16
A s the ground situation is gradually showing signs of improvement, with no major incident of violence reported from anywhere in the Kashmir Valley during Independence Day celebrations, the Jammu & Kashmir Government on Friday announced they have decided to open schools from Monday and ease out restrictions to allow “locked” down population to resume their normal lives in a phased manner. Most phone lines in Kashmir will be restored over the weekend, said Jammu & Kashmir Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam. Since August 5, 2019, the entire Valley has been wit- nessing unprecedented shut- down and communication blockade ahead of the Abrogation of Article 370 by the Narendra Modi-led Government at the Centre. The announcement to lift restrictions was made by the Chief Secretary in Srinagar within hours after the Union Government told the Supreme Court that they are ready to ease certain restrictions in the wake of improvement in the sit- uation on ground zero. Listing out the measures, the Chief Secretary told reporters, “Schools will be opened after the weekend.” He said currently 12 of the 22 dis- tricts of the State are function- ing normally with some limit- ed night-time restrictions in five of these. “Keeping in view the evolv- ing situation, as well as the cooperation of the people in maintaining peace, we are now taking measures to ease the restrictions in a gradual man- ner. After Friday prayers, there would be an easing of restric- tions in the next few days in an orderly way,” he said. Defending the actions of the Government, the Chief Secretary claimed the mea- sures put in place have ensured that there has been not a sin- gle loss of life or serious injuries to anyone during the course of maintaining peace and order. “We have prevented any loss of human life despite con- certed efforts by terrorist organisations, radical groups and Pakistan to destabilise the situation,” he said. Referring to the resumption of public transport facilities in the Valley, the Chief Secretary said, “As movement restrictions are removed, public transport will start moving in these areas. Government offices have been made fully functional from today. Telecom connectivity will be gradually restored in a phased manner, keeping in mind the constant threat posed by terrorist organisations in using mobile connectivity to organise terror actions”. He said the intent of ter- rorist attacks was to create an atmosphere of fear and terror and to block development that could unleash opportunities for the younger generation of the population. Among the groups that are well-known for sponsoring violence and car- rying out such attacks are Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, Jaish-e- Mohammad, Hizbul Mujahideen, etc. When asked whether local politicians in preventive cus- tody too would be released soon, the Chief Secretary said, “Preventive detentions are being continuously reviewed and appropriate decisions will be made based on law and order assessments. “It is expected that over the next few days, as the restric- tions get eased, life in Jammu & Kashmir will become com- pletely normal. This is already visible on the roads which has seen steady return of regular traffic.” A mid Pakistan’s posturing following the Modi Government’s move on Article 370, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said India remained “firmly committed” to the “no first use” nuclear policy but what happens in future depends on the cir- cumstances. His remark assumes importance since it underscores that India reserves the right to change its policy of “no first use” in place for many years. Rajnath said this on Twitter after visiting Pokhran, where India conducted nuclear tests under the leadership of then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1998. Pokhran is also the site where two nuclear tests were first conducted in 1974 when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister. “Pokhran is the area which witnessed Atal Ji’s firm resolve to make India a nuclear power and yet remain firmly com- mitted to the doctrine of ‘No First Use’. India has strictly adhered to this doctrine. (But) What happens in future depends on the circumstances,” Rajnath said. A no-first-use (NFU) pol- icy gives an assurance by a nuclear power not to use nuclear weapons unless first attacked by an adversary with nuclear weapons. The Government’s stated position till now has been that nuclear weapons are solely for deter- rence and India will pursue a policy of “retaliation only”. “India attaining the status of a responsible nuclear nation became a matter of national pride for every citizen of this country. The nation will remain indebted to the greatness of Atal Ji,” Rajnath said in a tweet on the occasion of Vajpayee’s first death anniversary. He said, “It is a coincidence that today I came for International Army Scout Masters Competition in Jaisalmer & today it is the first death anniversary of #AtalBihariVajpayee. So, I felt I should pay tribute to him on the land of Pokhran only. Accompanied by Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, Rajnath was the chief guest at the closing ceremony of com- petition held at the Jaisalmer military station from August 6 to 14. The Indian contingent stood first. The NFU doctrine saw India acquire civil nuclear tech- nology after it signed a deal with the US, despite being a non-member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and a non-sig- natory of Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty. C onsidering difficulties being faced by owners of commercial vehicles and taxis in getting pre-registered and subsequently obtaining “Radio Frequency Identification Device” (RFID) tags for entry into Delhi from 13 toll plazas, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has extended the last date for pre- registration and subsequent issuance of RFID tags from August 16 to August 23. The decision was taken after transporters and their unions requested Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) to put off the deadline. A senior SDMC official said after the deadline, all commercial vehicles entering the city without RFID tag and sufficient recharge amount will be bound to pay penalty double of specified rates dur- ing first week, four times of specified rates during second week and six times of specified rates during third week. G reenland is not for sale, the mineral-rich island said on Friday after a newspaper reported that US President Donald Trump was asking advisers whether it’s possible for the United States to buy the Arctic island. Trump has expressed inter- est in the self-governing part of Denmark — which is mostly covered in ice, — asking advi- sors if it is possible for the US to acquire the territory, The Wall Street Journal said on Thursday, citing people famil- iar with the discussions. The President, a former real estate magnate, has been curious about the area’s natur- al resources and geopolitical relevance, the paper reported. Greenland is a self-gov- erning region of Denmark, which colonised the 772,000 square-mile (two-million square kilometre) island in the 18th century, and is home to only about 57,000 people, most of whom belong to the indige- nous Inuit community. There has been no official comment from the White House, and the Danish Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment. But Greenland’s Ministry of foreign affairs insisted the island was ready to talk busi- ness, not purchase. “#Greenland is rich in valuable resources such as min- erals, the purest water and ice, fish stocks, seafood, renewable energy and is a new frontier for adventure tourism,” it tweeted. “We’re open for business, not for sale,” it added. The office of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen declined to comment when contacted by AFP. But a former premier, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, tweeted, “It must be an April Fool’s Day joke... But totally out of sea- son!” Some Trump advisers say acquiring Greenland, which is northeast of Canada, could be good for the US, while others called it only a “fleeting fasci- nation” from the American President, The Wall Street Journal said. Others outside the White House say Trump’s interest could be a desire to secure a legacy achievement, the paper reported, and advisors won- dered about the potential for research or greater military clout for the US. The US’s northern-most military base, Thule Air Base, has been located on Greenland for decades. But Greenland doesn’t quite live up to its lush name — 85 per cent of the island is covered by a 1.9- mile-thick (three-kilometre) ice sheet that contains 10 per- cent of the world’s fresh water. The world’s largest island has suffered from climate change, scientists say, becom- ing a giant melting icicle that threatens to submerge the world’s coastal areas one day. July saw unprecedented melting of the Greenland ice sheet, with 12 billion tonnes of ice flowing into the sea. T he Supreme Court on Friday said it will wait for sometime before passing any direction on the plea seeking removal of restrictions on the media in Jammu & Kashmir after the Centre said curbs are being lifted gradually. A Bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and jus- tices SA Bobde and SA Najeer said, “We would like to give lit- tle time. We have read in newspaper today that landline and broadband connections are being restored gradually. Therefore, we will take up the petition with other connected matters,” the Bench said. “The landlines are work- ing. We also got a call today from the CJ of J&K HC,” the Bench further said. “We will see when the matter can be listed for hear- ing. We will fix a date on the administrative side,” the SC said. Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for Anuradha Bhasin, Executive Editor, Kashmir Times, said there was a need for early restoration of communication mode for journalists to carry out their work. “My matter is related to freedom press,” Grover said and added it had nothing to do with Article 370. I ndia on Friday defended its decision to scrap provisions of Article 370 that have special status to Jammu & Kashmir, saying it is an internal matter. India also slammed Pakistan for interfering in the internal matters of the country, saying Pakistan was misleading the world. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council on Friday began a rare closed door meet- ing to discuss India revoking the special status of Jammu & Kashmir after Pakistan, backed by its all-weather ally, China, requested “closed consulta- tions” on the issue. The outcome of the UNSC meeting will not be a formal pronouncement as the consul- tations are informal in nature. India and Pakistan are not attending the meeting, which is open only to the five perma- nent members and 10 non- permanent members. China, a permanent mem- ber of the UNSC and close ally of Pakistan, had asked for “closed consultations” in the Council, which began its delib- erations at 7.30pm IST. On August 5, India revoked Article 370 of the Constitution removing special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and has also bifurcated the State into two Union Territories — J&K, and Ladakh. India has categorically told the international com- munity that its move to scrap Article 370 of the Constitution revoking the special status to Jammu & Kashmir was an internal matter and has also advised Pakistan to accept the reality.

ˇ#˘ ˚’()* *#%*%3 .*/0(12 & # /, 5)*)2/)6%/)) #11%6)& /27 ...€¦ · and broadband connections are being restored gradually. Therefore, we will take up the petition with other

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Page 1: ˇ#˘ ˚’()* *#%*%3 .*/0(12 & # /, 5)*)2/)6%/)) #11%6)& /27 ...€¦ · and broadband connections are being restored gradually. Therefore, we will take up the petition with other

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As the ground situation isgradually showing signs of

improvement, with no majorincident of violence reportedfrom anywhere in the KashmirValley during IndependenceDay celebrations, the Jammu &Kashmir Government on Fridayannounced they have decided toopen schools from Mondayand ease out restrictions toallow “locked” down populationto resume their normal lives ina phased manner.

Most phone lines inKashmir will be restored overthe weekend, said Jammu &Kashmir Chief Secretary BVRSubrahmanyam.

Since August 5, 2019, theentire Valley has been wit-nessing unprecedented shut-down and communicationblockade ahead of theAbrogation of Article 370 bythe Narendra Modi-ledGovernment at the Centre.The announcement to liftrestrictions was made by theChief Secretary in Srinagarwithin hours after the UnionGovernment told the SupremeCourt that they are ready toease certain restrictions in thewake of improvement in the sit-uation on ground zero.

Listing out the measures,the Chief Secretary toldreporters, “Schools will beopened after the weekend.” Hesaid currently 12 of the 22 dis-tricts of the State are function-ing normally with some limit-ed night-time restrictions infive of these.

“Keeping in view the evolv-ing situation, as well as the

cooperation of the people inmaintaining peace, we are nowtaking measures to ease therestrictions in a gradual man-ner. After Friday prayers, therewould be an easing of restric-tions in the next few days in anorderly way,” he said.

Defending the actions ofthe Government, the ChiefSecretary claimed the mea-

sures put in place have ensuredthat there has been not a sin-gle loss of life or serious injuriesto anyone during the course ofmaintaining peace and order.

“We have prevented anyloss of human life despite con-certed efforts by terroristorganisations, radical groupsand Pakistan to destabilise thesituation,” he said.

Referring to the resumptionof public transport facilities inthe Valley, the Chief Secretarysaid, “As movement restrictionsare removed, public transportwill start moving in these areas.Government offices have beenmade fully functional fromtoday. Telecom connectivity willbe gradually restored in a phasedmanner, keeping in mind theconstant threat posed by terroristorganisations in using mobileconnectivity to organise terroractions”.

He said the intent of ter-rorist attacks was to create anatmosphere of fear and terrorand to block development thatcould unleash opportunitiesfor the younger generation ofthe population. Among thegroups that are well-known forsponsoring violence and car-rying out such attacks areLashkar-e-Tayyeba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, HizbulMujahideen, etc.

When asked whether localpoliticians in preventive cus-tody too would be releasedsoon, the Chief Secretary said,“Preventive detentions arebeing continuously reviewedand appropriate decisions willbe made based on law andorder assessments.

“It is expected that over thenext few days, as the restric-tions get eased, life in Jammu& Kashmir will become com-pletely normal. This is alreadyvisible on the roads which hasseen steady return of regulartraffic.”

����� +,-�%,./0

Amid Pakistan’s posturingfollowing the Modi

Government’s move on Article370, Defence Minister RajnathSingh on Friday said Indiaremained “firmly committed”to the “no first use” nuclearpolicy but what happens infuture depends on the cir-cumstances. His remarkassumes importance since itunderscores that India reservesthe right to change its policy of“no first use” in place for manyyears.

Rajnath said this on Twitterafter visiting Pokhran, whereIndia conducted nuclear testsunder the leadership of thenPrime Minister Atal BihariVajpayee in 1998. Pokhran isalso the site where two nucleartests were first conducted in1974 when Indira Gandhi wasthe Prime Minister.

“Pokhran is the area whichwitnessed Atal Ji’s firm resolveto make India a nuclear powerand yet remain firmly com-mitted to the doctrine of ‘NoFirst Use’. India has strictlyadhered to this doctrine. (But)What happens in futuredepends on the circumstances,”Rajnath said.

A no-first-use (NFU) pol-

icy gives an assurance by anuclear power not to usenuclear weapons unless firstattacked by an adversary withnuclear weapons. TheGovernment’s stated positiontill now has been that nuclearweapons are solely for deter-rence and India will pursue apolicy of “retaliation only”.

“India attaining the statusof a responsible nuclear nationbecame a matter of nationalpride for every citizen of thiscountry. The nation will remainindebted to the greatness ofAtal Ji,” Rajnath said in a tweeton the occasion of Vajpayee’sfirst death anniversary.

He said, “It is a coincidencethat today I came forInternational Army Scout

Masters Competition inJaisalmer & today it is the firstdeath anniversary of#AtalBihariVajpayee. So, I feltI should pay tribute to him onthe land of Pokhran only.

Accompanied by ArmyChief General Bipin Rawat,Rajnath was the chief guest atthe closing ceremony of com-petition held at the Jaisalmermilitary station from August 6to 14. The Indian contingentstood first.

The NFU doctrine sawIndia acquire civil nuclear tech-nology after it signed a dealwith the US, despite being anon-member of the NuclearSuppliers Group and a non-sig-natory of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

��������� ���� +,-�%,./0

Considering difficultiesbeing faced by owners of

commercial vehicles and taxisin getting pre-registered andsubsequently obtaining “RadioFrequency Identif icationDevice” (RFID) tags for entryinto Delhi from 13 toll plazas,the South Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC) hasextended the last date for pre-registration and subsequentissuance of RFID tags fromAugust 16 to August 23.

The decision was taken

after transporters and theirunions requestedEnvironment Pollution(Prevention and Control)Authority (EPCA) to put offthe deadline.

A senior SDMC officialsaid after the deadline, allcommercial vehicles enteringthe city without RFID tag andsufficient recharge amountwill be bound to pay penaltydouble of specified rates dur-ing first week, four times ofspecified rates during secondweek and six times of specifiedrates during third week.

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Greenland is not for sale, themineral-rich island said

on Friday after a newspaperreported that US PresidentDonald Trump was askingadvisers whether it’s possiblefor the United States to buy theArctic island.

Trump has expressed inter-est in the self-governing part ofDenmark — which is mostlycovered in ice, — asking advi-sors if it is possible for the USto acquire the territory, TheWall Street Journal said onThursday, citing people famil-iar with the discussions.

The President, a formerreal estate magnate, has beencurious about the area’s natur-al resources and geopoliticalrelevance, the paper reported.

Greenland is a self-gov-

erning region of Denmark,which colonised the 772,000square-mile (two-millionsquare kilometre) island in the18th century, and is home toonly about 57,000 people, mostof whom belong to the indige-nous Inuit community.

There has been no officialcomment from the WhiteHouse, and the DanishEmbassy in Washington didnot immediately respond toAFP’s request for comment.

But Greenland’s Ministryof foreign affairs insisted theisland was ready to talk busi-ness, not purchase.

“#Greenland is rich invaluable resources such as min-erals, the purest water and ice,fish stocks, seafood, renewableenergy and is a new frontier foradventure tourism,” it tweeted.

“We’re open for business,

not for sale,” it added. Theoffice of Danish Prime MinisterMette Frederiksen declined tocomment when contacted byAFP.

But a former premier, LarsLokke Rasmussen, tweeted, “Itmust be an April Fool’s Dayjoke... But totally out of sea-son!”

Some Trump advisers sayacquiring Greenland, which isnortheast of Canada, could begood for the US, while otherscalled it only a “fleeting fasci-

nation” from the AmericanPresident, The Wall StreetJournal said.

Others outside the WhiteHouse say Trump’s interestcould be a desire to secure alegacy achievement, the paperreported, and advisors won-dered about the potential forresearch or greater militaryclout for the US.

The US’s northern-mostmilitary base, Thule Air Base,has been located on Greenlandfor decades. But Greenlanddoesn’t quite live up to its lushname — 85 per cent of theisland is covered by a 1.9-mile-thick (three-kilometre)ice sheet that contains 10 per-cent of the world’s fresh water.

The world’s largest islandhas suffered from climatechange, scientists say, becom-ing a giant melting icicle thatthreatens to submerge theworld’s coastal areas one day.

July saw unprecedentedmelting of the Greenland icesheet, with 12 billion tonnes ofice flowing into the sea.

���������������� �������������������������� ��� ������ ������������������������� ���������

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The Supreme Court onFriday said it will wait for

sometime before passing anydirection on the plea seekingremoval of restrictions on themedia in Jammu & Kashmirafter the Centre said curbs arebeing lifted gradually.

A Bench comprising ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi and jus-tices SA Bobde and SA Najeersaid, “We would like to give lit-tle time. We have read innewspaper today that landlineand broadband connectionsare being restored gradually.Therefore, we will take up thepetition with other connectedmatters,” the Bench said.

“The landlines are work-ing. We also got a call todayfrom the CJ of J&K HC,” theBench further said.

“We will see when thematter can be listed for hear-ing. We will fix a date on theadministrative side,” the SCsaid.

Advocate Vrinda Grover,appearing for AnuradhaBhasin, Executive Editor,Kashmir Times, said there wasa need for early restoration ofcommunication mode forjournalists to carry out theirwork. “My matter is related tofreedom press,” Grover saidand added it had nothing to dowith Article 370.

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India on Friday defended itsdecision to scrap provisions

of Article 370 that have specialstatus to Jammu & Kashmir,saying it is an internal matter.India also slammed Pakistanfor interfering in the internalmatters of the country, sayingPakistan was misleading theworld.

Meanwhile, the UNSecurity Council on Fridaybegan a rare closed door meet-ing to discuss India revokingthe special status of Jammu &Kashmir after Pakistan, backedby its all-weather ally, China,requested “closed consulta-tions” on the issue.

The outcome of the UNSCmeeting will not be a formalpronouncement as the consul-tations are informal in nature.India and Pakistan are not

attending the meeting, which isopen only to the five perma-nent members and 10 non-permanent members.

China, a permanent mem-ber of the UNSC and close allyof Pakistan, had asked for“closed consultations” in theCouncil, which began its delib-erations at 7.30pm IST.

On August 5, Indiarevoked Article 370 of theConstitution removing specialstatus to Jammu and Kashmir,and has also bifurcated theState into two Union Territories— J&K, and Ladakh.

India has categoricallytold the international com-munity that its move to scrapArticle 370 of the Constitutionrevoking the special status toJammu & Kashmir was aninternal matter and has alsoadvised Pakistan to acceptthe reality.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar on

Friday unveiled the statue of

martyr Madan Lal Dhingraand paid floral tributes at thePunjabi Dharamshala in Jind.

Speaking on the occasion,the Chief Minister said that ifthe future generations takeinspiration from martyrs thatcountry comes first then comespersonal happiness, that wouldbe true tribute to the martyrs.He said that we should allwalk the path shown by themartyrs and adopt their idealsand give their full contributionin building a developed coun-try and state.

"The martyrs of Haryanaduring the freedom struggle

and also after independencehave sacrificed and contributedto maintain the unity andintegrity of the country," hesaid.

He said that the contribu-tion of Iron Man SardarVallabhbhai Patel, PanditShyama Prasad Mukherjee,Amar Shaheed Madan LalDhingra, Mangal Pandey andmany other known andunknown martyrs cannot beforgotten. Due to which, todaywe are breathing in free India.

He said that after 72 yearsof independence, first time inthe history of the country,

Prime Minister Narendra Modiand Union Home MinisterAmit Shah has taken a historicstep by revoking sections 370and 35A from Jammu andKashmir on August 5.

Paying tributes to formerPrime Minister, Atal BihariVajpayee on his death anniver-sary, he said that he had playeda pivotal role in building of newIndia. He also discussed aboutthe steps taken by the govern-ment towards good gover-nance. He said that the stategovernment is working withthe spirit of Haryana Ek,Haryanavi Ek.

����� �/0*.) Rich tributes were paid inHimachal Pradesh to for-

mer Prime Minister and BharatRatna Atal Bihari Vajpayee onhis first death anniversary withthe main function being held inAtal Bihari Vajpayee Institute ofMountaineering and AlliedSports, Manali in Kullu district.

Chief Minister Jai RamThakur addressed the functionthrough video conferencingfrom Shimla as he could notreach in person due toinclement weather.

Thakur said that that theformer Prime Minister pro-vided a dynamic leadership tothe nation and was alwaysregarded as a world leader andwas the only leader of his timewho was loved and respectedby all and even his politicaladversaries would keenly listento his speeches both inside andoutside the Parliament. He wasa great Parliamentarian andcommanded respect from hisopponents as well. He saidthat Atal Ji was also known forhis unique oratory skill as peo-ple from far-off places used toattend his public meetings.

He said that Atal BihariVajpayee introduced PradhanMantri Gram Sadak Yojna andnational highways develop-ment project, which proved aboon for the country especial-ly for the people of HimachalPradesh as thousands of vil-lages were connected withroads under this scheme. It wasunder his leadership thatdespite all odds and pressures,India carried out nuclear testsand became a nuclear power.Similarly, it was because of his

strong political will that thenation gave befitting reply toPakistan during the Kargilaggression.

The CM said that Atal jihad special connection withHimachal, which he fondlycalled his ‘second home’ andnever missed any opportunityto come here and reciprocate byshowering concern for thestate.

The small house that hebuilt in Kullu district at Prinivillage, surrounded by forestsin the vicinity of gurgling Beas

river in 90s now stands livewith his memories. He said thatVajpayee was always consider-ate towards the developmentalneeds and aspirations of thepeople of the State.

The Chief Minister laidfoundation stone of statue ofAtal Bihari Vajpayee online tobe erected at Manali. He alsoinaugurated Rs. 2.62 crorebuilding of government seniorsecondary school, Jagatsukhand laid foundation stone ofartificial rock climbing wall tobe constructed by spending an

amount of 2.80 crore. He laidfoundation stone of link roadfrom Shilla Hallan to Trashiand Dachani under NABARDto be completed by spendingRs. 4.24 crore.

Transport and ForestMinister Govind Thakur, MPRam Swaroop Sharma andMLA Surinder Shourie werepresent at Manali on the occa-sion.

Earlier, the Chief Ministervisited State BJP headquartersat Shimla and paid floral trib-utes on the portrait of Vajpayee.

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Chandigarh Police onFriday claimed to have

cracked the double murdercase of two sisters by arrestingan accused named KuldeepSingh, 30, a resident ofZirakpur.

Two sisters who were liv-ing in a rented house in Sector22 here, were found murderedon Thursday afternoon. Thevictims were identified asManpreet Kaur and RajwantKaur, natives of Fazilka districtof Punjab.

According to the Police,the bodies of the sisters werefound with the throats slit ataround 2 pm. Rajwant Kaur(26) and Manpreet Kaur(29)worked in a chemical plant inZirakpur on the outskirts ofChandigarh.

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The tradition of kite flyingis turning out to be dead-

ly for the birds especiallyEagle species in Chandigarh.

The Society for thePrevention of Cruelty toAnimals, which has been work-ing to prevent cruelty to animalsand provide relief to injuredbirds and animals in union ter-ritory of Chandigarh, has beenreceiving many cases of birdsinjuries due to kite string.

At present, the SPCA hos-pital premises in Sector 38here houses atleast 18 injuredeagles and three hawks, max-imum of them sufferinginjuries due to the kite string.

The banned Chinesemanja, a nylon thread coatedwith powdered glass, used tofly kites is deadly for thebirds and causes injuries

mostly related to the wings,fractures and, worst of all,complete amputation of thewing.

In the past, the sharp kitestrings have proved lethal forhumans as well but despite aban on its sale and use, thedangerous Chinese manjacontinues to be used by kite–flyers.

“At present, there are 18eagles and 3 hawks in thepremises. Most of them suf-fered injuries due to the sharpkite strings,” Gurmeet Singh,supervisor at SPCA, Sector 38here told The Pioneer.

Elaborating about suchcases, SPCA InspectorDharminder Dogra said thatthese cases are being report-ed from past few years fromboth Chandigarh and nearbyareas. People bring injuredbirds to the SPCA premisesand sometimes, we receive

calls regarding such injuredbirds and our team bringsthem to the premises for thetreatment, he said.

“Kite string usually caus-es injuries to wings, neck andlegs. Out of 18 eagles, twohave recovered and have start-ed flying in the cage. Thesetwo eagles will be releasedsoon,” he said.

“Most of these eagles wereinjured after they were entan-gled in the kite strings whileflying. Hawks also sufferinjuries due to the kite stringsand at present, there are threeinjured hawks in the premis-es,” Dogra added.

He further said, “We haveobserved that most of thebirds with wing injuries recov-er in a month or sometimesmore. The eagles which diedue to such injuries are beinghanded over to the UT Forestsand Wildlife Department.”

The SPCA premises has38 injured pigeons as well butthe reason of injuries were dif-ferent in their case, he added.

In India, the kite flying isassociated with various cele-brations and festivals. And, itis during the kite flying occa-

sions when the cases of birdinjuries due to Chinese manjawitness a sharp rise.

Not only eagles but some-

times, migratory birds havealso fallen prey to the sharpkite string.

While the SPCA is takingcare of the injured birds andensuring their safe release,there is no denying that inabsence of an avian expertthere, no record is beingmaintained of the kind ofinjuries suffered, age ofinjured eagles, recovering timeand other details.

TK Roy, ecologist andAsia Waterbird Census(AWC) Delhi state-coordina-tor while talking to ThePioneer said, “Raptors likeEagles, Hawks among othersfly high in the sky and areknown for their speed,maneuverability and divinglanding approach. All suchfactors make them more vul-nerable to fatal injuries due tokite string.”

“In states like Gujarat and

Rajasthan where kite flyingcompetitions are being heldannually, cases of bird injuriesdue to sharp kite string arereported in huge numbers.Recovery time for injuriesdue to kite string depends onindividual cases. Such casesdepend on factors like type ofinjuries, age of bird and treat-ment provided,” Roy said.

“Eagles can live for morethan 10 years and the youngerones can recover in weeks toa month’s time in case ofminor injury to the wings.Some birds do not recoverfully from injuries to theirwings and do not fly at allwhile many others with seri-ous injuries need surgery. Birddeaths have also been report-ed in large numbers due to theChinese manja and there is aneed to spread awarenessabout its danger to the birds aswell as humans,” he added.

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Union Home Minister AmitShah on Friday launched

the election campaign of BJP inHaryana ahead of the OctoberAssembly elections and said thegovernment of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi removed arti-cle 370 which the Congress hadkept pending for 72 years.

In his speech, Shahapplauded Haryana ChiefMinister Manohar Lal for theefforts he made towards prov-ing transparent governanceand making the system cor-ruption free by eliminating themiddlemen.

Addressing Aastha Rallyorganised by former UnionMinister and Rajya Sabha MP,Ch. Birender Singh, he said thatwhenever he visited Jind, he hasalways received lot of supportof its people. "I had come toEklavya Stadium five years agoas National President of BJP tomake Ch Birender Singh mem-ber of BJP. After that, I had vis-ited Haryana during AssemblyElections and with the major-ity votes of people, BJP party

formed its government. Thisyear, people supported BJP inall 10 seats in the Lok SabhaElections," he said.

On the first death anniver-sary of former Prime Minister,Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, hefirst paid floral tributes to hisstatue and said revoking ofArticle 370 and Section 35Afrom Jammu and Kashmir wasa dream of Vajpayee.

"Congress Governmenthad kept the matter hanging for72 years, but the strong willedPrime Minister, NarendraModi removed Article 370 andSection 35A within 75 daysafter the BJP got over 300seats for the second time, andpaved way for building anAkandh Bharat," Shah said.

The Home Minister saidthat the revoking of these sec-tions is true tribute to thebrave soldiers of Haryana whogot martyrdom in Kashmir. Hesaid that Kashmir would nowbe on the path of developmentas there are two union territo-ries of Ladakh and Jammuand Kashmir. "BJP has alwaystalked about the removal of

Article 370 and Section 35Aand we did it," he said, addingthat Prime Minister NarendraModi has never done any votebank politics, he has alwaystalked in clarity.

Shah said that on the occa-sion of Independence Day,Prime Minister has announcedthe creation of Chief of DefenceServices Staff, for better coor-dination of Army, Navy and AirForce under one chief. "Thiswill increase the country's

defence capability," he said. Describing Haryana as the

land of farmers and soldiers,Shah said that the PradhanMantri Kisan Samman Nidhi,which was earlier meant forfarmers up to two and a halfhectares or five acres, has nowannounced to be increased.Apart from this, it has also beenannounced to implement thepension scheme for smalltraders.

He said that it is Prime

Minister, Narendra Modi’sdream to provide clean drink-ing water in the taps of everyhome and every school of thecountry. For this, a provision ofRs 25 lakh crore has beenmade to develop infrastructurein rural areas and water con-servation campaign has beenlaunched.

Referring to Haryana, hesaid that in the last five years,Chief Minister, Manohar Lalhas done a lot of work in

Haryana and made the state akerosene-free state.

Similarly, earlier the num-ber of women police stationswas two, which has nowincreased to 31. Under BetiBachao, Beti Padhao campaignthe sex ratio which was earlier871 girls per 1,000 boys hasnow reached 918. There areseparate buses for women on181 routes. The ex-gratiaamount given to the depen-dents of the martyrs has beenincreased from Rs 20 lakh to Rs50 lakh. Similarly, the per capi-ta income has increased fromRs 1,45,000 to Rs 2,26,644. Alarge airport would be con-structed in Hisar at a cost ofRs.200 crore.

In his speech, ChiefMinister Manohar Lal said thathe (Shah) has come as an IronHome Minister of the country,who did the work which thecountry had been waiting forthe last 72 years, removal ofArticle 370 and Section 35A.The Chief Minister said thatdespite being two percent of thecountry's population, the armyof the country comprises ten

percent of soldiers of Haryana.He said that nationalism andpatriotism is in the blood ofHaryana. He said that SardarVallabh Bhai Patel was suc-cessful in merging all theprincely states of the countryexpect for Jammu and Kashmir.But Amit Shah has also madethat Jammu and Kashmir a partof Akhand Bharat.

The Chief Minister saidthat during the last nearly fiveyears of our tenure, we havedone more than our promises.Be it educated Panchayats,online teachers transfer policy,farmers, laborers, business-men, traders, students, womenor ex-servicemen, we haveworked for the welfare of all.Manohar Lal said that we arepreparing the data base of thefamily.

He said that a scheme isbeing prepared to providefinancial assistance of Rs 6000per month to families withincome of Rs 1,80,000 perannum. He said that a govern-ment official or politicianwould go to the door to theneedy family to ask for their

need, there would be no needto come to the governmentoffices.

The Chief Minister assuredShah that the government isworking with the spirit of ser-vice and such an atmospherehad been created.

He said that both the pub-lic and the administration haveunderstood this. He said thatthe people elected us first in theelections of the municipal cor-porations of Faridabad andGurugram, then in the directelection of the mayor of fivemunicipal corporations fol-lowed by the bye-election ofJind assembly and then the LokSabha. The Chief Minister saidthat we will go among the peo-ple with a pledge of newHaryana.

Other spoke on the occa-sion included Agriculture andFarmer’s Welfare Minister,O. P. D h a n k a r, Tr a n s p o r tMinister, Krishan Panwar,Women and ChildDevelopment Minister, KavitaJain and Minister of State forCooperation, Manish Grover,amongst others.

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Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on Friday

rejected Congress MP PratapSingh Bajwa’s allegation that theAdvocate-General’s office hadmisled the State Governmentand the Assembly on the sen-sitive and critical issue of with-drawal of the Bargari sacrilegecases from the CBI.

Capt Amarinder, in fact,dubbed Bajwa’s statement to asection of the media as a caseof either ignorance or blatantmischief, and totally baseless.

He pointed out that thedecision to withdraw the casesfrom CBI was taken by theHouse, on merit and was in linewith the recommendations ofthe AG Office.

“The Government hadsought the advice of the AGbefore introducing a resolutionin the House seeking with-drawal of the cases from thecentral agency in the interest ofPunjab,” he said while pointingout that the AG’s recommen-dation or report was, at nostage, presented before the

House, which took an inde-pendent decision, on merit, byconsensus.

Bajwa, therefore, had noknowledge or information onwhat the AG had recommend-ed, he said, adding that theMP’s allegation was clearlyunfounded and not based onany facts.

“The MP had evidentlynot bothered to even study thejudgement of the High Courtof Punjab and Haryana, whichhad upheld the legality of thestate’s decision to withdrawthe cases from the CBI,” saidCapt Amarinder.

He added that the HighCourt judgment, dated January25, 2018, had categoricallyupheld the legality of the actionof the State in withdrawing theinvestigation by the State fromthe CBI and in fact had reposedfaith in the SIT noting that theCBI had not challenged thisjudgment.

“Hence, no question arisesnow as regards the legality ofthe action,” said the ChiefMinister, f laying Bajwa’sattempt to create mischief with

his own misleading statement,clearly designed to mislead thepeople.

Peeved, Capt Amarindersaid: “It is unfortunate thatBajwa has spoken on such aserious issue without takinginto account the relevant factsand the legal position, which isclearly outlined in the HighCourt ruling.”

At the same time, he urgedBajwa and other leaders of allpolitical hues to restrain them-selves from misleading thepeople on this vital issue of stateinterest, and having the poten-tial to trigger unrest.

The State Government,through the SIT constituted toinvestigate the sacrilege cases,was moving forward aggres-sively to take the matter to its log-ical conclusion and ensure strin-gent punishment for the culprits,the Chief Minister added.

“Mischievous commentslike these would only hamperthe interests of justice in thematter,” he warned, andexhorted the people not to bemisled by such unsubstantiat-ed statements.

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Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)lashed out at Congress-led

Punjab Government for itsfailure to control the drugmenace in the state, with theparty dubbing the ChiefMinister Capt AmarinderSingh as the “new commanderof the Badals’ mafia raj”.

Addressing the party’spolitical conference on theoccasion of ‘Rakhar Puniya’ onFriday, AAP’s Punjab unit pres-ident and Sangrur MPBhagwant Mann said that CaptAmarinder Government,which was voted to power in2017 on the promise of endingthe menace of drugs withinfour weeks of assuming power,

had miserably failed on thisfront as “it has done nothing tocontain it”.

Mann said that due topoor governance, the young-sters were getting hooked todrugs, and the hassled parentswere bearing the brunt of the

menace in silence while thegovernment in the saddle washolidaying in the hills.

Citing the problems of thefarmers, farm hands, MGN-REGA and the unemployedyouth currently being faced bythem, Mann said that the

Captain Government, SAD-BJP alliance Government at theCentre had failed to take anurgent call on the issues.

Mounting a scathingattack on the ‘Patiala royalfamily’ and the Badal family,Mann said that both the fam-ilies had caused much damageto Punjab and the panth thananybody else. “While the royalfamily had honoured GeneralDyer, the architect of theJallianwala Bagh massacre, byhonouring the ‘killer’, theMajithia family, a kin of theBadal clan, had hosted a din-ner for him and presentedsiropa (robe of honour) tohim,” he said.

Taking a swipe at StateGovernment, the leader ofOpposition in Vidhan Sabha

Harpal Singh Cheema saidthat Capt Amarinder had takencharge of the ‘mafia raj’ earliermanaged by the Badals, andwas indulging in open ‘loot’ ofpublic money.

Party MLA Prof BaljinderKaur highlighted the issues ofdemolition of the historic SriGuru Ravidas temple by theBJP-controlled DelhiDevelopment Authority (DDA)in the Tuglaqabad area of Delhiand the abduction of Sri GuruGranth Sahib and the BehabalKalan-Kotakpura shootingincident and desecration ofSri Guru Granth Sahib, whileJai Krishan Singh Rori (MLA),Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal andDalbir Singh Tong stressed theneed for strengthening of theparty base.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar will

inaugurate a multi-sensoryshow depicting part of theBhagavad Gita, at Jyotisar inKurukshetra on August 20 tomake the reach of divine mes-sage of the holy scripture to all.

The show uses a combina-tion of film, light, sound andwater to bring to life the basictenets of the Gita.

The show including con-cept, production and infra-structure, has been donated by

“TRL Riceland” inthe memory of itsfounders namelyNarshidas Thakrar,his wife HiraThakrar, and eldestson RashmiThakrar.

An officialspokesman saidthat the show

would motivate the people tofurther understand and assim-ilate this eternal philosophy.

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To eliminate presence of lit-igant in the Court and

adjudication of the case online,the Punjab and Haryana HighCourt will launch first VirtualCourt on Saturday at Faridabadthrough video conference.

A spokesman of the Punjaband Haryana High Court saidthat the Court would be deal-ing with traffic challan cases ofthe entire State of Haryana. Theproject would be launchedunder the guidance of e-Committee of the SupremeCourt of India. Under thisproject, the cases received inthe Virtual Court can beviewed by the Judge along withautomatic computation of fineson the screen.

Once the summons is gen-erated and accused gets infor-mation on eMail or SMS,accused can visit the VirtualCourt web site and search theCase by giving CNR Numberof the case or Name of theAccused, or even by DrivingLicense Number etc. Once theaccused pleads guilty online,fine amount will be displayedand accused might proceed topay the fine. On successful pay-ment and realization of fineamount, the case would beautomatically disposed of.

The spokesman said thatwhen the accused does notplead guilty, such cases areremanded to the RegularCourts with the respective ter-

ritorial jurisdiction. The ChiefJustice of Punjab and HaryanaHigh Court, Justice KrishnaMurari has shown keen inter-est to launch the project at theearliest for benefit of all thestake holders in justice deliverysystem.

Chairman of the ComputerCommittee, Justice Dr. RaviRanjan has impressed upon theState Governments of Punjab,Haryana and U.T. Chandigarhto waive of MDR Charges onfine amount exceeding 2000.Virtual Court will reduce theburden on regular Courts. Theentire process of disposal willhappen online in hours.Footfalls in the courts will bereduced considerably asaccused need not visit thecourt for pleading guilty.

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Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder on Friday wel-

comed the Prime Minister’sannouncement of a Chief ofDefence Staff for the country asa vital step in strengtheningand streamlining the com-mand structure for the coun-try’s defence services.

Hailing the CentralGovernment’s deci-sion as the fulfilmentof a long-pendingdemand, first mootedby the then UPAGovernment in thewake of the Kargilwar, the ChiefMinister said that themove would go a long way inimproving the command andcontrol system of the Indianarmed forces.

Capt Amarinder recalledthat a CDS was suggested,back in 2009 by the NareshChandra Committee under theUnited Progressive Alliance(UPA), as the PermanentChairman Chiefs of StaffCommittee (COSC). The deci-sion, however, then could notbe implemented even though itwas felt that such a post wouldbring in more effective coor-

dination and cohesiveness inthe armed forces, he added.

“With the CDS to coordi-nate them, the three defenceservices, viz the Army, theNavy and the Air Force, theIndian armed forces wouldbecome more integrated, thusenhancing their effectiveness,”said the Chief Minister.

The CDS is envisaged as asingle-point advisor to the

Government of Indiain matters relating tothe defence services,thus acting as a pro-fessional body toadvise the governmentin matters of nationalsecurity.

Given India’s secu-rity environment and thethreats it faces, the role ofsuch an individual wouldbecome even more critical inthe years ahead, said CaptAmarinder.

“The CDS will oversee andprioritise the requirements ofthe defence forces, whichwould further augment theirprofessionalism,” he said, point-ing out that given the size andcomplexity of these forces, asingle control unit had becomea necessity rather than anoption for India.

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For the purpose of promo-tions and direct recruit-

ments in the state governmentdepartments, PunjabGovernment on Friday issueda notification regarding thefour percent reservation, againstthe earlier three percent, for thephysically challenged persons.

“This notification has beenissued under ‘The Rights ofPersons with Disabilities Act,2016’. According to the Article34 of the Act, reservation willbe given for the ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ and‘D’ categories for promotionsand direct recruitment,” said thespokesperson.

Giving the detailed infor-mation, the spokesperson saidthat the persons suffering fromblindness and low vision will begiven one percent reservation,whereas those who are deaf andhard of hearing will also be pro-vided one percent reservation.

Locomotors disabilitiesincluding cerebral palsy, leprosycured, dwarfism, acid attackvictims and muscular dystro-phy will also be given one per-cent reservation while thosesuffering from autism, intel-lectual disability, specific learn-ing disability and mental illnesswill also given one percenteach reservation with similarreservation of one percent formultiple disability fromamongst persons under claus-es A to D.

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Just like in Punjab, theShiromani Akali Dal (SAD)

has decided to contest theensuing assembly elections inthe neighbouring state ofHaryana in alliance with theBharatiya Janta Party (BJP).

Announcing this, SAD’score committee member and

in-charge Haryana BalwinderSingh Bhunder on Friday saidthat the “negotiations for seatsharing are on at present”.

Bhunder, while talkingwith the media after a meetingof SAD Haryana unit con-vened to take stock of therecruitment derive in the state,said that the members werebriefed about the develop-

ments on the negotiationswith the BJP.

Also, the party leadershiptook a feedback from thesenior Haryana SAD leaderson the prospects of party lead-ers, he added.

Notably, SAD had con-tested the previous state elec-tions in alliance with the

Indian National Lok Dal(INLD), while the BJP decid-ed to go all alone and managedto sweep the state for the firsttime ever.

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Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on

Thursday warned inimicalforces against any attempt todestroy the peace and harmo-ny of the country, while callingupon the people to join handsin fighting such forces.

Capt Amarinder, address-ing a gathering in Jalandharafter unfurling the nationalflag at a state-level function tomark the 73rd IndependenceDay, said that there were anti-national forces that were envi-ous of the peaceful atmos-phere and development in theState.

“Let us rededicate our-selves to work collectively tobuild a strong and prosperousPunjab and to cement thebonds of love, peace and amity,”he said.

Highlighting the immensecontribution of Punjabis in thenational freedom struggle, theChief Minister said that it wasnow our collective duty to pre-serve the hard earned freedomattained through countless sac-rifices.

Referring to the crusadeagainst the drug abuse, CaptAmarinder said so far, 27,744cases had been registered under

the Narcotic Drugs andPsychotropic Substances Actwith the arrest of 33,622 peo-ple besides recovery of 767 kgof heroine and huge quantitiesof other contraband substances.

The Chief Minister saidthat the new industrial policyhad given a big boost with overRs 50,000 crore in investmentsbeing firmed up.

To give a further push torural development, the ChiefMinister pointed out that anoutlay of Rs 680 crore had beenkept under the Smart VillageCampaign — a programme toensure development of vil-lages, of which Rs 198 crorehad been released as the firstinstalment.

He said that the StateGovernment was contemplat-ing to disburse Rs 520 crore to2.85 lakh farm labourers andlandless farmers who are mem-bers of primary agriculturecooperative societies. Underthe debt relief scheme till date,5.62 lakh marginal and smallfarmers have benefited.

The Chief Minister alsostated that the total annualremuneration of farmers onaccount of government pro-curement of foodgrain hadincreased to Rs 1.24 lakh croresince 2017, thereby registering

a hike of about Rs 30,000 croreover the earnings in the corre-sponding seasons of the previ-ous government.

On the education front, theChief Minister said that for thefirst time in several years, thegovernment schools had out-performed private schools.

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As many 21 eminent per-sonalities were conferred thestate awards for their out-standing contribution in vari-ous fields besides bestowingChief Minister’s Police Medalon nine police officers or offi-cials in recognition to their dis-tinguished services.

The awardees includedsocial activists, artistes, litter-ateurs, poets, progressive farm-ers, environmentalists and gov-ernment officials besides acancer specialist, who havemade outstanding contribu-tion in their respective fields inthe larger public interests.

Among the awardees areDr Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal ofMoga district’s Duneke village,Lieutenant Colonel (Retd)Bishan Dass from Patiala,

‘Munde Ahmedgarh DeWelfare Club’ president RakeshKumar Garg, Amandeep Singhfrom Kanpur village inPathankot, Computer expertfrom Punjabi University,Patiala, Punjabi writer GurmeetSingh Singhal, Dr DevinderSingh Sandhu, a cancer superspecialist from Ludhiana, BabaSewa Singh Ji of KhadoorSahib, Veterinary InspectorAmandeep Singh from Patiala,among others.

The nine police officers orofficials awarded the presti-gious Chief Minister’s PoliceMedal in recognition to theirexcellent services, includingJoint Director Vigilance BureauMohali Parmjit Singh Goraya,SSP Vigilance Bureau JalandharRange Diljinder Singh Dhillon,Assistant Inspector GeneralPolice, Election Cell HarbirSingh, Senior Superintendentof Police Investigation, PatialaHarmit Singh Hundal, DeputySuperintendent of PoliceElection Cell Amroz Singh,DSP, Punjab Police AcademyPhillaur Sewak Singh, SHOPolice Station Dakha InspectorJagdish Kumar, SHO PoliceStation Mullanpur, MohaliInspector Bhagwant Singh andInspector Karnail Singh post-ed in Jalandhar Rural.

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Expressing concern over thetraffic congestion in the

union territory of Chandigarh,Punjab Governor and UTAdministrator VP SinghBadnore said that the UTAdministration is persuadingthe neighboring states of Punjaband Haryana to establish a ringroad and rapid mass transportsystem here.

“We are hopeful that theprojects will materialize soon toaddress the problem of trafficcongestion,” Badnore said whilespeaking at Sector 17 ParadeGround here during the cele-brations of Independence Day.

The ChandigarhAdministration and the StateGovernments of the two neigh-boring states had recently to dis-cuss the project of ring road andrapid mass transport system.

On the occasion, theGovernor also highlighted theachievements of ChandigarhAdministration in variousareas.

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Terming the UNSC dis-cussing the Kashmir issue

a “grave diplomatic failure” ofthe BJP Government, theCongress on Friday askedPrime Minister Narendra Modito talk to “India’s friends” in theUnited Nations to stall thescheduled meet on the issue.

Congress spokespersonAbhishek Singhvi said it was afailure on the part of the gov-ernment’s foreign policy toallow internationalisation ofthe Kashmir issue in the UN.“This is a grave diplomatic fail-ure of the government. In fact,it is worse, it is a grave strate-gic failure at a time whenIndia’s Foreign minister is inChina,” Singhvi said at AICCPress briefing.

External Affairs Minister SJaishankar, who concluded histhree-day visit to Beijing onMonday, conveyed that thedecision to revoke the specialstatus of Jammu and Kashmir

was an internal matter for India. Singhvi said Jammu and

Kashmir, and Ladakh is India’sinternal issue and nobody,group or organisation can assertto the contrary. It is for the firsttime in 48 years that the UN hastaken up the Kashmir issue, hesaid, adding that this is a glar-ing “diplomatic failure” by theBJP government.

“I implore and beseech theprime minister not to remainsilent...I urge the prime minis-ter to pick up the phone andtalk to all India’s friends to getthis meeting cancelled,” hesaid. Singhvi said as he is mak-

ing the demand for getting theUN meeting cancelled, he fearsbeing dubbed by the BJP as“anti-national”.

He said this is not a dis-missable issue as this is some-thing that has not happened fordecades and is being allowed tohappen now. The UN SecurityCouncil was scheduled to meeton Friday to discuss India revok-ing the special status of Jammuand Kashmir after Pakistanwrote a letter on the issue to theworld body. China, an ally ofPakistan, asked for “closed con-sultations” in the Council, whichmet to discuss the matter.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has

attached assets worth �299.99crore of Nowhera Shaik ofHeera Group of Companiesand others spread across mul-tiple states under the provisionsof Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act in a ponziscam case.

The attached assets con-sisting of 96 immovable prop-erties located in Telangana,Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi andAndhra Pradesh worth �277.29crore in the form of agriculturallands, commercial plots, resi-dential buildings, commercialcomplexes and balances inbank accounts worth �22.69crore.

ED initiated investigationsunder PMLA on the basis ofFIRs registered by CentralCrime Station, Hyderabad,Telangana and Andhra PradeshPolice against Shaik and otherson the allegation of illegally col-lecting deposits from lacs ofinvestors under the guise of

high returns. There areMultiple FIRs registered acrossthe country against HeeraGroup of Companies, the EDsaid.

The ED probe revealedthat Shaik incorporated multi-ple companies under HeeraGroup of Companies and col-lected an amount of approxi-mately �5,600 crore as unau-thorized deposits from around1,72,000 investors across thecountry by engaging a networkof marketing executives anddirect selling agents with afalse promise of paying highrate of returns to the tune ofthree per cent per month (36per cent per annum)

Shaik floated multipleschemes and extensively adver-tised the schemes to lure thevictims. She started 24firms/entities under HeeraGroup and 182 bank accountswere opened in different banksin different parts of the coun-tries in the name of these 24entities. Further 10 bankaccounts were also opened inforeign countries such as UAE

and Saudi Arabia for collectingthese deposits, the ED said ina statement.

Shaik does not possess anyvalid permission either underthe Banking Regulation Act,Companies Act, RBI Act orfrom any other governmentagency such as SEBI for col-lecting deposits. She startedGold, Food & Textile tradingbusinesses only to create theimpression that she earninglegitimate profits, but in reali-ty, the payouts to the newmembers were simply beingfunded from the cash flowsgenerated from new mem-bers/investments. The volumeof business in her Gold, Textile& Food marts was minisculeand not sufficient to justify thehigh returns promised by her,the agency said.

Shaik along with her fam-ily members and close associ-ates diverted the depositors’money to their personalaccounts and amassed hugemovable and immovable assetsfor wrongful personal gain,the agency added.

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Senior Congress leader PChidambaram, who has

been one of the strongest crit-ics of the Modi Government,sprang a surprise on Friday ashe welcomed the PrimeMinister’s announcements onpopulation control, respect forwealth creators and shunningsingle-use plastic. He said hehoped the Finance Ministerand tax officials would heed tohis exhortation.

“All of us must welcomethree announcements made

by the PM on I-Day. Small fam-ily is a patriotic duty; Respectwealth creators and Shun sin-gle-use plastic. Of the threeexhortations, I hope the FMand her legion of tax officialsand investigators heard thePM’s second exhortation loudand clear,” Chidambaram said.

Chidambaram has beenthe most vocal critic of Modi’sgovernance particularly on eco-nomic and security issues. Hehas been continuously ques-tioning the Centre over abro-gation of Article 370 for Jammuand Kashmir. Chidambaram,along with his son Karti, facesallegations of wrongdoing inallowing foreign direct invest-ment when he was financeminister in UPA-1.

Chidambaram, who is aformer finance minister, said,

“The first and third exhortationsmust become people’s move-ments. There are hundreds ofdedicated voluntary organisa-tions that are willing to lead themovements at local levels.”

Addressing the nation onthe 73rd Independence Day onThursday, the prime ministerexpressed concern over “pop-ulation explosion” in the coun-try, saying it causes innumer-able challenges for the cominggenerations, and asserted thatthe central and state govern-ments should launch measuresto deal with the issue.

Modi also said wealth cre-ators should not be eyed withsuspicion and that they arecountry’s wealth and should berespected. He urged people toshun single-use plastic andencouraged usage of jute and

cloth bags to protect the envi-ronment.

Chidambaram’s responsecame weeks after the death ofVG Siddhartha, founder ofpopular chain Cafe Coffee Daywho in a purported suicidenote mentioned as “harass-ment” from a senior income taxofficer which forced him to endhis life.

Former Infosys DirectorMohandas Pai too allegedthreat to businesses from “taxterrorism”, and a report saidBiocon Chairperson KiranMazumdar Shaw was told by a“government official” not tospeak about issues such asincome tax harassment. Paialso recounted an incident,where an official called up hiscolleague in Infosys and threat-ened to “shut him down”.

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The Supreme Court onFriday expressed anguish

over “defective” petitions on theissue of scrapping of provisionsof Article 370 of theConstitution.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi said thepetition by advocate M LSharma has “no meaning”.

The CJI said he spent 30minutes reading the petitionbut could not make out any-thing and also could not under-stand what was the prayer.

“What kind of petition isthis? It could have been dis-missed but there are 5 otherpleas with the registry whichare under defect,” the benchalso comprising Justices SABobde and SA Nazeer said.

“You are not praying forsetting aside the Presidentialorder. What is the prayer it isnot clear. It can be dismissed ontechnical grounds.

“In a matter of this natureif this is the petition, there is nomeaning,” the bench said.

The court was hearing thepetition by Sharma, who hadfiled it on August 6, a day afterthe Centre had abrogatedJammu and Kashmir’s specialstatus.

The apex court askedlawyers to cure defects in theirsix petitions on Article 370 andadjourned the hearing.

The bench also noted thatit was hearing the petition onArticle 370 by breaking thecombination of judges whichwas hearing the sensitiveAyodhya matter.

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At a time when every drop ofwater counts in view of its

scarcity, researchers of the IndianInstitute of Technology (IIT),Madras, have developed a proto-type that can produce green fertil-izers and water from human urine.

The product, ‘Water Chakra’,works on the development of amodular on-site toilet treatmentunit. It recovers about 96 per centof phosphorus and 85 per cent ofnitrogen in the form of commer-cial grade ammonia solution andstruvite fertiliser, besides recoveryof 90 per cent water, according tothe researchers. The Project haswon the Indian Innovation GrowthProgramme 2.0 award in July 2019.

Anusha Gupta, a PhD scholarat IIT Madras who led the team,said the aim was to protect valuablewater assets, reduce customer’soperation costs and create newproducts from toilet resources(human urine) in a simplisticapproach. On an average, a manflushes nearly 1 liter of water everytime he urinates, which equals tonearly 2160 liters of water per year.

“The Water Chakra projectaims to recover fertilizers andwater from urine ,” Gupta said.“The developed prototype can beinstalled in large footprint areas likecommercial complexes, corporatebuildings, where huge amount ofurine can be collected and used forprocessing to obtain green fertil-izers and water.”

According to the researchers, the

human body excretes elements thatare highly essential for the produc-tion of nutrients. Urine contains ofabout 98 per cent of water andremaining are nutrients — nitrogen,phosphorous, and potassium — thatare currently flushed into sewers.

About 22 per cent of the glob-al phosphorus demand can beachieved through the recovery ofphosphorus from human waste likeurine and faeces, they said.

Explaining the product’s way ofoperation, Indumathi M Nambi,technical mentor at the IIT Madras,said: “Urinals are retrofitted tomake water-less urinals in one ofour buildings, which helps us tocollect the concentrated urine thatis stored in a primary storage tankin large volumes of up to 500 litres.”

“This tank is followed by ahydrolysis tank where the urine isstored for three days for rise in pHto 9-10,” Nambi said. “Thishydrolyzed urine then gets pumpedto the distillation column, where itgets in contact with steam gener-ated using a steam generator.”

In this column, the technicalmentor said, ammonia present inurine strips out and gets collectedin the ammonia collection tankafter condensing happens with thehelp of a condenser.

“The remaining urine goes tothe electro-chemical polishing unitfor the removal of the organic andpharma residues,” she said, addingthat 98 per cent of the water recov-ered can be reused for flushing,firefighting and gardening pur-poses.

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The Centre on Friday toldthe Supreme Court that it

would take a call within aweek on the collegium’s May 10recommendation to elevateJustice Akil Kureshi as ChiefJustice of Madhya PradeshHigh Court.

A bench of Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi and Justices S ABobde and S Abdul Nazeer wastold by Solicitor General TusharMehta that the Centre wouldtake a call within a week on thetop court collegium’s recom-mendation for the elevation ofJustice Kureshi as Chief Justice

of Madhya Pradesh High Court.“I have instruction that

within a week some decisionswill be taken in this regard,”Mehta said and requested thecourt that the matter be takenup after a week as the Centrewas going through the files sentby the collegium on the judgeconcerned.

The bench adjourned thehearing on the matter andindicated that the next date forhearing will be fixed on theadministrative side.

On August 2, the top courthad asked the Centre to take adecision in the matter byAugust 14 after Mehta had

informed the bench that thecollegium proposal was underconsideration.

The top court was hearinga petition filed by the GujaratHigh Court AdvocatesAssociation (GHCAA) seekingdirection to the Centre to noti-fy the elevation of JusticeKureshi.

The lawyers’ body allegedthat the Centre has cleared theappointment of Chief Justicesof other high courts.The pleahad said that Justice Kureshiname has not been notified bythe Centre even after the col-legium has recommended hisname on May 10.

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The first death anniversary offormer Prime Minister Atal

Bihari Vjpayee was marked onFriday by a prayer meetinghere held at Sadaiv Atal—thememorial to the late leader-which was attended by top dig-nitaries and political leaders.

President Ram NathKovind, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, Home MinisterAmit Shah and members ofVajpayee’s family were amongstthose who paid tributes to theBJP leader amid the playing ofhymns and devotional music.

The memorial was dedi-cated to the nation inDecember last year. The centralsamadhi platform comprisesnine square black polishedgranite stone blocks, capped

with a “diya” in the centre.Vajpayee (93) passed away onAugust 16 last year at AIIMS.

Similar memorial were alsoheld at different parts of thecountry with governments

announcing various schemes inthe memory of the late leaderincluding setting -up of hospi-tals and schools after his name.

In the national capital, DRRML Hospital’s medical collegewas named after the ex-PrimeMinister. Union Health MinisterHarshvardhan also laid thefoundation for Super Specialityblock and New doctor’s hostel.

Medical Superintendent &Director Dr. VK Tiwari saidthat Atal Bihari VajpayeeInstitute of medical sciences(ABVIMS) starts with 100MBBS seats this year. “It will bea state of art medical collegewith reputed faculties andworld class infrastructure.Super Specialty Block has morethan 550 beds and the NewResident Doctors’ Hostel has827 bed units,” Dr Tiwari said.

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The Supreme Court hascleared the decks for the

ambitious Chardham highwayproject for all-weather con-nectivity to four holy towns ofUttarakhand and constituted afresh high-powered committeeto address environmental con-cerns.

A bench comprisingJustices Rohinton Fali Narimanand Surya Kant modified theNational Green Tribunal’sSeptember 26, 2018 order byconstituting the high-poweredcommittee.

“However, the Committeeis to be headed by Prof. RaviChopra, who will replace

Justice U C Dhyani, and will bethe Chairman of theCommittee.

“In addition to this, weadd a representative of thePhysical Research Laboratory,Department of Space,Government of India,Ahmedabad; a representativeof the Wildlife Institute ofIndia, Dehradun, a represen-tative of MoEF, RegionalOffice Dehradun and a repre-sentative of the Ministry ofDefence dealing with Borderroads, not below the rank ofDirector. We direct MoEF toconstitute the High PoweredCommittee within two weeksfrom the date of this order,” thebench said.

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CPI(M) Polit Bureau memberBrinda Karat on Friday

urged Urban DevelopmentMinister Hardeep Puri torebuild the recently demolishedGuru Ravidas Mandir and near-by for samadhis in Tughlaqabadby Delhi DevelopmentAuthority (DDA). In her letterBrinda said that DDA authori-ties decision to a lot anotherplace to the followers of theGuru is not at all acceptable andthe Mandir must be rebuilt inthe same place.

Citing the ModiGovernment’s position in

Ayodhya case on supportingthe faith of the people, theCPI(M) leader said that thisshould be applicable to the fol-lowers of the Guru Ravidas.“This is to draw your attentionto the demolition of the GuruRavidas Mandir and foursamadhis in the “forest area” inTughlaqabad extension onAugust 10. I had visited theplace on August 14th alongwith my Party colleagues andoffice bearers of the DalitSoshan Mukti Manch and metthe petitioners (Guru RavidasSamiti) who gave me the detailsand took us to the site.

“I had read in the papers

that you had met the LieutenantGovernor of Delhi in this con-nection and are working out “asolution” namely to “allot anoth-er place” for the temple and thesamadhis. Unfortunately inthese developments the DDA,which is directly under yourMinistry, has played the worstrole in riding roughshod overthe legitimate grievances of thepetitioners leading to the pre-sent plight. I strongly urge youto rectify this by going in for areview petition before theSupreme Court,” she said, insist-ing the rebuilt of the GuruRavidas Mandir on the samespot.

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Floods affecting 13 States have severe-ly affected the cultivation of rice and

pulses as the kharif crops could not besown in a whopping 40.25 lakh hectaresof farm land. To add to it, an estimat-ed 6-7 lakh hectare crops have beendamaged due to floods. India hasrecorded 604.8 mm rainfall as againstthe normal of 595.7 mm so far. The datashows rice and pulses cultivation hasbeen most hit in West Bengal, Bihar,Jharkhand, Assam, Chhattisgarh,Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan andMaharashtra.

As per data released by theAgriculture Ministry on Friday, kharifcrops sowing are 40.25 lakh hectares lessthis year due to flood and erratic rainsacross the country. The data shows Riceand Pulses cultivation, however, hasremained slow in major eastern statessuch West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand,Assam, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, UttarPradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.

As per data, overall, total kharifcrops so far have been sown in around926.13 lakh hectares this year as com-pared to 966.39 lakh hectares sown inthe corresponding week last year.

The shortfall is the highest in rice.The data shows rice cultivation is downby 36.85 lakh hectare so far. Rice isplanted at nearly 301.40 lakh hectarethis year as compared to 338.25 lakhhectare last year.

Flood-hit West Bengal (a deficit of8.86 lakh hectare), Odisha (4.66 lakhhectare) and Bihar (5.54 lakh hectare),Jharkhand (5.54 lakh hectare),Chhattisgarh (1.39 lakh hectare), Assam

(1.31 lakh hectare), Tamil Nadu (1.06lakh hectare), Maharashtra (1.66 lakhhectare0, Kerala (1.2 lakh hectare) andSikkim (0.11 lakh hectare) are amongthe States that reported the maximumdrop in rice planting.

Besides, it is estimated that 6 to 7lakh hectare crops have been damageddue to flood. This number could gohigher as assessment of crop damagedyet to be completed in several states.Similarly, kharif pulses (arhar, urad,moong) area stands at 115.55 lakhhectare against 120.94 lakh hectare lastyear. Gujarat and Telangana reporteddecline in kharif pulses sowing so far.The sugarcane cultivation is alsodeclined this year so far.

“The decline in sowing is mainlybecause of the delayed onset of thesouthwest monsoon and floods in sev-eral states. Though most crops are in thegrowing stage and it is difficult to pre-dict the final harvest now ,’ said officialsof agriculture ministry. July, August andSeptember is considered as main sea-son for Kharif cultivation across thecountry.

According to the IndiaMeteorological Department ( IMD),

there was some respite for the rain-bat-tered states-Kerala, Karnataka andMaharashtra for the second consecutiveday,even as the toll climbed to 111 withmore bodies being retrieved from land-slide hit areas in Malappuram andWayanad districts as the southwestmonsoon turned week on Friday. Onthe other hand, there is a threat of floodin Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan andGujarat as rivers are in spate.

The IMD has predicted moderateto heavy rainfall activity in several northIndian states including Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh,Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh overthe next two days due to low pressurearea over Bay of Bengal. “The situationis likely to continue till August 20,” theIMD said. In Rajasthan, five peoplewere killed in rain-related incidents inthe past 24 hours and flood like situa-tion created in Hadauti. A red alertwarning was issued for Jodhpur, Nagaurand Pali for the next 24 hours. InMadhya Pradesh, the water level in 96out of 251 big and medium reservoirsin Madhya Pradesh has crossed 90 percent capacity mark following copiousrains over the last few days.

The IMD said that the southwestmonsoon are crucial for farm outputand economic growth as the agriculturalsector forms about 15 per cent ofIndia’s $2.5 trillion economy. Indiareceived 45 per cent more rainfall thanthe 50-year average in the week toAugust 16. The rains from June toSeptember are a lifeline for rural India,delivering some 70 per cent of the coun-try’s rainfall, but they also cause deathand destruction each year.

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A“massive” temple of LordRam, dating back to the

second century BC (BeforeChrist), existed at the disputedsite in Ayodhya before theconstruction of Babri Masjid, acounsel for deity “Ram LallaVirajman” told the SupremeCourt on Friday.

The counsel for Ram Lalla,a party to the decades-old RamJanmabhoomi-Babri Masjidland dispute, referred to thereport of a court commission-er, appointed to inspect the sitein 1950, and also relied uponthe findings of theArcheological Survey of India(ASI) to buttress its claim overthe disputed 2.77-acre land inUttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya.

Advancing submissionsbefore a five-judge Constitutionbench headed by Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi on the seventhday of the hearing, senior advo-cate C S Vaidyanathan, appear-ing for the deity, said accord-ing to the ASI report, there“existed a massive, pillar-basedstructure dating back to thesecond century BC and the ASIsurvey was conclusive aboutthere being a ‘mandap’ at thesite with pillars”.

The senior lawyer exten-sively referred to various picturesand reports, including the ASI’s

findings on the excavated mate-rials from the disputed site, andsaid, however, there was nosuch material to show that it wasa temple of only Lord Ram.

But the pictures of thedeities, including those of LordShiva, sculptures on the pillarsof “Garuda” flanked by lionsand the images of lotus amplyindicated that it was a templeand moreover, these thingswere not found in mosques,Vaidyanathan submitted beforethe bench also comprising jus-tices SA Bobde, DYChandrachud, Ashok Bhushanand SA Nazeer.

“Keeping in mind the faithof Hindus and preponderanceof probability, it would indicatethat this was a temple of LordRam,” he said.

“Along with the massiveold structure, other materialsfound during excavation sug-gested that it was a temple,” thesenior lawyer added.

Referring to the AllahabadHigh Court order, he said oneof the judges, Justice SU Khan,did not deal with the ASIreport in his judgment anderroneously concluded that themosque came up on a vacantland and on the ruins of a tem-ple, while the other two judgestook note of the report, whichsaid there was a temple wherethe mosque came up

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Jammu: Adviser to J&KGovernor, Farooq Khan, hassaid the complete return ofKashmiri Pandits (KPs) to theValley is possible only with thesupport and cooperation of allstakeholders.

"The complete return ofKashmiri migrants to theValley is possible only with thesupport and cooperation of allstakeholders, including the civilsociety of Kashmir, who sharea social and cultural bond withthe Kashmiri migrants," Khansaid on Thursday.

He said the Government

was committed to the safereturn and rehabilitation ofKashmiri Pandits in the Valley.

Khan further said theprocess for the recruitmentagainst 3,000 posts for themigrants and the constructionof transit accommodationsfor the migrant employeesserving in the Valley wouldstart soon. The statement camein the wake of hopes for thereturn of over 3 lakh displacedpandits to the Valley after thescrapping of the special status forJammu & Kashmir underArticle 370. PTI

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Srinagar: National SecurityAdviser Ajit Doval on Fridayreturned to Delhi after spend-ing 11 days in Kashmir Valleyto ensure smooth implemen-tation of plans after the with-drawal of special status accord-ed to Jammu & Kashmir, offi-cials said.

Doval, Who came here onAugust 6, took charge of secu-rity and development-relatedactivities with a special focus onensuring that there was noloss of life, they said.

During his stay, the NSAtook a round of Shopian, a dis-trict worst hit by terrorism, andmet locals and security per-sonnel.

Visuals of Doval havinglunch with locals, with closedshops in the backdrop, at anundisclosed locality were cir-culated in the media. He was

heard saying in the video thatonce the new administration isset up, things will change.

He also addressed person-nel of the Jammu & KashmirPolice, CRPF and Army sepa-rately, telling them about theirsuccesses in disturbed areasand underling their impor-tance in ensuring the safety ofthe country and citizens.

The officials, while com-menting on some adverse newsreports about his visit toShopian, said one cannot takeaway the credit that he visitedthe place.

The officials said that theNSA had to ensure that thereis no loss of life and damage toproperties as well as to see thatthe morale of troops on theground is high, and he has beensuccessful in that.

Doval, during his meetings,

conveyed in clear terms thatthere should be no inconve-nience to the people in gener-al public.

During his stay in the city,he also toured downtown areas,including the sensitive Eidgahlocality, which is notorious forincidents of stone pelting atsecurity forces.

The NSA also ensuredsmooth coordination betweenall arms of security forces in J-K and gelling them with avail-able intelligence inputs forsmooth operations in the hin-terland as well as along the lineof control.

On August 5, theGovernment announced thedecision to abrogate special sta-tus of Jammu & Kashmir underArticle 370 of the Constitution,and dividing the state into twoUnion Territories. PTI

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Patna: An AK-47 rifle wasrecovered from the ancestralhouse of controversial BiharMLA Anant Singh on Fridayduring a raid which also yield-ed a large number of ammu-nition and explosives.

Acting on a tip-off, a policeparty raided the house of Singha multiple term MLA fromMokama at Nadawan village inBarh sub-division of ruralPatna where bomb disposalsquad has also been sum-moned to defuse the explosivesthat have been recovered.

We had received informa-tion that some illegal arms andexplosives were stashed insidethe house. Accordingly, weconducted a raid. The AK-47rifle was found wrapped insheets of paper. Ammunitionand explosives were also recov-ered and bomb disposal squadwill do the needful,Superintendent of Police(Rural), Patna, Kantesh Kumar

Mishra told reporters at Barh,about 70 kms from here.

Notably, Singh nicknamed"Chhote Sarkar" has longcriminal record and wasrecently summoned to thePolice Headquarters in Patnafor giving his voice sample inconnection with a bid on thelife of a Mokama-based con-tractor.

The MLA angrily reactedto the raid conducted on hisancestral house and alleged aconspiracy has been hatchedagainst me at the behest ofLalan Singh as part of whichweapons not belonging to meare being shown as havingbeen recovered. My house hasalso been badly vandalizedduring the raid.

Notably, Rajiv RanjanSingh alias Lalan is the JD(U)MP from Munger the LokSabha constituency underwhich Mokama assembly seg-ment falls. He had clinched the

seat defeating the MokamaMLAs wife Neelam Devi whocontested on a Congress tick-et by a huge margin.

However, Mishradebunked the allegations lev-elled by the MLA and pointedout the raid was carried out inpresence of a magistrate, inaccordance with law, as well asthe caretaker of the house.Moreover, videography hasbeen done of the entire exer-cise.

Singh was formerly knownto be close to Chief MinisterNitish Kumar but fell out withthe latter ahead of the 2015assembly elections which led tohis exit from the JD(U) andcontesting and retaining hisseat as an Independent.

Thereafter, the MLA —known for his strong-arm tac-tics — has been accusingJD(U) leaders of conspiringagainst him to get him framedin criminal cases. PTI

Srinagar: A Kashmir-basedjournalist, who was picked upfrom his home in Pulwama bysecurity forces on Thursdaynight, has been released on abond, officials said on Friday.

Irfan Malik, a correspon-dent with the Greater Kashmirnewspaper, was questionedbefore being released, theysaid.

It was not immediatelyknown as to why was hedetained. Officials, however,

said a bond is taken fromthose who indulge in anti-social activities.

After the Governmentremoved Jammu & Kashmir'sspecial status on August 5, itimposed restrictions on freemovement of people, prevent-ed large gatherings, put curbson telecom connectivity andannounced closure of schoolsand colleges.

A few preventive deten-tions of individuals were alsomade in accordance with theprovisions of the law to main-tain peace, a senior official saidon Friday.

A media centre was set upto enable media to coverevents in the state with regu-lar press briefings by seniorofficials, the officials told jour-nalists. PTI

*�������,��� �� ��� ��������������Jammu: The National PanthersParty (NPP) on Friday said aparty delegation would be meet-ing central leaders in Delhi toapprise them of some of theimmediate concerns of the peo-ple in the wake of the reorgan-isation of J&K. The NPP team,comprising of former legislatorsand some senior leaders, woulddiscuss among other things the

desirability of enactment ofdomicile laws so as to protect theland of state subjects from get-ting into the hands of outsideland mafia, NPP chairman andformer minister Harsh DevSingh said in a statement here.The team will also demand tofurther protect the interests ofthe local youth in the employ-ment, he added. PTI

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In a major embarrassment forthe Trinamool Congress, the

Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) probing the larger con-spiracy angle of the Sharadhaand other chit fund cases, onFriday, interrogated ParthoChatterjeem, a comparativelyless controversial face of theBengal ruling outfit.

In a similar vein, CBI alsoquestioned former KolkataPolice Commissioner RajivKumar in Rose Valley case.

Chatterjee, one of thesenior-most leaders, a key aideof Chief Minister MamataBanerjee and State EducationMinister, was grilled for aboutfour hours in connection to theSharada chit fund case, sourcessaid adding his name croppedup during the interrogation ofTMC Rajya Sabha MP DerekO’Brien and party general sec-

retary Subroto Bakshi.“Chatterjee's name sur-

faced up during the question-ing of Mr O'Brien last week,sources said adding “we got hisname in connection withalleged funding of the party'snewspaper, Jago Bangla.”Chatterjee is the editor of theTMC mouthpiece and O’Brienis the publisher.

On the reason of him beingquestioned in the chit fund caseChatterjee said he had beencalled to not on individualcapacity but to explain someorganisational transactionsbetween the Sharada groupand the party as such.

CBI sources saidChatterjee’s statements wererecorded and would becounter-checked adding “Ifneed be he may be summonedlater on.”

The CBI earlier turneddown the request of Kumar

who had earlier sought amonth’s time for appearance.

The former CP, currentlyacting as the AdditionalDirector General of CID, wasquestioned for more than threehours and was asked to explainhis role in some transactions atBurdwan. He was questionedabout his role in some land dealat Burdwan, inside sources said.

Meanwhile, Kumar onFriday got a judicial respitewith the Calcutta High Courtextending the order stoppinghis arrest till September 3. TheCourt had earlier directed himnot to venture out of his offi-cial bungalow and to appear atthe CBI office whenever askedto do so.

A major political stormkicked up last year when theChief Minister personallydescending on the streets insupport of Kumar after CBIraided his bungalow.

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Lucknow: BSP PresidentMayawati on Friday chargedthe Congress Government inRajasthan with laxity, sayingthe accused in the Pehlu Khanmob lynching case were acquit-ted due to its "gross negligence".

An Alwar court onWednesday acquitted all the sixaccused in the lynching case ofPehlu Khan.

"Due to gross negligenceand inaction of the Congressgovernment of Rajasthan, allthe six accused in the infamousPehlu Khan mob lynching casehave been acquitted by thelower court there. This is mostunfortunate," Mayawati saidin a tweet.

"Would this have been pos-sible if the government therewas cautious in ensuring justiceto the victim's family, perhaps

never," she added.Pehlu Khan (55), his two

sons and a few others weretransporting cows when theywere allegedly stopped andthrashed by a mob nearBehror in Alwar district onApril 1, 2017. Khan later diedin a hospital. PTI

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Panaji: People dependent oniron ore mining in Goa onFriday urged Union HomeMinister Amit Shah to con-vene a meeting of the Groupof Ministers (GoM), led byhim, to discuss the issue ofresumption of the industry inthe state.

The GoM, which has beenformed to examine the vexedissue of mining in Goa,includes Union Ministers forFinance, Environment,Agriculture, Mining,Commerce and Industries,Petroleum and Law. It is led byShah.

"The complete closure ofmining in Goa since March

2018 has had a devastatingeffect on the dependents of theindustry. This has severelyimpacted the state's economyand resulted in a heavy drainon the revenues," PutiGaonkar, president of the GoaMining People's Front(GMPF), said.

GMPF is an umbrellaorganisation of the peoplerendered jobless following theclosure of the key industry.

"A GMPF delegation,under the leadership of GoaChief Minister PramodSawant, wants to meet Shah topresent our case before himonce again...This would helpsustain the livelihood of lakhs

of people and provide a strongboost to the ailing economy ofthe state," he added.

The GMPF representa-tives had met Shah in Januarythis year to discuss the issue.

"A follow-up meeting wassupposed to be held by Julyend. However no such meet-ing has taken place so far.Hence, we request the homeminister to kindly convene ameeting of the GoM on themining issue at the earliest," hesaid.

The mining industry inGoa has come to standstillsince March 2018 after theSupreme Court quashed 88mining leases. PTI

Unnao (UP): Rape accusedMLA Kuldeep Singh Sengarmay have been expelled fromthe BJP but he found a promi-nent place along with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi in anadvertisement given by a partyleader on the occasion ofIndependence Day.

In the advertisementinserted in the local edition ofa leading daily, Ungu NagarPanchayat chairman AnujKumar Dixit used the pictureof the Bangarmau legislatorand his wife Sangeeta SinghSengar, who is the chairman ofthe zila panchayat.

Ungu falls under the theBangarmau assembly segmentand it was Sengar who hadreportedly brought Dixit intothe BJP fold.

The advertisement alsohas pictures of Union HomeMinister Amit Shah, UP ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath, stateBJP chief Swatantra Dev Singhand Uttar Pradesh assemblyspeaker Hriday Narain Dixit.

Dixit, when approached bythe media, defended himselffor giving Sengar's picture.

He said, "It is there as heis the MLA of our area." TheBJP has distanced itself fromthe controversy. Partyspokesperson ShalabhmaniTripathi said, "It might havebeen someone's personalchoice to give Sengar's photo-graph. It has nothing to dowith the party or the StateGovernment."

"Whatever had to be doneby the party or by the govern-ment, has been done. We haveno sympathy for Sengar," hetold PTI in Lucknow. PTI

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Kozhikode: A 31-year old manwas arrested on Friday near herefor allegedly giving instant tripletalaq to his wife, in the first suchcase in Kerala after the practicebecame a criminal offence,police said.

E K Ussam (31) was arrest-ed in Mukkom following a war-rant issued by the ThamarasseryJudicial First Class MagistrateCourt. This is the first arrest inthe state under the MuslimWomen (Protection of Rights onMarriage) Act, 2019 after theParliament passed the tripletalaq bill last month and thePresident gave his assent to it,

police said. "On the basis of thedirections of the magistrate, hewas arrested and producedbefore the court. His wife haddirectly complained to the courtwhich issued the warrant," asenior police official told PTI.

The man has been chargedunder section 3 which makespronouncement of talaq bywords, either spoken or writtenor in any other manner what-soever void and illegal and sec-tion 4 that provides for pun-ishment with imprisonmentfor a term which may extend tothree years and shall also beliable to fine. PTI

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Jaipur: The father of a Dalitman who was allegedly beat-en to death last month after hismotorcycle hit a woman inRajasthan's Alwar district hascommitted suicide, police saidon Friday.

They said Ratiram Jatav(60) consumed a poisonoussubstance on Thursday, amonth after his son died at aDelhi hospital.

Harish (28) had sustainedserious head injuries on July16 after he was allegedlythrashed by a group of menwhen his motorcycle hit thewoman.

No suicide note has beenrecovered and Ratiram's bodyhas been kept at a hospital'smortuary for post-mortem,Chaupanki police station in-charge Vijay Kumar Chandelsaid.

His family members onFriday refused to get the post-mortem conducted. They helda protest at Alwar's TapukdaCommunity HealthcareCentre, demanding compen-sation and a job for one of the

family members.Alwar Superintendent of

Police Anil Paris Deshmukhsaid Ratiram's family hasdemanded a compensation ofRs 1 crore.

He added that the accused

in Harish's killing have beenbooked under section 302(murder) of the Indian PenalCode (IPC) and the investi-gation is underway.

Blaming the Congress-ledRajasthan government for the

incident, state BJP spokesper-son Satish Punia demanded aCBI inquiry into Harish'skilling.

"Ratiram committed sui-cide as he was disappointedover not getting justice for hisson. Accused named in theFIR have not been arrestedeven after a month of Harish'sdeath," Punia said at a pressconference.

"It seems that protection ofDalits and majority commu-nity is not the state govern-ment's priority. The govern-ment tried to sweep the mat-ter under the carpet by givingRs 4 lakh compensation (toHarish's family)," he added.

Punia claimed that thepolice booked the accusedunder section 302 of the IPConly after the local leadersprotested. PTI

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A34-year-old man was killedand 17 people were injured

after lighting struck the south-ern gates of historic VictoriaMemorial in Kolkata. The con-dition of all those injured con-tinued to be critical but stable,sources at the SSKM Hospitalwhere they were rushed in bythe police said.

Three other persons of afamily were killed by lighting atPurulia bordering Jharkhand,sources said. The thunderstruck when the farmers wereworking in the field. One per-son was seriously injured andwas undergoing treatment.

The rain gods finallysmiled on South Bengal —

which had thus far experi-enced more than 50 per centshortage in average rain fall —pouring down heavily onFriday late noon even as theweather man predicted heavyshowers for another 48 hours.

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Vadodara: As many as 35crocodiles have been rescued sofar from various parts of thecity ever since heavy rains bat-tered the city and its sur-rounding areas over a fortnightago, a forest official said onFriday.

The city and its adjoiningareas had received nearly 500mm of rainfall in a day tillAugust 1 morning, which hadcreated a flood-like situation.Water from the overflowingVishwamitri river entered sev-eral localities in the city, bring-ing with it many crocodiles.

According to the official,till August 8, around 22 croc-odiles had been rescued. After

that, at least 13 others were res-cued from various parts of thecity.

"Apart from the forestdepartment, volunteers ofNGOs working in the field ofwildlife and animal welfare, aswell as teams of NDRF areinvolved in the task of safelycapturing and rescuing croco-diles from parts of the city,"Vadodara range forest officer(RFO), Nidhi Dave, said.

"They had captured 22 croc-odiles till August 8. After thatthey rescued another 13 croco-diles from different localities inthe city, thereby taking the totalnumber of crocodiles rescued to35," she added. PTI

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Jodhpur: The railways onFriday cancelled operations ofThar Link Express that connectsJodhpur in India to Karachi inPakistan, officials said, a devel-opment that temporarily snapsall rail links between the twocountries, as the services ofSamjhauta Express have alreadybeen suspended.

The railways said it can-celled the services of Thar LinkExpress from Jodhpur asPakistan has already suspendedits operations on their side.

"We have been continu-ously chasing Pakistan about thestatus of Thar Express runningon its end. But we have not gotany response. We cannot leaveour passengers in limbo. So inview of Pakistan cancelling thetrain on its end, we have alsodecided to cancel its operationon our end till further orders,"North Western Railway's ChiefPublic Relations Officer AbhaySharma told PTI.

Another railway spokesper-son said here that the Thar LinkExpress would not undertake itsjourney scheduled for early

Saturday (1 am) and the admin-istration has initiated theprocess of cancellation of all the45 tickets which have beenissued so far.

"The directions (to suspendthe train) were issued by therailway ministry to the NorthWestern Railway on Friday,"said Gopal Sharma, thespokesperson for JodhpurDivision-NWR.

The weekly train departsfrom Jodhpur's Bhagat Ki Kothirailway station on Saturdaysand reach Munabao, the last sta-tion on the Indian side of theborder, early morning of the day.At the zero point on the inter-national border with Pakistan,passengers change trains. Anda train from Pakistan then takesthem to Karachi.

"Till now, 45 tickets havebeen issued. But with this orderin effect now, we are cancellingthe tickets," said Sharma.

The Thar Express has beenrunning between Jodhpur andKarachi since services resumedon February 18, 2006 after a 41-year suspension.

The train service was notsuspended even after the dead-ly terrorist attack in Pulwama onFebruary 14 which sent the ten-sion between the two countriessoaring.

According to estimates, overfour lakh passengers have takenthe train in the past 13 years.

Last Saturday, the trainhad departed from Bhagat KiKothi station with 165 pas-sengers. The train fromPakistan was also received suc-cessfully by India with as manypassengers.

Pakistan had last weekannounced suspension of alltrain services to India after theCentre scrapped provisions ofArticle 370 and divided Jammu& Kashmir into two Union ter-ritories.

Pakistan also stopped theLahore-Wagah SamjhautaExpress services — the main raillink between the two hostileneighbours. Following the move,the Indian Railways announcedon Sunday that it has cancelledthe New Delhi-Attari SamjhautaExpress on its side. PTI

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In yet another setback to theOpposition NCP ahead of the

October 2019 State Assemblypolls, former MLA DhanrajHaribahu Mahale — who hadquit the Shiv Sena and joinedthe Sharad Pawar-led party andcontested the recent Lok Sabhapolls from Dindori constituen-cy — returned to the parentparty on Friday.

Mahale, who had unsuc-cessfully contested the LokSabha polls on an NCP ticket,rejoined the Shiv Sena in thepresence of its presidentUddhav Thackeray. Uddhavwelcomed Mahale back into theSena by tying a saffron threadon the latter’s hand symbolis-ing ‘Shiv Bandhan’ and hand-ing him a party flag.

The NCP has been losing itsleaders to the ruling Shiv Senaand BJP one after another inrecent months in the run-up tothe State Assembly polls.

First, it was NCP’s formerminister and once Pawar’sclose-confidant Jaydutta

Kshirsagar from Beed districtin Marathwada who quit theNCP and joined the Shiv Senaon May 22, 2019. later on July10, sitting MLA from ShahpurPandurang Barora quit theNCP and entered the Sena.Later, NCP’s Mumbai unit pres-ident Sachin Ahir quit theparty and joined the ruling ShivSena on July 25.

Similarly, three sittingMLAs Shivrajendra Bhosale(Satara), Vaibhav Pichad (Akolein Ahmednagar district) andSandeep Naik (Airoli in NaviMumbai), NCP’s former stateNCP president and SharadPawar’s erstwhile confidantMadhukar Pichad, NaviMumbai’s former Mayor SagarNaik and NCP’s former womenpresident Chitra Wagh joinedthe BJP on July 31.

Mahale’s re-entry to theShiv Sena is a classic case ofpolitical musical chair gamebeing witnessed inMaharashtra ahead of the StateAssembly polls. Mahale hadquit the Shiv Sena to contest theLok Sabha polls on a NCP.

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Opposition parties mayallege Edappadi

Palaniswami-led AIADMKGovernment as corrupt andinefficient. But that has notdeterred the Chief Ministerfrom taking steps to facilitategovernance easily accessible tothe people of the State. Whileaddressing the theIndependence Day Parade atFort Saint George in Chennai,the Chief Minister deliveredyet another pro-people act bydeclaring the formation oftwo more districts in the State.

With the announcementof two more districts, Ranipetand Thirupattur by trifurcat-ing the district of Vellore,Tamil Nadu will have 37 dis-tricts. The number of districtsin Tamil Nadu went up by fiveduring the last eight months.

“We have created 85taluks and 11 revenue divi-sions since 2015,” said RBUdhayakumar, Tamil NaduMinister for Revenue. He alsosaid that the creation for newdistricts was the first steptowards effective administra-

tion.“You can watch a marked

difference in the quality ofgovernance with the creationof these new districts. TheDistrict Collectors who are thebosses of the districts wouldfind it easy to monitor theprogress of governmentschemes and ensure that theaspirations of the populationget fulf i l led,” saidUdhayakumar.

S Ramdoss, founder, PMKand a staunch critic of theEdappadi PalaniswamyGovernment was the first tocongratulate the chief minis-ter for the bold initiative.“This is a right step in theright direction. The districtsin Tamil Nadu have becomedifficult to administer becauseof population explosion andthe area of each unit . Smallerarea and lesser populationshould be the criteria to carveout districts. The districtadministration should be ableto attend to the grievances ofthe public within minutes andresolve them fast,” DrRamadoss told The Pioneer.

The PMK founder is alsoof the view that there is

enough potential to carve outsmaller districts from theexisting large land mass. “I feelthe number of assembly andparliamentary constituenciestoo should be increased basedon the population. This wouldmake it easy for legislators andParliament members to gojustice to their electorate,”said Ramadoss.

Most retired civil servantstoo made it known that morethe number of districts, thepeople stand to benefit.“There will be employmentgeneration in government ser-vices as well as in businessestablishments. It will be awin-win situation,” saidSwaran Singh , a former ChiefSecretary.

People who are familiarwith local body governanceare of the view that once thelocal bodies are in place afterthe election, the quality ofadministration would be vis-ible. “Based on the present daypopulation, Tamil Nadushould gave at least 60 districtsfor speedy and fair gover-nance,” said Ramadoss whobelieves in the dictum small isbeautiful.

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With three more deaths,the toll in the flood-

ravaged western Maharashtrarose to 54 on Friday, even asthe authorities restored amajority of flood-ravagedroads and bridges and dis-tributed a total cash relief of�16.88 crore among the floodvictims in the Pune revenuedivision.

Sangli, which is one of thetwo worst flood-hit districts inwestern Maharashtra afterKolhapur, accounted for amaximum of 26 deaths,including 17 persons killed ina boat tragedy on August 8.

While there have been 10deaths in Kolhapur, Pune andSatara districts have reportednine and eight deaths respec-tively. There has been onedeath in Solapur district. Fourpersons have been missing inSangli, Kolhapur and Punedistricts.

The situation in Sangliand Kolhapur districts, whichwitnessed unprecedentedfloods early this month, is fastreturning to normal. “We haverestored traffic on the 37 outof the total 47 damaged roadsin Sangli. In Kolhapur, traffichas resumed in 65 out of the

total 88 roads which had beenclosed early this month. StateTransport bus services haveresumed on 39 out of 45 routesin Sangli and on 26 out of 31routes in Kolhapur district,”Pune DivisionalCommissioner Dr DeepakMhaisekar said.

With banking servicescrippling back to normal in theaffected areas, the banks havereopened 229 ATS out of total329 ATMs in Sangli districtand 390 out of 647 ATMs inKolhapur district.

The relief work has pickedup pace during the past fewdays. “We have distributedcash relief amounting to atotal of �16,88,75,000 among33,775 flood victim families infive districts of the Pune rev-enue division at the rate of�5000 per family. Similarly, wehave distributed 2388.9 quin-tals of wheat, 2,388.9 quintalsof rice and 10,251 litres ofkerosene among 23,889 affect-ed families,” Mhaisekar said.

As many as 7,847 cattleincluding cows, bulls and buf-faloes have perished in theflood waters, while more 1,065goats, sheep and 160 calves ordonkeys have either beenkilled or have gone missingduring the floods.

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Bengaluru: Apparently facedwith criticism from a section ofvillagers and political class,Karnataka Chief Minister BSYediyurappa on Fridaydropped the offer to renameflood-hit villages after donorswho contribute more than �10crore for relief works.

The offer has now beenmodified, and the ChiefMinister said such donors con-tributing for the developmentof the flood-affected villageswould have the new layouts,which would come up there,named after them, not vil-lages.

"Clarification: ChiefMinister had announced thatdonors contributing more than�10 crore will have the layoutsnamed after them, not the vil-lages," he tweeted.

Yediyurappa's announce-

ment on Wednesday at a meet-ing with industrialists and cor-porates in the wake of last fort-night's rain fury that left 62people dead, that villages wouldbe renamed after companies ifthey give more than Rs tencrore had drawn criticism fromsome villagers and the JDS.

The contention of thosevillagers and some JDS leadersis that changing village name isnothing short of losing one'sidentity.

The JD(S), headed by for-mer Prime Minister HD DeveGowda, had termed the move"Tughlaq"-like.

".. Please don't make peo-ple who have lost everything inthe floods to lose the name oftheir village," the party hadsaid.

"Do not put Karnataka upfor sale". PTI

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Thiruvananthapuram/Bengaluru/Amaravati: The situationin Kerala and Karnataka, bat-tered by heavy rains over thepast several days improved onFriday with the combined toll inthe two states rising to 176,while the Krishna and Godavaririvers in Andhra Pradesh werein spate.

Over five lakh people havebeen housed in 1,758 reliefcamp in these three states.

There was some respite forthe rain battered Kerala for thesecond consecutive day, evenas the toll climbed to 111with more bodies beingretrieved from landslide hitareas in Malappuram andWayanad districts. The sunnyweather helped in search oper-ations as more bodies wereretrieved from Kavalapparain Malappuram andPuthumala in Meppadi in

Wayanad, the worst hit in thesecond spell of rains sinceAugust 8.

Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan said 31 persons were stillmissing and over 1.47 lakh arein 891 camps across the state.

"111 lives lost; 31 missing.Now there are 891 relief camps.1,47,286 persons from 46,450families are in these camps.

As per initial estimates 1,116houses were fully damaged,11,935 houses suffered partial damages," Vijayan tweeted.

In Karnataka, the toll in rainrelated incidents went up to 65on Friday with the recovery ofthree more bodies, according toofficials

While 14 people are stillclassified as missing, nearlyseven lakh people have beenevacuated till date.

The Karnataka government

said inflows into reservoirs hasreduced and the situation hasimproved in affected districts ofnorth, coastal and Malnadregions, where the rain fury hadcreated mayhem in the last cou-ple of weeks.

As many as 849 relief campsare operational in Karnataka,housing 3,20,106 people, anofficial release said.

It said 103 taluks in 22 dis-tricts have been affected byfloods and incessant rains overthe past few days,resulting in lossof agriculture and horticulturecrops on 6.9 lakh hectares anddamaging 74,374 houses.

In Andhra Pradesh, morethan 4,200 people have beenmoved to relief camps as theKrishna river is in spate, caus-ing floods and affecting life inseverals mandals of Guntur andKrishna districts on Friday,authorities said. PTI

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Thane: A court here has sen-tenced three brothers fromMaharashtra's Palghar district toseven years of rigorous impris-onment for physically torturingpatients at the de-addiction cen-tre run by them and also forpractising black magic on them.

Thane district court judgeShailendra Tambe, in his orderpassed on Wednesday, alsoimposed a fine of Rs 1.2 lakh oneach of the convicts KantilalPurushottam Deshmukh (52),Nandkumar (58) and Umesh(46). Additional public prose-cutor Rekha Hiwrale told thecourt that the trio ran Om ShivArogyadham Daru MuktiKendra, a de-addiction centre inWada, which was previously inThane district.

However, they used to beatpatients with belts and otherthings. They used to threatenvictims that if they don't followdirections, they would undergopain and also face consequences.This continued between 2010and 2015, she said.

The court relied on thestatements given by over a dozenvictims and inspector SanjayHazare, who investigated thecase. Hazare told the court thata dozen victims and their rela-tives, who had come to the de-addiction center, were merci-lessly beaten in the name of dri-ving away evil spirits.

The court found the trioguilty under IPC sections 420(cheating and dishonestly induc-ing delivery of property), 323(voluntarily causing hurt), 506(criminal intimidation) and 201(causing disappearance of evi-dence) and also under sectionsof the Maharashtra Preventionand Eradication of HumanSacrifice and other Inhuman,Evil and Aghori Practices andBlack Magic Act, 2013. PTI

Kohima: Nagaland GovernorRN Ravi said on Friday that allsubstantive issues betweennegotiators and the Centre onthe Naga political problemhave been resolved and assuredpeople that Article 371(A) ofthe Constitution will not berepealed.

Ravi, who was earlier theinterlocutor for the Naga peacetalks, said Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had told himbefore he joined as Governorthat the Naga peace processmust be concluded within threemonths.

Chief Minister NeiphiuRio expressed hope that thevexed issue would be settledsoon with Ravi taking over asthe Governor of Nagaland.

Ravi, who assumed officeon August 1, quoted the PrimeMinister as saying, "Now wemust conclude the peaceprocess... Having resolved allthe issues we must do it with-in three months time."

"We need to do it becausethe status quo as it standstoday is unbearable to the

Naga people," the Governorsaid.

Referring to the fear in thepeople on withdrawal of Article371(A), which gives certainspecial rights to someNortheast States, he said it is asolemn commitment of theGovernment of India to theNagas and not impermanent asArticle 370.

He said there is no simi-larity between articles 370 and371(A), which is a product ofover three years of negotiationbetween the people ofNagaland and the Centre. Thegovernor said any attempt todraw a parallel between the twoarticles is either due to misun-derstanding, or is mischievous.

"Even in our negotiationsthat we are at today, we are try-ing to bring something morethan what 371(A) says andthere is no question of dilutingit, but to strengthen it," he tolda gathering of tribal bodies, civilsocieties, citizens and legislatorsof the state at a civic receptionby the State in his honour.

On the Naga peace process,

he said, "All the substantiveissues have been resolved andthere is nothing left. We (Naganegotiators and the Centre)have agreed that with the Centrerecognising the unique historyof the Nagas, the settlement ison the basis of power sharingand peaceful coexistence."

"We know the sentimentsin the neighbouring States. Weare not opposed to integrationof Naga areas, in fact we haveconsidered and accepted ithappily," he added.

"It is the legitimate right ofthe Naga people to pursue andachieve integration throughdemocratic political process,"he said.

Ravi said the rest of thecountry is moving forward ata fast pace and has become thehub of startups and favouritedestination for global invest-ment. But the people ofNagaland are craving for basicnecessities like motorableroads, assured power supply,education, access to health careand decent employment foryouths. PTI

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Bengaluru: The JD(S) onFriday took a dig at the one-man Cabinet of the BSYediyurappa Governmentclaiming that the ChiefMinister is both the proposerand approver of projects worththousands of crores of rupees.

The regional party alsoinvoked "Nikhil Yellidiyappa"(Where are You Nikhil) cam-paign, on Yediyurappa and asked"YadiyurappaCabinetYellappa"(Yediyurappa where is cabinet).

"Nikhil Yellidiyappa"phrase with its multiple funnyversions had gone viral duringthe Mandya Lok Sabha pollcampaign, from where JD(S)

leader and former ChiefMinister H D Kumaraswamy'sson Nikhil Kumaraswamy wasthe party candidate.

Nikhil lost to SumalathaAmbareesh, an independentcandidate supported by theBJP.

"Minutes of KarnatakaCabinet meeting held recently-Yadiyurappa (Yediyurappa)called Yadiyurappa for cabinetmeeting. Yadiyurappa pro-posed projects worth thou-sands of crores.

Yadiyurappa approved allthe projects proposed byY a d i y u r a p p a .#YadiyurappaCabinetYellappa,"JD(S) tweeted.

Yediyurappa, who tookoath as the Chief Minister onJuly 26 and proved his govern-ment's majority on the floor ofthe assembly on July 29, is yetto induct any minister into hiscabinet.

Yediyurappa is currently ona visit to Delhi during which hewould hold talks with partypresident Amit Shah andfinalise the much awaitedexpansion of his cabinet.

Yediyurappa had onThursday said he would be inDelhi on Friday and the dayafter. "I will also talk to AmitShah regarding cabinet andcome to final decision beforecoming back," he added. PTI

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Bengaluru: The Congress inKarnataka onFridaythreatened to agitateagainst the "anti-people" standof the BJP government in thestate as well as the Centre, andslammed the latter for notreleasing Rs 5,000 crore forflood relief in Karnataka.

"We have been demand-ing release of Rs 5,000 crore asan interim relief, which theunion government is yet totake adecision.

That is why we aredemanding either to act ortoresign and go. Otherwise we

are going to expose theanti-people attitude of the BJP inthe floor of the House andsoalso in the public," Congressspokesperson V S Ugrappatoldreporters.

He slammed the unionministers "for doing nothing"even after visiting the State.

"The union government, itappears, is going to send ateam. If that was the casethen why NiramalaSitharaman (finance minis-ter) visited, why Amit Shah(union home minister) visitedKarnataka? PTI

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Page 8: ˇ#˘ ˚’()* *#%*%3 .*/0(12 & # /, 5)*)2/)6%/)) #11%6)& /27 ...€¦ · and broadband connections are being restored gradually. Therefore, we will take up the petition with other

The International Panel on ClimateChange’s (IPCC) latest report,released earlier this month and stat-ing that the process of producingand making food available

accounts annually for a quarter of globalgreenhouse gas emissions, requires seriousattention. The second in the series of theorganisation’s specially-focussed reports andentitled Climate Change and Land, the valid-ity of its observations is hardly in doubt.

Agriculture cuts both ways. As thereport says, it accounts for 37 per cent of allgreenhouse gas emissions if one takes intoaccount both the percentage generated byglobal food production and activities liketransportation and the work of energy andfood processing industries. On its part, climatechange adversely impacts agriculture byaffecting cropping pattern and reducingcrop output through changing temperaturesand unpredictable weather fluctuations.Worse, a quarter of the food produced is lostor wasted and, as the report further points out,“global food loss and waste contributed 8 to10 per cent of total anthropogenic (man-made) GHQ (greenhouse gas) emissions”during 2010 and 2016.

Besides agriculture, a number of land-based activities like forestry, cattle-rearing andurbanisation have contributed to the carbonload. While noting this, the report also takesinto account the manner in which climatechange impacts these. It further argues thatmeasures like reduction in food wastage, sus-tainable agricultural practices and the con-sumption of more plant-based rather thananimal-based food could reduce the emissionof greenhouse gases estimated to be about 49billion tonnes of CO2 annually.

It will not be easy to implement thereport’s recommendations. It will take a hugeexercise of will by several billion humanbeings. Dietary habits, evolving ever sincehumankind appeared on earth, will be dif-ficult to change. These, however, will haveto, particularly since options are available.The alternative can be as drastic as theextinction of the species.

The danger is very real. Other specieshave been disappearing at an alarming rate.A report by the World Wildlife Fund’s(WWF) conservation group, titled LivingPlanet, said human activity had wiped out,between 1970 and 2014, 60 per cent of all ani-mals with backbones — fish, birds, amphib-ians, reptiles and mammals. Referring to suchactivity, the WWF International’s director-general, Marco Lambertini, has said that hunt-ing, shrinking habitat, pollution, illegal tradeand climate change had been too much forthem to overcome.

The subject of mass extinction has beencausing worry for quite some time. IanJohnston writing in The Independent of theUnited Kingdom in 2017, cited scientists writ-ing in a special edition of the magazine,Nature, that humans were causing the sixthmass extinction of life on earth. Earlier,

Elizabeth Kolbert had written inThe Sixth Extinction: AnUnnatural History (first pub-lished in 2014), “Very, very occa-sionally in the distant past, theplanet has undergone change sowrenching that the diversity of lifehas plummeted. Five of theseancient events were catastroph-ic enough that they’re put in theirown category: The so-called BigFive. In what seems like a fantas-tic coincidence, but is probablyno coincidence at all, the histo-ry of these events is recovered justas people come to realise that theyare causing another one.”

There is no reason whyhumans can escape the process.A major cause is the populationincrease under way. Referring toit, Desmond Morris predicts inThe Naked Ape: A Zoologist’sStudy of the Human Animal,that a time will come when “thedensities we are now experienc-ing in our major cities wouldexist in every corner of theglobe. The consequences of allthis for all forms of wild animalsis obvious. The effect it wouldhave on our own species isequally depressing.”

Morris adds shortly there-after, “Long before our popula-tions reach the levels envisagedabove we shall have broken somany of the rules that govern ourbiological nature, that we shallhave collapsed as a dominantspecies….Many exciting specieshave become extinct in the pastand we are no exception.” Morris’

critics argue that the humanmind will, through technology,find a way of preventing this. Thisis laughable. Technology wouldremain a formulation on paperif the environment in which it hasto be applied disappears.Humankind has evolved, and issustained by, support from a widerange of plant and animal speciesproviding it with food and habi-tat. No technology can sustain itif these disappear.

Particularly severe will be theimpact of mass extinctions on thehuman mind, which PaulShepard writes in ThinkingAnimals: Animals and theDevelopment of HumanIntelligence, is at the centre ofhumanity’s pride in its indepen-dence “from animals and animal-ity.” According to him “the mindand its organ, the brain, are inreality that part of us mostdependent on the survival of ani-mals. We are connected to ani-mals not merely in the conve-nience of figures of speech — azoological equivalent of ‘floweryspeech’ — but by sinews that linkspeech to rationality, insight,intuition, and consciousness’.Animal images and forms play acritical role in the shaping ofhuman “personality, identity, andsocial consciousness. They arebasic to the development ofspeech and thought.”

The situation is grim.Addressing a preparatory meet-ing of the UN Climate ActionSummit scheduled to be held in

September, 2019, the UNSecretary General, AntonioGuterres had said in Abu Dhabion June 30 that climate changewas advancing at a rate that wasoutpacing efforts to address it.While lauding the Paris agree-ment, he said that the worldwould face a catastrophic threedegrees Celsius rise in tempera-ture by the end of, century.

Things would start becom-ing worse even earlier. TheSpecial Report on GlobalWarming of 1.5°C, released byIPCC on October 7, 2018, hadobserved that at the currentrate, the global mean tempera-ture — which is already onedegree Celsius above the pre-industrial revolution level — islikely to rise to the 1.5-degreemark sometime between 2030and 2052. It further stated thatwarming, even if limited to1.5°C, would not reduce the risksand impacts of climate change.Sea levels will continue to risebeyond 2100, threatening coastalecosystems and infrastructure.Flooding, drought and extremeweather events will wreak havocon communities around theglobe. Many species will contin-ue to be driven toward extinctionand marine ecosystems couldface “irreversible loss.”

The September meeting ofthe UN Climate Action Summithas its work cut out.

(The writer is ConsultantEditor, The Pioneer, and anauthor)

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Map of India” (August 16). PrimeMinister Narendra Modi in hisaddress to the nation on indepen-dence day once again made a freshpitch for simultaneous polls to theLok Sabha and State Assembliesbut did not elaborate on how it canbe done with an outdated poll sys-tem. It is essential that Modi takesthe initiative for consolidated andmassive poll reforms, which havebeen deferred for decades in thename of political consensus.

A Chief Minister (or thePrime Minister) should be simul-taneously elected with the Speakerand Deputy Speaker by secret andcompulsory votes through EVMsequipped with VVPAT on nom-inations signed by at least 34 percent of the House’s members.

Such elected incumbentsmay be removed only throughthe same process but only afteran alternative leader is named inthe same motion. This is the onlyway to prevent hung legislativebodies and unstableGovernments and pave the wayfor simultaneous elections.

SC AgrawalNew Delhi

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Gambling for high stakes”(August 13) by Deepak Sinha and“Lost art of development”(August 14) by Ashok K Mehta.

A major point made by Sinhawas that Kashmiriyat died thevery day the Hindu minoritywas targetted and forced to flee

the Valley to become refugees intheir own country. This point isconspicuously absent in GenMehta’s article.

Further, Gen Mehta quotesHaseeb Drabu, former FinanceMinister of Jammu & Kashmir,who said that linking Article 370to the “lack of development wasmisplaced” and that “the lack ofpublic and private investment wasdue to militancy and violence.”

But the root cause of militan-cy was not analysed objectively.Despite Article 370 being in placefor seven decades, a section ofMuslims refused to mainstreamthemselves. In this connection, itwill be apt to quote whatAmerican economist and andsocial theorist, Thomas Sowell,said: “When people get used topreferential treatment, equaltreatment seems as discrimina-

tion.” The abrogation of Article370 did just that.

SC PandaBhubaneswar

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Nature’s fury” (August 14). Thecatastrophic impact of monsoonrainfall has not just impactedKerala, Karnataka andMaharashtra but torrential rains inother States like Gujarat, Bihar andMadhya Pradesh, too, have creat-ing havoc. While the respectiveState Governments were pro-activein providing relief operations, it’stime we ask some tough questionsabout their preparedness to dealwith floods. While such extremeweather-related events can beattributed to climatic factors we,too, have failed to do our bit inunderstanding the monsoon andfinding ways to deal with its fury.

The vagaries of weatherdemand cooperation betweenStates and all stakeholders,including the Jal Shakti Ministry.

Bal GovindNoida

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Page 9: ˇ#˘ ˚’()* *#%*%3 .*/0(12 & # /, 5)*)2/)6%/)) #11%6)& /27 ...€¦ · and broadband connections are being restored gradually. Therefore, we will take up the petition with other

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All through its tenure beginning 2014, theModi Government demonstrated a highdegree of sensitivity to millions of poor and

downtrodden and spent prodigious sums on pro-viding basic amenities such as affordable hous-ing, electricity, sanitation, toilets, fuel and lique-fied petroleum gas (LPG), health care, educationetc to improve their lot.

In the last five years, it built 1.5 crore afford-able housing units and nine crore toilets, gave 2.6crore and seven crore electricity and gas connec-tions respectively and assured free medical treat-ment up to Rs 500,000 that covered 10 crore fam-ilies (or 50 crore people).

Under Modi 2.0, the government has vowedto build 1.9 crore houses by 2022, give 1.4 croreelectricity connections and provide safe drinkingwater to all homes under the ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan’.

It is also investing Rs 100 lakh crore in build-ing infrastructure such as irrigation facilities,roads, national highways, expressways, railwayprojects, ports, airports, waterways etc thatwould indirectly help improve the quality of lifeof millions of citizens. For instance, a vast net-work of rural roads enables farmers to carry theirproduce to the market with ease and in lesser time,thereby improving price realization and augment-ing income.

These are welcome measures that havehelped millions extricate themselves from pover-ty. Indeed, this was a major factor that enabledModi to secure a resounding mandate to be at thehelm of affairs of the country for another term.But, there’s a flip side to it, which relates to financ-ing of these investments that are being done inan ‘opaque’ and ‘non-transparent’ manner.

During 2018-19, the National Bank forAgriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)raised Rs 30,000 crore to finance the UnionGovernment’s rural affordable housing, sanitationand irrigation projects. The Housing and UrbanDevelopment Corporation (HUDCO) andNational Housing Bank (NHB) provided Rs20,000 crore to finance affordable urban hous-ing projects. Likewise, the Rural ElectrificationCorporation (REC) and Power FinanceCorporation (PFC) raised Rs 19,331 crore to fundthe Centre’s rural electrification schemes whichinclude free electricity connections to households.

The Food Corporation of India (FCI) bor-rowed Rs 70,000 crore from the National SmallSavings Fund (NSSF) to finance the shortfall infood subsidy allocation vis-à-vis the actualrequirement (including loans taken during 2016-17 and 2017-18 which were not paid back despitethe Centre’s commitment to do so. Incidentally,the FCI’s cumulative borrowing from the NSSFis around Rs 200,000 crore).

Similarly, fertiliser manufacturers borrowedRs 33,000 crore from commercial banks undera special banking arrangement (SBA) to fund theshortfall in budget provision for fertiliser subsidyas against the actual need.

Likewise, in the case of fuel subsidy, the PublicSector Undertakings (PSUs) involved in market-ing of LPG and kerosene, for instance Indian OilCorporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat PetroleumCorporation Limited (BPCL) and HindustanPetroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) tookloans to the tune of Rs 25,000 crore during 2018-19 to make up for unpaid dues by the Centre.

In the infrastructure sector, theNational Highways Authority of India(NHAI) borrowed Rs 61,000 crore forexecuting highways projects; IndianRailway Finance Corporation (IRFC)borrowed Rs 52,297 crore to fundimplementation of railway projects andPower Finance Corporation (PFC) tooka loan of Rs 97,000 crore to finance gov-ernment-sector power projects.

All these loans or Extra-BudgetaryResources (EBRs), though taken byPSUs, other state agencies and fertilis-er manufacturers under SBA are onbehalf of the Union Government andbacked by sovereign guarantee. TheUnion Government is solely responsi-ble for discharging these liabilities, yet,it decides not to reflect this on its bal-ance sheet. As such, these debts are notincluded in the reported Fiscal Deficit(FD).

All put together, the EBRs add upto a whopping Rs 407,628 crore thattranslates to about 2.3 per cent of theGross Domestic Product (GDP).

Had they been included, the FD for2018-19 would have been 5.7 per centinstead of 3.4 per cent reported in theUnion Budget. During 2017-18 also,according to the Comptroller andAuditor General (CAG), the FD wassuppressed by 2.4 per cent, courtesy theEBRs.

Most of the off-Budget borrowingsare meant for financing current con-sumptions like subsidies on food, fer-tilisers, fuel etc or investment for a bet-ter life for millions of poor families byproviding them affordable housing,free electricity connections, free gas con-nections, toilets and so on. Theseexpenditure or investments don’t yield

any returns for the Union Government.Even spending on infrastructure fails togenerate adequate revenue to fullyamortise the investment, as a sizeablechunk of the services and utilitiesoffered through these projects areunderpriced. A few cases in pointbeing, power to farmers and poorhouseholds, subsidised rail fare forpassengers and toll-free roads, etc.

This inability to make even inter-est payments and the ever-increasinggap between available resources andactual requirement having to be met bymore borrowings, leads to debt pile-upto ‘unsustainable’ levels. What makes thescenario appalling is that this debt is noteven seen on the balance sheet of theUnion Government. It seems that theCentre is sitting on an ‘invisible’ fiscalvolcano which could erupt without anywarning, and cause widespread devas-tation of unimaginable dimensions inthe process.

A government hiding its real stateof fiscal health gives wrong signals tovarious stakeholders, including for-eign investors. It can prompt them toreview their decision to invest in India(the plan to go for overseas sovereignborrowings — announced in the UnionBudget for 2019-20 — could be in jeop-ardy). The greater damage will beinflicted by way of further postpone-ment of long-pending reforms in cru-cial sectors like food, fertilisers, power,fuel etc, which otherwise have hugepotential for expenditure saving.

For funding the �100 lakh croreinvestments, in infrastructure in fiveyears, the government is banking a loton participation of the private sector. If,the former keeps an easy option on the

table (read: EBRs by PSUs and otheragencies), there would be less effort ingarnering the support and involvementof the latter.

There is an urgent need for bring-ing about transparency in funding ofwelfare schemes and investment ininfrastructure. All loans taken on behalfof the sovereign government, irrespec-tive of who borrows, should appear onits books and be included in the FD.This will give a true and fair view of theCentre’s finances and enable investorsto make credible assessment and takeinformed decisions.

The government will be forced toshed populism and restrict welfareschemes only to the most deserving. Itwill also have to carry out long-pend-ing reforms in key sectors such as food,fertilisers, fuel, power etc to allow for anincreased role of market forces with aview to reduce cost and enhance effi-ciency in operations and give subsidiesonly via Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).This, together with increasing tax col-lection (we are still far from realizing thefull potential of the Goods and ServicesTax) will help in garnering the requiredresources for infrastructure and welfareof the poor, even while sticking to thefiscal target.

The CAG has recommended thatthe government should put in place apolicy framework for reining in EBRswhich, amongst others, should alsoinclude disclosure to the Parliament.This lacklustre approach won’t do.Modi should go for completely doingaway with the practice of off-budgetfinancing.

(The writer is a New Delhi-basedpolicy analyst)

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Two consecutive Augusts havebrought only bad news forthe country, the BJP and

thousands of admirers of two of themost sophisticated, refined andrespected leaders of our times. Onethe mentee (Sushma Swaraj) of theother, while the other being amentor to perhaps thousands of us.

On this day last year, India lostone of its most progressive primeministers, Bharat Ratna Atal BihariVajpayee, the reformer in chief andthe original architect of a 21stCentury India. He started his careeras a journalist, but destiny had otherplans and he found himself in pol-itics. As a parliamentarian, he spentdecades in the Opposition, whichgave him the unique opportunity toidentify and, more importantly,highlight problems successive gov-ernments created sinceIndependence.

This experience came handyonce he became the Prime Minister.Even though he got the post thrice,and was destined to complete onlyone of those terms, still, in an eraearmarked by coalition politics, he

showed how a non-Congress gov-ernment could not just rule butprovide a strong and stable govern-ment.

The first time he became thePM, his government lasted just 13days and during the trust vote heshared an important flaw in India’spublic discourse. In his concludingspeech, he asked political parties tothink about the interest of peopleand work together in the event offractured mandates rather thanlook at petty political interests. Hepointed out that parties and govern-ments would come and go but thedemocratic set-up must be strength-ened, even as he resigned.

As no other political partymanaged to provide a stable gov-ernment, elections were held again.This time too, the BJP emerged asthe single-largest party, and he wasre-elected as PM. His short 13-month stint as PM was highlight-ed by two major achievements.First were the Pokhran-II tests,which were successfully conduct-ed despite international pressure.Though sanctions were imposed on

India post the tests, however, heappealed to Non-Resident Indians(NRIs) to invest or remit to Indiato help mitigate their impact. To thesurprise of many, Indians settledabroad rallied to the cause and senthuge amounts of money.

The other achievement was thedefeat of Pakistan during the Kargilconflict. Vajpayee became India’sfirst serving PM to enter an activewar zone as he visited soldiers inKargil to boost their morale.

During the 1999 elections, theNational Democratic Alliance,under the leadership of Vajpayeesecured a sizeable number of seatsand a stable government wasformed. Over the course of the nextfive years, India saw unprecedent-ed focus on developing a strongeconomy, public infrastructure andrural road networks. Be it the over-haul of the Public DistributionSystem or the Sarva ShikshaAbhiyaan, the focus was on makingIndia a modern country. It comes asno surprise that one of the most suc-cessful disinvestment drives hap-pened under his leadership.

In many ways, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s programmes are alogical extension of NDA-I. Be itinvestments in infrastructure, focuson education and delivery of pub-lic goods, Modi has amplified thescale of these programmes andstrengthened Vajpayee’s legacy. Hehas re-established ‘good-governance’in the country. If Vajpayee showedIndia that a non-Congress coalitioncould provide a strong govern-ment, Modi has shown that a non-Congress government can emergewith a majority on its own and helpIndia attain newer heights.

However, Vajpayee’s mostimportant legacy was in terms of hisdiplomatic efforts and success in sta-bilizing South Asia. He made sev-eral efforts towards mending rela-tions with all neighbours, includingPakistan, and even Modi, in his firstterm worked extensively to put inplace a dialogue process. The factthat political instability in Pakistanderailed it is a separate issue, but thefact that genuine attempts weremade by both will go down in his-tory as a sincere attempt to resolve

the 70-year-long conflict. Anotherparallel can be drawn when oneconsiders the Indo-US relationsnurtured by Vajpayee and strength-ened by Modi. The fact that theserelations were nurtured by Vajpayeedespite the US imposing sanctionspost Pokhran-II tests reflects hispragmatic foreign policy as he reit-erated that US and India were nat-ural allies.

However, Vajpayee was beyondpolitics and it was perhaps hishumble nature combined with clas-sic wit that made him one of India’smost adored leaders. For instance,it was very rare for him to say ‘no’to matters that were brought underhis consideration. His style was toask others to think more on the sub-ject as he navigated complex issueswith ease. Throughout his career, hewas known as the right man in thewrong party to which he respond-ed by asking how could he be rightif he was in the wrong party andhow could the party be wrong if hewas right?

A poet, at heart, I rememberonce we went to his place in the late

1980s as student leaders and heasked if we were hungry. We said yesand to our surprise, he cookedkhichdi for all of us; that was his sim-plicity. In one interview he men-tioned Chilli Chicken as hisfavourite food. The surprised inter-viewer asked him if it was the mostprudent answer given that he was aBrahmin. He replied, “If we aren’thonest to the people, then why arewe even in politics?”

After becoming the PM, hebecame concerned by the numberof restrictions on his personal free-dom. Fond of street food, it was per-haps this that he missed the most,along with his ability to cycle withhis best friend, LK Advani, ridingpillion. Post 2004, he retired fromactive politics and was away frompublic life from 2008 onwards.

There are very few partner-ships in politics that stand the testof time. The dynamic duo of Atal-Advani was one of those whereboth leaders stood side by side asthey built a political movement.They both often disagreed buttheir political and personal equa-

tions remained separate through-out their career. Often when theydisagreed during party meetings orlater in Cabinet meetings, they’dmeet for dinner and discussmovies. The Modi-Shah partner-ship is very similar to their part-nership and has built upon thispolitical movement to make it theworld’s largest political party.

The fact that despite Vajpayeebeing away from public life since2008, last year saw an entire nationstand still and mourn the loss of thecharismatic statesman, speaks vol-umes about the impression that he’sleft on all of us. A careful study ofhis life reveals how his politics wasgoverned by simplicity, honestyand integrity. While it is rare to findstatesmen like him, India would belucky if more leaders take inspira-tion from the life and times ofVajpayee.

(The writer is national con-venor of Project Samagra Atal ji,director at Public Policy ResearchCentre and was a member of thesocial media election committee forBJP in 2019 elections)

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The Finance ministry hasasked public sector banks

(PSBs) to initiate a month-longconsultation process with offi-cers starting from branch levelto seek suggestions for achiev-ing a $5-trillion economy infive years.

The suggestions emanatingfrom a month-long campaignbeginning Saturday will beused as inputs to prepare a roadmap for the future growth ofthe banking sector.

According to a communi-cation by the ministry to theheads of PSBs, it will be a bot-tom-up consultative processfrom the branch level onwards

which will involve discussionsat the branch or regional level,state level and national level.

The consultation process isaimed at aligning the bankingsector with national priorities,stimulating ideas and incul-cating a sense of involvementamong bankers at the branchlevel, it said.

The campaign envisagesnot only performance reviewbut synchronisation of bankingwith region-specific issues andtheir growth potential.

It also aims to find out roleof PSBs as active partners in theIndian growth story for thenext five years. The country hasset a goal of achieving a $ 5-tril-lion economy by 2024-25.

It will also find solution forenhanced ease of living makingbanks more responsive to cus-tomers and challenges beforebanks and their preparednessin areas such as cybersecurityand data analytics.

There will be focus on

raising credit offtake for sup-porting economic growth cred-it support to infrastructureand role of the banking sectorin doubling farmers’ incomeand water conservation.

Besides, supporting forgreen economy, improvingeducation loan and other sec-tors such as micro, small andmedium enterprises (MSMEs)and exports.

In addition, there will befocus on pushing digital econ-omy and financial inclusion, itsaid.

The consultative processwill be divided into three stageswith the first being at thebranch or regional level, fol-lowed by the state level. It will

culminate with a national-leveltwo-day brainstorming inDelhi.

The campaign comes at atime when the economy is fac-ing headwind and it has slowedto a 5-year low of 6.8 per cent.

There are ominous signsshowing that slowdown may bedeep. The automobile sector isfacing its worst crisis in twodecades and reports suggestthousands of job losses in theauto and ancillary industry.

In the real estate sector, thenumber of unsold homes hasincreased, while fast-movingconsumer goods (FMCG)companies have reported adecline in volume growth in thefirst quarter.

Though lending by banksto industries has shown a sig-nificant jump from 0.9 percent in the June 2018 quarter to6.6 per cent in the corre-sponding period this year, thesame to job-creating MSMEsector has slipped from 0.7 percent to 0.6 per cent during thesame period.

However, silver lining amidgloom is improvement in non-performing assets of the banks.

Last month, FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamantold Parliament that total badloans of commercial banksdeclined by �1.02 lakh crore to�9.34 lakh crore in 2018-19, onthe back of steps taken by theGovernment.

Ahmedabad: Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman on Fridaysaid her officials are in discus-sions with their counterparts inthe PMO and once the talks areover government will figure outwhat remedial steps should betaken and announce the same.

However, she refused to sayif Government is planning tocome out with a stimulus pack-age to arrest the deepening slow-down, or ruled the possibility ofone either.

“Since Monday, I have metfive different groups represent-ing banks and financial institu-tions, SMEs, industries and auto-mobiles and listened to theirproblems. We are analysing whatsteps should be taken now,” shetold reporters when asked abouta revival roadmap that her min-istry is planning to unveil.

“Yesterday (Thursday) wehad a meeting with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi on theeconomy,” the Minister added.

On a specific questionwhether Government will

announce a stimulus package,Sitharaman quipped: “I havenot talked about any stimuluspackage, and whatever appear-ing in a section of the media isnot given by me.

“Discussions are going onabout what steps should betaken and we will announcethem when we are ready,” was allshe would say.

Industry has for long beenseeking some stimulus mea-sures in the form of a GST reduc-tion across the sectors as it notjust auto sales-which had hit a 19year low in July plunging over 31percent, but even consumer sta-ples are facing the heat now. Theindustry also wants roll-back ofsome budget measures like thesuper rich tax on FPIs.

Since the budget, the mar-kets have tanked over 12 per centas the minister unveiled as slewof measures that have pouredcold water on sentiment, mak-ing it one of the worst post-bud-get losses since the economy wasopened up in 1991. PTI

Mumbai: The rupee recov-ered from early lows to closehigher by 13 paise at 71.14against the US currency onFriday in line with firm localequities, defying gains in thegreenback over-seas and foreigncapital outflows.

The rupeeopened on a weaknote and fell to aday’s low of 71.47due to gains inthe dollar and crude oil in glob-al markets.

Foreign investors pullingout �1,339 crore from equitieson a net basis also weighed onthe local unit.

However, a recovery inequity markets amid hopes ofa sector-specific stimulus pack-age by the government to arrestthe slowdown in the economyhelped the rupee pare losses

and touch a high of 70.50to the US dollar.

The local unit finallysettled at 71.14 against theUS dollar, showing a gainof 13 paise over the pre-vious close. OnWednesday, the rupee

had settled at 71.27 against theUS dollar.

The forex market wasclosed on Thursday for theIndependence Day.

On a weekly basis, the

rupee lost 36 paise primarilydue to heavy losses on Tuesdaydue to trade war concerns.

Forex traders said PrimeMinister Narendra Modi takingstock of the economy helpedboost investor sentiments.Modi on Thursday compre-hensively reviewed the state ofthe economy with FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanamid a slowdown in varioussectors.

There are expectations thatthe government would comeout with sector-specific stimu-lus sometime soon.

Meanwhile, the 10-yeargovernment bond yield was at6.54 per cent on Friday. PTI

New Delhi: Mutual fund houses should ensure thatbanks — where a scheme has parked funds in thelender’s short-term deposits — do not invest in thatparticular scheme, according to Sebi.

The markets watchdog has issued a clarifica-tion regarding ‘parking of funds in short-term

deposits of scheduled commercial banks bymutual funds — pending deployment’.

“Trustees/ asset management companies(AMCs) shall ensure that no funds of a scheme isparked in short-term deposit of a bank which hasinvested in that scheme,” Sebi said. PTI

New Delhi: TVS group autocomponent maker Sundaram-Clayton Ltd (SCL) on Friday saidit will be shutting its Padi facto-ry in Tamil Nadu for two daysowing to slowdown in the auto-motive industry, joining two-wheeler major Hero MotoCorpwhich also announced closure ofits plants for four days.

SCL, a manufacturer andsupplier of aluminium die castproducts to domestic and glob-al automotive OEMS, said it hasdeclared August 16 and 17,2019, as non-working days for itsPadi factory. “This is due to busi-ness slowdown across sectors,”Sundaram-Clayton Ltd said in astatement.

The current slowdown in

the automotive industry hasforced many manufacturers andcomponent suppliers to reduceproduction and plan temporaryplant closures.

Earlier in the day, the coun-try’s largest two-wheeler makerHero MotoCorp said its manu-facturing plants have been shutfor four days from August 15-18as part of annual routine and alsoto adjust production in line withcurrent market demand.

“While this has been part ofthe annual holiday calendar onaccount of Independence Day,Raksha Bandhan and the week-end, it also partly reflects the pre-vailing market demand sce-nario,” Hero MotoCorp added.

PTI

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Over 3,000 temporaryemployees have lost jobs

with the country’s largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki India(MSI) due to the ongoing slumpin the automobile industry, atop company executive has said.

MSI Chairman R CBhargava said contracts of thetemporary workers were notrenewed due to the slowdownwhile asserting that perma-nent workers have not beenimpacted.

“This is a part of the busi-ness, when demand soars, morecontract workers are hired and

reduced in case of low demand,”he said while speaking to someleading private TV channels.

Bhargava was respondingto a query on whether the cur-rent slump and productioncuts have led to job cuts inMaruti.

“Around 3,000 temporaryworkers have lost jobs withMaruti Suzuki,” he added.

Reiterating that automobilesector creates job in the econ-omy —from sales, service,insurance, licensing, financing,accessories, drivers, petrolpumps, transportation - hecautioned, “fewer automobiles(sales) will impact jobs on alarger scale.”

These are not even visu-alised. The impact is muchhigher, he added.

When asked if the indus-try has hit the rock bottom interms of sales in July, he saidrevival in the sense of positivegrowth will start from third orfourth quarter of this fiscal,partly because of the lowerbase effect.

“Hopeful to see strongrevival in FY 2021. By thentransition to BS VI will beover,” he added.

Commenting on expecta-tions from the upcoming festi-val season, he said due to thegood monsoon, rural sales maypick up.

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Axis Bank announced signingof an agreement with CSC

e-Governance Services IndiaLtd to enhance digital and kioskbanking facilities in many ruralunbanked and under-bankedareas of the country thus fur-thering the cause of financialinclusion to these underservedcommunities.

On the occasion, CEO, CSCSPV, Dinesh Tyagi said,“Association with Axis Bankwould help in extending thereach of delivering financialservices through CSC. Thiswould also promote FinanciallyInclusive society.”

“CSC e GovernanceServices Ltd has been instru-mental in furthering govern-ment’s initiative of FinancialInclusion and Axis bank wouldclosely associate with CSC VLEs(Village Level Entrepreneur )and through them offer simpli-fied banking solutions to therural populace,” said PralayMondal, ED, Retail BankingAxis Bank.

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Aruling given by the WTO’sdispute settlement panel

on renewable energy or thesolar sector in favour of Indiahas been challenged by the USin the upper body of the WorldTrade Organisation.

In June, a WTO disputeresolution panel ruled infavour of India in a case againstthe US saying that America’sdomestic content requirementsand subsidies provided byeight of its states in the renew-able energy or the solar sectorare violative of global tradenorms.

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Benchmarks Sensex andNifty pared early losses tosettle marginally higher

on Friday as participants tookheart from the governmentconsidering measures to aid theailing economy and the globalmarkets showing someresilience.

Flipping between lossesand gains for a better part of thesession, the 30-share Sensexsettled 38.80 points, or 0.10 percent, higher at 37,350.33. It hitan intra-day high of 37,444.45and a low of 36,974.41.

The broader NSE Niftygained 18.40 points, or 0.17 percent, to close at 11,047.80.During the day, it swungbetween a high of 11,068.65and low of 10,924.30.

During the holidays-cur-tailed week, the Sensex lost231.58 points, or 0.60 per cent;while the NSE Nifty gave up61.85 points, or 0.55 per cent.On a weekly basis, both indiceshave posted five losses in sixweeks.

Indian equity markets wereclosed on Monday andThursday for public holiday.

Concerns over economicslowdown, weak earnings andglobal trade volatility have beenweighing on investor sentiment,experts said.

Stocks of banking and auto

sectors got a boost amid buzzthat the Centre will come outwith stimulus measures to helprevive consumer spending invarious sectors.

In view of fast-spreadingslowdown in key sectors, theIndian government on Thursdayreviewed the state of the econ-omy.

Riding on news about pos-sible stimulus measures, autocounters rose as much as 2.74per cent on the BSE.

Among the auto companies,Maruti was the biggest gainer,followed by Hero Motocorp,Bajaj Auto, Mahindra andMahindra and Tata Motors.

Yes Bank topped the list ofbanking sector gainers as alsothe Sensex chart with 3.79 per

cent. Other gainers from thebanking vertical on the bench-mark index were IndusIndBank, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank,ICICI Bank and SBI.

Top five Sensex gainers wereYes Bank, PowerGrid, MarutiSuzuki, IndusInd Bank and AxisBank.

On the other hand, TCS,Vedanta, HCL Tech, HDFC andRIL fell.

Sectorally, BSE utilities, auto,power, bankex, telecom, financeand realty indices ended up to1.50 per cent higher.

BSE IT, energy, teck, metaland healthcare indices fell up to0.78 per cent.

Broader BSE midcap andsmallcap indices too ended inthe green.

Equities in Europe weretrading on a positive note intheir respective early sessions.

Elsewhere in Asia, ShanghaiComposite Index, Hang Sengand Nikkei ended in the green,while Kospi settled lower.However, Asian equities loggedlosses on a weekly basis.

Meanwhile, China hintingplans to take measures to spureconomic growth helped reviveinvestor sentiment globally.

Sanjeev Zarbade, VP PCGResearch, Kotak Securities, said,“Global markets are seen endingin the red for the week on lin-gering concerns of trade war.This is taking a toll on the glob-al investor confidence. Easing ofbond yields are pointing towardsslowdown in global economy.Indian markets also ended lowerthis week on disappointing earn-ings and selling by foreigninvestors.”

India’s economic growthhas slowed to 6.8 per cent in2018-19 — the slowest pacesince 2014-15. Consumer con-fidence is waning and foreigndirect investment has plateaued.International trade and curren-cy war is further aggravating theproblem.

Meanwhile, the Indianrupee appreciated by 13 paise to71.14 against the US dollar.

Brent crude futures, the glob-al oil benchmark, rose 1.89 percent to USD 59.33 per barrel.

New Delhi (PTI): Withthe “complexities of issues”being faced by Jet Airways,financial results for the Junequarter are yet to be finalisedand the process is taking time,according to a communication.

The affairs of Jet Airways,which closed down its opera-tions on April 17, are now beingmanaged by resolution profes-sional Ashish Chhawchhariaunder the insolvency law.

In the communication tothe exchanges, Chhawchhariasaid that prior to the com-mencement of the resolutionprocess, directors, chief execu-tive officer, chief financial offi-cer, company secretary andother top management per-sonnel had resigned from thecompany. “Further, the accessto data was not available untilmid-July. Pending book closureprocess, financial results for thequarter ended June 30, 2019,have not been prepared/finalised till date...” he noted.

He also said the require-ment under Regulation 33 ofSebi LODR (Listing Obligationsand Disclosure Requirements)cannot be compiled with with-in the prescribed timelines.

One of the requirements isthat listed companies have toreport their financial resultswithin a specified time framefrom the end of a particularquarter.

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Fitch Ratings on Fridayraised the outlook on

Reliance Industries (RIL) topositive from stable due to thecompany’s potential to furtherdeleverage following itsannouncement to eliminate itsnet debt by March 2021.

In a statement, Fitch said itis revising “the outlook onRIL’s Long-Term Local-Currency issuer default rating(IDR) to Positive from Stableand has affirmed the rating at‘BBB’.”

“At the same time, theagency has affirmed the Long-Term Foreign-Currency IDR at‘BBB-’ with a Stable Outlook,as RIL’s Foreign-Currency IDRis capped by India’s (BBB-/Stable) Country Ceiling of‘BBB-’,” the statement said.

The revision in the outlookfollows RIL announcing plansto sell a 20 per cent stake in itsoil-to-chemical division toSaudi Arabian Oil Company(Saudi Aramco).

This provides RIL potentialto “further deleverage” aftereliminating its net debt by thefinancial year 2020-21.

“We forecast its adjustednet debt/EBITDAR to reach1.5x over the next 18 to 24months,” Fitch said.

The rating affirmationreflected RIL’s strong businessprofile — a large-scale refinery

with a capacity of around 1.2million barrels a day and dom-inant market position in petro-chemicals.

“The company has com-pleted capex to increase itsdownstream integration, whichhas improved feedstock flexi-bility,” the rating agency saidadding it expects RIL’s digital-services business, Jio, to con-tinue its strong growth.

Jio has achieved a leadingposition in its wireless sub-scriber base, though it is stillevolving, as reflected in therecent spinoff of its tower andfibre assets to investment trustsand plans to roll out a fiber-to-the-home business.

“RIL’s financial profile isalso likely to improve, sup-ported by strong operatingcash flow from its expandedpetrochemical and refiningbusiness. Capex should mod-erate from FY’20, with free cashflow turning positive in FY’21,”it added.

Fitch said RIL’s capex isexpected to fall following thecompletion of most plannedprojects in its various businesssegments.

The company’s expansionof its fiber business is likely tobe the major capex driver overthe medium term, along withits investment in the domesticupstream business of aroundUSD 5 billion in a joint venturewith BP plc over the next two

to three years.Free cash flow (FCF)

should turn positive by FY’21,driven by robust operatingcash flow from its refining,petrochemical and digital-ser-vices business along with lowercapex, it said.

“We expect the digital-ser-vices business to turn FCFpositive in FY22, hence it willno longer be a drag on RIL’soverall cash flow profile. Thisshould see lower net debt andnet leverage, as measured bynet adjusted debt/EBITDAR,should improve to around 1.7xby FY21, from 2.5x in FY19,without factoring in the pro-posed investment from SaudiAramco,” it said.

RIL has entered a non-binding letter of intent withSaudi Aramco to sell a 20 percent stake in its oil-to-chem-ical division based on a USD75 billion enterprise value forthe division. Earlier, RILagreed to form a joint venturewith BP where the Britishfirm will invest Rs 7,200 crorefor a 49 per cent stake in fuelretail network and aviationfuel business.

RIL has also entered intoan agreement with Canada’sBrookfield InfrastructurePartners L P for an invest-ment of �25,200 crore in Jio’sTower Infrastructure Trust(Reliance Jio Infratel Pvt Ltd).

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�����������?;)����&������:��������New Delhi (PTI): Gold prices on Friday surged �475 to

�38,420 per 10 gram at the bullion market here on fresh buy-ing from jewellers, according to the All-India Sarafa Association.

Tracking gold, silver also gained �378 to �44,688 per kgon increased offtake by industrial units and coin makers. Pick-up in demand from local jewellers at the domestic spot mar-ket led to the rise in gold prices, analysts said. They, however,added that the weak global trend restricted the gains.

In the national capital, gold of 99.9 per cent and 99.5 puri-ty on Friday surged �475 each to �38,420 and �38,250 per 10gram, respectively. Sovereign gold held flat at �28,700 per eightgrams. Silver ready rose �378 to �44,688 per kg, while week-ly-based delivery advanced by �594 to �43,824 per kg. Silvercoins were in good demand and traded higher by �1,000 at�90,000 for buying and �91,000 for selling of 100 pieces.

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Script Open High Low LTPSBIN 287.2 292.6 284.3 290.95IBULHSGFIN 521.8 562.2 498 551.1YESBANK 79.5 81.55 76.9 79.45MARUTI 5810 5998.3 5600 5975.15SPICEJET 138.65 143.95 135.3 143.5RELIANCE 1290.55 1291 1273.2 1277.4HDFCLIFE 515 543.15 513.1 540.3COALINDIA 200.1 202.6 199.7 201.85TCS 2233 2237 2145.9 2163.5ULTRACEMCO 4224 4240.45 4200 4212.05BAJFINANCE 3271 3358.35 3252.5 3337.75HDFCBANK 2220 2232.8 2205 2226.65APOLLOHOSP 1363 1487.9 1362.75 1471.25TATAMOTORS 120 122.4 117.4 121.2TATASTEEL 360 366.65 355.75 362.85ICICIBANK 417.15 420.05 412.2 419.15BRITANNIA 2475.3 2503 2444 2499.75JINDALSTEL 102.05 106.35 99.9 103.7HDFC 2155 2158 2093.8 2098.75RBLBANK 388.55 399 380.85 397.1INDUSINDBK 1397.9 1444.85 1375.75 1438.25INFY* 779 779.8 762.25 774.55IDEA 5.65 6.84 5.43 6.45UPL 527.5 553 522.9 548.95SBILIFE 804.5 839.6 804.05 835.55AXISBANK 663 677.8 657 675.55EICHERMOT 16600 16710 16223.5 16589.85BAJAJFINSV 7410 7574.95 7289.25 7441.65RELCAPITAL 50.6 52.05 47.75 48.4BANKBARODA 99.55 103.2 99.45 102.4SUNPHARMA 419.85 424 410.1 414.75LT 1339 1340.3 1320.3 1334.85RELINFRA 48.6 50.3 45.35 46.25INDIGO 1588 1615.9 1575.3 1600.8NH 229 246.95 229 239.75KOTAKBANK 1486.55 1506.45 1478.5 1499.5HEROMOTOCO 2581 2679.5 2549.75 2667.85PNB 65.9 68.4 64.95 68.1FLFL 446 449.7 443.2 448GODFRYPHLP 854.8 1028.2 839 1001.2DMART 1492.05 1499.9 1472.35 1488.75CANBK 225 237.1 222.25 235.85ASHOKLEY 62.45 64.5 61.4 63.7HEG 950 971.95 929.2 959.1ZEEL 342 347.4 336.35 346.5HINDUNILVR 1838.9 1846.8 1815.5 1826.2JUSTDIAL 671.05 682.45 667.7 678.15DRREDDY 2511 2528.9 2466 2492.8VEDL 144.9 145.65 141.05 144.3MGL 814.9 819.85 801.6 806.05GSPL 220 221 219.1 219.8BIOCON 228 231.4 224.1 227.8ONGC 126.4 129.1 126.4 128.15IGL 318.9 330 316 327.05CERA 2473.35 2497 2403.35 2435.4SRTRANSFIN 1038 1060.8 1019 1032.65ASIANPAINT 1568 1600 1561 1597SRF 2838 2910 2835.55 2886.2GLENMARK 382 382 356.5 361.1ESCORTS 458 473.6 456.15 467HINDALCO 178.9 181.4 173.75 179.75ITC 248.85 253.4 247.4 252.9IBREALEST 79 81.55 76.2 80.15DLF 178.95 179.6 172.7 177.7WESTLIFE 279.45 280 274 280DHFL 46.3 46.8 44.75 45.9GRASIM 729 755.7 719.15 751.9GAIL 129.5 131.4 124.55 129.65IDFCFIRSTB 44 46.05 43.5 45.75L&TFH 103.8 105.85 102.3 105BATAINDIA 1456 1479.05 1450 1473.65BAJAJ-AUTO 2710 2759.2 2664.25 2750.15PEL 1760.8 1811 1750 1782.55BHARTIARTL 365 365 355.1 361.3TATAELXSI 612.1 631.8 601.5 623.45OFSS 3024.45 3094.9 3006.9 3080.3WIPRO 250.8 251.05 245.25 249.3VOLTAS 589.15 609 585.25 601.4MANAPPURAM 123.15 123.15 119.55 120.95PIDILITIND 1350.55 1374.65 1340.9 1369.55M&M 524 531.4 516 527.6BANKINDIA 67.65 70 66.5 69.35COLPAL 1200.05 1200.05 1183 1197.75BEL 96.5 96.5 94.1 96.1NCC 64.25 64.7 62 62.35PRESTIGE 278.25 286.25 276.8 282.4APOLLOTYRE 162.25 166.45 162 164.3ADANIPOWER 58.9 59.6 58.05 59.35STAR 411.4 416.35 400.55 413.05LTI 1628 1638 1578.5 1581.2TITAN 1080 1083.55 1070.15 1075.75IDBI 25.3 25.3 23.8 24.85JSWSTEEL 227 228.7 221.9 226.95LUPIN 733 734 722.35 729.4UNIONBANK 63.25 65.05 62.3 64.4GODREJPROP 904 922 896.35 915.7OMAXE 199.1 202.5 195.7 196.3HINDPETRO 246.5 250.3 241.8 245.7PFC 105.3 110.35 104.6 109.75ICICIGI 1145.9 1172.8 1133 1165.4AUROPHARMA 605.55 611.2 595.6 602.15PIIND 1118.7 1142.45 1105.6 1127.25LTTS 1580.05 1602.55 1568.55 1572.55MOTHERSUMI 98.8 99.95 96.55 98.1BEML 764.9 778.15 745.9 766.85TVSMOTOR 373.9 379.8 362 377.05TATAMTRDVR 57 57.2 55.15 56.55RAJESHEXPO 678.5 680.75 656.6 658.95

TEAMLEASE 2593 2593 2497.5 2511.15PFIZER 2990 3012.4 2933.55 3003.65HDFCAMC 2220 2269 2189.45 2263.15TECHM 658 660.9 646.2 659.15SUNTV 438.15 446.05 428.75 444.7JUBLFOOD 1160 1160 1104.35 1113.1DISHTV 24.3 24.7 23.55 24.3IOC 126.55 127.35 125.3 126.25CEATLTD 883 883 847.2 856.45POWERGRID 204.75 213.3 202.4 211.25M&MFIN 313 323 304.95 319.55HONAUT 23399 23400 23005 23208.6ICICIPRULI 385 390 376.85 389.25GRAPHITE 286.75 292 282 289GODREJIND 448.75 459.35 438 453.95CENTURYTEX 891.5 910.8 873.5 906.5SAIL 37 37 35.95 36.15INDIACEM 80 80 77.7 78.3ADANIPORTS 357.95 358.1 350 357.35LICHSGFIN 485 486 473.7 480.55PVR 1428.05 1428.05 1366 1383.35ADANIENT 129.5 134 128.3 132.75RAYMOND 623.4 640.2 606.85 632.15SHANKARA 243.05 258 243.05 257.2BHEL 51.6 51.75 50.25 51.35MRF 57355.8 57866 56627.7 56800.5GESHIP* 235 237.9 232.45 235.95NBCC 35.2 35.2 33.55 33.95MINDTREE 702.05 702.7 685 700.05DCBBANK 195.9 206.9 194.25 205.55FEDERALBNK 84.8 85.5 83.6 85.25RECLTD 145 148.8 143.45 148.25NTPC 117.35 119.25 116.55 117.85BPCL 353 355.05 346.5 351.35UJJIVAN 278.1 285.25 275.35 284.1CANFINHOME 375.3 378.75 372.6 374.9TATAPOWER 55.5 56.35 54.05 56.1LAKSHVILAS 44.95 47.1 42.7 47.1DIVISLAB 1530.1 1530.1 1491.1 1506.5ACC 1593.7 1594.45 1571 1590.5FORCEMOT 1064.8 1135 1035.9 1119.3CHOLAFIN 264.6 267 261.6 265.45MCX 853.9 857.45 838.45 850.05HSCL 84.95 84.95 81.1 81.95

MUTHOOTFIN 618.15 637.5 617.5 635.15HAVELLS 654 661.35 648.5 650.65HINDZINC 206.3 210.65 199.05 207.9ENGINERSIN 103.55 107.9 103.55 104.5HEXAWARE 380 388.3 378.45 387.4RADICO 322 339.95 320 331.05CIPLA 478.75 483.05 474.7 476.25BHARATFORG 400 400.55 389.5 397.95HCLTECH 1075.6 1075.75 1051.1 1061.65THYROCARE 446.5 446.5 437.7 438.65GLAXO 1200 1215.3 1194.05 1213.2IBVENTURES 203.4 208.3 197.9 204.3RCOM 1.22 1.26 1.19 1.24BALKRISIND 729.7 743 714.65 719.8TRENT 445.15 476.6 445.1 465.6BOMDYEING 71.9 74.75 70.25 73.35ITDCEM 70.75 73.7 70.55 72.1EDELWEISS 143 143.15 132.7 134SIEMENS 1161.7 1174.6 1142 1160.4NMDC 104.05 104.1 101.7 102.85STRTECH 139.5 143.05 138.3 141.25TORNTPOWER 284.2 292.3 284.2 288.8MFSL 405.55 422.5 398.6 418.85TATAGLOBAL 263.5 269.5 263.5 266.85DABUR 431.95 431.95 427.1 428.15WOCKPHARMA 285 287 281.1 282.15UBL 1376.95 1381.5 1334 1338.8VENKYS 1312 1396.35 1306 1362RNAM 241.85 257.6 241.5 254.65ABB 1365 1367.4 1338.55 1359.75JKCEMENT 990 1019 980.15 1011.5BERGEPAINT 366 367.1 361 365.9SUNTECK 464.9 467.1 455 460.75AMBUJACEM 213 215 209.95 213.95TORNTPHARM 1681.65 1685 1642.85 1647.2PETRONET 245.5 245.5 240.7 241.2WABAG 272.2 294.7 272.2 291NESTLEIND 12099 12099 11933.7 12011.1BANDHANBNK 500 507.1 497.05 502.4

EQUITAS 108 113.4 108 112.4GODREJCP 630 637.9 612.65 622.7NIITTECH 1298.1 1298.1 1261 1288.85FSL 46.4 49.35 45.7 48.5PGHL 4485.15 4567 4440 4448.95INFRATEL 248.7 250.9 243.25 248.75GMRINFRA 15.03 15.36 14.77 15.26AJANTPHARM 974.5 1009.75 962.2 996.45ITI 70.5 76.5 69.65 75.2PNBHOUSING 718.7 741.95 717.6 729.35LALPATHLAB 1122.15 1200.7 1114 1177.35ORIENTBANK 66.65 67.8 65.6 67.1DCMSHRIRAM 400 425.9 400 407.4PCJEWELLER 35.5 35.5 33.55 33.7KAJARIACER 484 487.3 478 481.5NATIONALUM 41.35 41.5 40.7 41.25SWANENERGY 100 104.15 99.3 102.4JAICORPLTD 76 77.2 74 75.45TATACHEM 559.3 559.65 548.6 555.8BLISSGVS 99 99.8 96.5 97.85ABFRL 194.15 194.4 187.7 189GNFC 193.7 195.5 191.15 194.45DELTACORP 162.35 163.35 156.35 157.55CADILAHC 227 227 214.9 217.65GRUH 260.5 265.45 259.15 263.65NAUKRI 2182.8 2198.9 2174 2188.8MARICO 395.65 395.65 388.05 392.35IDFC 32.6 34.7 32 34.3PAGEIND 18050 18200 17769.5 18163AVANTI 299 306 297.3 302.7HEIDELBERG 192.35 202 189.55 199.4RPOWER 3.6 3.64 3.44 3.54SUZLON 4.12 4.46 4.12 4.39BOSCHLTD 13389 13790 13080.8 13760EMAMILTD 299 304.45 297.75 301.05DEEPAKNI 263 274 263 271ABCAPITAL 88 88.85 86.5 87.75HINDCOPPER 31.35 33.35 30.2 32.5LAOPALA 157 160.2 156.2 158.35AMARAJABAT 628.1 628.1 612.05 618.35KTKBANK 78.1 79.25 77.5 78.9RCF 44 45.35 43.3 44.45ABBOTINDIA 9124.95 9226.55 9100 9136.3TNPL 177 182.9 168.2 181.15SPARC 157.25 157.4 152.2 153.25INDIANB 183.55 185.65 178.2 183.9HFCL 18.9 19.1 18.75 18.8VIPIND 386.15 388.75 380 384.25MMTC 19.5 21.45 19.1 20.85GALAXYSURF 1215.75 1270 1214.85 1259.4DBL 397.05 400.8 392.4 394.45J&KBANK 39.35 39.35 37.55 37.8GSFC 71.2 71.75 69.8 71.25JUBILANT 440 455 433.2 447.25NHPC 23 23.35 22.6 23.15MEGH 46.95 48.8 46.7 48FRETAIL 418.9 422.7 414.5 418.65CUMMINSIND 587.7 597.4 583.7 594.8NESCO 531.45 537.9 500 530.05IBULISL 99.75 110 99.75 104.55GICRE 188.9 188.9 180 182.25OIL 152 154.25 148.95 152.75IRB 90 92 89 90.35ADANIGAS 153.5 155 151.7 153.2NILKAMAL 988.5 1050 987.3 1031.5SHILPAMED 292.8 292.8 255.2 258.35INDHOTEL 135.15 135.15 130.3 132.2CASTROLIND 116.55 120.05 115.5 119.05SHREECEM 19467.15 19599.05 19222.05 19443.5MRPL 54 54 50.1 50.6CONCOR 476.05 477 467.75 468.6GUJGAS 187.7 188.55 183.6 184.1ATUL 3679 3679 3560 3570.35RAMCOCEM 737 737 721.25 730.1EXIDEIND 180.7 180.7 178 178.85GODREJAGRO 448.6 449.85 446 448.85NATCOPHARM 546.05 549 537.5 544.5VINATIORGA 2120 2145.2 2090.3 2105.25ENDURANCE 834.9 874.55 830.95 865.2REPCOHOME 290 317 276 310.55BAJAJHLDNG 3304 3431 3229 3414.75JISLJALEQS 22 22.2 20.5 21.75CGPOWER 17.85 18.15 17.35 17.95RAIN 84.5 85.8 82.05 83.6IPCALAB 931.5 947.95 930 939.5KANSAINER 460 481.25 458.5 478.15DCAL 186 186 173.35 178.25SOBHA 486 486.5 462.6 474.15AAVAS 1577.65 1604.7 1569.65 1595.45KEI 469.5 474 450.2 468.15IEX 149 149 143 143.1GICHSGFIN 215 215.95 194.4 196.4GDL 106.4 108.95 101.15 102.7PHILIPCARB 121.5 123 119.9 120.75AUBANK 695 699 682.55 697.1TATACOMM 442.3 450.1 440.6 441.75JAMNAAUTO 33 34.8 32.95 33.55SUVEN 235.95 235.95 226.55 233.75CYIENT 437.3 437.3 420.2 430.65TTKPRESTIG 5808 5998.9 5700 5762.6ALBK 37.65 37.65 35.8 36.15VGUARD 223.65 230.5 223.6 227.8JINDALSAW 69.95 71.25 67.15 70.55FINOLEXIND 524.2 534.75 510 513.9INOXLEISUR 284.35 296.1 282 291.85APLAPOLLO 1262.65 1350 1260 1322.4INTELLECT 214.7 222.15 213.05 219.75MINDAIND 311.6 315.35 301.2 308.5NOCIL 84.8 85.7 82.6 82.85

SCI 26.6 27.3 25.9 273MINDIA 20901 21135.7 20820 20879.95ZENSARTECH 216.75 218.85 214 215.85JCHAC 1520 1611 1511.25 1572CARERATING 555 581.5 555 574.15GRANULES 93.8 95.5 92.1 93.85BAYERCROP 3071 3120 3022 3099.5KRBL 222.05 233.8 222 229.5JBCHEPHARM 376.8 376.8 374 376SOUTHBANK 11.68 11.68 11.45 11.55PTC 57.9 57.9 56.65 57.75FCONSUMER 33.6 33.6 32.15 33CROMPTON 227 227.5 225.4 226.65ASTERDM 121.3 123.9 120.8 122.85HUDCO 34.4 34.4 32.7 33.1VMART 1729 1743.25 1714 1717.6SANOFI 6290 6340 6265.15 6297.05INFIBEAM 43 43.25 42.35 43.05SUPREMEIND 1117 1117 1090 1108.6ESSELPRO 101.85 104.4 89.05 98.4VBL 650 656.95 615 654.05JKTYRE 56.05 56.8 55.4 56.1MAHSCOOTER 3716.5 3877 3716.5 3868.05WABCOINDIA 6057 6115 5869 6063.85LAXMIMACH 3795 3835 3775 3787.1TATAINVEST 804 813.7 787.1 794.6ASTRAZEN 1696.35 1748.35 1683.7 1708.4CUB 191.25 196.85 189.3 195.6UFLEX 226.5 226.5 222.45 223BALMLAWRIE 170.1 172 169 171.2LUXIND 1000.05 1055 998 1041.65ITDC 167.85 188 167.85 184SYNDIBANK 31.4 31.75 31.1 31.5GUJALKALI 409.6 411.55 408 409.9TV18BRDCST 21.25 21.25 20.6 20.9PARAGMILK 168.7 173.1 166.5 170CAPPL 447 454.95 441 445.8MPHASIS 961.4 979.9 959.95 976.7GSKCONS 7884.75 7943.95 7881.6 7907.15BBTC 806.05 813.75 800 805.25ADANIGREEN 46.3 47.6 45.75 46.8HERITGFOOD 346.5 357 341 344COROMANDEL 344.05 344.05 336.5 342.55RITES 230.1 230.1 225.75 228.7CHAMBLFERT 145.5 147.7 142.4 146.55OBEROIRLTY 537 544 532 534.9QUESS 455.85 455.85 445.55 450.2MOIL 129 129.3 127.7 128.7PGHH 10255 10324.4 10255 10305.65MHRIL 217.4 218.3 210.2 215.65MOTILALOFS 557.9 565.5 522.75 555.15KALPATPOWR 486 491.05 478.45 489.1FINEORG 1397.4 1435 1397 1432.45CENTURYPLY 133.6 135.7 133.3 134.1HSIL 225.2 237.95 222 234.5SJVN 24.6 24.6 24.15 24.25GRINDWELL 541.5 554.9 541.5 550.9WELSPUNIND 47 47.5 45.55 47.2PERSISTENT 516.15 516.15 503.55 511.55WHIRLPOOL 1537 1552 1536 1546.8JPASSOCIAT 2.42 2.46 2.4 2.43CHENNPETRO 194.65 197.4 192.4 193.85IFCI 7.4 7.58 7.36 7.39CREDITACC 506.05 523.2 505 514.5GREAVESCOT 115.7 118.2 115.5 117.65CRISIL 1254.35 1275 1227.6 1258.45JMFINANCIL 70.3 74.25 69.5 73.45JKLAKSHMI 321.7 328.45 320.4 327TIMKEN 699.9 714 691.7 700.05TATACOFFEE 73.2 73.8 71.75 73.25REDINGTON 97.8 104 97 102.45SONATSOFTW 318.2 320 311.15 318.9ASTRAL 1210 1217.65 1191.15 1209.5INOXWIND 46 46 41.1 41.95FORTIS 127.7 127.7 123.5 125.5SUPRAJIT 151.55 181.75 151.55 178.7PNCINFRA 199.65 204 199.5 202.75JSLHISAR 67 68.45 66 66.7HATHWAY 27 27 24.35 24.5TRIDENT 57.85 57.85 55.05 55.85WELCORP 115.3 116.5 113.3 115.05SUDARSCHEM 328.8 329.45 323.95 325.5TEJASNET 97 97 86.95 87.45CENTRUM 26.45 26.75 25.75 26.35KNRCON 235 238.8 228.65 234.15STARCEMENT 98.7 98.7 97.4 98.1SADBHAV 131.4 133.45 123.65 124.9KEC 286.75 291.85 286.75 289.3CENTRALBK 18.85 18.85 18.35 18.75DEEPAKFERT 86.5 86.5 83.9 84.5PRSMJOHNSN 80 84 80 83.1THOMASCOOK 170 170 164.15 167.4FDC 162 163.9 159.15 159.35JSWENERGY 67.5 68.1 67 67.95EIDPARRY 147.8 151.95 145.6 149.05SUNDRMFAST 407 410.6 401.9 406.65AEGISLOG 194.45 199.9 192.55 199JSWHL 2701 2741.4 2687 2691.05TVTODAY 297.45 307.55 296.05 300.2BASF 1012 1012 994.55 999.1NIACL 113.75 115.25 112.4 114.7NLCINDIA 55.1 55.25 54.7 54.75EVEREADY 80 82.25 77 77.35IRCON 352.2 354.75 349 353.25MAHINDCIE 155.1 161.2 155.1 159.4SCHAEFFLER 4108.05 4167.65 4100 4112.55GILLETTE 7230 7230 7000 7057.2INDOSTAR 282.1 288 275 277.2MAHLIFE 377.55 384.4 370 376.5

UCOBANK 15.4 16.05 15.3 15.85BLUESTARCO 710 719.7 697.2 700.45LAURUSLABS 332.65 339 332.65 337.9ASHOKA 120.7 120.7 117.3 118.6RALLIS 157.2 160 156.05 158.7BAJAJELEC 385 385.8 367.05 382.5TIMETECHNO 66 66.05 64.5 65.05COCHINSHIP 348.55 350.3 347.3 348.35EIHOTEL 159 159.95 154.3 155.75ANDHRABANK 18.55 19.3 18.55 19.15COFFEEDAY 62.95 62.95 62.95 62.95TAKE 102.9 102.9 99.2 100.25ADANITRANS 208.75 214.2 208.1 209.95DBCORP 154 158 154 156.35JSL 30.45 31.3 30.25 30.95BAJAJCON 269.7 269.7 255 255.7IOB 10.12 10.26 10.07 10.14LEMONTREE 54.05 54.05 51.9 53.55BDL 291.2 292.8 289.05 291.2THERMAX 1064.3 1064.3 1050 1058.55ORIENTELEC 161.5 163.8 161.2 161.75MASFIN 640 640 604.55 618.8NETWORK18 22.45 22.45 20 21.95HAL 658.65 662 645.05 653.7JETAIRWAYS 40.25 40.25 40.25 40.25GMDCLTD 64.8 66.55 64.8 66.15AKZOINDIA 1724 1730.95 1703.05 1705.3MAHSEAMLES 403.35 403.35 399.5 401.8MAHABANK 12 12.13 11.83 11.99ZYDUSWELL 1509 1509 1488 1497.45CORPBANK 19.5 19.5 19.05 19.35APLLTD 520.95 525.8 512 513.7MAHLOG 365.45 368.05 359.75 365.7ISEC 208.3 211.75 207.25 210UNITEDBNK 10 10 9.69 9.85RELAXO 427.8 431.55 423.85 426.2NAVINFLUOR 653 654.6 638.25 640.85IFBIND 641.5 648 632 644.45DHANUKA 316.5 329.9 316.15 325.95LINDEINDIA 513.8 515 496.75 506.9PHOENIXLTD 649.15 652.55 631.2 638.55SREINFRA 11 11.36 10.6 11.18FINCABLES 364.1 364.1 352.3 361.45ORIENTCEM 86.65 88.35 86 86.4ECLERX 510.05 518.9 483 491.9TIINDIA 354.95 359.35 348.1 352.2SYNGENE 306 308.8 300.85 307.35APARINDS 549.95 549.95 532.6 540.7VTL 909.95 924.65 906 914.9ALKEM 1779.55 1779.8 1754.15 1758.9ADVENZYMES 154.35 154.4 150.55 151.15SYMPHONY 1225.15 1256 1223.35 1245.2GEPIL 730 769.9 730 752.95ERIS 388 397 386.25 395.25ALLCARGO 94.4 97 94.15 94.65ELGIEQUIP 242 243 233 243KPRMILL 564 585 563 577.05HIMATSEIDE 135.55 137.95 135.55 136.2BIRLACORPN 562.2 570.5 560 564.4TATAMETALI 513.1 516 508.5 514.35GAYAPROJ 133.9 135.2 132.7 133.25AIAENG 1652.1 1666.65 1648 1650.85SKFINDIA 1840 1852 1819.75 1838.8SFL 1129.95 1170 1129.9 1137.65MONSANTO 1990 2046.15 1990 2039.25GET&D 161 161 152.2 156.4CHOLAHLDNG 470.05 472.6 464.15 472.05MINDACORP 88 88 84.2 85.75CARBORUNIV 276 283.5 276 280.85TCNSBRANDS 709.75 715.4 687 699.5SCHNEIDER 73.95 76.4 73.95 74.85GHCL 203.1 204 201 202.1CCL 241.7 244.15 240.15 243.1TRITURBINE 101.85 101.95 100 100.3SHK 121 121 117 118.5GPPL 79 79 77.5 77.9TVSSRICHAK 1661.3 1662 1639 1651.75ASAHIINDIA 190.7 197 190.5 195.15JYOTHYLAB 153 154.5 152.95 153.95MAXINDIA 58.8 58.8 57.8 57.85HATSUN 610.4 624 606 624VARROC 437.1 450 431 431.1MAGMA 69 71.1 68 70BLUEDART 2295 2313.1 2265 2313.1SOLARINDS 1080 1122.95 1080 1099.35GULFOILLUB 793.45 815 793.45 809.75SOMANYCERA 302 302 295.2 297.85SHOPERSTOP 382.95 382.95 375.1 379.45JAGRAN 66 67.65 65.7 67NBVENTURES 87.5 87.5 86.6 87SIS 797.55 813 797.55 804.25

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11,043.65 11,068.65 10,924.30 11,047.80 18.4UPL 526.9 553.25 522.05 551 23.8POWERGRID 204.1 214.25 202.3 211.2 6.05MARUTI 5,805.00 5,995.00 5,590.00 5,970.00 154YESBANK 79 81.45 76.85 78.5 1.95GRASIM 725.1 757.35 719.25 752.6 18.1INDUSINDBK 1,380.00 1,445.00 1,375.00 1,435.10 34.25GAIL 128.7 131.45 124.25 129.55 2.8IBULHSGFIN 521.5 562.5 498 561.7 10.35AXISBANK 664 678 656.85 675.1 11.9ITC 248.75 253.4 247.4 252.65 3.9ASIANPAINT 1,571.00 1,600.85 1,561.00 1,593.05 23.35BAJFINANCE 3,280.60 3,358.90 3,253.35 3,335.90 45.95HEROMOTOCO2,561.55 2,680.00 2,547.05 2,668.15 34BAJAJ-AUTO 2,712.05 2,760.00 2,661.35 2,748.20 34.3ZEEL 343.7 347.8 336.3 345.55 3.95BRITANNIA 2,500.00 2,505.00 2,442.00 2,499.50 20.6COALINDIA 200 202.85 199.7 202.1 1.6M&M 524.7 531.9 515.55 527.05 3.5KOTAKBANK 1,489.00 1,506.50 1,477.50 1,501.65 9.85BHARTIARTL 360 365 355 363.45 2.25ICICIBANK 417.8 420 412.1 419.2 1.9JSWSTEEL 226.35 228.95 221.6 228.45 0.7NTPC 117.4 119.3 116.6 117.95 0.35SBIN 287.95 292.8 284.3 290.3 0.55BAJAJFINSV 7,391.00 7,575.00 7,283.35 7,428.00 12.8ONGC 127.7 129.1 126.4 127 0.15LT 1,335.00 1,339.90 1,320.50 1,335.00 1.3INFRATEL 249 251 243.5 249 0.15EICHERMOT 16,600.00 16,720.00 16,183.40 16,580.00 5.35INFY 780 780.05 762.5 775 0.2TECHM 656.9 661 646.15 659.05 -0.05TATAMOTORS 119.9 122.45 117.35 120.65 -0.25IOC 127 127.4 125.25 126.15 -0.3HDFCBANK 2,214.00 2,233.00 2,204.10 2,223.95 -5.5CIPLA 477 483.4 474.5 477 -1.3ULTRACEMCO 4,226.00 4,244.35 4,198.00 4,203.55 -22.35WIPRO 250 251 245.05 249.6 -1.45ADANIPORTS 356.05 358.55 350 356.55 -2.3HINDUNILVR 1,838.00 1,847.55 1,816.05 1,826.75 -12.3TATASTEEL 360 366.9 355.45 361.9 -2.75RELIANCE 1,291.20 1,291.80 1,273.00 1,278.50 -9.75HINDALCO 179.1 181.5 173.7 179.15 -1.45DRREDDY 2,529.00 2,529.00 2,465.00 2,491.10 -20.85TITAN 1,075.00 1,084.30 1,070.20 1,074.65 -9.35HDFC 2,160.00 2,162.00 2,092.50 2,099.00 -18.7SUNPHARMA 419.4 421.4 410 413.4 -3.75BPCL 355.5 355.9 346.35 350.45 -4HCLTECH 1,076.90 1,076.90 1,050.50 1,061.80 -14.35VEDL 144.35 145.7 140.95 144.1 -2.45TCS 2,241.40 2,241.40 2,143.25 2,162.00 -42.4

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 25,837.50 26,021.85 25,693.65 25,999.60 85.6IDEA 5.65 6.85 5.4 6.45 0.8HDFCLIFE 515 543 513.6 540.7 23.7OFSS 2,990.00 3,100.00 2,990.00 3,094.00 108.45HDFCAMC 2,200.30 2,269.00 2,191.10 2,266.90 66.4SBILIFE 801.1 838.9 801.1 835.2 23.05BOSCHLTD 13,240.00 13,825.00 13,017.70 13,720.00 348.9ICICIGI 1,150.00 1,173.60 1,132.10 1,170.95 27.25BAJAJHLDNG 3,348.40 3,435.00 3,220.00 3,409.00 70.65ASHOKLEY 61.8 64.45 61.35 63.75 1.2PIDILITIND 1,355.00 1,373.00 1,340.00 1,372.50 25.3NHPC 22.75 23.4 22.6 23.25 0.4HINDZINC 204.95 208 199.25 207.9 2.95BANDHANBNK 499 507 497.8 504 6.4DLF 174.9 179.8 172.6 177.1 2.2BANKBARODA 100.05 103.25 99.45 102.35 1.25ICICIPRULI 385 390 376.15 389.9 4.65PEL 1,764.70 1,810.00 1,750.05 1,784.00 18.55L&TFH 103.5 105.85 102.3 104.9 1.05ABB 1,348.90 1,368.45 1,339.55 1,359.00 10.05BHEL 51 51.8 50.25 51.3 0.25PAGEIND 18,041.00 18,190.00 17,805.25 18,122.05 80INDIGO 1,572.00 1,615.35 1,572.00 1,605.00 5.5AMBUJACEM 213.9 214.95 209.65 214 0MARICO 392.4 393.35 388 392.7 -0.05MCDOWELL-N 584 594.9 580 587.95 -0.6PGHH 10,210.00 10,350.00 10,210.00 10,280.00 -15.4COLPAL 1,196.30 1,201.55 1,182.45 1,197.80 -2SIEMENS 1,152.10 1,174.80 1,140.55 1,159.50 -3.3HINDPETRO 245.9 250.4 241.65 245.5 -1.1DMART 1,484.00 1,500.00 1,472.00 1,483.50 -7.1CADILAHC 218 219 214.75 216.95 -1.05MOTHERSUMI 98 99.95 96.5 98.4 -0.5ACC 1,590.00 1,595.00 1,571.05 1,589.00 -8.4AUROPHARMA 605 611.9 595.15 601.9 -3.6NIACL 113 115.2 112.45 113.15 -0.8DABUR 430.95 431.6 427.1 428.4 -3.35MRF 57,300.00 58,300.00 56,501.35 56,800.00 -493HAVELLS 652.9 661.5 648 648.5 -6.05LUPIN 734 734.6 722.25 727.5 -6.8SRTRANSFIN 1,040.00 1,063.20 1,019.70 1,030.00 -11.55GODREJCP 629.8 638 612.4 622 -7.8SHREECEM 19,839.00 19,839.00 19,210.10 19,417.10 -259.6PETRONET 244 244.55 240.6 241 -3.3BIOCON 225.1 231.45 224 229.1 -3.35CONCOR 477.9 477.9 467.5 468.5 -7.4NMDC 104.7 104.7 101.6 102.55 -2.1DIVISLAB 1,522.50 1,522.50 1,490.25 1,499.10 -32.8SAIL 36.8 36.8 35.95 36.2 -0.8UBL 1,382.00 1,383.95 1,333.15 1,339.00 -35.8GICRE 186 188 181 184 -9.35

Page 12: ˇ#˘ ˚’()* *#%*%3 .*/0(12 & # /, 5)*)2/)6%/)) #11%6)& /27 ...€¦ · and broadband connections are being restored gradually. Therefore, we will take up the petition with other

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Lee Ching-hei runs a pop-upstore in Hong Kong but

instead of offering the latestfood trends or fashion must-haves he sells another highlysought-after commodity :protest supplies.

Helmets, goggles and gasmasks are bestsellers at“National Calamity Hardware”,which has held two pop-up ses-sions in the districts of MongKok and Tai Po -- both majorhotspots during Hong Kong’stwo months of huge, some-times violent, pro-democracyprotests.

“We sold 50-60 sets of gasmasks in the first hour of busi-ness, so we’re sold out now,” the33-year-old businessman saidwhile fitting a customer for ahelmet ahead of a plannedprotest in Hong Kong’s Tai Poneighbourhood. Lee said hehad been an avid collector ofgas masks -- dubbed pig snoutsin Cantonese -- even before theprotests began.

“So I had a really large

number of 3M masks saved up,”he said, referring to the mostpopular brand among protest-ers as his shop bustled withcustomers.

Hong Kong’s protestershave been gearing up withincreasingly protective equip-ment as clashes become moreviolent.

While millions have hitthe streets for peaceful rallies,a minority of hardcore demon-strators have used bricks,Molotov cocktails and sling-shots after police began rou-tinely using tear gas and rub-ber bullets to disperse crowds.

The demonstrations start-ed as rallies against a contro-versial bill that would allowextraditions to mainlandChina, but have since morphedinto a call for greater democ-ratic reform in the semi-autonomous city.

Now in their 10th week,the protests have seen vio-lence escalate on both sides.

Earlier this week, HongKong police fired tear gasinside enclosed subway stations

and rubber bullets at closerange as colleagues baton-charged protesters down somestation escalators.

One woman suffered ahorrendous eye wound lastweekend -- something demon-strators have blamed on abean-bag round -- and dozenshave been hospitalised withserious injuries.

The police have alsoreported casualties. In clasheslast weekend, an officer sus-tained burns to his legs from aMolotov cocktail.

Lee said he sells supplies ata big discount to students,nearly 90 percent off, portray-ing his involvement as both abusiness opportunity and alsoa way to help young people.

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Hong Kong’s pro-democra-cy movement faces a

major test this weekend as ittries to muster another hugecrowd following criticism overa recent violent airport protestand as concerns mount overBeijing’s next move.

Ten weeks of protests haveplunged the internationalfinance hub into crisis with thecommunist mainland taking anincreasingly hardline tone,including labelling the moreviolent protester actions “ter-rorist-like”.

Chinese state media haveput out images of military per-sonnel and armoured person-

nel carriers across the border inShenzhen, while the UnitedStates has warned Beijingagainst sending in troops, amove many analysts say wouldbe a reputational and eco-nomic disaster for China.

The nationalistic GlobalTimes newspaper said therewould not be a repeat of theTiananmen Square crackdown,in which hundreds -- or eventhousands -- are believed tohave been killed, if Beijingmoves to quash the protests.

“The incident in HongKong won’t be a repeat of theJune 4th political incident in1989,” it said, insisting thecountry now had more sophis-ticated approaches.

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Hong Kong’s governmentannounced tax cuts and

higher social spendingThursday to reverse a deepen-ing economic slump aggravat-ed by anti-government protestsand the US-Chinese tariff war.

The territory’s financialsecretary, Paul Chan, cut thisyear’s official growth forecast to0 to 1 per cent, which could bethe worst performance since2009 during the global finan-cial crisis. The previous forecastwas 2 per cent to 3 per cent.

Hurt by the plunge in US-Chinese trade, growth alreadywas declining before anti-gov-ernment protests erupted thisyear over a proposed extradition law and othergrievances.

“The recent social inci-dents have hit the retail trade,restaurants and tourism,adding a further blow to analready-weak economy,” said astatement issued by Chan’sagency.

It also cited the impact ofslowing trade in Asia, globalfinancial market volatility andthe risk of disorder as Britainleaves the European Union.

The measures announcedThursday will “provide impe-tus for our economy” and “helpcushion the enterprises andpeople of Hong Kong againstchallenges,” the statement said.

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Israel is to allow a visit bybarred US congresswoman

Rashida Tlaib who is ofPalestinian origin on “human-itarian” grounds, the interiorministry announced on Friday.

It said Interior MinisterAryeh Deri decided to allowTlaib to make a “humanitari-an visit to her grandmother” inthe Israeli-occupied West Bankafter the lawmaker had senthim a written pledge “to respectconditions imposed by Israel”.

Tlaib had “promised not topromote the cause of the boy-cott of Israel during her stay”,in a letter to Deri sentovernight, the ministry said ina statement.

Israeli media published theletter reading: “I would like torequest admittance to Israel inorder to visit my relatives, andspecifically my grandmother,who is in her 90s...

“This could be my lastopportunity to see her. I willrespect any restrictions and willnot promote boycotts againstIsrael during my visit.”

On Thursday, Israelannounced it would bar aplanned visit by Tlaib and fel-

low Muslim congresswomanIlhan Omar over their supportof a boycott of the Jewish statefor its treatment of thePalestinians.

Israeli officials had, how-ever, said they would considera separate humanitarianrequest from Tlaib to visit herfamily, a trip for which shewould have to pass throughIsrael. The decision to bar thecongresswomen, althoughencouraged by PresidentDonald Trump, drew sharpcriticism in the United Statesfrom several allies of Israel,including top Democratic law-makers, presidential hopefulsand influential pro-Israel lobbyAIPAC.

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US President Donald Trumphas said that China is

doing very poorly as a result ofthe trade war and the “longerit goes on, the stronger we get”.

Asserting that the UnitedStates is “having a very gooddiscussion” on a trade deal withChina, Trump told reporters atthe Morristown airport in NewJersey that he will speak withChinese President Xi Jinping“very soon”.

On the protests in HongKong which have been going

on since early June, the USpresident said that Xi can“humanely” solve the problemso that “everybody is happy”.

“I think the longer thetrade war goes on, the weakerChina gets and the stronger weget. We’re taking in massiveamounts of money. Billionsand billions of dollars. And Ithink the longer it goes, thestronger we get. I have a feel-ing it’s going to go fairly short,”he said on Thursday.

As a result of the trade war,China is doing very poorly,Trump said.

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Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan on Friday dis-

cussed the Kashmir issue withUS President Donald Trumpover phone, as the UN SecurityCouncil held a closed doormeeting to discuss India revok-ing the special status of Jammuand Kashmir.

Foreign Minister ShahMehmood Qureshi said Khantook the US President “intoconfidence” regarding the UNSecurity Council meeting at theUN headquarters after the

Indian government revokedthe special status of Jammu andKashmir.

“Prime Minister Khan con-veyed Pakistan’s concern onrecent developments inKashmir and the threat theypose to the regional peace,”Qureshi was quoted as sayingby state-run Radio Pakistan.

The Foreign Minister saidthe conversation between thetwo leaders was held in a “cor-dial environment”. They alsoagreed to remain in contactover the Kashmir issue, hesaid.

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The captain of a Spanishcharity ship carrying 134

rescued migrants warnedFriday of the “explosive” situ-ation on board the vesselanchored within swimmingdistance of Italy’s Lampedusaisland but forbidden toapproach.

Italy has evacuated a hand-ful of medical cases from theOpen Arms but far-rightInterior Minister MatteoSalvini has been refusing to

allow the vessel to dock despitea European deal to take inthose remaining.

The captain of the shipoperated by Proactiva OpenArms, Marc Reig, said thatthose on board, rescued afterleaving chaos-stricken Libya,were “broken psychologically”.

“Every second that passes,the bomb ticks a second clos-er. Either someone cuts the redcable and defuses this bombnow, or the Open Arms willexplode,” he told Spain’s TVEtelevision.

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Myanmar and Bangladeshwill soon make a second

attempt to start repatriatingRohingya Muslims, 700,000 ofwhom fled a security crack-down in Myanmar almost twoyears ago, officials from the twocountries and the United Nations said onFriday.

Myanmar Governmentspokesman Zaw Htay, speakingin his country’s capital,Naypyitaw, said the partiesconcerned had agreed that theprocess would begin nextThursday.

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Time is running out forJakarta. One of the fastest-

sinking cities on earth, envi-ronmental experts warn thatone third of it could be sub-merged by 2050 if current ratescontinue. Decades of uncon-trolled and excessive depletionof groundwater reserves, risingsea-levels, and increasinglyvolatile weather patterns meanswathes of it have already start-ed to disappear.

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From her first appearance in a TVseries Spin City in 1996 to playing

the eccentric mother in The Hauntingof the Hill House to some terrific workin Gerald’s Game, actress Carla Guginohas come a long way and with Jett, shesays that she has found a characteronly she could have played best.

Jett is a fun show but a little dif-ferent. It’s a character that she hasn’tplayed yet. What made her say yes toit? Carla says, “It’s something thatSebastian Gutierrez (director andhusband) and I have been working onfor a long time. He wrote such anamazing role for me. He said, ‘I wantyou to play Daisy Jett Kowalski’. Thename itself is a great thing to beginwith. You always got to start with agood name. Though television is awonderful place for female charactersright now, there is still some way to gowith a female villain. We have a lot ofmale references for that but not somuch women. So yes. She is cool. Shekeeps her own council and lives the lifethe way she wants to. She is a superfierce character.”

So is there anything that she diddifferent to prepare for the role? “A lotof things,” she says. But one thing, “AsI am an Italian; I am in a habit of usingmy hands a lot while talking. My faceis very expressive. Think of LeeMarvin, basically she reveals very lit-tle and that was much harder for methan I’d have thought,” she tells us.

Sebastian wrote all nine scriptsabout four years ago. Carla shares thatthey wanted to put it the right way butwere not sure if they’ll be able to doit or not.

There are many people out there,may not be in Hollywood, but work-ing with their partner in every field.So how difficult or easy is it to havesomeone by your side professionallyas well as in personal life? She tells us,“I don’t know. I didn’t take any magicbullet. What is great is that we aregood at different things and thereforeit makes it a good balance. If we wereboth actors that might’ve been differ-

ent. But for some reason, it’s just a verynatural thing and we really love andenjoy it. We trust each other so muchand I think it’s great as well as impor-tant in terms of creativity.”

The actress listens to differentplaylist with each character. Whatsongs might be on her list for Jett,which also recently premiered onStar World? She tells us some, “I cangive you a couple. Walk a Mile byHolly Golightly, Easy Money by Karen

Anne.”Carla’s Haunting of Hill House is

the scariest of all. She tells us that sheknow so many people who alreadyknew what’s going to happen in theseries still they preferred to watch itduring the day time. So is the seriescoming back with new and scarierepisodes? She says, “Yes. It is ananthology so it will be a different story.But you will see some actors return-ing.

�How has fashion consumptionchanged over the years?

In India, fashion was created throughlocal tailors in small towns, who craftedpersonalised styles. As industrialisationand foreign brands paved their way to thecountry, we started looking towards fastfashion in the market. The young con-sumers were largely attracted. However,over the last few years, with the garmentindustry creating awareness, their ismore thought into what we leave behindas a brand. The fashion industry isshowing the sustainable way to the con-sumers. We are the ones sitting close tocraft clusters and natural materials. It isour duty to create fashion, which is clas-sic, sustainable and doesn’t die with anyseason, especially handcrafted thingsand textiles. Things are rapidly changing,creating classic wardrobes and workingtowards thoughtful consumption is thenew trend.

�How have you evolved as a designer?As the brand became popular, it start-

ed living as a natural textile. Since ouressence is sarees, which are worn occa-sionally and daily as well, it helped megrow in all aspects. I have recreated thethought of wearing a saree and beingcomfortable in it. I have grown with thecreation and with the innovation oflinen as a textile.

�When and how did your love affairwith the saree start?

I have always been fond of sarees. Istill remember wearing a saree onteacher’s day when I was in sixth standard.My love for the fabric initiated from mymother as she used to wear it very often.I wanted to grow up and look exactly likeher. She was my inspiration. During mycollege days, I wore a saree, which I paint-ed myself. I thought of making a careerin it, when I started working with theMinistry of Textiles and understoodwhat textile actually means and what goesbehind into its making.

�As your upbringing was in Karnal,how far did that influence your designsensibilities?

It completely affected my designsensibilities. As a small town girl, I wasaway from the entire fashion industry.Whenever I would go to Delhi with mysister, I mostly used to buy textiles or goto a local tailors and get clothes stitchedas per my wish. The only influence thattime was magazine, television and mygrandmother. She used to do embroideryand hand paintings. Looking at all of that,I fell in love with handcrafted things. Thatis what the narrative of my brand is.

�You wore a hand-painted saree to yourinterview in NIFT. Did you plan of own-ing a saree brand when you joinedNIFT?

I joined NIFT with the intention ofunderstanding fashion. Working withsaree was nowhere in my mind. I was

inclined towards home textiles. But whenyou start studying and knowing about acertain subject, it develops your under-standing of it. I did not end up here strate-gically. Things just unfolded the way itwas meant to be.�A lot of celebrities are wearing and

adorning different brands? Do you seeit as an advantage or a hindrance?

It works for your advantage becausethe celebrities have a lot of influence onyoung minds. Young girls try to imitatecelebrities and look up to them. Even forme, to see what is happening in the fash-

ion world was to check Bollywood.When you see Sonam Kapoor wearinghand woven saree, printed with hand-blocks, the whole demography of hand-woven saree changes automatically andhandloom takes a front seat. People getan idea of how it can be styled in a cer-tain way. With the acceptance of hand-loom by celebrities, women see that as astyle quotient. It definitely helps the entiresector.

�You have been experimenting withhome furnishings, it is another binaryyou have taken to. How do you see thatdeveloping?

Home furnishings are in a developingstate in India right now. It has not takencentrestage but I am definitely going to giveit my best shot. I will come out with a col-lection very soon. It is a natural extensionbecause my heart lies there.

�What drives your passion for sustain-able fashion. Do you think sustainablefashion would also impact the way welive?

Yes, definitely, it is already doing that.One can see it at the new restaurants andfood outlets. More and more people are fol-lowing a vegan approach and they are curi-ous to know where the food is grown andwhere it is coming from. It is catering tothe popularity of the organic food andfarmer’s markets all around. The way weare using sustainable textiles in our hous-es and how plastic has been completely

banned says it all. How people consumefashion indicates how people are consum-ing other things in their life too. I see somany young people working on sustainableproducts thinking of environment. A verygood example from India is of the guy whois working with cork rather than leather tocreate bags. It is impacting our lives allaround.

�Fashion runs in cycles. Do you thinkthat saree is gaining popularity becauseof movements like the hundred sareepact?

I see social media taking this allacross. Movements like this have verystrong impact on making the fabric pop-ular right now.

�The sarees by Anavila can be immedi-ately spotted. What would you attributeit to?

The first thing is our material whichhas not changed over eight years of work-ing in the industry. We keep our sensibil-ity alive while creating our collection. Theeasiness and comfort with which ourstyling is done sets us apart.

�Statement blouses and experimentationwith drapes is something that’s trending.How do you cater to that?

For me, it’s all about simple minimal-istic sarees from my very first show in 2014.The fabric should be beautiful and the tex-ture should be nice. Sarees must give a mes-sage that they are comfortable everydaywear. Our styling ideas come from the ruralIndia because they wear sarees 24*7 andhave adapted it so beautifully.

�Why did you decide to come on boardwith the etsy design awards?

My first interaction with etsy was whenthey were launching it in India. They con-ducted an event in Delhi and invited me.That’s when I got to know about what theydo. Their thought of building it across Indiafascinated me. There were so many womenand artisans who work from home anddon’t have a platform to sell their products.They give them education and help themcreate that window. I completely got holdof that idea. So I thought of helping andpartnering with them. They have reachedquite far and have tried to connect to thevillages also.

�What are your future plans as a brand?I keep thinking about the different

products we can offer for a sustainablelifestyle. I always have a meaningful collab-oration with the artisans and women. Iwant to find sustainable materials and takemore and more people on board. We wantto make a community which can help eachother grow.

Tahir Raj Bhasin has alwaysbeen regarded as an actor

to watch out for. He debuted asa villain in Mardaani. In hisnext, he will be seen playing asports champion in NiteshTiwari’s Chhichhore. The actormoved to the IIT Bombay andstayed with students beforethe shoot of the film began.

Nitesh had graduated fromthe Indian Institute ofTechnology Bombay (IIT-B) in1996 with a Bachelor’s degreein Metallurgy and MaterialScience engineering.Chhichhore is inspired from hislife and times at the college.The film is about the campuslife in the engineering college.Tahir wanted to study andsoak in college life and seeinter-personal dynamics of var-ious hostels from close quartersbefore he started filming.

Tahir says, “I moved to IITBombay to spend a week at thehostel before the filming began.I internalise every role that I doand immerse myself with thesetting and the character thatI have at hand. I worked out atthe same gym as the studentsand ate in the canteens to getan actual feel of how their cam-pus life is. I studied the youngstudents closely and observedthe dynamics between hos-tels. Moving to the campusmade me ready for the role. Iam hoping that the audiencewill connect with my charac-ter.”

The actor also reveals thatliving and shooting in IIT wasuncanny for him. “MoodIndigo, the IIT cultural festivalis coincidentally also where Iperformed theatre for the firsttime as part of my college the-atre group. This was the place

where the germ of becomingan actor was set for me. Life isa full circle. The end of onejourney is the beginning of thenext,” he says and adds,“What’s further uncanny isthat my opening scene in thefilm is also shot in the same

corridor where I lived in forthe theatre. What are thechances! I think I was destinedto do this role and revisit thecampus that I so fondlyremember. Chhichhore willalways be one of the most cher-ished films of my career.”

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Like America, chefs could beIndia’s new rockstars too. Andnot a cliché this time. Serving

food to the beat of a meticulouslysourced soundtrack is a trend on therise. And one such chef is PriyamChatterjee who is also the first Indianchef to have been conferred with thehonour of Chevalier de l’Ordre duMérite Agricole. The honour comes inrecognition of his contribution toreinventing the gastronomic scene inthe Indian capital. Also a musicianand an artist, Chatterjee has beenrecognised for his masterful platingand his eclectic cooking styles. Hiscreative dishes draw upon his Bengaliroots, the French influence in his lifeand his love for music and art.

As he reinvents the Bengali cui-sine by blending it with French andEuropean cuisine styles, he tell us why.“I figured out that the Bengali cuisine,being one of the most elegant and sub-tle, is also very underrated. Theregional cuisine was dying. Theyounger generations do not want toeat what we have cherished andgrown up with. But we can try to keepthe cuisine very much alive if we gaveit a fresh perspective and vision bykeeping the taste authentic but chang-ing its complete look,” says the chef,who feels that his training with theexperts of French cuisine has helpedhim in achieving this. And this is whyhe could transform the “quintessen-tial Bengali dishes” into what could becalled the “modern” Bengali cuisine.

Sharing some anecdotes from hislife, he talks about he shaped his foodlogic while growing up. Chatterjeecalls himself fortunate and blessed tobe born into a family of exceptionalcooks and serious gourmands. And hehas build his cuisine philosophybased on nostalgia, history and mem-ories. “I am a Bengali and food is holyin my bloodline. My father was a verypassionate man and I learnt procur-ing vegetables and fishes from himeven though I have had very less timeto spend with him,” he says and addsthat his mother had brought her cook-ing heritage from Bangladesh and his

aunts, too, were “cooking up a storm.”However, Chatterjee owes the

latter part of him becoming a profes-sional cook completely to France,where he realised his “depth of pas-sion” for the cuisine.

The chef, who has a cellularapproach when it comes to sourcinghis ingredients. He says, “I follow avery organic way. From visiting mysuppliers and building a strong rela-tionship with them to presenting my

menu ideas with them and lettingthem decide what they have in storefor me. I figure out what best can bemade available in the season and thenwork on the menu.” He invites all hisvendors once in two months and

makes them eat what they cooked atthe restaurant as “it’s important for meto make them realise what we do withall the amazing products that theysource for me.”

It is commonly said that if a chefis not travelling, he is probably notexperimenting. So how is it that headapts his dishes to local ingredientswhile travelling? However, he says thatwhile he is travelling, he only eats andtastes new dishes, making sure heemphasises on just that. “I try my levelbest to not eat fancy and only eat attraditional households where grandmothers are still cooking. I even tryout street food or local joints thrivingon history of their food culture. Itopens up enormous doors of creativ-ity and inspiration for me. I can thenmerge the subtleties with the blessingof complex and mega Indian spicesand layers of aroma and flavours,” headds.

Recalling one of his experiencesin Ko Samui, Thailand, he says thattheir use of “absolutely” fresh produceand keeping it the way it is made thedishes super super tasty, which real-ly impressed him. He is also a huge fanof South India, especially the “Andhracuisine.” He says, “Their flavours area gift to the world. I also find Gujaraticuisine one of the most delicate andcomplex ones to enjoy eating. It’s anart that shows how simple elementscan be transformed into amazingfood.”

For him, there is no particularcuisine in the world which perfectlybalances sensory and nutritional ele-ments. “I think every cuisine has itsown balance. It’s not the cuisine thatbrings out the nutritional value but theproduct. Neo-Indian, Nordic andNeo-French cuisines are very ingre-dient-specific and minimalistic intheir approach. But they are complexand packed with real flavours. ThusI thrive to cook those types of foodwith a little more oomph!” says he.

Talking about the honour he hasreceived on behalf of the President ofthe French Republic by theAmbassador of France to India,Alexandre Ziegler, he tells us how hewill initiate more such gastronomicpractices and make contributions tothe industry. He aspires to cook thecountry’s Prime Minister as well as theFrench President. “And strengthen theties of the two unique cultures not justby diplomatic relationships but alsothrough food and love. It will thusspread awareness and inspire otheraspiring chefs to learn the craft reli-giously so that one day, even theycould make their country proud andserve its leaders,” says the chef, whohas been the head chef at Rooh(group of Indian chef Sujan Sarkar)and Qla in the city.

�Tell us about your character Kerra?She is the daughter of Pellenor, the

king of Cantii. They are at war with theRegni while Kerra is at war with herfather. She is a woman of her own mind.She doesn’t like to be used as some kindof pawn in a scenario she doesn’t agreewith. There was a wedding before theseries starts that was supposed to unitethe two clans, but it doesn’t end well. She’squite a bold figure to play. But it taughtme something about who she is, some-body who does not steer too far fromwhat she believes in. She is fiercelyopposed to her father. Therefore, when wemeet her, she is not in his favour.

�Where do you think she gets her innerstrength from?

We live in much softer times. I justthink of these people as indigenoustribes. So there’s no pre-Freud analysis —people were just surviving. They livedshort lives and were ruled by the gods.Their lives were part of a bigger picture.But Kerra’s mother was part Romanfrom the first invasion. So the gods proph-esied about Kerra when she was a younggirl, that she was going to be killed as asacrifice to the gods. And her father, KingPellenor agreed to it. So she has never for-given him. She is fiercely angry with himthat he killed her mother. I think shedraws from that an attitude to do the rightthing. She thinks her father sold his soulto the Druids, who she also hates.

�What is Kerra’s relationship with thegods?

She definitely believes in the god. Idon’t think there’s anybody in this world

who doesn’t believe in him. It’s really thefabric of their lives. What she doesn’tbelieve in is the Druids. She even thoughthinks that they think they are gods them-selves, but in fact, she says, ‘You’rehuman. You’re not the wind, you’re notthe earthquakes, you’re not the trees,you’re a damn human. And I’m a human.’She doesn’t buy the hypocrisy and theirneed for power. She’s very sceptical ofthem as one would be if they took the one

thing from your life that mattered.

�The time of Britannia is famous infolklore for having strong, warriorwomen, of which Kerra might be anexample. Is that what first interested youin the project?

Yes. I’m always fascinated with thisthing with strong female characters. Imight not necessarily be interested inthem I’m not even interested necessari-ly in the weak ones. I’m more often inter-ested in fully-rounded characters. So oftenwomen can be just one thing in dramas.I like a character who can be vulnerableand strong but is complicated and com-plex and is a real human being, regard-less of her feminine self. The fact that thiswas a world that respected women andtheir intuition, could be considered aspowerful and not a misogynistic world.There was a sacredness to the Earth,which was feminine. So I have a passionfor this time in history. I find it fascinat-ing that she’s trying to survive and do theright thing. In a way, she comes from

quite a male-dominated society. It’s allabout getting things done and to getthings done she takes things into her ownhands.

�Were you familiar with the history ofBritannia before joining the cast?

As far as mythology is concerned, Iwouldn’t say I was an expert. I’m some-body who would drive down to the WestCountry and see Stonehenge, go and bein that space and wonder about thosepeople and times. They seem to have beentuned into something else. The Druids,the Pagans, it’s certainly something thatI am interested in. So to be involved in adrama that lives in that world, is reallyexciting for me.

�Given her heritage, what does Kerrago through when the Romans return?

What we realise about Kerra is herfundamental reason for being, which isthe survival of her people. So in that way,she is her father’s daughter. She will sac-rifice anything for that, including herself

and the love of her father. She thinks herfather is blind and is ruling just to be inthe favour of the Druids. Whereas, shewants to do the right thing for her peo-ple, land and her tribe. So when theRomans come, she feels there’s no waythey can conquer this. They know whatRome is and they come with their armies.So while King Pellenor’s attitude is ‘Headback to Rome,’ Kerra’s attitude is, ‘Well,we need to talk to them, we need to havea conversation first’.

�What was it like to be involved in thestunts?

Kerra is tough. She builds this kindof fortress around herself. And she is alsophysically abled as she is a great horse-woman and has had to protect herself. SoI had to do a couple of scenes where she’skilling off her enemies. And I had neverdone anything like that before in a job andit was a lot of fun to play that part of her,which goes like ‘Do not mess with me’. Allof the characters have this. There is noone who can be called as weak. They’re

all survivors and strong fighters.

�It’s a show of many conflicts... Yes, emotional conflict. Who am I?

What am I going to do now? There aretimes that we’re doing this and it feels sobig. It’s quite biblical in a way. We wereshooting the Amber Palace scene, whichlooks like Stonehenge and we had 300extras dancing and playing drums and asmoke machine going under a full moon.I just thought to myself, ‘This thing hassome magic.’

�What was the Amber Palace scenelike?

Working with Mackenzie, he waschannelling something playing Veran.He’s extremely powerful for such a slimguy and he inhabits Veran with this mad-ness and brilliance. He’s so innovative andinventive. And he’s really an exciting per-son to act with. But we all got tribed upwith the tribe make-up and that was real-ly fun. It’s proper dressing-up. I love act-ing because you can feel like you can sortof time travel. Not that I’m actually there,but in my imagination, I can just drop in.And we felt like there was something real-ly powerful going on. We did the wholesequence in one go. It was almost like the-atre. And then when I get into that headspace it’s like we’re actually there. I hopethat actually comes through when peo-ple watch it. I hope they get that experi-ence.

�What else do you think people willenjoy about the show?

One of the things I am taken with isthat it feels very exciting. It feels very alive,and relevant, weirdly, to the time in whichwe live. There’s not really anything safeabout this place or these people. We don’tknow what’s going to happen. Anythingcan happen. There’s a real modern-feel-ing attitude. All of the characters are verywell-rounded. There’s no one which isgood or bad. Everyone has a lot of differ-ent colours and there’s a real earthinessto it, which I really like. This is the real-ity of the Earth. And I love that about it.It’s a huge cast with a lot of storylines andof conflict, which makes it a great drama.

(The show is live on SonyLIV.)

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Singer and television hostAditya Narayan, who is

mostly hosting TV showsthan singing, says he is notokay with the contract sys-tem that music labels forceupon singers. Adding thathe wants to build his careeras an independent musician,Aditya said doing televisionshows and acting help himtake a step forward in thatdirection.

“From the time corpo-ratisation happened (in themusic industry), musiclabels have started signingcontracts with singers. Theywant artistes to serve them.They cut a certain percent-age from our live gigs andassignments. I am not okaywith that system,” Adityasaid.

“I am a singer and amusician at heart, andmusic is in my soul, but welive in a different era -- waydifferent from what myfather and the earlier gener-ation of singers lived in —whether it is ShreyaGhoshal, Sonu Nigam,Sunidhi Chauhan, Papa(Udit Narayan) and his con-temporaries, they werefriends and lived like a fam-ily,” said Aditya, whosefather has been a 90s and2000s sensation.

“They (the earliersingers) would collaboratewith music directors andexperience success and fail-ure together. Those thingsare over now,” added theyoungster who started

singing from his childhoodalong with his father.

As a child artiste, he lenthis voice for numerous hitsincluding the title songs ofRangeela (1995) and AkeleHum Akele Tum (1995),besides the number ChhotaBachcha Jaan Ke in Masoom(1996). He has alsoappeared as a child actorRangeela, Pardes (1997), JabPyaar Kisise Hota Hai(1998).

In 2007, Aditya startedhosting the musical talenthunt show, Sa Re Ga Ma PaChallenge.

Given the situation inthe music industry, Adityaclaims that he has decidedto make money throughanchoring game shows, real-ity shows, and live gigs,along with singing.

“To fight a system sostrong, I need to havemoney and backing to putout songs independently.So I am hosting televisionshows and live gigs. I amreally fortunate to be one ofthe highest-paid TV enter-tainers. For me, indepen-dent music means a groupof artistes writing, compos-ing and performing a songby themselves without thecontrol of a music label,”said the singer, who isappearing on the ColorsTV show Khatra KhatraKhatra.

“I want to usher change,and I know I have to worktirelessly for that,” Adityaconcluded. D��<'

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Manchester City will seekrevenge against Tottenham

today for their dramaticChampions League exit last sea-son as Liverpool andManchester United also look tobuild on impressive PremierLeague starts this weekend.

City completed the firstever domestic treble of trophiesin England last season, but fellshort once more in theChampions League asTottenham progressed fromtheir quarter-final tie on awaygoals.

VAR disallowed RaheemSterling’s strike deep into stop-page time of a thrilling secondleg 4-3 win for the Englishchampions in April, robbingSterling of his hat-trick on thenight and City a place in the lastfour.

Yet, Sterling has started thenew campaign as he finished thelast, scoring a hat-trick on theopening weekend as Citythrashed West Ham 5-0 toalready move to the top of thetable.

Tottenham were also victo-rious against Aston Villa, butneeded to come from behindand two goals in the final fiveminutes from Harry Kane tosecure a 3-1 win over promot-ed Aston Villa.

Kane has warned that Spurscannot fall behind so early in thecampaign if they want to main-tain a title challenge.

Liverpool will hope to haveforged ahead by the time Cityand Spurs kick-off at the Etihadwhen they travel to aSouthampton side reeling froma disappointing 3-0 defeat atBurnley to start the season.

LAMPARD COMES HOMEChelsea were the only

member of the ‘big six’ to get off toa losing start as the Blues were hum-bled 4-0 by Manchester United inFrank Lampard’s first game incharge.

The former England midfield-er fairly argued that the scorelinewas very harsh on his side after theyenjoyed the better of the openinghour.

And there was further encour-agement for Lampard in his side’sperformance despite losing the

UEFA Super Cup to Liverpool onpenalties after a 2-2 draw in Istanbulon Wednesday.

After a summer in whichLampard could not sign new play-ers and Chelsea lost Eden Hazardto Real Madrid, facing a refreshedUnited and relentless Liverpoolwas a baptism of fire for Lampard.

Chelsea’s all-time top goalscor-er is still assured of a hero’s welcomefor his first home game as manag-er against Leicester at Stamford

Bridge on Sunday.But he badly needs a win to qui-

eten the doubters over Chelsea’sdecision to hand a club legend withjust one year’s managerial experi-ence such a high-profile job.

TEST FOR UTDAfter the negativity that greet-

ed Manchester United securingjust three new signings in thetransfer window, the comprehensivemargin of victory over Chelsea was

the perfect tonic for Ole GunnarSolskjaer.

Harry Maguire, AaronWan-Bissaka and Daniel Jamesall made a big impact as Unitedregistered just their second cleansheet at home in the PremierLeague under the Norwegian,while James came off the bench

to score the final goal.However, a Monday night

trip to Wolves will be anothertough test of United's ambitionsthis season.

Solskjaer's men lost on bothvisits to Molineux last season.

"When you start the seasonlike this, the club, the support-

ers, everyone goes home bounc-ing and happy. Now it's aboutlevelling out," said Solskjaer.

"We know the last twogames went against them whenI was there. We just have to makesure we do everything we canand there's no repeat of thatscoreline."

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Roger Federer remainsdetermined to enter the US

Open on full throttle despitetaking a 6-3, 6-4 third-roundloss Thursday to AndreyRublev at the ATP CincinnatiMasters.

The 70th-ranked Russianqualifier was still in awe afterknocking off the seven-timetournament winner in 61 min-utes -- the quickest loss for the38-year-old Swiss since 2003 inSydney when he fell after 54minutes.

But with the wisdomgained from nearly twodecades on tour, the 20-timeGrand Slam winner was hard-ly at panic stations after the sur-prise defeat.

"It's very important for methat I'm injury-free and I'mfeeling good," he said."Regardless of what the out-come of this week, I'm happyI came here, had good practicesessions.

"I had two matches hereand hoped it would have gonebetter -- the plan is always notto lose first round. The plan isalways not to lose secondround.

"The plan is never really tobe in the weekend. It's trying tobe there.

"When these kind of resultshappen, you walk away from itand say, like, 'What's the plan?'I don't know. I just walked offthe court."

Federer said that discus-sion with his team will deter-mine his schedule for the restof this week and next, with thefinal Grand Slam of the seasonstarting a week from Monday.

"I'll have a few more daysoff now, I'm sure, before the USOpen," he said. "I worked veryhard coming into Cincinnati inthat little season we had sinceWimbledon.

"I'm going to train -- exact-ly what I need to do for theOpen -- and that's it. It's fairlysimple, keep it simple, but I'vegot to work hard."

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Asian and CommonwealthGames Gold-medallist

wrestler Bajrang Punia was onFriday nominated for thecountry’s highest sportinghonour — the Rajiv GandhiKhel Ratna award, a year afterhe threatened to move courtfor not getting his due.

His name was finalised bya 12-member selection com-mittee on the opening day ofa two-day meeting. The panelcomprises the likes ofBhaichung Bhutia and M CMary Kom among others andis headed by Justice (Retd)Mukundakam Sharma.

“Bajrang has been nomi-nated for the Khel Ratnaaward. His name was a unan-imous choice,” a source said.

The source also said thatthe panel may add anotherathlete for the top honours onSaturday besides finalising thenames for the Arjuna andDronacharya awards.

Bajrang had threatened tomove court after he wassnubbed for the Khel Ratnaaward last year despite being aGold-medallist in both theAsian and CommonwealthGames.

On getting the nod onFriday, Bajrang asserted that heis a deserving candidate of theaward.

“My job is to train hardand compete hard. My focus

has always been on my perfor-mance and not awards. But therecognition does come yourway when you do well,”Bajrang said from Georgia,where he is training for theWorld Championships.

“I had the achievements todeserve this award. I havealways said that awards shouldgo to the most deserving ones.”

Punia is a two-timemedallist at the world cham-pionships and a strong medalhope for India at next year’sTokyo Olympics.

While Bajrang won aBronze in 60kg in 2013 WorldChampionships, he betteredhis feat last year by bagging aSilver in the 65kg category.

He welcomed the recogni-tion, but Bajrang said he does-n’t consider it a motivationahead of the the WorldChampionships to be heldfrom September 14 to 22 atNur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

“My focus has always beenon preparing for the big stagebut yes, recognition makesyou happy. It is certainly agood news weeks before theWorld Championship,” he said.

“I don’t need motivationfrom outside, I am motivatedto do well at the WorldChampionships inKazakhstan. It (award) doesnot make any difference to mypreparations. Putting on qual-ity performance is my focusand it will remain.”

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Afighting half-century bywicketkeeper-batsman BJ

Watling helped New Zealandto take a lead of 177 at stumpson day three in the first Testmatch against Sri Lanka inGalle on Friday.

New Zealand, who trailedSri Lanka by 18 runs in thefirst innings, finished on 195for seven and a target around200 could prove tricky for thehosts.

Spinners have long ruledthe roost at Galle and towardsthe tail end of the game theytend to become even morethreatening.

The highest successfulrun chase in here is 99 by SriLanka against Pakistan in2014 and armed with a three-pronged spin attack, NewZealand should be already

feeling comfortable.It was a thrilling day’s

Test match with both teamsfighting tooth and nail for theinitiative and at stumps on daythree New Zealand emergedon top thanks to the efforts ofWatling, who finished unbeat-en on 63.

New Zealand hadslumped to 25 for three losingtop batsmen Ross Taylor (3)and Kane Williamson (4)cheaply and at 124 for six withonly a lead of 106 runs andfour wickets remaining, theywere playing catch up.

But Watling found anideal partner in Tim Southeeas the pair shared a 54-runstand to turn the game in NewZealand’s favour.

Sri Lanka were sloppy onthe f ield with Southeedropped three times. LasithEmbuldeniya provided the

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Ravi Shastri was on Fridayre-appointed head coach ofthe Indian men’s team by

the Kapil Dev-led CricketAdvisory Committee (CAC),which unanimously felt that theincumbent’s “communicationskills and understanding of teamissues” stood out.

Shastri, who had the publicbacking of captain Virat Kohlieven before the short-listing wasinitiated, has been reappointedfor a two-year period, endingwith the 2021 T20 World Cup inIndia.

“We have unanimouslydecided to appoint Ravi Shastri asthe (head) coach of the Indiancricket team as you all wereexpecting,” CAC head Kapil Devtold mediapersons after the com-pletion of the candidates’ inter-views that took place through theday.

The three-member CAC alsocomprised former India coachAnshuman Gaekwad and exwomen’s captain ShanthaRangaswamy.

This will be Shastri’s fourthstint with the national team, hav-ing served briefly as the CricketManager (2007 tour ofBangladesh), Team Director(2014-2016) and head coach(2017-2019).

Shastri pipped former NewZealand coach Mike Hesson,Australian Tom Moody and for-mer India teammates RobinSingh and Lalchand Rajput to thepost. Former West Indies andAfghanistan coach Phil Simmonspulled out of the race, citing per-sonal reasons.

While Robin, Rajput andHesson gave in-person presenta-tions, Moody spoke to the panelover Skype from Australia.

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much-needed breakthroughwhen Southee gave him thecharge and was stumped byNiroshan Dickwella. He made23. It was Embuldeniya’s

fourth wicket in the innings.Watling who has six Test

hundreds and posted a careerbest unbeaten 142 against SriLanka was again being a thornin their flesh with an unbeat-en 63 that came off 138 ballswith five fours.

Earlier, after resuming on

227 for seven, NiroshanDickwella top scored for SriLanka with 61 as they wentonto post 267. Dickwella andSuranga Lakmal were involvedin a crucial 81 run stand forthe eighth wicket that enabledthem to take a lead. Lakmalmade 40.

marking and Mike (Hesson), an intelligent, young boyfrom New Zealand was a close second. It was a veryclose,” the former India captain said, implying thatLalchand Rajput and Robin Singh were far behind inthe race.

The candidates were primarily marked on fiveaspects — coaching philosophy, experience, achieve-ments, communication and knowledge of moderntools.

A ‘very good’ had a 20-mark weightage while goodcarried 15. Average was 10 and poor was five.

“Everyone of us gave marks and honestly we neverdiscussed which one of us gave how many marks.When we calculated, it was a very close race, I can tellyou. I am not going to get into the details as to howmuch was the difference but it was a very small num-ber (margin),” said Kapil.

In fact, the 1983 World Cup winning captain saidthat for him, his former teammate Shastri’s “commu-nication skill” was one of the highlights during his pre-sentation.

“I felt his (Shastri) communication skill was bet-ter and she (pointing at Shantha) might have felt some-thing else. We were given a marksheet and we filledit up without discussing with each other,” he said.

Gaekwad felt that Shastri was “well versed withthe Indian cricket system, and knew the boys and theirproblems well being the current coach.”

Once Kohli openly backed Shastri’s candidatureat the pre-departure media conference before the ongo-ing West Indies tour, it was expected that the formerIndia captain would be a favourite to retain the posi-tion.

However, Kapil reiterated that the committee neversought the Indian skipper’s opinion.

“Certainly not (sought Kohli’s opinion). Agar unkopuchte toh puree team ko puchte (If we would haveasked Kohli, then we would have taken the opinionof the whole team).”

Among all the candidates, Shastri’s record was

unmatched as the teamreached the No1 ranking inTest matches under his guid-ance and won a series inAustralia for the first time in71 years.

Since he came back inJuly, 2017 replacing AnilKumble, whose differenceswith Kohli came out in theopen, Shastri’s coaching recordhas been phenomenal.

India have won 11 out of21 Tests, 43 out of 60 ODIsand 25 T20 Internationals outof 36 on his watch.

“If somebody knows play-ers well and can communicatewell, he has an advantage,”

Gaekwad said about Shastri’scandidature.

Kapil, however, clarifiedthat their committee is notaware of the terms of appoint-ment and Shastri’s remunre-tion.

He also stated that theirterms of reference, while con-ducting the interviews, wasnot based on their previousperformance but on the “pre-sentations” given and what thecoaches felt about the way for-ward for Indian cricket.

Gaekwad also insisted thatthe process was “completelytransparent”.

Kapil refused to divulge the

details of Shastri’s presentation,which was made over a viedocall from Antigua and was thelast of the day.

“That’s confidential. Hegave a presentation of what heachieved in the last two yearsand how the team can improvefurther. He sought more timefrom the board to make thisteam stronger in the days tocome.”

“All of them gave presenta-tions on what’s the way forwardand we weighed it along withthe past performances and thatswung it in Ravi Shastri'sfavour,” Shantha Rangaswamygave the concluding reply.

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