWL) has givenin-principal approval fordiverting nearly 215 hectares offorestland for Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s �1.1 lakhcrore worth Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train pro-ject. However, the approval forthe high-speed rail projectwhich has drawn flak from theconservationists has come withcertain conditions.
The patches of forest landwill be carved out from the eco-sensitive zone of Sanjay GandhiNational Park (SGNP),Tungareshwar wildlife sanctu-ary and Thane creek flamingosanctuary for the 500 km long
rail corridor.The NBWL in its meeting
on January 10, 2019, alloweddiversion of 3.2756 hactares offorestland from CreekFlamingo Wildlife Sanctuaryand 97.5189 hactares fromdeemed ESZ. In-principleapproval was also given fordiversion of 32.75 hectares offorestland and 77.30 hectares ofnon-forestland from SanjayGandhi National Park and0.6902 ha of forestland and4.7567 ha of non-forestlandfrom Tungareshwar WildlifeSanctuary.
The NBWL, under theUnion Environment Ministry,is responsible for framingIndia’s policy and strategy forwildlife conservation and oneof its key tasks is to regulate
development projects to safe-guard wildlife.
To ensure that the bullettrain project does not haveadverse impact on the adjoin-ing biodiversity, the NBWL
has enlisted several conditionson the project proponentbefore initiating the construc-tion, implementation of animalpassage plans on the basis ofthe Dehradun-based Wildlife
Institute of India (WII) guide-lines “Eco-friendly Measures toMitigate Impacts on LinearInfrastructures on Wildlife”being the major one.
The train will run at aspeed of 320-350 km per hourand will have 12 stationsbetween Mumbai andAhmedabad across its 500 kmstretch. The project is beingimplemented by NationalHigh-Speed Rail CorporationLimited and financed by JapanInternational CooperationAgency (JICA) which is lend-ing �88,000 crore at the 0.1 percent interest which is requiredto be repaid in 50 years.
The NBWL approval listsout a number of measures likeunderpasses for wildlife,restriction on the movement of
vehicles to existing roads andtracks. It has also suggested thatthe project agency will providefunds for compensatory plan-tation of trees.
Sources in the Ministrysaid that after intense discus-sions, the StandingCommittee decided to rec-ommend the project “subjectto the conditions that per-mission for construction ofthe project shall be granted bythe State Government onlywhen animal passage plan isprepared by the project pro-ponent in consultation withthe State Chief WildlifeWarden on the basis of WIIguidelines named eco-friend-ly measures to mitigateimpacts on linear infrastruc-tures on wildlife.
��������������������� ��������!�������� ���� �
The entry of PriyankaGandhi into active poli-
tics and her appointment asAICC general secretar yincharge of Uttar Pradesh(east) has come as a majorboost for the party workersand leaders ahead of the LokSabha polls. The morale ofthe youthful cadre received afurther fillip as along withPriyanka Gandhi, Congresspresident Rahul Gandhiappointed JyotiradityaScindia as AICC general sec-retary incharge of UP (west).
In his first reaction afterappointment of his sisterPriyanka as the party generalsecretary, Rahul said the deci-sion was taken to strengthenthe party and this two power-ful Congress leaders will paveway for the spread of theCongress ideology of theyouths, elders, and other sec-tion of the society.
“I trust Priyanka GandhiVadra and Jyoitraditya Scindia.We will not play on the backfoot,” he told reporters at
Fursatganj. He added the partyhas appointed both the leadersin a permanent basis in UPand had not sent Priyanka andJyotiraditya for just twomonths or till the Lok Sabhapolls.
“I have sent them to takeCongress’ ideology forwardin Uttar Pradesh. Our ideolo-gy is of standing and fightingfor the poor, for the youth, forthe farmers. Both Priyankaand Jyotiraditya are very capa-ble and dynamic, and willsurely take Congress forwardin UP,” he added.
The sudden appointmentof Priyanka on the day Rahulis visiting UP has changed thepolitical dynamics in the Statewhich will elect 80 Lok Sabhamembers.
When asked if Priyankawould be contesting the LokSabha polls, Rahul said, “It isup to Priyanka to take the deci-sion. I have already said thatthe Congress will not play onthe back foot and will only baton the front foot in UP andelsewhere.”
tional charge of the Financeand Corporate Affairs min-istries on Wednesday in view ofthe indisposition of ArunJaitley, who is currently under-going treatment abroad.
According to a Rashtrapati
Bhavan communique, thePresident, as advised by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,directed that during the peri-od of Jaitley’s indisposition, theportfolios of the Minister ofFinance and the Minister ofCorporate Affairs, held by him,be temporarily assigned toGoyal, in addition to his exist-ing portfolios.
Further, Jaitley has beendesignated as a Minister with-out portfolio during the period of his indisposition or till such time when he is ableto resume his work as the Minister of Finance and the Minister of CorporateAffairs.
dent Rahul Gandhi would visitOdisha every month till thegeneral elections, said CongressOdisha in-charge JitendraSingh here on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters onGandhi's scheduled visit to theState on January 25, Singhsaid, "This will be RahulGandhi's first tour to Odisha in2019. He will attend public ral-lies and meet party workersduring his visit on the day.Besides, he is scheduled tovisit the State every month forthe next three months."
Singh said that during hisvisit, Gandhi would target boththe BJD and the BJP since boththe parties have betrayed thepeople of Odisha and playedwith their emotions.
"Rahul Gandhi's family isclosely associated with Odisha
since long. Rahul has a specialplace in his heart for the peo-ple of Odisha, especially thetribal and the underprivilegedpopulation," said Singh.
Replying to questions onquitting of several party lead-ers in the recent days, Singhsaid, "There might be somevested interest behind someleaders quitting the party.Besides, this is an indicator thatboth the BJD and the BJP areafraid of the Congress.Therefore, both the parties areleaving no stone unturned tolure Congress leaders to widentheir support bases ahead of theelections."
����� ����������
BJD president and ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik is
all set to hold public meetingswhere the BJP has organisedrallies for Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in recentmonths.
As Modi addressed threepublic meetings at Jharsuguda,Khordha, Baripada andBalangir between December 24
and January 15, Patnaik too hasplans to speak to the people inthese places, according to BJDsources.
While Modi had addresseda meeting at Jharsuguda onSeptember 22 last year, Patnaikwould visit the western Odishatown on Thursday (January 24).
"We are planning a con-gregation of over 1 lakh peopleat the Chief Minister's meet-ing," said local MLA Naba
Kishore Das, who is to join theBJD at this meeting after hisrecent resignation from theCongress.
As Modi visited Balangiron January 15, Patnaik wouldalso visit this second westerntown on January 24, he said.
Similarly, the ChiefMinister would visit Baripadaon January 30. He wouldaddress a meeting at Khordhain near future.
����� ����������
BJP national president AmitShah would visit the State
twice for party programmerescheduled on January 29and February 3 in Cuttackand Puri districts respective-ly.
He would address a pub-lic rally at Kulia on January 29in Salepur of Cuttack district.Earlier, his Salepur visitscheduled on January 18 hadbeen cancelled as he sufferedfrom swine flu.
He would visit Puri toattend the BJP's two-daynational tribal conventionscheduled on February 2 and3. He would address the con-vention on the concludingday.
Notably, Puri has becomethe focus for both the BJP andthe BJD ahead of the elec-tions. The BJP's programmewas changed in the lastmoment in view of the BJD'sfarmers' rally scheduled onJanuary 25 in Puri.
Executive Susanta Nanda hasbeen honoured by the BombayNatural History Society(BNHS) for his sincere effortsto conserve Asia’s largest brack-ish water lagoon Chilika lake.
Nanda is on overdrive inclearing the illegal prawngheries that are choking fromthe lake, which is one of the
world’s finest biodiversity wet-lands.
Now, the demolition driveby the CDA and the districtauthorities has unclogged thelake’s waters by tearing upmiles of fine mesh nets. Theteams have cleared 160 squarekilometer of encroachment inthe last 18 months.
The BNHS and the Birdlifepresented the award to Nandain the Annual South East AsianPartnership Meet on Tuesday.
� ������������ �!"#�$�%$
!��#������ ���-
The Odisha Governmentdrew � 734 crore from the
Contingency Funds to bringrelief to the distressed farmers.The State being essentially anagrarian community, it is desir-able that the ruling masters didorganise some special supportto keep farmers out of helpless-ness. When several States havebegun waving farm loans,which is a bad practice as loanwaivers do not turn farmersany smarter, the Odisha admin-istration decided to extendsuch help as would make themresilient as well as more skilledto manage emergencies them-selves by remaining as glued toagriculture as ever. Loan waiv-er promotes laziness. Just doingfarming for farming sake withthe ultimate aim of getting aloan waiver has lately becomea common phenomenon whichis dangerous. Thus, Odishadecided to extend good loanson the soft mode so that farm-ers are never under the pressureof having to pay exorbitantinterest amounts which keepmounting. The ContingencyFunds are a special reserve tobe spent when disasters includ-ing natural calamities, extremefinancial emergency situations
occur due to unexpected cropfailure, the circumstances thatrequire immediate monetaryassistance to save lives.
The Constitution of Indiapermits spending of contin-gency funds on any emergencyrequirements. The farmers indistress pose such a situationand availing funds from thepool is perfectly lawful.Congress and BJP loudmouthskeep screaming 'fault and sin'because most of them don’tknow law nor do they want tolearn the basics even afterbeing explained about thenorms and the rules. ManyNDA-fold States likeMaharashtra spent � 8 crore onpublicity events involving PMModi. Similarly, there are manyinstances of State Governmentsavailing this special fund tomeet emergency situations ofseveral kinds. The Odishafarmers' prevailing plight hadliterally created a grave emer-gency situation which endedinstant addressing.
People of India and manyworld-class thinkers whorespect India as a massivelygrowing democracy are anx-ious to know how unethicallya big statue ate up a whoppingRs 3,000 crore for purely ego-satisfying purposes. WhenMayawati of UP insanely putup a park of giant elephant stat-ues in Lucknow, the rest ofIndia had condemned her as amost hated politician for the actwhich sucked in incalculablepubic money. Conscious citi-zens are now keen to know if
India can ever recover thehuge money spent on a statueof a statesman, whose nobledeeds are certain to be forgot-ten or ignored due to the con-founding size of the statue. Tosee the whole statue, one has totake a chopper ride around,which is not affordable. Theentry fees too are prohibitivefor ordinary people. Even if onemillion people buy the costli-est ticket for the ‘Statue ofUnity’ which costs Rs 350 forthe observation deck, only Rs35 crore would be collected ina full year without hugeexpenses taken into account.The Spring Temple of Buddhain China fails to attract touristswho prefer the age-old heritagesites like the Great Wall,Forbidden City and TerracottaArmy. One David D' Costaposted a message on Facebookclaiming that most of the fund-ing for the Statue project wasmade by public sector oil com-panies. "When India is literal-ly crying for reduction in oil
prices...This is how our oilsector PSUs are made tosplurge their money!" heslammed the planners. Itappears the Modi administra-tion is a populist one; and,hence, huge amounts of publicmoney is being wasted. Modi’sforeign tours expenses too havenot been taken well by the gen-eral public. The benefits of hisforeign trips are only a little; hispersonal image boosting hasbeen phenomenal withoutactually bringing any benefit tothe country in real develop-ment terms.
Even Raghuram Rajan, for-mer RBI Governor who aban-doned post in disgust, hademphasised the need to have adecentralised structure ofGovernment to which no onepaid heed. He says even todaythat the Governments shouldlearn how to implementreforms from the NarasimhaRao administration in whichDr Manmohan Singh was theFinance Minister. In a TVinterview in Davos, Rajan hadsaid that political leadership hasto build consensus to imple-ment reforms, some of whichcan be learned how the formerCongress Prime Minister andFinance Minister workedbehind the scenes to makethings work effectively.Without taking any name,Rajan had also said that lead-ership is important for reformsand an overly-centralisedGovernment can't achieve that."An overly-centralised struc-ture of government may offer
leadership but may not offerthe ability to implement andone of the lacunae we have seenover the last few years is thatthe policy plans at the top don'tget translated into implemen-tation," Rajan said. He alsotalked about a host of issuesrelated to Indian economy,Lok Sabha polls and farm dis-tress. Here are some snippetsfrom his conversation: Peoplewant change: He said Indianvoters are very smart and wantchange because of low jobgrowth, low-tolerance in thecountry and concerns overinstitutional freedom. "Mysense is that the pressure frompeople now for change isincreasing and any govern-ment will have to respond tothat. In this election as a citi-zen of India, there are three bigissues- jobs, how tolerant weare towards different views ofminorities and concern abouthow to protect our institu-tions. Whether it is SupremeCourt, the election commis-sion, or the RBI," "It would beappropriate for the RBIGovernor to be below thefinance minister but typicallyabove the bureaucracy, becauseit is not appropriate that theRBI Governor be dictated to bya secretary in the government."
Thus it is crystal clear thatexcept a very few good thingslike the GST and the bankrupt-cy Act, the Modi administra-tion has grossly erred on thegovernance front -- wrong pri-orities like record-making stat-ue, pleasure foreign trips, show-
ing the way to efficient func-tionaries like Raghuram Rajanand more. For that matter,Odisha has not committed onegrave financial blunder as ismade out by opposition lead-ers and adversaries. OdishaBJP leaders are just a terriblelot, ranting the wrong rhetoricto lose public support andsympathy. The so-called edu-cated ones have no sense ofgovernance or statesmanship;the front-liners are horriblycrude and loud. More interest-ingly, the local Congress outfitis thinning out fast with stal-warts and sure-win charactersabandoning the age-old polit-ical entity. It is a pity that theOdisha Congress is strugglingto even survive as a mere pic-ture on the wall, particularlywhen the national presidentRahul Gandhi has come of ageand is making waves across thelocales he is moving by havingimproved the fundamentalsimpressively -- basic knowl-edge, behaviour and conductand, above all, charisma, aftersuffering for long at the handsof the opponents for being apinhead and an unforgivablegreenhorn. This indicates thelocal leader has problems andneeds to amend ways by beingable to convince colleaguesthat he is willing to work hardby sacrificing personal gains.
The situation, not surpris-ingly, suits the Naveen admin-istration immensely, more thanever before. If the BJP and theCongress do not wake up ade-quately, it will be BJD again!
Irate locals on Wednesdaywent berserk and ransacked
the Begunia police station inthe district demanding arrestof Begunia BJD MLA PrasantJagadev for allegedly threaten-ing to manhandle a formersarpanch.
The agitators who camein a procession to the policestation barged into it anddamaged furniture and otherdocuments despite presenceof policemen.
Sources said that therewere extensive damages to thefurniture and files kept at thepolice station.
The enraged locals alsogheraoed the police stationshouting slogans and staged aroad blockade which affected
vehicular movement onNational Highway 57. Themayhem continued for morethan an hour.
As per allegations, Jagdevhad threatened formersarpanch Nanda KishoreSwain.
He had threatened tophysically assault Swain fol-lowing which the latter hadlodged a complaint at thepolice station a few days back.
However, after no actionwas taken against the MLA,some locals resorted to van-dalism demanding immediatearrest of the lawmaker.
Later, Superintendent ofPolice reached the spot topacify the locals. A platoonof police was deployed at thespot to prevent any further.As per latest reports, normal-cy has been restored at thespot.
put three posers and dared AllIndia Congress Committeepresident Rahul Gandhi torespond to them publicly at hisscheduled meeting inBhubaneswar on January 25.
“Dalits and tribals are notgetting 38.5-per cent reserva-tion in admission into col-leges and higher educationsand Mandal Commission rec-ommendations for 27 per centreservation of backward class-es have not been implemented.Will Gandhi declare that Dalitand tribal students will get the
reservation and MandalCommission recommenda-tions will be implemented ifCongress comes to power,”wanted to know Jena.
Alleging that there hasbeen mining scam of over Rs 2lakh crore in the State, Jenawanted that Gandhi make athat the assets of the miningmafia would confiscated andthe mafias would be arrestedsoon after the Congress comesto power
Jena also dared Gandhitell people that the PCC pres-
ident is not at all a “bribe giver”.Jena said he would contin-
ue to expose Congress by fur-nishing data relating to corrup-tions committed by its leadersin coming days. He said amining firm owned by a broth-er of the PCC president hasalready been charged of min-ing scam.
Regarding his ouster fromthe Congress on charge ofindiscipline and anti-partyactivities, Jena said, “I hadwritten two letters to the party’sOdisha in-charge JitendraSingh and AICC presidentRahul Gandhi informed themthat the PCC president hadadmitted in court that he wasgiving bribe to Governmentofficers through his managerand urged them to oust himfrom the PCC chief post.However, they protected themand didn’t take any action.While I didn’t make public theletters then, how could I actagainst the party and becameindiscipline.”
Biju PatnaikInternationalAirport hereon Wednesdayafter strandedair passengerscreated a ruckus protestingdelay of a Bhubaneswar-Bangalore AirAsia flight forover 12 hours due to densefog.
The irate passenger closedthe boarding gate-4 at the air-port when anotherBhubaneswar-Hyderabadflight of the same airline wasscheduled for departure.Sources said the Hyderabad-bound Air Asia flight was alsodelayed for some time in themorning.
However, CISF person-nel deployed at the airportpacified the angry passengersand brought the situationunder control.
Sources said around 100passengers, including a preg-
nant woman and kids werestranded at the airport sincethe night as the I5-1563AirAsia flight they were aboutto board at 10 pm on Tuesdaywas delayed as dense fogengulfed the city.
Some passengers allegedthat no food or beverageswere provided to them duringthe delay by the airline or theairport authorities due towhich they had to starve.
“We have been strandedhere since last light. What ismore upsetting is the airlineauthorities are not even clar-ifying any tentative time fortakeoff of the flight. Theyhave not even made anyarrangements for us,” said anirate passenger.
�!���!$�#*!,�+%"*$-�+�!,,"���"�"�+."�+
����� ����������
Alleging that the StateGovernment has been
indulged in corruptions andpeople belonging to all sec-tions of life have been deprivedof basing amenities duringthe 19 years of BJD rule, theBJP on Wednesday announcedto hold a campaign for protec-tion of democracy in all 21Parliamentary constituenciesin the State from February 10to 17.
“While allegations againstMPs, MLAs and ruling partyleaders have come often, theChief Minister has remainedsilent. The BJP will make peo-ple know about all failures andcorruptions of the StateGovernment. For this, theparty would hold Jana Adalatsin all Parliamentary con-stituencies,” informed BJPvice-president SameerMohanty at a Press conferencehere. He dared ruling partyleaders to attend the proposedBJP Jan Adalats and answer toquestions to be asked by peo-ple. He said his party decidedto hold Jan Adalats on theoccasion of birthdays of notedfreedom fighters Netaji SubhasChandra Bose and VeerSurendra Sai.
,-����������-������������). ��/0�������
����� ����������
The district administrationclamped Section 144 of the
CrPC in the town following afaceoff between two groups atthe high school ground inWard-12 here on Wednesday.
Sources said that a cultur-al event was organised at theKendrapada Government HighSchool Ground in Ward-12 onthe occasion of the birthanniversary of Netaji Subhas
Chandra Bose.However, a scuffle ensued
between two groups at the spotover the organising of the pro-gramme at the school ground.
Later, police forces weredeployed at the venue to bringthe situation under control.
Besides, Kendrapara SP NitiSekhar and Sub-CollectorSanjay Kumar Mishra rushedthe spot to take stock of the sit-uation. Later, a few persons,who sustained injuries duringthe clash, were admitted tohospital for treatment.
Meanwhile,the RSS whichwas organisingthe programmehas called for a12- hourK e n d r a p a d aBandh onThursday inprotest.
S u b -Collector Mishrasaid adequatemeasures havebeen taken todefuse the situa-tion and preventany further flare-ups. Stringentaction would betaken actionthose who try tocreate nuisance.
claimed to open a Pandora’sBox on AICC president RahulGandhi and the Congress-BJD link during the Gandhi’srally in Bhubaneswar onJanuary 25, there is hecticpreparations among theCongress workers in Puri togather a big crowd of sup-porters at the rally ground.
A fresh air is markedwithin the Congress camp inPuri with every faction busy topull maximum supporters toown fold for a strengthshowoff in Bhubaneswar.They are now targeting vil-
lages to draw more and morepeople.
“We are gathering a largenumber of people, who arepresently silent only forgroupism,” said SwadhinaPanda, a young leader engagedin uniting the splinter groupsfor a common platform.
He added that Rahul’saddress will surly rechargethem to come on action mode.
Meanwhile, while the BJPcamp is curious for what Jenawould reveal, the BJD camp isless worried looking at theimage of their party president.
“Srikant only knows whathe is going to tell on a linkbetween the Congress and theBJD. Let’s wait till his expo-sure,” said BJP leaderKrusnachandra Jagadev.
“Every accusation has fall-en flat in the past before theface of our Chief Minister.This time too, it would nothave any effect on the people,who are united under NaveenPatnaik,” said BJD districtMahila Morcha presidentShanti Pradhan.
to provide right to electricityto every individual, saidVidyut Upavokta MahasanghOdisha president and formerState Finance MinisterPanchanan Kanungo here onWednesday.
Addressing a nationalseminar on ‘ElectricityDistribution: Is Privatisationthe Panacea’ organised by theAll India Power Engineers’Federation (AIPEF) and theAll Odisha Power Engineers’Federation, Kanungo said thatto curb the theft in the ener-gy sector and maintainingquality and frequent supply,there is a need of conductingCAG audit and energy audit aswell as supply and financialaudits to nab the culprits.
He also mentioned thatearlier electricity consump-tion in Odisha was 2,000 MW,
of which 60 per cent was pro-duced from hydroelectricity.But now the consumption hascome up from 34 lakh house-holds to 78 lakh householdsand of the consumption only18 to 19 per cent is producedfrom hydroelectricity, which isa matter of concern, he added.
Kanungo demanded thatall systems of electricity fran-chises including productionand distribution be under theGovernment service sector.The service sector for distrib-ution system should be under
one hand, i.e, the franchiseesshould be given to panchayatsor municipalities.
AIPEF chairman SailendraDubey opposed the re-pri-vatisation move of power dis-tribution in Odisha and saidthe federation has decided toresort to agitation and toactively support power engi-neers and employees in theirmovement against privatisa-tion of power distribution.
He also said the powerengineers from all other Stateswould extend full support to
Odisha Power Engineers agi-tation of State-wise relay dha-rana at Bhubaneswar.
He also demanded thatthe State Government stopthe re-privatisation of thedistribution sector and urgedto review the reforms and pri-vatisation done so far by anexpert committee before tak-ing any step.
MP Soumya RanjanPatnaik, former Cesu CEOSudarshan Nayak, AIPEF sec-retary general Ratnakar Rao,All India Federation ofElectricity Employees secre-tary general Mohan Sharma,AOPEF chairmanBiswaranjan Mishra and sec-retary general BrhmaprakashPaital also spoke on the occa-sion.
ensured payment of compen-sation of Rs 1 lakh to twoschool students, who gave birthto two children in school hos-tels in Odisha.
Acting on two differentpetitions filed by SupremeCourt lawyer and rights activistRadhakanta Tripathy, theNHRC sought response fromthe State authorities and mon-itored the case.
Two minor schoolgirlsresiding in Government-runhostels gave birth within a fort-night in the State. A Class VI stu-dent of Umuri Ashram Schoolin Koraput district delivered aboy on February 4, 2015. Theincident occurred 12 days aftera Class X student of another res-idential school in Kandhamaldistrict gave birth to a boy.
The father of the 12-year-old girl's of Umuri AshramSchool, is a daily-wage labour-er. On January 4 late night, thegirl ran to the woman cook andattendant's room inside the
hostel premises with labourpain and delivered a baby,Tripathy pointed out.
The Class X girl inKandhamal too gave birth inher hostel. The student ofLingagad High School underthe G Udayagiri police stationin Kandhamal district alsodelivered a baby boy.
The incident has raisedmany eyebrows with questionsbeing asked as to how the ninewomen teachers and a healthworker working in the schoolwere unable to mark bodilychanges in the minor studentduring her pregnancy, Tripathymentioned.
The two incidents haveexposed how the schools meantfor the welfare of the SC and STcommunity are being run inthe State., the petitioner said.
The NHRC registered twocases on the petitions. TheState authorities complying thedirection of the NHRC in onepetition have informed thatboth the victims have been paiddue compensation and thegrievances raised in the petitionhave been acted upon.
������'�#�$'�&���"��$����� �$�������"����
�����%"��)$-."�+��#����$!%�+��1! +!.�
����� ����9���
ACashier reportedly work-ing in the Andhra Bank’s
Mundamarai branch in Aska ofGanjam district was beaten todeath on Tuesday for hisinvolvement in an illicit rela-tionship with a minor girl ofthe area.
The deceased identified asBinayak Behera, is a residentof Chhatrapur in the district.
Sources said the Askapolice recovered the body ofBehera lying in a pool ofblood besides the hills adjoin-ing Mundamarai College.
Sources revealed thatBehera was a former Defence
personnel and working as aCashier at the Andhra Bankfor the past three years. He wasreportedly in a relationshipwith a girl of Mundamaraistudying in Class 10, since along time, sources added.
Though initial reportsclaimed that Binayak‘s mur-der could be a fallout of thisrelationship, police have ini-tiated an investigation to findout the actual motive behindthe incident.
“Aska SDPO SuryamaniPradhan said “An investiga-tion is on. We are interrogat-ing his family members, localsas well as the girl with whomhe was in a relationship. Basedon the facts and evidences wederive from the postmortemreports, action would betaken.”
of eight roads of the town waslaid on Tuesday at an estimatedcost of � 41 crore by MP RKJena.
Among others, Sadar MLAJP Dash, Executive Engineer,Works, Mahesh ChandraMohanty, Assistant EngineerSaroj Kumar Dandpat , RameshChandra Mohapatra andNatabar Pradhan were pre-sent.
The roads work projectincludes four laning of the roadbetween ITI square and Tamulialevel crossing, the OT road upto Suraj Hotel via Bhaskar Ganj,the PWD road to LoknathMandir , Sahadevkhunta,Collectorate to veterinary hos-pital via Jhadeswar temple road,Azimabad square to FakirMohan College square road viaKhaparapada, Hotel Nishi to
SBI via Bairamnagar, Mathasahi,Mansigbazar , Kadaria Maszid
road , Dewanpatna toBhujakhiapir Baba square via
Kanak Durga temple road andthe road from Gadagadia squareto Kainchamalia Mutt viaBateswar and Muncipalitysquare.
“In view of the growingpopulation and rise in numberof vehicles, the widening andupgradation of these roadswere required. The StateGovernment sanctioned fundsfor these projects after per-suasion,” said MP Jena.
consultant Sunil KumarMishra graced the second ses-sion of the electrohomeopath-ic conference held here recent-ly.
They narrated how elec-torhomoepathy medicines arebeing prepared from vegetablesand valuable herbal productsand stressed on creation ofawareness for use of such med-icines for quick cure of differ-ent diseases.
“A day will come soonwhen the Central Governmentwill be compelled to recognisethe electrohomeopathy medi-cines and open colleges and
university to teach electro-homeopathy to students,” saidthe guests.
More than 300 electro-homeopathic physicians par-ticipated in the event.
�*" +����.�"�)$+�-.""+� �� *�%"�
����� ���������
As many as five girl studentsof a Government school of
Sundargarh district complainedof being molested by a teacherseparately in the school premis-es. Block Education Officer ofNuagaon block went to theschool on Tuesday and con-ducted an inquiry.
As per allegation of thegirls of Class-VII and Class-VIII of the Kerketta UpperPrimary School in Nuagaonblock, they were allegedlymolested by GanasikhyakKanucharan Sahoo in theschool premises.
On Tuesday, Block
Education Officer SasmitaBehera went to the school toconduct an inquiry in presenceof parents and teachers.According to sources, duringinquiry, the victims narratedhow they were abused by theaccused teacher.
“The BEO will send amemo to me of her inquiry. Ifthe teacher is guilty and hasdone the shameful act, actionwill be taken against theteacher," said DistrictEducation Officer (DEO)Ranjan Kumar Giri.
Some days after a Class-VIIIgirl student gave birth to a
baby in the Daringbadi area ofKandhamal district leading touproar across the State, a sim-ilar incidence in the same dis-trict has now come to the fore.
According to reports, a girlof the Tumudibandha area wasallegedly impregnated by herboyfriend. After the girl realisedthat she was pregnant, she gavea proposal to the boyfriend tomarry her, but he rejected it.
The boy reportedly gaveher some pills on Tuesday forabortion of the pregnancy.After consuming the pills, she
fell ill and was then admitted tothe local Community HealthCentre, where she delivered ababy boy.
The girl and the newbornwere later shifted to the DistrictHeadquarters Hospital, wherethe baby died.
Police have started investi-gation into the matter after reg-istering two different cases,one in connection with thedeath of the newborn andanother on the basis of state-ment of the girl.
Chandra Bose was observedby different organisations atdifferent places in the cityWednesday morning.
Members of the ManavAdhikar Surakshya Manch(MASM) and different demo-cratic organisatgins led byMASM coordinator AbaniKumar Gaya and assembled atNetaji Statue Square and gar-landed the statue of the greatfreedom fighter.
Gaya highlighted aboutNetaji’s contributions to thefreedom struggle of the coun-try and in forming modernIndia. He said Netaji will beremembered in people of thecountry always for his IndianNational Army formedagainst British rule during
World WarII.
Agalaxy ofs p e a k e r sr e m e m -b e r e dN e t a j i ’ scontr ibu-t ion anddescribedhim as atrue patri-ot, who leftbehind alegacy thatwould con-tinue toi n s p i r eg e n e r a -t ions ofy o u n gIndians. Alarge num-ber ofsenior citizens and social workers joined the event.
The Vigilance police detect-ed assets worth 1,40,59,375
in the name of Jeypore NHDivision Executive EngineerHarekrushna Panda and hisfamily members during search-es on their houses since Pandawas caught carrying illegallycollected money of � 3,89,175in his vehicle to his house inBhubaneswar on January 19.
Following interception, hisresidential house at NilakanthaNagar in Bhubaneswar, resi-dential Government quarterand office room at Jeypore inKoraput district were searched.
The detected assets includea flat of � 40,00,000, three plotsof � 91,500, advance paymentfor plots of � 8,12,000, gold and
silver ornaments of � 1,94,920,a car worth � 8,30,000, amotorcycle of � 52,000, bankdeposits 37,00,137, insurancedeposits of � 30,48,952, house-hold articles of � 7,01,504 andhard cash of � 6,28,300.
Panda had been arrestedand forwarded to the court onJanuary 19 and remanded tojudicial custody till February 1,2019. Investigation was still inprogress, informed an officialrelease.
Jogesh Singh, Naba Das andSrikant Jena are “expired”
leaders and their exit fromCongress will not have anyimpact on party’s prospect,”said AICC secretary MastanVali at a Press meet here.
Talking on the claim ofBJD about equidistance fromBJP and Congress, Vali saidthe claim is only for eyewashand in reality the BJD is innexus with the BJP.
He said the developmentin the country is only possibleby the Congress and this hasbeen realized by the peoplealso. The result of four StateAssembly elections held inrecent past shows how the BJPlost miserably, he said.
He also raised the corrup-tion in Rafale deal accusing ofthe PM as the kingpin. In 2019elections, the people will givea befitting reply to bothNaveen and Modi, he assert-ed.
Among others, Congressleaders Dr Prafulla Majhi,Hemananda Biswal, SantoshSingh Saluja, spokesmanHamid Hussain, BenumadhabTripathy and Prafulla Sunaniwere present.
from one private hospital tothe Ispat General Hospitalhere in an ambulance onTuesday was left stranded forabout one and a half hoursnear Bisra Chowk area due toa rally by the locals.
The father of the girl man-aged to lift the baby from thereto IGH as a scooter ridercame to his rescue. The girl isnow battling with her life atthe IGH, Rourkela, due toher exposure to open air.
Sarat Kumar Raul, whoworks as a Jawan in 6th bat-talion of CRPF atChakradharpur, had admittedher wife at a private materni-ty home, since his wife wasdue for delivery.
On January 2, her wifehad delivered two girl childrenand one male child. The con-dition of all three new bornchildren was critical and themale child passed away.
The mother and one ofthe female children were shift-
ed to IGH whereas the othergirl child was sent to Aasthamother and childcare hospitalfor her recovery. Since Sarat'swife was at IGH with onechild, he was staying at Aasthahospital to take care of theother child.
Since, the child at Aasthahospital recuperated, the doc-tor at Aastha hospital advised toshift her to the IGH where hermother was with another child.
"After waiting inside theambulance for a long timeand finding myself helpless, Icame out with my daughterand walked down through thetraffic jam to other side andthen reached at the IGH,after taking a lift from a
scooter rider, who was return-ing after seeing the trafficjam," said Sarat.
According to eyewitness,another two ambulances werealso trapped inside the jamand no one came forward tohelp them. The baby girl afterbeing shifted to IGH, report-edly has been battling withher life at IGH, apparentlyafter getting exposed to openair, sources said.
“It is really a matter ofconcern that ambulances gottrapped in jam due to rally. Iwill definitely try to ensurethat this sort of incident doesnot occur in future,” saidRourkela SP Uma ShankarDas.
Niranjan Patnaik onWednesday alleged that ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik andPrime Minister Narendra Modiare always hoodwinking peo-ple by announcing schemesafter schemes without allocat-ing funds.
“When there is shortage offunds for the schemes to fulfillminimum needs of the people,both the State and the CentralGovernments are announcingschemes after schemes to woovoters ahead of elections,”
alleged Patnaik.He slammed the State
Government for incurringabout Rs 92,000 crores, whichis around 21 per cent of theGross State Domestic product(GSDP). “The loan burden is aclear reflection of mismanage-ment and incapability of theState Government,” allegedPatnaik.
He said the total debt bur-den of the country has reachedapproximately 82 lakh crore.The Modi Government hasborrowed more than Rs 27 lakhcrore during the last four-and-a-half years. The Rafale scamhas shown the Modi’Government’s real face.
He too slammed the UnionGovernment for not creatingleast 2 crore jobs every year aspromised by the BJP in its elec-tion manifesto. He alleged thatboth the Governments are col-lecting money from varioussources and borrowing to woothe voters.
����� ��
Ajay Kumar Behera, elderbrother of slain Sanjay
Behera alias Para, said onWednesday in a Press confer-ence that the police have not yetarrested the miscreants, includ-ing a local Councillor, who wereinvolved the murder.
Behera said that all thepersons involved in the firingon his younger brother near theGundicha Temple are nowroaming freely in the city evenas 29 days have passed sinceDecember 25.
Ajay alleged a deal of Rs 50lakh with the police has beenmade to let off the BJDCouncillor in the murder casesince he is instrumental in theupcoming elections. He furtheralleged that his family is beingrepeatedly threatened of seriousconsequence by the criminals,
who are mounting pressure onthem to receive money andwithdraw the case.
Complaining of link ofpoliticians in the murder, Ajaydemanded a CBI probe to bringthe truth to light. Ajay who isa charted accountant explainedhow Para was of very daringnature and was vocal against theany misdeeds and wrongdoingsof Councillor Pika Sahu.
Para was also against allsorts of assaults on the localpeople and shopkeepers fromthe Councillor and supporterswho have serious criminalrecords, told Ajay.
He further alleged that thepolice have forced his motherto sign on the FIR which is notoriginal complaint lodged byher with the Kumbarapadapolice station. Bringing allega-
tions of big conspiracy behindthe murder, Ajay raised seriousquestions on the role of policein rising crimes in the city.
Notably on December 25,Para was shot dead nearNakachana dwar of GundichaTemple at about 8am.Following broad light killingnear a busy place, people areraising questions on the effi-cacy Puri police.
leaders and common peoplepaid rich tributes to legendaryfreedom f ighter VeerSurendra Sai and NetajiSubhas Chandra Bose on theirbir th anniversar y onWednesday.
Hundreds of people gath-ered at Khinda, the birthplace of this freedom fighterand paid homage to the heroof the freedom struggle. At hisbirth place, the Surendra SaiSmruti Sansad organised ameeting, which was attendedby Chairman of WesternOdisha Development Council(WODC) Kishore Mohanty,Rengali MLA Ramesh Patuaand Surendra Sai’s descendentLal Fakira Sai. The membersof the Smruti Sansad alsoorganised several culturalprogrammes in the evening.
At Sambalpur, also pro-grammes were organised andthe statue of Veer Surendra Sai
at Jail Chowk of the city wasgarlanded.
The district administra-tion and the Odisha SanskrutikSamaj jointly organised a meet-ing in the evening in the mem-
ory of the hero. The speakershighlighted the contributionand uniqueness of Sai’s free-dom struggle.
A road march was alsoorganised during the occasion.
More than 1, 000 studentsfrom different schools of thecity participated in the roadmarch and moved round thecity. Similarly, a Mashal rallywas organised at Burla.
����� ������
The Indian National Army(INA) commander Netaji
Subhash Chandra Bose hadjolted the Colonial forces somuch so that the British hadto quit India in 1947.” This wasstated by Odisha GovernorProf Ganeshi Lal here on theNetaji Jayanti after paying richtributes to the strongest free-dom fighter of the country onhis 122nd birth anniversary athis birthplace here onWednesday.
Speaking to media on theoccasion, Prof Lal said analystsand researchers after makingin-depth studies on India’sFreedom Struggle have opinedthat bulk of the credit; in fact75 per cent of the credit forIndia’s Independence goes toNetaji Subhash Chandra Bose.He said his birthplace here inCuttack should be developedinto an important researchcenter to study India’s freedomstruggle.
Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik also paid tributes tothe Netaji here and called
upon the people to rememberthe tremendous sacrifices hemade for the Independence ofour countr y. Both theGovernor and the ChiefMinister visiting the NetajiBirthplace National Museumhere garlanded the statue ofthe legendary freedom fight-er and went around the muse-um. Hundreds of other polit-ical leaders accompanied bytheir supporters also visitedthe museum on the occa-sion.
organised a felicitation ceremonyfor its students. They performedextremely well in two big events,the Ek Bharat Sreshtha Bharat, aflagship programme of theMHRD, where Odisha was pairedwith Maharashtra and the CentralZone Inter UniversityCompetition, also known asYouth Fest, organised byAssociation of Indian Universitiesand the Sambalpur University.
CUO VC Prof Sachidananda
Mohanty congratulated theachievers and emphasized on theuniversity’s constant endeavour toencourage culture and literaryactivities by the students in thecampus. He explained the impor-tance of Ek Bharat Sreshtha Bharatas an effort t to learn and respectculture of other States, besidesone’s own. Prof Mohanty encour-aged the students to go ahead intheir creative pursuit which canhave a positive impact on the soci-ety. Prof Sharat Kumar Palita,Dean, SBCNR and DSW in hisopening note congratulated theCUO community for the fabulous
achievement.He thanked the CUO
administration. Especially seniorofficials Prof KC Raut, DeanAcademics and Prof BP Rath,OSD, examination and studentsaffairs for their valuable contri-bution. Saurav Gupta, AssistantProfessor, Department ofJournalism and MassCommunication and Convener,Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat andDr Rudrani Mohanty, Lecturer,Department of Odia Languageand Literature and Team Leader,CUO team at Youth Fest narrat-ed their experience.
*����%��-�3��% �$�������������
����� ����������
In today’s world, there isneed for information tech-
nology. When Bijubabu was30 years old he had started theKalinga Award as he believedin science, said Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik inauguratingan IT conclave organised bythe BJD IT wing her onWednesday.
Patnaik said he was happy
that BJD IT wing’s centreswould be set up in 30 districtsof the State. He also inaugu-rated the “Selfie with CM”and “Mo Naveen Mo Ghare”programmes, which wouldbe launched State-wide.
The logo and badge of ITwing was also unveiled on theoccasion. BJD IT Cell chiefAmar Patnaik and many stu-dent and youth leaders ofBJD were present.
12����>�$'�-�$���#�
� ��� �������������)) ������ �
���"�,���������������
Jind bypoll, fought for justnine-month tenure in the
State Assembly, is not justanother election in the Jatlandof Haryana. Though the localissues dominate the election-eering in Jind, the by-poll out-come will have national impact,with barely two months left forLok Sabha polls 2019.
The national parties—rul-ing BJP and its arch rivalCongress—have put their bestfoot forward in the Jind bypoll,deeming it as a “semi-final”
ahead of general elections andalso, a referendum on theManohar Lal Khattar ledHaryana Government beforethe assembly polls due to beheld later this year.
In the high stakes prestigebattle, scheduled to be held onJanuary 28, the BJP has field-ed Krishan Middha, son of lateINLD MLA Hari ChandMiddha, Congress’ nominee issitting MLA from Kaithal,Randeep Surjewala, JannayakJanta Party’s candidate isDigvijay Chautala, great grand-son of former Deputy PrimeMinister Chaudhary Devi Lal
and Indian National Lok hasfielded a low profile candidate,Umed Singh Redhu to retain itsJind assembly seat.
Congress’ decision to fielda sitting MLA and a popular Jatface, Surjewala from Jind, itselfsignifies how seriously theparty is taking this bypoll andhoping for a positive outcometo send across a message thatit is on comeback trail ahead ofLok Sabha polls. Surjewala isalso in-charge of All IndiaCongress Committee’s (AICC)communication wing.
On the other hand, theBJP’s choice Krishan Middha is
apparently based on the num-ber of urban-rural voters aswell as caste equations in theJind assembly seat. The bye-election to Jind assembly seatwas necessitated following thedemise of Hari Chand Middhain August last year. INLD’sHari Chand Middha had rep-resented the Jind seat for twoconsecutive terms in 2009 and2014.
According to the politicalanalysts, for the national par-ties –BJP and Congress— theoutcome of keenly watchedelectoral battle could indicatethe sentiments of voters from
all castes and communitiesahead of general polls while forthe INLD and its splintergroup JJP, the result woulddecide their dominance andfuture in the state politics.The crucial Jind bypoll hascome after last month’sCongress’ victory in threestates in assembly polls andBJP’s victory in all five mayoralseats in civic polls in Haryana.
Jind, considered the heartof Haryana’s Jatland, has morethan 1.7 lakh voters includingover 1.07 lakh urban votersand nearly 62,500 living in vil-lages.
Ranchi: The ElectionCommission of India (ECI) hasstarted preparations for 2019general elections. The EC is car-rying out preparations for con-ducting forthcoming electionsas per meticulously chalkedout schedule.
As the EC conducts theelection for world’s largestdemocracy, the election com-mission staff cascades into aPan-India organization co-opt-ing nearly 11 million persons atstate-level. The entire exerciseentails ensuring nearly 11 mil-lion personnel at state level,training of polling personneland observers, ensuring pollinginfrastructure personnel andmachines across length andbreadth of the country. Also ECcarries out necessary trainingintroducing IT solutions toemerging needs, enforcingmodel code of conducts, inter-alia handling abuse of moneypower and freebies in electionsas also the menace of paid/spon-sored news.As per EC statistics,nearly 88 crore voters will exer-cise its franchise in more than10 lakh polling stations spreadover 4120 assembly constituen-cies and around 8200 candidateswill be in the fray. Sources saidthat in the election more than22 lakh ballot units, more than16 lakh control units
$� ��� ��� ������ ���� � �����
����� �����
Ranchi district administra-tion will increase security in
the state capital to ensurepeaceful Republic Day cele-brations across the city and itssuburbs.
Additional security forceswill be deployed in all sensitiveparts of the city on Saturday,Ranchi superintendent ofpolice Sujata KumariVeenapani said on Wednesday.Security personnel from theJharkhand Armed Police (JAP)and other districts ofJharkhand will patrol the var-ious roads in Ranchi and main-tain a strict vigil on all sensitivepoints, she added. “ATS (AntiTerrorism Squad) will be activein Ranchi on Republic Day.Besides, sniffer dogs will bedeployed at all importantpoints in the city,” saidVeenapani. She added thatadditional measures have beentaken to ensure foolproof secu-rity at the airport, railway sta-tions, bus stands and otherpublic places. Malls too will beunder police surveillance, theSP said.
Managing Director ArvindJadhav for allegedly constitut-ing an illegal panel for makingsenior appointments and trans-fers.
Along with Jadhav, the CBIhas also named then ExecutiveDirector (Personnel) LPNakhwa (now retired) and for-mer Additional GeneralMangers (Operations) AKathpalia, Amitabh Singh andRohit Bhasin in its FIR regis-tered under IPC section relat-ed to criminal conspiracy andprovisions of Prevention ofCorruption Act pertaining toabuse of official position.
The FIR alleged that Jadhavhad constituted a panel in 2010
to promote officers to the rankof General Manager (opera-tions) in violation of laid downprocedures.
The three-member panelincluded then Chief OperatingOfficer Gustav Baldauf, then
Executive Director (operations)A Soman and former ExecutiveDirector (Personnel) LPNakhwa, the FIR said.
Nakhwa, who was GeneralManager (Medical Service),was given the rank of Executive
Director (Medical Services)after the post was upgraded asa temporary measure tillAugust 31, 2009.
It is alleged that Nakhwawas to be reverted to the postof General Manager (MedicalServices) from September 1,2009, but she continued in herposition as Executive Directorin clear violation of the CivilAviation Ministry’s directivedated March 6, 2009.
The CBI inquiry also foundthat Jadhav regularisedNakhwa in the post ofExecutive Director (MedicalServices) with effect from April1, 2010 without following thedue procedure, the FIR said.
The Civil AviationMinistry had annulled andreversed the irregular appoint-ment of Nakhwa as Executive
Director (Medical services). A human resources sub-
committee of the Board of AirIndia in an order datedSeptember 8, 2010 revertedNakhwa to the post of GeneralManager (Medical services)with immediate effect.
“Therefore, the promotionpanel so constituted by ArvindJadhav...For selecting suitablecandidates for promotions tothe post of GM (operations)should have been re-constitut-ed in the wake of reversion ofNakhwa from ExecutiveDirector(Medical services) tothe rank of General Manager,”it said. The CBI also allegedthat Nakhwa was not eligiblefor being a member of the saidpromotion panel but Jadhavnominated her against the pre-vailing rules and procedure.
����� ��������
Political parties received�8721.14 crore funding
from unknown sourcesbetween 2004-05 and 2017-18with the BJP and the Congresswitnessing maximum incomefrom such sources. More than50 per cent of the funds nation-al parties received during thefinancial year 2017-18 camefrom “unknown” sources thatincluded donations throughelectoral bonds and voluntarycontributions.
According to Associationfor Democratic Reforms(ADR), the income of theseparties from “unknown”sources was �689.44 crore,which is 53 per cent of theirtotal income. The BJP alonedeclared �553.38 crore as itsincome from unknownsources.. This income of BJPforms more than 4 times theaggregate of income fromunknown sources declared bythe other five national parties.
According to it, the totalincome of BJP, Congress, CPI,BSP, TMC, and NCP in 2017-18 was �1293.05 crore. Theincome of these parties from“unknown” sources was�689.44 crore, which is 53 percent of their total income.
Out of the �689.44 crore,the share from electoral bondswas �215 crore or 31 per cent,the report said.
The parties received�354.22 crore or more than 51per cent of the fund fromunknown sources through vol-untary contributions (below�20,000), it said, adding thetotal income from other mis-cellaneous unknown sources
was �4.5 crore.Thirty-six per cent of their
income or �467.13 crore from“known” donors, whose detailswere available from contribu-tion reports submitted to theElection Commission.
They got �136.48 crorefrom other known sources,such as from the sale of assetsand publications, membershipfees, bank interest, and partylevy, the report said.
According to donationreports (containing details ofdonations above �20,000), only�16.80 lakh was given in cashto the national parties.
The CPI(M), which is alsoa national party, was notincluded in the analysis as its“schedules or annexures wereunavailable for the financialyear 2017-18”. At present, polit-ical parties are not required todeclare the names of individu-als and organisations giving lessthan �20,000 nor of those whodonate via electoral bonds.
While the national partieswere brought under the Rightto Information Act by the CICruling in June 2013, they havestill not complied with thedecision.
The ADR also recom-mended that scrutiny of finan-cial documents submitted bythe political parties should beconducted annually by a bodyapproved by CAG and ECI soas to enhance transparencyand accountability of politicalparties with respect to theirfunding.
“The national and region-al political parties must provideall information under the Rightto Information Act. This willonly strengthen political par-ties, elections and democracy,”it said.
����� ��������
In a move that will benefitover 3 lakh Indians, includ-
ing 90,000 women working inKuwait, the Cabinet onWednesday approved signingof an agreement between Indiaand the Gulf country for coop-eration on recruitment ofdomestic workers.
The Memorandum ofUnderstanding provides astructured framework forcooperation on domestic work-ers related matters and provides strengthened safe-guards for Indian domesticworkers including female
workers in Kuwait, a state-ment said.
The pact is initially validfor a period of five years andincorporates provision forautomatic renewal.
A joint committee will beset up to follow up the imple-mentation of this MoU.
This will also promotebilateral cooperation in domes-tic workers related mattersbetween the two countries.
“Around 3,00,000 Indiandomestic workers are deployedin Kuwait. This includesaround 90,000 female domes-tic workers,” the statementadded.
����� ��������
Keeping in mind the tribalpopulation in the
Northeast ahead of the LokSabha polls, the NDAGovernment on Wednesdaytook a major decision to grantmore power and funds to 10autonomous councils in theregion.
The Union Cabinetapproved a “landmark” consti-tutional amendment toincrease the powers of theautonomous councils in theSixth Schedule areas of theNortheast. The FinanceCommission will be mandatedto recommend devolution offinancial resources to them, anofficial statement said.
The amendment also pro-vides for transfer of addition-al 30 subjects including depart-ments of Public Works, Forests,Public Health Engineering,Health and Family Welfare,Urban Development and Foodand Civil Supply to KarbiAnglong AutonomousTerritorial Council and DimaHasao Autonomous TerritorialCouncil in Assam.
“The Cabinet approveslandmark amendment toArticle 280 and Sixth Scheduleof the Constitution. The mostimportant part of these amend-ments is that these will signif-icantly improve the financialresources and powers of theautonomous districts councilsin Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoramand Tripura, fulfilling long-
standing aspirations of thetribal population in theseNortheastern States,” the state-ment read. A Bill in this regardis expected to be introduced inthe upcoming session ofParliament, a Home Ministryofficial said.
“This will be a gamechanger, as it will substantial-ly enhance the funds availableto these local government insti-tutions for undertaking devel-opment works in these tribalareas,” the official said.
The proposed amend-ments provide for elected vil-lage municipal councils, ensur-ing democracy at the grassrootslevel. The village councils willbe empowered to prepare plansfor economic development andsocial justice including thoserelated to agriculture, landimprovement, implementationof land reforms, minor irriga-tion, water management, ani-mal husbandry, rural electrifi-cation, small scale industriesand social forestry.
At least one-third of theseats will be reserved forwomen in the village andmunicipal councils in the SixthSchedule areas of Assam,Mizoram and Tripura and atleast two of the nominatedmembers in all autonomouscouncils in the North EastSixth Schedule areas resultingin empowerment of women.
There will be State ElectionCommissions for holding elec-tions to the autonomous coun-cils, village and municipal
councils in the areas of Assam,Mizoram and Tripura. Therewill be a provision for anti-defection too. Meghalaya hasfor the time being kept out ofthe purview of the provision forelected village and municipalcouncils and one-third reser-vations for women.
The amendments will ful-fil the commitments madeunder tripartite Memorandumof Settlements signed byGovernment of India, govern-ments of Assam andMeghalaya, United People’sDemocratic Solidarity (UPDS),Dima Halam Daogah (DHD)and Achik National Volunteers’Council (ANVC).
The amendments proposeto rename the existingautonomous councils as KarbiAnglong AutonomousTerritorial Council (KAATC),Dima Hasao AutonomousTerritorial Council (DHATC),Garo Hills AutonomousTerritorial Council (GHATC),Khasi Hills AutonomousTerritorial Council (KHATC),Jaintia Hills AutonomousTerritorial Council (JHATC)and Tripura Tribal AreaAutonomous TerritorialCouncil (TTAATC) as the pre-sent jurisdiction of these coun-cils extend to more than onedistricts.
There will also be increasein seats in KAATC (from 30 to50 seats), DHATC (30 to 40seats), GHATC (30 to 42),KHATC (30 to 40) and JHATC(30 to 34).
����� ��������
Delhi Metro network’sRithala-Dilshad Garden
Red Line will soon be extend-ed to Ghaziabad’s New BusAdda. The Union Cabinet onThursday approved the exten-sion of Delhi Metro corridorfrom Dilshad Garden to NewBus Adda Ghaziabad. Thiswould be the second metro linein Ghaziabad and the firstmetro link connecting the inte-riors of the city. It will passthrough Sahibabad IndustrialArea and is aimed at impactingthe nearby residential areas.
The 9.41-km-long corridorwhich is entirely elevated, hasmissed several deadlines. Thecorridor is ready for opera-tional.
“The trail run is going onon this corridor. Not only that,the Noida Metro Aqua line,connecting Noida to GreaterNoida, will also be thrownopen. Prime Minister NarendraModi is expected to flag offtrains on both the extendedDelhi Metro Red line and theNoida Metro Aqua line in thecoming days,” said the officialsof Ministry of Housing andUrban Affairs.
The extended corridor ofRithala-Dilshad Garden RedLine covers eight metro stationsin total - Shaheed Nagar, RajBagh, Rajendra Nagar, ShyamPark, Mohan Nagar, Arthala,Hindon river and GhaziabadNew Bus Stand metro stations.
The stretch also includes aninterchange facility. At theMohan Nagar station, peoplecan change for Blue Line.Ghaziabad DevelopmentAuthority (GDA) wrote to theUP government saying thatthe project was 99% completeand that December 25 could bea good day for commissioningof the line.
The Cabinet has alsoapproved contribution ofRs.324.87 crore as centralfinancial assistance for exten-sion at the total completion costof Rs.1,781.21 crore. The rollingstock is being provided byDelhi Metro Rail Corporation(DMRC) and land has beenprovided free of cost by theGhaziabad DevelopmentAuthority (GDA),” said officialsof Ministry of Housing andUrban Affairs (MoHUA).
The other line that will beopened by year-end, Noida
Metro’s Aqua line, is 29.7-kmlong. It has been under con-struction since the year 2015and will benefit people residingin Greater Noida by connect-ing the city’s vast stretches andlinking it firmly with thenational capital. The Aqua linewill run from the depot stationin Theta, Greater Noida toSector 71, Noida and will cover21 metro stations. Out of these21, 15 metro stations will oper-ate from Noida Sector 149 toNoida Sector 71, passingthrough Sectors 144, 137, 81, 50etc. and 6 metro stations willoperate from Greater Noida,passing through Delta 1, Alpha1, Alpha 2, Pari Chowk andKnowledge Park 2. Accordingto sources quoted in the report,the final documentation andinspections would be complet-ed in three weeks, making itpossible for the inauguration totake place in December.
����� ��������
On the 122nd birth anniver-sary of Subash Chandra
Bose celebrated on Wednesday,Prime Minister Narendra Modiinaugurated a museum at theiconic Red Fort dedicating tothe life and his contribution tothe India’s freedom struggle.
The Prime Minister alsoinaugurated the Yaad-e-JallianMuseum on the JallianwalaBagh and World War I, theMuseum on 1857- India’s firstwar of Independence andDrishyakala-Museum onIndian Art within the Red Fortcomplex.
The Museum on NetajiSubhash Chandra Bose andIndian National Army pro-vides a detailed account ofSubhash Chandra Bose and thehistory of Indian NationalArmy, said a statement fromthe Union Culture Ministry.
It also showcases various
artefacts related to SubhashChandra Bose and INA. Theartefacts include wooden chairand sword used by Netaji,medals, badges, uniforms andother artefacts related to INA.
In a series of tweets, PrimeMinister said, it was extreme-ly humbling for him to inau-gurate four museums relatingto India’s rich history and cul-ture. He said the entire complexof museums will be known asKranti Mandir as a tribute tothe revolutionary zeal andcourage of the great freedomfighters.
Modi said museums onNetaji Bose and Azad HindFauj are a key part of KrantiMandir. History echoes from
these walls. In this very build-ing, brave sons of India,Colonel Prem Sahgal, ColonelGurbaksh Singh Dhillon andMajor General Shah NawazKhan were put on trial by thecolonial rulers.
The Prime Minister hasurged art lovers to visitDrishyakala, which will takepeople through the finestaspects of Indian art and cul-ture. There are four historicalexhibitions, spanning threecenturies, with over 450 worksof art.
Modi also said the works ofeminent Indian artists like RajaRavi Varma, Gurudev Tagore,Amrita Sher-Gil,Abanindranath Tagore,Nandlal Bose, GaganendranathTagore, Sailoz Mookherjea andJamini Roy are on display at theexhibition. Modi tweeted thatGurudev Tagore’s works atDrishyakala is a treat for artlovers to see.
Goods and Services TaxAppellate Tribunal to be locat-ed in the capital would haveone member each from Centreand States and a President. TheTribunal will expedite resolu-tion of disputes under GSTlaws.
This apart, the Cabinet
approved currency swap facil-ity to enable India to provide aprompt response to the currentrequest from SAARC membercountries for availing the swapamount exceeding the presentlimit prescribed under theSAARC Swap Framework. TheReserve Bank will negotiate theoperational details bilaterallywith the central banks of theSAARC countries availing theStandby Swap.
Lokur Wednesday expresseddisappointment over not bring-ing to public domain theDecember 12 decision of theapex court’s Collegium on theelevation of judges, which hasbeen at the centre of contro-versy.
Justice (Retd) Lokur, whodemitted office on December30, 2018, was part of the 5-member Collegium delibera-tions which had reportedlyagreed to recommend thenames of Justices PradeepNandrajog and RajendraMenon to the Supreme Court.
Later, however, Delhi HighCourt judge Sanjiv Khannaand Chief Justice of KarnatakaHigh Court Justice DineshMaheshwari were elevated asapex court judges, triggering apublic debate on the issue.
On the controversy aroundthe purported change in thedecision, Justice Lokur said hedid not know as to what addi-tional documents came afterhis retirement.
Speaking at an interactionhere on ‘State of the IndianJudiciary’, organised by a lawportal, the former judge how-ever rubbished the claim ofnepotism in the judiciary.
Justice Lokur said he did-n’t think that the Collegium
system has failed.Healthy discussions take
place at the Collegium meet-ings and agreements and dis-agreements are part of it, hesaid, adding that the discus-sions are confidential and trustis the important factor.
He advocated time-bounddecisions on the recommen-dations of the Collegium by theExecutive, saying that in theevent of no response from thegovernment, the recommen-dations can be deemed to beaccepted. He said there is aneed to bring some changes inthe Collegium system andsome mechanism has to bethere for adhering to time linein judicial appointments.
� ��� ��������
The Supreme Court onTuesday granted regular
bail to four convicts in theNaroda Patiya massacre case inGujarat in which 97 peoplewere killed by a mob during the2002 riots in the state.
The Gujarat High Courthad on April 20 last year upheldthe conviction of 12 out of the29 accused who were pro-nounced guilty on variouscharges by the trial court andhad acquitted 17 others, includ-ing former BJP minister Maya
Kodnani.A Bench comprising
Justices AM Khanwilkar andAjay Rastogi Tuesday grantedregular bail to four convicts —Umeshbhai Surabhai Bharwad,Rajkumar, PadmendrasinhJaswantsinh Rajput andHarshad alias Mungda JilaGovind Chhara Parmar.
The top court also grantedinterim bail for a period of 19days to convict Prakashbhai SureshbhaiRathod (Chhara) to take partin his daughter’s marriage onFebruary 10.
For the third straight day,three more terrorists were
killed in north Kashmir’sBaramulla district onWednesday taking the toll tonine. The terrorists were killedin a fierce encounter in Binnarvillage where police and secu-rity forces launched an opera-tion on specific information onmovement of terrorists.
The three slain terroristsare believed to be cadre ofLashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) out-fit, two of them suspected to beforeigners.
Security sources said that ajoint team of army, Police andCRPF launched a cordon-and-search operation at Binner vil-lage on the outskirts ofBaramulla district on the basisof inputs about the presence ofterrorists.
As the forces zeroed in onthe suspected spot, the hidingterrorists opened fire triggeringoff a gunfight. “As the search-es were going on, the searchparty was fired upon by the ter-rorists. The fire was retaliatedleading to a gunfight,” a police
spokesman said.“In the ensuing encounter,
three terrorists were killed andthe bodies were retrieved fromthe site of encounter. Theiridentities and affiliations arebeing ascertained,” he said.
“Incriminating materialincluding arms and ammuni-tion was recovered from the siteof encounter. Police have regis-tered a case and initiated inves-tigation in the matter,” he added.
“Citizens are requested notto venture inside the encounterzone since such an area canprove dangerous due to strayexplosive materials. People arerequested to cooperate withpolice till the area is complete-
ly sanitised and cleared of allthe explosive materials if any,”police spokesman said.
This was the thirdencounter in as many days inthe Valley. The three gunfightsin south, central and northernparts of Kashmir resulted intothe killing of nine terrorists. OnMonday, three terrorists werekilled in an encounter inHapatnar village of Chrar-e-Sharief area in central districtBudgam while three more werekilled in Shirmal village ofsouth Kashmir’s Shopian dis-trict on Tuesday. The encoun-ters took place ahead of tightsecurity arrangements in thewake of Republic Day.
3�������������� ���8��� �:����� ����
,�� �-��%����� ��99�
Tensions escalated along theLine of Control in Poonch
sector late Wednesday eveningfollowing 'unprovoked' cease-fire violation by the Pakistanarmy.
According to groundreports, the firing which start-ed from Sonagali around 4.00pm continued till late in thenight.
The entire stretch betweenBalakote and Mankote wasactivated and witnessed heavyexchange of fire. The Indianarmy jawans remained in astate of high alert to preventany strike by Border ActionTeam of Pakistan army or freshinfiltration bid.
The local villagers in thearea also remained closetedinside their houses as severalmortar shells landed in thecivilian areas close to the lineof control. Residents in Poonchclaimed the exchange of firealong the LoC was intense andwas audible in Poonch town.
Defence PRO in Jammu, LtCol Devendra Anand said, "Pakistan army initiated 'unpro-voked' ceasefire violation byusing small arms fire. Pakarmy also targeted forwardareas in Mendhar sector byshelling with mortars". "TheIndian army retaliated strong-ly and effectively", he added.
In plain areas of Jammu,especially along theInternational border, thecounter infiltration grid hasbeen beefed up to prevent anyinfiltration bid.Small groups ofheavily armed infiltrators werespotted in the areas by the bor-der guards close to theInternational border.
.�6����������%������������������
Mumbai: The MaharashtraAnti-Terrorism Squad (ATS)has busted an “ISIS-inspired”group, which was planningmass casualty attacks using poi-sonous chemical mixtures at biggatherings, an official said onWednesday.
The ATS has also arrestedeight men and detained a minorboy — all suspected members ofthe group — following search-es in Thane and Aurangabadover the last two days, he added.
The arrests have come justdays ahead of the Republic Dayon January 26.
The ATS has seized liquids,chemical powders, a chemicalbottle with "hydrogen peroxide"written on it, six knives, six pendrives, six laptops, over 24mobile phones, several gad-gets, WiFi routers, DVDs, CDs,hard drives, graphics cards,modems and computer RAMs(random access memory), theATS official said.
The group, which had engi-neers in its ranks, had plannedto prepare toxic chemical mix-tures and blend those with foodor water at big events to causemass casualty, he added.
All the seized materialswere sent to the forensic science
laboratory for examination, hesaid.
"These people had createda terrorist gang inspired by theISIS called the Ummat EMohammadiya and hadplanned terror activities at var-ious places," the official saidwithout elaborating.
"The idea was to makesome poisonous mixtures andmix those in water or food atplaces of big events so that peo-ple consume it," he said.
The locations where thegroup had planned the terroractivities were being ascer-tained, he added.
"We will verify all theaspects, including (a possible)attack at the (ongoing) KumbhMela (in Prayagraj, Uttar
Pradesh) and at other big eventsas well," the official said.
The chemicals seized fromthe group were of experimentalquantities, he said, adding, "Weare also investigating whetherthe group had any associates inthe state or other parts of thecountry."
Among those arrested wasMazhar Abdul Rashid Sheikh,the son of Rashid Malbari — aunderworld criminal anddreaded sharp-shooter of theDawood Ibrahim gang — theATS official said. Sheikh wasarrested from Aurangabad incentral Maharashtra, he added.
The minor, who wasdetained, was aged around 17and was a student of class 11(Science), the official said. PTI
Congress with unleashing syn-dicate raj in Bengal andpromised to clear the provinceof illegal cross-border infiltra-tors once it came to power, theState ruling outfit hit backcalling the BJP president anempty vessel whose party hadfailed to keep its earlier promis-es like repatriating black moneyand crediting �15 lakh each inthe citizens’ bank accounts.
While TMC Rajya SabhaMP Derek O’ Brien called theBJP a mad outfit, speaking outof nervousness and despera-tion, senior leader and StateMinister Partho Chatterjeecalled Shah an empty vesselwho was only capable of mak-ing large noises.
Referring to Shah’s speechin a Malda rally O’Brien said “it
is obvious that they are verynervous,” as “they know theirdays are numbered. They arepolitically scared. Their speech-es are low on facts and poor inState.”
Shah had on Tuesday tolda rally in Malda that“Trinamool Congress needs tobe uprooted from this State sothat its syndicate tax raj can beended.” Blowing the BJP’s elec-tions bugle he vowed to throwout all infiltrators from Bengal.“If we come to power we canassure you that the BJP willmake Bengal infiltrator-free.”
Reacting to Shah’s state-ments O’Brien tweeted, theBJP did not understand theethos of India and Bengal.“They are heading towards abig zero,” he said adding “someare saying they are desperate,some are saying they havegone mad … or is it a combi-nation of both?”
� ��������������"����7'6
Mumbai: The MaharashtraGovernment has decided toreserve 50 per cent residencesfor members of the ‘MantralayaAani Vidhimandal VartaharSangh’ in Mumbai under ahousing scheme of theMHADA, Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis announcedon Wednesday.
Fadnavis made the remarkshere at an award function, whenhe conferred lifetime achieve-ment award to veteran journal-ist Dinu Randive among others.
The Maharashtra Housingand Area DevelopmentAuthority (MHADA) is a State-run agency.
Speaking at the event,Fadnavis said the Governmenthas tried to give "stability" to thefourth pillar of democracy, themedia, in the past four years andlisted decisions his dispensation
has taken in this regard."The MHADA has pre-
pared a scheme for residences ofjournalists. It has been decidedthat members of the MantralayaAani Vidhimandal VartaharSangh will have 50 per centreservation in it.
"Location has been finalisedand the process concerned willbe completed in a month," headded.
Fadnavis also hailed 93-year-old Randive, who hadstarted his journalistic career in1956.
Randive also participated inthe freedom struggle, theSamyukta Maharashtra agita-tion and the Goa liberationmovement.
Award winners in othercategories included VishwasWaghmode, Mahesh Tiwariand Prajakta Pol. PTI
-",�����11�������������
Tiruvannamalai, one of themost backward districts in
Tamil Nadu, is undergoing asilent transformation, thanks toinnovative and well-conceivedprogrammes and schemesworked out by the DistrictCollector.
“The district was known ashome to Lord AnnamalaiTemple and the ashram ofRamana Maharshi. Other thanthese two unique institutions,Tiruvannamalai was knownonly for child marriages, foeti-cide, illegal termination ofpregnancy and malnutrition,”said Kattumannarkoil Kannan,vice president, Cauvery DeltaFarmers Welfare Association,Tamil Nadu.
Being one of the most raindeficit regions in the State,Tiruvannamalai’s contributionto the State economy was neg-ligible. There are no industries
worth mentioning and thisresulted in many poor menopting to work as illegal woodcutters in the SeshachalamForests of neighbouring AndhraPradesh. Most of the wood cut-ters allegedly killed in “encoun-ters” inside the forest were from
Tiruvannamalai. All these couldturn out to be old stories as thedistrict in making big stridesthanks to K S Kandasamy, thedistrict collector.
Since the day he took overas collector in September 2017,Kandasamy went into action.
He was greeted by unprece-dented problems crying fordrastic solutions. Quacks oper-ated in various parts ofTiruvannamalai performingselective abortion of femalechildren. Women were afraid ofdelivering female children as
they knew life of girls would bea horrid affair.
“Infanticide, school drop-outs, child marriages, malnu-trition, lower educational sta-tus, high maternal mortalityrates, were some of the issueshaunting us. The maternal
mortality ratio was 111.1 forthe year 2017-2018.We broughtit down to 54.36 by 2018 to2019,” Kandasamy told ThePioneer on the eve of his depar-ture to New Delhi where he isbeing honoured on Thursdayby the Prime Minister.
Along with the MMR,Kandasamy succeeded inbringing down the infant mor-tality rate which stood at 11.9in 2018. “This is lower than theState average of 17. But we areworking to bring it down tozero. There are many factors forthis phenomenon and thisneeds multi-pronged strategy,”said the district collector.
Since early marriages andteenage pregnancy are the rootcause of the higher order birth,Kandasamy and his team havedecided to eradicate child mar-riages. “During 2017-2018 wehad stopped 168 child mar-riages. And during the currentyear and up to December 2018we have stopped 166 child
marriages in our district andlegal actions were initiated. Allthe children secured are beinggiven training, counselling andcareer guidance,” he said.
A simple but majestic eventheld at the initiative ofKandasamy turnd out to be thegame changer in the attitude ofwomen and men towards girlchild. “All rural women took apledge by holding burningcamphor that they would notmarry off their kids below theage of 18. This has paid richdividends,” said Kandasamy.
Vijayasree Ramesh, a socialactivist from Chennai is opti-mistic about the future ofThiruvanamalai. “The collectorhas taken the women commu-nity into confidence and hehimself has become a rolemodel in driving home the les-son that women should berespected. He had integratedschemes lile Beti Bachao BetoPadhao with the local issuesand this has paid good results,”
said Ramesh, a lawyer-turned-girl child activist.
One of the private collegesin the district came forward toimplement the “Role ReversalActivity” suggested byKandasamy. An equal numberof boys and girls were selectedfor the mission. For one day,they had the roles reversed.Boys became home makerswhile the girls had fun.
We cooked and cleanedand served them food of theirchoices. And the girls had funplaying games, dance, chit-chat, drive a battery operatedcar. It was a different experi-ence and our perspective aboutwomen got changed,” saidArun, one of the students whotook part in this mission.
These are few of the inno-vations being implemented byKandasamy and team. He isconfident that by the time hehas to move out, an irreversibleprocess of change would haveset in Tiruvannamalai.
Aizawl: Thousands of people,including students, hit thestreets across different places inMizoram on Wednesday toprotest against the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill.
Effigies of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and UnionHome Minister Rajnath Singhwere torched, as protesterstook out rallies from here,seven district headquarters andat over 50 other places.
Raising slogans and carry-ing placards, the agitatorsdemanded the resignation ofthe PM and the HomeMinister, alleging that the con-troversial bill will endangerthe very existence of the Mizos.
The rally was organised bythe Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) orMizo students federation,which had also organised an11-hour, state-wide bandh onJanuary 8. PTI
Bengaluru: Karnataka HomeMinister MB Patil on Fridaysaid he was yet to be briefed onthe report of an enquiry com-mittee that went into charges ofpreferential treatment to oust-ed AIADMK leader V KSasikala at the prison here andwould take action afterdiscus-sions with department offi-cials.
Patil, who took over asHome Minister after theCabinet rejig on December 22,asserted that nobody was abovethe law andthere was no needto protect anybody.
"It has come to my noticethrough media reports aboutRTI... Nobody is above thelaw..." he told reporters here.
"There was inquiry...I'mholding discussions.OfficiallyI'm yet to be briefed on it. I can-not act on media reports.
Ihave taken cognisance ofmedia reports. I will discusswithour department officialsand whatever is needed will bedone. What is the need to pro-tect anybody," he added.
An RTI query revealedthat Sasikala was given specialtreatment in a prison here,where she is serving impris-onment in a corruption case,according to the report by aninquiry committee that wentinto the allegations by a seniorpolice official,
The 295-page report byretired IAS officer Vinay
Kumar confirmed that the thenDIG (Prisons) D Roopa'sclaims in July 2017that Sasikalawas given preferential treat-ment and a separate kitchenfunctioned for her at theParappana AgraharaCentralJailhere, RTI activistNarasimha Murthy had recent-ly said.
Kumar had submitted hisreport to the Government onNovember 17, 2017, but itscontents were not made public.
Asked if action would betaken based on thereport, Patilsaid "definitely...I have notbeen officially briefed about it...I have to ascertain about it asthe HomeMinister and willact accordingly." PTI
Jaipur: Lashing out at theOpposition BJP on the issue ofcows, Rajasthan chief ministerAshok Gehlot on Wednesdaysaid 74,016 cows had died inHingonia gaushala in Jaipurduring the previousGovernment's five year rule.
He accused the BJP of call-ing the Congress a party ofMuslims but stated the Congresshad won elections in the 'cowbelt' of Rajasthan, MadhyaPradesh and Chhattisgarh.
"Politics was done in thename of cows. As many as74,016 cows died in Hingoniagaushala in five years. Congresswas called the party of Muslimsbut the party won elections inRajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and
Chhattisgarh," Gehlot said, in hisreply to the debate on theGovernor's speech in theAssembly. He said the Hinducommunity had realised theBJP raises the issue of Ram tem-ple ahead of elections.
The chief minister targetedthe former Vasundhara RajeGovernment "for weakeningschemes like free medicineswhich were initiated by the ear-lier Congress Government" andsaid his Government will notdiscontinue any public welfarescheme. He said the public gavehuge mandate to the BJP in 2013Assembly elections but theVasundhara Raje Governmentwasted five years and gave mis-rule to the public. PTI
lowed by the mega meet ofOpposition leaders at Kolkata,the Samajwadi party and theBahujan Samaj Party are grap-pling with the ‘real politik’ ofseat sharing. Both the partiesare also grappling with thedissidence as many aspirantswill not be able to contest theelection following the alliance.
The entry of PriyankaGandhi has added to the woes
of the fledgling alliance. Themove has come as a setback forthe SP-BSP alliance as it has cre-ated fresh avenues for theprospective Lok Sabha candi-dates of both SP and BSP butdenied opportunity to contest asboth the parties have shared 38seats each and rest for the smallparties. The SP, BSP appearedover confident of their electoralarithmetic comprising of the SC,OBCs and minorities.
“The likely improvement
in the electoral fortune of theCongress has brought a newhope for those SP and BSPleaders who were at the deadend of their political careerbecause of the alliance of thetwo parties. Now they have theoption of knocking at the doorof the Congress,’’ said a politi-cal an analyst.
“Entry of Priyanka Gandhicould be setback for theSamajwadi Party-BahujanSamaj Party alliance. Thestrategist of the SP-BSP wereconfident that there will bedirect fight with the BJP, nowthe electoral battle is likely tobe triangular which may ben-efit the BJP’’, said the RajyaSabha MP of the Samajwadiparty. He added, “The forcefulentry of the Congress couldalso create dilemma for theMuslim voters and providingcredible alternative to the rebelsof SP, BSP and the BJP’’.
BSP former MP refusing tobe identified said, “The SP-BSPleaders should have made effortsfor the honourable accommo-dation of the Congress in thealliance’’. He said this wouldhave sealed the fate of the BJPand the tally of the ruling partyat the Centre could have beenreduced to a single digit.
“If 2017 UP Assemblyelection is the benchmark, thenthe alliance plus Congresswould have secured 52.08%vote share as compared to39.67% of the BJP.” said the BSPleader.
Political observers say thatvoters, particularly Muslims,have not forgotten Mayawati’sdecision to take the BJP’s sup-port to form the Governmentin Lucknow in 1995, and laterin 1997 and 2002. They saythese voters will not rule outthe possibility of this happen-ing again if the Opposition fails
to unseat Narendra Modi andthe BJP at the Centre. There isthis fear amongst Muslims thatMayawati could switch sidesafter the elections if she is notin a powerful position. Thisassumption that Muslims willvote only for the alliance issomehow misplaced.”
UP Congress general sec-retary Onkar Nath Singh said,“All sections of the society arelooking at the Congress as apossible alternative on seatsthat will be contested by BSPand SP. If they feel the Congressis in a strong position, theycould end up voting for theCongress instead of thealliance.”
The last time the SP andBSP had joined hands was forthe Uttar Pradesh Assemblyelections in 1993, when the BJPwas riding the Hindutva waveafter the demolition of theBabri Masjid the previous year.
������ �"� ��2���%������������
Slain journalist GauriLankesh’s sister Kavita
Lankesh has rubbished theclaim made by a US-basedself-styled cyber expert andhacker that Lankesh was killedbecause she was planning towrite an article on the hackingof Electronic Voting Machines(EVMs).
“I am aware of it and Ithink it is completely false. Idon’t think it is true at all. Idon’t know why it was said likethis. I don’t believe my sisterwas targeting for that at all,”Kavita Lankesh said.
Lankesh was shot dead onSeptember 5, 2017 eveningoutside her house.
Police have arrested 16
people, while two suspects areat large.
Police have claimed that aright wing criminal syndicate,which killed the left leaningjournalist Lankesh, wasinspired by the literaturebrought out by a right wingorganisation Sanatan Sansthaand assassinated her for being‘Durjan’ (evil person), as men-tioned in the book.
However, adding an out-landish twist to the story, theman identified as Syed Shujahad said he had met Lankeshand wanted the article on EVMto be published in her weeklywhen the assassination hap-pened.
Kavita said, “The murderwas a political conspiracy butI don’t believe in this kind oftwist. So far, the investigation
is going in a right direction.” When asked whether she
believed that there were polit-ical motives behind theclaims, she said, “I guess so. It’sa fake news.I don’t need to gointo it.”
The Election Commissionhas filed a complaint with theDelhi Police asking it to reg-ister an FIR against SyedShuja, who at a press confer-ence in London on Mondayclaimed EVMs can be hacked,and the 2014 Lok Sabha elec-tions were rigged.
In its complaint, the pollpanel asked the police to inves-tigate the matter “promptly” forviolation of certain sections ofthe Indian Penal Code dealingwith spreading rumour toalarm and “create fear” in theminds of the public.
� ��� ��������
The BSF and the State policehave increased vigilance
along India-Bangladesh borderto check infiltration ofRohingya Muslims, DirectorGeneral of Police (DGP) AkhilKumar Shukla said onWednesday, two days after 30refugees were apprehended atChuraibari in Assam.
The immigrants, including12 children, were on their wayto Guwahati from Agartala ina bus Monday, when the AssamPolice held them at Churaibariin Assam’s Karimganj district,about 200 km from here.
They were sent to jail by adistrict court Tuesday. Lastweek, 31 Rohingyas were holedup behind the barbed wirefencing along the Bangladeshboundary in Tripura, as theborder guards of both sides
debated over their status.“The Border Security Force
(BSF) and the state police havebeen put on alert to ensure thatno new Rohingya Muslimsenter into our territory throughthe India-Bangla internationalborder,” Shukla said.
Tripura shares 856-km-long border with Bangladesh.C L Belwa, the deputy inspec-tor general of BSF (TripuraFrontier), said Rohingyas maketheir way to India throughdifferent routes in the east andthen move to other parts of thecountry for job and livelihood.
The refugees, who wereapprehended at Churaibari onTuesday, had actually enteredIndia through Assam, he said.
“They had come to Tripurato work in brick kilns, but theirlivelihood issues were notsolved here so they werereturning to Assam again,”
Belwa said.The 31 Rohingya Muslims,
who were holed up in no-man’sland since January 18, havebeen handed over to TripuraPolice by the BSF after talkswith Border GuardsBangladesh (BGB) failed.
They underwent a medicalcheck-up and were later pro-duced before a court in WestTripura district which sentthem to 14-day judicial custodyTuesday.
More than 700,000Rohingya Muslims f ledMyanmar’s Rakhine state toneighbouring Bangladesh sinceAugust 2017 after a militarycrackdown, triggering a mas-sive refugee crisis.
In October 2017, theMinistry of Home Affairs hadurged all states to take imme-diate steps to identify andmonitor Rohingya immigrants.
� ��� ���������
Aday after BJP presidentAmit Shah ridiculed the
Opposition’s bid to forge agrand alliance, Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee onWednesday said those whowant to divide the country intopieces cannot be called nation-al leaders. Speaking at an eventhere to celebrate the 122ndbirth anniversary of NetajiSubhas Chandra Bose, Banerjeesaid “we will be successful onlywhen we are together”.
“Such persons are leadersof only a section of people ofthe country,” Banerjee said inan apparent dig at the BJP,without naming the saffronparty or any of its leaders.“Those who want to divide thecountry into pieces cannot benational leaders,” she added.
Kickstarting the party’sLok Sabha poll campaign inWest Bengal from a rally atMalda, Shah Tuesday scoffed atthe efforts by opposition par-ties to forge a grand alliance,saying it is driven by the “greedfor power” and with ninepotential prime ministerialcandidates in their ranks.
Taking a swipe at the opposi-tion rally convened by theTrinamool Congress supremoin Kolkata last Saturday, Shahsaid bringing in 20-25 leaderson one stage would not serveany purpose as Narendra Modiwill become prime ministeragain.
He had also describedTMC government as “facilita-tors of murders” and madeserious corruption chargesagainst it. TMC had organiseda mega rally at Brigade Paradeground in Kolkata on Saturdaylast in which over two dozenleaders of as many 22 anti-BJPparties had given a call to oustModi from power in the gen-eral elections.
Stating that Netaji hadtaken people from all commu-nities and races together, fromthe Hills to those in everyother part of the country informing the Indian NationalArmy (INA), Banerjee said hetalked of “togetherness andunity of all people of the coun-try”. She said Mahatma Gandhi,Maulana Abul Kalam Azadand Babasaheb Ambedkar weregreat national leaders as theystood for the good of all.
� ��� ���� �
Aman was arrested forallegedly impersonating as
an official of the Prime Minister’sOffice (PMO), according to astatement issued by the UttarPradesh Police’s Special TaskForce (STF) here on Wednesday.
Acting on a tip-off, the STFarrested Naresh Rai fromJiamau locality here onTuesday, it said.
The STF had received acomplaint that Rai used to callbureaucrats posing as a PMOofficial and ask them to givecontracts and jobs to some peo-ple, it said, adding that heused to take money for this. AnSUV was also seized, the state-ment added.
� ��� ����
Deputy Chief Minister ofRajasthan Sachin Pilot on
Wednesday said PriyankaGandhi’s appointment as AICCgeneral secretary for UP Eastwill inspire party workersacross the country.
“It is a welcome develop-ment. This will boost partyworkers across the country. Ithas been a long standingdemand of the workers to giveher (Priyanka) an official role.
“Until now, she chose torestrict herself to campaigningin Amethi and Raebareli butnow as a general secretary, shewill strengthen the party’s LokSabha campaign in the nextthree months,” he said.
Pilot said her new officialrole will make a huge differ-ence. “Today we understandIndia is going through a verychallenging time and people arelooking at the Congress togive an alternative and we needto really get our act togetherand give a very charged cam-paign...” said the Deputy ChiefMinister of Rajasthan.
Pilot’s boss, Ashok Gehlothas also welcomed theannouncement.
� ��� ������
CPI leader D Raja onWednesday reiterated his
party’s demand for a JPC probeinto the Rafale deal, asking whythe NDA Government is‘afraid’ of facing the JointParliamentary Committe ifthere was no wrongdoing in theIndo-French pact.
The CPI national secretaryurged PMNarendra Modi to“tell the truth,” on the matter.“Neither the Defence Minister(Nirmala Sitharaman) nor theExternal Affairs Minister(Sushma Swaraj) was involvedwhen the deal was clinched. Itwas the Prime Minister, thePrime Minister alone who tookthe decision and decided the
deal,” he said.“JPC is a parliamentary
instrument and Parliament issupreme in our democracy. Ifthere is nothing (wrong) theycan very well accept JPC. Whyare they afraid of it,” he toldPTI. Raja’s remarks came inresponse to Sitharaman onceagain ruling out a JPC probeinto the Rafale deal onWednesday.
On the demand for a JPCprobe into the Rafale dealwhile speaking to reportershere Wednesday, Sitharamanhad said “it is not needed.”Unlike the 2G issue, no insti-tution like the Comptrollerand Auditor General or eventhe Supreme Court said any-thing against Rafale, she noted.
� ��� �����
Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar on Wednesday
defended Electronic VotingMachines (EVMs), saying itwas “perfectly fine” and sug-gested that there will not be anyproblem if voter verifiablepaper audit trails (VVPAT)are made available at everypolling stations.
Amid raging debate overEVMs, which Opposition lead-ers have been critical of, Kumarsaid he was not in agreementwith the things said.
In an apparent dig at theCongress, which is amongopposition parties who arecriticising EVMs, Kumar asked“during whose time the EVMsystem was introduced?”
“My stand on the use of
EVM is very clear. EVMs areperfectly fine. There will notbe any problem if VVPAT ismade avai lable at ever ypolling stations. I do notagree with things which arebeing said about EVM. In myview, EVM has strengthenedpeople’s right to vote,” Kumar
told reporters.He was talking to reporters
here after paying tributes tonationalist leader NetajiSubhash Chandra Bose on his122nd birth anniversary in thestate capital.
The incidents of bogusvoting and booth capturingused to be witnessed duringvoting through ballot paperbut things have improved withthe introduction of EVMsand the system would furtherimprove with the introductionof VVPAT, Kumar, who isalso JD(U) national presi-dent, said.
Kumar said voters’ slipmust be distributed in everyhousehold beside taking thereceiving from the families inwhich voters’ slips have beendistributed.
� ��� ������
Amid the row over a self-styled expert alleging that
EVMs could be tampered with,Union Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Wednesday hitout at the Congress for joininghands with elements in a for-eign country who claimed thatelectronic voting machinescould be hacked.
She dared the Congress tostep down from power inMadhya Pradesh where assem-bly elections were held recent-ly.
A self-styled cyber experthad days ago claimed thatEVMs could be hacked andalleged that the 2014 generalelections were rigged.
To a question on TamilNadu Congress demanding aninquriy into claims that EVMscould be hacked following ahackathon in London recently,she told reporters here that “ifthey win, EVM is workingproperly, if they lose EVMs donot function properly, and thattoo in a foreign country.”
The Defence Ministerattacked the Congress for whatshe termed pursuing the pathof weakening democracy. “Thisis an effort by the Congress toweaken democracy.”
“The Congress party wonthe Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh and RajasthanAssembly elections onlythrough the Electronic VotingMachine,” she said and blamedthe Rahul Gandhi-led party forchanging stand on EVMsaccording to their convenience.
The Congress party shouldsay they will step down fromgovernment in MadhyaPradesh since they won thepolls through the EVMs.
“They should say that thereshould be some problem withthe EVMs and that was whythey won....otherwise theyshould say that they themselvesmanipulated the machines fortheir victory,” she said.
She queried if the Congressmanipulated EVMs for theirvictories in the past.
When Netaji SubhasChandra Bose’s death inan air crash in Taipei onAugust 18, 1945, wasannounced, the British
Government suspected that this was acover for his escape to the Soviet Union.Their suspicions were confirmed a fewmonths later when transmitters inCalcutta’s Governor’s House caught threebroadcasts on shortwave band 31 byNetaji between December 26, 1945, andFebruary 1946. The broadcasts showedthat he was alive: Netaji said that he wasunder the “shelter of great world powers”and his utterances revealed that he wasaware “my men are being tried at the RedFort.”
Subhas Chandra Bose promised tocome to India and sit on judgement on“those trying my men at the Red Fort.” Healso said that the back of British imperi-alism had been broken and that theBritish could concede Independence toIndia in two years. Copies of these trans-missions have now been made public afterthe declassification of records pertainingto Netaji in 2015.
Due to inferior technology in thosetimes, transmissions never reached theears of millions of Indians for whom theywere meant, but the British masters weredefinitely alarmed on hearing them. Thealarm spread to the Congress circles aswell. Found among the records was a let-ter from Khurshed Naoroji, one of theSecretaries of Mahatma Gandhi to LouisFischer (on June 22 1946). It read: “At theheart, the Indian Army is sympathetic tothe Indian National Army (INA). If Bosecomes with the help of Russians, neitherGandhiji nor Jawaharlal Nehru or theCongress will be able to reason with thecountry.”
That Netaji was looming large on theBritish horizon was clear from the factthat on October 25, 1945, the thenBritish Prime Minister chaired a Cabinetmeeting for finalisation of a policytowards Bose, based on a confidentialnote on the subject from Lord Wavell, thethen Viceroy of India.
Incidentally, the file also mentionedthat Lord Mountbatten, who was theBritish Supreme Allied Commander forSouth East Asia Command, received adispatch from the British directorate ofmilitary intelligence that said: “WhenBose was preparing to leave Burma byplane, the Chinese intercepted a messagefrom the Japanese, asking him to remainin Burma. Bose subsequently escaped toThailand.”
The file also mentioned that the casein support of Netaji’s death in an air crashwas based on evidence provided by ColHabibur Rahman and Japanese doctor TYoshimi. But Habibur Rahman was “notwilling to come out with the truth” and
there were a multitude of dis-crepancies in his version.Obviously, the British did notbelieve that Netaji had died inany air crash.
The British obsession withNetaji was natural in view ofthe INA, whose wartimeactivities had given a newdimension to the Indian free-dom struggle. The INA hadtaken on the British IndianArmy in the North-East dur-ing the World War II. Due tocensorship in those parts (asa result of inner line restric-tions), news had not been cov-ered in mainland India andpeople did not know about theexploits of the INA (althoughthey had lost the war).
Fresh from the victory inWorld War II, the Britishthought they would teach alesson to the INA soldiers —like they had to the soldiers ofthe first war of Independence.They selected three soldiers —Hindu, Muslim and a Sikh —for trial for waging war againstthe King Emperor. This, theyaverred, would be a lesson toall Indians.
This policy had worked in1857, when the last MughalEmperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar,was tried in the Red Fort anddeposed to Rangoon. Butclearly, things had changed.The trial of the INA officersbrought out before Indians thebrave exploits of the INA.The British had thought pub-
licity of INA activities wouldlead to their being hated bythe Indian public. They werewrong; as Indians began tohear about the activities of theINA, their chests began to swell in pride.
Our men in the IndianArmy also became restive andNaval ratings mutinied. Therewas also trouble among Armyranks in Jabalpur. It was clearthat the colonialists, who hadused the Indian Army to con-trol India, would not be ableto do so any longer as the INAhad showed the Indian armymen a new way of reclaimingtheir country.
Lt General S K Sinha, oneof the most celebrated officersof the Indian Army, who alsobecame Governor of Jammu& Kashmir and Assam afterretirement, was a youngCaptain in August 1946 post-ed to the Military OperationsDirectorate (MOD) to replaceEnglish officers. Shortlybefore his death, Gen Sinhawrote in an English newspa-per on February 16, 2016, thatwhile going through the filesleft by his predecessor, hefound a report from MajorGeneral O’Brien of MilitaryIntelligence that raised seriousdoubts about the continuedloyalty of thousands of emer-gency commissioned officersof the Army, who had beenrecruited in the World War IIperiod and wanted to keep a
watch on them. More impor-tantly, Sinha found plans forOperation Gondola, by which43,000 British civilians wouldbe escorted out of the coun-tr y if the need arose.Obviously, the British wereplanning for an eventualityaverring trouble.
Although the British hadoriginally planned to leaveIndia in September 1948, theyquit earlier on August 15,1947, to avert trouble in theform of an uprising. TheBritish were keen on a peace-ful exit to keep its empire inother parts of the globe stable.If they were to be kicked outviolently from India, theircolonies elsewhere would bein threat.
Unfortunately, theCongress leadership, led byJawaharlal Nehru, collaborat-ed with the last Viceroy, LordMountbatten, to allow thisdesign that led to the Partitionof India along with its free-dom. What happened toNetaji one does not know.
Probably, he was packedby Stalin to the GulagArchipelago; although somesay he made his way to Indiaas a mendicant GumnamiBaba. But when India woke upto freedom, the man, whomade this possible, had beenlost. An unsavoury fact atthat.
Sir — Judicial scrutiny will likelyrender the 10 per cent reservationfor the economically weaker sec-tions null and void. However,removing the age and attemptsbarrier will go a long way in pro-viding equal opportunity at theoutset without affecting the statusquo. In a highly competitiveatmosphere, this can go a longway in ensuring that nobody is leftout for want of chance and every-body gets to have equal access tojob opportunities.
Anoop HosmathMysuru
����������������
Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Didi’s headline act” (January 21).The prime objective of Oppositionparties, especially West BengalChief Minister Mamata Banerjee,appears to be to defeat the BJP andPrime Minister Modi in particu-lar. It is an undisputed fact thatregional parties have no specificpolicy, programme or an ideologyfor the development of the nation.
Even if the mahagathbandhanis voted to power, the selection of
the Prime Minister will, undoubt-edly, be an insurmountable prob-lem for them. The winning of amajority of MPs in the Lok Sabhapoll by any party may not be a cri-teria to decide who will clinch thetop post. Regional parties willultimately look for a remarkablepersonality, who enjoys populari-ty and has adroit administrative
abilities. Except for Banerjee, noleader has the ability, skill and dex-terity to be the Prime Minister. ButBanerjee is temperamentally emo-tional and not fundamentally ratio-nal. Her tempestuous attitude andoutlook may not appeal to allregional parties.
Nimai Charan SwainBhubaneswar
������������������
Sir — Making biographical filmson politicians can hardly portrayan impartial picture of theirlives. For personal benefits,entertainment and commercialobjectives, the real story getstwisted and hard realities are
ignored. Such films ought to beincluded in the category of fic-tion. However, hoi polloi can beattracted by the person in focus,and such cinema can be mis-leading, even controversial if notdefamatory. Perhaps this is amarketing technique. Films onpersonalities, who are stillaround, must be avoided.
M Kumar Via email
�������������
Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Who let the cranks out?”(January 23). In an age of mod-ern scientific technology andnew inventions, it is surprisingthat people are crying foul overthe use of Electronic VotingMachines (EVM) in elections.India should not in any way getback to Stone Age practices justbecause a few modern scientif-ic devices are faulty. EVMs havecome here to stay and havesaved us from the Herculeantask of manual counting.
Population pressures, hunger forland and prime real estate haveall made many a nature hotspot
disappear over the last decade. Thesepermanent losses of biodiversityhotspots would seem insignificantwhen compared to the rather disturb-ing findings of a latest study pub-lished in the Yale Journal of Biologyand Medicine. The study found thatunplanned developmental activitiesand land use are reducing the ever-green forest cover and perennialstreams in the central region of theWestern Ghats in India.
While other developed nationsin the world are bending over back-wards to usher in biodiversity into
their cities and urban spaces, Indiais tracking backwards and losing itsgreen cover and natural sanctuariesfor its flora and fauna. The WesternGhats, a biodiversity hotspot knownfor its rich ecology, natural forest sys-tems and perennial rivers, are slow-ly but steadily falling prey to large-scale human activities that are nowbeginning to erode the ecosystem ofthis central region of the country.
The study sharply focusses onthe Kali river that originates inUttara Kannada district in Karnatakaand joins the Arabian Sea. The riveris as old as the Western Ghats butover the years, it has been dammedat six locations. As a result, 325species of flora and 190 species offauna are at immediate risk of extinc-tion. Remote sensing data formed thebasis of the study and showed howthe silent destruction of one ofnature’s best known habitats is tak-ing place systematically. The dataspecifically shows that between 1973
and 2016, forest cover reduced from85 per cent to 55 per cent.
Additionally, land use pattern inthe region also underwent changesduring 1980-2000 due to develop-mental projects such as the buildingof dams on the river Kali, Kaiganuclear plant and Dandeli papermill. The paper mill establishmentitself led to large-scale conversion offorests to crops. These developmentsare not only sad but also irreversible.The study also noted that forests hadshrunk thanks to the large waterreservoirs, which had been con-structed at the expense of forest cover.
The lush environs of the WesternGhats came to be replaced withexceedingly dry and dusty atmos-phere. This mainly due to changes inwater usage. Eco-hydrological foot-print is a measure of how the ecol-ogy of a region responds to changesin water cycle and water usage. Thiscan be measured by assessing theratio of available water and water lost
due to usage and evaporation.Around 2,309 million cubic metresof water is required to meet demandsof society and livestock in the region,while around 4,700 million cubicmetres are required to maintainecosystems and the aquatic life.
An analysis in the report alsoshowed that although the Kali riverhas sufficient water supply andperennial streams in the Ghats andcoastal area, regions that lie in plainlands with a higher degree of agri-culture and cultivation, have inter-mittent and seasonal flow. This isleading to water scarcity for four tonine months in a year.
Whereas those areas, which havegreater than 70 per cent of forest cover,are not experiencing any type of waterscarcity. This shows the strong corre-lation between ecology and hydrolo-gy in the backdrop of land use. Theunfortunate part is that in the processof clearing the forests for developmen-tal activities, India is losing native
species of vegetation, which play a piv-otal role in enhancing the water reten-tion capability of the catchment area.
This levelling of the forests fordams and other development activ-ities maybe touted as developmentbut it is a skewed progress at bestsince it ensures the best interests ofonly a certain section of society.Indigenous population or the localpeople are paying a steep price asthey not only lose the habitat but alsotheir income and livelihood.
According to experts, villagers inthe vicinity of native forests earn�1.54 lakh per acre per year, com-pared to �32,000 in villages withstream catchments experiencingdeforestation. This confirms thevital role of native forests in sustain-ing water and people’s livelihood.
The study also revealed thatmanagement practices adopted byengineers also contributed to the ero-sion of water retention capability inthe river catchment with severe water
scarcity. Keeping these aspects inmind and for the best interests of theWestern Ghats, a United NationsEducational, Scientific and CulturalOrganisation (UNESCO) recognisedWorld Heritage Site, the Governmentagencies must establish better man-agement and conservation strategiesto maintain the forest cover and takeimmediate measures to preserve theexclusivity of the flora and fauna ofthe region.
The role that the National GreenTribunal (NGT) can play to preservethe Western Ghats cannot be empha-sised enough. Although it has alreadyput in place many measures, in the lightof the recent report, gaps in the effortsto conserve Western Ghats are becom-ing apparent. The NGT must take cog-nisance of the same and take suitableaction. Western Ghats are symbolic ofIndia’s pristine biodiversity and mustnot be allowed to wither away.
There can hardly be a more opportunetime than now, in the midst of a cultur-ally, politically and economically pow-erful ‘MeToo’ movement across theworld, to revisit the larger cause of
domestic violence and abuse. There is an urgentneed for an equally powerful social media-drivenmovement against it like #NeverAgain. As anAttorney with long years of passionate advocacyof this important socio-cultural and legal issue, thiswriter has been particularly focussed on issues ofdomestic violence and abuse in the diasporicIndian/South Asian families in the US. Anecdotalexperience suggests that the problem exists in asignificant way among the large expatriate Indianpopulation around the world as well but does notoften get the attention it so urgently demands.
Just as #MeToo, fuelled by extraordinarycourage and conviction of women, who weresilenced and oppressed for decades, as well as aidedby the power and reach of social media, has becomea global force to reckon with, there is a need fora scaleable movement on this issue. One is con-scious that South Asian women, trapped in vio-lent and abusive domestic situations, may find ithard to make their case on social media but it isa tool that ought to be employed to network, putabusive spouses and families on immediate noticeand end it once and for all.
The case of Indian and South Asian women,who marry Indian/South Asian men living in theUS and end up in violent or abusive domestic sit-uations, is unique for several reasons. Perhaps themost important one is that many of them are eithercompletely unprepared or ill-prepared to deal withit because they find themselves in a wholly newsocio-cultural milieu in a country some 10,000miles away from India and other South Asiannations. Many fall into such relationships evenbefore they have had the time to familiarise them-selves with their immediate surroundings, let alonesocial and legal services being available to them.
Overarching their rather harrowing lives is thefear of social stigma. More often than not, they aretold stories of how a wonderful life awaits themin America, the world’s richest country, whichwould be a dramatic improvement for them, com-pared to what they experience in India. With thisas the backdrop, to find oneself in an abusive rela-tionship so far away from familiar surroundings,makes things much harder for them. The conse-quence is that many of them choose to endureabuse rather than upset the rhythm of their lives.
This writer’s extensive engagement with thewomen trapped in abusive relationships reveals thatone common feeling among them is one of utterhelplessness, exacerbated by what society backhome might say about their failure to make theirmarriages work. The writer also found that a major-ity of these women would not only muster enoughcourage to speak out but even take legal action ifthey had a helping hand either from individualattorneys like the writer herself or legal aid groups.
Although there have been no national or state-wide studies of Indian/South Asian women anddomestic violence in the US, there is reason tobelieve that this is a growing problem. IndianAmericans are a reasonably large group of peo-ple. According to the US Census Bureau’s 2015American Community Survey, there are 3,982,398multi-race, multi-ethnic and single-race AsianIndians, of which 3,699,957 are single race. WhileIndian Americans barely constitute about one percent of the US population, because of their broadeconomic success, they are a force to reckon withfar beyond their numbers. In terms of domesticand sexual violence among South Asian commu-
nities, a fact sheet released by the Asian PacificInstitute on gender-based violence is quite instruc-tive. Here are some of their findings:
Domestic violence: • In a study of 208 South Asian women recruit-
ed through community outreach in the GreaterBoston area, 21 per cent reported having experi-enced physical and/or sexual abuse at the handsof their intimate partner; 15 per cent reported suchexperience during the previous year. (Intimate part-ner violence associated with poor health outcomesin US South Asian women).
• In a face-to-face interview study of 1,577Asians recruited from Asian organisations andgathering places in the greater Houston area inTexas, 20 per cent of the Indian respondents (154male and female) reported experiencing at leastone form of intimate partner violence based onthe eight-item Conflict Tactics Scale, ranging from“thrown objects at the respondent” to “used a knifeor gun on the respondent” during the previous year.(A prevalence study on partner abuse in six AsianAmerican ethnic groups in the USA)
• A study on life course experiences of inti-mate partner violence and help-seeking (lifecourseIPV and help-seeking study), which assessed expe-riences of IPV among 56 Indian and Pakistaniabused women (and 87 Filipina women) aged 18-60 recruited via various community outreachmethods in the San Francisco Bay Area, found that96 per cent of Indian and Pakistani victims report-ed having experienced physical violence by an inti-mate partner. About 50 per cent of Indian andPakistani victims reported having experiencedstalking by an intimate partner. And 64 per centof Indian and Pakistani victims reported havingexperienced sexual violence by an intimate part-ner. Indian and Pakistani victims born in the US,or those who had immigrated to America pre-ado-lescence (1.5+ generations), were more likely toexperience all three forms of IPV — physical vio-lence, sexual assault and stalking, compared tothose born outside the US and those who immi-grated post-adolescence. Younger Indian andPakistani victims were more likely to experiencestalking by intimate partners compared to theirolder counterparts. (Lifecourse Experiences ofIntimate Partner Violence and Help-Seeking amongFilipina, Indian, and Pakistani Women: Implicationsfor Justice System Responses).
• A study of 160 South Asian women (whowere married or in a heterosexual relationship),recruited through community outreach methodssuch as flyers, snowball sampling and referrals in
Greater Boston (Raj and Silverman Study),found that 42 per cent of the participantsreported that they had been physically and/or sex-ually abused in some way by their current malepartners in their lifetime; 36.9 per cent reportedhaving been victimised in the past year. Around30 per cent reported having experienced partners‘physical abuse and 18.8 per cent reported hav-ing experienced partners‘ sexual abuse. About 65.2per cent of the women reporting physical abusealso reported sexual abuse. Sixteen per centreported injury or the need for medical servicesas a result of a partner’s violence. Women, whoreported intimate partner violence, were morelikely than those who did not report violence toindicate that they had experienced “poor phys-ical health in seven or more of the last 30 days”(20 per cent vs seven per cent), “depression [in]seven or more of the last 30 days” (32 per centvs 10 per cent), “anxiety [in] seven or more of thelast 30 days” (34 per cent vs 20 per cent) and “sui-cidal ideation during the last year” (16 per centvs three per cent). No significant difference wasfound in the prevalence of domestic violencebetween arranged marriages and non-arrangedmarriages. (Intimate partner violence against SouthAsian women in greater Boston)
Abuse by in-laws• Of a convenience sample of 169 South Asian
women, who were married at the time of the sur-vey, six per cent reported having experienced emo-tional abuse by in-laws. The proportion ofwomen, who reported emotional abuse by in-laws,was higher among those reporting partners’ vio-lence in their current relationship (15 per cent) thanthose who did not report such violence (three percent). (Victims of intimate partner violence morelikely to report abuse from in-laws).
• In a telephonic interview survey of a randomsample of Gujarati adults aged between 18 and 64years, seven per cent of the female respondentsreported that in-laws had called them names. (TheShanti Project, Baseline Community-Wide Survey.Unpublished raw data).
Domestic violence-related homicide• A report on 160 US domestic violence relat-
ed homicides in Asian families based on newspa-per clippings and information from advocates fora six-year period from 2000–2005 found that 30of 158 (19 per cent) victims with known ethnici-ties were South Asian. And 32 of 122 (26 per cent)perpetrators with known ethnicities were SouthAsian. (Shattered Lives: Homicides, DomesticViolence and Asian Families).
Seeking help• The Raj and Silverman Study found that 11
per cent of South Asian women reporting intimatepartner violence indicated receiving counselingsupport services for domestic abuse. Only threeper cent of the abused South Asian women in thestudy ever obtained a restraining order against anabusive partner. This rate is substantially lower thanthat reported in a study of women inMassachusetts, in which over 33 per cent of thewomen, who reported intimate partner violencein the past five years, obtained a restraining order.
Seeking help from family members• In a study of 62 battered women (20 African
American, 22 Hispanic, and 20 South Asian),South Asian women were more likely to seek helpfrom family members. South Asian women weresignificantly more likely to be advised by familymembers “to stay in the marriage” than othergroups of women. (Social support and disclosureof abuse: Comparing South Asian, AfricanAmerican, and Hispanic battered women).
According to estimates, two out of five SouthAsian women report domestic violence, which ismuch higher than the general US population (28per cent according to UNICEF, 2000). These sta-tistics tell only a fraction of the story. They tell youhow many women had the courage to report abuseor call for help. How many more are silent, ter-rorised, obedient to the abuser and isolated in anabusive situation we do not know. The numbersof those, who do not call for help, too are notknown because they do not recognise the situa-tion is abusive or they do not know their legalrights. All we know is that domestic violence inSouth Asian community “is seriously under-report-ed because we have seen many women who neverget as far as the formal institutions.” (Preisser, 1999).
However, because of the state of the currentlaw, both in terms of immigration policy and interms of where we are with international agree-ments between the US and India, in too many casesthis writer’s hands are tied. Much more should bedone than simply answering their calls and do whatcan be done to counsel, educate and help themnegotiate laws that too often keep them inunhealthy situations or separate them from theirown children. Ultimately, the laws need to accom-modate these special cases. The awareness mustspread to citizens of the US so that we can all makea concerted effort to relieve the suffering of someof our most vulnerable residents.
(The writer is Attorney at law, Supreme Courtof the United States of America)
ting up of the national bench ofthe GST Appellate Tribunalwhich will act as forum for sec-ond appeal in case of disputeand also decide cases wherethere are divergent orders at thestate level.
The national bench of theGoods and Services TaxAppellate Tribunal to be locat-ed in the capital, would haveone member each from Centreand states and a President.
“The Union Cabinet,chaired by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, has approvedthe creation of National Benchof the Goods and Services TaxAppellate Tribunal (GSTAT),”an official statement said.
Union minister Ravi
Shankar Prasad said the nation-al bench of the GST AppellateTribunal will expedite resolu-tion of disputes under GSTlaws.
The Goods and ServicesTax (GST) Council, headedby Finance Minister ArunJaitley, and comprising statecounterparts, in Decemberdecided to establish the cen-tralised appellate authority.
The creation of the nation-al bench of the GSTAT wouldamount to one time expendi-ture of �92.50 lakh while therecurring expenditure wouldbe �6.86 crore per annum, thestatement said.
The national bench of theGST Appellate Tribunal is theforum of second appeal inGST laws and the first commonforum of dispute resolutionbetween Centre and states, the
statement said.The first appeal against
the orders of adjudicatingauthority shall lie before theappellate authority of the states.
“Being a common forum,GST Appellate Tribunal(national bench) will ensure thatthere is uniformity in redressalof disputes arising under GST,and therefore, in implementa-tion of GST across the country,”the statement said.
This would also help inresolving the confusion creat-ed by contradictory rulingsgiven by Appellate Authorityfor Advance Rulings (AAAR)on the same or similar issues indifferent states. The industryhas been demanding a cen-tralised appellate authority thatcould reconcile the contradic-tory verdicts of differentAAARs.
�������!������������������"'1�����������������
� ��� ��������
Key members of the WorldTrade Organization
(WTO), including from Indiaand South Korea, will meet onthe sidelines of the WorldEconomic Forum summit inDavos on Thursday and Fridayto discuss reform measures ofthe multilateral body, an offi-cial said.
Commerce Secretary AnupWadhawan will represent Indiain the mini-ministerial meetingof the WTO, the official said.
The meeting moveassumes significance in thebackdrop of growing protec-tionism in the global trade,hurting the confidence of theWTO.
Certain members want to
further strengthen the 164-member body to make it moreeffective.
WTO chief RobertoAzevedo had said the US hassome concerns on the way theglobal trade body functions.
The US has stated that theworld has changed since theformation of the WTO in 1995and wants some upgrade andreforms in the Geneva-basedbody.
Commerce and IndustryMinister Suresh Prabhu hadearlier stated that India wouldprepare an agenda for themeeting in consultation withdeveloped as well as develop-ing countries.
According to industrysources, India is expected topresent a paper for reforming
the WTO.Duty hike by the US on
certain steel and aluminiumproducts has triggered a tradewar kind of situation.
The rich nations are form-ing groupings to prepareground for pushing new issuessuch as investment facilita-tion, preparing rules for e-commerce, promoting genderequality and reducing subsidyon fisheries.
India has been keenlypushing agricultural issues atthe WTO.
The talks at the WTO’s11th ministerial conferencecollapsed after the US wentback on its commitment to finda permanent solution to thepublic food stockholding issue,a key matter for India.
����2@0A7��� �)�)&�#-�)��.��"���:!-
� ��� ��� �
Urbanisation will be a bigdriver of economic growth
in India going forward, sup-ported by favourable macro-economic factors, acceleratedinfrastructure building andcontinuing reforms, NITIAayog CEO Amitabh Kantsaid on Wednesday.
Speaking here at an eventon sidelines of the WorldEconomic Forum AnnualMeeting, he also said theIndian economy may evenexceed the IMF growth fore-cast of 7.5 per cent for thecountry.
Kant said IMF has forecast7.5 per cent growth for Indiadespite a gloomy outlook forthe global economy and thisitself is good, though there areexpectations that this estimatewould be surpassed.
He said India is giving a bigpush to urbanisation with morethan 100 smart cities beingdeveloped.
The country is also usingtechnology in a big way tochange the way business andgovernance is done, headded.
Besides a massive infra-structure building is happen-ing, bank credit flow hasrebounded and macroeco-nomic factors like inflationand fiscal deficit are also beingsupportive, Kant said.
3�����&����<#���������������� � ��� ���)���������
� ��� 99��
The Government is planningto link all the 7,500 agri-
cultural produce market com-mittees (APMCs) along withthe weekly and bi-weekly tem-porary markets (haats) acrossthe country with e-NAM-thecentralised online commoditiestrading platform — by FY22,Union Agriculture MinisterRadha Mohan Singh onWednesday said.
Currently only 585APMCs are linked with e-NAM, he said but was quick toadd that more than 400 morewill be linked to this portal by2020, taking the total to 1,000APMCs which are online.
That apart, there arearound 14,500 temporary man-dis dealing in agri and non-agrigoods across the country,which the farm Ministry wantsto interlink with the NationalAgriculture e-Market (e-NAM), he said.
“Already 585 mandis arelinked to e-NAM and we areplanning to link 22,000 man-dis by FY22,” he told an eventorganized by Crop CareFederation.
“This will be another stepforward, in contributing torealise the goal of doublingfarmers’ income by 2022 asdeclared by the PrimeMinister,” Singh said.
The Minister said theGovernment is implementingseveral programmes to devel-op the farm sector and improvethe economic condition offarmers.
inventory products’ company,has partnered with SpiceHotspot, a mobile retail storethat offers smartphones, gadgetsand mobile accessories.Commenting on this develop-ment, Yuvraj Aman Singh,Founder and CEO of RockingDeals expressed his immensepleasure to collaborate withSpice Hotspot Retail, “Our col-laboration with Spice Hotspotwill be able to satisfy the felt
need of the customers from allsegments of society and all agegroups across nation. Now, outof our 18 categories of refur-bished goods, we have placedmobile accessories, computerperipherals and accessories,networking devices, wirelessspeakers and headphones, print-ers, speakers from over 12brands at spice hotspot outlets.These products will be availableoffline too thorough SpiceHotspot ‘s wide retail network,”he added. Initially, the compa-ny is now looking to sell over �2lakhs per day from each store.
�!%'�"/�����-�.��-�5,8�.���,�%���!.-,!.�#�.���
� ��� ��������
India will continue to remain the world’sfastest-growing large economy in 2019
as well as in 2020, much ahead of China,a UN report said Wednesday.
According to the UN’s WorldEconomic Situation and Prospects(WESP) 2019, India’s GDP growth isexpected to accelerate to 7.6 per cent in2019-20 from an estimated 7.4 per centin the current fiscal ending March 2019.The growth rate may come down to 7.4per cent a year later.
In the case of China, the growth is esti-mated to decelerate to 6.3 per cent in 2019from 6.6 per cent in 2018. It may further
go down to 6.2 per cent in 2020.“Growth (in India) continues to be
underpinned by robust private consump-tion, a more expansionary fiscal stance andbenefits from previous reforms.
“Yet, a more robust and sustainedrecovery of private investment remainscrucial to lift the medium-term growth,”WESP report said.
Referring to China, it said the growthis expected to moderate from 6.6 per centin 2018 to 6.3 per cent in 2019, with pol-icy support partly offsetting the negativeimpact of trade tensions.
The report further said the globaleconomy would continue to grow at asteady pace of around 3 per cent in 2019
and 2020 amid signs that global growth haspeaked.
However, a worrisome combination ofdevelopment challenges could
further undermine growth, it added.The report also highlighted that glob-
al trade tensions pose a threat to the eco-nomic outlook.
Amid the rise in global trade tensions,world trade growth moderated over thecourse of 2018 to 3.8 per cent from growthof 5.3 per cent in 2017.
While tensions have materially impact-ed some specific sectors, stimulus mea-sures and direct subsidies have so far off-set much of the direct economic impactson China and the US, it said.
Employees of public financialinstitutions as well as those
without any identifiable ulti-mate promoters will not beconsidered as depository par-ticipants under Sebi norms,according to a circular.
The markets regulator onWednesday issued a circularproviding clarity on certainprovisions of regulations relat-ed to depository participants.
The development comesafter stock exchanges, deposi-tories, public financial institu-tions and public sector bankshad sought certain clarifica-tions from the Securities andExchange Board of India (Sebi).
According to the regulator,a person will not be considered
depository participant or itsassociate, if the same is on theboard of a public financialinstitution or public sectorbank, or which has no identi-fiable ultimate promoter.
A person who is a directorin an entity, that itself is a depos-itory participant or has associateas depository participant, thenthe same will be considered as adepository participant.
Besides, the watchdog saidthat a “recognised clearing cor-poration” would not be con-sidered as a depository partic-ipant with respect to certainprovisions under the regula-tions for depositories and par-ticipants.
The clarification relates tocomposition of the governingboard of depositories.
Hamleys opened doors of itsflagship store to welcome
customers to a whole newmagical experience. The icon-ic grand parade from RegentStreet, London was recreatedfor this occasion. The entirethree hour extravaganzainvolved thirty two popu-lar kids’ characters fromacross the globe.
Thousands of kids andparents gathered at DLF Mallof India, Noida to witness thegrand event which madetheevening magical for everyone.There was excitement in the airas the people were euphoricwith whatthey had wit-nessed.
��)�� -!,�"-��#/�-.�.! -�!,��"�"+�� � ��� ��� �
Chinese tech czar Jack Ma onWednesday said there are
no experts for tomorrow and allthey know about is yesterday.
Addressing the WorldEconomic Forum AnnualMeeting here, the Alibaba exec-utive chairman also told busi-ness leaders never to worryabout competition and pressure.
“If you worry about pres-sure, don’t be a businessman.Today, the great thing is every-body worries about every-thing,” he quipped.
Replying to whether heencountered fear or doubtsover the course of buildingAlibaba over the last 20 years,he said “There’s no expert oftomorrow. There’s only expertof yesterday.”
Equity benchmark Sensexon Wednesday tumbledover 336 points to end at
36,108 on emergence of intenseselling towards the fag-endmainly in FMCG, financialand IT stocks, while renewedconcerns over US-China tradetiff further jolted investors’sentiment.
Similarly, the NSE Niftyslumped over 91 points toclose at 10,831.
In the Sensex pack, ITCLtd emerged as the biggestloser with its shares plunging4.16% after the company’squarterly results failed toenthuse investors.
Other top losers on theindex were PowerGrid, Infosys,Mahindra and Mahindra andNTPC — falling as much as1.85%.
Traders said marketremained range-bound for thebetter part of the session asinvestors kept their exposure ata low ebb due to weak globalcues. Towards the fag-end, theselling pressure gatheredmomentum after Europeanmarkets opened in the negativezone.
However, some recovery inrupee amid slide in global crudebrought some respite for domes-tic bourses that were otherwiseappeared facing headwinds.
Global shares traded on amixed note with a negative biasdue to concerns over the stateof ongoing US-China trade
negotiations, amid reports thatthe White House has cancelleda trade planning meeting withBeijing this week.
“Market continued to tradeon the downside as absence ofmajor surprise from the quarterearnings failed to give direction.Investors are taking a cautiousapproach given their focus onglobal headwinds and upcominggeneral election. While FIIs aresellers in the market, expectationof slow pace in US FED rate hikeand possibility of rate cut inIndia will ease liquidity crunchin the market,” said Vinod Nair,head of research at GeojitFinancial Services Ltd.
The 30-share BSE Sensexopened on a firm note at36,494.12 and advanced to ahigh of 36,521.47. However, itsuccumbed to a late-sessionsell-off and finally ended at36,108.75, down by 336.17points, or 0.92%. The gauge hadlost 134.32 points in the previ-ous session. The NSE Nifty tootumbled 91.25 points, or 0.84%,to close at 10,831.50 after mov-ing between 10,811.95 and10,944.75.
Meanwhile, foreign portfo-lio investors (FPIs) sold sharesworth a net �78.53 crore onTuesday, while domestic insti-tutional investors (DIIs) soldshares worth �84.15 crore, pro-visional data showed.
Other than ITC, other lag-gards include PowerGrid,Infosys, M&M, NTPC, SBI,HDFC, Kotak Bank, HDFCBank, TCS, Hero MotoCorp,
Coal India, ONGC, RIL, AsianPaint, IndusInd Bank, ICICIBank, Maruti Suzuki, BajajAuto, Tata Motors, Bharti Airteland Axis Bank.
Among the winners, SunPharma continued to remaintop performer, spurting 3.04%,followed by Yes Bank at 2.71%.
Also, Tata Steel gained1.53%, followed by HUL 0.90%,Bajaj Finance 0.75%, VedantaLtd 0.60%, HCL Tech 0.57%,and L&T 0.02%.
Sector-wise, the BSE metalFMCG index emerged worstperformer by sinking 1.38%, fol-lowed by power 1.24%, IT0.85%, PSU 0.85%, infrastruc-ture 0.83%, auto 0.71%, bankex0.68%, realty 0.66%, capitalgoods 0.37%, and oil & gas0.03%.
While Metal index toppedwinner by surging 0.63%,healthcare gained 0.44%.
In the broader markets, themid-cap index and small-capindex fell up to 0.28%.
Globally, Japan’s Nikkei fell0.14%, Taiwan index fell 0.49%,Singapore declined 0.,46% andHong Kong’s Hang Seng shed0.02%. Shanghai CompositeIndex, however, rose 0.05% inlate morning deals. Japan’sNikkei also gained 0.04%.
The US Dow JonesIndustrial Average ended 1.22%lower on Tuesday. Europeanshares too were in negativezone in their early deals withFrankfurt’s DAX falling 0.49%and Paris CAC 40 down 0.39%.London’s FTSE fell 0.50%.
� ��� ��������
Diversified group ITC onWednesday reported 3.84%
increase in standalone net prof-it at �3,209.07 crore in theDecember quarter 2018 helpedby good performance in FMCGand agri businesses.
The company had posted anet profit of �3,090.20 crore inOctober-December quarter ayear ago, ITC said in a BSE fil-ing.
Gross revenue from saleswas up 15.09% to �11,340.15crore as against �9,852.74 crorein the year-ago period.
“Gross revenue for the quar-ter stood at �11,340.15 crore,representing a growth of 15.1%driven mainly by FMCG-others,agri business and paperboards,paper and packaging segment,”said ITC in a statement.
In the third quarter of theprevious fiscal, ITC had report-ed an exceptional income of�412.90 crore.
“Exceptional items in theprevious period represent pro-visions for earlier years in respectof Tamil Nadu entry tax thatwere written back based on afavourable order of the SupremeCourt,” said ITC.
Total expenses of theKolkata-based firm were at�7,446.46 crore, up 16.75% asagainst � 6,377.90 crore in theDecember quarter 2017.
During the quarter, rev-enue from total FMCG businesswas up 10.31% to �8,274.36crore as against �7,500.97 crorein the year-ago period. Revenue
from cigarettes was at �5,073.38crore, showing an increase of9.59% from the year-ago period.
FMCG-others segment wasalso up 11.46% to �3,200.98crore in October-December2018 as against �2,871.78 crorein the year-ago period.
This was “led by atta, snacks,premium cream biscuits andnoodles in the branded pack-aged foods business, fragranceproducts and liquids (hand-wash and bodywash) in personalcare products business andClassmate notebooks in educa-tion and stationery productsbusiness,” said ITC. FMCG-others segment of ITC consistsof branded packaged foods as
staples, snacks, meals, dairy andbeverages, confections, apparel,education and stationery prod-ucts, personal care products,safety matches and incensesticks.
ITC’s hotel business wasalso up 11.72% to �451.86 croreduring the quarter as comparedto �404.44 crore in the corre-sponding period last fiscal.
Revenue from agribusinesssegment was also up 25.72% to�1,924.61 crore as against�1,530.86 crore in the Decemberquarter of the previous fiscal.Paperboards, paper and pack-aging segment was at �1,542.51crore, up 20.54% from �1,279.60crore earlier.
New Delhi: InterGlobe Aviation, parent of IndiGo, onWednesday reported a 75% fall in profit after tax at �190.9 crore inthe December quarter as high fuel prices and currency deprecia-tion adversely impacted the bottomline. The airline had a profit aftertax of �762 crore in the corresponding period of 2017-18. The car-rier’s total income rose over 28% to �8,229.4 crore in the three monthsended December 2018. In the year-ago period, the same stood at�6,409 crore. IndiGo’s co-founder and interim CEO Rahul Bhatiasaid the airline posted a profit of �1.9 billion in a continued diffi-cult environment and have grown its fleet by one aircraft a weekfor a 33% capacity increase for the December quarter.
������!��-�E+��� ����2� ��"�*����'H� ���� +���New Delhi: State-owned Vijaya Bank on Wednesday report-
ed a 80.2% jump in its net profit to �143.38 crore for the December2018 quarter. The public sector lender had posted a net profitof �79.56 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fis-cal. The bank’s total income also rose to �4,106.42 crore duringthe period, compared with �3,450.81 crore a year ago, Vijaya Banksaid in a regulatory filing. The bank’s gross non-performing assets(NPAs) declined marginally to 6.14% against 6.17% in the samequarter of last fiscal. However, net NPAs rose to 4.08% duringOctober-December 2018, compared with 3.99% in the year-agoperiod.
'���������%�������3�&�=�����
New Delhi (PTI): The country’s largest car maker Maruti SuzukiIndia (MSI) on Wednesday launched an all-new version of its hatch-back WagonR, priced between �4.19 lakh and �5.69 lakh (ex-show-room), as it looks to further strengthen its position in the com-pact hatchback segment. The new WagonR, which comes with a1.2-litre petrol engine option along with another choice of 1-litrepowertrain mated to manual as well as automatic gear shift trans-mission, will compete with the likes of Hyundai Santro and TataTiago. The one-litre manual versions of new WagonR are pricedat �4.19 lakh and �4.69 lakh, while the automated gear shift trimis tagged at �5.16 lakh. The 1.2-litre variants are priced between�4.89 lakh and �5.69 lakh (all prices ex-showroom).
Tiago and Santro are priced between �3.9 lakh and �5.64 lakh.The new WagonR, which is based on Suzuki’s fifth generation
HEARTECT platform, is wider and longer than its outgoing ver-sion. It has led to improved interior space as well as boot capaci-ty which has almost doubled up to 341 litres from the earlier avatar.The company said the use of high-tensile steel has improved theoverall safety, rigidity and NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness)performance in the new offering which come with various safetyfeatures such as driver airbag, anti-lock braking system with elec-tronic brakeforce distribution and front seat belts reminder, speedalert system and rear parking sensors.
US Senate leaders have agreed tovote on Thursday on competing
proposals to end a government shut-down now in its second month, butthe chances are slim that either willreopen federal agencies.
Senate Majority Leader MitchMcConnell and top Democrat ChuckSchumer announced an agreement onthe Senate floor Tuesday for a pair oftest votes. The first would be a pro-cedural step on a measure that fundsall shuttered branches of govern-ment through September, andincludes President Donald Trump'sdemand for border wall funding andhis proposal on immigration policy.
A second vote would be on a stop-gap measure that funds governmentuntil February 8, to allow for debateover border security and immigration,while also letting Trump's upcomingState of the Union address beforeCongress proceed.
It also would include disasterrelief money already passed in theHouse. Each proposal would require60 votes to advance in the 100-mem-ber body, a high threshold, given thecurrent level of partisan rancor overwho is to blame for the shutdown.
A senior Republican Senate aidetold AFP it was unlikely Republicanswould sign on to the short-termfunding bill, and that even if they did,the president would not sign it. Butthe Democratic leader took to thefloor to say the votes "could break usout of the morass we are in," and hespecifically encouraged Republicansto sign on to the stop-gap bill to brieflyopen government. "It will allow us tothen debate, without hostage-taking,without temper tantrum... How wecan best do border security," he said.
On Monday, FBI agents com-plained that the month-old US gov-ernment shutdown is preventingthem from paying informants, buyingdrugs undercover in narcotics busts,and even renewing their own securi-ty clearances. Investigations and pros-ecutions are suffering from the lackof money to travel to interview wit-nesses or funds to pay translators,agents are saying, according to TomO'Connor, president of the FBIAgents Association (FBIAA). T h eshutdown began on December 22after President Donald Trump reject-ed a proposed government fundingbill that did not meet his demand forbillions of dollars to build a wall onthe US-Mexico border.
�'�'���������&���������������� ������ ����� ���
!���" ������
Kurdish-led fighters overran thelast village held by the Islamic
State group in Syria on Wednesday,confining its once vast cross-border"caliphate" to two small hamlets, awar monitor said.
It is the culmination of a broadoffensive launched by the SyrianDemocratic Forces last Septemberwith US-led coalition support inwhich they have reduced thejihadists' last enclave on the northbank of the Euphrates valley near theIraqi border to a tiny rump.
The capture of the village ofBaghouz leaves the few remainingdiehard IS fighters holed up in scat-tered homesteads among the irri-gated fields and orchards on the
north bank of the Euphrates Valley."Search operations are continu-
ing in Baghouz to find any IS fight-ers who are still hiding," the head ofthe Britain-based SyrianObservatory for Human Rights,Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
"The SDF will now have topush on into the farmland aroundBaghouz." "Around 4,900 people,mostly women and children butincluding 470 IS fighters, have fledthe jihadists' fast dwindling enclavesince Monday, Abdel Rahman saidlate on Tuesday.
Of those 3,500 surrendered tothe advancing SDF on Tuesdayalone. They were evacuated ondozens of trucks chartered by theSDF. The fall of Baghouz follows theSDF's capture of the enclave's sole
town of Hajin and the villages of Al-Shaafa and Sousa in recent weeks.
The new wave of departuresmeans that nearly 27,000 peoplehave left former IS areas since earlyDecember, including almost 1,800jihadists who have surrendered, theObservatory said. The where-abouts of the ultra-elusive IS supre-mo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who hasmade just once public appearance -- in Iraq's then IS-held second cityMosul in 2014 — are unknown.
It is a far cry from the jihadists'peak in 2014, when they overranlarge parts of Syria and neighbour-ing Iraq and Baghdadi proclaimeda "caliphate" in areas under theircontrol. The gains have come atthe cost of heavy losses for the main-ly Kurdish fighters of the SDF and
despite their sense of betrayal bytheir US ally after President DonaldTrump made the surprise announce-ment last month that Washingtonwould withdraw all its troops.
Neighbouring Turkey hasthreatened repeatedly to launch across-border operation to crush theKurdish fighters of the SDF and theautonomous region they have set upin areas of northern and northeast-ern Syria under their control.
Turkish troops had been held atbay by the intervention of US troopswho set up observation posts alongthe border and mounted joint patrolswith Kurdish fighters.
But with those troops gone, theKurds fear they will be exposed tothe full might of the Turkish mili-tary.
.��������3����%��������������������
!����*�� ���
Chinese authorities have detaineda dozen labour activists over
recent days in the latest clampdownon efforts to organise workplaces inChina, rights groups said. Beijinghas taken an uncompromising lineagainst efforts to establish inde-pendent labour unions in southernGuangdong province, the epicentreof China's high-tech manufacturingsector.
The campaign is backed by cam-pus Marxist groups at some of
China's most prestigious universities— several leaders of which havebeen arrested or disappeared inrecent months.
Another seven students andrecent graduates from two eliteBeijing universities were arrested onMonday, according to labour rightsorganisation Jasic WorkersSolidarity.
The students were rounded uphours after publishing a statementaccusing police of recording forcedvideo confessions of previouslydetained student activists who had
supported the Guangdong unioncampaign, the rights group said.
They had accused police oforganising recent screenings of thevideos, in which their subjects con-fessed to using worker issues to "sub-vert the state", on several campusesin an effort to deter further studentactivism.The viewings targeted stu-dents who were members of JasicWorkers Solidarity — a group whichrose to prominence last year whenit attempted to form a workers'union at a welding machinery com-pany in Guangdong.
������ ��������� ��8�����������������
1��%������
The Policy Chair of the Cityof London Corporation is
set for her first visit to Indianext week to strengthen tiesbetween the British capital andIndia in the field of financialand professional services.
Catherine McGuiness,who is the political chief ofLondon's financial district or"Square Mile", will also seek toreassure Indian financial firmsworried about Brexit and therisks of the UK leaving theEuropean Union (EU) in afeared no-deal situation asthe March 29 Brexit deadlinenears.
"My first visit to Indiacomes at an interesting point intime for both our countries. Inthe UK our focus remainsfirmly on Brexit, while in Indiathe conversation is all about thepending budget and elections,"McGuiness said on the eve ofher visit, planned betweenJanuary 27 and 30.
"But while these politicalissues may dominate head-lines for good reason rightnow, it's crucial we don't losesight of the larger picture andthe importance of the strongrelationship between our twocountries," she said.
The City of LondonCorporation's policy chiefpointed out that while tradebetween the UK and Indiastands at an "impressive" 18.8
billion pounds, there is stillenormous potential to expandthis relationship even further.
She is set to travel to Delhiand Mumbai for meetings withsenior government and indus-try leaders to discuss how toboost relations and knowledgesharing in areas like fintech,green finance, re-insuranceand non-performing assets.
Some of the pre-sched-uled meetings on her agendainclude interactions with theInsolvency and BankruptcyBoard of India (IBBI),Confederation of IndianIndustry (CII), representativesof the Maharashtra state gov-ernment, and Alice Vaidyan,Chairman of GIC Re.
In Mumbai, she will alsomeet Surendra Rosha, CEO ofHSBC India, who recentlyjoined the City of LondonCorporation's influential IndiaAdvisory Council.
Indian HighCommissioner to the UK,Ruchi Ghanashyam, describedthe City of LondonCorporation as an importantpartner of the Indian missionin London, working to boosteconomic and commercialactivities between India and theUK particularly in the fields offinancial services and fintech.
"This visit will fostergreater understanding of theCity of London in India as wellas deepen the already close andstrong trade and economic
relationship," she said. A new report on regulato-
ry technology (regtech) is alsoset to be launched during theupcoming tour of India. "Thepublication is the third andfinal document in a fintech-related series produced by theCity Corporation alongsidePwC India, and outlines UKregtech expertise, the marketopportunity in India and a rec-ommendation on how toimprove collaboration in thesector," the City of LondonCorporation said.
The Corporation says it hasrun a representative office inMumbai since 2007 to enablelong-term relationship buildingwith financial sector stake-holders across India. Around10-15 Indian financial firms arebased in the Square Mile,which the City Corporationworks closely with.
Sanjiv Chadha, RegionalHead of State Bank of India(SBI)-UK, said, "SBI is delight-ed that Policy Chair CatherineMcGuinness will make herinaugural visit to India."
"The Bank is pleased towork with the City of LondonCorporation in further devel-oping relationships in thefinancial and professional ser-vices space. It is a relationshipthat continues to provideunique and important oppor-tunities for growth in both theAsian and UK markets," headded.
Pete Buttigieg said Wednesdayhe is jumping into the bur-geoning 2020 Democratic fieldchallenging Donald Trump,aiming to become the firstopenly gay presidential nomi-nee. Should he win, the 37-year-old wunderkind, a USNavy reservist who took leavefrom his mayoral duties toserve in Afghanistan, wouldalso be America's youngest-ever commander in chief.
Buttigieg announced thathe has formed a presidentialexploratory committee, a keyopening step to formallylaunching a bid. He joins agrowing list of charismaticDemocrats seeking to carry theparty's torch into 2020, includ-ing three female US senators —Elizabeth Warren, KamalaHarris and Kirsten Gillibrand— and Hispanic-American for-mer Obama cabinet memberJulian Castro. In a nearly-two-minute video posted online,Buttigieg portrayed himself asa can-do reformer — he hasearned high praise for revivinghis mid-sized Indiana city —from America's millennial gen-
eration eyeing the future, notthe past. "Right now our coun-try needs a fresh start," he saysin the clip. "There's no suchthing as again in the real world.We can't look for greatness inthe past."
In his opening video hemakes no mention of Trump,instead taking aim at what hecalled the "show" inWashington: "The corruption,the fighting, the lying, the cri-sis. It's got to end." And he high-lights his credibility as beingpart of a new forward-focusedgeneration facing immensechallenges. "We're the genera-tion that lived through schoolshootings, that served in thewars after 9/11. And we're thegeneration that stands to be thefirst to make less than our par-ents —unless we do somethingdifferent," he said.
Buttigieg was in the earlyprimary state of Iowa last year,testing out a campaign messageand attempting to build namerecognition. He is up against astrong Democrat field of con-tenders, which will broaden inthe coming months to includethe likes of former vice presi-dent Joe Biden, Senator CoryBooker and former congress-man Beto O'Rourke.
new missile and spelled out itsspecifications, seeking to dis-pel the U.S. Claim that theweapon violates a key nucleararms pact.
The military insisted thatthe 9M729 land-based cruisemissile conforms to the limits
of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
The U.S. Has announcedits intention to abandon theINF, charging that the newRussian missile violates pro-visions of the pact that banproduction, test ing anddeployment of land-basedcruise and ballistic missileswith a range of 500 to 5,500kilometres.
Washington said it willsuspend its treaty obligations ifRussian does not come intocompliance by February 2.
Lt. Gen. MikhailMatveevsky, the chief of themilitary's missile and artilleryforces, said at a meeting withforeign military attaches thatthe new missile has a maxi-mum range of 480 kilometres.
He said the 9M729 missile
differs from the previous9M728 model by having amodified warhead and guid-ance system that enhances itscapability.
The military then dis-played the weapon along withits mobile launcher during apresentation at its exhibitioncenter near Moscow.
Matveevsky insisted thatthe new missile's booster,
cruising engine and fuel tankremain unchanged.
He added that the newmissile actually has a range 10kilometres less than the oldertype due to heavier warheadand control systems.Matveevsky emphasised thatthe new missile can't be mod-ified in field conditions.
The Russian general saidthat the modified mobile
launcher for the new type ofmissile is bigger because it car-ries four of them rather thanthe previous two.
Matveevsky added that themilitary gave the presentationto underline its "increasedtransparency and our adher-ence to the INF Treaty."Kremlin has staunchly deniedthe U.S. Claim of Russian vio-lations of the pact.
�������������������������������������%�����������
%������ ��
Afghanistan's chief executiveis urging the world not to
give up on his impoverishedcountry after the Trumpadministration suggested theUnited States could withdrawtroops.
Afghanistan has struggledwith corruption, political insta-bility and a long Taliban insur-gency, frustrating efforts tostabilize it. US PresidentDonald Trump's administra-tion last month indicated itcould pull out half of the14,000 U.S. Troops stationed inAfghanistan.
"Don't lose patience,"Abdullah Abdullah told TheAssociated Press in an inter-view at the World EconomicForum in Davos, Switzerland.
"We all made mistakes inthe past 18 years" - since U.S.Forces overthrew a Talibanregime in the aftermath of theSeptember 11, 2001 attacksonly to see the fundamentalistIslamic militia regroup in theyears afterward.
Abdullah said the situationon the troops withdrawal wasunclear: U.S. Officials inAfghanistan have said "thereisn't any instruction" to pull outtroops.
till February 14 the interimbail of former president AsifAli Zardari, his sister FaryalTalpur and nine other sus-pects in a money launderingcase.
The former president andhis sister along with other sus-pects appeared before thecourt as the interim bail grant-ed to them ended Wednesday,Geo TV reported.
Commissioner Neil Basu, haswarned that the "febrile" atmos-phere around Brexit could beenhancing the risk posed byfar-right terrorism in the UK.
The UK is due to leave the28-member European Union(EU) on March 29. However,the government of PrimeMinister Theresa May is facingmassive resistance from herown Conservative Party MPs aswell as the opposition LabourParty over her Brexit deal.
"We saw a spike in hatecrime after the referendum (inJune 2016), that's never reallyreceded. So there's always a pos-sibility people are being radi-calised by the kind of febrileatmosphere we've got at themoment," Basu told BBC onTuesday at the launch of a newfilm aimed at encouraging peo-ple to report their suspicionsabout all forms of terrorism.
"We want people to reportanything that we think is goingto lead to violent confrontationand people need to calmdown," said the Indian-originMetropolitan Police Lead forCounter-Terrorism and theHead of its SpecialistOperations.
Cute and quaint in terms of a culling of state-ments, Satish Gupta’s Zen Whispers is a
representation of his many journeys in art aswell as life. We get a glimpse into the Zen monkand artist who embodies the Buddha within.
The book, which was launched a week agoat the Visual Arts Gallery, is replete with paint-ings and sculptures from different periods ofSatish’s artistic endeavours that covers worksselected from hism o n u m e n t a llandscapes series— wave sceneseries, f lowerseries. This leadsto a deep under-standing of hisartistic develop-ments during thepast 25 years forthe audience ofart and readersalike.
��"������%�������While the book’s cover has been treated
and designed like a Zen masterpiece, the bookis full of pauses and spaces. Satish emerges asan artist who is an itinerant traveller with athorough knowledge of the past and the pre-sent, the East and the West. Interestingly, thedesigning and arrangement of the chapters inthe book are loose and candid, also filled withthe language of assonance and allusion, per-haps almost like going beyond the senses orthe colours into a utopian realm that melds andmelts into the absolute.
The work indicates Satish’s deep under-standing of design and his in-depth contem-porary awareness derived from his experiencesof understanding art practices that straddlethrough both the Eastern and the Westernworlds. The book showcases a variety of gen-
res. Satish gradually develops his own artisticlanguage by infusing Chinese contexts with aminimalist rendering of contemporaryawareness. This distinctive stylegains him critical acclaimand we look at his smallword scapes in newdimensions.
���������1,�The signature of antiquity
in the paintings echoes themonumentality of inner realms,giving viewers an impression thatthey are not the works of a con-temporary artist but a man whostraddles through many realms.After studying them meticulously,one will, however, notice that Satishdeliberately breaks away from thepractice of contemporary art and insteaduses world practices.
To remain still is one of the qualities thatthe Eastern philosophy teaches when facing therapidly-changing world and we get an aura ofstillness when we read through. The words aresoothing yet delicate. Behind his meticulous
thoughts, which portray a discipline inherit-ed from tradition, there are innovative andingenious experiments. Satish creates a syner-gy by his seamless intertwining of tradition andthe avant-garde both in his words as well ashis paintings. Just after reading a few pages, itfeels like we are being introduced to fantasieson paper and enchantment in the verbal world.The visual richness comprises colour splash-es and bold strokes. We can gain multiplemoments of silence through the pages, under-standing the traditional aesthetics of both con-cept and imagery — the kinetics of conscious-ness also come into play — and you realise thatsilence is the source of his inspiration.
"�������1��"1 "���Satish’s paintings are awash with the spir-
it of universal, traditional cultures, but theyalso go far beyond the conventional bound-aries of ink/watercolour painting, exuding anaura that is both spiritual and filled with mys-tery. His words, thoughts and works are a mixof genres — Indian and international, tradi-tional and contemporary. The sculptures aremesmerising if not filled with a dense grav-itas.
This book tells us that the tides of theuniverse are in our veins and nature’s peaceflows around us. The sea is emotionsincarnated for Satish, and we have totravel, stop and look at the waves toknow and understand the beauty of thesheer surging of life, and the tidal waveof Being. The sinuous strokes of blackand white embody the perfect joy ofeach separate muscle, joint andsinew in that it is everything thatmirrors the waves and the soiland the sea. The book tells usthat in life, nature is aglow andrampant, expressing itself inmovement and we must beprotectors as well as nurtur-
ers of the Earth and its boun-ty.
The rhythmic quality of the words res-onates with the artist’s underlying statements.The inner spirit of the paper used becomesthe beauty of painting and the enchantmentof the moment is the passion inherent. Allgreat works of art and books have one thingin common — they touch hearts universal-ly, across time and boundaries.
After more than 30 years andsome two dozen films, Spike
Lee has received his first AcademyAward nomination for BestDirector for BlacKkKlansman.It’s also the first time that one ofhis films have been nominatedfor Best Picture.
Glenn Close’s Best Actressnomination for The Wife isher seventh, and couldfinally mean her first Oscar.She has more nominationswithout a win than any otherliving actor or actress.
Black Panther is the firstMarvel movie — and the firstsuperhero film of any kind —to be nominated for BestPicture. Its $700 million box-office take is more than theearnings of the other sevenBest-Picture nomineescombined.
Roma is the firstNetflix film to benominated for BestPicture.
Sam Elliott’s first Oscar nom-ination — for Best SupportingActor in A Star Is Born — comes50 years after his first actingcredit, on the TV series Judd forthe Defense.
Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody,is the only first-time Oscar nom-inee among the men up for BestActor. He’s up against multiplenominees like Christian Bale,Bradley Cooper, ViggoMortensen and Willem Dafoe.
Yalitza Aparicio’s nomina-tion for Roma comes in her first
role as an actress.This is the second of
Hollywood’s four versionsof A Star Is Born, to get a Best
Picture nomination, alongwith the 1937 original. The1954 and 1976 versions eachgot several Oscar nominations,but not for Best Picture.
No women were nominat-ed for Best Director this year.
The number of femaledirectorial nominees in the91-year history of Oscarsremains only five.
Eighty-seven coun-tries had submitted
films to be considered forBest Foreign Language Film.Only five of them got nominated— Germany, Japan, Lebanon,Mexico and Poland.
Bob Hope hosted the Oscarsa record 19 times. No one isscheduled to host this year’s cer-emony.
I��
Image enhancement is one thing; youare in the end in control of it. But whenthe projected image becomes bigger
than you, then the mirrored image can eatinto the reality of your self-esteem. Arecent study, conducted by a cosmeticclinic chain, spanning over 300 peopleacross four Indian cities, showed that theprocess of taking, altering and postingselfies negatively affects one’s self-esteemand body image perception as well as pro-motes body dysmorphia.
Selfies, that have already been consid-ered responsible for numerous deaths aswell injuries among people lost in the actof clicking themselves, are also makingpeople anxious and less-confident abouttheir own looks and physical attractive-ness. As per the report, in Delhi, 68 percent men and 82 per cent women showedan increase in levels of anxiety after post-ing their selfies on social media. Around71 per cent men and 80 per cent womenshowed a decrease in self-confidence.Their feelings of physical attractivenessalso recorded a dip. The feelings of inad-equacy were intense enough to drivemany of them to undergo cosmeticsurgery in order to enhance their facialappearance.
The study noted that people postedselfies using filters more than without astheir real features made them anxiousabout public approval. Also, the fact thatfilters work magically on the selfie sad-dened them, making them envy their ownenhanced image.
In one of the recent lectures on thepsychological effects of taking and post-ing selfies on social media, Debraj Shome,director of the said clinic chain, pointedtowards men and women between 16 to25 years of age who spend up to five hoursper week clicking selfies and uploadingthem online. “People who took andposted selfies reported feeling more anx-ious, less confident, and less physically-attractive later. Even though people couldretake or retouch their selfies through fil-ters, we noted certain effects that couldbe harmful. It contributed to significantfeelings of inadequacy over looks. Thisindicates that people in India will alsobecome like the ones in California, USA,where a large majority of the populationconsiders cosmetic surgeries.”
The lecture also noted an importantpoint by Dr Rinky Kapoor, cosmetic der-matologist. Said she, “The camera in thephone has ironically become the reasonwhy the phone sells. It is well-known thatselfies are a risk to one’s life and limb, withhundreds of people dying or sustaininginjuries while taking selfies. This studyshows that selfies have an adverse psycho-logical effect on one’s personality too. Theimpact is even more devastating on peo-ple with low self-esteem who take to socialmedia to engage in public behaviour withreduced risk of disgrace and social anx-iety.”
She suggested that since there is not
any upside to the act of taking selfies asyet, the government “seriously” needs toconsider banning front-facing cameras insmartphones. “There is also a need tolaunch a nationwide campaign that dis-courages people from taking selfies,” shesaid.
As per the research, negative impactsof taking selfies were observed the mostamong people in Delhi, followed bypeople in Mumbai, Hyderabad and thenKolkata. The nationwide study showed anincrease in anxiety among 60 per centmen and 65 per cent women. Of all therespondents, 61 per cent men and 70 percent women recorded a decrease in con-fidence after posting their selfies.
Shome also pointed out that socialmedia and celebrities have been hugelyresponsible in making selfies popular,especially among the youth. “Sincefamous celebrities and other TV person-
alities also have social media accounts,youngsters tend to see how their favouritecelebrities strike a pose and get millionlikes. Following them, they try to imitatetheir behaviour. They tend to feeldepressed comparing themselves to theother so-called physically-attractive peo-ple. This eventually results in self-loathing.”
He said that for some, taking andposting selfies is also a way of expressingthemselves, testing how they really look.The number of likes determines their lik-ing towards themselves.
The doctor explained how postingselfies to social media is making young-sters determine self-image and perception,which in turn is emerging as yet anoth-er psychological disorder. He said,“Frequently taking selfies could be con-sidered a body-checking behaviour, suchas repeated weighing and recurrent
checking of one’s own reflection in themirror.”
He suggested that this should be con-sidered a risky online health-relatedbehaviour in terms of mental health, espe-cially if it triggers weight and shape dis-satisfaction. He added, “High body dis-satisfaction is the primary risk factor forthe development of eating disorders andis correlated with low self-esteem anddepression. Interventions that aim todiminish or eliminate the harmful effectsof social media engagement on one’s psy-chological make-up need to be validatedand implemented. This indicates thataddiction to phones and selfies may cre-ate a mentally-unstable next generation.”
Youngsters need to realise that tak-ing selfies is not about impressing peo-ple. They shouldn’t let this control them.One should be satisfied with the way s/helooks.
It hasn’t been long that RanveerSingh and Alia Bhatt-starrer
Gully Boy’s teaser went viral mak-ing waves across social media. Thefilm is an intimate recounting ofMumbai’s homegrown rap sceneand the musicians who defined it.
With release of the film’sMere Gully Mein recently, there
was again appreciation goingaround. However, it turned outthat there are issues with this trackas well (as was with Apna TimeAayega, which was said to be pla-giarised), and this time it’s not justan “inspired” look. The track is acover of a 2015 song of the samename. While the filmmakers
noted that it was a remake, thesong’s original creator has nowclaimed that he “wasn’t paid theroyalties due to him.”
Sajeel Kapoor, better known byhis stage name Sez on the Beat,took to social media following thesong’s release and posted thatwhile he appreciates the film’s
attempt to trace the origins ofMumbai’s indie rap scene, he was“not informed” that his track wasbeing used for the film untilrecently, nor that it would be acover instead of his original and,perhaps most pertinently, he wasnot paid royalties for it, despitehaving a contract with the makers.
������������� /����������;
"��"#��$!#%�'�(��%$�#) '�*#��#%) +,-�+./0 %���C:�
� ��-� ����B���
To ensure that Thailand remains themost preferred tourism destina-tion among the Indian travellers,
the Tourism Authority of Thailand(TAT) has introduced new experiencesand destinations for 2019. As a stimu-lus to encourage more Indians to visit thedestination, the Thai government hasextended the visa-on-arrival fee waiverfrom January 14 to April 30.
The TAT Governor, YUTHASAKSUPASORN said, “We want to change theperception of Thailand in India from a‘cheap destination’ to a more value-for-money destination. We have been work-ing towards this for some years now. Westarted with four key segments namelyweddings and honeymoon, sportstourism, health and well-being andresponsible tourism. We want to moveaway from a mass tourist destination toa niche destination. After in-depthresearch on Indian travellers’ behaviour,we have identified some lesser knowndestinations and have formulated astrategy to promote them. I feel we willbe able to achieve two million Indiantourists by the end of 2019, a year ear-lier than the previously set target of2020.”
The TAT Deputy Governor forMarketing Communications, TanesPetsuwan, informed that India is nowone of the top 10 source markets fortourist arrivals to Thailand, a memberof a small club of countries thatgenerate more than one millionvisitors a year. In January-November 2018, the arrivalsfrom India were up by
12.03 per cent to 1.42 million, generat-ing an estimated 63 billion Baht intourism income. In December 2018alone, after the waiver of visa-on-arrivalfee for Indians, Thailand
recorded 143,000 Indian visitors, regis-tering a growth of over 63 per cent ascompared to December 2017, taking thetotal figure of Indian tourist arrivals toover 1.6 million in 2018.
Petsuwan said, “The growing sophis-tication and maturity of the Indiantravellers has given us an opportunity topromote Thailand’s diverse range ofniche market products to women trav-ellers, high-net worth individual (HNIs),weddings and honeymooners and fam-ily groups. Today, a new strata of expe-rienced, well-heeled and internet-savvyIndian travellers are venturing beyondthe long-standing Bangkok-Pattaya cir-cuit to new destinations such as ChiangRai, Rayong, Trat, Hua Hin and SamutSongkhram.”
Sharing some highlights of the Indiantourists, the deputy governor said that in2018, of the total Indian visitors, 58 percent were repeat travellers; the averagedaily expenditure was recorded atapproximately �12,500; the averagelength of stay was 7.45 days and the vis-itor ratio of groups and individual trav-ellers was recorded as 31 to 69.
“In 2019, the ‘Amazing ThailandOpen to the New Shades’ campaign willbe carried forward to invite travellers toindulge in unique experiences. We aretargeting four segments of Indian trav-ellers. A separate website—www.firstvisit.com, has been
launched to cater to the first time trav-ellers. We are targeting women travellersand thus have introduced the website—www.women’sjourneythailand.com.Almost 300 Indian destination weddingstook place in Thailand in 2018 and to fur-ther this segment, we have introducedwww.myweddinginthailand.com for spe-cific needs of those who wish to tie theknot in Thailand. For the family travelcategory, we are promoting SamutSongkhram as a new destination for localexperiences. Luxury travel from India isalso a segment of focus this year,” addedPetsuwan.
The tourism board further apprisedthat the bilateral airline capacity is at anall-time high with 307 weekly flightsbetween Thailand and 16 major citiesin India, served by 13 airlines whichinclude, the Thai Airways, BangkokAirways, Thai Smile, Bhutan Airlines,Druk Air, Jet Airways, Air Asia, SpiceJet, Thai Lion Air, Indigo, NokScoot andGoAir.
In August this year, TAT will under-take an Amazing Thailand roadshow toTier-II cities—Ahmedabad, Pune,Amritsar and Bhubaneswar as part ofTAT’s strategy to tap thepotential of India’s sec-ondary cities. Thailandexpects to welcome fivemillion Indian visitors by
The chairman of the Railway Board,V K Yadav, recently chaired a
Review Meet of the zonal performanceat the Northern Railway’s headquarter inNew Delhi. The member of the TrafficRailway Board Girish Pillai, the gener-al manager of the Northern Railway TPSingh, the principal heads-of-depart-ment of the Northern Railway, the divi-sional railway managers of the fiveDivisions of Northern Railway viz.Ambala, Delhi, Moradabad, Lucknowand Firozpur were also present on theoccasion.
Appraising the overall safety perfor-mance of the zone during 2018-19,Yadav noted the 31 percent noteworthyreduction in the number of accidents vis-à-vis 2017-18 and expressed his satisfac-tion on the mission mode of the zone in100 per cent elimination of unmannedlevel-crossing on the zone, which is apart of the ‘Mission Zero Accident’.
The chairman underscored the needfor expeditious completion of infrastruc-ture projects viz. new lines, doublinglines and so on to enhance capacity cre-ation to meet the twin objectives of oper-ation (punctuality) and safety. He notedthat the Northern Railway has taken sev-eral steps to improve the punctuality ofthe passenger carrying trains during the
year which include elimination of trac-tion change in 12 trains, standardisingand factoring in mega corridor block inthe new time table to rationalise trainrunning time. He apprised that live mon-itoring of the asset failures is beingundertaken and additional manpowerand resources are being deployed ondense traffic sections.
One of the significant measures toaugment punctuality performance wasthe de-congestion of major terminals ofDelhi, Lucknow and Allahabad area. Anoteworthy raise in speed of trains onloop lines enabled saving 86 minutes,while the track strengthening and elec-trification works enabled the raising ofsectional speed. He also noted that the
PF berthing slots were rationalised toensure better station punctuality.
Yadav also reviewed the ongoingaction plans of the zone with regards tothe rationalisation of rake links, termi-nal shifting to reduce station congestionand to ensure expeditious primarymaintenance. The washing line OHEconnectivity is on the anvil with otherimprovements viz. high-speed fuellingand watering.
The chairman further reviewed thevarious development plans proposed inthe year ahead viz. the doubling works,flyovers (rail) to enable operationalflexibility and by-passes/chord lines toavoid detention due to reversal. He alsoreviewed the various traffic facility up-gradation works viz. coaching terminalfacility at Bijwasan and Varanasi yardremodeling plans. The capacity enhance-ment works through a target 41 km newline, and doubling spanning 137 km, areon the anvil for the year 2019-20.
Assigning a higher impetus to themodernised signaling, the zone has onits anvil projects for introduction of auto-matic block signaling on high densityroutes through an estimated �287.66crore in the year ahead. This wouldenable better punctuality performance,commented the chairman.
The Union Minority AffairsMinister Mukhtar Abbas
Naqvi, believes that more thantwo lakh artisans, craftsmenand culinary experts have beenprovided with employmentopportunities through the 11‘Hunar Haats’ which have beenorganised across the countryduring the last two years. Theminister was speaking at theclosing ceremony of the HunarHaat held in Delhi fromJanuary 12 to 20. He said,“Hunar Haat has been organ-ised across the country by theMinistry, and it has proved tobe an ‘empowerment andemployment exchange’, for themaster artisans and crafts-men. The employment orient-ed programmes of the Modi
Government like the HunarHaat has significantly encour-aged and promoted the richtraditional heritage of arti-sans which had been margin-alised for a long time. This ini-
tiative has become a ‘crediblebrand’ of indigenous talent ofIndian craftsmen and will ful-fill Prime Minister NarendraModi’s commitment to ‘Makein India’, ‘Stand up India’, and‘Start up India’.
He further added that theeven was a hit as over 13 lakhvisitors from across the coun-try and abroad visited the fairand encouraged the artisans bypurchasing, on a large scale,their indigenous handmadeproducts. The artisans havealso received national andinternational orders worthlakhs of rupees.
In the coming days, theevent will also be organised atother different locations inthe country.
The VIT Technology BusinessIncubator (VIT-TBI) is a joint
initiative between VIT Vellore, andthe Department of Science andTechnology, Government of India.The VIT-TBI provides incubationsupport to start-up ventures and peri-odically organises capacity buildingand training activities to address theneeds of the early-stage entrepreneursand individuals, who are planning tostart a business venture.
This six-week, non-residentialtraining programme’s objective is toexpose the participants to the keysteps in start up venturing processand equip them with adequateknowledge to initiate a venture infood processing and agro-basedtechnologies. It equips the studentswith requisite skills, knowledge andcompetencies to convert their start upidea into a viable business entity.
The select qualifying individu-als, with bankable project reports, getan opportunity to present the samefor incubation support or appropri-ate funding support. The programmecovers the essentials of entrepreneur-ship, basics of marketing, finance,human resource and so on. It will alsoprovide ample exposure to variousfacets of organic agriculture, integrat-ed farming practices, biofertilisers,composting, commercial businessopportunities in medicinal plantand horticulture, food processingtechniques, quality control, certifica-tion processes, hospitality industry,packaging and will include industryvisits. This programme will alsoequip the participants to write andpresent a Project Report and throwopen opportunities to BusinessIncubation at the VIT TechnologyBusiness Incubator, if found suitable.
Serena Williams's bid for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title wasbrought to a halt in sensational style
at the Australian Open on Wednesday byKarolina Pliskova, but fellow formerchampion Novak Djokovic cruised intothe semi-finals.
The American great had beatenworld number one Simona Halep in thefourth round but folded against the tallCzech seventh seed, who saved fourmatch points before winning 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 under the hot Melbourne sun.
Her reward is a clash against Japan'sNaomi Osaka for a place in the final, afterthe Japanese fourth seed brutally swattedaside the injured Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-1.
World number one Djokovic enjoyedan early night when courageous KeiNishikori retired with a thigh strainwhen losing 6-1, 4-1 after going throughthree five-set epics during the tournament.
It kept the Serb's bid for a record sev-enth Australian title on track and he willnow meet French 28th seed Lucas Pouille,who beat power-serving Canadian MilosRaonic 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 6-4 tomake his first Slam semi.
It was a gut-wrenching defeatfor Williams, who battled backfrom a set down and was leading5-1 in the third and serving for thematch, only to throw it away with somewild shots as frustrations bubbled to thesurface.
"There's nothing I did wrong on thosematch points. I stayed aggressive. She justliterally hit the lines on some of them," saidthe dumbfounded 37-year-old, who rolledan ankle but refused to blame it for thedefeat.
Since returning last year from givingbirth, Williams has made four unsuc-cessful attempts to match Margaret Court'slong-time standing 24 Grand Slam titles,and the wait continues with the FrenchOpen in May her next chance.
"The big picture for me is always win-ning," she added. "I'm not going to sit hereand lie about that. It hasn't happened yet,but I feel like it's going to happen."
For Pliskova, it is only her third semi-final at a major.
She made the last four at RolandGarros in 2017 and the US Open a yearearlier, where she beat Williams before los-ing the final to Angelique Kerber.
"I was almost in the locker-room butnow I am standing here as a winner. It is
a very good feeling," she said after depriv-ing Williams of a US Open final rematchwith Osaka.
��1,����-�Asked about facing Osaka next,
Pliskova replied: "She's dangerous butnobody is more dangerous than Serena."
A focused Osaka rolled past Ukraine'sSvitolina, who was troubled by neck andshoulder problems.
Despite the Ukrainian suffering, it wasnevertheless a serious statement from thesteely-eyed Osaka, who was playing thesort of tennis which drove her to the USOpen title.
"I tried to be consistent, it's unfortu-nate that she got injured but playingagainst her even when she was injured wasstill really tough," said the 21-year-old.
"I just had one goal, to try as hard Ican and not get angry. I didn't do that real-ly well in the last two rounds and I did that
today so I'm really happy with the way Iplayed."
Djokovic, who is targeting a 15thGrand Slam title, endured his own toughfourth round showdown with DaniilMedvedev and said he was glad to get offcourt early.
"As they say, this is exactly what thedoctor ordered for me after the match twonights ago," he said. "Not to spend toomuch time on the court.
"I've had plenty of matches so far thisyear and I am in another semi-final andI will do everything to get ready for thatone."
Pouille had never won a match inMelbourne before this year but hasrecruited 2006 Australian Open champi-on Amelie Mauresmo to his team and saidit was paying off.
� ��� ��������
The International Weightlifting Federation hasrevoked the provisional suspension on weightlifter
K Sanjita Chanu for a failed dope test, a major reprievefor the two-time Commonwealth Games Gold-medal-list who has claimed innocence.
In a case that has dragged on for almost a year andhas been marred by an "administrative" goof-up inSanjita's sample number, the IWF informed that a finaldecision on the matter is expected in the coming days.
"On the basis of the information at its disposal, theIWF has decided that the provisional suspension of theathlete (Khumukcham Sanjita) shall be lifted as of today(22 January 2019)," IWF's legal counsel Eva Nyirfa saidin an e-mail sent to the national federation and Sanjita.
"The IWF Hearing Panel will render its decisionon the athlete's case in due course," it added.
The 25-year-old Sanjita, who had won Gold in thewomen's 53kg category at the 2018 CommonwealthGames in Gold Coast, had tested positive for anabol-ic steroid testosterone. Her urine sample was taken priorto the World Championships in United States inNovember 2017, and she was put under provisional sus-pension from May 15 last year.
A final decision of the IWF panel is yet to comebut Sanjita said her assertion of innocence has been vin-dicated.
"I have got a mail from the international federa-tion and our national federation has also called me upthis morning informing about the lifting of the (pro-visional) suspension. I am relieved and happy. I aminnocent and I have never taken any banned substancein my career. I am vindicated now," she said.
"At the same time, I experienced mental traumaduring these past 8-9 months (since May 15 last year)due to the mistake of the international federation. I hopenothing like this happen to any athlete in future. Anathlete's reputation is very precious," she added.
Sanjita said the Indian Weightlifting Federation hadasked her to join the national camp immediately if shewants.
"The federation official told me today to write if Iwant to join national camp. I am doing that. I missedthe Asian Games and World Championships in 2018.I want to compete in the World Championships thisyear and qualify for 2020 Olympics. For any athlete,Olympics is the ultimate," she said.
The international body informed about her dop-ing offence only in May last year. That meant theManipuri weightlifter participated in the Gold CoastCWG, where she finished top of the podium. She hadalso won Gold in the 48kg in the 2014 CommonwealthGames in Glasgow.
� ��� ���������
Indian football team striker Jeje Lalpekhluaon Wednesday rued the country's crashing
out of the ongoing Asian Cup and said it couldhave done better in the continental showpieceevent.
The Indian team was on the verge of book-ing a maiden knock-out round berth but con-ceded goal via penalty at the far end of thegroup match against Bahrain. India needed adraw to reach the Round of 16 but lost 0-1 toBahrain to exit from the tournament.
"We gave our 100 per cent in every match.But we could have done better. Not qualify-ing out of the group stages is a setback for us.But it shows anything can happen in football,"Lalpekhlua said.
"It was a very difficult match againstBahrain and it was unfortunate the way we lost.However, that is life in football, and the impor-tant part is the experience earned by the youngplayers that will give dividends in future," hewas quoted as saying by the official website ofAll India Football Federation.
India outplayed Thailand 4-1 in the open-ing match to notch up its first win in the AsianCup since 1964. Thailand eventually qualifiedfor the Round of 16 where they lost to China.
"Our biggest achievement was the winagainst Thailand," said Lalpekhlua, who hadscored India's fourth goal in that match.
"But we have to make Asian Cup qualifi-cation a regular feature. Now we need to focusto do well in World Cup Qualifiers, followedby yet again qualifying for the Asian Cup (for2023)," said the player from Mizoram.
"The sleeping giant is now awake. We haveshown to all in Asia that we belong on the samepage as them. Our performance in the AsianCup has improved tenfold, and it can only getbetter from here as young players have beengiven the needed experience. Indian footballcan go only upwards from here towards abrighter future," Lalpekhlua said.
� ��� ���������
Former captain Sandeep Singh onWednesday slammed the fre-
quent change of coaches in Indianhockey, asserting that there is nonebetter for the job than the recently-removed Harendra Singh.
Harendra was sacked as Indiacoach earlier this month followinga disappointing 2018 and offeredanother stint with the junior squad.He became the sixth coach to besacked in as many years.
"You can't be changing coachesthis frequently. The crucial Olympicqualifier (FIH Series Finals in June)is ahead of us and we should not beexperimenting too much. I don'tthink I have worked with a bettercoach than Harendra sir," Sandeepsaid at the launch of Flickers Brothershockey academy, his joint venturewith brother Bikramjeet.
"There are a few coaches (inIndia) who can coach at the highestlevel and Harendra paaji is one ofthem. He should have been givenmore time.
"Any new coach takes about sixmonths to adjust to the system and
players also need time to understandhis methods. The team doesn't havethat kind of time (ahead Olympicqualifiers)," he said.
India have had a variety of for-eign coaches and Harendra helmingthe national team was a rarity inrecent times. But he could not evenlast 12 months after taking charge,following the team's medal-less
showing at the CommonwealthGames in April.
Hockey India has invited freshapplications for the post andSandeep, who was best known forhis ferocious drag-flicks, feels anIndian coach will be most beneficialfor the team.
"There is no language barrierand more importantly, you don'thesitate while interacting with anIndian coach. Indian coaches arestrict on the field but off the fieldthey take very good care of you," heexplained.
The phenomenon of droppingplayers without giving them ampleopportunities is another aspect thatbogs down Indian coaches, saidSandeep.
The biggest worry for thenational team, according to Sandeep,is lack of world-class goalkeepers.
"My biggest worry is when P RSreejesh retires, who will be replacehim? I don't see anyone matching upto his standards. We have to preparegoalkeepers. Strikers and drag-flick-ers keep coming but not goalkeep-ers. I hope he plays for another fiveto seven years."
� ��� �������
The Indian trio of P V Sindhu,Saina Nehwal and Kidambi
Srikanth dished out superb perfor-mances on the opening day toadvance to the second round of the$350,000 Indonesia Masters WorldTour Super 500 badminton tourna-ment here on Wednesday.
Olympic and WorldChampionship Silver medallistSindhu opened the new season witha fighting 22-24, 21-8, 21-17 win over2012 London Games champion LiXuerui of China in a 54-minutewomen's singles match.
The second seeded Indian willnow be pitted against Indonesia'sGregoria Mariska Tunjung.
Eighth seeded Saina, who hadreached the semifinals at theMalaysia Masters last week, recov-ered from a first-game loss to securea 7-21, 21-16, 21-11 win over localhope Dinar Dyah Ayustine, ranked50th, in another women's singlesmatch. It was Saina's third win overAyustine.
The 28-year-old from Hyderabadwill next face another IndonesianFitriani Fitriani, against whom shehas a 4-0 head-to-head record.
In men's singles, eighth seedSrikanth eased past Malaysia'sChong Wei Feng 21-12, 21-8 to set
up a showdown with Japan's AsianGames bronze medallist KentaNishimoto.
But compatriots B Sai Praneethand Subhankar Dey failed to crossthe opening hurdle at the tourna-ment.
2017 Singapore Open championPraneeth was sent packing 12-21,16-21 by Olympic champion ChenLong of China in 40 minutes, whileSubhankar, who had won his maid-en title at SaarLorLux Open inGermany last year, fought hardbefore going down 14-21, 21-19, 15-21 against former World championViktor Axelsen of Denmark.
Local hope Anthony SinisukaGinting, seeded seventh, proved adifficult customer for ParupalliKashyap once again as he claimed a21-12, 21-16 win over the formerCommonwealth Games champion.
In men's doubles, nationalchampions Manu Attri and BSumeeth Reddy dished out a fight-ing game to notch up a 14-21, 21-19,21-15 win over Denmark's MadsPieler Kolding and Niclas Nohr.
Commonwealth Games Bronzemedallist pair of Ashwini Ponnappaand N Sikki Reddy also bowed outof the competition, losing 14-21, 14-21 to Thailand's JongkolphanKititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjaiin the women's doubles opener.
Petra Kvitova's surging win overAshleigh Barty to make the
Australian Open semi-finals ensuredSimona Halep's reign as world num-ber one is over, not that theRomanian is bothered.
The Czech star overtook Halep'spoints total, while Naomi Osaka andKarolina Pliskova also have a math-ematical shot at assuming the man-tle when the new rankings come outnext week.
Entering the opening GrandSlam of the year, 11 players had achance to hold the top spot, but thathas now been whittled down.
Of the three in the running, onlyPliskova has been there before, in2017 when she became the firstCzech women to do so.
Sri Lanka have closely studiedthe way India defeated
Australia in their recent Testseries, but captain DineshChandimal said on Wednesdaythat his side will still need a mir-acle to do the same.
Speaking to reporters aheadof Thursday's opening Test at theGabba, Chandimal was cau-tious when asked about SriLanka's chances.
"It's definitely a challenge forus, and if you can take this chal-lenge — and as a batsman or asa bowler you give it your bestshot and give 200 percent to theteam — we can do a miraclehere," he said.
"That's what we want to doas a team, and we'll keep our fin-
gers crossed."Chandimal said he had kept
a close eye on the "outstandingcricket" played by India in theirfirst Test series win in Australia,which wrapped up earlier thismonth.
"When India were bowlingbetween 40 and 80 overs theydidn't give any runs away in thatperiod. They kept it at underthree an over. That's the area
where I think they won theseries," he said.
"If we want to win a gamethat is the area we'll have toimprove, and we're aware ofthat."
The Sri Lankan skipper saidhe wasn't perturbed by thenotoriously fast and bouncyGabba wicket.
"When you look at the pitchyou can see a lot of grass on thewicket," he said.
"We have got really good fastbowlers so that's a real plus," headded.
Chandimal said he wantedto make history and become thefirst Sri Lankan captain to wina Test series in Australia, butwouldn't take his opponentslightly. "We never underesti-mate the Australians," he said.
� ��� �����
India produced cricket of the cali-bre that has become synonymouswith Virat Kohli's men to crush
New Zealand in the first ODI but abizarre and unprecedented sun-induced interruption overshadowedthe on-field action on Wednesday.
Entering the five-match rubberfollowing maiden Test and ODI seriestriumphs in Australia, India signalledtheir intent with a clinical display,which saw them chase down a revisedtarget of 156 by eights wickets in 34.5overs.
The Duckworth-Lewis methodcame into the picture for an inter-ruption which was not caused by rainfor the first time.
On a near-perfect day, the onlything that didn't go their way was thetoss. But India made light of that bybowling out the home team for a pal-try 157 in 38 overs.
Wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav wasthe most successful bowler, returningfigures of 4/39 in 10 overs, whileseamer Mohammed Shami finishedwith an excellent 3/19 in six overs.There were also two wickets for leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.
Captain Kane Williamson top-scored for the hosts with 64 off 81balls.
In response, Shikhar Dhawanbegan the innings with a flurry ofboundaries, eventually finishing as thetop-scorer with 75 off 103 balls.
The left-handed opening bat-man, battling indifferent form, stud-ded his innings with six boundaries.
India were comfortably placed at44 for one when, in a bizarre turn ofevents, players walked off the groundafter dinner because the setting sunmade it difficult for them to spot theball at McLean park.
This led to an interruption thathas never been seen in internationalcricket before.
Because of the nearly half-an-hourdelay, the target was revised to 156 in49 overs, which the visitors chasedwithout much ado.
While Rohit Sharma may havelost his focus after the dinner break,Kohli and Dhawan didn't let the sun-induced stoppage distract their mindswhen play resumed. Kohli, though,got out five short of a fifty.
The Indian captain hit threeboundaries in his 59-ball knockbefore pacer Lockie Ferguson hadhim caught behind with a quickdelivery that caught the batsman bysurprise.
In the course of his 26th ODI fifty,Dhawan became the joint fourthfastest batsman to reach 5000 runs.Dhawan needed 118 innings to reachthe mark.
This knock will bring some relieffor Dhawan as he hasn't scored a halfcentury in his last nine innings.
Earlier, opting to bat, the NewZealanders were off to an inauspiciousstart, losing both openers MartinGuptill and Colin Munro within the
first five overs with just 18 runs on theboard.
By sending back Guptill in his56th match, the 28-year-old Shamibecame the fastest Indian to reach 100wickets in ODIs.
Coming into the series after ahugely successful 2018, Ross Taylorlooked good in his 41-ball 24, but hewas brilliantly caught and bowled byChahal, who lured the batsman todance down the pitch a tad too earlywith his change of pace.
Till Taylor was there alongsideWilliamson, things looked good forNew Zealand, as the duo played a fewdelightful shots, especially the skip-per whose trademark backfoot punchthrough the covers stood out.
Tom Latham was dismissed insimilar fashion, with leg-spinnerChahal being the bowler.
Henry Nicholls and MitchellSantner came, swung their willows fora six and a couple of boundaries, andgot out to Jadhav and Shami respec-tively as New Zealand stuttered at 133for six in the 30th over.
By that time, Williamson too hadhad enough, and got out while tryingto hoick Yadav over long-on.
� ��� 99���
Breaking his silence on thecontroversy following com-
ments by cricketers HardikPandya and K L Rahul on his chatshow, filmmaker Karan Joharsays he apologises for what hap-pened and admits the conversa-tion "may have crossed bound-aries".
The filmmaker also said hefeels very responsible for theremarks made on "Koffee with
Karan" and has spent sleeplessnights wondering how to "undothis damage".
Pandya and Rahul were wide-ly slammed for their remarkslabelled misogynistic and sexistand have been provisionally sus-pended by the Board of Controlfor Cricket in India (BCCI),pending an inquiry.
"I'm not justifying the con-versation that happened on theepisode. I'm saying that perhapsthings were said that may have
� ��� ������
The Indian women's cricket team will aim to put behind the off-field furores and bring the focus back on the game when it clash-
es with New Zealand in a three-match ODI series starting onThursday.
The Indian women's team was at the centre of a huge contro-versy after its semi-final exit in the T20 World Cup in the WestIndies owing to a bitter public spat between ODI captain MithaliRaj and the then coach Ramesh Powar.
Following the fiasco, WV Raman replaced Powar and this willbe his first assignment at the helm. Mithali also had a fallout withT20 skipper and star batter Harmanpreet Kaur but asserted on theeve of the seriesthat she has movedon from all thedrama and isfocussed on thetask at hand.
The side wouldbe aiming toimprove its fifthposition in the ICCchampionship tablethrough this series,which is part of theworld body'swomen's champi-onship and willdetermine quali-fiers for the 2021World Cup.
India lost thehome leg of theICC Women's Championship series2-1 to New Zealand during the lastcycle that ran from 2014-2016.
However, the team has enoughfirepower in stylish opener Smriti Mandhana, who has alreadyscored 488 runs in the championship.
New Zealand are presently in second position on the table with12 points from nine matches while India are fifth with eight pointsand ahead of Pakistan only on net run rate. Defending champi-ons Australia lead the table with 16 points from nine outings.
The losses at the ICC Women's World Cup 2017 and theWomen's World T20 last year put paid to New Zealand's hopes ofqualifying for the knockouts.
They now get a chance to outdo India in home conditions,which will also help their chances of qualifying directly for the 2021Women's World Cup, which will be competed here. The hosts andfour other top teams will direct entries to the premier event twoyears from now.
New Zealand are without wicketkeeper-batter Katey Martin,who is unavailable due to work commitments, but have match-win-ners in the likes of former captain Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine,who leads the championship run table with 592 with three hun-dreds.
Spin bowler Leigh Kasperek is another one to look out for with19 wickets in the championship so far.
New Zealand have played England, Pakistan and the Windiesso far while India have completed their engagements againstAustralia, South Africa and Sri Lanka.
� ��� ������
Sun stops play after dinner.Sounds bizarre? But this is
what happened in the firstIndia-New Zealand ODI at theMcLean Park.
Rain interruption in inter-national cricket bringing theDuckworth-Lewis method intoconsideration is nothing new.But here it was the sun that trou-bled the batsmen by comingright in the line of their view,forcing play to stop for abouthalf an hour.
Indian captain Virat Kohlisaid he has never experienced asun-induced stoppage in his life.
"Never in my life," he saidwhen asked about the halt dueto which the target was revisedby two runs and the matchshortened by an over.
"It was funny. In 2014, I gotout once with the sun in my eyesand this rule wasn't there then,"Kohli said at the post-matchpresentation ceremony.
The decision to halt pro-ceedings was taken after thedinner break of the day-nighter,keeping the players' safety in
mind, on-field umpire ShaunGeorge said.
"The setting sun is in theeyes of the players and we needto think of their safety as well asumpires. There was an aware-ness of it by the players (theydidn't appeal)," said the umpire.
New Zealand skipper KaneWilliamson also took a light-hearted view on the situation.
"It is hard to move the sunand hard to move the GrandStand. So, we didn't have muchoption and had to sit down a bit,"he quipped.
Stoppages due to sun havebeen witnessed in the past hereduring the domestic competi-tions, and reportedly, also at fewEnglish grounds, but none ofthem were international match-es.
In 1980, and India-EnglandTest match in Mumbai, calledBombay at the time, was broughtforward by a day due to a solareclipse.
Normally, the cricket pitch-es are positioned in the North-South direction to avoid thisscenario, but at McLean Park,the pitch is East-West facing.
������D�Pacer Mohammed Shami onWednesday became the fastest Indianto claim 100 wickets in One-dayInternationals, reaching the mark inthe opening match against NewZealand.
This was his 56th game in the 50-over format.
Shami's wicket number 100 wasNew Zealand opener Martin Guptill,who played onto his stumps a deliv-ery that moved in after pitching ona good length.
With his brilliant opening burstat McLean Park, the 28-year-oldShami continued his good showingin the limited overs format, havingimpressed in Australia prior to this
five-match ODI series.Before Shami, Irfan Pathan
reached the 100-wicket mark in 59ODIs, while Zaheer Khan (65 match-es), Ajit Agarkar (67) and JavagalSrinath (68) are the other Indianbowlers to complete a century ofwickets in the quickest time. PTI
��#�"��,!�!/�-�-�$!#���"+ �<���5���,�-!+�crossed boundaries and I apologisebecause it was my platform where ithappened," Johar told ET Now in aninterview.
The filmmaker said the boyshave "paid the price" for what hap-pened on the episode.
"I haven't spoken about it really...I feel very responsible because it wasmy show and my platform. I invitedthem as guests and so the ramifica-tions and repercussions of the showare my responsibility.
"I have had so many sleepless
nights, just wondering abouthow I can undo this damage.Who is going to listen to me?It has now gone into a zonethat is beyond my control,"Johar told the channel in theinterview posted on Twitter onWednesday.
Calling himself a feministwho has been brought up bystrong women, Johar said heasks the same questions toeveryone.
Asked if he has any regretsabout the episode, Johar saidhe regretted what has hap-pened to them.
After the controversy, theepisode featuring the twocricketers was taken down byHotstar.
"Certain remarks/com-ments made by the guests onthe episode 12 of Koffee withKaran may hurt the senti-ments of our users/viewers. Asa responsible platform, wehave removed the episodefrom Hotstar with immediateeffect," Hotstar had tweeted.
![INDEX [] · Concat() function, 129, 136, 191, 197–198 concatenation, 190, 197–200 concatenation (&) operator, 129 confi dentiality statements, 711 confi guration tables, 199–200](https://static.documents.pub/doc/80x56/5f11f933759bdd458d744016/index-concat-function-129-136-191-197a198-concatenation-190-197a200.jpg)
