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˘ˇˆ˙˝ ˛˚ ˜ ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˇ˝ ˙ ˙˝˘ ˛ˆ˝˚˚˝˘ · to Anandalok hospital for con-struction of a modern hospital. Under the CM health Insurance Scheme there is a provision

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Page 1: ˘ˇˆ˙˝ ˛˚ ˜ ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˇ˝ ˙ ˙˝˘ ˛ˆ˝˚˚˝˘ · to Anandalok hospital for con-struction of a modern hospital. Under the CM health Insurance Scheme there is a provision

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Page 2: ˘ˇˆ˙˝ ˛˚ ˜ ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˇ˝ ˙ ˙˝˘ ˛ˆ˝˚˚˝˘ · to Anandalok hospital for con-struction of a modern hospital. Under the CM health Insurance Scheme there is a provision

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Giridih police on Thursdayevening arrested at least

eight people involved in cyberfraud. The criminals were heldfrom village Jorasimar fromAhilayapur police station areaby an operation headed byOfficer-in charge ShashiRanjan Kumar.

As many as 17 mobilesphones including six smartphones, 11 small mobilephones and 29 SIM cards wererecovered from them, saidSDPO Manish Toppo.

The Ahilayapur police in-charge Shashi Ranjan Kumaralong with ASI Sunil Toponoand ASI of Cyber cell UdayKumar Singh arrested all 8members of the gang near thehouse of Chetlal Mandal atJorasimar village .

The accused have beenidentified as PradeepMandal,Manjesh Mandal,

Jaideo Verma, Suresh MandalVikash Mandal, Robin Mandal,Dilip Mandal and SurajMandal.

Police said that they usedto call up people posing bankofficials and would tell ATMcard holders that their ATMwas being stopped and then askthem to reveal their pin num-bers. Many people revealed

their pin number and later theywere cheated," said Toppo.

All branch managers regu-larly advised their customer notto disclose their debit andcredit card details to anyoneover mobile. After receiving pinnumber the gang memberstransferred money from thevictim's account to their bankaccount, added Toppo.

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Deputy CommissionerRavishankar Shukla has

ordered to withhold thesalaries of doctors and staffmembers posted at naxal proneChurchu block CommunityHealth when he found many ofthem absent on his surprisevisit to the centre on Friday.Interestingly, clerk VishalAnnand was found absent buthis attendance was made in theattendance register. The DCalso found anomalies in themedicine distribution.

Irked at the scenarioShukla immediately ordered towithhold the salary of Dr.Umar Kharukh, clerk VishalAnnand and Shivam Kumar Das.

During this visit, the DCalso enquired about theabsence of Unani doctor SaifUllah Khalid. The staff said thathe had gone to visit somePHCs of the block. Dissatisfiedwith this reply DC Shuklaordered the in-charge MedicalOfficer of the block to providethe field visit details of Dr.Khalid within 3 days.

Shukla was also lookedannoyed with the entries madein medicine distribution regis-ter. He ordered the BDOCharhi who was with him atthe spot to submit a detailedreport of the medicines avail-able and needed in the com-munity health center byMonday.

He gave instructions tothe concerned clerk Sudama

Das and warned him that infuture such mistakes will not betolerated.

Later talking with theincharge Medical Officer of theblock and people's representa-tives, Shukla advised them towork in coordination with eachother and to launch a massiveawareness campaign in theblock as the block is in the listof higher number of malnour-ished children and anemicwomen.

People's representativemade various complaintsregarding the functioning ofthe center on which DC Shukladirected the in-charge medicalofficers to do the needful sothat people of remote areasshould get better health facili-ties near their homes.

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Under the Foundation Daycelebration fortnight,

Labour Minister Raj Paliwarinaugurated and laid founda-tion of series of developmentschemes in the district atShahid Nilamber town hallfield here on Friday.

The Minister laid founda-tion of 25 projects worth �8.11crore which included 10 pro-jects of Municipal Council, 10project of Zila Yojna, 4 projectof Rajya Samposit Yojana and1 project from EducationDepartment.

Paliwar also inaugurated 16projects worth over �8.79crores entire schemes ofDistrict EducationDepartment. Besides, theMinister also distributed bankloan worth �10.49 croersamong 3,224 beneficiaries.

The in-charge of theGarhwa district, Paliwar, saidthe Government believes ininclusive growth. Inaugurationsof project and distributions ofassets are evident thatGovernment is focusing on

development. Moreover, peoplefrom remotest parts are beingbenefitted from Governmentschemes.

Speaking on the law andorder situation in State Paliwarsaid that today either militantsare being killed in Jharkhand orleaving the State. He reiteratedthat the present Governmentwas fulfilling its promise ofdevelopment of all section ofpeople across the State.

The Government is

focused on developing each vil-lage and for which eachGovernment department's wel-fare measures should reachthe desired beneficiary.

The Minister paid homageto the descendents of martyrNilamber Pitamber, BaidyanathSingh and Karmi Devi. GarhwaDC Dr.Neha Arora, MLASatyendra Nath Tiwari,Daltonganj MLA AlokChaurasiya also addressed thefunction.

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Chief Minister RaghubarDas on Friday said that the

Chief Minister HealthInsurance Scheme would belaunched during the StatehoodDay function on November 15.

"It is our ambitious projectand we are looking forward tomake it a success. The healthinsurance scheme would belaunched in Ranchi onNovember 15 while for the

entire State it would belaunched from December 28.

In all 57 lakh poor familieswill be covered in the scheme,"said Das, who was in Chakuliaon Friday afternoon to inau-

gurate a three-storied 25-bedAnandalok private hospital.

Addressing the people , heannounced that state govern-ment along with Anandalokhospital will construct housefor nearly 500 homeless inChakulia block soon.

He also said thatGovernment will be allottingnearly 5 acres of land in Ranchito Anandalok hospital for con-

struction of a modern hospital.Under the CM health

Insurance Scheme there is aprovision of �50,000 in sec-ondary care and �2 lakh in spe-cial care. Das also said thatsoon another 500-bed hospitalwould be inaugurated in theGhatshila sub-division.

"We want to promotehealth infrastructure and for

this we had discussions withMeditrina Group of Hospital toconvert the defunct HCLHospital at Mosaboni inGhatshila into a 500-bed superspecialty hospital under a PPPmode very soon by the end ofthis year," said Das.He alsoannounced that theGovernment will appoint 3,000Auxiliary Nurse Midwifery(ANM). He added that the firstf leet of 50 highway ambulances will be rolled outon November 15 inRanchi.

"It is yet another importantstep being taking to ensureproper health care. In the firstphase 50 ambulances compris-ing a combination of advancedlife support and basic life sup-port will be launched during

the statehood function andwould be integrated with 108call center facility.

Thereafter, every monththe Government will be rollingout 50 such ambulances. Thereare 329 such ambulances and weplan to have one ambulance forevery 1lakh persons," said Das.

Noida-based Bafna HealthCare and Ahmedabad-basedNatraj Motors will be fabricat-ing 329 vans which are alreadyconverted into ambulanceswith life-saving equipment.

In case of a mishap or sud-den illness, people would beable to dial emergency helpline108 to call highway ambu-lances. The ambulance will bewell-equipped with life-savingequipment and trained paramedical staff.

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Vikas Mela kicked-off in Artand Cultural Building Chas

at Bokaro on Friday. The fairwas organised under the fort-night celebration of JharkhandState Establishment Day atBokaro. Inaugurating the eventSocial Welfare Minister, Dr.Louis Marandi said, "Jharkhandis the land of heroes, who gavetheir martyrdom to protect theland and gave an identity to theregion."Addressing the gather-ing, she said, “State sees a new

height in past three years underthe leadership of Chief MinisterRaghubar Das. Now Jharkhandis on the path of inclusivegrowth, its development workis being discussed across thecountry”. Sharing her vision ofinclusive growth of State,Marandi enumeratedGovernment's priorities andpromised for transparentGovernance. She urged peopleto come forward to eliminatecorruption and support admin-istration for holistic develop-ment of the State.

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Police late last night pickedup two city-based busi-

nessmen Sanjay Palsania andBinod Singh for keeping closelinks with the gangsterAkhilesh Singh. Police havestarted probing all the casesrelated with the gangster.

Palsania has a mini-steelplant at Chandil and Singh isthe owner of Citi Inn, a hotelat Pardih. Sources in the policesaid during the police remandof the gangster Akhilesh, it wasknown that Palsania and sev-eral other businessmen withmini steel plants in Jamshedpurand Seraikela-Kharsawan dis-trict would take his help in run-ning their business of scrap-iron. The owner of Citi Innwould provide his hotel toAkhilesh for striking a dealwith those involved in scrap-iron business for taking com-mission and also to help theowners of mini-steel plants.Sources said both Palsania andBinod Singh are being interro-gated in separate police stationsof the city. Akhilesh has sever-al criminal cases pendingagainst him.

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Opposition parties alongwith social and tribal

groups would stage a dharna infront of Raj Bhawan onNovember 13 protestingagainst the policies and acts ofthe BJP-led Government. Theday-long sit-in would highlightplight of farmers and landlosers in the State.

Addressing a press confer-ence on Friday, JVM chiefBabulal Marandi said that thetime has come for unity of dif-ferent voices. “We have beenraising the critical condition offarmers and tribals whose landshave been taken away in thename of development across theState on different platforms.Now, the time is to come togeth-er and raise your voice collec-tively so that the Governmentlistens to it,” said the formerChief Minister.

Besides leaders fromCongress’ Subodh Kant Sahayand KD Singh of the Left,

prominent tribal leaders in theform of Karma Oraon, PremShahi Munda, Dayamani Barlaand several others were also pre-sent to give the protest a socio-political taste.

“The Government is con-sistently destroying the verybasis of adivasi and moolvasithrough its policies and deeds.We have seen what happened tothe CNT-SPT Act, domicilepolicy and land acquisition leg-islations in the State. When peo-ple came out in protest they hadto face police bullet. Till datehundreds of cases are pendingagainst the protestors of Gola,Badkagaon, Khunti,” said Sahay.

Besides, issue of a series ofchildren deaths in the want offood and medicines would alsobe highlighted. The leaderswould hand over a memoran-dum to the Governor demand-ing taking back the cases filedagainst the protestors and call-ing for a judicial probe into thefiring incidents.

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Page 3: ˘ˇˆ˙˝ ˛˚ ˜ ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˇ˝ ˙ ˙˝˘ ˛ˆ˝˚˚˝˘ · to Anandalok hospital for con-struction of a modern hospital. Under the CM health Insurance Scheme there is a provision

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In a major decision thatwould impact 40 lakh stu-

dents, the Union Cabinet onFriday approved the creation ofa National Testing Agency(NTA) as an autonomous andself-sustained premiertesting organisation to conductentrance examinations for higher educational institu-tions.

The NTA would initiallyconduct those entrance exam-inations which are currentlybeing conducted by the CBSE.All other examinations, likethose conducted by the AICTE,would be taken up gradually bythe NTA.

Apart from Class 10 and 12board exams, CBSE conductsfive other tests namely JointEngineering Entrance (JEE),NEET, UGC’s NationalEligibility Test (twice a year),Central Teacher Eligibility Test(twice a year) and the entrancetest for Jawahar NavodayaVidyalayas.

The exams will be con-

ducted online. The NTA wouldbe chaired by an eminent edu-cationist appointed by the HRDMinistry. The Government saidestablishment of NTA will ben-efit about 40 lakh studentsappearing in various entranceexaminations.

HRD Ministry officials saidthat NTA would be created asa Society registered under theIndian Societies RegistrationAct, 1860. “NTA’s entranceexaminations will be conduct-ed in an online method modeat least twice a year, thereby giv-ing adequate opportunity tocandidates to bring out theirbest,” said the official.

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The Chief Justice of India onFriday presided over an

unprecedented sitting to over-rule a two-judge Bench’s orderto constitute a larger Bench tohear a petition that allegedbribe was paid to fix a casepending in the apex court. Thematter relates to admissions ina Lucknow-based medical col-lege and a retired High Courtjudge has already been arrestedby the CBI in this connection.

Sitting in a combination offive judges picked by him, CJI

Dipak Misra nulli-fied the

order of

the Bench of Justices JChelameswar and S AbdulNazeer and said that the ordercould not be “binding” as thedecision to refer a case to a five-judge Bench was solely the pre-rogative of CJI, who is the mas-ter of the roster in apex court.However, the CJI’s ruling cameonly after unprecedenteddrama that exposed the rift inthe top judiciary in the process.

Terming the two-judgebench decision as “illegal andvoid”, the court recalled thesame and ordered the petitionfiled by Campaign for JudicialAccountability and Reforms(CJAR) filed by advocatePrashant Bhushan to be heardby an appropriate Bench afterthree weeks. The Thursdayorder passed on a petition byadvocate Kamini Jaiswal haddirected CBI, the probe agency,to submit all records of inves-tigation in a sealed cover beforea Bench of five senior most

judges

on Monday.The judges sitting along

with CJI Dipak Misra - JusticesRK Agarwal, Arun Mishra,Amitava Roy, AM Khanwilkar,were unanimous that the actionof the 2-judge Bench in listingthe case before a ConstitutionBench amounted to judicialimpropriety. Bhushan was pre-sent in court as the hearing ofthe case witnessed chaoticscenes, with lawyers present inlarge numbers, shouting downBhushan and demanding con-tempt proceeding against himfor making insinuations againstCJI.

The case being investigat-ed by CBI was against a med-ical college, whose petition wasdecided by a Bench headed byCJI on September 18, 2017.

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Starting November 15, eatingout in hotels and restaurants

would be cheaper. So would besavouring your favouritechocolate or using your pre-ferred brand of cosmetics, asthe Goods and Services Tax(GST) Council on Fridayslashed tax rates on over 200items in the biggest restruc-turing exercise undertakensince the new indirect tax sys-tem came into force on July 1,reducing 28 per cent taxon 178 items to 18 per cent orless..

Nevertheless, the Councilretained the maximum 28 percent tax slab on luxury, sin andwhite goods like cigars and cig-arettes, washing machines andair-conditioners. The massivereductions are aimed at provid-ing a major relief to consumersas well as businesses. Followingthe implementation of GST,while traders and small busi-nesses complained of increasedcompliance burden, the massesdissented on the high tax rate onsome common use goods.

In one of the most signif-icant decisions, the Councilfixed a uniform 5 per cent GSTrate for all restaurants, AC orNon-AC. Currently, 12 percent GST on food bill is leviedin non-AC restaurants and 18per cent in air-conditionedones. All these got input taxcredit (ITC), a facility to set offtax paid on inputs with finaltax. “The restaurants, howev-er, did not pass on the ITC tocustomers and so the ITC facil-ity is being withdrawn,” UnionFinance Minister Arun Jaitley

said in Guwahati after chairingthe marathon 23rd GSTCouncil Meeting.

“As many as 178 items ofdaily use were shifted from thetop tax bracket of 28 per cent to18 per cent.” Jaitley pointed out.

Shortly after the Council’sdecision, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi tweeted, “Therecommendations made by theGST Council today will furtherbenefit our citizens and addstrength to the GST. Theserecommendations are in spir-it of the continuous feedbackwe are getting from variousstakeholders on GST.”

“Jan Bhagidari is at the coreof our working. All our deci-sions are people-inspired, peo-ple-friendly and people-centric.We are working tirelessly forIndia’s economic integrationthrough GST,” he said.

The top tax rate is nowrestricted to luxury and demer-it goods like pan masala, aerat-ed water and beverages, cigarsand cigarettes, tobacco products,cement, paints, perfumes, ACs,dish washing machine, washingmachine, refrigerators, vacu-um cleaners, cars and two-wheelers, aircraft and yacht.

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Delhiites can look forward toa better air quality over the

weekend as average Air QualityIndex, which remained close to‘severe plus’ across all monitor-ing stations on Friday, is expect-ed to improve further onSaturday with the System of AirQuality and Weather Foreca-sting and Research (SAFAR)predicting average PM2.5 andPM10 levels at 303 and 470respectively. It may improve ashade and enter the ‘very poor’zone on Sunday night.

According to IndianMeteorological Department(IMD), “light west-northwest-erly surface winds (5-10 kmph)are very likely to prevail overplains of North India duringnext 24 hours”.

Wind speed is also expect-ed to be far better fromMonday and that can blowaway the pollutants in the air.

Meanwhile, stepping upefforts to curb stubble burning,one of the leading factors fordeteriorating air quality inDelhi and the NCR region, ameeting chaired byEnvironment Secretary CKMishra called upon the neigh-bouring States to set up one ormore monitoring groups,which will continuously look atcompliance. There were sug-gestions that StateGovernments should also set

up Flying Squads to assess thesituation on the ground, pre-

vent violation and report, saida statement here.

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In a move aimed at ensuringthat India joins the elite

international exhibition mar-ket, the Union Cabinet onFriday approved the construc-tion of a nearly Rs 26,000-croreExhibition-cum-ConventionCentre (ECC) at Dwarka hereand allied infrastructure,including exhibition and con-vention spaces, arena, trunk-infrastructure, Metro/NHAIconnectivity, hotels, office andretail spaces in PPP and non-PPP Mode.

The centre, to come up by2025, will infuse more than 100major international and localexhibition events annually. Thenumber of people visiting theexhibition facility annually (pay-ing visitors) is estimated to be

over 1 crore in the first phase(2019-20) and 2.30 crore aftercompletion of the second phase(2025). Similarly, convention-based delegate attendance is estimated to cross 15 lakh annu-ally after successful completionof second phase of the project.

Once fully operational,likely by December 2019, theproject is expected to create5,00,000 direct and indirectjobs. The Ministry ofEnvironment and Forests hasalready given its green signal tothis project. A Special PurposeVehicle (SPV) would be creat-ed to execute the project. TheECC has been designed tohave 2,00,000 square metre ofexhibition space, 60,000 sq mof convention space, a multi-purpose arena with a capacityto accommodate 20,000 people.

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With National GreenTribunal (NGT) on

Friday questioning the logicbehind Delhi Government’sdecision to roll out Odd-Evenscheme for five days, uncer-tainty prevailed over the veryimplementation of the plan.NGT asked the DelhiGovernment to prove its effi-cacy, adding scheme “cannot beimposed like this”.

The NGT questioned therationale of Delhi Government’sdecision pointing out that theCentral Pollution ControlBoard (CPCB) and DelhiPollution Control Committee(DPCC) have found that thelevels of PM10 and PM2.5 werecumulatively higher when thescheme was implemented twiceearlier.

“Odd-Even formula can’tbe imposed like this. You can’thave a shock treatment likethis. By this scheme, you areonly encouraging people tobuy more vehicles and allowingmore inter-State traffic. We

will not allow odd-even vehi-cle rationalisation scheme untilyou prove that it’s not counter-productive,” the Bench said.

The NGT termed the plana “farce” and asked the DelhiGovernment to give an under-taking that it will roll out thescheme only when the partic-ulate matter (PM) 2.5 was over300. “You are getting the tag ofthe worst Capital in the world.The SC and NGT have sug-gested 100 measures to curbpollution, but you always optfor odd-even.

Nothing has been done bythe Delhi Government in thepast one year,” a Bench head-ed by NGT Chairperson JusticeSwatanter Kumar said.

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With an order passed bythe Delhi Lt Governor

on Wednesday hiking theparking fees four fold, Fridaysaw parking attendants adapta new method to let the com-muters park their vehicles.

Earlier, people paid Rs 20for two wheeler and Rs 10 forfour wheelers but sinceThursday, people are eitherfighting with us over the farehike or are leaving the park-ing lot altogether,” said Sunil,a parking attendant atConnaught Place.

He was heard saying toa biker that “if you ask forslip, I will take Rs 40 butwithout slip, you will onlypay Rs 20.”

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Aday after Senior SecurityAdvisor to Union Ministry

of Home Affairs K Vijay Kumarvisited Budha Pahar to reviewthe ongoing anti-Naxal opera-tions, CPI (Maoists) triggereda landmine near Latu village inLatehar in which four CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF)personnel were injured.

Earlier on October 24, theMaoists, according to villagersof Budha Gaon in the BudhaPahar area under Bhandariapolice station, had abducted atleast 10 persons, including a 17-year girl.

The police personnel whogot injured in the land mine blastand were later airlifted to Ranchifor better treatment includeDeputy Commandant HLGangte, Radio Operator NitishPandey, Constable Deepak

Singh and Gopaljee Yadav. "Four of our police per-

sonnel have been injured aftera land mine was triggeredwhile a patrolling party waswalking through the Latu jun-gles during the ongoing anti-Maoist operation in the area,"said Latehar SP DhananjayKumar. All of them are said tobe out of danger, he added.

The SP further informedthat a joint team of State Police

and CRPF were out for anti-Maoist operation and as soonas they reached near Latu vil-lage at 2:15 pm, Maoists trig-gered a land mine leaving fourjawans injured. He also saidthat intensive search operationhas been launched in the areato trace the culprits out.

ADG (Operations) RKMallick, confirming the inci-dent, said that the injured per-sons have received splinterinjuries and were admitted toMedica Hospital in Ranchi.

According to Palamu DIGVipul Shukla, Gangte hasreceived injuries on his left eye,Pandey on both of his thighs,Yadav on his right hand and facewhile Singh has received splin-ter injury on his forehead.

Sources in Latehar saidthat the 112 Battalion of CRPFwas on foot patrolling crossingthe Barsand area, around 20

km from the district head-quarters, and landmine wastriggered on them. The Maoistswere also said to have fired onthe patrolling party beforeretreating into the jungles ofBudha Pahar.

Incidentally, intensiveoperation is being carried outat Budha Pahar region, locat-ed on the borders of Jharkhandand Chhattisgarh, with an aimof dragging Maoists out of thearea. Regular search operationis currently being conducted inthe area involving over 2000security personnel.

Considered to be a safestzone for the Maoists, it isbelieved that top Maoists,including Arvind ji, having abounty of Rs 1 crore on hishead, are hiding in the junglesof Budha Pahar. Budha Paharhas been a challenge for thesecurity forces as the Maoists

have spread a chain of land-mines right from its base to thetop making it difficult for thesecurity forces to get on the topof it.

Meanwhile, villagers ofBudha Gaon in the BudhaPahar area under BhandariaPolice Station claimed that theCPI (Maoists) had taken awayat least 10 persons with them onOctober 24. Officials of Stateand District Police, however,have denied any such incident.

"They had come in a groupof around 100 persons and tookaround 10 of the villagers withthem," said a villager SugiaDevi. The villagers who havebeen abducted were identifiedas Butan Korwa, Sampatiya(17-year girl), Rihul Birijiya,Ajhnu, Ajhnu Birijiya, GiriwarKisan, Chandan Yadav (sup-plier), Harha Kisan and two others.

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Despite only a fraction ofexisting pathologist fra-

ternity in the State, not happywith the government willing toreplace them with specialised

pathologists, experts believethat the only way to save livesof thousands of patients is tothrow such pathologists out oflabs at the earliest.

The experts have not onlysuspected up to 25 percentnon-qualified pathologistssigning on reports of patientsin various laboratories in thecity, but have also raised con-cerns over the government’sunwillingness to do so by notinvestigating path labs for theircompetence.

Patients have also comeacross all kinds of monetary,mental and physical harass-ment at many diagnostics cen-

tres with late report deliveryand confrontations with utter-ly arrogant and non-profes-sional front office executivesand even pathologists day inand day out.

“No one have any idea as towhat is the quality of patholo-gy lab reports and who preparesit. The only requirement in get-ting a patient cured at the ear-liest is thorough investigationwhich the patient goes through.

If diagnosis is not right, thepatient might go through hellonly to never return back. Theproblem here in the State isbecause there is no mechanismto check whether the pahologistis qualified or not,” said IndianMedical Association(Jharkhand Chapter) VicePresident (Headquarter) DrGovind Das Banerjee on Friday.

Even Rajendra Institute ofMedical Sciences (RIMS)Hospital Director in-chargeRK Srivastava didn’t rule outpossibilities of considerablenumber of pathology labora-tories running in the city andelsewhere in the State with no

certified pathologists. He said that even RIMS doc-

tors use to come across minor, but recoverable deviationsin tests done at Medal PathologyLaboratory running inside RIMSat frequent interval.

“What I mean with certi-fied pathologist is not MedicalMSc degree holders which var-ious pathology labs proudlyclaim to have, but I mean withthe one having Diploma orhigher degree holder in pathol-ogy. The qualitative differencebetween Medical MSc degreeholders and Diploma inPathology and higher degreeholders is that former doesn’t

have sufficient knowledge ofphysiology and latter has itduring its MBBS classes. I am agrave advocate of unionGovernment’s directive ofMedical MSc degree holders notbeing allowed to certify pathology reports anymore andthey must be replaced byspecialized pathologists,” said

Srivastava.Ironically, IMA

(Jharkhand) has admittedly nodata as to how many patholo-gy labs in city and State arebeing run without having anyspecialised pathologists.

“I can say that this is a seri-ous issue which has direct

adverse impact on life of lakhsof people in the State. But thisis also true that we have neverdiscussed the issue in ourmeetings in past. We will try todiscuss the same as soon aspossible,” added Banerjee who also wanted only specialized pathologists in Pathlabs.

“I am sure big hospitals, beit private or Governmentowned, understand the seri-ousness of the issue and theyhave sufficient number of spe-cialised and certified patholo-gists. But it is not desirable forme to comment anything neg-ative on my own fraternity.

Quality of diagnostics hasremained a concern. But it hasalso remained a concern due topoor quality of machines, notthe pathologists,” said AbhishekJha who owns PulseDiagnostics and ImagingCentre in city.

“ Wrong diagnosis withblood sugar might also haveoccurred because the patholo-gist might have been in sweetmemories at the time he wasinvestigating the sample. Itmay be awkward, but this istrue in case of many patients incity and State,” said one of theexperts willing not to be named.

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Worried over reoccurringfarm suicides, the

Government in clear termshas conveyed to bankers not toeye for income coming fromother sources to any farmer tofeed their farm loans.

The instruction holdsimportance in the light of afarmer of Giridih who com-mitted suicide allegedly due tosuch adjustments which weremade against the KCC loanpending against his name a fewmonths ago.

The issue came for discus-sion at 61st State level Bankers’Committee (SLBC) meetingon Friday. AgricultureSecretary Pooja Singhal saidthat the practice adopted by thebanks was sending wrong mes-sage down the line and also tak-ing a dent on the image of theGovernment.

“Fund or benefits of anyother welfare scheme comingto beneficiaries accountsshould not be adjusted againstthe KCC loan sanctioned by thebanks. We have come acrossseveral such cases that pushalready distressed persons fur-ther into trouble. The action ofyours is sending wrong mes-sage about welfare schemesand often results into suchextreme outcomes,” said theSecretary in the presence of alltop banks officials, RBIRegional Director Patric Barlabesides, Additional ChiefSecretary Amit Khare and JointSecretary with Department ofFinancial Services (DFS)Madanesh Mishra.

Later, Rural DevelopmentSecretary Avinash Kumar alsoseconded the views of Singhal.Notably, farm loan in the Stateis just 18 per cent of totaladvances which is below thenational benchmark.

Although Jharkhand hasshown good results in enrolling15 lakh farmers under thePMFBY this year but just 1.3lakh of them have been giventhe coverage.

Another major issue that

came to fore was delayed trans-fer of DBT intobeneficiaries’ bank accounts

and also some with ‘cuts’ madein handing over actual money.

“We are getting somereports where the subsidy istaking too much time in gettingcredited into back accounts. Inthe case of Nagri that has goneadopting DBT in PDS, youneed to place banking corre-spondents locally who canhandover money to the bene-ficiaries without taking any-thing in return.

Otherwise the entire ideaof DBT would degenerate,”

Ranchi: Additional ChiefSecretary cum DevelopmentCommissioner Amit Kharerevealed that the Governmentwas working on a plan to pro-duce honey on a large scale.“We have achieved the high-est growth rate after Gujaratand now the time is to dis-seminate it to the poor in farflung areas. A detailed schemeon ‘Sweet Revolution’ wouldcome in December whereabout up to 1 lakh womenwould be trained in beekeep-ing so that assured income of�4000-5000 every monthcan be generated,” said Khareinviting bankers to supportthe scheme through desiredfinancial support.

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Jharkhand Vikas Morcha(JVM) leader Bandhu

Tirkey's remark on cow sacri-fice sparked a war of words inthe political circles. CriticisingTirkey's announcement thathe will sacrifice a black cow inFebruary next year, theBhartiya Janata Party ( BJP)said that sacrificing a cow hasnever been a tradition amongthe tribal culture as other ani-mals and birds like pig or henhave been sacrificed by the trib-al on some specific occasions.

"Being a tribal, I can saythat sacrificing a cow was nevera tradition of the tribal popu-lation in this State," said RuralDevelopment MinisterNeelkanth Singh Munda hereon Friday. Tirkey has beentrying to misguide the peopleabout tribal culture just to getpolitical mileage, he added.

Bandhu while talking tothe media persons on Thursdayhad announced that he will sac-rifice a black cow at his native

place in Banhara on February17 and challenged the StateGovernment to do whatever itfeels like to stop him. TheJVM in a press release, how-ever, has termed it his person-al views which and the partyhas nothing to do with it.

"It is an attempt to spreadcommunal tension for gettingpolitical gains as he does nothave any right to say anythingabout Sarna-Sanatan commu-nity as he is a Christian. He istrying to misguide the peoplein the garb of culture and tra-ditions of Sarna community,"said BJP General SecretaryDeepak Prakash

Meanwhile, talking to themedia persons at State BJPheadquarters, Munda said thatworkers of BJP ST Morchawill organize a 'padyatra' fromthe birthplace of BhagwanBirsa Munda at Ulihatu inKhunti on November 14 afterperforming puja from there ina traditional way.

"The 'padyatra' will beflagged off by Union Minister

for Tribal Affairs Juel Oraonalong with Minister of StateSudarshan Bhagat. Thousandsof workers of BJP ST Morcha,will start the 'padyatra' withearthen 'kalash' in their handsin a traditional way," saidMunda. It will be welcomed byChief Minister Raghubar Dasand State BJP PresidentLaxman Gilua at Birsa Chowkin Ranchi at 10 am onNovember 15, he added.

"Kalash will finally behanded over to President RamNath Kovind," said theMinister. The padyatra will beorganized under the pro-gramme 'Chale Goan ki Ore'and will continue all over theState throughout the month, headded.

The programme will beconducted for 5 days in each ofthe districts and will be con-cluded in Dumka.

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Ranchi District administra-tion distributed the benefits

of different welfare plans underUnion and State government tothe beneficiaries on Fridayduring a programme organisedunder Jharkhand FoundationDay fortnight here at RIMSauditorium.

Rural DevelopmentMinister said on the occasionthat the government was com-mitted to the welfare of the poorin State and had carried outdozens of plans for them in lastthree years.

Munda who also laid foun-dation stones of boundary wallsof as many as 15 Sarna Sthals indistrict said that the State wasmoving fast on growth trajec-tory and all the plans fromGovernment were oriented tothe mass of the State only. “Weall will have to come forwardtogether to make the dream of

Sabka aath Sabka Vikas cometrue,” said Munda thanking theaudience for JharkhandFoundation Day.

Ranchi MP RamtahalChowdhary, MLAs from Kanke,Hatia, Khijri and Mandar,Ranchi Municipal Corporation(RMC) Mayor and DeputyMayor, Padma Shri SimonOraon, JSWC and JSCPCRChairpersons, Ranchi DCManoj Kumar and DDC, dis-trict officials and others werealso present on the occasion.

Those who got benefitscame from different parts of dis-trict to get benefits underPradhanmantri Awas Yojna(Gramin), PradhanmantriUjjwala Yojna, e-PoS machinedistribution under district agri-culture department, AgricultureInsurance Scheme, skill devel-opment, livelihood mission, dis-trict soil conservation,Mukhyamantri Kanyadan Yojnaand others.

DC Manoj Kumarexpressed satisfaction overwhat district had been achiev-ing under the second mostdeveloping State in country onState Gross Domestic Product(SGDP) scale. He said that thedistrict has enjoyed havingonly block in country goingtotally cashless.

He also said that the dis-

trict was going to launch DirectBenefit Transfer (DBT) in fer-tilizers and seeds too soon. Adedicated DM Dashboarddeveloped by NationalInformatics Centre (NIC)which allows review of allUnion and State Governmentplans altogether along withthe DM was also launchedduring occasion.

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On a day the GST Councilslashed the GST rates on

over 150 items, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi onFriday said his party will notallow imposition of the"Gabbar Singh Tax" and askedthe Centre to do some coursecorrection "shedding arro-gance".

Taking to Twitter, Rahulalso said that the Governmentcannot break the back of smalland medium size enterprises inthe country, crush the informalsector and destroy millions ofjobs. "We will not allow the BJPto impose a Gabbar Singh Taxon India. They cannot breakthe back of the small andmedium businesses, crush theinformal sector and destroymillions of jobs.

#GSTCouncilMeet," theGandhi scion tweeted.

He suggested theGovernment to give the coun-try a "genuine simple tax". TheGovernment, he said, shouldnot "waste time" of the coun-try by allegedly engaging in lipservice. "... Acknowledge yourincompetence, shed away yourarrogance and listen to the peo-ple of India," he said on themicro-blogging site.

Later at the AICC Pressbriefing, Congress spokesper-son Abhishek Manu Singhvisought to find "flaws" in theGST, saying it cannot be a "onenation, one tax" if 40 per centto 45 per cent of the goods orservices are kept out of itsambit.

He questioned the timingof the GST Council meeting,which he said, took place aheadof the Gujarat Assembly polls

(scheduled to be held onDecember 9 and December14). Hitting out at PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andhis Government, Singhvi saidthat the Centre has been goingabout implementing the GST"without thinking first".

"The Prime Minister andhis Government first shoot,then they aim and then think,be it on the issues of demon-etisation or GST. And that isexactly what is happening inthe case of GST," he added.

He alleged the "noble con-ception" of GST has been dis-torted. He accused theGovernment of not addressingthe real concerns relating to thetax regime because of its "arro-gance and rhetoric". "Theanomalies need proper appli-cation of mind (to be solved)and not arrogance," he said.

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The Union Cabinet chairedby Prime Minister Narendra

Modi on Friday accordedapproval for continuation andrestructuring of National RuralDrinking Water Programme(NRDWP) to make it outcome-based, competitive and bettermonitored with increased focuson sustainability (functionality)of schemes to ensure goodquality service delivery to therural population.

A sum of �23,050 crore hasbeen approved for the pro-gramme for the 14th FinanceCommission (FFC) period2017-18 to 2019-20, as per astatement here.

"The programme will coverall the rural population acrossthe country. The restructuringwill make the programme flex-ible, result-oriented, competi-tive, and will enable theMinistry towards to reach thegoal of increasing coverage ofsustainable piped water supply,"it added.

A new sub-programmeunder NRDWP viz. NationalWater Quality Sub-Mission(NWQSM) which has beenstarted by the Ministry ofDrinking Water and Sanitationin February 2017 will addressthe urgent need for providingclean drinking water in about28000 Arsenic and Fluorideaffected habitations (alreadyidentified). As per estimates,about �12,500 crore as Centralshare will be required over 4years i.e. up to March, 2021.This is being funded from theallocation under NRDWP, thestatement added.

As per the Governmentdata, about 77 per cent of ruralhabitations in India haveachieved a fully covered (FC)status (40 litres per capita perday) and 56 per cent of the ruralpopulation have access to tapwater through public standposts within which 16.7 per centhave household connections.

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After denying access to for-mer Indian Navy official

Kulbhushan Jadhav for nearlytwo years now, Pakistan onFriday finally allowed Jadhav’swife to meet him on “human-itarian grounds”.

"The Government ofPakistan has decided to arrangea meeting of CommanderKulbhushan Jhadav with hiswife, in Pakistan, purely onhumanitarian grounds. A NoteVerbale to this effect has beensent to the Indian HighCommission in Islamabad,today," Pakistan ForeignMinistry said on Friday.

It is learnt that the timeframe allowing the meetingbetween Jadhav and his wifehas been given around end ofDecember. Sources in thePakistan Government said thatthe access to Jadhav's wife hasbeen given keeping in viewIndia's requests for meeting.

Incidentally, the Pakistan’sdecision comes days before ithas to file a reply in theInternational Court of Justice(ICJ) where India has com-plained that Jadhav was deniedConsular Access under theVienna Convention despiterepeated requests. Pakistan has

to file its reply to the ICJ byDecember 13.

India has in the last 21months requested at least 18times for Consular Access toJadhav. The ICJ had in May thisyear stayed the execution ofJadhav, who was awarded deathpenalty by the Pakistan militarycourt. India's Consular Accessrequest to Jadhav is still pending.

In addition External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj hadwritten to the former PakistanForeign Affairs Advisor SartazAziz requesting him to allowvisa to Jadhav’s mother to facil-itate her meeting with her sonand file an appeal against thedeath sentence. Pakistan, how-ever, remained silent overSwaraj's letter.

Pakistan’s statement onFriday added: “Commander

Kulbushan Jhadav alias,Hussain Mubarak Patel, a serv-ing Commander of the IndianNavy, working with IndianIntelligence Agency/RAW wasapprehended by Pakistan lawenforcement agencies onMarch 3, 2016 after he illegal-ly crossed over into Pakistan.He confessed before aMagistrate and the court thathe was tasked by RAW to plan,coordinate and organise espi-onage, terrorist and sabotageactivities aimed at destabilisingand waging war againstPakistan.”

The Indian Governmenthas strong objection to Jadhavbeing portrayed as a RAW spy.The Indian Government main-tains that he was a businessmanwho was abducted by thePakistan agencies.

New Delhi: The Centre onFriday took serious exceptionto a comment by the UnitedNation's Special Rapporteuron the right to safe drinkingwater and sanitation commentswho said that the SwachchhBharat Mission "lacked a holis-tic human rights approach".

The Government also tookexception to Leo Heller's ref-erence to Mahatma Gandhi'sspectacles in the mission's logo,and his "rambling" report con-taining "inaccuracies, sweepinggeneralisations and biases".

"In the last two weeks Ihave visited rural and urbanareas, slums and settlementcamps where undocumentedpopulation is residing... And Ihave found that these initiativeslack a more human rightsapproach," he had said to thereporters here.

Taking strong note of hisremarks on the logo of theClean India Mission, theGovernment issued a state-ment deploring that it showed"serious insensitivity towardsthe Father of the Nation". TheGovernment statement saidthe world knows that Mahatmawas the foremost proponent ofhuman rights. PNS

New Delhi: The Border SecurityForce (BSF) on Friday raisedconcern about the unprovokedcross-border firing incidents,infiltration and smugglingoccurring from Pakistan sidewith their counter parts PakistanRangers. The three day meetingbi-annual talks of BSF andPakistan rangers, concluded inDelhi, stressed for the need oftimely exchange of informa-tion and field Commander levelfrequent meetings to settle thetensions in the border areas.

"The Indian side firmly andstrongly took up specific issuesof concern including incidentsof unprovoked cross border fir-ing, smuggling of narcotics,infiltration attempts, tunnelingand defence construction activ-ities. The issue of inadvertentcrossing over by the borderpopulation and ways to facilitatetheir return on both the sideswas also discussed. It was agreedupon in deliberations thatutmost caution and care shouldbe exercised in dealing with thecivilians.

"The need for timelyexchange of information, at thefield level with increased fre-quency of field commanderslevel meetings, simultaneouscoordinated patrolling etc. werealso discussed. The need forcooperation to maintain thesanctity of the borders wasemphasised upon. The talkswere held in a constructiveatmosphere. The talks conclud-ed with both sides agreeing onconstant endeavor to maintainpeaceful and tranquil borders. Itwas mutually agreed to hold the

next round of talks in Pakistan,"said the statement issued byUnion Home Ministry after theBSF-Pakistan Rangers meeting.

The 23-member Indian del-egation was led by KK Sharma,DG BSF. Major GeneralMuhammad Saeed, DirectorGeneral, Pak Rangers (Sindh)led a 19-member Pakistani del-egation to India. Both the dele-gations also had representativesfrom respective Home andForeign Ministries along withofficers from Narcotics Controland Survey Departments.

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With a huge buffer stock atits disposal, the Union

Cabinet on Friday gave its go-ahead to the Centre to utilise alittle over one-fourth of thestock of pulses for meeting theprotein component under var-ious Central Governmentschemes, like Mid-Day Meal(MDM), providing nutrition tobeneficiaries and target groups.

The disposal through theCentral Government Schemesis in addition to the disposal ofpulses from the buffer throughopen market sale and supply toStates at lower rates. TheCentre has created a bufferstock of 20 lakh tonnes ofpulses through local procure-ment and imports this year. Ofthis, 5.5 lakh tonnes will beused for the purpose.

For the first time, theGovernment had last yeardecided to create a buffer stockof pulses to ensure better pricesto farmers and at the same timeuse the stock to augment localsupply in times of price rise.

Incidentally, when the cropwas bumper and pricescrashed, it started procuring atthe support price. The cost ofpulses supplied to States would,in no case, be higher than the

market price, protecting theirinterest as well. The countryhad produced a record 22.95 million tonnes in the2016-17 crop year (July-June)buoyed by good rains andhigher support prices.

Around 3.5 lakh tonnes ofpulses will be given at a lowerrate to five States — Karnataka,Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, AndhraPradesh and Telangana becausethese States have responded tothe Ministry's urging to providepulses at cheaper rate. Aroundtwo lakh tonnes of pulses willbe given for consumptionunder various Central welfareschemes including the mid-daymeal programme.

According to officials, theCentre's decision will help toensure adequate supply of nutri-

ents/pulses under the variousschemes and programmes of the Centre and StateGovernments including theMDM scheme, Anganwadi andIntegrated Child DevelopmentServices (ICDS) Scheme hospi-tals, etc. as well asMinistries/Departments or theiragencies providing food/cater-ing/hospitality services.

The HRD Ministry isresponsible for the MDMscheme which provides mealsto school children in the coun-try. Similarly, the Women andChild Welfare Ministry,responsible for ICDS schemes,can take good quantity of puls-es from the central buffer stock.The scheme aims at holisticdevelopment of children below6-years of age, pregnant women

and lactating mothers by pro-viding a package of six servicescomprising supplementarynutrition; immunisation; healthcheck-up; referral services; pre-school non-formal education;and nutrition and health edu-cation are provided to the tar-geted beneficiaries i.e. all chil-dren below 6-years, Pregnantand Lactating Mothers.

The number of beneficia-ries [children (6 months to 6years) and pregnant and lac-tating mothers] for supple-mentary nutrition under ICDSscheme has increased from956.12 lakh to 1030.14 lakh andNumber of beneficiaries [chil-dren (3-6 years) for pre-schooleducation increased from353.29 lakh to 354.05 lakh in2016. Similarly, AnganwadiCentres have also increasedfrom 1,338,732 to 1,349,091 in2016. The total beneficiariesunder MDM are over 21 lakhin the country.

"To give effect to the deci-sion, the CCEA has empow-ered the concerned depart-ments/ministries to carry outsuitable amendments in theirschemes/guidelines to enablethem to take/provide pulsesfrom the buffer in 'kind' undertheir respective schemes," offi-cials said.

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The Union Home Ministryon Friday created new divi-

sions to check radicalisation andcyber fraud as part of a majorrejig of some of its crucialwings. Two new divisions —Counter Terrorism and CounterRadicalisation (CTCR) andCyber and Information Security(CIS) — have been created.

The CTCR division willdevise quick strategies for de-radicalisation and check ter-rorism, as per an order issuedby the Home Ministry.

Threats to internal securi-ty from increased radicalisation,mostly online, and terrorismwere growing, the officials said,adding that the new wing willfocus on assessing the reach ofglobal terrorist outfits besidesshaping strategies to countertheir propaganda and activities.It will also hire domain expertsfor the purpose.

The other new wing, CIS,

has been created to monitoronline crimes and threats,including cyber fraud andhacking, and suggest ways tominimise and fight them. Thisdivision will track and counteronline fraud, hacking, identitytheft, dark net, trafficking andcyber attacks on critical infor-mation infrastructure, the offi-cials said.

Several divisions have alsobeen merged as part of theadministrative changes. At pre-sent, the Home Ministry hasthree divisions on internal secu-rity — Internal Security I, II andIII (or IS-I, IS-II and IS-III). TheHome Ministry has merged itsInternal Security-I and InternalSecurity-III divisions, besidesmodifying the work of the IS-IIdivision, which will now beknown as the CTCR.

The existing InternationalCooperation division, whichdeals with matters related tointernational/bilateral securityissues such as Mutual Legal

Assistance Treaty, has beenmerged with the Coordinationand Public Grievances division.

A new wing, Coordinationand International Cooperation,has been carved out of them.Similarly, the judicial wing hasbeen merged with the Centre-State division. The judicialdivision deals with mattersrelating to legislative aspects ofthe Indian Penal Code (IPC),Code of Criminal Procedure(CrPC) and the Commission ofInquiry Act.

The Centre-State winglooks after work related toConstitutional provisions gov-erning such relations like theappointment of Governors,creation of new States, nomi-nations to Rajya Sabha/LokSabha, inter-State boundarydisputes, overseeing the crimesituation in States and imposi-tion of President's rule. TheMinistry will continue to have18 divisions, each led by a jointsecretary-level officer.

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India and Bhutan on Fridayheld their annual

Development CooperationTalks to discuss the imple-mentation of ongoing projectsin the Himalayan Kingdom.

"The Annual DevelopmentCooperation Talks is an important bilateral mechanismto review the entire gamut ofIndia's development partner-ship with Bhutan. Governmentof India has committed assistance of �4,500 crore forimplementation of develop-ment projects during Bhutan's11th Five Year Plan (2013-2018). Over 675 projects,including 595 small develop-ment projects, have been underimplementation in Bhutan dur-ing the XIth plan period with-in GOI's committed assistanceof �4,500 Crore," Ministry ofExternal Affairs spokespersonRaveesh Kumar said on Fridayfollowing the talks.

Bhutan's 11th Five YearPlan (2013-2018) is now enter-ing the final phase and the twogovernments reviewed theoverall progress in the imple-mentation of the ongoing bilat-eral development projects.

"The Bhutanese side con-veyed appreciation of the RoyalGovernment of Bhutan for theinvaluable support of theGovernment of India for theirsocio-economic developmentpriorities, and for timely disbursements of funds for theongoing projects. The two sidesalso initiated discussions onGovernment of India's assistance to the 12th Five YearPlan (2018-2023) of the RoyalGovernment of Bhutan. India has been a privilegedpartner of Bhutan in its socio-economic development.GOI's commitment to contin-ue its support to Bhutan in itsdevelopment efforts was reit-erated by the Indian side,"Raveesh added.

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New Delhi: News reports insome Russian portals suggestingthat India breached the contractby allowing a US Navy technicalcrew onboard nuclear poweredsubmarine INS Chakra have ledto a controversy. While there wasno official reaction by theGovernment here, sources in theDefence Ministry said the reportwas wrong and the US crew wasnot allowed on the submarinemanufactured by Russia.

India has taken this Akulaclass submarine on a 10-yearlease and the Russian portals

claimed allowing the US crew onthe submarine last week inVisakhapatnam was against thecontractual agreement. Denyingthe report, sources said here onFriday adding Russian personnelare posted in Visakhapatnamnaval base to help maintain andoperate the submarine.

Sources also said the tim-ing of the news report wasstrange as it comes a monthahead of the visit of the RussianDeputy Prime Minister DmitryRogozin. Both the countries arelikely to finalise the terms of the

lease for another Russiannuclear submarine of the sameclass.

Russia and India last yeararrived at an agreement for theIndian Navy to acquire the sub-marine for approximately US$2 billion. The likely inductionof that submarine will coincidewith the INS Chakra's leaseending and returning to Russia.

A 14-member team of USdelegates of the India-US JointWorking Group on AircraftCarrier Technology Co-opera-tion had visited some Indiannaval bases last week. They alsovisited the Russian built aircraftcarrier INS Vikramaditya andsources termed it routine anddid not involved transfer of anyclassified information aboutthe warship. PNS

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In a move aimed to meet theshortage of specialists in the

country, the Medical Council ofIndia (MCI) has allowed theMBBS students to practice asmedical specialists in case theyhave done the two-year diplomacourses from the Mumbai-basedCollege of Physicians andSurgeons (CPS).

Presently, MBBS holders areallowed to perform surgeries,anesthetic procedures or C-sec-tion only after they have acquiredPost-Graduate (PG) degree.However, as per the recent direc-tion of the MCI, even those withthe two-year Diploma coursesoffered from the CPS will be eli-gible to become specialist in thesubject. Last month, the HealthMinistry issued a notification inthis regard.

Incidentally, in 2009, themedical education regulator hadderecognised the courses offeredby the CPS which was estab-lished way back in 1913 duringBritish rule to fulfill the need ofintermediate specialists.

The CPS offers two-yeardiploma courses in broad spe-cialties like anesthesia, pedi-atrics, obstetrics and gynecolo-gy, orthopedics, radiology and afew others. These were till recent-ly were recognised only byMaharashtra and GujaratGovernments. But now withthe MCI tag, says Devi Shetty,chairman of Narayana

Hrudayalaya and founder of theAssociation of HealthcareProviders India (AHPI), "theMBBS doctors can acquire inter-mediate specialisation from theCPS which will help strengthenrural healthcare delivery andimprove healthcare indicators bymaking available adequate spe-cialists in healthcare delivery."

He said, now 65,697 MBBSdoctors in Government hospitalsare eligible to become specialistsin two years. All 200-bed multi-specialty hospitals and 100 bedsingle hospitals in Governmentand private sector having expe-rienced faculties and adequateclinical load will be eligible tohost the CPS training courses.

Dr Giridhar Gyani, alsofrom the AHPI added that inkeeping with the Supreme Courtorder on a single entrance for allpost graduate courses, CPS toowill be taking in only NEET-qualified candidates and througha centralised counselling.

Currently, about 1,600MBBS graduates fromMaharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthanand Dadra and Nagar Haveli areenrolled for various CPS diplo-ma courses. Gyani further saidthat the gross underutilisation ofdoctors in India is due to hugedisparity between number ofundergraduate and post gradu-ate seats. "India is producing63,835 MBBS graduates everyyear but has less than 25,000 PGseats. We cannot improve onhealth indicators unless we havespecialists to deliver medicalcare." For instance, he said, weneed 2,00,000pediatriciansagainst presently available 23,000,similarly we need 100,00 radiol-ogists while we are producingjust 10,000.

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Amid major protests by theBJP and Sangh Parivar

organisations, the rulingCongress Government celebrat-ed Tipu Sultan Jayanti inKarnataka on Friday. Thoughthe official programme was boy-cotted by the BJP and otherrightwing parties, the celebra-tions went on without any unto-ward incidents barring minorincidents across the State.

The celebration of TipuSultan’s birth anniversary, an18th century ruler of Mysorekingdom ahead of ensuing pollsin the State has become a majorrow between the ruling Congressand the major Opposition BJP.

Last year when theSiddaramaiah Governmentdecided to celebrate Tipu’s birthanniversary as a State function itwas vehemently opposed by theBJP and marred with violencewhich saw the brutal death of

two people in Kodagu district.This year too, the BJP opposedthe celebration by saying Tipuwas a tyrant monarch for beingbiased against Hindus. But ChiefMinister Siddaramaiah and hisGovernment say that TipuSulatan was a patriot and foughtagainst the British. This is thethird year in a row the ruling

Government celebrated TipuJaynthi amidst protests. A thickblanket of security was put inplace across the entire State to seethat the celebrations take placepeacefully. As many as over54,000 police personnel and pla-toons of the Karnataka State Re-serve Police, bolstered by the Ra-pid Action Force, kept a hawk-

eyed vigil as functions wereheld at the district headquarters,where State Ministers and oth-ers hailed the legacy of Tipu.

On Tuesday Karnataka HighCourt had refused to put on stayTipu Sultan Jayanti celebrations.BJP and other Hindu outfits haveopposed Tipu Jayanti celebratio-ns, by calling him “religious bi-got”, “fanatic” and “anti-Kannada”. However, Siddar-amaiah had also defended theState Government’s decision tocelebrate the birth anniversary ofthe Mysore ruler by saying hewas the first ruler to fight againstthe British and a great warrior toprotect the kingdom.

There were reports of stonesbeing hurled at a State transportbus and over 100 people, includ-ing local BJP MLA AppachuRanjan, being detained inKodagu district, where wide-spread protests and violencehad marred the Tipu Jayanti cel-ebrations two years ago, when a

local VHP leader died and sev-eral others, including policemen,were injured. Kodagu districtobserved a shutdown in responseto a bandh called by the BJP andcertain rightwing outfits. Prohi-bitory orders are in place in thedistrict till Saturday morning.

Prohibitory orders had alsobeen clamped at certain places inBelagavi and Chitradurga dis-tricts. In Mangaluru, BJP districtminority morcha presidentFranklin Monteiro, who tried tobreak the security cordon andbarge into the premises wherethe celebrations were organised,was placed under arrest.

Even as BJP MLAs and MPsstayed away from the event,with some even writing to therespective district administra-tions not to mention their namesin the invitations for it, partyMLA from Vijayanagara con-stituency in Ballari districtAnand Singh joined the cele-brations.

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One of the allies in BJP-ledNational Democratic

Alliance (NDA) Government atthe Centre, Shiv Sena is seri-ously mulling to contest ensu-ing Gujarat elections by field-ing candidates in 50 to 75Assembly seats out of 182.

Gujarat elections are slatedin two phases on December 9and 14. Talking to mediapersonsShiv Sena leader and RajyaSabha member Anil Desai saidthat BJP had forgotten it’s orig-inal aim of preserving sentimentsof the majority community.

According to him,Hindutva has always been theforte of Shiv Sena since itsinception. Unfortunately thesaffron party had forgottenthat people voted it over theagenda of Hindutva, Desaisaid, adding that Shiv Sena

would give better option topeople of Gujarat.

He quickly added thatHindutva wouldn’t be the onlyagenda of his party as the partyfounded by Bala SahebThackeray would also focus onbasic issues including health,education, agriculture and over-all improvement of quality of life.

On Hardik’s meeting withShiv Sena supremo UddhavThackeray, Desai said that only

thing discussed during thatmeeting was with regards toMaratha reservations. “Casteand casteism is not our cup oftea. To us, all communities areequal,” he added.

Shiv Sena would prefer tocontest singlehandedly in cer-tain seats without any politicalalliance in Gujarat, he said,adding that a team of the partyis working on the seats wherecandidates from the politicaloutfit have chance of winning.

It is believed that the saffronparty would focus its attentionon urban centres asAhmedabad, Rajkot and Surat,where BJP or Congress had wonwith a margin of less than 5,000votes. These urban centres alsohappen to be places whereCongress is seen to be dentingthe margins of BJP, courtesycaste issues and issues related toGST and demonetisation.

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The massive raids launchedby the Department of

Income Tax on Thursday as partof its Operation Clean Moneyinitiative in 187 locations asso-ciated with the jailed AIADMKleader, VK Sasikala and hernephew TTV Dinakaran con-tinued on Friday.

According tosources in I-TDepartment, raidswere completed in 40places while the searchin on in 147 locations.“This round of raidsmay go on till Mondayas the number of peo-ple under our scanner and thebank accounts which are beingprobed are many,” said the offi-cial on condition of anonymity.

But the I-T Department isyet to come out with any offi-cial statement about the raids.The official who spoke to themedia on Friday confided that1,800 personnel were involvedin the operation. “More than300 bank accounts operated bythe relatives and associates ofSasikala are being examined andscrutinised. Their bank lockers

are also under the scanner,” hesaid. The official said the shellcompanies connected toSasikala and her relations arebeing thoroughly probed bythe Department

News Today, a prominentevening newspaper in Chennaihas come out with an exclusivenews report about the how fero-cious dogs were unleashed at the

sleuths of the Income Taxdepartment when theywent to one of the placesfor the raid. The I-T offi-cials had to summonarmed police to go aheadwith their work, reportsthe newspaper. The officialhas been quoted as tellingthat this was the first

instance of this kind he faced inhis decades long profession inthe Income Tax department.

Even as the sleuths weregoing ahead with their job inChennai and other places in theState, political landscape inTamil Nadu started sending outsignals of new permutationsand realignment. While theruling faction of the AIADMKsaid there was nothing unusu-al in the operations, the BJPwashed its hands off the “CleanMoney” drive.

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Bengaluru-based Art of LivingFoundation has brought

together the people of conflict-ridden Jammu & Kashmir toheal their pain.

In a programme organisedat the Art of Living centre on theoutskirts of Bengaluru on Fridaythe initiative was to bridge themistrust, heal the hearts, andbring about a reconciliationamong people, who have direct-ly suffered in the long-drawnconflict in Jammu & Kashmir.

The Art of Living under theguidance of spiritual Guru Sri SriRavishankar organised a pro-gramme called Paigam-e-

Mohabbat (Message of Love)which brought together familymembers of slain terrorists, fam-ilies of victims of cross-firing

from across Kashmir and fami-lies of defence and security per-sonnel from across the countrywho have been martyred in theValley. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, hai-led this as a landmark beginningto foster the spirit of love, for-giveness and reconciliation, andis likely to play a historic role increating an ecosystem for peace-building in the troubled Valley.

The programme broughttogether family members ofslain terrorists and victims ofcross-firing from Kashmir andfamilies of defence and securitypersonnel from all over Indiawho have been martyred in theValley. Representatives from over200 affected families, including

60 women, travelled all the wayfrom remote places in Kashmirto attend the programme. It wasa heart-touching moment foreveryone to see the familiesshare the pain they have gonethrough and renounce the cul-ture of militancy, which hasclaimed their dear ones.

Sri Sri said, “When the fam-ilies affected by violence cometogether in a spirit of forgiveness,a new vision for a non-violentsociety will emerge. I am confi-dent that this would inspiremany youths to take that path.”“Unless and until we put a balmto heal the hurt and give a newvision, the chain reaction ofviolence will continue,” he added.

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Lucknow: Hitting out at the rul-ing Bharatiya Janata Party,Samajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav said that sincethe Yogi Government has cometo power it has exploited farm-ers by playing with their senti-ments and depriving them oftheir basic rights.

“The BJP gained publicity byclaiming that it had waived croploans of farmers. But the fact isthat genuine farmers have beendeprived of this benefit. This isa matter of probe as to who arethe farmers who got money inthe name of loan waiver. TheYogi Government will never doit because it knows that if a probe

was ordered, the truth wouldcome out,” Yadav said in a state-ment issued in Lucknow onFriday. The SP chief said that theGovernment announced just`10 as increase in SAP of sugarcane ina similar fashion whichwas hardly going to help sugar-cane farmers. "The Governmentis playing in the hands of sugarmill owners, he said.

“Similar is the case withpotato farmers. The Governmenthad announced MSP of potatobut can the CM tell a single far-mer who got that money. Potatogrowers were forced to keep theirproduce in cold storages and hadto face huge losses,” he said. PNS

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Bounded by:-On the North by : Front 40” WideOn the South by : Left ParkOn the East by : Right Plot No 21.On the West by : Rear – Another property Authorised Officer

Assistant General ManagerSyndicate Bank

POSSESSION NOTICE

DESCRIPTION OF THE IMMOVABLE PROPERTY

All the part and parcel of the property consisting of UREM of Residential Property at Residential House no 20 (measuring 450 Sq mtrs), situated in residential sector no 1,IMT Manesar, Tehsil-Manesar, Dist-Gurgaon, Haryana in the name of Mr. Anil Gulati together with all construction made thereon bound as under.

Central Market, Punjabi Bagh, New Delhi-110026

Tel : +91-11-25224456,25223774

(As per Appendix IV read with rule 8(1) of the security Interest (Enforcement) Rules,2002)

Whereas, The undersigned being the authorized officer of the Syndicate Bank, Punjabi Bagh

Branch, Bldg No 2 & 3,Central Market, West Punjabi Bagh, New Delhi 110026,Under the

Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act,

2002 and in exercise of powers conferred under section 13 (12) read with rule 3 of the security

Interest (Enforcement ) Rules,2002 issued a Demand Notice Dated 19.08.2017, Calling upon the

borrower M/s Unison Overseas, Prop: Saurav Gulati and surety Sri. Anil Gulati to repay the

amount mentioned in the notice being Rs.5,18,70,706/- (Five Crores Eighteen Lakhs Seventy

Thousand Seven Hundred and Six only) as on 31.07.2017 together with further interest thereon at

the contractual rate plus costs, charges and expenses till date of payment within 60 days from the

date of receipt of the said notice.The borrower having failed to repay the amount, notice is hereby given to the borrower and the public

in general with the undersigned has taken possession of the property described herein below in

exercise of powers conferred on him/her under sub section (4) of the section 13 of the Act read with

rule 8 of the Security Interest Enforcement rules, 2002 on this the 7 th Day of November of the year

Two Thousand and seventeen.The borrower/Guarantor/Mortgagors in particular and the public in general is hereby cautioned not

to deal with property and any dealings with the property/ies will be subject to the charge of the

Syndicate Bank, Punjabi Bagh Branch, Bldg No 2&3, Central Market, West Punjabi Bagh, New

Delhi 110026, for an amount Rs.5,18,70,706/- (Five Crores Eighteen Lakhs Seventy Thousand

Seven Hundred and Six Only) as on 31.07.2017 and future interest thereon at the contractual rate

plus costs, charges and expenses till date of payment.The Borrowers attention is invited to provision of sub section (8) of section 13 of the Act, in respect

of time available, to redeem the secured assets.

Date : 07.11.2017Place : New Delhi

(For Immovable property/ies)

Page 7: ˘ˇˆ˙˝ ˛˚ ˜ ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˇ˝ ˙ ˙˝˘ ˛ˆ˝˚˚˝˘ · to Anandalok hospital for con-struction of a modern hospital. Under the CM health Insurance Scheme there is a provision

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First of its kind in StatePower Utilities in India, the

Andhra Pradesh State PowerGeneration Corporation(APGENCO) has set a novelpath to complete the powergeneration projects muchbefore contract period.

In its initiation, APGEN-CO Management has taken akey decision to incentive EPCContract Agencies whichwould complete projects inadvance prior to closure of con-tract period without requestingExtension of Time (EOT) tothe contract. The Managementhas taken this decision to gainmulti benefits in the form ofsaving Interests DuringConstruction (IDC) and togenerate power in targetedperiod particularly in NewHydro Power Stations and tosell the power to distributioncompanies to retrieve backinvestments much early.

As the power reforms aretaking new shapes across theworld, after the regime ofActual Based Tariff System inthe country, State PowerGeneration Companies are fac-ing backing down of plants

problems in intolerable mannerfinancially. On one hand, theCentral Electricity Authority ofMinistry of Power putting thecondition to maintain the aver-age Plant Load Factor (PLF)not less than 85% per annumin Thermal Power Plants. Onthe other hand, the ElectricityRegulatory Authorities arerestricting power supply pricesbased on ABT system. In con-trast situations, State PowerGeneration Companies arelanding in catastrophic situa-tions and not able to meet thelosses and expenditures ofVariable Costs of ThermalPlants.

Also, in Andhra Pradesh,for FY 2018-19, the StateGovernment has askedAPGENCO to project actualpower generation quantitiesin realistic approach by taking70% PLF on an average to avoidincrease of power tariff while

filing Average RevenueRealization (ARR) of PowerDistribution Companies(DISCOMs) of the State.

After thorough discussions,the APGENCO Managementhas taken a decision to incen-tivize EPC contract agencies ofnew hydro power stations tocontrol IDC and to get back theinvestment at the earliest byselling generated power fromnew hydro stations to Discoms.

To set path, theManagement has decided to50% of saved IDC to the EPCagency of 960 MW (12 x 80MW) Polavaram HydroelectricProject, Navayuga EngineeringCompany-Alstom JointVenture.

The APGENCOManagement Director, KVijayanand, has categoricallyclarified the Chairman of NEC,C.V. Rao, not to misuse theincentive offered and alsowarned if NEC JV fails tocomplete within Contract peri-od, it would be penalized with50% of IDC could accrue in theExtension of Time of theContract. The EPC has agreedto the decision of the APGEN-CO and promised to completethe Polavaram HydroelectricProject within contract period.

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The Border Security Forceseized five Pakistani boats on

Friday with three persons aboardfrom Haraminala area situated inthe Gulf of Kutch.

The patrol teams of the 79thbattalion of the BSF have arrest-ed Pakistani nationals NiyazHussain Gohar Ali, Laung AliBabu Ali and Rajib AliHabibulla. In primary interro-gation, the Pakistani nationalssaid that they all belonging toJatti area under Sindh provinceof the neighbouring country.

The five boats fitted withChinese fan made propellingmotor had entered the Indiawaters in the night and werecaught by BSF patrol team.Three persons sitting in theseboats were nabbed while theother over two dozen managedto flee to the Pakistani territorythrough nearby land border.They all looked like fishermenand nothing objectionable fromthe boats was found. Fishes, fish-ing equipment and diesel havebeen found in it. Since August2017 as many as 28 Pakistaniboats and 9 fishermen havingPakistani nationality have beennabbed from Haraminala areaoff Koteshwar coast.

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Dejected with the poorresponse of the successive

State and Centre Governmentstowards granting them citi-zenship/voting rights in theState Assembly members of theWest Pakistan Refugee ActionCommittee on Friday spelt outtheir frustration in clear wordsbefore the CentreGovernment’s special repre-sentative Dineshwar Sharma.

After meeting Sharma hereat Jammu convention centrechairman of the West PakistanRefugee Action committeeLabha Ram Gandhi toldreporters, “Today I made itclear to the special representa-tive of the Union Government

if you people cannot grant us cit-izenship of the State of Jammu& Kashmir we are ready to relo-cate to any other place in India".

Gandhi said, "We have beenprojecting our demand in frontof every one for over 70 yearsnow but we are still deprived ofour citizenship rights".

Everyone is talking aboutKashmir but we are living herefor last 70 years and stilldeprived of our basic rights.

According to officialsources, an estimated 19,960families of West PakistanRefugees with a population ofaround 80,000 to 85,000 areregistered with the Revenueauthorities in J&K.

The West PakistaniRefugee leader said, "We told

special representative "India isa big country take us anywhereyou want to we are ready to go.We also want to live with dig-nity. We are proud citizens ofIndia not J&K. They have notaccepted us till date".

Our children have grownover age and they have beendenied caste certificates by theRevenue authorities in J&K.They cannot get entry in theparamilitary/Defence forces inthe absence of caste certificate.Gandhi also made a passionateappeal to the Prime Minister forexpediting compensation pack-age and granting them the vot-ing rights failing which dis-gruntled youth would be forcedto take the same route adoptedby the Kashmiri youth.

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Mantralaya, the Secretariat ofthe Maharashtra

Government, witnessed a highdrama on Friday afternoon, as ayoung farmer climbed onto theterrace of the seven-storey build-ing and threatened to commitsuicide by jumping from there.

The security personnel at theState Secretariat were taken bysurprise, as the young man iden-tified as one Jnyaneshwar Salvefrom Osmanabad district inMarathwada region, as they sawhim standing on the terraceand threatened to leap fromthere, if they did not facilitate hismeeting with either ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavis or

the Agriculture Minister.Before long, a huge crowd

gathered outside the state secre-tariat. A huge posse of police, firebrigade personnel and seniorState Government officials rus-hed to the scene and made effo-rts to bring the youngster down.

During the course of hisagitation, Salve threw a chitcarrying his mobile number.State Education MinisterVinod Tawade, who wasamong the persons present onthe scene, spoke to the youngfarmer, assured him that hisdemands would be looked intoand requested him to comedown. After considerable per-suasion, Salve came down fromthe terrace.

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The ongoing work on theMumbai Metro Line III gath-

ered momentum on Friday, asthe authorities began excavationwork using Tunnel BoringMachine (TBM) at Nayanagar inMahim in south-centralMumbai. The Mumbai MetroRail Corporation (MMRC) willin all be using 17 TBMs to con-struct 33.5 km-long twin tunnels.

Of the 17 TBMs beingimported by the state-runMumbai Metropolitan RegionDevelopment Authority (MM-RDA), three have arrived, while13 more TBMs are expected toarrive in the city by February2018. “Of the four TBMs cur-rently in use, three have beenlowered. One of the TBMs beganexcavation work on Friday,” aMMRC spokesperson said.

Senior MMRC officials,including its Managing DirectorAshwini Bhide, were presentwhen the TBM began excavationwork at the tunnel at Nayanagar.To be built entirely underground,the Mumbai Metro Line III willconnect downtown Cuffe Paradein south Mumbai with SantacruzElectronics Export Processing

Zone (SEEPZ) and Aarey local-ity at Goregaon in northMumbai. It will also pass throughthe Domestic and Internationalairports of Mumbai. There willin all be 27 railway stations.

The MMRDA, which is co-ordinating with the MMRC inthe construction of MumbaiMetro Line III, will launch 17TBMs through seven shafts andstart boring the metro tunnelsfrom various points like CuffeParade, Chhatrapati ShivajiMaharaj Terminus, MumbaiCentral, Worli, Bandra KurlaComplex, Mumbai Airport andMarol Naka.

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Friday saw West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee’s

ex-man Mukul Roy — whorecently joined the BJP wit-nessing a “qualitative transfor-mation” in his former boss —dropping one hell of a bomb-shell implicating top Trinamoolleadership in the multi-croreSaradha chit fund scam.

Stopping not just at that healso alleged how some of herrelatives benefited from thenepotism cult unleashed by herGovernment. Appearing in hisfirst public meeting for the BJPRoy dropped a bomb sayinghow one top Trinamool leaderheld a number of meetings withnow jailed Saradha boss

Sudipto Sen.The former Railway

Minister — who finds himselfat the receiving end of policeactions after joining the BJP —stopped short of naming theChief Minister directly butiterated, “I was personally pre-sent in the meeting withSudipto Sen at Dello Bungalow(in Kurseong)” adding, “Manyother meetings were held withthe Sharada chief like the oneat the house of painterSuvaprasanna.” Meetings alsotook place at a Bengali news-paper office, following whichthe ponzi king pin invested lib-erally about �840 crore intourism, media and ambu-lance services.

Incidentally the Oppos-ition parties had earlier com-plained about how ambulanceswere used during the nights tocarry hard cash of the chit fundcompany from Jangal Mahalarea to Sen’s office in Kolkata.

Similar allegations hadbeen made by rebel TrinamoolMP Kunal Ghosh earlier whenhe said, “Mamata Banerjee isthe biggest beneficiary of theSharada chit fund scam.”

The Opposition had also

kicked off a storm whenBanerjee was the RailwayMinister and when Sen used histourism company’s logo along-side that of the Indian Railways’.Her opponents also objected tothe way Sen’s company wasallowed to benefit from RailwayMinistry's “Bharat TeerthaDarshan” scheme.

Much to the chagrin of theBengal ruling outfit Roy com-plained how the State had beenturned into a personal fief of aparticular family where eventhe “FIFA under-17 World Cupwas given to be organised by acompany named BishwaBangla and owned by AbhishekBanerjee (the MP nephew ofMamata Banerjee).”

In a calculated moveBanerjee let State administrationto react through a Secretary whosaid though the Bishwa Banglalogo was created by Banerjeeherself she had given it to beused by the Government and

now the logo was exclusively theState’s property.

Roy also said the juniorBanerjee owned a companythat ran the Trinamool Congr-ess mouthpiece Jago Banglathough he would not reveal asto what cooked up inside. “Ca-mpaign materials, literatures,leaflets, monograms and every-thing are printed by this com-pany,” he said adding even thecommon party members ofthe TMC did not know that.“This is the first installment Ihave given there are manymore files to come in thefuture,” he said.

Attacking the Banerjee forher regular foreign sojourns hesaid “the Marxist patriarchJyoti Basu also had the pen-chant for his London trips buthe kept things within his ownfamily but “here the presentChief Minister takes with hera whole army of officials, politi-cians and media people.”

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Page 8: ˘ˇˆ˙˝ ˛˚ ˜ ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˇ˝ ˙ ˙˝˘ ˛ˆ˝˚˚˝˘ · to Anandalok hospital for con-struction of a modern hospital. Under the CM health Insurance Scheme there is a provision

Compassion, one of the noblestof human emotions, and car-ing, frequently its manifesta-tion, cut across social strata.Two recent events in Delhi

once again underlined this perennialtruth. The first had at its centre PratimaDevi, a rag-picker who cares for 400 dogsin the region of PVR Anupam in Saket.The other occurred at the high-end res-idential complex of World Spa inGurugram. In the first instance, the shackin which Pratima Devi lived, and fromwhich she cared for her canines, wasdemolished by South Delhi MunicipalCorporation on October 30. She, howev-er, continues to live there, in a make-shiftapology of a shelter, as she would notleave them.

Winter is approaching and she isworried. The flimsy shelter will notkeep the knife-edged winds out. Nor willit help when heavy rains are blown in bythe winds. Adversity, however, is not newto her. Married at the age of seven to aman more than 10 years older, and whooften returned home drunk and beat her,life was not happy. Finally, she left himand moved away from Nandigram inMidnapore in West Bengal where theylived. After many vicissitudes, she land-ed in Delhi in the early 1980s with hertwo sons. Settling down in the PVRAnupam complex, building a new life andcontinuing to look after dogs as she didin Nandigram. Slowly, their numbersgrew to the present strength of 400.

While many people in the neighbour-hood have helped her in her noble mis-sion, some, animal haters, and those whoview most poor as actual or potentialcriminals, have been harassing her. Oneof them is suspected to have got her shackset on fire causing her burn injuries andkilling several of her dogs. No action wastaken against anyone.

She, however, stayed on and contin-ued to care for her dogs. She is doing sonow. All who value compassion and car-ing, must give her every assistance theycan. And they must also congratulate allinvolved in the providential rescue of atwo-month old puppy — brought homefrom the streets with a broken leg —which fell from the 17th to the 14th floorof Tower B6 at World Spa West. A littleafter 8:30 pm on November 3, the puppy,Bernie, apparently, in an adventurous andcelebratory mood after dinner and theremoval of the plaster on her leg follow-ing the healing of the fracture, decidedto have a peek down the hole leading toa shaft in the building going down to the ground floor.

Curiosity cost her dear. While whatshe did is unknown, the end result wasthat she fell into the shaft and went down.

Her disappearance was first noticed byZoha, a passionate animal lover, whofrantically called her parents, Anju andArjun Srivastava who, besides Bernie, hadthree other local canines and two beaglesas pets. After running through severalpossibilities, they concluded that shemust have gone down the shaft. Arjun,his son, Viramaditya and nephewArmaan, rushed downstairs to the guards’room to seek help. The guards, in turn,alerted the maintenance staff who swunginto action. Figuring out that the base ofthe shaft was in the ground floor lobby,they made a hole in the wall to reach itonly to find that there was no puppy.

They then went up to the 17th floorbalcony form where Bernie had fallen andbroke stone slabs to reach the shaft. Thatdone, they flashed a torch and, fortunate-ly, could see her below. Lowering astring tied to a stone to measure, theyfound that it was 35 feet to where she was,which meant it was the 14th floor and bythe balcony of the flat in which Deepaand Sunil Mohindra lived.

They were out at dinner at anotherapartment which, as luck could have it,was also in World Spa West. Receiving acall from the guards’ room that a dog hadfallen down the shaft and that they need-ed to return to their flat for it to be recov-ered, they rushed back. Members of themaintenance staff who were waiting, said

they would have to break a part of thewall to reach the shaft. They agreedimmediately. But it was, as SunilMohindra put it, “a tricky job”, as they hadto locate the precise spot where Berniewas. The maintenance staff went up againand lowered a line attached to a stone andfound that it was, indeed, 35 feet.

To reach her, they had to remove astone slab measuring three feet by twofeet to get at the tower’s cement and con-crete wall and make an opening throughit. In all this, they had to be very careful— and also very lucky — to ensure thatno part of the wall or the plaster fell onBernie, killing her. Proceeding withextreme caution, they removed the stoneslab and began hammering on the wall.After a while, when the wall had thinnedsomewhat, they could hear Bernie whim-pering. She was alive! Now the task wasto bring her out alive!

A hole was made through which ahand could go in and light from a torchshowed were she was. The hole, howev-er, was not big enough for her to be takenout. One member of the maintenance stuffheld on to the puppy when the hammer-ing resumed — both to reassure her andensure that she did not slide further downif the wires and rubber pipes she stood on,began subsiding under the impact of thehammer blows! Finally, the puppy was outand, to everyone’s relief, it looked all right

except being in a state of shock.What happened was a miracle. But it

could happen because people cared.Arjun Srivastava, Vikramaditya andArmaan were on their toes until aroundmidnight when the puppy was rescued.Deepa and Sunil Mohindra did notthink twice before agreeing to have theirwall broken. And the maintenance staffdid much more than travel that prover-bial extra mile. Concern for the puppy,this writer was told, was writ large ontheir faces as they worked feverishly; sowere joy and relief after taking her outalive. More, while they hammered in relayin Mohindras’ apartment, one held hishand on the other side of the wall, tak-ing the full shock of each impact, to pre-vent pieces of plaster, that might be bro-ken, falling on Bernie.

All of them — Raju Sah (supervisor-technical), Sandeep (electrician), Sukul Das(electrician), Anwar Hussain (lift opera-tor), Netra Pal and Manoj (both plumbers),Brijesh (fire technician), Surendar (super-visor-security) and Madal Lal (securityofficer) — deserve a huge round of cheers,as does the Board of Management, head-ed by Siddharth Gupta, president, and rep-resented on the spot by Vineesh, withoutwhose support none of all this would havebeen possible.

(The writer is Consultant Editor, ThePioneer, and an author)9

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Going for broke” (November10). The smog that has engulfedDelhi and some parts of northIndia is mainly because of stub-ble burning by farmers in neigh-bouring areas. Resultantly, smokegets trapped in the layers oflower atmosphere, which leads toextremely toxic air.

Particulate matter enters theblood stream through the lungs,which causes serious healthproblems. Besides, greenhousegases to pollution levels in a bigway. Authorities in Delhi are try-ing various options to keep acheck on high pollution levelsbut keeping in view the enormi-ty of the problem, steps shouldhave been taken before the airquality became so poor.

Devendra Khurana Bhopal

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Was it worth it?” (November8). Demonetization anniversaryon November 8 was observed byboth the Union Government andthe Opposition as an economicsuccess and a black day in India’seconomic history respectively. Ithas been a year since both theGovernment and the Oppositionhave been indulging in an unabat-ed war of words over the movewhich has caused mental anguishto the common man.

In support of demonetisa-tion, the common man stood inlong queues in banks and ATMsto withdraw and deposit money.

Now, we have been informed thatdemonetisation and the Goodsand Services Tax have numerousbenefits. However, the claim isbaseless. The upcoming Assemblyelections in several States, includ-ing Himachal Pradesh andGujarat, may answer the questionwhether both the moves reallybenefited the common man orbroke their backbone.

Azhar A KhanRampur

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Sir — This refers to the report,“Five-day Odd-Even rerun fromNov 13, exemptions intact”(November 10). The implemen-tation of odd-even scheme forcars in the Capital city with toomany exemptions after the worstpolluted days seem to be overmay prove to be simply theoret-ical since two-wheelers, whichhave been exempted, are highlypolluting vehicles as they burnpetrol mixed with mobile-oil.

It is not understood howreducing metro fares will helpcurb pollution because peoplewho desire to shift to metro areprecisely those who can affordcars too. Odd-even, if applied,should be from 4 pm to 12 mid-night to additionally tackle roadjams because of the marriage-season. The scheme has been aboon for car-manufacturers andrich people because of doublingcar-fleet with alternate numbersby rich section of society.

Madhu AgrawalDelhi

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"�� ��� ����������� ���� ��'�����3 ��> ���:����1�� �At a time when Saudi Arabia is

caught up in a whirling vortex oftremendous domestic and externalchallenges, the kingdom has givenbirth to a visionary and seculardespot — unlike earlier rulers whoinvoked puritanical Islamic norms tolegitimise and secure their rule — inCrown Prince Mohammed binSalman (MBS). King Salman binAbdulaziz Al Saud has allowed MBSto wield enormous power when theGovernment handouts have failed tokeep the youth in good humour.

Cashing in on the undercurrentof resentment against rampant cor-ruption, widespread nepotism andthe gilded royal members whosplurge national resources on them-selves, MBS launched, in the nameof the King, a massive anti-corrup-tion drive arresting over 200 (tillNovember 9) members, includingbillionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed binTalal and ousted head of the power-ful National Guard Prince Miteb.MBS’ crackdown team has claimedthat over $100 billion were siphonedoff in the past two decades. Howeverthe timing of the ostensible anti-graftpurge has raised obvious allegation:A power grab by crushing down theCrown Prince’s potential rivals andhurdles to the throne, under the guiseof cleaning garbage for his ambitiousVision 2030 game plan designed toget rid of the desert country’s imageas an oil-dependent state.

End of consensusBy usurping all powers, the

Crown Prince has demolished theconcept of “consensus”, among royalfamily members of the House ofSaud, to nip in the bud any rivalryamong the ruling clan. Although,according to a local custom, the Kingis the last word, “Assabiyah” (groupsolidarity) gives popular legitimacyto the royal authority. In the histo-ry of the kingdom, it is for the firsttime that ruling family membershave been unceremoniously removedand persecuted publically.

Ironically, nobody is talkingabout the precursor to the anti-graftpurge. MBS’ ambition is seen as thesole driving force. However, thefoundation for such an unprece-dented crackdown on members ofthe House of Saud was laid by KingSalman, who strategically deviatedfrom the agnatic seniority rule toappoint his son as successor. It hasbeen done even when the youngestand the only other member ofSudairi Seven, Prince Ahmed binAbdulaziz Al Saud, is alive. In fact,when King Abdullah, the thenmonarch, had entrusted Prince

Ahmed with the interior ministry —an important portfolio during thosetimes when the kingdom was reel-ing under security threat from al-Qaeda and the Shia uprising was atits peak — in 2012, it was consideredin Saudi Arabia as a confirmed tick-et for Prince Ahmed to succeed thenCrown Prince Salman (present King)as King. The day never came. KingSalman did the trick by deviatingfrom the custom of appointing hisnext younger brother (Ahmed) as theCrown Prince, and chose his nephewMuhammad bin Nayef Al Saud as theCrown Prince, only to be uncere-moniously removed for KingSalman’s son MBS. Surprising thedeposed Crown Prince Nayef, whowas awarded by the CIA for his con-tribution to counter-terrorism, is one of the victims of the sweepingpurge. When corruption is a wide-spread concern in the kingdom,King Salman could not choose a bet-ter moment to authorise his succes-sor, MBS, to lead the war on cor-ruption and consolidate his grip onpower by earning kudos from thepublic.

New West Asian OrderThe Crown Prince’s challenges

are not limited to domestic ones.Saudi Arabia has long been facinghurdles in creating a new WestAsian Order, an alignment that suitsto the interest of the kingdom. It hasbeen customary in Saudi Arabia forall kings to acknowledge themselvesas custodians of two holiest placesamong Muslims — Mecca andMedina — to accentuate their lead-ership of Muslim-majority countries.This caused the kingdom to espousethe puritanical Islamic norms andassume charge as protector of thefaithful and destroyer of the hereticssuch as Shias. However, in reality theconflict has seldom been driven bySunni-Shia hatred, but the sectarianperception gives a peculiar twist tothe predicament.

Seen in this context, Shia-major-ity Iran, with its own brand ofIslamism, is a natural rival in pub-lic perception in Saudi Arabia, but inreality even the kingdom considersit an arch rival, albeit because itthreatens Saudi hegemony in theMuslim world. Iran too considers

Saudis are trying to create in the WestAsia and North Africa (WANA)region a new order that is inimicalto the interest of Teheran. The resultis interference by Saudis and Iran inthe internal and external affairs ofsovereign nations of WANA.Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Haririis the latest casualty of MSB’s foreignpolicy. Sunni-majority Qatar isalready angry for the ill-treatment bythe kingdom and four of its Gulfneighbours on the charge of hob-nobbing with Shia Iran.

MBS needs to work for furtherrealignment against the backdrop ofthe void created by the collapse ofISIS as a functioning entity in Iraq.The Crown Prince’s task is more dif-ficult as depending on who fills thespace left by ISIS will have a majorimpact on the US’ security interestsin the region.

MBS’ new war against Iran andhis willingness to sign huge defencedeal with the US have already madehim the darling of the Trump admin-istration. Now, MBS is trying to keepa balance between Russia and the US.“The main objective is not to have

Russia place all its cards in the regionbehind Iran,” MBS has reported tohave said.

The endgameAt the outset, the anti-corruption

crackdown on high-ups and theCrown Prince’s overt endeavour tomodernise the economy by sheddingthe total dependence on oil when itsprices have been on the wane havecreated a good perception among thepublic, but the way the arrests — par-ticularly of those considered as hur-dles to MBS’ elevation to the throne— were made without credible evi-dence has stirred up a hornets’ nest.Though there is no overt resistanceagainst the sweeping purge — to thecontrary some denizens have show-ered praises on MBS on social media— the move is fraught with dangeras deeply tribal Saudi Arabian historyis witness to the consequences ofpublic insult to royal family patri-archs or tribal heads/representa-tives in power.

Therefore, the Crown Princeneeds to keep the tribal lords and theclerics in good humour as the House

of Saud takes legitimacy in WahabiIslam to rule the Kingdom. His ideaof “moderate Islam” is set to ruffle afew feathers of a section of the cler-ic, but its seems MBS is relying onthe ultra-conservative religious estab-lishments, which have in the pastthrown their weight behind theKings in the time of crises, to extendat least “silent” support to his agen-da of modernising Saudi Arabia.

MBS’ ambitious economicreforms will also face challenges asthe “no taxation, no representation”premise based on the other royallegitimacy — rentierism that ensuresfree social economic services to thecitizens — will take a hit. Two otherbiggest hurdles for him are unem-ployment and housing. Admittingreservations among the public abouthis agenda, he had told an investors’conference in Riyadh, “If the Saudipeople are convinced, the sky is thelimit.” But that sky has several otherpotential dark clouds. For example,if the kingdom obliges US PresidentDonald Trump by listing Aramco atthe New York Stock Exchange, it mayface the danger of seizure by the USauthorities under the Justice AgainstSponsors of Terrorism Act, whichgave a legal option to the families of9/11 victims to pursue a civil suitagainst Saudi Arabia to seek damagesfor its alleged involvement in the ter-ror plot.

Also there is uncertainty as tohow much “Vision 2030” will be suc-cessful in creating jobs. The questionhas arisen considering the fact thatNeom — the planned investors’ hubwhere companies will not be bound by the local rules — isexpected to employ more machinesthan people.

On the external front, MBS hasnot been very successful. He has beenleading a team to increase the king-dom’s regional influence and stemthe expansion of the Shia crescent.His Yemen operation has cost theSaudi exchequer heavily, but MBShas failed to install his favouriteGovernment there. Instead it tookseveral innocent lives. In fact, the warhelped Iran bolster its position as thedefender of human rights in theMuslim world.

However, it will be injustice towrite MSB off at the moment as thechurning stirred by the ostensibleanti-corruption purge is still goingon. The young imminent successorto the throne must be given time andsupport to establish and prove hisleadership credentials.

(The writer is Associate Editor, The Pioneer)

��$�������� �����������)��������������������������Vladimir Putin, the current Russian

President, has made obviously moreheadlines than the much-talked about cel-ebration of the 100th year of the historicOctober Revolution last month across theglobe, including its homeland. His date withKremlin in a very unusual style for more thanone-and-a-half decade has set his persona asno less than a charismatic leader. His Russiahas an edge over many powerful nations ofAsia and Europe. At a time when Europe isencountering the fall of the great Europeanunity (mostly from within, the last beingCatalonian crisis in Spain), Russia is quiet-ly demonstrating its stability under Putin.Precisely, Russia today is capable of bring-ing back its imperial glory to millions ofyoung people who are offering support toPutin. Therefore, his Russia is fast creatinga sense of stability and strength for a longperiod than the turbulent days of MikhailGorbachev and Boris Yeltsin of the 1990s.

When the centenary of the Revolutioncame this October, what the whole worldwitnessed was more of a celebration of Putin’sachievements in power since 1999 than any-thing else. Indeed official silence on theRevolution speaks volumes about the wari-ness of the country’s ruling elite, especiallyabout President Putin. Though a few pub-lic exhibitions displayed the greatness of thetwo revolutions — one in February whichoverthrew the imperial Government and sec-ond in October which brought theBolsheviks to power under the legendaryleadership of Vladimir Lenin — yet the cur-rent official narrative truly ignored thespirit behind the Revolution in all spheresof political system. This is all because of thefact that today’s political elite, mostly the ex-KGB men, their close family relatives andcronies in the industry have actually grabbedeach and every opportunities across thecountry. And clearly all of them want the newTsar to continue so as to exploit the systemin their favour. Hence Russia cannot expectany Revolution to emerge in the presentpolitical, social and economic environmentof the country. Neither is it engaged in anywar-like situation as it was in the peak daysof 1917. Besides, the energy, the enthusiasmand particularly the revolutionary fervourspread by a tall figure in Russian society istruly lacking.

Many political and strategic commen-tators on Russia opine that today the Russianelite are far more consolidated around Putinthan they were once around Tsar NicholasII. It is all evident that the way Putin has

modelled and wielded power through theorgans of the State resembles more of a Tsarof the yesteryears than any grand politiburochief of the former USSR.

The litany of horrors brought forth byPutin is indicating the re-emergence of aTsarist rule in its most modern form inRussia. First of all, he has sent hundreds ofspies around the world, especially to Britain,than there were during the Cold War. He hascarried out vendettas outside Russia in thesame way it was done in the heydays of theUSSR, but in a more sophisticated mannerto convey to the rest of the world that a newemperor is back. His Government is believedto have murdered many activists, journalistsand Opposition leaders in the recent past. Infact, it has been creating more tension andterror since he has assumed office.

Putin was rediscovered as a super heroby the Russians when for the first time hecame in public in the wake of the war inChechnya in 1999. When the bombing of theapartments took place in Moscow and someother cities in that very year, the blame waspassed on to dreaded Chechen rebels. AndPutin appeared as no other than a saviourto the helpless Russians who were desperatelylooking for a strong leader who could bringback their confidence and put back the coun-try as a great power on the global stage. Putintook full advantage of this situation andpromised his countrymen a better future forthe first time since the coming of the post-Soviet era. This all worked like a magic asthose were the last few days of the ailing anddying President Yeltsin.

Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014was regarded as the first unilateral land grabin Europe since 1945 and it really shockedthe whole world, particularly the NATO alliesin and around the former USSR. TheRussian military, which has so far assumeda new role, had gone to intervene in Donbasregion of Ukraine, took aggressive positionsboth in Chechnya and Georgia and finallyentered the battleground in Syria to save oneof Russia’s old allies. Since Russia’s entry intoWest Asia, the geopolitics of the region hastaken entirely a different turn. Putin hasacted like a life jacket for the embattled SyrianPresident Bashar al Assad, who was almoston the verge of losing his power. This hasabove all given him a status not less than thecountry’s most ruthless ruler, Stalin, who wasknown for brutally executing his agenda.

Surely, Putin needs to be taken serious-ly by the leaders in the West. The westernobservers and policymakers have misread

him simply as a strategist. He is workingmore like a Tsar and consolidating power inevery possible way. The supporters ofOpposition leader Alexei Navalny echoedslogans across St Petersburg this October,“Down with the Tsar”. The authoritative booktitled Mr Putin: Operative in the Kremlin,written by Fiona Hill and Clifford G Gaddyin 2015, clearly cautions the Western lead-ers in this manner: “First, many in the Westunderestimated Putin’s willingness to fight,for as long and as hard (as dirty) as he needsto achieve his goals. Vladimir Putin will useall methods available and he will be ruthless.Second, Western observers misread his skillas a strategist. Putin is not, as some have said,a mere tactician. He thinks strategically andhe has great advantages over the Westernleaders in his ability to translate that think-ing into action.”

Both the authors were absolutely rightand the whole world can witness how he hasworked and turned situations in his favourto project himself as Hobson’s choice inRussia. But then what has helped him to risebeyond the rank of a very stereotypical KGBman to the status of one of the most pow-erful rulers of Russia?

Putin knows very well that his countrydoes not have the industrial and economicmight to sustain a long drawn war againstthe West. Still, Russia is beefing up its armedforces and keeping its forces on a war gearfor some time now. It’s bringing a new iden-tity to one of the world’s largest forces. But

today, Russia’s position is less secure than thatduring the 1980s. It was a time when theUSSR could no longer hold back its EastEuropean allies and the socialist satellitenations around the world for its dying econ-omy. What Putin is fighting for is self respectof his country. He wants to invoke historyto regain the control of the old RussianEmpire. It is no other than the fear of beingencircled by either NATO or other Westerncountries as many of the former Russianrepublics have already moved into the clos-et of the West.

Putin is a fighter and a survivalist.Though his United Russia Party has beendescribed as a collection of “crooks andthugs” by Navalny, it rules and does whatmakes him stronger in every possible way.Just two days before Yeltsin handing overpower to Putin in December 29, 1999, in amanifesto titled “Russia on the Threshold ofthe New Millennium”, Putin formallydeclared the supremacy of the “Gosudarstvo”.This word refers to an extension of the Tsaras the final source of order and authority. Itseems he has sent a clear signal to the peo-ple of Russia and to the world what he exact-ly aspired to do.

In subsequent years, he has been able todisplay unity with his people like any otherTsar in the past. He is truly wedded to theRussian people and no one can dare to standbetween the people and his persona. He hasestablished this thread through the State-sponsored media houses and has always triedto project himself not as an ambitious politi-cian, but only as an honest slave of the mass-es like any other Russian monarch. Hesmartly justifies Kremlin’s monopoly over pol-itics and the rising economy by evokingTsarist rule of the past. He does it beautiful-ly by calling upon cultural stereotypes of thepast Russian society. This is working fantas-tically for now, but then no one knows whatkind a dangerous vacuum Putin will createonce he retires from formal politics. However,Tsarist legitimacy cannot be passed on to thenext generation. This will indirectly questionthe very presence of the larger than life imageof Putin. This increased preponderance ofpower in the corridors of Kremlin will leadto an unmanageable situation for the Russianswho might see another breakdown muchworse than the chaos of the 1990s.

Whatsoever it may be, Russia’s mean-dering across the “Putin agenda” will not helpthe country stabilise in future. Russia wouldprobably be unwieldy once he exits from thepolitical scene. The reasons are not far to

seek. He is even not allowing his own partyto project someone as his successor. Becauseonce it is done, the myth around him will beno more there. He has been projected by theState, his cronies and the official media asthe only legitimate power centre which caneffectively rule the country. Hence anOpposition party or a strong leader, emerg-ing to challenge him at any time would besimilar to dethroning him from the Kremlin.

Today, a strong voice like that of Navalny,who is on his way to challenge Putin in thenext year’s presidential poll, will probablychange the political landscape of the coun-try. But by now, Kremlin has branded himas a violent ultra-nationalist and at times asa pro-American liberal. Further, the Russianstate has declared him ineligible to run forthe presidential election next year as he is con-victed in a case related to embezzlement in2013. But he is contesting any way even ifMoscow uses all types of terror tactics (bothmental and physical). And for sure, Putin willemploy all his KGB-style methods to dealwith Navalny. How fearful Putin is about thepresence of him can be observed very wellin some recent instances: On October 2, a fewdays after Navalny’s tour to the country’s FarEast region, he and his campaign chief werejailed for 20 days. It was an attempt by theKremlin to stop him from staging a huge rallyin St Petersburg, the hometown of thePresident on the very birthday of Putin.Unfortunately, thousands marched withoutNavalny and raised prominent slogans suchas “Russia without Putin” by painting theirfaces with both the Russian flags and a large“N”. What does all this mean?

The reordering of Russia by Putin maynot herald a new era to this land symbolisedby rich history, culture and traditions. Therecould have been an alternative or a differ-ent way to make Russia great again. The newoligarchs who are jostling for power, profitand position may not even support Putinwhen he falls. They are a new brand ofopportunists who are ashamed of identify-ing themselves with the ethos of the OctoberRevolution. Bringing home a modern statein such a situation wherein hardly there isany chance for an Opposition and socialactivism growing, the new generation of theRussians may have to think of a silent rev-olution so as to secure their future. Let uswait and watch who brings this ‘Nadezhda’,(the Russian word for hope).

(The writer is an expert on international affairs)

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State Bank on Fridayreported a group net of1,840.43 crore for

September quarter, boosted bythe gains from the public offerin its life insurance arm and avery low base when it had apaltry �20.70 crore of profit.

Since the nation's largestlender had merged its fiveassociate banks and BharatiyaMahila Bank from April thisyear, the numbers are notcomparable.

However, on consolidatedbasis, the merged entitywould have made a loss of�557 crore in the same peri-od last fiscal, as the associatebanks had incurred huge loss-es due to higher slippagesafter the RBI's asset qualityreview forcing them to makeadditional provisions.

On standalone basis, netprofit plunged to �1,582 crorefrom �2,538.32 crore a year ago.

In absolute terms, grossbad loans rose to �1,86,114.60crore or 9.83 per cent from

�1,05,782.96 crore or 7.1 percent, while net NPAs rose to�97,896.29 crore or 5.43 percent from �60,013.45 crore or4.19 per cent.

However, on a sequentialbasis, gross NPAs and netNPAs improved a bit to 9.97per cent and 5.97 per cent,respectively. Fresh slippagesstood at �9,026 crore in thereporting quarter.

Commenting on thenumbers, which was lappedup by the market with an over

6 per cent rally, SBI ChairmanRajnish Kumar said, “this is avery satisfying quarter as faras our performance is con-cerned. If you look at ouroperating income, the story isvery strong.”

“Our retail franchise isgiving us tremendous supportin these times and digitaloffering also remains verystrong,” he told reporters on aconcall on his maiden earn-ings presser after assumingoffice last month.

During the reporting quar-

ter, State Bank of India sold itsshares in life insurance businessSBI Life for �5,436 crore.Domestic net interest margindeclined in the quarter to 2.59per cent from 2.98 per cent ayear ago. Net interest incomerose a tad to �18,586 crore from�18,119 crore.

On asset quality, thechairman said “we are capableof handling NPAs and we'llemerge stronger. Just wait for afew more quarters and you willsee improvements”. The watchlist has come down from�24,000 crore to �21,000 crorein the quarter and fresh slip-pages stood at �9,026 crore.

The sl ippage ratiodeclined to 1.85 per centfrom 5.38 per cent in the firstquarter. The bank upgraded�1,113 crore of loans whilerecovered �2,210 crore. Totalprovision rose to �18,418crore from �14,546 crore.

The bank parked a part ofthe IPO proceeds from SBI Lifefor accelerated provisioningtaking its provision coverageratio to 65.10 per cent.

NEW DELHI:Industrial productiongrew at a slower pace of3.8 per cent inSeptember, mainly dueto subdued performanceof the manufacturingsector coupled with con-traction in output ofconsumer durables.

Factory output measured interms of the Index of IndustrialProduction (IIP) rose 5 per centin September 2016 and 4.5 percent in August this year, datareleased by the Central StatisticsOffice (CSO) showed on Friday.According to the data, IIP grewat a meagre 2.5 per cent inApril-September this fiscal com-pared to 5.8 per cent in the firsthalf of 2016-17.

In September, growth in themanufacturing, which accountsfor 77.63 per cent of the index,slowed to 3.4 per cent, from 5.8per cent a year earlier. DuringApril- September, manufacturinggrew at 1.9 per cent, down from

6.1 per cent in thesame period last fiscal.

C o n s u m e rdurable goods outputcontracted by 4.8 percent in September asagainst a growth of10.3 per cent in the pre-vious year. During the

first half of this fiscal, the outputof these goods declined by 1.5 percent as against a growth of 6.9 percent last year. Electricity genera-tion growth slipped to 3.4 per centin September compared to 5.1 percent a year before.

However, mining recordeda growth of 7.9 per cent in themonth under review as againsta contraction of 1.2 per cent ayear ago. According to the use-based classification, growth ratesin September 2017 came in at 6.6per cent for primary goods, 7.4per cent for capital goods, 1.9per cent for intermediate goodsand 0.5 per cent for infrastruc-turegoods compared to the pre-vious year. PNS

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The nine-million tonne mega projectof Hindustan Petroleum Corporation

Limited (HPCL), the Barmer refineryplant in Rajasthan, is on the track and thecompany is expected to complete the pro-ject by March 2022. The State-run oilretailer also plans to invest over �40,000crore in the Barmer project, while over�7,000 crore will be spent initially in thisfinancial year, according to a top officialof the company.

“We have got all the approvals for set-ting up our proposed mega refinery com-plex at Barmer in Rajasthan. As of now,the project is on the track and all the landdeed has been completed and the envi-ronment clearance has been given a go-ahead for the project. As far as non-plantrelated tender activities are concerned, ourteam has already initiated the process andwe expect to complete the project by 2022for the 9-Million Tonne (MT) refinery

plant in barmer,” the offi-cial told The Pioneer.

“As for total invest-ment, we plan to investover �40,000 crore in theproject, where �7,100crore has been planned toinvest in the currentfinancial year,” he added.

Keeping PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’saspiration intact to cut theoil import significantlyand increase the oil out-put capacity in the coun-try, HPCL has been mak-ing its all-out efforts tomeet its demand in thenear future.

However, confirming the develop-ment on the Barmer project, HPCLChairman and Managing Director(CMD) MK Surana said, “TheGovernment approval is already in place

and a land deal has beensigned. Boundary wallconstructions havealready started. The con-figuration part is overand we have startedRFPs for processlicences. In Barmer, weare planning an invest-ment of �43,129 crore,which we are planningto complete in 2022.”

The oil and gasretailer is looking for-ward to expand itsrefineries aggressively inthe near future. HPCLalso informed that pro-ject activities for Vizag

Refinery Modernization project andMumbai Refinery expansion project areon track. “We are expanding the Vizagrefinery from 8.3 MT to 15 MT, expand-ing the Mumbai refinery from 7.5 MT to

9.5 MT, and setting up a new 9-MT refin-ery in Barmer as well,” Surana added.

As far as the Vizag refinery is con-cerned, he further said, “We will be invest-ing �20,000 crore. The two phases of theMumbai refinery will come to the tuneof �8,500 crore. We will invest another�35,000 crore in marketing infrastructure.In total, we are planning about �60,000crore worth of investments.”

When asked about demand of petro-leum products in India, Surana said,“India has the potential to develop as arefining country. In terms of petro-chemicals, demand is growing and ourper capita consumption is very low. Ithink the demand for overall petrole-um products is set to grow at around 4-5 per cent. Considering the populationthat we have, demand will increasebecause of the availability of moneyin the hands of people, greater ten-dency of people to use vehicles thanwhat it used to be.”

NEW DELHI: GST Network onFriday said businesses can nowmake changes to the formsuploaded on the portal to claimtransition credit.

“The facility to revise FormGST TRAN-1 declaration hasbeen introduced on the GSTPortal for taxpayers who hadalready filed it prior toNovember 9, 2017,” GSTN saidin a statement.

Form TRAN-1 declaration isto be filed by persons registeredunder GST law who wish toclaim credit for taxes paid underpre-GST regime. The function-ality to fill the claim form wasprovided on the GSTN portal inAugust 2017.

The Government inSeptember allowed for one-timerevision of TRAN-1. The facili-ty to revise TRAN-1 declarationhas been enabled for taxpayerswho had already filed it, theGSTN statement said. PNS

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Passenger vehicle(PV) sales

declined to 2,79,837units in Octoberfrom 2,80,677 unitsin the same monthlast year, the firstdecline in fourmonths with companies resort-ing to inventory correction,according to the data releasedby the Society of IndianAutomobile Manufacturers(SIAM) on Friday.

Car sales were also down5.32 per cent to 1,84,666 unitslast month as against 1,95,036units in October last year. Thisis also the first decline sinceJune this year when car salesdeclined by 11.24 per cent.

“The festive season couldhave been a lot better but thisis not necessarily a reflectionof market sentiment. It is atemporary blip...The declinein sales is more to do withinventory correction by themanufacturers,” SIAMDirector General VishnuMathur said here.

From July to Septemberthere was inventory build up bymanufacturers at dealershipsahead of the festival purchas-es and in October they havereduced dispatches, he added.

The last drop in PV salesthis year was in June when thedispatches declined by 11.21per cent, Mathur said.

The decline was alsoreflected in the overall vehiclesales across categories, whichstood at 21,62,164 units asagainst 22,01,489 units inOctober 2016, down 1.79 percent. This is the first declinesince January this year.

In the passenger vehiclesegment, Maruti Suzuki Indiaposted a growth of 9.25 percent at 1,35,413 units but thatof Hyundai Motor India wasdown 0.86 per cent at 49,588units. Mahindra & Mahindraalso posted a decline of 5.35 percent at 23,413 units althoughhomegrown rival Tata Motorssaw a growth of 3.22 per centat 18,314 units in October thisyear.

Total two-wheeler salesalso dropped in October by2.76 per cent to 17,50,966 unitscompared to 18,00,668 units inthe year-ago month. This is thefirst decline in the segmentsince February this year.

Motorcycle sales lastmonth also declined by 3.50per cent to 11,04,498 unitscompared to 11,44,512 units inOctober 2016.

Market leader HeroMotoCorp posted domesticsales of 5,40,552 units asagainst 5,61,427 units in theyear-ago month, down 3.72per cent. Rival Bajaj Autosaw its bike sales droppingmarginally to 2,11,553 unitsas against 2,12,997 units inthe same month last year.Honda Motorcycle andScooter India (HMSI) alsosaw its sales dropping by13.77 per cent to 1,44,431units as against 1,67,496 unitsin October 2016.

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NEW DELHI: The EconomicAdvisory Council to the PrimeMinister (EAC-PM) on Fridaymade a case for incentivisingstates for achieving results insectors like health and educa-tion, an official statement said.

The EAC-PM, headed byNiti Aayog Member BibekDebroy, at its meeting tookstock of the prevailing eco-nomic situation and spelt out“a clear road map” for steppingup skill development, job cre-

ation and enhanced resourceinvestment in the social sector- including for health and edu-cation and boosting infra-structure financing.

“It formulated far-reachingrecommendations to guide theevolving framework for theFifteenth Finance Commission,including the incentivisation ofstates for achieving health,education and social inclusionoutcomes,” the release said.

The Council is also evolv-

ing the design of a new‘Economy Tracking Monitor’,linking economic growth indi-cators with social metrics forlast-mile connectivity.

Presentations by expertswere made to the Council onkey themes, including infra-structure financing by Debroy.He underlined the need forinfrastructure financing to beaccorded high priority, withnew mechanisms for a risk cov-erage umbrella.

“The unique feature of thenew Economic AdvisoryCouncil to the Prime Ministeris turning out to be its abilityto link economic growth withsocial aspects, with greaterlast-mile connectivity,” therelease said.

Its “value addition as anindependent institutionalmechanism” for providinginformed advice to the PrimeMinister is increasingly beingrecognised, it added. PTI

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MUMBAI: Markets managed tobeat a spell of fluctuations towardsthe fag end on Friday and closedwith modest gains, giving a guard-ed response to the GST Council'sdecision to reduce tax rate on ahost of daily-use items.

After some dithering, the 30-share Sensex scaled the day's highof 33,380.42 after the GST Councilslashed tax rates, but closed at33,314.56, a moderate gain of63.63 points, or 0.19 per cent. Thegauge had inched up 32.12 pointson Thursday. The NSE 50-shareindex Nifty finished higher by12.80 points, or 0.12 per cent, at10,321.75. For the week, the Sensexrecorded a fall of 371 points, or1.10 per cent, and the NSE Nifty130.75 points, or 1.25 per cent.

The GST Council on Fridayprovided some relief to several sec-tors by slashing tax rates on a hostof consumer items -- from chew-ing gums to detergents -- to 18 percent from the current 28 per cent.It also trimmed the list of itemsattracting the top 28 per cent taxrate to just 50, from the 227 pre-viously. In effect, the Council, at its23rd meet, slashed rates on 177goods.

“The outcome of the GSTCouncil will decide the trajectoryof some sectors like consumer

d u r a b l e s ,auto ancillar-ies, infra andb u i l d i n gpro du c t s .Weaknessesin globalmarket andrising oil

prices may push investors to turnconservative on the board market,”said Vinod Nair, Head of Research,Geojit Financial Services Ltd.

Other Asian shares tradedmixed following political devel-opments in Saudi Arabia and asurging oil, tracking overnightweakness at Wall Street amidfears of delay in US corporate taxcut. European shares were down.

The country's largest lender,SBI, surged 6.20 per cent to�333.20 -- the maximum jump inthe Sensex kitty -- after the com-pany today posted strong quarterlyearnings. L&T followed with a gainof 3.90 per cent after the compa-ny's construction won big joborders. Other big gainers includ-ed Hindustan Unilever, M&M,ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto andPowerGrid, rising up to 2.99 percent. Domestic institutionalinvestors (DIIs) stuck to theirbuying behaviour, picking upshares net �231.25 crore.

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Traders’ body CAIT on Fridaysaid the move to cut GST

rates on over 200 items, sayingthe relief granted to businessesand consumers will be a gamechanger in simplifying the taxregime and encourage its wideradoption. In a statement, theConfederation of All IndiaTraders (CAIT) said ‘in thewake of current situation wheretraders are a depressed lot, suchrelief were much awaited’.

“It is estimated that byreducing tax and likely increasein composition limit, theGovernment will suffer a lossof about 34,000 crore rupees. If

traders are taken in confidenceand various procedures areeased, the trading communitywill ensure compensation ofsuch losses by making allefforts to widen the tax netbase,” CAIT said.

Industry body Assochamsaid the decision of the GSTCouncil would lead to a pick-up in consumer demand andsignificantly revive the businesssentiment. Assocham SecretaryGeneral DS Rawat said, “Theincrease in the compositionscheme threshold would makelife much easier for the smallbusiness entities.” He addedthat the impact of thesechanges would be positively felt

in the next few months.As many as 178 items of

daily use were shifted from toptax bracket of 28 per cent to 18

per cent, while a uniform 5 percent tax was prescribed for allrestaurants, both air- condi-tioned and non-AC, FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley said.Currently, 12 per cent GST onfood bill is levied in non-ACrestaurants and 18 per centGST for AC restaurants. Allthese got input tax credit, afacility to set off tax paid oninputs with final tax.

The traders' body, CAIT,further said these measures willmitigate practical difficulties forsmooth execution and adoptionof goods and services tax (GST)by small traders. It said themove which will help the trad-ing community tide over the ini-

tial teething problems that arebeing faced in the aftermath ofthe transition to the GST regime.

CAIT further said that thereare issues with the non- perfor-mance of the GST portal whichneed to be taken up on imme-diate priority. The all-powerfulGST Council pruned the list ofitems in the top 28 per centGoods and Services Tax (GST)slab to just 50 from current 228.So, only luxury and sins goodsare now only in highest taxbracket and items of daily use areshifted to 18 per cent.

Chewing gum, chocolates,coffee, custard power, marbleand granite, dental hygiene prod-ucts, polishes and creams, sani-

tary ware, leather clothing, arti-ficial fur, wigs, cookers, stoves,after-shave, deodorant, deter-gent and washing power, razorsand blades, cutlery, storage waterheater, batteries, goggles, wristwatches and mattress are amongthe products on which tax ratehas been cut from 28 per cent to18 per cent.

The top tax rate is nowrestricted to luxury and demer-it goods like pan masala, aerat-ed water and beverages, cigarsand cigarettes, tobacco products,cement, paints, perfumes, ACs,dish washing machine, washingmachine, refrigerators, vacu-um cleaners, cars and two-wheelers, aircrafts and yachts.

NEW DELHI:Reliance IndustriesLtd (RIL), which has recentlyintroduced RElan - a portfolio ofspecialty fabrics, is in talks with sev-eral apparel brands for co-brand-ing of apparels, a top company offi-cial said. Besides, RIL is also adopt-ing a B-2-B-2-C approach under itsHEP (Hub Excellence Program) inwhich it is forging partnerships withtextile manufacturers to providetechnology to manufacture highperformance fabrics RElan.

“We are taking the high qual-ity and high performance productsto the consumers in tie-up with the

brands. We have identified certainproducts,” a Reliance Industriesspokesperson said.

The categories includedenim, ethnic wear, formal wear,women's wear. RIL has enteredinto partnership with US-basedVF Corporation, owner of theWrangler brand and the largestdenim player globally. “We havealready tied up with VFCorporation, which would belaunching Wrangler Jeans underour fibre. They would be launch-ing in India and Asia Pacificmarkets”, he said. PTI

�#"��������������������� � ����������������$��*�8���+NEW DELHI: The telecom regulator continues

to examine all plans by operators including bun-dled and cashback offers, and will intervene incase it finds anything contrary to the regulations,TRAI Chairman RS Sharma said on Friday.Sharma refused to be drawn into commentingon the new plans by any specific operator butemphasised that examination of offers unveiledby telcos is a ‘continuous process’ of the TRAI.The TRAI chief was responding to a query onthe telecom operators teaming up with handsetmakers to bring low-cost bundled handsets intothe market. Also, newcomer Jio has yet againopened a new front in price war by lining upcashback and vouchers on certain recharges.

“I don't want to comment on operator-specificplans. All offers by telcos to the customers are con-tinuously examined in TRAI including bundled

offers, including cashback offers and other kindsof offers...So we will continue to examine them,”Sharma told PTI. He asserted that in case TRAIfound anything contrary to the regulations duringthe course of its examination, it would immediatelyreach out to the concerned operator to stop the saidplan. At the same time, he pointed out, telecom tar-iffs are under forbearance (operators are onlyrequired to report their plans to the regulator with-in seven days of launching them). Another TRAIofficial who did not wish to be named said thatwhile individual plans are continuously looked into,the regulator is ‘happy’ with the accelerated paceof conversion of devices into 4G and VoLTE (Voiceover Long-Term Evolution) compliant smart-phones as it will ensure that the handsets too arecompatible with modern technologies beingdeployed at the back-end by operators. PTI

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NEW DELHI: Cement manufac-turers on Friday expressed disap-pointment over the GST councilretaining cement in the highest slabof 28 per cent saying clubbing theconstruction material along withluxury item is ‘quite unfortunate’.The Cement ManufacturersIndustry (CMA) said it was ‘disap-pointment’ for the entire industry,which is integral to the Government'skey schemes such as housing for all,Swachh Bharat related constructionsand building and other key infra-structure projects. PTI

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The US Congress has taskedthe Pentagon to develop a

“forward-looking strategy” tobuild an “enduring defencerelationship” with India in linewith its designation last year asa “Major Defence Partner” ofthe United States.

The Congress’s directive isset out in the National DefenceAuthorisation Act for 2018after reconciling the differ-ences between the Senate andHouse versions of the omnibuslegislation through the confer-ence mechanism.

The legislation that alsosets the limit for disburse-ments to Pakistan underCoalition Support Funds at$700 million for fiscal 2018extends the conditionality,

tying 50 per cent of the fund-ing to Islamabad’s “demon-strable steps” against terroroutfits Haqqani Network andLashkar-e-Tayyeba.

Making its case for beefingup defence ties with India, theSenate-House conference doc-ument says the modified pro-visions of the Act “require theSecretary of Defence to devel-op a forward-looking strategythat would build upon currentobjectives and goals, underlin-ing a mutual desire to developan enduring defence relation-ship with India”.

Noting that the “MajorDefence Partner” designation is“unique to India”, the reportsays the reconciled version ofthe legislation “institutionalis-es the progress made to facili-tate defence trade and tech-

nology cooperation betweenthe United States and India toa level commensurate with theclosest allies and partners of theUnited States”.

The designation also pro-motes joint exercises, defencestrategy and policy coordina-tion, military exchanges, andport calls in support of defencecooperation between the twocountries.

In respect of cooperationon Afghanistan, the documentsaid, “The United States andIndia should work closely withAfghanistan to promote sta-bility in the region to includetargeted infrastructure devel-opment and economic invest-ment, means to address capa-bility gaps in country, andimproved humanitarian anddisaster relief assistance.”

The report requires thePentagon and the StateDepartment to brief the appropriate Congressional committees within 90 days ofcommencement of the Act,and every year thereafter, onthe actions taken by them topromote US-India defencecooperation.

Following the reconcilia-tion exercise, the NationalDefence Authorisation Act2018 will now go back to theHouse and the Senate for a for-mal approval and then head tothe White House for thePresident’s signature.

As for Pakistan, the recon-ciled legislation says that of thetotal amount of $900 millionthat may be provided underCoalition Support Funds dur-ing fiscal 2018, the amount for

Pakistan would be limited to$700 million.

“The provision would alsoextend for one year certainnotifications and certificationrequirements relating to pay-ments to Pakistan,” it says,adding: “The provision wouldmake $350.0 million of thisamount contingent upon cer-tification from the Secretary ofDefense that Pakistan is takingdemonstrable steps against theHaqqani Network andLashkar-e-Tayyiba in Pakistan.”

“The House recedes withan amendment that wouldextend the CSF authoritythrough December 31, 2018and remove Lashkar-e-Tayyeba from those certifica-tion requirements not eligiblefor a national security waiver,”it said.

Danang (Vietnam): USPresident Donald Trump willnot hold a meeting with Russiancounterpart Vladimir Putin onthe sidelines of a regional sum-mit in Vietnam, the WhiteHouse said today after the twocountries sent mixed messagesabout the encounter.

Relations between Moscowand Washington have plum-meted as a US probe hasaccused Trump’s former cam-paign aides of secretly meetingKremlin-connected officials - acharge Moscow denies.

Both leaders are attendingthe Asia Pacific EconomicCooperation (APEC) forumin the city of Danang andthere had been conflicting indi-cations as to whether a face-to-face was on the cards.

“Regarding a Putin meet-ing, there was never a meetingconfirmed, and there will notbe one that takes place due toscheduling conflicts on bothsides,” press secretary SarahSanders told reporters justbefore Air Force One toucheddown in the Vietnamese beachresort city. AFP

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US President Donald Trumpon Friday said the Asia-

Pacific region was being heldhostage by the “twisted fan-tasies” of North Korean leaderKim Jong-Un, as he called oncountries to stand unitedagainst Pyongyang.

Trump has embarked on atour of Asia this week trying torally regional support for curb-ing North Korea’s nuclear

weapons programme, warn-ing that time is running outover the crisis.

“The future of this regionand its beautiful people must notbe held hostage to a dictator’stwisted fantasies of violent con-quest and nuclear blackmail,” hesaid during a speech in Vietnamto the annual Asia PacificEconomic Cooperation forum.

The region, he added, must“stand united in declaring thatevery single step the North

Korean regime takes towardmore weapons is a step it takesinto greater and greater dan-ger”. The US administrationthinks China’s economic lever-age over North Korea is the keyto strong-arming Pyongyanginto halting its nuclear weaponsand missile programmes.

On Thursday, Trump wasin Beijing meeting President Xi Jinping, where hecalled on China to “act fast”over North Korea.

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Danang (Vietnam): USPresident Donald Trumparrived in Vietnam on Fridaywhere he is expected to fleshout his “America First” visionfor the future of world com-merce, fresh from a visit to fel-low superpower China whichis pitching itself as the newarchitect of global free trade.

Trump, who tweeted hisarrival shortly after stepping offAir Force One at Danang airport,is likely to press his protection-ist doctrine when he addresses

CEOs ahead of the APEC forum.In a day mixing big hitters

of politics and business, Trumpwill share the venue with worldleaders including Russia’sVladimir Putin, Japan’s ShinzoAbe and China’s Xi Jinping.

Xi will also deliver aspeech, likely to double downon his commitment, deliveredat the recent Communist PartyCongress, that China is readyand able to step into the role ofglobal free trade leader vacat-ed by America.

Islamabad: Pakistan will con-struct community bunkers onthe Line of Control (LoC) toprotect civilians from firing byIndian troops, Prime MinisterShahid Khaqan Abbasi said on Friday.

Abbasi accompanied byChief of Army Staff QamarJaved Bajwa and PoK “PrimeMinister” Raja Farooq Haidervisited the Chirikot sector ofthe LoC, the Pakistan Armysaid in a statement.

While interacting withfamilies of those killed andinjured in the cross-border fir-ing, Abbasi appreciated theirdetermination and resolve.

He announced enhance-ment in financial assistance tothe families of those killed orinjured in the firing andapproved funds to developcommunity protection bunkersfor the safety of civilians,according to the statement.

PTI

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Kriti Kharbanda, the Delhi girl hasdabbled in many mediums. From

being spotted on the Spar billboardwhich in turn led her to being select-ed as the female lead for the Telugu filmBoni, to becoming a prominent face inKannada and Telugu films. And withher foray in romantic comedy, she isnow all set to dazzle people with herfilm Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana.

The 27-year-old’s search for a scriptwith a strong female character endedwith this Ratnaa Sinha movie where sheis pitted against the powerhouse per-former, Rajkummar Rao. “There arevery few films with strong female char-acters, so this was an opportunity thatI didn’t want to lose. I really enjoyedbeing a part of it so much so that I amfacing withdrawal symptoms now. I wastelling Ratnaa that I am not sure if Ireally want to watch the film as it wouldmean that the process has come to anend.”

The stor y revolves aroundSatyendra (Rajkummar Rao) and Aarti(Kriti Kharbanda) who meet for aproposed arranged marriage and fall inlove in the process. On the night of theirmarriage, an unexpected turn of eventsleaves their world upside down. Set inthe backdrop of India’s civil services, thefilm explores the challenges that

Satyendra and Aarti face as a middle-class couple in India.

“Aarti is young and vivacious butsomeone who is close to her traditions.Her desires are very limited — she isreally excited to find a man who lovesand supports her. Any girl can relate toher as she is very clear about what shewants to do with her life. To an extentI once was like Aarti,” says Kharbanda.

But there is another side to her aswell. “She is extremely vulnerable —which is a beautiful attribute to have.Vulnerability to a certain degree showsthe purity of your soul,” sharesKharbanda who feels that the film wasan emotional ride.

“At the end of the day, I’m takinggenuine and true friends. Add to it the

fact that as an actor I am really satis-fied with my character — somethingthat I have been craving for.”

After Rajkummar Rao’s excellentperformance in Newton — the charm-ing Oscar pick, his co-star Kharbandatoo is all praise for him. “Everyoneknows how good an actor he is. And Ihave been really fortunate to be able towork with him, get a first hand expe-rience of seeing him act and to under-stand his approach to characters. He hasbeen one of the most helpful co-actorsthat I have ever worked with — some-one who thinks of the larger picture andnot just himself. This is something thatI want to carry forward for the rest ofmy life,” she says.

Kharbanda does not look at any-

thing in particular in the script to signon a movie as there is no assurance thata good script would work out to be agreat film. “There are times when anordinary script is made into a great film,purely by performance and direction.”So, she goes with her gut feeling. “I con-centrate on the person who is narrat-ing the film, how well he/she bringsforth the character. I always believe thathuman emotions don’t lie, so I have atalk with the script writer, the directorand producer — I understand theschool of thought, their expectations,”she adds.

Kharbanda has featured in a com-edy film Guest Iin London, written anddirected by Ashwni Dhir starring KartikAaryan, Paresh Rawal, and Tanvi Azmi.

It was sequel to Ajay Devgn-starrer filmAtithi Tum Kab Jaoge?

Having the experience of workingin different cinemas, she feels that it’snot the budget that matters, rather theemotions do. “What really attracts meto the Indian cinema is the fact that it’sso unpredictable just like my personaljourney. Ten years ago when I was incollege, if someone had asked me if Iever thought of becoming an actor, Iwould have laughed.”

“I was never ambitious, nor did Ifelt the need to be an actor. I was just18 when I was offered my first film.And I hardly knew what I wanted atthat time. Initially, I felt that I have filmsto work in and I am not bad at it andalso because it was paying me well, Icontinued to do so. But in the past fewyears, I think I have grown as an actoras well as a person. Now I am moredetermined than ever and want to beknown for my acting.”

Kharbanda feels that there is hard-ly any difference in the working of theregional and Hindi cinema. “It dependson the people you meet that helps youdecide which industry you want to bea part of — there is no good or bad cin-ema, there are good and bad people. Myidea is to keep working which definesmy approach.”

Noted theatreperson ManavKaul, who has been experi-menting with theatre to an

extent that he believes the mediumwon’t grow until it is turned inside out,is a practical man. Much as he lovesshuttling between cities for his newplay Chuhal, he says his character rolesin mainstream Hindi cinema havegiven him the dough to lead a goodlife. And the two media never collidebecause he knows the limits of each.In town to promote Tumhari Sulu,where he plays Vidya Balan’s husband,he never forgets to mention how hecontinues to be loyal to his playChuhal. “Yesterday I was performingat a theatre festival in Hyderabad andhave hardly got any sleep,” he tells us.Chuhal, dealing with two people whowant to retain their individualitywhile forging a relationship, wasstaged at Old World Theatre Festivallast year. Inspired by CharlesBukowski, Vinod Kumar Shukla,Franz Kafka and Nirmal Verma, Kaulwas so particular about Chuhal thathe changed the ending thrice till allcast members approved of it. That’show precise he is.

�After playing several characters inKai Po Che and Wazir, how did youend up signing for the male lead inTumhari Sulu?

It was the director who thought Icould do this because of the kind ofonscreen characters I have playedbefore (Kaul essayed a charismatic andfanatical right-wing politician in KaiPo Che! and in Wazir, he played offagainst Amitabh Bachchan as a mur-der suspect. A new film, Maroon,about an insomniac professor, willhave a digital premiere). Normally,theatre actors get picked up for char-acter roles but their malleability iswhat today’s filmmakers are bankingupon. I gave my audition, they likedit and that is all there is to it. Vidya issuch a fine actor, it was a treat to workwith her. We just clicked on the daywe met. I read the script and knew thateveryone would connect with thisfilm, thinking “this is us.”

�What attracted you to the story,considering you are very demanding

when it comes to the scripts of yourplays?

First of all, we haven’t seen aHrishikesh Mukherjee kind of film ina long time. People have reacted pos-itively to the trailer and songs becausethe story is fresh and real. There is apositivity around the film and thetrailer and songs are an extension ofthat. When I read the script, I calledSuresh Triveni asking how he did it.Because it is very difficult to writeabout simplicity. Then I got to knowhim as a person and let me tell youhe finds humour in the mundane bitsof life. He laughs at small things. I toldhim that you are blessed and thatworldview is very much required intoday’s times.

�The husband of Sulu seems indul-gent and supportive, gentle andkind. As a male lead how does yourcharacter challenge stereotypes?

The best part about Ashok (Kaul’scharacter) is that he knows Sulu thebest. So he never says no to her as heknows that there is huge entertain-ment involved in the task that she pro-poses. Sulu is filled with the attitudethat she can do anything. They (Suluand Ashok) dance together in the con-fines of their house which is very nor-mal and middle class. Even after 12years of marriage, this trust in andcomfort with each other make themexplore life. This is a reality with mostregular couples I know and not somesocial discovery. Ashok doesn’t breakany stereotype, he is just too real.

Even in mainstream commercialformats, the change is evident. In thegood old days, songs were abouthero chasing the heroine. Now thereare no films in which the hero says,‘you have to be mine,’ unless he is anegative or dark character. In today’stimes, a man and woman have to besupportive about each other.

This is Sulu’s story and yet it gave

me so much to bring to the table asVidya took care of the rhythm of thefilm. My character is written very well,people will love it. Ashok is very muchlike my own brother. Initially, mybrother was not happy with his wifeworking but now they have muchmore to talk about as they both fill ineach other on their experiences. Theysupport each other. Every relationshiphas to be balanced. The humour of thefilm is brought about by the housewifewho creates drama, and the man whoshares it.

�What are the changes you wouldlove to see in theatre as a playwrightand director?

I write experimental theatre andhave never tried to earn money fromit. I stage plays because I love writing.When I started doing plays, I knewthere would be no money. So I didn’tcomplain as I had made a consciouschoice. It pays you enough for a sim-ple living but with experimental the-atre, there are 50 per cent chances offailure and you have to take that risk.Commercial theatre is like doing a badfilm and earning money from it. Thepoint of doing theatre is that you cansay and do things which you can nevereven imagine and that’s what I aminterested in, have done and am stilldoing. I do films, theatre, writeshort stories and travel.

So I have no holistic idea aboutthe theatre scenario. But I will saythis, theatre has amazing talent.Young stars l ike AbhishekMajumdar are doing good work. Ialso think theatre needs to be pushedto another level as it’s a fluid form.People are not experimenting withtheatre much, considering the digi-tal and film media rule our con-sciousness. For example, there is animage-based theatre movement inGermany which is showcasedthrough images. We can change thelanguage of theatre but it’s not hap-pening. One of my own plays, Park,can be staged in any park withthree benches.

�The digital platform has allowedfor a confluence of various artistesacross genres. What does it do for

a creative artiste like you?It allows me to assess talent and

let me tell you some of it is so goodthat it encourages you to change yourscript. Every production house issearching for good scripts and themoment they see talent that cantranslate it onscreen, they go for it.There is a risk here — Everything youdo on the internet better be good toget noticed. Eventually only the goodwill survive. So people are workinghard wherever they are.

I love the entertainment industrybecause it is very brutal. If you aregood (at your job), they will receiveyou with both hands. If not, they willtell you as it is. There is no illusion.

�There is a perceived environmentthat seems to limit creativity. Yourtake?

We are not approaching con-tentious issues in a right manner,afraid that something might go wrong.You are actually highlighting theoddities by banning films. Once youban a film, there is too muchunhealthy curiosity about it and itbecomes an unnecessary talking point.India is such a diverse country that itcan digest anything. And if a film isgenuinely flawed, the audience cansink it noiselessly. Only the good filmslast in the end. So artistes should saythings freely, there should be absolutefreedom.

Recently Tabu revealed her skin care mantras. Shebelieves that lifestyle and diet play a crucial rule when

it comes to having great skin. Tabu said, “Fortunately, andunfortunately for my profession, I don’t have a choice butto be camera-ready and for that, I think confidence comesfrom having great skin and that comes from combinationof things. My mother put a lot of importance on us eatingright as kids.”

Tabu divulged details on her skincareroutine, “My mother made sure we ateplenty of fruits, and greens. Now, Iensure that I follow the mostimportant steps for skincare whichinclude eating healthy, stayinghydrated, exercising regularly andmost importantly, moisturisa-tion.”

For a healthy lookingskin, diet also plays amajor role. “I believethat you need toenjoy a healthyand happylifestyle and forthis, food andsleeping habitsplay a very impor-tant role. Drinkingenough water or fluids andeating right is important totake care of your skin andhealth,” said the GolmaalAgain star.

Not only this, regularexercise and meditationare pivotal to be beautifulinside out. Maintaining apositive attitude towardslife boosts good health.

“I exercise regularlyand particularly enjoylong walks and medita-tion to maintain a posi-tive attitude towards life. Ido not believe in fad diets,they do not help you in thelong term and cause moreharm than good when under-taken without the right guid-ance,” she added.

For Tabu, Hema Malini isBollywood’s eternal beauty.“Hands down, it’s Hema Malini.She is the ultimate beauty andevery time I meet her, I cannotstop staring. Her skin is always glow-ing,” she said.

Sharing her take on skincare beau-ty treatments, Tabu said: “I don’t enjoyfacials or chemical body scrubs. I pre-fer making my own body scrubs. I usesea salt and petroleum jelly as a pre-bath exfoliator.”

Tabu, who started her career in1980 with Bazaar with a small part, saysmoisturiser comes in handy to her in dealing with dry skin,especially when she shoots in cold climates. She is knownfor films like Astitva, Chandni Bar, The Namesake, CheeniKum and Life of Pi.

Tabu believes that healthy skin reflects good health. “Iam a big believer that skin is a reflection of one’s health andhence it should not be taken for granted.”

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Did you know that theinordinate craftsmanship

of each Pashmina shawl hasabout 50,000 stitches? “It’s amatter of art and techniqueand we owe it to the craftsmenon how they do it. Being a tex-tile designer, I would not saythat it’s my expertise, but it’sa bit of my contributiontowards reviving this beauti-ful fabric that I have been pro-viding to the craftsmen,” men-tions Varuna Anand, founder,the Splendor of Kashmir.

She showcased her newcollection called TheHeirloom Collection whichwas recently exhibited at TheImperial Hotel in Delhi isendorsed by Sarah AbdullahPilot. “While Splendor ofKashmir has never made aluxury product, Pashmina isconsidered as a royal luxuryitem since its inception. Mrs.Pilot who is acquainted withmy work since 2011 agreedupon a mutual collaborationlast year to endorse this col-lection from my range. Eachpiece is something to trea-sure because every piecetakes very long and is a per-fect heirloom to passover tothe next generation,” saysVaruna Anand.

The genensis of thebrand owes to the fact thatAnand along with her latehusband Praveen Anandwanted to promote the art ofshawl-making, an age-oldheritage that takes you backto the times of Napoleon.And she chartered out herterritory by spending herformative years learning anddesigning Home Textiles andSarees for the likes of Houseof Fraser, John Lewis,Galleries Lafayette

Printemps, Laura Ashley,Tommy Hilfiger and SatyaPaul.

While stoles and sareesare available as a part of thethis collection, Anand is alsoopen to taking up large cus-tom orders. The collection hascombined the traditional withthe modern. Sharing aboutthe craftsmanship and thepatterns she says, “Our collec-tion encircles around tradi-tional classic patterns.However, we have experi-mented with a new range ofcolours in keeping with thelatest trends. Usually the beigeand black dominate thepalette of pashmina but wehave introduced other varietyof colours that includesmagenta, purple, rust, brightred and more,” she informs.

Maharana Arvind SinghMewar from Udaipur is apatron of collection. Theexhibition will travel toGurugram, Mumbai andChennai. The premium cat-egory starts from �9000.Their Ethereal Collectionconsists of shawls and hashand-embroidered Jamavarscalled Sui Kaam Jamavars inboth Sozni and wovenJamavars called Kani Shawls

The exhibition was alsoattended by Dr FarooqAbdullah (Former UnionMinister, Govt of India),Omar Abdullah, formerChief Minister of Jammu &Kashmir along with SachinPilot, Rajasthan CongressChief.

When Phanishwar NathRenu’s work Mare Gaye

Gulfam was reprised on thesilver screen for the first time,the result was National Awardwinner Teesri Kasam starringRaj Kapoor and WaheedaRehman by the acclaimedfilmmaker Basu Bhttacharya.But many promises wouldhave been made and brokenduring the 50 years since themovie was made before theanother director has decidedto put the author, who broughtthe silent regional voices intothe mainstream Hindi litera-ture, again under a spotlight.

Prem Prakash Modi haspicked up Renu’s work,Panchlight to craft a movie.Panchlight is a kerosene lampwith paraffin and a handpump which is used to pres-surise, to light it up, in oldertimes. It plays an integral partin the villagers’ life and pos-sessing one is a mark of hon-our. The film revolves arounda specific village community— Mahato Tola and how theyacquire the coveted Panchlaitafter much ado and the chainof incidents which lead uptoit.

On reprising the novelPanchlight into an epony-mously named Hindi film,Modi said, “Actually, I read thestory when I was in class 9thor 10th. I belong to a verysmall place, and every time Iread this story, I always con-nected with it. PhanishwarNath Renu is a renowned andcredited writer, and when Ibecame a part of the filmindustry, I had already decid-ed to do a film on this story.”Renu has written 63 stories,and the one thing about himthat always pulled Moditowards him was his simplic-ity which was reflected in hiswork. “There was a regionalflavour too, which I couldrelate to. So, even when Ibecame an actor, I knew Iwanted to do a film on thissomeday.” He started hiscareer as an assistant directorwith Aparna Sen and has alsoworked with Tapan Sinha,Anjun Dutt, Gul Bahar Singh,Shyaman and Jalan, IndranilGoswami among others.

Often, people in theindustry face problems infinding producers for content-driven films, especially if nobig name is associated withthe movie and this venturewas no different. Modi saidthat the most difficult task wasfinding a producer to backsuch a story. “I finally foundthe producer which took eightyears and now I am able tobring this story to the bigscreen. One will see the sim-plicity and religious back-ground of our culture in thismovie. As a director, I feel itis my responsibility to make amovie that has a social mes-sage and tells something rel-evant to the audience aboutour roots and the diversity ofour culture.”

This is his his seconddirectorial outing afterArjun:Kalimpong E Sitaharan,a Bengali film. Modi gravitatestowards literary works. Arjunwas based on a novel bySamaresh Mazumder and fea-tured Sabyasachi Chakraborty,Dipankar Dey, ChurniGanguly and others.

He has not made anymajor changes to Renu’s novelPanchlight to retain theauthentic flavour “I have madean original movie. I haven’tmade a lot of changes as Iwanted to do justice to hiswork. My scriptwriter, RakeshKumar Tripathi and I had a lotof discussions about how to goforward and our main ideawas to keep the content intactand put our interpretations toit. There are no big changes init; it is our work on the orig-

inal story. But every time apiece of literature is picked upto be adapted as a film, somethings are bound to betweaked, but we did our bestto stick to the story,” he said.The movie will also have anannouncement in the begin-ning which would say that ifanyone finds fault with thescript, it would be the filmmaker’s fault and not theinfluential writer Renu’s.

The story is simple: a vil-lage has different communi-ties, and every community haskerosene lamp, except for one.They suffer from inferioritycomplex and crowdfund to getit. They do buy one but noneof them knows how to light itup, which creates an interest-ing situation. The protagonistof the story knows how to useit, but he was shunned fromthe community because he fellin love with a girl, and herparents complained to thevillage head about it. Anotherreason why he was shunnedwas because he refused togive donation for the kerosenelamp. The story then proceedswhen the villagers asks theprotagonist to return and tryto bribe him by cancelling hispunishment.

Renu originally wrote,towards the end of the storythat the brightness of thislight lit up the village, and itis through this light that wetry to fight the casteism inIndia.

Talking about thechallenges that came hisway, Modi said, “Besidesfinding a producer, wefound a real location andwent there. We had toshoot in front of peoplewho had never seen ashooting before and thattoo was a big challenge.”1

On filtering the actors,he said, “I think, mygrooming in the filmindustry has always beensuch that I have alwaysbeen associated with seri-ous f i lmmakers l ikeAparna Sen. Every timewe have created a charac-ter, a vision of him/her hasfirst appeared in our mindand for the characters of

this movie, I knew the kind oflook I needed. The main castof the movie was alreadydecided from the very begin-ning and for others, we heldauditions and then shortlist-ed them.”

But will the story of akerosene lamp strike a chordwith the hip audience oftoday? “Literature never getsold. It needs to be read, andevery parent needs to incul-cate it in their children.Nowadays, most of the moviesthat are being made are fromEnglish literature or fromcontemporary Indian writerslike Chetan Bhagat but I thinkour desi Indian flavour andHindi literature needs to bebrought to the front. I thinkwhen people will watch it,they will be able to connectwith it, and they themselveswill say that there is a need forsuch kind of films to be mademore often. We can see ourculture and its roots keptintact in this movie.”

Gauging from the trailer,the film has an old-world-charm and portrays villagersin an authentic manner. “Ithink it is because we took areal location for the shoot. Weshot the entire film 60 km inte-rior from Deoghar inJharkhand and we found ourperfect location there. I myselfbelong to Jharkhand. Iresearched about the costumesa lot, our entire costume teamand we worked hard on it.”

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Neymar scored one from the spotand missed another Friday inBrazil's 3-1 win over Japan in a

friendly.The Paris Saint-Germain striker con-

verted his penalty in the ninth minute,sending Japan goalkeeper Eiji Kawashimathe wrong way, after Fernandinho wasfouled in the box. The referee at PierreMauroy Stadium in Lille used video assis-tance to award the penalty.

Neymar's second penalty attempt did-n't go so smoothly. Hotaru Yamagushi wassanctioned for a clumsy challenge onGabriel Jesus in the 17th, but Kawashimapalmed away Neymar's shot.

Marcelo and Gabriel Jesus also scoredfor the five-time champions, who got allthree goals in the first half. TomoakiMakino scored for Japan in the second half.

Brazil has embarked on a mini-tour ofEurope and will next play England atWembley Stadium next week.

Both Brazil and Japan have qualifiedfor next year's World Cup in Russia.

Despite the missed penalty, Marcelodoubled Brazil's lead in the next minutewith a superb strike into the top left cor-ner following a corner that was poorlycleared. Brazil made it 3-0 after Japan gavethe ball away close to the box. Willianfound Danilo on the right flank with theoutside of his boot and the ManchesterCity defender set up Gabriel Jesus at thefar post with a precise cross.

Japan managed to pull one back froma corner when Makino rose above thedefenders to head past goalkeeper Cassioin the 63rd minute.

�!��)������!����+!����$-��/�����!�.2�Son Heung-min scored two goalsFriday to lead South Korea overColombia 2-1 in a friendly.

Son, who scored the only goal of the

game last weekend in Tottenham's winover Crystal Palace in the PremierLeague, scored in each half to giveSouth Korea coach Shin Tae-yong his firstvictory since being appointed in July.

Cristian Zapata pulled a late goalback for Colombia with a header from afree kick by James Rodriguez.

Both teams have qualified for nextyear's World Cup in Russia, but both havebeen struggling lately.

South Korea had previously won onlyone of eight matches in 2017, whileColombia hasn't won in five straightgames.

�!(��)�#���,!��(������(����/�..��)�!�2� Since arriving in NewZealand for their World Cup playoff,Peru's players have responded cautious-ly and patiently to the same question. Notabout who might play on Saturday, but

who will not.Paolo Guerrero, Peru's captain and

leading scorer, is missing while provi-sionally suspended for failing a dopingtest following the World Cup qualifieragainst Argentina.

The absence of striker Guerrero is thebiggest setback Peru faces as it attemptsthrough home-and-away playoff match-es against New Zealand to qualify for theWorld Cup for the first time in 35 years.

There are also the formidable obsta-cles of travel, time zones and climatewhich make the match against No.122nd-ranked New Zealand more diffi-cult than it might have been for 10th-ranked Peru.

Peru's players have tried techniquesof sleep deprivation to quickly acclima-tize to a new time zone and have paddedthemselves lavishly against New Zealand'sstrong winds and cool temperatures.

But Guerrero's absence has been therecurring theme. He scored six times inSouth American qualifiers and led histeam to fifth place. Peru's football asso-ciation will challenge his suspension withthe Court of Arbitration for Sport inSwitzerland and, if successful, will havehim for the return leg in Lima on Nov.16.

For now, the South Americans havedone their best to treat persistent ques-tions about their captain with respect butindifference.

Edison Flores, whose partnershipwith Andre Carrillo is one of the team'sstrengths, is hopeful the Guerrero-sizegap will be filled by a player he is notnaming.

"It will be someone who has all ourconfidence and characteristics similar tothose of Paolo," Flores said. "We just haveto wait for him to adapt to the work sothat he does it in the best way."

New Zealand coach AnthonyHudson has said Guerrero is "irreplace-able," taking a neat opportunity to high-light Peru's problem.

"I don't really think they have any-one that is a physical presence like himand who can play the type of game theylike to play with him in the team,"

Hudson said.But he makes a concession."Attacking midfielders, the two who

sit in behind whoever plays up front ...they're all quality players. Where peoplesay (Peru goes) direct to Guerrero, theyactually play a lot through (Christian)Cueva and Flores and (Yoshimar) Yotun.They've got some very good playersthrough the middle."

Flores, based in Denmark, is one ofthose players and part of a new genera-tion.

The older generation is representedby 36-year-old New Zealand strikerShane Smeltz and 33-year old Peru for-ward Jefferson Farfan, both in their lastWorld Cup cycles. Smeltz played for NewZealand at the 2010 World Cup in SouthAfrica but Farfan has never had thatexperience, which adds urgency to hispersonal quest in Saturday's match.

Smeltz knows the opportunity to playin football's showpiece will never comeagain for him.

"It certainly adds to the occasion, Ithink, knowing that this is definitely orprobably my last," Smeltz said. "It wouldcertainly be a fairytale to get to anotherWorld Cup.

"I think it's just as exciting, thepressure, the intensity, as it was the firsttime."

Neither Farfan nor Smeltz have fullyrealized their youthful potential. Smeltzhas played 58 games for New Zealandwithout matching his young promise andFarfan, whose talent was first recognizedat 14, first played for Peru at 19. Now atLokomotiv Moscow and after 75 caps, theinconsistent Farfan remains a contentiousfigure in Peru.

But his greatest endorsement mayhave come from the absent Guerrero,who said come the World Cup playoffs"Farfan will be playing. He is needed inthe team."

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Croatia took a decisive step towardWorld Cup qualification on

Thursday, overwhelming Greece for a 4-1 victory in the first leg of their playoff.

Captain Luka Modric, whose recentform for Real Madrid had been criticizedin Spain, opened the scoring from thepenalty spot in the 13th minute - beforeleaping into the air in celebration.

Italian referee Gianluca Rocchiawarded the penalty after Greece goal-keeper Orestis Karnezis failed to controlthe ball and fouled Nikola Kalinic witha poorly judged clearance.

Kalinic added another goal six min-utes later, flicking in a cross from IvanStrinic with the side of his foot.

Greece struggled to regain compo-sure and rarely attacked, but SokratisPapastathopoulos briefly silenced thehome crowd, sending a header over keep-er Danijel Subasic and into the net.

However, relief for the visitors wasshort lived. Ivan Perisic headed in a crossfrom Sime Vrsaljko in the 33nd minuteas the Croats dominated both wings.

The fourth goal came four minutesafter the break from Andrej Kramaric,swooping in after another Greek error, byKostas Stafylidis.

As fans and players celebrated atZagreb's Maksimir Stadium, Croatiacoach Zlatko Dalic highlighted the sec-ond leg on Sunday. "We had a tremen-dous game. I've thanked the players andthe fans who made us feel like we had anextra man on the pitch," Dalic said. "Butit's not over. This was the first game.

"Our aim tonight was to pressureGreece down the wings, and that worked.We had a lapse in concentration and con-ceded a goal, but I can't really complain."

Over 90 minutes, the Croats domi-

nated possession and had nine shots ongoal compared to Greece's three.

"It was a very difficult night for us ...We have never made so many mistakesin one game," Papastathopoulos said. "Ofcourse Croatia has the upper hand now.They have a 90 percent chance of goingthrough."

�/��D��.����#�����!����������.����#�.,���2 Northern Ireland defenderJonny Evans thinks the contentiouspenalty awarded for handball during histeam's 1-0 loss to Switzerland onThursday was "a worse decision" than theThierry Henry handball which deprivedneighboring Republic of Ireland a spotat the 2010 World Cup.

A volley by Xherdan Shaqiri struckthe shoulder of Evans' brother Corey asthe Northern Ireland midfielder attempt-ed to block the shot. Romanian refereeOvidiu Hategan pointed to the spot,sparking angry protests from the

Northern Ireland players. RicardoRodriguez duly converted in the 58thminute for an away goal that putSwitzerland in good position going intothe return leg of qualifying for its fourthconsecutive World Cup.

In 2009, striker Thierry Henry'sinfamous and deliberate handball set upthe goal that sent France to the 2010World Cup at the expense of the Republicof Ireland.

Evans thinks the call in Belfast wasworse. "It's a worse decision because thereferee has actually made a call," Evanssaid. "It's different if he didn't see it, (but)he's claiming that he did see somethingthat didn't happen, and that's the hard-est bit to take. It's strange because I hada feeling the referee knew that he hadmade a wrong decision and I'm sure hewas getting feed information throughoutthe game and he could tell with every-body else's reaction that maybe he hadmade the wrong call."

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The new head coaches of Indian SuperLeague sides FC Goa and Chennaiyin

FC on Friday expressed hope that theywould be able to replicate the achievementsof the two World Cup-winning footballlegends-turned coaches Zico and MarcoMatterazi.

"Substituting a legend like Zico ascoach is a pleasure for me. Everyone knowshis skills as a player and coach," said FCGoa's head coach Sergio Lobera of Spain.

"We have put together a team fromscratch. I will introduce my philosophy.Winning is important, but so is the needto focus on style. We will play the shortpassing game," said Lobera.

Goa had finished runner-up toChennaiyin FC in season 2 of ISL that hadeight teams. This season two more teamshave been added — Bengaluru FC andJamshedpur FC.

"A lot is expected of us, champions inyear two and semi-finalist in the first.Marco Matterazi is a tough act to follow,he's left a big legacy," said Gregory.

"This year we don't have a marquee

player but I still expect a successful season.The least we should be looking for is a play-off position," he added.

Head coach of two-time I-Leaguechampions Bengaluru FC, Albert Roca,denied he was under any pressure to deliv-er the goods in the club's debut year in ISL.

"We are not under pressure but it's anew challenge. We need to be humble aswe are new. Players are wary of the com-petition," said Spaniard Roca.

"After AFC Cup semi finals we havehad lot of injuries but we are ready for ISL.All the teams in ISL are of almost equalstrength," he said.

About the longer duration of the ISL— four months compared to two in thefirst three seasons — Roca said it stillresembled a sprint as compared to leaguesthat last for 8-9 months. "It's a longer leaguenow, but I am used to leagues lasting 8-9months. It's like a sprint in athletics, every-one is concerned about it (players' recov-ery time from injuries)," he remarked.

Bengaluru FC defender John Johnsonsaid his team held a slight edge as it hadthe chance to blend for a longer period of time.

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Vani Kapoor put on a fine show as she finishedthe opening day at tied-4th place in the 11th

Hero Women's Indian Open at the DLF Golf andCountry Club here.

Vani, who is playing her seventh Women'sIndian Open but fifth as a pro, used her courseknowledge to come back from being two-over afterfive holes to finish with 69.

She had six birdies against three bogeys and wasplaced tied-4th along with five others.

Vani was two shots behind leader NorwegianMarianne Skarpnord, who also had six birdies butonly one bogey, the result of a three-putt on fifth,in her first competitive round at the Gary Playerlayout.

Sharing the second place were CamilleChevalier and England's Liz Young, who shot four-under 68 each. Chevalier had five birdies againstone bogey, while Young had six birdies against twobogeys.

Vani was tiedfourth with MeghanMacLaren, KlaraSpilkova, Olivia Cowan,Karolin Lampert andK a n p h a n i t n a nMuangkhumsakul.

Just behind themwas defending champi-on Aditi Ashok (70)and local DLF golfer,Gaurika Bishnoi, who isalso the Order of Meritleader on the local HeroWomen's Pro Golf Tour.

Among otherIndians, SaaniyaSharma (73) was tied-41st, while GursimarBadwal (74) was tied-54th. However,Amandeep Drall (77),Smriti Mehra (78) andSharmila Nicollet (79)had a disappointing firstday.

.������!(�����!.���/�����!����!,��&(.� �� ��.� ���"��� 7"�=��!82 Anirban Lahiriopened with a steady four-under 67 to remain tied11th after the first round of the OHL Classic atMayakoba.

Lahiri, who is coming off three Top-10s in hislast four starts, had four birdies and an eagle againsttwo bogeys in the round.

Lahiri, who plans to close for the year after thisyear, is currently 29th on the FedExCup list and 60thin World rankings.

He started with a bogey, but quickly made upwith a birdie on third and on the fifth, he landedan eagle that took him to two-under.

Another birdie on eighth saw him turn in three-under. On the back nine, he birdied 11th and 17th,but bogeyed 14th.

Patton Kizzire carried some momentum fromlast week in Las Vegas by running off six straightbirdies in the middle of his round Thursday for acareer-low 9-under 62 and a two-shot lead.

Rickie Fowler, playing for the first time sincethe Presidents Cup showed no rust in opening witha 65. Kizzire closed with a 64 last Sunday in LasVegas to tie for fourth. Vaughn Taylor played bogey-free for a 64.

Brandon Harkins, a 31-year-old PGA TOURrookie, joined Fowler at 65, while two-timeRetief Goosen was in the group at 66.

Sean Jacklin, the grandson of British Openand U.S. Open champion Tony Jacklin, qualifiedMonday and shot 71 in his f irst PGA TOUR event.

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CoCo Vandeweghe will play in theopening match of the Fed Cup final

on Saturday when the United States takeson Belarus looking for its record 18th titlein the competition.

The 10th-ranked Vandeweghe wasdrawn to face Aliaksandra Sasnovich inthe first singles match. US Open cham-pion Sloane Stephens will then playAryna Sabalenka.

"You play a match, you win, you lose,"Vandeweghe said Friday. "You just try yourbest. Doesn't matter if I play first, second,not at all. I'm out here for these girls (herteammates), to compete as hard as I can."

On Sunday, Vandeweghe will go upagainst Sabelnka, and Stephens will meetSasnovich. In doubles, the final match ofthe best-of-five series, Alison Riske andShelby Rogers will play for the UnitedStates against Vera Lapko and LidzlyaMarozova.

Stephens, who retired from a matchwith a knee injury in China last week, saidshe is ready to play on the indoor hardcourt.

"Really looking forward to gettingback on the court," the 13th-rankedStephens said. "I'm excited to be here for

a final. Just hoping to have a great week-end."

The Americans won their 17th FedCup title in 2000, with Billie Jean King ascaptain. Since then, they have played inthree finals — 2003, 2009, 2010 — but lostall of them. Belarus is playing in the FedCup final for the first time.

Kathy Rinaldi, in her first season asUnited States captain, is trying to becomethe first woman since King to lead a win-

ning Fed Cup squad."We know we're going to have a very

competitive weekend," Rinaldi said. "Welook forward to it. We're here to win. We'rehere to compete. We're going to put ourbest foot forward. We're going to have eachother's backs and compete as a really tight-knit team."

Friday's draw ceremony was present-ed with a nod to traditional Belarusian cul-ture. There was an archer who perfectly

placed an arrow through a tennis ball,which contained Sasnovich's name, todetermine the order of play. The officialphotos featured all the competitors hold-ing swords. And two men dressed in old-fashioned knight's attire greeted drawattendees on horseback outside the MinskCity Hall.

���(�����(�!������#!!���,!�����Sloane Stephens is back in the United

States team for the Fed Cup final, andVictoria Azarenka is missing for Belarus.

That alone gives the early advantageto the Americans.

Stephens, who won the US Open thisyear for her first major title, missed theopening two rounds of the internationalteam competition because of a foot injury.But she is back and will be playing along-side CoCo Vandeweghe, Shelby Rogersand Alison Riske in the best-of-five seriesthis weekend in Minsk.

"I'm happy to be back playing andhappy the team made the finals," the13th-ranked Stephens said Wednesday."It's awesome I can be on this team."

Stephens hasn't played in the FedCup since the 2016 quarterfinals, but shesaid it's been "no problem at all" slippingback onto the squad.

"Obviously, I've known these girlssince I was 12-13 years old, so we're allreally good friends," Stephens said. "It'seasy to be with girls you like, girls youhave fun with and girls you've beenaround for a really long time."

Stephens didn't play from the 2016Olympics through Wimbledon in 2017and underwent foot surgery during thatperiod. She arrived in Minsk after notwinning any of the four matches she'splayed since her surprise U.S. Open vic-tory. She retired with a knee injury fromher last match against Barbora Strycovain China last week.

Vandeweghe, in her first week at acareer-high No 10 ranking, won two FedCup singles points against Germany inthe quarterfinals, and two singles andthe doubles points against the CzechRepublic in the semifinals.

But the US Open semifinalist saidshe knows very little about this week-end's competition, having never playedAryna Sabalenka, AliaksandraSasnovich, Vera Lapko or LidziyaMarozava.

Azarenka, a two-time AustralianOpen champion, is not playing in thefinal because of an ongoing custody dis-pute with the father of her infant son.

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Chasing an elusive dream of winning theirfirst cricket Test in India, Sri Lanka willbegin their gruelling tour with a two-day

tour fixture against a depleted BoardPresident's XI here on Saturday.

Sri Lanka who will play their first Test inIndia since 2009-10 have a forgettable recordin the country as they are yet to win from 16appearances and have suffered 10 defeats intheir head-to-head record spanning 1982-2017.

It's an improbable task for skipper DineshChandimal who will play his maiden Test inIndia and would bank upon the experience ofAngelo Mathews and Rangana Herath the onlytwo members who were part of their sidewhich suffered 0-2 defeat seven years back.

Having suffered a 0-9 humiliation athome across three formats, the Islanders arehere in India in a gap of two months but witha confidence-boosting surprise 2-0 Test serieswin over Pakistan in UAE last month.

The Lankans will play three Tests and asmany ODIs and T20Is in the long series con-cluding in Mumbai on December 24.

Chandimal and Co. Will hope to start wellagainst a third-string Board's side led by SanjuSamson.

The match is scheduled at the JadavpurUniversity second campus ground, the deck ofwhich primarily supports seam bowling.

Giving importance to the Ranji Trophy, theBoard has opted for a third-string outfit pri-marily comprising of players from --Hyderabad, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh andPunjab who are not featuring in the ongoingfifth round of the domestic tournament.

In such a scenario, it will hardly give theIslanders a perfect build up. For Sri Lanka thespotlight will be on former captain and ace all-rounder Mathews who will make a return aftermissing the entire series against Pakistan.

Having recovered from a calf muscleinjury, Mathews was in full flow in their firstpractice here as he will look to get into rhythmahead of the first Test at Eden Gardens fromNovember 16-20.

Having bagged 16 wickets against Pakistan,senior-most spinner Rangana Herath willeye a rich haul here as he will lead the spin

department.Giving the 39-year-old company will be

left-arm chinaman Lakshan Sandakan whobagged a five-wicket haul against India inPallekele in their third and final Test in August.

Fresh from his 93 and 196 against Pakistan,left-handed opener Dimuth Karunaratne willlook to continue from where he left in AbuDhabi as they will also bank heavily on skip-per Chandimal and Niroshan Dickwella in bat-

ting department.Chandimal also has a century against

Pakistan while Dickwella was their thirdleading run-getter in Abu Dhabi with two half-centuries.

The Board squad has in-form Punjabyoungster Anmolpreet Singh, who scored acareer-best 267 in the last round Ranji Trophymatch against Chhattisgarh. He was drafted inafter Naman Ojha, who was originally named

captain, was ruled out due to an injury.Punjab opener Jiwanjot Singh, who led

their side against Himachal Pradesh in absenceof Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh, too findsa place in the team.

There's also Punjab batsman AbhishekGupta, who scored a double century in hisfirst-class debut in the season opener againstHimachal Pradesh.

B Sandeep, Tanmay Agarwal and RohanPrem are the other members in the battingdepartment.

The pace department consists of SandeepWarrier from Kerala and Avesh Khan from

Madhya Pradesh.MP all-rounder Jalaj Saxena, who

now plays for Kerala, will lead the spindepartment, assisted by Hyderabad's

leg-spinner Akash Bhandari in thesquad, coached by former wrist

spinner Narendra Hirwani.

�(��������,!��#���"��Aware of the challenge that

the Indian spinners are likely topose in the Test series, the Sri

Lankan batsmen today focused ontackling the turning ball ahead of their

warm-up against Board President's XI hereon Saturday.

Left-arm chinaman Lakshan Sandakan,who bagged a five- wicket haul against Indiain Pallekele in August, was the busiest man atthe nets as he kept the batsmen guessing withhis variations.

Giving him company was senior mostspinner Rangana Herath, who not onlyrolled his arm but also gave invaluable tips tothe young attack. A vital cog in their bowlingline-up, the 39-year-old also padded up andbatted in the second lot alongside skipperDinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews.

In the first lot, Dimuth Karunaratne bat-ted with Sadeera Samarawickrama and vice-captain Lahiru Thirimanne.

Former captain and all-rounder Mathews,who will return after missing the entire seriesagainst Pakistan last month, looked in full flowin a long session. Three of their players —uncapped batsman Roshen Silva, all-roundersDilruwan Perera and Dhananjaya de Silva —skipped practice.

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For Rangana Herath, the two-day game against Board

President's XI may be a warm-up game but for home teamskipper Sanju Samson, it is anopportunity to gain experienceof facing one of the best spinnersin world cricket.

"He (Herath) is a very expe-rienced cricketer. It is a practicematch for him but for us it's agreat opportunity to face him.He is one of the greatest spinnersSri Lanka have ever seen. He isone of the legends and to gothere and play against him willbe a great experience," Samsontold reporters ahead of thegame.

The BCCI has opted for athird-string side giving chanceto the players, who are notplaying in the ongoing fifthround Ranji Trophy for thetour-match at JadavpurUniversity second campus

ground in Saltlake.Sending a clear message to

his team, Samson said: "It is apractice match for them but it'snot a practice match for us. Wewill be looking forward to beatthem in the coming match onSaturday. We are lucky to get agood opportunity in this gap."

For Samson, this is anopportunity to make a statementto national selectors with a solidperformance. "Each and everyindividual in the team has puthis heart together for past manyyears to perform at this level. It'sjust a one match but it's a greatopportunity for each and every-one of us. We should look thisas a great platform to performand give everyone a chanceand succeed."

Samson will lead the side onhis 23rd birthday. "I have ledKerala for a season and I am upfor the challenge. We will havea team strategy," he said on theeve of his birthday. "All of usknow each other well as we havebeen playing domestic matchesfor many seasons. We haveplayed against and together."

The Board President XIcaptain however conceded thatthey have not done much plan-ning against the touring sidewho have a lot of youngsters intheir ranks. "They are a qualityTest side with a lot of talentedand experienced players. Theyhave a lot of new guys in theirteam. We will take some timeand see, we did not have enoughtime to plan," he concluded.

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Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandyawas on Saturday rested from the

first two Test matches against SriLanka with the BCCI citing "heavyworkload" as the reason despite hisselection in the squad initially.

The selectors did not name anyreplacement for Pandya and theBCCI media release did not clarifywhether he has sustained injury orit is workload-related issue.

Pandya was in pain trying tostop a powerful hit off his ownbowling during the final T20International against New Zealandin Thiruvananthapuram. Henonetheless completed his over.

"The All-India Senior SelectionCommittee in consultation withthe Indian team management hasdecided to rest all- rounder HardikPandya for the upcoming PaytmTest series against Sri Lanka. MrPandya was named in the squad forthe first two Tests.

"Considering Pandya's heavyrecent workload, the decision wasmade to negate any possibility of amajor injury concern. Pandya willundergo a period of strength andconditioning at the National CricketAcademy in Bengaluru," the BCCIrelease stated.

Since the start of ChampionsTrophy in June, Pandya has playedthree Tests, 22 ODIs and five T20Internationals -- second only toskipper Virat Kohli in terms of firstXI appearances.

The question that has not beenanswered is why the selectors didnot rest Pandya prior to the Testsquad selection knowing fully wellwhat his workload is.

When PTI contacted chairmanof selectors MSK Prasad, he refusedto comment citing protocol.

With Sri Lanka not the mostpowerful team, Indian team man-agement is likely to go in with allthree specialist spinners inRavichandran Ashwin, RavindraJadeja and Kuldeep Yadav as the all-rounder may not be necessary.

Pandya had a memorable Testdebut in Sri Lanka where he scored178 runs, including a century anda half-century on debut.

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M Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan,Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane(Vice-Captain), Rohit Sharma,Wriddhiman Saha (WK), R Ashwin,Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav,Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav,Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma.

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All-rounder Stuart Binny scored a scintil-lating century while Shreyas Gopal hit a

splendid 92 as Karnataka put on a massive649 in their first innings against Delhi on thesecond day of a Ranji Trophy Group A matchhere.

At the close of play, Delhi were 20 with-out loss in five overs with openers UnmuktChand and skipper Gautam Gambhir battingon 8 and 12, respectively.

Karnataka resumed the day on 348 forfour with Binny, starting at his overnight scoreof 14, hammered 72 runs in only boundariesduring his brilliant knock of 118 runs off 155deliveries.

But another overnight batsman MayankAgarwal was run out after adding just sevenruns to his Thursday night's score of 169.

After Agarwal's departure, Binny adopt-ed an aggressive approach and scored runsquickly in the able company of wicketkeep-er-batsman CM Gautam, who also chippedin with an important 46 off 81 balls with eightboundaries. Shreyas Gopal though missed outon a century by just eight runs, he played aresponsible 165-ball 92 that was studded with11 fours and a six.

��"��/�" ���$�(���������#���!���!(+�. ���2� A career-best 182 by SanjayRamaswamy put Vidarbha in the driver's seatas Bengal trailed by 410 runs in their RanjiTrophy group D fixture at the Bengal CricketAcademy ground here on Friday.

Resuming his innings on 117 withVidarbha at 285 for one, Ramaswamy got past

his previous best of 161, scored in their sea-son opener against Punjab. Along withAditya Sarwate (89), Ramaswamy helpedthem reach a mammoth 499 in their firstinnings.

Bengal replied shakily as they were 89 forthree with skipper Manoj Tiwary (36 batting)and Kanishk Seth (1 batting) at stumps on daytwo, still 260 runs shy of avoiding follow- on.

������������C��������,������!���)�H*%;��������+2�Riding on centuries by B Aparajithand all-rounder Vijay Shankar, Tamil Nadupiled up 530 for 8 and declared their firstinnings on the second day of their Group 'C'Ranji Trophy cricket match here on Friday.

The hosts reached 36 for no loss at drawof stumps.

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PSPB grandmaster Lalith Babu,with nine points, was crowned

as the National Premier ChessChampion, thanks to Odisha'sgrandmaster Debashis Das' vic-tory over other title seekerAravindh Chithambaram of TamilNadu in the Khadi India NationalPremier Chess Championship,organised by All Bihar ChessAssociation at Lemon Tree Hotel,Patna on Friday.

Irrespective of the loss,Aravindh scored 8.5 points toremain status quo in ranking —the runner up spot he secured bylosing the final round to RRLaxmanin in 2016. Defendingchampion Karthikeyan couldmuster only the third positionwith 7.5 points. Debashis and SLNarayanan of Kerala were placedfourth and fifth with same num-ber of points.

Aravindh's preference ofKings Indian defence was not ben-eficial to him, as Debashis attaineda good positional advantage on12th move itself. To add to the

woes, Aravindh's bad move of Ne5on 18th move, for which he con-sumed just 18 seconds, gifted awinning position to his opponent.When Debashis' c6- pawnattacked Aravindh's bishop, thelatter's ploy of attacking the queennot only failed miserably, but alsoproved to be fatal. Debashisdemolished Aravindh in just 28moves.

In an equal position arisingout of the Catalan opening, LalithBabu surprised everybody byallowing GM Swapnil Dhopade torepeat the moves and get awaywith a draw claim in just 14moves, shortest in terms of bothmoves and time. Later, the muchrelieved and elated Lalith admit-ted that the pressure on him wastoo much and he boldly took therisk of splitting the point.

The splendid performance ofRailways international masterArghyadip Das took a back seat inthe final round, when he lost toformer national champion AbhijitKunte of PSPB. After castling onthe queen side, Arghyadip gave uphis bishop for a compensation of

three pawns. His another knightsacrifice was unwarranted andAbhijit won in a relaxed mannerwith plenty of pieces in his kitty.

SL Narayanan of Kerala gotthe better of S Nitin of Railwaysin the Rubinstein variation of fourknights game in 55 moves. Untilmove 41, the game predicted a

draw. The course of the gamechanged, once Narayanan com-bined his queen and knight tomake an assault on Nitin's king.Failing to safeguard his knight andking, Nitin resigned.

In the clash between the tailenders GM Himanshu Sharma ofRailways and Sammed Shete of

Maharashtra, Himanshu broughta halt to his dry spell, by long wait-ed first win in the tournament. Inthe Fianchetto variation ofGrunfeld defence, Himanshu wasin his elements during a series ofexchanges in the middle game,finally fetching him an extraminor piece. Sammed resigned on

the 47th move. Defending champion

Karthikeyan Murali of TamilNadu underperformed in the sec-ond half of the tournament andthe final round was no exception.He conceded a draw to the nation-al blitz champion RR Laxman ofRailways in a Reti opening gamein mere 30 moves, without anyfight. In an English opening,Railways teammates InternationalMaster P Shyaamnikhil and GMDeepan Chakkravarthy quicklysettled for a draw in 26 moves.Though White had a slightly bet-ter position, Shyaam could notconvert it to a winning advantage.

Ajay Kumar Tripathy, Justice,Patna High Court was the chiefguest and Bharat Singh Chauhan,Hon, Secretary, All India ChessFederation, former national cham-pions GM Dibyendu Barua andGM Pravin Thipsay were theguest of honours, together with thepresident of the OrganisingCommittee RR Laxmanan,Rakesh Prasad, General Managerof NTPC, and Sangita Kumari,Regional Director of Khadi India.

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